[P1] 17" Laptops P.S.

[Wiebe Wilbers]

On 5/11/03 10:15 AM, "Fred Stevens K2FRD" <K2FRD at stny.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> They're not, at least in my own experience with my PCs. Almost every
> time I want to do what would be a simple upgrade or installation on
> my Mac (a few seconds or minutes) takes hours, sometimes days and
> weeks on my PCs. I have gotten so shellshocked at the prospect of
> installing something new on my PC that I dread such an installation,
> wondering what will go wrong this time, how long will it take before
> I finally get it working, and how much is it going to cost me in
> unexpected supplementary purchases before I finally get it working?

I'm glad I'm not the only one there - I use multiple platforms - Win XP, Mac
OS 8.6 and 10.2.8 (soon 10.3...)

The 8.6 machines are used for basic word processing, e-mail, wireless
networking (on a 1400c) scanning, etc etc. OS X I use on my iceBook and iMac
Flat Panel, and XP is running on a brand-name wintel box (Compaq). Of those,
the most stable is of course OS X, with not ONE upgrade/install ever going
wrong or taking an excessive length of time to figure out (even 10.2.8 mach
1). I installed a Video Card into the XP box almost a year ago, and it STILL
causes random freezes or strange screen behaviour (3 total re-installs
later). Nothing will run on the damn thing, and I have simply given up. That
machine now just serves the internet, printer and MP3's. Had we spent the
same money on a Mac, we would have had a highly productive dual-processor
Macintosh, with the same stability and dependability I enjoy from my
(older-than-the-PC) laptop.
 
> My Macally optical mouse works fine with its left-click, right-click,
> scroll wheel on my iBook 14.1" 900. $30. Worked fine out of the box
> as a plug-and-play; the included software CD wasn't necessary except
> to provide the mouse with its own preferences (click and scroll
> speeds). I could have, but didn't get and don't need anything any
> fancier (trackball, up-down scroll, inside-out and
> trim-the-sideburns). My Dell's optical with all the trimmings keeps
> losing its cursor.
> 

My wireless optical explorer mouse hasn't had a problem either. I admit, it
was made by Microsoft. Clearly their hardware is better than their software.

>> But thats not the point.  The point of my post was to show a little
>> bit of contrast, to just show a counterpoint to the way you were
>> discussing the windows machines.  They are different no doubt, but I
>> don't believe that your experiences are true of every user.  The
>> scales are just not that unbalanced.
> 
> Not in my experience.

Nor mine, or many people I know who have seen what I can do with the Mac,
and have since switched over. These are not users like me, who have grown up
on Mac and therefore a little biased, but see the platform for what it truly
is - A viable alternative to the crap put out by Microsoft.

> 
>>   What I have read a horror stories, and thats all they are.
>> Everything usually falls in the middle.  Happy Mac users, Happy PC
>> users =).
> 
> As a [rabid] Mac fan who uses both platforms and is the only Mac
> users among a group of 40 or so technically-oriented computer users
> (ham radio operators), I was continuously on the defensive. In recent
> years, I have prevailed and am now on the offensive with most Windows
> and PC users admitting their PC is inferior to my Mac. This is
> especially borne out when the latest virus bites someone and they end
> up having to send their machine to the shop for major [expensive]
> repairs/disinfecting. I don't know more than a few who are perfectly
> happy with their PCs, but these few do only occasional email and
> browsing, nothing else.
> 
Same here, I wonder if this is a trend all over the world... If there are
more and more PC/Windows users out there dissatisfied with MS, and looking
over the fence towards Mac, perhaps there is a boost in sales headed Apple's
way...

> However, the SINGLEMOST REASON why the PC users don't switch to Macs
> is that they have grown accustomed to their PCs, warts and all, and
> "are too old to change and don't want to learn a new system".

I think you just nailed it - people are simply scared of change. However,
arguments such as this one occur all over, and by switching from PC to Mac
is like admitting you were wrong all along. Is stubborn pride all that is
keeping MS in business you think? :-)

My 2c ($AU 0.03)