×
What's new
By:

Trying to Decide between a new PC or Mac M2

Jeremy Spencer said:
The thing is, AppleCare is more than just defections/failures, it also covers unlimited accidental damage. If your dog knocks over a coffee onto your Mac Studio, I'm pretty sure a Sale of Goods Act isn't going to do much for you. $60 per year is a fart in the wind in this regard. A colleague recently dropped his new iPhone 14 Pro in water by accident.....it was toast. Apple gave him a brand new phone, saving him having to sell out $1500. To each his own, though.
Click to expand...
Not to mention ... pretty sure the rest of us are subsidizing that SoG.
 
MartinH. said:
It's more than that, apple could make very drastic changes to how their ecosystem works at any time
Click to expand...
I've been hearing this for years and the only drastic changes they've made is their chipset, the most recent of which was fairly painless and ultimately a good thing. I think such worries are unnecessary. Like I said, I've been on Mac for quite some time now and have never had a major issue. What I HAVE had is an operating system that gives me a great experience, largely because it's beautifully integrated with the software.
 
robgb said:
I've been on MacOS for over a decade now but have never experienced this problem.aybe because I don't immediately jump into the next version. That would just be silly.
Click to expand...
Example: anything after Mojave won’t run 32-bit software.

We’ve all experienced it.

Whether you wait until your software has been updated is a separate issue.
 
robgb said:
I've been hearing this for years and the only drastic changes they've made is their chipset, the most recent of which was fairly painless and ultimately a good thing. I think such worries are unnecessary. Like I said, I've been on Mac for quite some time now and have never had a major issue. What I HAVE had is an operating system that gives me a great experience, largely because it's beautifully integrated with the software.
Click to expand...
It has happened, although maybe you as a user haven't noticed it. Apple is infamous among devs with all the breaking changes they regularly introduce.

Although (like I argued a couple of posts before) many of these breaking changes during the intel era were probably to prepare the Mac for Apple Silicon.
 
kgdrum said:
You’ve never had a boot drive failure ? Without APPLECARE you would have a dead Mac. I will approach this the other way when I purchase my next Mac.
After 4 or 5 years there’s no problem than I will consider ditching APPLECARE but only after I see it’s not a dud and it’s done well at least a year or two after the original warranty expired.
But living in Mexico you have a different set of circumstances and warranty issues that totally changes the equation.
Click to expand...
I've had three Macs. The first two lasted at least six years, and in fact the second is still going strong but has been retired to media service so I could switch to #3, an M1 Mac. I've never needed Apple Care. I personally think it's a waste of money. If you get a lemon, chances are good it will fail sooner rather than later.
 
Pier said:
It has happened, although maybe you as a user haven't noticed it. Apple is infamous among devs with all the breaking changes they regularly introduce.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. But I think it's up to developers to keep up. There are still a couple that haven't caught up to Arm two years after the fact. But that's their problem, not Apple's.
 
robgb said:
Fair enough. But I think it's up to developers to keep up. There are still a couple that haven't caught up to Arm two years after the fact. But that's their problem, not Apple's.
Click to expand...
But it wouldn't be their problem if it weren't for Apple. Can't shift "blame" fully to developers who may be running on a shoestring vs. a company closing in on being valued at 3 trillion US dollars. The flip side is that if you choose to be a developer, it's also on you - if you want to stay in business - to keep up with technological changes on platforms. Apple just makes it harder, sucking up time and money.
 
Nick Batzdorf said:
But you’re recommending an extended warranty for a mouse?
Click to expand...

Yeah, cables break easily, some of the switches for the buttons do too. I've fixed several broken mice with resoldering the cable. I've also repurposed switches from buttons I don't need (DPI switch) to replace switches that broke from heavy use (middle mouse button). Couldn't find a good source of spare parts or else I probably would still be using that type of mouse. Switched to logitech now. We'll see how long they last but I don't have very high hopes that they outlive the extended warranty.
 
Nick Batzdorf said:
I’m a fan of the Apple Magic Mouse. They last a long time.

But you’re recommending an extended warranty for a mouse?
Click to expand...
I did. Took my 3-year old track pad in (right at the end of the $39 warranty) and they gave me a brand new, next-gen model. I just told them it was having connection issues. Now I'm good for another 3 years! :)
 
vitocorleone123 said:
But it wouldn't be their problem if it weren't for Apple. Can't shift "blame" fully to developers who may be running on a shoestring vs. a company closing in on being valued at 3 trillion US dollars. The flip side is that if you choose to be a developer, it's also on you - if you want to stay in business - to keep up with technological changes on platforms. Apple just makes it harder, sucking up time and money.
Click to expand...
Apple is trying to improve their products and make them the best user experience they can. It's not as if they are intentionally making it hard for developers. If a developer can't keep up, that's their problem. The only "blame" Apple shares in this is their desire to grow and change. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, to get back to the original question on this thread, for a number of reasons, I wouldn't even think about getting a PC. I'd grab that M2 in a heartbeat.
 
MartinH. said:
Not sure where you are getting those prices from, but I bought a pretty beefy PC (built-to-order from parts I selected - one of the least cost effective options) for less than 4k Euro in December 2021, and a lot of the same components are way cheaper now. It's a Ryzen 5900X with 64gb RAM and an RTX 3060. If you're spending 6k USD "minimum" on a PC, you might be overpaying on something.



@José Herring: I didn't read the whole thread, did you make a decision yet?
Click to expand...
Yes. I can upgrade my current system to the highest PC specs for $1000 and then I'll get a the Mac computer within a year. It will give time to sort out any incompatability issues. I've decided that I'm not too worried about future compatibility though. I have little need to worry about that these days.
 
robgb said:
Apple is trying to improve their products and make them the best user experience they can. It's not as if they are intentionally making it hard for developers. If a developer can't keep up, that's their problem. The only "blame" Apple shares in this is their desire to grow and change. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, to get back to the original question on this thread, for a number of reasons, I wouldn't even think about getting a PC. I'd grab that M2 in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
Sorry, but no. Apple is trying to make the most money possible by selling the perception they are making the best user experience they can (they absolutely don't always do so - I've conducted enough UX research and done enough UX design over the last 25 years to know they're arrogant, often make mistakes and are late after others do it right, and that money rules not the UX which is the same as at every company). It absolutely is Apple's problem to take care of developers creating for their platform, but they're so wealthy they just don't care that much so they're very happy to alienate whomever they want in their efforts to get to 3 trillion market cap and beyond... No altruistic company with the best user experience possible as the end all, be all goal, is going to be valued that highly.

Apple knows how to design and ship (a key point) pretty things and, just as much, knows how to market pretty things (and ruthlessly corner markets), and those are the biggest keys to their success.

I'd totally recommend a PC as a desktop solution if the person needed the fastest speeds possible (likely saving money is an added bonus) - with lots of caveats about heat, power consumption, the need to learn a bit about how computers work and Windows works etc. - which, if any of those were a problem, I'd recommend a Mac.

I'd totally NOT recommend a Windows laptop at this point in time, though, but almost all because of efficiency in the hardware as opposed to any intrinsic Mac value.
 
Last edited:
vitocorleone123 said:
Sorry, but no.
Click to expand...
Sorry, but yes. Apple has never been less than a wonderful user experience for me when compared directly with my Windows user experience, and it continues to get better and better. Clearly we disagree.

But before this winds up in the Apple v. PC drama zone, I will withdraw from the conversation.
 
robgb said:
Sorry, but yes. Apple has never been less than a wonderful user experience for me when compared directly with my Windows user experience, and it continues to get better and better. Clearly we disagree.

But before this winds up in the Apple v. PC drama zone, I will withdraw from the conversation.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Not saying they aren't successful overall or have bad UX etc., but my career is in the tech industry, not the music industry. I have an MBP, my wife has an Air, my daughter will have an Air and has an iPad Pro, we have a shared iPad, and all 4 of us have iPhones. I also have a Windows PC, and my son has a Windows laptop (gaming focused).

Here's 2 real examples from awhile back so I feel safe to mention them

1) it was known for years that the best experience for a mobile device was to have notifications and related at the top level so people can glance and manage them (and, yes, I did some of that early research, but other phone manufacturers confirmed it), but it took Apple years longer to get to it because THEY didn't prioritize the user experience.

2) in a large unboxing UX research study, it was observed that people expected Apple computers to be easier to set up out of the box than a purpose-built PC from a manufacturer (not just a generic one for business) but, in reality, they had just as many issues overall with both - though the issues often weren't the same

I'm speaking from data and research, not personal experience. I'm not trying to be dramatic, just factual. I'm not anti-Apple OR anti-Windows. As mentioned by Pier earlier, the decision should be nuanced. Many people just make a decision based either on budget or how pretty something is.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom