Macs, are they really worth it?

[Flibb]

Because according the the Apple license you are only allowed to run OSX on a badged Apple computer, running it on another computer is violating the license and possibly the law.

The flip side is that EU law has restrictions on link selling. So you cant limit a car warranty to those are serviced by the main dealer, consequently it can be argued that you cant restrict selling an OS to people that own the hardware. EULA can and have been challenged, they cannot go against existing law, as lots of software company's found with the "you accept the license as soon as you open the packaging" that made an appearance in the past.

Ther is a current German hackintosh producer, Apple appear to have been slow to challenge them under EU and national law.

<removed - posting links to hacking/warez/sites of questionable legality is NOT permitted in the Hexus forums. This is to protect both Hexus AND the poster>

[peterb]

Guy's - while discussing the ethics of a hackingtosh is permitted, posting links to sites explaining how to do it, or selling such hardware is not. This is to protect both Hexus as the publisher, and the original poster as the originator. I've removed the offending references. Any repetiton may result in closure of the thread, and..... 'sanctions'.

[watercooled]

Not a fair blanket statement... some of them use IPS i believe. The screen on my MBP is sweet

Fair enough, just the iMac screens I've seen aren't great, especially considering the price you pay.

[Biscuit]

Im not sure of the new range but if i remember correctly the 20" ones used to have TN panels but the 24" ones used S-IPS.

It might be that the newer range all use crappy TN panels... whic wouldnt massively suprise me but if its true then scratch my comments on them being good for photo/video work.

[watercooled]

No don't take my word for it either, just the ones I know about have pretty poor screens - they may have changed them recently.

[fuddam]

For the type of work I do (graphics and flash stuff) its brilliant, and theres absolutely no fuss and no crashes (on my pc I still get at least one crash a day with flash cs4).
Anyway, my opinion on the matter is that if you need a professional work machine for creative work (design photography etc), then a mac is the way to go.

glad for your experience, but just wanted to chime in that macs are IN NO WAY better for graphics / media work. Fact. If I run Photoshop on win or osx, it is still Photoshop. Same for any other software.

Only reason to choose a partic platform is:

1) particular prefs

2) the software REQUIRES it

in fact, macs have a terrible filing system compared to Explorer, so I find them much harder to work with - lol.

Also, with any properly configured machine, one shouldn't be experiencing crashes / blue screens / slow downs. Platform is irrelevant.

FWIW, I work in the media

[Biscuit]

glad for your experience, but just wanted to chime in that macs are IN NO WAY better for graphics / media work. Fact. If I run Photoshop on win or osx, it is still Photoshop. Same for any other software.

Only reason to choose a partic platform is:

1) particular prefs

2) the software REQUIRES it

in fact, macs have a terrible filing system compared to Explorer, so I find them much harder to work with - lol.

Also, with any properly configured machine, one shouldn't be experiencing crashes / blue screens / slow downs. Platform is irrelevant.

FWIW, I work in the media

I think your tryign to make an objective point of view subjective...

In your opinion macs are no better and you dont liek the filing system, thats fine but i dont think it means that macs are no better is a FACT. I, and a lot of my friends actually quite like the way mac works and find a lot of the features built into it aid in the productive process. To add to this, I also design TV/Broadcast systems and aside from the really high end stuff people tend to favour macs. Im not saying that Windows isnt capable, infact some of the featres in W7 surpass a lot of the ones in OSX for ease in productivity but i still feel more comfortable doin that kind of thing in OSX.

[menthel]

Fair enough, just the iMac screens I've seen aren't great, especially considering the price you pay.

The 27" ones have an IPS screen that is supposed to be great if you don't get one that has a yellow pee-pee coloured stain on it. Having seen one in action without such a defect the screen is superb!

[Fortune117]

The 27" ones have an IPS screen that is supposed to be great if you don't get one that has a yellow pee-pee coloured stain on it.

Nice technical terminology there menthel

[Boykie Boykie]

A lot of people say macs are overpriced, however I feel that all computers are overpriced as companies are all looking to make a profit. Dell are not cheap they just have computers to fit into all of the price ranges. If you compare macs to a desktop that you built yourself of course it is expensive, but i find this is the case with all brands and spec for spec if you compare them with other high specs the price isnt that bad. I own a macbook unibody and don't regret buying it one bit OS X is a joy to use for everything. recently i have started using windows 7 more often as i made my own computer and its much better than vista but not as good as snow leopard. the main advantage is that i can play loads of games on windows and i made it myself so its cheaper. the apple operating system is a lot more polished tho, I always need to do more clicks to do the same thing in windows, it feels like windows 7 is trying to reach where snow leopard already is!

[ComputingData]

If you get the base unit and upgrade it yourself then Macs are pretty good. I personally don't like OSX that much and use mine as a PC (running Win7 x64).

[mrochester]

I bought a MBP for £905 and whilst it is a nice machine, the extra 'fluff' you get such as GarageBand, iMovie and iphoto add to the cost and simply don't interest me in the slightest. As such, I couldn't justify the £905 and sent it back. It would be great if Apple offered a version that cut out this extra crap and was cheaper.

[mightymouse]

you either love it or hate it. i've owned macs for 5 years now and absolutely love them. i dont use any of their software but just overall i find it easier to use but that could be just personal preference. I think they are worth every penny but that's just me

[jadamso]

Why don't you just install a Linux distro to avoid viruses.