:scared: Hi, I am thinking about buying a Mac for web surfing, word processing, some light gaming, maybe some photo stuff. I have a PC now that is running Windows and I am sick of the freezing, blue screen of death, etc. Don't want to spend a ton - I'm thinking low end Mac or used. Any advice?

Thanks,

Laura

I have a Windows XP computer, and a Linux Computer (Linspire) and have use of my wife's iMac.

The iMac is the best, but cost more than twice what both of my other PC's cost combined. The comparison figures I am using are for "bought from store" prices.

Jack is right about XP being a vast improvement over its predecessors.

I have been building computers since 1990 and if I ever got lazy and had plenty of money, I would buy a Mac, but XP is much cheaper and Linspire even cheaper than that. Linspire's only short-coming is that does not play some of the games that you might want to play. But it is virus, spyware and hack resistant (as is a Mac).

MAC...they are the Best!!!! I have an I Book from 2002 and it is running like new! The new ones are even better. You can do anything..photos, video, music, art, anything! No problems at all!!!! By now I would have had to replace my PC at least once or paid lots of $ to have it fixed. Macs are also very easy and you get free classes at the Apple store. Also free help anytime!:scared:

Mac!!!! I'd kill for one of those new 24" iMac!!! ahhhh.... *drool*

I've had both. I've always had nothing but problems with my PC's. CD drives dying, viruses, whatever! And not ONE problem with either of the 2 mac's I've had. I had my first Mac (iMac) for 3 years, but sold it (for more than half of what it was worth, mind you!) after being convinced that I needed this $3000 PC to do what I do on it. That freakin' PC, ONE YEAR LATER, will not turn on, and not one place can figure out why!

Anyways, for what you want to do with it, a Mac will be your best friend.

I haven't had any problems with my PC (Dell). I bought it in 2001 and so far so good. I have a lot of space dedicated to digital imaging and video, and haven't noticed any slow down. I have been quite happy with my PC.

DOn't have anything bad to say about Mac's though - I've never owned one!

Good luck!

Right now I have a dell laptop, but it is slowly dieing on me. I have started a Mac fund. After doing a lot of research, and talking with people who have switched from PC to Mac and say they would never go back, I have absolutely got to have one. Of course, I am also a major gadget freak. I love all the new techy stuff. My latest toy is a blackberry pearl, and I am loving playing with it too.

As much as TOM and Jack are right, Macs are more expensive, but to me, my time is also expensive and all that time spent loading Patches and fixes and getting rid of viruses wasn't worth it.

Spend a little extra money and get what works.

Just my .02

edited to say: been using macs for almost ten years now and have loved them all...actually wept when my old laptop was too old to run OSX

Is it that much more expensive? $999 (US) for the base model, which includes the computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse? I guess you can get cheapo computers nowadays, but this bad boy will last you years, and you'll still use it for more and more years, when you upgrade to the next better one!

I've been a Mac user for 20 years. Started with a tiny Mac Plus, now have a G4 that's a few years old but still running strong. I did have to switch to PC at work 2 years ago. Managed OK, but love my Mac. Of course now that I'm unemployed, I couldn't afford to buy anything, so hopefully my Mac will keep on going. Also, as long as your talking PhotoShop or Microsoft Office, the programs are cross platform, so that helps alot.

I bought a MacIntosh 512 computer in about 1986. I have had Macs ever since then, but now I use my Dell laptop all the time. I have a nice Mac with OSX and stuff on it, but it's a desktop and I can't use it on the coffee table. Also the Dell interfaces with school IBMs and the Mac doesn't. But I'm keeping my Mac just in case. I highly recommend both Mozilla Firefox as a browser and Mozilla Thunderbird for email. I also have a gmail account for spam and stuff. All business mail goes through gmail. I think the Google folks are probably a whole lot better at fraud than the Microsoft folks are. Also I think the Mozilla folks are people who lost their jobs when Netscape went belly up. They started their own company and they're good. But if you want a reliable computer and don't have to worry about interfaces, get a Mac. They last forever. In fact, I've had about 5 Macs and got new ones just to upgrade. I never had a Mac crash though my 512 did have a screen problem back in the 80s. By the way, you can also run Word documents on a Mac though it costs a bundle. Happy computing. Also you can get iTunes on a Mac and Apple has the best batch of music of anyone. I downloaded about 53 songs on my Dell, but you can't run your iTune player except with a Mac, as far as I know.

To be honest, I have hated Macs since school. I know they are supposed to be easier to use, but to me, everything is counter-intuitive. Even with all the Windows problems, I prefer my Sony Vaio. Although, I have given up on IE. I use Mozilla Firefox for all my internet surfing, and the majority of the problems I saw with IE are gone.

Mac's have been better in many ways ever since they came out, but they are not problem free.

My wife's iMac threw a fit once and it was barely usable until it was reformatted and the OS reinstalled.

Luckily, I had attached a USB hard-drive and copied all her pictures, music, and MS-Word and Excel files before the iMac threw its fit.

Yes, Mozilla Firefox is great. I use it on my XP PC, my Linux (Linspire) PC and have it on my wife's iMac, but every once in a while, we try to open a web-page and we get a message that says that this page needs Internet Explorer (IE) version 5 or higher, or sometimes v6 or higher.

Also, sometimes some gif files (that my wife receives via e-mail) have no movement or will not open, so she forwards the e-mails to me so she can see them (in action).

Yes, the Mac is a better computer, but Micro$oft has gone out of its way to make life difficult for Apple, Mozilla and Linux, by changing standards (protocols) in mid-stream (that they have previously agreed upon). Micro$oft just puts out an update and all Windows PC's see things correctly, but Mac's, Linux PC's and Windows' PC's using Mozilla (or other 3rd party browsers) are screwed.

I'm curious what kind of computer and which windows OS you have that you get the blue screen all the time.

I honestly do not have a whole lot of mac experience, but I used them in school, and did some programming for one in a computer app class, and I wasn't too impressed. I've been very happy with Windows XP, and I've also been using Windows Vista on my home pc since beta 2, and I haven't had any issues with it, other than drivers I am waiting for, and I'm only missing them for only one set of headphones and my off brand graphics tablet.

My humble advice - PC. I have both. Macs shine when it comes to processing power, specifically for things like rendering graphics or compiling video. Most things multimedia.

If you aren't hardcore or even moderately into that type of processing, then a PC will do just fine. If you're having problems with stability, you need to look at why. Windows might blue screen occasionally, but if it's happening all the time, there's something else going on that could be as simple as a reboot or wipe. Freezing tends to point to memory (if local) or bandwidth (if online). What are you doing when your computer freezes? Care to post your specs, so some of us can review for you? You might just be underpowered for what you're trying to do, and investing $80 or $100 into some RAM could be a lot cheaper solution than buying a new computer.

Hubby is a "computer guy" but deals with operating systems other than Windows... but he's very adept at general troubleshooting, can build a computer from scratch with his eyes closed, and knows about all there is to know - even about "Winblows" (as he calls it!) If you want to post what you have, and what you do/want out of a computer, I'll have him take a look.

Oh,m yeah - I'll second ditching IE. It *can* be done. And even if you aren't comfortable doing it, it's easy to bypass. I'm a big fan of Firefox. And there are lots of easy tweaks you can make to it to get hellacious performance above and beyond what the standard configuration afford you. I even like Thunderbird, though it's not my favorite.

Yeah, I should add, of the computers we have running Windows, only one (my web dev main) has IE on it, and only because I have to test for compatibility with IE. The others run other browsers and mail clients... heck we don't even run messenger on them.

I use Firefox almost exclusively. It's only "almost" because I have to use it sometimes at work to verify compatibility with my client's software, and because there are still a few sites out there that just don't work right in FF.

Once you get used to FF, you'll start to LOVE their tabbing system, and I also love the extensions you can get. I actually have an extension that will open an IE window IN a Firefox tab. It's so cool.

Also, like Wheetsin said, if you post your components n' stuff, I'll have my fiance take a look and give his 2 cents on it as well.