[J. Thomas Gebauer]

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

I think getting a PC would be a good first step of recovery.  One can only assume that he has a Mac as a way to make people think he is a good designer.  Perhaps there are some deeper underlying issues that we as a group could help him with in this undying thread.

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

Never had it.  Blue screen of death is oft user caused. Your wacbook must have crashed again while you were typing this because this is way too short for you.

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

Lei, I think you got the point.  Read the comments on here.  There are multiple PC users telling you real stories about how their computer has lasted many years with no problems and that they paid a lot less than if they would have bought a Mac.  The angry Mac users (not all are angry) on here are just stating very biased opinions, not facts.  I’m glad you can read through the blind faith and chose to save money.

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

PC’s have many different producers, more customizable, and more personalizable.  How does choosing an Apple computer that is the exact same for every computer produced equal “breaking boundries?”  Mac’s are about tradition and being stodgy, PC’s are about expanding, new thought, and open mindness.  That is based on how the company conducts itself.  Apple is controlling, they don’t let anyone else know about their hardware (which is oft inferior) and act like what they are doing is some huge secret.  The windows/pc world says,”here, I have created this.  Now take this, learn from it and make it better!”  THAT is creating the new and not following tradition.

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

http://www.consumersearch.com/laptops/reviews  Lenovo are top.

 

Internet tough guy, you are.

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

I forgot that Mac’s were built with magical hardware that never becomes out of date. In case you haven’t noticed, all hardware becomes out of date eventually. Hard drives get bigger, more memory becomes available. I never have had a part on my Lenovo laptop break, but I have upgraded hardware as previously mentioned. I run all the newest software and operating system on my unit w/o any problems and my overall system is 5 years old. Any computer, no matter who makes it eventually goes out of date. You can pay $2k for a new Mac then it’s out of date in three years and buy another $2k Mac or you can buy a $1.1k PC then buy $150 in parts in three years. I realize you hate PC’s. I don’t hate Macs but they are just unreasonably high priced. As I mentioned in my original post there are benefits to Mac’s. I’d at least consider getting one if they weren’t ridiculously high priced and associated with pomposity.

http://www.switched.com/2009/09/01/apple-quietly-admits-macs-get-viruses/

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

I don’t know computer viruses by name. So I can’t argue against your arbitrary numbers. But if you doubt my grad student story I seriously question if you were ever in a LA program… ALL of the grad students used ArcMap GIS products at my school. Plus every undergrad has to use it for one studio as well. All I’m saying is that getting a Mac can lead to headaches.

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

Also, PC’s are easier to upgrade. I was able to buy a laptop and use it through my 5 years by simply upgrading my RAM and hard drive. Parts for PC’s are easy to find and cheap compared to buying Mac parts.  Which also leads to being able to have a more powerful machine if you buy the right parts.

[J. Thomas Gebauer]

AutoCad being available for Mac’s is a huge benefit.  The other bonuses of getting a Mac are: you get to be part of an elitist mentality, your coffee gets served quicker at coffee shops, boot time is faster (not by much), programs start quicker, and printing is a little bit quicker which can be huge during final product time.  But after that there really aren’t many reasons to get a mac.  

 

They are way over priced.  Some programs are still not available such as ArcMap which is basically and essential program for all grad students.  Almost all Mac users end up having to use a PC or install Windows by partioning their hard drive.  But a PC user never gets put in a bind where they need a Mac.  During finals times when we were using our computers the heaviest Mac users were having a lot of problems with their computers crashing while most PC users weren’t having such problems. BOTH computers are susceptible to viruses and is largely up to you the user to use your computer appropriately.

 

If you’re a little bit savy you can acquire programs for free plus a lot of programs have free student versions (AutoDesk).  If you’re a helvetica nut, that can be downloaded easily so that’s not an arguing point and if you do a little bit of shopping you can find better looking PC’s than Macs.

 

The cheapest route to go would be to get a netbook and a good hard drive then use your schools lab computers.  Good luck to you in your program.

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