New Computer

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
You need a clearer idea of what you are going to do, especially w.r.t. laptop vs desktop. Both Macs and PCs will do your office and music stuff.

Laptops are more convenient, less powerful and more expensive for what you get. Are you going to move house regularly? Do you need to do work on the move? Do you want to surf the internet while sitting on the sofa / loo / chair in the kitchen? The flexibility of laptops is extremely attractive but you have to set the extra cost.

Do you know what music programme you want to use? Not all are dual platform. Most have just been refreshed - Logic in particular is now very attractive.

In terms of ease of use and overall experience the Mac is probably "better" and Macs aren't as bad as PCs when it comes to slowing down and glitching after a few years of work. But at the same time, MacOS can be extremely irritating for some people especially if they're used to Windows. How wedded are you to windows? Have you tried to use a Mac?

I don't think Mac laptops' lifespans are poor and most PC magazines rate Macs' physical design and robustness highly - even if Mac laptops aren't always as fast in absolute terms as the fastest PC laptops.

The mini is very good, though you need a monitor and keyboard as well, which increases the price. A new iMac might be better value, just make sure you get the internal hard disk you want - that can't be upgraded. (You can easily upgrade memory yourself, cheaply. Get at least 2Gb.)

The new MacBooks are slightly faster, yes out in a couple of weeks, MacBook Pros possibly out in January?

I have both PCs and Macs and both desktops and laptops and I like both platforms.
 
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elgato

I just dont know
Lifespan as in usable or as in working?

Those Mac Mini's look tempting.

hmm im not entirely sure, one said that he had had to replace his every 2 years due to faults, some to do with the actual build (which wouldnt be an issue with the minis), i think maybe once just cos it was getting really slow, then also another was saying that now hers is slowing down loads after 2 years :/

the minis have got really decent specs for the price, can boost the RAM to 2GB for a little bit of money, a monitor for £100 or so, keyboard and mouse for like £40 max... under £700 easily
 

bassnation

the abyss
hmm im not entirely sure, one said that he had had to replace his every 2 years due to faults, some to do with the actual build (which wouldnt be an issue with the minis), i think maybe once just cos it was getting really slow, then also another was saying that now hers is slowing down loads after 2 years :/

the minis have got really decent specs for the price, can boost the RAM to 2GB for a little bit of money, a monitor for £100 or so, keyboard and mouse for like £40 max... under £700 easily

i'm telling you though mate, you could get a monster pc for that kind of money, something that would leave the mac mini behind performance wise. like paul sez, how important is osx to you? cos the hardware is practically identical these days. people buy macs for the os and they are more expensive, no matter what anyone tells you. as a student, i certainly wouldn't have been splashing out on one - they are luxury machines, very nice, but luxury nonetheless.

oh btw, i know why macs slow down after a while having recently been through this problem myself - you need to regularly repair file permissions using disk utility, the mac equivalent of defragging your disk. personally i don't find macs massively more stable than windows. mine hangs quite regularly when i'm running intensive apps (particularly virtualisation).
 
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elgato

I just dont know
thanks to everyone again for all the advice. im pretty much decided on a desktop now i think, while portability is desirable, i dont think its necessary for my purposes

the key things which draw me to a mac are: difficulties i've had with viruses with my PCs (me being inept?), having the option of Logic, and the interface (having used my housemates' a lot, i like it a lot)

is the virus thing a myth?

when purchasing a custom built pc on a budget though, is it not often the case that low quality parts will be used, and will create problems in the long run?
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
biggest problem with mac laptops (and ipods) is the battery life--my ibook is a couple years old, runs fine, but needs a new battery desperately.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
is the virus thing a myth?

What 'virus thing'? It's not a myth that they exist, certainly. They are however fairly easy to avoid if you're reasonably careful and don't do stupid things like download files with a .exe suffix from sites you aren't 100% sure you can trust or buy dodgy knock-off copies of software from that Chinese guy that pesters you in the pub now and then.

DON'T DIE OF IGNORANCE.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
What 'virus thing'? It's not a myth that they exist, certainly. They are however fairly easy to avoid if you're reasonably careful and don't do stupid things like download files with a .exe suffix from sites you aren't 100% sure you can trust or buy dodgy knock-off copies of software from that Chinese guy that pesters you in the pub now and then.

DON'T DIE OF IGNORANCE.

right. but if you're on a college network/server and everyone BUT you is an idiot and downloads pirated movies and other huuge and illegal media files, you run the risk of getting seriously hit by a virus on a PC network. this happened to me as an undergrad, my school had to rebuild the entire PC network and server because some retards downloaded files from one of those email-spread trojans. everyone who got it had their campus email suddenly send their entire contact list emails with "joke" attachments.

i have never had a virus on a mac. they're way harder to write and propogate, from what i understand.
 

adruu

This Is It
not to make things more complicated, but the ars technica monthly guides on building out pcs (god box vs budget) are the best way to get a snapshot of what is out there for PCs, and how much it costs...

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200708.ars

the budget box came out to $744.99 (US) which sounds like its in your budget, on the other hand the god box for august 2007 came out to $10,252.87...good god. =P
 

bassnation

the abyss
right. but if you're on a college network/server and everyone BUT you is an idiot and downloads pirated movies and other huuge and illegal media files, you run the risk of getting seriously hit by a virus on a PC network. this happened to me as an undergrad, my school had to rebuild the entire PC network and server because some retards downloaded files from one of those email-spread trojans. everyone who got it had their campus email suddenly send their entire contact list emails with "joke" attachments.

i have never had a virus on a mac. they're way harder to write and propogate, from what i understand.

i haven't had a virus on a windows based pc for over ten years. just download a free av, (i recommend avg) and off you go. it updates itself, you do nothing.

most of the things that macheads level at pcs are based on criticisms that are really no longer valid, imo - xp is hugely stable for example and has been for years.

there are valid reasons for choosing one over another, including some security issues, but viruses IMO are not one of them.

i'd also like to make the point that windows default firewall asks your permission before letting an app send back info about your pc - which you can decline if you wish - unlike osx which only protects you from incoming traffic. if you want this on osx you have to pay (google little snitch). this is a bad thing in my view. you might not get viruses on osx (yet) but you certainly get spyware, simple as that. the mac is not invincible - its unix which is solid, but unix systems still get hacked. i know, cos i;ve seen it happen.
 
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Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
most of the things that macheads level at pcs are based on criticisms that are really no longer valid, imo - xp is hugely stable for example and has been for years.

This is certainly true, in my experience. I've had individual applications crash on me but not a single BSOD under Win XP, which used to be an almost daily occurrence under the older versions like 95 and 98.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
i haven't had a virus on a windows based pc for over ten years. just download a free av, (i recommend avg) and off you go. it updates itself, you do nothing.

most of the things that macheads level at pcs are based on criticisms that are really no longer valid, imo - xp is hugely stable for example and has been for years.

there are valid reasons for choosing one over another, including some security issues, but viruses IMO are not one of them.

i'd also like to make the point that windows default firewall asks your permission before letting an app send back info about your pc - which you can decline if you wish - unlike osx which only protects you from incoming traffic. if you want this on osx you have to pay (google little snitch). this is a bad thing in my view. you might not get viruses on osx (yet) but you certainly get spyware, simple as that. the mac is not invincible - its unix which is solid, but unix systems still get hacked. i know, cos i;ve seen it happen.

this is all true, i am sure--i felt kind of stupid buying a mac. they're really not computers as much as they're appliances. i think that's the draw for some people.
 
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