Buying a Computer?

Why most people should buy a Macintosh rather than a Windows PC

Why this site....?
( introduction)

Design

Cost

Ease of use

Installation and troubleshooting

Extending your computer

Reliability and Security

Laptops and Working across platforms

What schools should do

Where Windows is better than the Mac

Price watch

References

Contact

Sept 2000 to March 2003
275+ per month

April 2003 to January 2006
12,650 hits
370+ per month

Total Hits: about 24, 000

Broken Links...
It is very hard to guarantee the currency of links on the Internet. If you get an error that a link could not be found (often a 404 error) please go to The Internet Archive
http://www.archive.org/index.html
where you may be able to find it. Please report all broken links.

Recent News ...
Microsoft’s elephant in the OS room: Apple Bring it on (a Mac that is) (January 2008) He noted that his wife had 2 Macs and her ability to rapidly create content out of the box was unparalleled in Windows.... For him, it comes down to getting his job done faster and easier. Windows Vista, Office 2007 expelled from British Schools (January 2008) Becta officials said a study the group commissioned found that upgrading school systems from Windows XP to Vista and Office 2007 would increase costs and create software compatibility problems while providing little benefit. ...they're advised to take a long looked at alternatives based on Linux and other open source products, such as the OpenOffice.org desktop package. Why Macintosh Skills Matter in Tech Gates Unveils Next Version of Windows " ...most of the features Microsoft demonstrated last night were pure, unadulterated ripoffs from Mac OS X. I could hear actual whispers of recognition from the audience around me." (emphasis added) See how closely Vista copies MacOSX here (Quicktime): audio is from the CES, held in first week of January 2006 (end 2006 - dead link). These videos now on YouTube (February 2007). See also NYT: Did Microsoft rip-off Apple Mac OS X in Windows Vista? Windows Vista Beta 1 vs. Mac OS X "Tiger" (Part 2): Tiger's better according to Windows advocate Paul Thurrott (Nov 2005) Mad as Hell - Switching to Mac 1-16 Learning Lessons from the Mac by Walaika K. Haskins July 28, 2005 "It's almost like Microsoft is designing [software] for geeks and Apple is designing for real people," said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "Microsoft's common man approach is centered on the price [of its software]." The 100 Best Products of 2005 (PC World) 5 products from Apple rate in the top 100 but there is only one from Microsoft ! It's hard to describe the freedom of using a system with no malware known to have spread. It's liberating. Kelly Martin, SecurityFocus Published Thursday 21st April 2005 (The Register) How I Love Thee, Apple   by David Harding March 2004 "Here is the bottom line: if a die hard Microsoft Windows guy (like me) can be wholeheartedly converted, I wonder how many others can be as well." Mac OS X ‘most secure servers’ Feb 20, 2004 London, UK - 28 January 2004, The MyDoom email virus and Trojan Horse malware has now spread to over 170 countries across the globe and has climbed to become the 9th worst malware of all time in less than 48 hours according to the ranking table maintained by the mi2g Intelligence Unit, the world leader in digital risk. As reports of mass infections continue to filter through to mi2g, MyDoom is estimated to have caused nearly $3 billion of economic damage worldwide so far in terms of loss of business, bandwidth clogging, productivity erosion, management time reallocation and cost of recovery. Make that $US39 billion (Feb 04)
There are no viruses which affect the Mac OS.
The FBI and the Mounties Use Macs "I asked him about that, and he told us that many of the computer security folks back at FBI HQ use Macs running OS X, since those machines can do just about anything: run software for Mac, Unix, or Windows, using either a GUI or the command line. And they're secure out of the box.
Disclaimers and About this site...
Evidence cited here is based on the author’s personal experience of the two operating systems(OSs); other references/ sources are given in text or in footnotes. The information provided here is primarily about two operating systems available to, and used by ordinary people: Mac and Windows. Where hardware and non-OS software impact on the operation of the OS discussion of them is included. The author recognises that there are other OSs such as Amiga (www.amiga.com), OS/2, other UNIX, BeOS(www.be.com), Solaris (www.sun.com), Lindows (www.lindows.com) and various distributions of Linux but does not discuss them. Disclaimer 1: The author has no connection with Apple Computer or any of its authorised resellers. He will make no financial or material gain if a person acts on this information contained herein. Disclaimer 2: The Mac is not perfect. It has its faults (most outlined here); it will provide occasional problems but far fewer than PCs. This author makes a distinction between the Mac (the computer) and Apple (the company that makes the computer). He acknowledges that Apple has made more than its fair share of mistakes including marketing, pricing and most recently, design flaws with OSX, ( see here for design flaws in Windows XP) not to mention performance and usability issues (Feb 2003). He is not an apologist for Apple computer nor a "Mac zealot". But he is a zealot for informed choice and diversity and wants common sense to prevail! The author has always worked in a cross-platform environment, except for a year working in a Windows only environment. His home however is free of Windows / Microsoft productys and free of hassle. He also uses Ubuntu Linux which he has installed on a notebook. Small parts of this site are based on material created originally by Apple computer.
Filemaker News ... PC Magazine Awards FileMaker Pro 7 'Editor's Choice' (July 2005)
a number of businesses / organisations in Australia use Macs
hundreds of sporting organisations (Australia and worldwide) who use Sportstec products Socceroos - National Football Team (SportsCode) NSW Cricket Team Ausmelt (report) Planet Ark (Australia) Australian Sports Commission (report) NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) - 1200 Apple G4 iMacs across 140 registry offices. Swinburne University of Technology’s Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing (report) The Brain Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia University of Melbourne (5,000 Macs; they also have PCs) The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne (500 Macs and 180 PCs) Burnett Institute, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne Edith Cowan University, Perth WA (600 G4s, 100 iMacs, 50 Powerbooks) SBS Television (and SBS' Dateline uses Powerbooks, Final Cut Pro and Final Draft source: Sydney Morning Herald the guide, p.6, 27 September 2004) Designed Blinds Australia University of Queensland, Faculty of Biological and Chemical Sciences Department of Cartography, Government of Tasmania Netball Australia Faculty of Arts, RMIT University, Melbourne Phillips Fox (lawyers) several large practices in Australian cities
.... who else uses a Mac
Stuart Marburg, Netspace CEO (Aust. ISP) Simon Hackett, Internode CEO (Aust. ISP) Tim Berners-Lee: inventor of the World Wide Web Richard Clarke, the White House's former top cyber-security and anti-terrorism expert Nobel Laureate for Medicine and 1997 Australian of the Year Professor Peter Doherty, AC. The Rolling Stones
Best viewed with

Macs are best for these kinds of users: the ordinary computer user at home, in a school or in a small business (and many large enterprises as well - see link at bottom of page): those people who just want their computers to work efficiently and be reliable.

Summary

Most people should buy a Mac because Macs:

• are much easier to set up
• are (still) easier to use
• are more stable and break down less often
• are easier to fix when they do break down
• have plenty of software available
• are free of viruses and other malware
  (though technically speaking it is possible to create viruses for Macs: no one has created one which has spread to other computers , i.e. not since 24th March 2001)
• are cheaper to buy and maintain in the long term
  • as the saying goes: "you get what you pay for"
  • if "time is money", how much time do PC users spend maintaining their PCs??
  • Iona College confident in Mac switch (November 2007)
    "We look for the lowest-priced vendor who can provide the greatest solution. Clearly, Apple has won that contest fair and square this time around."
  • Intel Head Recommends Apple  25 May 2005 - Slashdot "Pressed about security ... , Mr. Otellini had a startling confession: He spends an hour a weekend removing spyware from his daughter's computer. And when further pressed about whether a mainstream computer user in search of immediate safety from security woes ought to buy Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC, he said, "If you want to fix it tomorrow, maybe you should buy something else."
  • Microsoft CEO "[Steve] Ballmer, ..., spent almost two days trying to rid the PC of worms, viruses, spyware, malware and severe fragmentation without success"
  • if it's hard for tech savvy people like the head of Intel and the head of Micosoft, to fix their PCs, how long will it take the average non-technical person?

However if any of the following apply you should get a PC:

• you like "playing" with computers: opening them, adding peripheral devices, tweaking their performance or building them from scratch
• you need to use highly specialised software
• you don't mind spending time preventing malware from infecting your PC or getting rid of it after it's too late
• you play a lot of "high-end" games which require high-end graphics cards and want new games as soon as they are released
• you like to use open source software (eg a linux distribution) or you don't care how the largest software company in the world achieved and retains its dominant market position (please note that this author also uses Windows and Ubuntu Linux on a regular basis).

Popular Mechanics: Mac vs. PC: The Ultimate Lab Test for New Desktops & Laptops
This computer rivalry has been elevated to a cultural divide on par with Pepsi versus Coke. Taking it beyond personal taste, PM crunches the numbers—with some surprising results (and detailed benchmark scores).
The Verdict: Apple
Mac: In both the laptop and desktop showdowns, Apple’s computers were the winners. Oddly, the big difference didn’t come in our user ratings, where we expected the famously friendly Mac interface to shine. Our respondents liked the look and feel of both operating systems but had a slight preference toward OS X. In our speed trials, however, Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times. We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software—and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did.

PC: Simply put, Vista proved to be a more sluggish operating system than Leopard. Our PCs installed some software faster, but in general they were slower in our time trials. Plus, both PCs showed weaker performance on third-party benchmarks than the Macs. Our biggest surprise, however, was that PCs were not the relative bargains we expected them to be. The Asus M51sr costs the same as a MacBook, while the Gateway One actually costs $300 more than an iMac. That means for the price of the Gateway you could buy an iMac, boost its hard drive to match the Gateway’s, purchase a copy of Vista to boot—and still save $100.

IBM Launches Pilot Program for Migrating to Macs (April 2008)
18 of 24 IBM prefer to keep their MacBook Pros rather than get a ThinkPad

Apple's OS Edge Is a Threat to Microsoft (April 2008)
A recent upgrade to the Mac operating system moves Apple closer to challenging Microsoft for overall computing dominance, even in the corporate market

Mac: After two months of Mac, here's why I switched (April 2008)

Leopard drubs Vista in corporate satisfaction survey (March 2008)

for the average user, Leopard is the most polished and easiest to use OS I've tested. (PCMag.com)
February 2008
"startlingly fast, brilliantly streamlined, and packed with conveniences and innovations. Leopard's rich set of built-in software runs faster than I imagined possible .... it's by far the best operating system ever written for the vast majority of consumers..."

Explaining the Macintosh Surge (January 2008)

Thinking of switching to a Mac? Here's why you might

Why my new laptop is a Macbook (October 2007)

Mac Attack! An enterprise PC shop switches to Apple (July 2007)
Just down the road from Redmond, an enterprise Microsoft shop is switching to Apple.

Resisting Vista? Here's What You Can Do
Buy a Macintosh. Apple's computers are attractive, stable, and secure–and more fun than Windows. Macs can handle all of the Internet, audio, and video functions that most families need, though some games and other software are not available. While they appear more expensive than comparable PCs, Macs can be cheaper than a computer that's properly outfitted to run Windows Vista. One more bonus: If you must, you can run Windows on your Mac with programs like Parallels.

Pennsylvania university pulls PC plug, goes all-Mac
'It is ... the superior OS, isn't it?' says Wilkes University's IT chief

Windows expert to Redmond: Buh-bye
After a three-month Macintosh trial, Scot Finnie says "sayonara" to Windows,
After living with the Mac for three months and comparing it to my Vista experiences, the choice is crystal clear. I've struggled to sort out my gut feeling about Windows Vista (see "The Trouble with Vista"), but the value and advantage of the Mac and OS X are difficult to miss. While I continue to work with Windows XP and Vista on a number of other machines, I am now recommending the Macintosh for business and home users.

Uninspiring Vista
How Microsoft's long-awaited operating system disappointed a stubborn fan.
By Erika Jonietz, January 08, 2007
"Ironically, playing around with Vista for more than a month has done what years of experience and exhortations from Mac-loving friends could not: it has converted me into a Mac fan." ...
"Playing with OS X Tiger in order to make accurate comparisons for this review, I had a personal epiphany: Windows is complicated. Macs are simple."

Now I'm a believer
"In every department, it beats the PC hands down. The machine itself is quite handsome. The file structure and the way all the utilities work are different, but very easy to get used to and far more intuitive than with Windows.
... I can see absolutely no reason why anyone should not run a Macintosh. Microsoft ties itself in knots trying to get Vista to market, while Apple has a better operating system now.
... The Mac makes it all easy, with maximum integration and with a supremely elegant operating system. And I've had to reboot twice in two weeks, down from twice a day under Windows. I've been amazed at how many other people I've met recently who have moved to the Mac. There is definitely a move on. The Mac's market share is up. Windows - just say no."

Review: Compact laptops July 8, 2006 Icon
" there's just no beating the MacBook. The price, stylish design, robust chassis and powerful yet easy-to-use software all result in Apple's best ever laptop"

Macs More Secure Than PCs, Says Sophos (July 2006)

Apple today takes the MS pain away (June 2006)
"GRAEME PHILIPSON June 13, 2006

I HAVE had just about enough of Microsoft.

I've had it with rebooting my notebook and my desktop constantly because my applications crawl to a halt. I've had it with reformatting my drives every few months to get rid of all the stuff that accumulates on them.

I've had it with dysfunctional bloatware, inelegantly designed and inefficiently coded. I've had it with viruses and worms and Trojan horses and spyware and all the other rubbish that Microsoft lets in."

Mac OS Client and Server Award Winner from InfoWorld

iMac G5: The Best Gets Better (BusinessWeek, Nov 2005)
"... the best consumer desktop around."

Apple make best wireless routers according to survey (PC Magazine - October 2005)
Apple wireless routers receive this year's highest overall rating score (8.9). This is especially noteworthy given that, in general, wired routers outscore wireless. Part of its high ratings may stem from ease of setup: Apple routers tend to be connected to simpler-to-do-everything Macintoshes.

Learning Lessons from the Mac
by Walaika K. Haskins July 28, 2005
"It's almost like Microsoft is designing [software] for geeks and Apple is designing for real people," said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "Microsoft's common man approach is centered on the price [of its software]."

Tiger burns bright (Info World, June 2 2005)
Apple's Mac OS X 10.4 brings productivity to desktops, turnkey power to servers

Tiger Makes Mac's Edge Even Sharper (Business Week)
Unlike search add-ons for PCs, Tiger's Spotlight is always available
Anyone who isn't dependent on Windows-only programs should consider a Mac. Microsoft (MSFT ) is promising fast, integrated search and Dashboard-like widgets in the next version of Windows. But that upgrade is more than a year away, and we have no idea how good those features will be or even if they will materialize. For now, Tiger bolsters OS X's edge as the best personal-computer operating system around." (emphasis added)

Apple Takes Major Leap With Tiger - Opinion by Michael Gartenberg
MAY 02, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - "Want to see what the future of personal computing looks like? Don't wait for Microsoft to show you; go out and get yourself a copy of Apple's latest operating system release, OS X Tiger. It's that good.... Spotlight's search is integrated directly into the operating system and is therefore much better at finding things than competing programs on Windows"

First Look: Tiger Lives Up to the Hype (PC World)
"Excellent new search tool and numerous additions make Apple's update largely a no-brainer."

Mac Tiger OS reviewed
"So is Tiger any good? Yes, it’s worth the upgrade from Panther. It does everything that Windows XP does, and in many cases it does it better, or simpler, or faster."

Apple Releases Its Tiger
"This new operating system, along with the $499 (and up) Mac Mini that was introduced in January, is yet another reason why people should seriously consider Macintosh the next time they shop for a computer." (emphasis added)

Reviewing Apple's Tiger Release by Rob Pegoraro Washington Post
"Flaws and all, Tiger still beats Windows soundly, from its smooth, nag-free installation ... to its sleek, shimmering graphical interface." (emphasis added)

Ars reviews Tiger
"Mac OS X started its life as the most ambitious consumer operating system ever produced. Apple abandoned its existing, 16-year-old code base for something entirely new. Out of the gate, Mac OS X was a technical curiosity with few applications, and a performance dog. A scant four years later, Tiger is a powerhouse that combines the best Unix has to offer with a feature-rich, user-friendly interface. The increasingly capable bundled applications are just icing on the cake." (emphasis added)

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: A Review (Note: pro-Mac author)
"Tiger is a great OS update, precisely because it's focused on a raft of incremental improvements rather than ambitious, flashy, ultimately useless features. You may not need to run right out and buy it, but if you do, you won't be disappointed. ... You just can't be all things to all people, but you can try to build something with a commitment to excellence, and that's what Apple has done here. I give it a 9/10, knowing that the day an OS earns 10/10 the sky will fall."

Powerbook gets highest rating
Stars of screen by Simon Tsang in Icon September 25, 2004

All the Best by Gary Berline July 16, 2004
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1624254,00.asp
"Once again, Apple demonstrates that it knows how to please its audience. In both desktops and notebooks, users gave the company significantly higher overall ratings than the competition." (emphasis added)

PC Magazine 17th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey by Cade Metz July 14, 2004
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623706,00.asp
Apple scores highest in both laptops and desktops
"Dell, in particular, may want to re-examine its strategy of outsourcing support. As usual in our survey, the company performs very well in desktops and servers. Dell again tops the server ratings, and only Apple's overall numbers are higher for desktops. But Dell's technical-support numbers have started to drop. They're never better than average on this year's survey, and with servers, they're actually worse than average.

No news day: (Bill Gates visit to Sydney June 2004)
"... consumers expect their technology to behave like Apple's iPod: sexy and simple to use. Not many people say that about Microsoft's offerings.
Its Windows XP operating system is widely regarded as being harder than Apple Mac OS X. And many of the features expected to be included in XP's successor, codenamed Longhorn, are already in OS X, such as advanced search features as 3D graphic effects on the desktop.
Does Microsoft have an image problem? Gates wouldn't provide a straight response when the Herald posed this question. "You 're a Mac user, aren't you?" he said ... and as the microphone was pulled away before I could say anything else, no, Bill, I'm not a Mac user."
Dan Kaufman in Icon, Sydney Morning Herald, 3rd July 2004

Panther Best Operating System 2004 - PC World (June 2 2004)

Panther "Best Operating System of 2003" APC Award (PDF)
"Microsoft, stop your moaning. Linux fans, count to 10 and calm down.
Panther is a clear leader in ease of use, technology, system stability and value. The elegant interface doesn’t equate to the over-simplification of “computing for dummies”. Far from it: Panther packs a powerful Unix core, but unlike other *nix distros, it has a mature and consistent interface. Those same Unix underpinnings make Panther blissfully unaffected by the endless parade of viruses, worms and Trojan horses exploiting Windows’ vulnerabilities. Mac OS X 10.3 also gains graphics capabilities that Microsoft is unlikely to match until Longhorn is released in 2006. ...OpenGL ... equips Panther with time-saving features such as the Exposé window management system, which instantly shows all open windows in miniature form. ... OS X ships with a slick set of applications that are far more useful than Windows’ freebies."

PC Magazine Service and Reliability Survey July 2003
Apple desktops, laptops and servers in top category
Macs rates best in setup experience, never freezing and first year satisfaction.
"The stability of Linux and Mac OS may have also helped with the rise of overall user satisfaction. These OSs, our readers say, crash even less often than Windows XP".

Powerbook rated best small pro laptop
by Sydney Morning Herald (Icon magazine, September 13-14, 2003)
"...by far the most impressive notebook in this lineup. It's stylish, powerful, has everything you need built in and is the most affordable."

iBook rated best budget laptop
by Sydney Morning Herald (Icon magazine, May 10-11, 2003)

PowerBook rated best desktop replacement (with Toshiba Tecra)
by Sydney Morning Herald (Icon magazine, May 10-11, 2003)

2002 Technology of the Year: Apple platform With Unix at its core
and OS X on the upswing, Apple's offerings get tastier InfoWorld January 2003

Apple Awarded 2002 Technical Grammy for its outstanding technical contributions to the music industry and recording field. http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2002/03/grammyaward/

iBook rated best medium range laptop 2002
(with Toshiba Satellite 1410)
by Sydney Morning Herald (Icon magazine page 6, November 30 - Dec 1, 2002)

ZDNet rates Apple iBook best budget notebook (February 2002)
Go straight to the review

iBook rated best laptop of 2001
by Australian Personal Computer magazine (December 2001 p.64) a PC oriented magazine

iBook rated best budget and medium range laptop
by Sydney Morning Herald (Icon magazine, June 16-17 and October 27-28, 2001)

CNN rates iBook best new laptop of 2001    http://money.cnn.com/best/best01/2.html#6

No mention is made here of coloured or "cool-looking" computers (or iPods) which is another reason why you might buy a Mac!

See which computer Microsoft used to design their whizz-bang new XBox game system. (not accessible May 03)
http://www.microsoft.com/jobs/design/workXBox.htm

See and hear what Bill Gates has to say about choosing the best operating system! (link courtesy of OSdata.com)

Microsoft's annual report: Made on Macintosh

This author now has everyday access to Windows2000 and Windows XP and would be happy to hear about improvements made to these two OSs so that this site can be kept up to date. Where possible like is compared to like -eg.XP with OSX and Win 9x/2000 with OS8/9. However it takes time to compare all features and they will be done when time permits.

For a list of over 18,000 19,000 20,000 21,000 22,000 23,000 products for the Macintosh
go to Products Guide (Australia)

Did you know....

..... software for the Mac is available to do the following?

..... a Mac can run the Windows OS(operating system), a LinuxOS and other OSs - at the same time if you want to - as well as the Mac OS ??

.... it may even be possible to run up to 11 different operating systems on a Mac at the same time!
      see Virtual PC Is Virtually Perfect By Dave Horrigan
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48964,00.htm
  ok here's the world record: 55 OSs on one Powerbook

Why this site....? | Design | Cost | Ease of use | Installation and troubleshooting | Extending your computer | Reliability and Security | Laptops and Working across platforms | What schools should do | Where Windows is better than the Mac | Price watch | References