PC or MAC? Which to buy

[Sancho]

My advice would also be to go for a mac. It's a totally different experience. There are issues with PCs that you learn to put up with to the extent that you don't even notice them anymore. It's only when you get a mac and it's as reliable, stable and simple to use as a TV or DVD player that you realise how rubbish PCs are.

The only thing I would say though is that macs are much harder for a low level user to 'customise' in terms of operating environment etc. They're kind of designed to work one way and not nearly as simple to convince to work another way as a PC.

GG's post kind of touches on both issues. If you just want it to work and not spend 100 years messing around with drivers and conflicts, buy a Mac. If you want to create a personalised all singing all dancing system, buy a PC.

[GreyGhost]

Just one more point, if you are familiar with Unix then the Mac is far more configurable than a Windows machine. The BSD subsystem will do whatever you ask.
Personally I have little Unix experience but even so have learned to troubleshoot issues through the command line. Serious users will enjoy the option.

[MGOracle]

Originally Posted by andycolm

Thanks for all the replys, I think Mac it is then.
Any compatabilty issues to watch out for, and where do I go for downloads for stuff like anti virus and firewalls etc?
I dont do customising or messing about with command lines etc.. not since the days of 286s and DOS anyway!
I want to surf the net, do emails and run my business using Word and Exel and PDFs.
What options do I have for a program equivilent to Microsoft Office only hopefully without the horrible buggy issues that seems to plague Mr Gates stuff that he sells to me?

Office 2008 for Mac is actually quite good.

Alternatively head over to http://www.openoffice.org/ which is all compatible with MS Office.

[GreyGhost]

Originally Posted by andycolm

Thanks for all the replys, I think Mac it is then.
Any compatabilty issues to watch out for, and where do I go for downloads for stuff like anti virus and firewalls etc?
I dont do customising or messing about with command lines etc.. not since the days of 286s and DOS anyway!
I want to surf the net, do emails and run my business using Word and Exel and PDFs.
What options do I have for a program equivilent to Microsoft Office only hopefully without the horrible buggy issues that seems to plague Mr Gates stuff that he sells to me?

There are no compatibility issues that I am aware of.
Firewall built in, you will find it in the security preference pane. Not very configurable from the GUI but will do the job properly.
There are no viruses, trojans or any other malware issues for Macintosh at the present time. Use of any third party anti virus software is unnecessary. Do not be complacent though as someone will write one at some time. There have been several proof of concept attacks but Apple tend to address these issues proactively and have usually issued a security update within hours of detecting any possible threat.

MS Office for Macintosh is actually very good and would appear to be bug free. Take note, there is no database application in the Office suite for Macintosh. The Mac community is not entirely happy with Office 2008, preferring 2004. Neo Office is the weapon of choice, fully compatible with any MS Office documents, includes a very powerful database app. and is free.
http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
Mail is built in as is Calendar and Address book, Safari is probably the best and fastest browser available and again is supplied with the system.

If you have any particular problems please feel free to PM me.

[dionh]

Originally Posted by andycolm

My only gripe is that the Mac mail client doesnt do attachments in the traditional sense, it attaches them to the message body,

If you Ctrl click on the attachment in your message, it will give you the option of showing the file as an icon, rather than the image itself.

Di.