Mac vs PC Laptop

I switched over to a mac about 6 years ago and I will NEVER go back. I am a photographer and so I just LOVE my mac. It was a little confusing at first, but now it's just so much easier.

I have a mini mac along with everything else PC. I can fix nearly anything on my PCs but can't even find the damn control panel on my mac. The other thing is I have found that iPods and such don't work any better on a mac.

I got the mac because the sites my kids go on trash PCs regardless of what antivirus you use. Just didn't feel like dealing with that.

I love my Mac! I find it much more user friendly than the PC that I have for work! I also have an I pad and an I phone and it is very convenient to be able to sync everything. There are some word documents (on Pages-the mac word processing system) that I need to export to a pdf file to be able to open with my PC.
Get a Mac! Also as others have suggested-if you are close to an apple store, take some of the free classes they offer or sign up for ONe-on-one sessions. There are also a ton of training videos on the apple.com videos that you can view or use to answer a question or get great ideas for things you can do with your mac.

Just got a mac Air. I LOVE IT so much more than the PC. It starts faster, it is lighter, it is more intuitive (and I have been using PCs for years), it is more robust, it just works better. The only thing that took some time for me to "get" was the touch pad. that took about 3 days.

But it is a personal preference, I guess, although I'm not sure what people like better about PCs. My suggestion- go into an Apple store and play around. If you are going to spend all that money do a test drive first.

I love my Mac. It is so easy to use. If you live close to an Apple store, they have all kinds of workshops that you can go to that show you how to use all of the different features. You can also buy one on one support when you first buy the laptop. What are you wanting to use it for? If it's basic stuff (Internet, email, Word docs), you won't have any problems. Macs are simply plug in and go. Setting up email is easy, as they have most of the major providers already preloaded. I use a PC at work and it just makes me love my Mac more.

Thanks for posting this question. I, too, drank the "Apple Kool-Ade" and am contemplating a MAC. I have the iPhone and iPad and go to my desktop PC only for printing and days when I just want a larger screen. Now I'm just waiting for that PC to die so I can replace it!
Haven't used the MAC yet but agree about ease of use (had my iPad a year and just got the iPhone but there was NO learning curve for it as everything was the same) and intuitiveness of Apple products. Plus, shoot me if I ever have to deal with HP Customer Service again. It takes HOURS on the phone trying to get our PCs with expensive extended warranties repaired-always to a call center in India or South America where the customer service reps (and I use that term lightly) are reading from scripts and don't truly understand computers. With my Apple products I run into my Apple store about a mile from my house and they fix me right up.
As you can tell, I'm not even a MAC user yet and I'm singing their praises!

I went from a dell to macbook. It took about a week and I was cruisin!!! I loved my mac so much I talked my entire family into getting one and now even my mom has one. I will say that I was doing classes at a county college and I could do most of my work on my mac. When it came to Microsoft Word, Excel, etc. I was fine but when I had to use MS access it is not available on a mac. I still had to use a pc. I also have a pc desktop at home and have a pc at work. But I love my mac best!!!

We use Macs and I would simply say this... regardless of whether or not you are familiar with PC products, most Mac products are so intuitive and user friendly that you will have no problems transitioning.

My aunt is a PC geek. That is her self chosen career that she lives and breathes and loves... has her own troubleshooting and networking set-up company. She was just given a iPad (by a client who wants her to know how to "do"/work on them since they bought some for themselves) and she is in love with it already.

I got a mac couple months ago. Totally love it. I don't get much time to spend on it with a 1 year old son , but even then I really like it so much. I mainly use it for emails, photos, videos etc I am never gonna go back to a windows laptop again.

There is a little bit of a learning curve when going from PC to mac, but for me it was totally worth it. I love my mac and if I didn't have to use a PC at work I wouldn't. It also depends on what you are going to be doing. I think the photo editing software and all of the scientific software I use work much better on a mac than a PC. If you are just checking email it might not be worth the extra money. I hated our Dell laptop and would never go back to one for personal use, it's bad enough that I have to use one at work.

I inherited a MacBook when my husband was out of the country for a year (had been using his Dell). I got used to it; it is good for graphics but it is very hard to produce a decent resume; I can't seem to get word processing to work for me. There are less fonts, too. I have to use a mouse with the Mac, otherwise I go crazy.

Still -- if you don't need it for word processing, again, it does pictures, etc, well. Other ppl may know how to do what I am used to doing on the Dell.

But it sure beat no computer! AND -- virtually virus-free. Cannot say that for the Windows/PC world, sad to say.
Blessings,
P.

I had a Toshiba laptop for YEARS... about 7, to be exact. It finally started running insanely slow, so my boss bought me a MacBook to work on... HUGE DIFFERENCE!! If I ever buy another personal laptop, it will definately be a MAC!! Make sure you get 'the mac bible'... I'm kind of computer illiterate, but had to learn the Mac super fast for work, and that book helped a LOT.

Yes, and as the others have said, I'll never give up my MAC! Love it!

My PC was running really slow (about 7 years old). So we bought a macbook pro laptop. While I really love it, I've come to realize we may also need to buy another PC to replace the old one. Depending on what your needs are you may find some sites/devices you use may not be compatible. I tried downloading my husband's phone information onto the mac and it won't load properly. I have all of my data from our old computer backed up, but it's on an external hard drive that's only compatible with PCs.

If you only have apple products and are using the computer for basic stuff (email, photos, videos), I think you will be happy with a mac. There is a tutorial on apple's website that shows you how to transition from a PC to a mac. I found it helpful. Once you know that apple commands, it's very user friendly.

Hope that helps!

We have 3 Dell laptops and would not change ever. LOVE them.

There are a lot of good things about the Mac however they are not for us. Hubby had one and absolutely hated it.

We are in the market for 2 new laptops and daughter expressed "NO WAY to a Mac" I asked why and she said the kids at her school (top notch schools in Plano ISD) that have Mac's can't use them due to compatability issues at school.

She uses her Dell for school all the time. I run our business on ours as well as hubby. My Dell is excellent, I run Quickbooks, have a lot of data and never had issues.

That said, we love our IPhones and would never use anything but those but we will stick to our Dell laptops.

EDIT: to someone who slightly suggested that I am ignorant because I don't change.... Plus our school district does NOT use Mac's.

I am all for a MAC if that is what YOU like. MY preference is a Dell and so be it. If I were so stupid and ignorant then my business would not be running upwards of $500,000 per month in sales and bringing in a nice revenue.

To each their own... the poster asked for opinions... I gave mine and have a right to that opinion just as you have a right to your opinion.

PCs have been becoming more like Macs for years. Windows 7 just further proves it. I have had to use both systems at work for years and there was a time in the late 90s that I would have preferred at PC running Windows NT to a Mac running OS 9, but now at home I am completely Mac. I use my iPhone, iPods, AppleTV, MacBook Pro and love it! The iPhones/iPods work well on Windows, but there is no comparison to how it works on a Mac and the tech support you'll receive if you have an issue. Although Dell can have good tech support if you pay for the best packages for support available.

Price wise, I was surprised that iMacs were in the same ballpark as other Dell, HP, and Sony systems when doing a price comparison vs. functionality and the HP systems were actually more expensive than the iMacs for virtually the same functionality. I'm trying to convert my parents to go back to a mac!

Virus wise, when 90% of the operating systems out there are Windows, people are going to write viruses for that platform vs. for the Mac OS. This is starting to change because of the popularity of the iPhone in general, but it isn't critical to run a virus protection software on your Mac like it is on your PC. The same rules apply: don't install things you don't know where they come from etc. but if you have a PC you should already be wary of these practices.

Macs are a different culture than PCs and it may be a shock. If you're a gamer or have one in your home, PC is still the way to go.

I hope this helps!! I love my Mac

Mac. So worth it. Love my Macs. (desktops and laptop)

You won't regret it. Promise.

I LOVE MY MAC AND WOULD NEVER GO BACK TO PC.

My husband bought me my macbook pro for my birthday 3 years ago and I love it! It just works. If I ever have any issues (very rare) Apple customer service can't be beat! Nothing complicated about it.

There is a slight learning curve- DH bought me a mouse and I never use it. I love the track pad. It is totally customizable.

We got it primarily to manage all of our digital media- Macs are just hands down better at all of that. Never had any issues. Love using iPhoto, iMovie and LOVE the integration of all the iPods and such with Mobile Me- that is going away with the development of the iCloud.

The best thing about Macs is that Apple programs (iWork- like office) takes all Office program with very little problems. Office cannot convert iWork programs. BUT, you can save your work in Office format, making it compatible for anyone you have to send info to.

Now, if you are willing to spend some real money on a PC laptop, you can get one that may last as long as a Mac. My hubs has a top of the line Dell laptop that is over 5 years old that is still going strong. He has upgraded the memory to run the more recent memory hog software and needs to replace the battery, but that is a common problem with ALL portable computers. I am on my 2nd Mac battery myself. I would not go cheap if you want quality and longevity- either Mac or PC.

In short- if you want to manage your iTunes, photos and digital videos, Macs can't be beat. Learn your machine and what is available for what you need. Most Mac programs produced by Apple will help with the compatibility issues mentioned by other posters. You just have to know the ins and outs of the software.

Mac & yes i am happy with the change

We just got a Mac and we love it. We have iPhones too. We can do so much more with the Mac right out the box than we ever could with our PC's need to software. The Mac comes loaded and I like it.

We are still learning to use it effectively. We have only had it for 1 month.

MAC is the only way to go

There is a big learning curve for you if you are somewhat knowledgeable about PCs and want to switch to Mac. Mac is easier to learn from the get go if you are just starting out on computers, but they work very differently than a PC. Everything is in a different place. I used to work in tech support in a high school and we had some Macs for the art students and only one person on our team who was certified to work with Macs so sometimes I would get calls to go out and fix them and I usually left shaking my head cause it's just a whole different world.

I think there are pluses and minuses to both. Macs cost more, but you are less likely to get a virus (only because viruses are written primarily for PCs not because one is inherently better than the other). I just got an iphone and we have itouchs too but I personally will not leave my PC. I know too much about them to really want to switch. Another thing to think about is if there is any software you really like on PC, check and make sure there is a Mac version cause there isn't always. In the end if you have the money for it and the patience to learn it might benefit you in the long run, but you also may have compatibility issues if you go into other offices or things like that that run on PC platform. My Iphone works just fine with my PC, I've never had any compatibility issues there, but I have had people come into a PC based workplace with Mac documents or presentations they did on Mac and it is very difficult to get them to work and sometimes they just don't. If you are always going to have your laptop on you maybe that's not an issue for you but just something to think about.

Another thing to think about and a reason why I will not move from a PC....I can fix my own PC. And there are lots of people I can go to for help if I need help fixing something. I can buy parts, replace, upgrade, etc. You can do that with a Mac, but you can't do it yourself, unless you are Mac certified....so you will have to take it in to them to get it fixed when it needs it.