Is it worth investing in a Mac?

My comments are a little late (and now moot), but I’ll say it anyway. First some facts:

1. Despite fanboisms, both OSs are targets for malware, and both OSs can become infected by it. OSX is no more secure than Windows, and vice versa. In fact, one can only argue that OSX is more secure based upon the sheer amount of malware targeting Windows systems. The user is the primary cause of infection for both OSs. Regardless of OS, your computer’s security rests on your shoulders.
2. Both OSX and Windows computers run on x86-based hardware. There is no computational advantage one has over the other.
3. The big software packages (Photoshop, Flash, etc) are largely the same between the OSs. With the same computational power, and the same software, you will not see much difference in how your favorite applications perform.

If your purchase decision is based solely on security, computational power, or major-vendor software performance, then you’re wasting money if you choose Mac.

Buy a Mac if:

• you like the software available for OSX that isn’t available for Windows
• you want to develop web apps using Ruby or Python (better tools)
• you like OSX

The latter is, of course, subjective, and you won’t know you like OSX until you use it.

jwmcpeak said

• Despite fanboisms, both OSs are targets for malware, and both OSs can become infected by it. OSX is no more secure than Windows, and vice versa. In fact, one can only argue that OSX is more secure based upon the sheer amount of malware targeting Windows systems. The user is the primary cause of infection for both OSs. Regardless of OS, your computer’s security rests on your shoulders.

That’s not a fact. I agree that the main vulnerability is the user, but OSX is inheritly more secure than Windows based on its heritige from the unix world. The unix core is prided for its great permission system that Windows simply cannot match with all its registry writing abilities that it randomly hands out to whoever asks. It’s not something Apple did so great, it’s just something Microsoft did wrong.

Sure, there’s malware for both. OSX is definitely not invulnerable and we’ll have to see if there’ll be an increase now that Macs are becoming ever more comon, point taken. But I disagree with the suggestion that it’s an equal playing field.

In a related note, I’ve been running Analytics on one of our TF templates for the first time and 69% of traffic is coming from Windows with only 26% coming from OSX . I always figured those numbers would be reversed considering how many people in our industry love Apple.

@Joost, I actually think it is the opposite. Windows 7 is MORE secure than OSX .

What we need to see is, things, in proportional things.

Imagine that OSX had the same amount of malware that is currently available for Windows 7, and the same user base.

I would bet that OSX would be more affected than Windows 7. I can proudly say that since I moved to Windows 7 in 2009 I have never had a single malware running, on my desktop and laptop.

I am indeed a cautious user, but I remember being the same cautious user when I used Windows XP and it was a nightmare, once in a while some malware entered my machine.

What I want to say is that, Windows changed A LOT . And a lot of people had bad experiences, thus, the OS earned a bad reputation related with virus, and other kind of malware.

Regarding BSOD ’s and other “shitty” excuses to not use a Windows based PC.

From first hand experience, dealing with some friends computers, I’ve learnt that most BSOD ’s are caused by hardware failures, mainly:

- Cheap Power Supplies; (not enough protections, not enough power delivery); - High Temperatures caused by accumulated dust;

The other ones are mostly caused by faulty software being installed by the user itself.

If people were reasonable and understood the minimum about how to deal with a computer, these “issues” wouldn’t happen 90% of the time.

My last BSOD ? I can’t even remember. But it was most likely way back into 2004.

Joost said
but OSX is inheritly more secure than Windows based on its heritige from the unix world

I’d agree with you if it were 2006, but it’s not.

digitalimpact said

routsounmanman said
OK, just ordered it today will have it tomorrow

Congrats, good choice. I’m 5 and a half weeks into waiting for my Retina MBP

Few things to check out:

- http://mac.tutsplus.com/
- http://lifehacker.com/mac-os-x/

I should have got mine the day before yesterday .. Because of a hurricane I’ll have to wait for this Friday

At the end of the day a pc with windows or a pc with apple os are basically the same, the components inside the apple are better than most off the shelf windows computers but when it comes to comparisons between the two; you can buy one hell of a windows pc for the same money as a top end mac, the windows pc will be easier to upgrade or get fixed, and you will look less of a fanboy who buy it just because it is a mac. Buy one if you need the power that a top end machine can give you, the lower end ones are just not worth it.

Macs are more polished because they are built in one ecosystem created by one company and are more closed for the same reason. PCs are fragmented therefore they can’t be as polished but they offer other advantages. These two points if understood properly can give answers to many questions and hopefully draw a conclusion to what is best for you.

jwmcpeak said

Joost said
but OSX is inheritly more secure than Windows based on its heritige from the unix world

I’d agree with you if it were 2006, but it’s not.

Coincidentally around the last time I’ve dealt with a virus on Windows.

I have switched to mac about 5 years ago and never looked back. I didn’t have a single crash on the OS, Time Machine is awesome the OS looks and works smooth… I don’t see any advantage in windows over mac OS X . This is only my opinion, I know that Windows 7 is much better then the previous versions (they borrowed a lot from the OS X , maybe thats why ;P).