ARR and Mac

[Eekiki]

Just thought I would enlighten you on something-

The components that make up the computer you are typing on was built by "slave labour".

Not quite. While it's unavoidable for some things, with a little effort you can at least have the majority of your PC components come from countries where they don't treat their people like complete garbage (only sort of like garbage).

Power supply: PC Power & Cooling - Mostly made in Japan, assembled in USA
Motherboard: Supermicro - Assembled in USA, some Chinese components
CPU: Intel Sandy Bridge Xeon - made in USA, assembled in the Phillipines
SSD: Crucial - made in Vietnam
HDD: Seagate - made in Thailand
RAM: Kingston - Made in Taiwan
Video: NVIDIA - Made in Taiwan, probably has some Chinese components
Monitor: Samsung - Made in Korea

A thing to watch out for is with many manufacturers it's a crap shoot, because they have factories all over the world. Remember way back in 1999 when Sega released the Dreamcast? It suffered from a nightmare launch, because almost all the units made in China were defective (which is what eventually killed the system). I had to exchange mine twice before I was able to find one that came from a Japanese factory, and wouldn't you know it? It worked perfectly. I still have it, and it still works.

It just requires a little more legwork, something most people aren't interested in, which is why they buy low quality junk from China. But the extra work pays off, because what you buy lasts longer.

Apple isn't interested in that, because they make their money off their rabid fanbase buying every new product they make as soon as it's released. So their junk breaks frequently, and is a pain to service, which means it needs to be replaced more often.

[Delsus]

I am not knocking Linux as I don't use it day to day, and I have heard great things about it for sure~

As far as I know though, Linux still has a lot of compatibility issues with both drivers and software, does it not? Truthfully I don't know enough about Linux to truly comment on it, and although I have heard good things about it - it does seem more like a "programmer's OS".

In saying that though, if you base your computer's build on Mac OS compatible hardware you can quad-boot Windows/Ubuntu/Linux/Mac OS if you really desperately want to.

The only real driver compatibility problem I have seen is when using at least AMD/Intel hybrid graphics, on my laptop in paticular I am unable to switch between the GPUs, and the Intel GPU is used by default with no ways to change it currently, this prevents me from using hardware acceleration, and various other features. If you have a single AMD or Nvidia GPU there will be no issues with drivers, just download the propriatory drivers after your install.

On the more software side there is a lot of compatible software, more people are moving towards supporting Linux, if you take Ubuntu the software center has a lot of software to download, from Skype and Dropbox to software that does the same as the Windows or Mac equivelant.

You can also use Wine in any Linux distro, but as we all know Wine compatibility can vary a lot, but this is the same for Mac.

Also if you don't find software you want in the software center you can check the developer's website to look for compatible software, but you might have to google how to install it, a lot can be made into a shell script which requires you to change the script's permissions to allow them to run "chmod +x <filename.sh>" then just run it with "./filename.sh"

Linux getting a lot more user friendly now, and it's getting a lot more compatible with software.

[Altena]

The only real driver compatibility problem I have seen is when using at least AMD/Intel hybrid graphics, on my laptop in paticular I am unable to switch between the GPUs, and the Intel GPU is used by default with no ways to change it currently, this prevents me from using hardware acceleration, and various other features. If you have a single AMD or Nvidia GPU there will be no issues with drivers, just download the propriatory drivers after your install.

On the more software side there is a lot of compatible software, more people are moving towards supporting Linux, if you take Ubuntu the software center has a lot of software to download, from Skype and Dropbox to software that does the same as the Windows or Mac equivelant.

You can also use Wine in any Linux distro, but as we all know Wine compatibility can vary a lot, but this is the same for Mac.

Also if you don't find software you want in the software center you can check the developer's website to look for compatible software, but you might have to google how to install it, a lot can be made into a shell script which requires you to change the script's permissions to allow them to run "chmod +x <filename.sh>" then just run it with "./filename.sh"

Linux getting a lot more user friendly now, and it's getting a lot more compatible with software.

Interesting to know. They have come a long way then..

As far as software, I did a quick google and the main piece of software I use does not support Linux. - Ableton.
I also use a lot of Mac OS exclusive software that I have been using for years and can't imagine switching to a "similar but different" piece of software. Examples are-
Logic
FinalCut
Apature

So Linux truly wouldn't suit me personally, but I am sure it is perfectly fine for other people.

[Eekiki]

At work, when I'm asked what PC a person should get, I tell them this.

Macs do what they want to do, and they do that stuff well enough. But that's all they do. If you want a Mac to do more than what it comes with out of the box, forget it. They're also extremely overpriced, difficult if not impossible to service, and slowly losing features with each new generation.

A Windows machine does everything you want it to do, and it also does a bunch of crap you don't need or want. But the hardware is often better. And they're always cheaper than Macs, come with better warranties, and are way more serviceable.

Linux will do absolutely everything, but it doesn't know how to do anything on its own. It will also run on just about any hardware.

[Molly_Millions]

Apple is too cool for the DVD format.

[Delsus]

[QUOTE=Altena;958638]Interesting to know. They have come a long way then..

As far as software, I did a quick google and the main piece of software I use does not support Linux. - Ableton.
I also use a lot of Mac OS exclusive software that I have been using for years and can't imagine switching to a "similar but different" piece of software. Examples are-
Logic
FinalCut
Apature

So Linux truly wouldn't suit me personally, but I am sure it is perfectly fine for other people.[/QUOTE

As you said if you don't want to look at open source alternatives Linux may not be for you, some linux software I use is GNS3 (network simulation), Firefox, Transmission torrent client, libre office (you can use Open office if you want) Skype, VLC player, VMWare and I am trying to get various software to run in Wine, as I said earlier basically all I can't do is game because of my hybrid graphics issues, but I have Windows for that.

At work, when I'm asked what PC a person should get, I tell them this.

Macs do what they want to do, and they do that stuff well enough. But that's all they do. If you want a Mac to do more than what it comes with out of the box, forget it. They're also extremely overpriced, difficult if not impossible to service, and slowly losing features with each new generation.

A Windows machine does everything you want it to do, and it also does a bunch of crap you don't need or want. But the hardware is often better. And they're always cheaper than Macs, come with better warranties, and are way more serviceable.

Linux will do absolutely everything, but it doesn't know how to do anything on its own. It will also run on just about any hardware.

This is basically it.

[Molly_Millions]

As you said if you don't want to look at open source alternatives Linux may not be for you, some linux software I use is GNS3 (network simulation), Firefox, Transmission torrent client, libre office (you can use Open office if you want) Skype, VLC player, VMWare and I am trying to get various software to run in Wine, as I said earlier basically all I can't do is game because of my hybrid graphics issues, but I have Windows for that.

For the software Altena mentioned, there is no alternative on Linux and running such applications in WINE usually doesn't cut it.

[Cedri]

I prefer a hackintosh to an apple pie anyway.

[Vanguard319]

Seriously someone tell me what's so great about macs, they are freeBSD with a GUI anyone with half a knowledge of linux can make up, with inferior hardware and a marked up price.

What do you get when buying a mac except an OS that should be free with poor hardware compared to a PC for the price?

Well for starters, if you're a publisher, or graphic designer, knowing how to operate one is almost a requirement, since they are pretty standard in those industries. Apple OS has a reputation for being quite stable as well, though god help you if something does go wrong with it.

I tend to prefer Windows myself, since I've owned enough PCs over the years to know how to fix some of the usual problems and quirks on my own. Some apps made for both platforms can have slightly different functions as well. (i.e. Dreamweaver CS6 works pretty much the same way whether you go PC or Mac, but the PC version can import Word files directly into your web page, rather than copy-pasting like you would with the Mac.)

All in all, it's really more an individual's matter of preference rather than which platform is better.

[Delsus]

Well for starters, if you're a publisher, or graphic designer, knowing how to operate one is almost a requirement, since they are pretty standard in those industries. Apple OS has a reputation for being quite stable as well, though god help you if something does go wrong with it.

I tend to prefer Windows myself, since I've owned enough PCs over the years to know how to fix some of the usual problems and quirks on my own. Some apps made for both platforms can have slightly different functions as well. (i.e. Dreamweaver CS6 works pretty much the same way whether you go PC or Mac, but the PC version can import Word files directly into your web page, rather than copy-pasting like you would with the Mac.)

All in all, it's really more an individual's matter of preference rather than which platform is better.

I installed OS X in a VM and used it for 3 hours and had a crash, but from what I saw "someone who is good with computers, but pretty much the first time on OS X) and what ever you do you are chained down, you can have 2 colours for the theme, nothing else if Linux is a country with no rules or laws and you can do anything you want, OS X is a prison you do what the warden Mr. Apple wants and not much else, to complete this analogy Windows is like most countries with laws you have freedom but there are certain thing you aren't allowed to do.

OS X is the most locked down OS I have seen.