If you have a Mac. . .

[FourOaks]

please tell me why you love it.

 

Would you buy another?

 

Which Mac is the best deal for the price?

 

Will be using for just about everything if we get one. Really starting to get the itch to take the jump before we start back to school in the fall. I've never owned or used anything other than a PC, so I really would like to know if they are as superb as I hear they are. In fact, I've never heard anyone who has a Mac complain. Period. PCs, now all I have are complaints and all I hear are complaints.

 

Thanks!!

[LoveBaby]

Well...for starters, it's gorgeous. Makes the rest of my house look shabby! :D

 

I've never had it crash and I think Safari has only locked up a couple of times when downloading huge pdf's...I think that was the internet's fault.

 

It does *almost* everything I want it too, there are only a couple of things I wish it had or could do, but they aren't worth the hassle and mess of going back to a PC. If I am desperate for one of those programs then I use the kiddo's computer. And within about 15min. I'm ready to throw it out the window!!

 

They are truly a spectacular machine!!

 

Oh...I would totally buy another. In fact, I am going back to school and my DH and I trying to figure out if we should sell the iMac and get me a MacBook Pro or if I should just get an iPad w/ keyboard and keep the iMac for work at home. As soon as the kid's computer bites the dust, I will replace it with the simple MacBook for them.

 

I could easily become an Apple snob (if I haven't already!)

Edited May 26, 2011 by LoveBaby

[Missouri Okie]

Another reason to love it is that it is virus free (so far, anyway).

 

I'd definitely buy another.

[nikkistone]

Well...for starters, it's gorgeous. Makes the rest of my house look shabby! :D

 

I just recently switched from a PC to a Mac. And I LOVE IT! With a PC, maintenance is such a hassle. If something goes wrong, the culprit could be 1 of 1,000,000 things. There are so many more viruses aimed at PCs.

 

On the other hand, you may have to rebuy a lot of your software if it's not cross-platform. Also, there doesn't appear to be any non-online software (like HST+) that will natively work on a Mac. Yet. I'm hopeful that something will come out!

 

I ended up with the Macbook Pro (the smallest screen size, which is plenty big). I knew I wanted a laptop. And what tipped me to the Pro versus the regular Macbooks was the lighted keyboard. Sounds lame. But if you're in a low-lit room, or in bed at night while hubby sleeps, you can see the keys. Not only does it look cool, but it's an extremely functional thing to have!

 

Macmall.com woud be your best bet for saving the most money. It won't be a significant savings, but you will pay less than at apple.com or the Apple store.

 

I have drunk the kool-aid and am a full-fledged Apple groupie! :)

[rhrice3]

Well, first of all we have NEVER had a virus in all the years that we have owned Mac's - now going on 14 yrs. Secondly, they rarely ever freeze up or crash and they can open any file and do everything that we need.

 

Lastly, they will last forever with minor repairs and the apple people are great at helping with any problem!

ReneeR

[skueppers]

I've been a Mac user for 25 years, but I also have two computers that run Windows and one that runs Linux. Before I started staying home with my kids, I was in IT. I spent many years providing support to people who used a variety of operating systems.

 

One of the best things about the Mac is that things just work. You spend very little time thinking about fixing your computer or making it work better, so you can concentrate on what you're actually trying to do. Upgrade the OS? No problem, things keep working. Buy a new computer? The migration tool will move all your accounts, files, everything over to the new machine. Want to limit your kids' time on the computer, applications they can use, or web sites they can visit? Turn on Parental Controls. Need to set up printing? No problem, the Mac can find your network printers. It's just -- easy. And unlike Windows, it stays easy. Sure, Windows may have a wizard to help you with somethingorother, but that doesn't help if things go wrong.

 

Because Apple controls the hardware and the operating system, they have a much easier time keeping things working the way you expect.

 

If you ever do have a problem, the people at the Apple Store are really knowledgeable and helpful. Of course, not everyone lives near an Apple Store.

 

I would recommend an iMac, I did wind up needing the AppleCare extended warranty on my last iMac, so I would suggest that add-on. I recently bought the mid-range iMac, and am very happy with it.

[Boxing Hare]

We got a refurbished mac from the apple website and haven't had any problems with it. It saved some money on the mac.

 

I thought apple snobs were odd until I became one.

[justamouse]

 

I thought apple snobs were odd until I became one.

:lol::lol::lol:

 

Just jump. You won't regret it.

[kalanamak]

No viruses, never crashes. Pleasing to the eye. And for me, intuitive.

[abrightmom]

iMac user and lover extraordinaire....i :001_wub: Mac and will soon be Mama to an iPad. Missed Fed Ex today.... DH says "We're a Mac Family now." To answer your questions specifically, I don't know about the best deal for the price. I would go to a Mac store and ask questions there. There are plenty of Macs on the floor to play with and plenty of knowledgeable staff. Our Mac is very easy to use and I think it is somewhat intuitive. The screen is gorgeous. I really like typing on the keyboard and using the magic mouse. I guess I don't know how to be more specific...it is a smooth, efficient tool. I'm still in the learning curve and don't know how to do everything with it yet but we're getting there bit by bit.

 

Yes, we'd definitely buy another one. Not anytime soon though as we've maxed our budget for some time! We saved up for quite a while for the computer & iPad but it was worth the wait. We limped along with our little PC laptop for far longer than I wanted to and we almost caved in and bought a cheaper computer. We are beyond thankful that we waited until we had the $$ to buy the iMac. Wow! I can't believe we could've missed out on owning such an amazing tool. I am so thankful.

Edited May 26, 2011 by abrightmom

[RobinF]

LOVE our mac. We are converting to a complete apple family. If Sprint would get the iPhone we would have those also. We currently have a MacBook, 2 iPods and I just got my new baby an iPad.

 

Before I opened this post, I was working on a file in numbers for my lesson plans for next year. As I was figuring out how to do something I told my dh that "I love this computer!" It is so easy to use and once you figure something out then it is like "aha! That makes complete sense."

 

We have only had it freeze a couple of times. It is quick and easy to reboot. It is a breeze to back up. We run lots of graphics on it for church and never have a problem. There are tons of apps to do different things on it. It syncs beautifully with the iPad. The computer itself is much sturdier than a regular laptop. We have blown through three laptops in the last two years because we transport them frequently for church. The mac is in great shape.

 

Come on over, this side isn't so dark after all.

[ChandlerMom]

People still like to say Macs are more expensive, but that hasn't been true for many years. Consider when you get an iMac you've gotten everything you'll need while most "cheap PCs" would require $$$ of software to even be useable.

 

I love that OS X is built on Unix, not DOS -- inherently more secure. I can even port compiled UNIX apps to my Mac! It's smooth, seamless, and sleek with the underbelly of a UNIX programmer's dream -- an underbelly you NEVER need to know about to use the thing (no more MS Tech Support telling you, "ok, open a DOS command prompt window and type c:\Windows\System32\ISuck\09785837.dll"). I can use eye-candy iPhoto and hardcore vi... at the same time with no issues.

 

As to backups and migration twix macs -- one cool thing is they also take care of apps. In other words, even if you have Office on your Mac you'll never have to pull out the install disks again! As to Office -- I finally dumped it for a FREEWARE Office suite that works better. There's no issue sending things between Mac and PC users, and like the others have said, it just...works. And if you buy an App from Apple's App store, it automatically installs on ALL your Macs. And doesn't screw anything up in the process.

 

Definitely go to an Apple Store if you have one nearby and fondle their gear. Then you'll understand. :lol: Note that you can order an iMac with either the mouse of trackpad (which I prefer), so test ride that as well.

[Thea]

About two years I bought a MacBook Pro after having had an ipod classic and then an itouch. I love, love, my Mac. It just...works.

 

We still have a PC, but when it dies, I've told dh we are replacing it with an imac...when my phone is due for an upgrade in December, I'm getting an iphone (yeah, Verizon *finally*).

 

I just. love. it.

 

I did buy Office for Mac for my dh, but it works great and I've had *zero* problems with my Mac.

[kolamum]

Yes, we use one.

 

Yes, we'd buy another.

 

No, I wouldn't own a pc.

 

 

Mac's don't get viruses like pc's do. They can have the occasional problem, generally Apple is great about dealing with it promptly. Out of 6 macs we've only had one that ever had any issues with it. Turned out it had bad ram and once it was fixed never a problem did we have.

 

The downside to Macs is that NOT all programmes are capable of running on them. Upside? You can run parallel on a Mac which permits you to put windows on it and you can choose to boot into windows or Mac.

 

Our school desktop Mac is split like this. Despite TT saying it could work on Mac or Windows it only works on Windows. :glare: We also have a few educational games that only work on the windows side. It drives me a little bit batty, but we work with it. :D

[jelbe5]

Mac only here since the early 1990s. I have never owned a Windows based computer. The Mac computers we have owned have never had a virus or given us any trouble.

 

We just recently purchased a refurbished MacBook Pro and a 1st generation refurbished iPad. Both come with a warranty. Buying a refurbished item will save you some $.

 

They ARE expensive, but in my opinion the products from Apple are simply worth. every. penny.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Reliable, good customer service, no viruses. 3laptops, an iMac, 5 iPods and I'm typing on my iPad. Those are all of various vintages and still going strong.

[lmrich]

They happily extended the educators' discount to me for an additional 10% off.

 

Love my mac - won't go back.

 

Ditto for what everyone else has said. It works, never a glitch. It is fast.

[FourOaks]

Wow, thank you all for these replies. I am convinced that we should get a Mac. Now it's just a matter of figuring out which one and having the money to afford it.

 

If I have wireless in my house that is run through a PC desktop, will that affect setting up my Mac on wireless?

 

One of my biggest concerns is all the educational software that we have possibly not being able to run on a Mac. What about all of that? Disks I have and programs I've paid for and downloaded that I chose specificallly for "PC". Would I always have to have a PC in order to run those?

[Crazyderiver]

We have a Mac mini and an apple TV (i think ours was $99). I can access all our photos, iTunes, Netflix, and more from the tv. It is linked to our Mac so that I can use online videos and tutorials from the computer ON the tv! I navigate the computer and the kids view it on the tv screen. No more scrunching around the computer screen! (I'm not techy, so this could be done other ways, but it is my favorite and most useful feature.)

 

The Mac has been a little learning curve, but like pps it is very intuitive. We love our little Mac world.

 

Go for it!

[FourOaks]

bump

[Hedgehogs4]

for all the reasons the pps have stated. I needed something very intuitive...I am not a computer person at all, so I needed something that was easy and stayed easy.

 

My dh will always have a pc because of his job, but he respects apple and admires my mac.

 

I have the biggest monitor you can get and I love it. My kids have one for school, but they have made the coolest videos and stop motions with imovie. They love their mac, too.

[Guest]

I echo everything everyone else said. We love ours. We plan on buying more Macs in the future. My oldest keeps drooling over the MacBook for his birthday. He can keep drooling for a while.

 

It took some convincing for my dh to get one but he is loving it now.

[Five More Minutes]

We have been Mac users for over 10 years and love them. They work. They don't have viruses. They don't crash. They last a long, long time.

 

And they're pretty. :-)

[KLinWI]

We are on our 3rd desktop in 25 years. That's all.

We've also had only 3 laptops between us in 25 years. That's all.

2 iPhones, 1 ipad, multiple iPods.

 

There is no learning curve when we get a new device. And they are rock solid. You don't have to upgrade to have a working machine very often. AND whenever I have gone into an Apple store in an acquiring frame of mind, they have never ever tried to sell me up. In fact, I've ended up spending LESS than I intended with the help of their staff.

[Flux]

Ditto what everyone else said. I haven't bought myself a black, mock turtleneck, yet.

 

Even though a high selling point is the reliability, etc. Don't let that factor talk you out of buying Apple Care, just to save a buck. It's expensive to call them if you need to without it. Besides, it is a really great service and they are always so polite and helpful.

[RobinF]

Wow, thank you all for these replies. I am convinced that we should get a Mac. Now it's just a matter of figuring out which one and having the money to afford it.

 

If I have wireless in my house that is run through a PC desktop, will that affect setting up my Mac on wireless?

 

One of my biggest concerns is all the educational software that we have possibly not being able to run on a Mac. What about all of that? Disks I have and programs I've paid for and downloaded that I chose specificallly for "PC". Would I always have to have a PC in order to run those?

 

You shouldn't have a problem with your wireless. We have our router connected to our desktop pc which is our slowest computer in the house and have no problem with our laptops running off the wireless including the mac.

 

How many educational programs are you talking about? The programs that you have chosen do they have the choice of mac or pc? If there is the choice then I would contact the company and see if you can get a download for mac. If that isn't an option then one poster mentioned that you can get a program that will allow you to run windows on a mac. I will tell you that after using the mac I prefer NOT to use windows again. So any I would have to absolutely LOVE any program to convince me to use windows on my mac. So far there isn't any software that I care for that much.

[meet me in paris]

I would recommend an iMac, I did wind up needing the AppleCare extended warranty on my last iMac, so I would suggest that add-on. I recently bought the mid-range iMac, and am very happy with it.

:iagree: We love our Macs. Love, love, love. :001_wub:

 

Two out of the 3 we have, we have bought refurbished from Apple. The discount buying refurbished covered the extra 3-year warranty and it is so worth it. We were living in Italy and had a crazy power surge that blew out everything in our house. Apple replaced our computer with a phone call. Any little issue that arises, they take care of. Worth every penny!

 

My iMac (that I am working on right now) I bought while I was in grad school in 2005... it's still going strong. I cannot say that about *any* Windows machine I ever owned. 2 years was about the shelf life on those. So while you will spend a little more up front, the savings will come in the long run! (And you won't be adding to the landfills. LOL)

[FourOaks]

Thanks to all of you who chimed in about this! We spent 2.5 hours at the Apple store on Friday night -- what a blast. I could ask very informed questions based on what I had learned from all of you.

 

We got our MacBook Pro and I am in LOVE!!!! It's my new baby. Why, oh why did we not spend the $$ on Macs years ago?

 

Now I'm interested in the refurbished ones from Apple for our kids. Do any others of you have experience with this?

[Snowfall]

We have a Macbook Pro (laptop) and an iMac (desktop) and we absolutely love both of them. The ONLY problems I've had are with Discovery Streaming videos and Adobe. The Discovery Streaming issue is that it won't play videos in the highest resolution setting when I'm using Safari. That is because there's some program that's not allowing it, and we don't know what. The solution is to wipe the computer clean and reinstall everything. This is according to the people at the Apple store, who spent over an hour trying to fix it (FOR FREE, IN PERSON - try getting that from another brand!!!). It's not really a big deal and it's not a normal problem with the computer. It works fine on my desktop, just not the laptop, so we know for sure it's just something we put on this computer somewhere along the way. Plus, I can play everything in any quality I want using Firefox or Google chrome, so I haven't bothered to have it fixed.

 

The Adobe thing is the only thing that really, really, really makes me mad, but that problem is the perfect storm of printer, software, and computer. If I had a different printer or a PC it would print properly. It's just that this particular Canon printer with Adobe on Macs doesn't print properly. You can still print, but you can't print duplex or fast or anything like that. Not a problem with different printers using this computer (I've checked) and not a problem with this printer using a PC (I've checked that, too). Very weird, and it's not really Mac's fault. It's Adobe's fault, IMO.

 

So those are the extent of my problems, and I've had the iMac for almost 2 years and the Macbook for 18 months. I've never had a computer for this long without seeing major problems with things getting slower and slower, but BOTH of the Macs are still perfect. They're pretty awesome. <3

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I haven't bought a computer but I did buy the kids' iPods refurbished from Apple. Haven't had a moments trouble with them in 3 years (you can imagine how hard a couple of pre-teens are on such devices). One had once seemed to die but in reality it just need to charge up for an extra long time before working-the battery was 100% empty.

 

I would have some confidence in their re-furb dept.

 

Do keep in mind that if you just bought a Mac you should have a free upgrade to Lion when it comes out. You just have to file for it and this is a time sensitive issue so don't let it wait.

 

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/06/06lion.html?aosid=p204&siteid=1503186&program_id=2554&cid=OAS-EMEA-AFF&tduid=4e117c63804d72622adec79eee8b8437

[Boxing Hare]

Now I'm interested in the refurbished ones from Apple for our kids. Do any others of you have experience with this?

 

We've had ours 3 years and haven't had any problems with it. I think my husband found it on apple's website.

[PeterPan]

You need to go to macrumors and see when the new things are due out. I think they're talking about a new AirMac soon with a better processor. That would be really sweet for kids. If I had boatloads of money lying around to do all the things I dream up, I'd... yeah an airmac would make the list. And an ipad. And...

 

Oh mercy, is it MacAir? Now you know how swift I am. Well there you go, check macrumors.

[WishboneDawn]

People still like to say Macs are more expensive, but that hasn't been true for many years. Consider when you get an iMac you've gotten everything you'll need while most "cheap PCs" would require $$$ of software to even be useable.

 

Just one thing. Most cheap PCs come with Windows and beyond that you can find everything you need for free.

[Pastor's Wife]

We absolutely love our MacBook laptop! We've had our MacBook for 4 years and it's still going strong and virus-free. Would never go back to a PC! Take the plunge. You won't regret it!

[Rhonda in WA]

Total apple family here. Love it so very much! We have an imac & a mac book. Hubby just got me an ipad for mothers day. I also have an iphone 4 & my oldest dd got my old iphone 3 when she went away for a summer gymnastics camp last year. So yes, we would buy more. Teehee

 

Won't ever go back to a pc.

[Greta]

We had two PC's destroyed by viruses, after months of frustration with them freezing up and crashing constantly before they got the viruses (when they were still very new and working "normally"!). We've bought Macs since and will never go back. I have an iMac, and we just bought my daughter a Mac mini this past Christmas. The Mac mini is a pretty impressive little machine. Neither of us ever have any unexplained freezing up or crashing. I did have ONE minor problem with the power supply on my iMac in all these years (7?) that I've owned it. I got it fixed at the local Mac store, and the customer service was fantastic.

 

We own iPod nanos, an iPod Touch, and an iPad too. We are not wealthy and are normally pretty frugal, but we feel good about "splurging" on Apple products because we know we can trust them to function well and last long.