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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Saturday, September 27, 2003

Mac vs. PC: a reader question, and my own dilemma

A reader asked, "To Mac or not to Mac?" The answer isn't straightforward. But here are my thoughts on this debate.

This is kind of complicated.

I do have an iMac (17-inch model, 1 GHz) and an older, 500 MHz iBook. I'm really disappointed in the performance of the iMac, to be honest. The screen is nice, but since getting it, I've gotten a much larger widescreen on my PC and it makes the iMac look like a PDA by comparison. But that's not a problem with the iMac, per se: It's a nice-looking machine.

I've been using OS X for over two years now, and I bring my iBook on virtually every trip I go on (and I travel quite frequently). It gets great battery life and is very light, so it's ideal for a lot of what I do. The problem, again, is performance, and now, over two years after I bought it, it's kind of a joke. I use a text editor, rather than Word, when taking notes because the perf is so bad. It's really bad.

I bought the iMac for two reasons: One, I wanted a Mac that could do everything, including iDVD (the iBook lacks a SuperDrive or G4 processor, both required by iDVD) because I need to write about this stuff. And I was working on a book for the education market that would need info about high-end video apps like Final Cut and Premiere, and it was Mac-oriented, so I figured a G4-based Mac would be great. At the time, the loud "wind-tunnel" PowerMacs and the iMac were the only viable choice (the 12 inch PowerBook was too slow and the 17 inch PowerBook was too big and expensive; too, the 15-inch PowerBook was due for replacement at any time--that it took until just a week ago is amazing). So I bought the iMac.

I've kind of regretted it ever since. I maxed the thing out with memory and it's just no good. What I wish I could have gotten was a 15 inch aluminum PowerBook, but they were delayed all year.

So now I've got an underpowered desktop Mac and a severely underpowered portable Mac. The book is done, and I wish I hadn't bothered. My current plan is to sell both Macs and get a 12-inch PowerBook with a SuperDrive: It's ultraportable, does everything I want, and finally has a decent processor and cache (the previous version was underpowered). But it won't be the constant companion that the iBook was for over two years: I'm also getting an IBM ThinkPad X series, and that's what I'll bring on trips.

Now that I've convolutely gone through all that, what should you do? I can't honestly recommend a Mac to almost anyone, despite all the positive press they get. They don't perform well, though I haven't tried a G5 yet. Apps like iPhoto and iMovie are nice, but perform horribly on any Mac (as does PhotoShop, an app I use on both the PC and the iMac; it's shocking). Other iApps, like iSync and iCal are only partially complete. Safari is nice. Mail.app is pretty good. Etc. I honestly think XP is easier to use, and it certainly has far more to offer for software and compatible hardware. Price is another huge issue: You can get a PC that blows away virtually any Mac for less than $1000. That's just the way it is.

But I understand the lure. They make good hardware. And they package it right. So if you have to get a Mac, I guess it comes down to price and what you're looking for. How do you anticipate using it, and how much are you willing to pay for the privilege?

[ Posted at 8:32 AM | Permalink ]