I’ve found Apple’s support to be some of the best-in-the-business – also, I manage Xserve’s for a few organizations. Some are covered by Apple care, others aren’t – but Apple’s techs have repeatedly helped me out over the phone, not charging for server-incident tickets even when the machine wasn’t covered. That’s amazing.

if you’re in a rural location, it’s possible that you’ll go through more difficulty to get a mac fixed than, but still, the support is generally fine.

All at the desk next to mine.. All on-site and finished within 2 days a of logging the fault.

This support level is just one above their basic and far away from their top level.

The local Apple reseller says there is no way they can offer such fast support..

:-/

Perhaps in the ‘big cities’ Apple does better.

I’m extremely sorry for all the bad examples of Apple users out there. I use both and I have no bias either way. I really have no problems with Windows. I just have a problem with Bill Gates and the way he insists on doing business.

As a Mac user, I hope people don’t think we’re all like “the Mac guy” on the ads. It’s true that there are some Apple fanboy assholes out there. (Just go into any Apple store and they’re swarming with those stupid punks.) But not all of us Apple users are like that.

Actually, I don’t really like to categorize myself as a PC user or a Mac user. I’m a computer user…

i.e. you click on a Microsoft Access File in Mac OS X and seemlessly it opens using Windows in the background.

I would assume that this is mainly going to be for high end users as Windows would cripple most Macs as it uses an unreasonable about of resources.

I will accept that the above situation is only a rumour. It must also be said that if this does happen, I am unsure about how apple will protect its OS from the poor coding of Windows which in theory could lead to Virus threats.

I generally suspect that Mac users would deal with Viruses better though, as most of the problem with Windows users is that they are not wise to the fact that they need to maintain their system. In my experience in Britian, Macs seem to be more common in homes of better schooled people, I see very few blue collar workers (even rich ones) using the system, but see a lot more of them used by people in very senior positions in a career., e.g. Lawyers, Managers, Suppy Chain

But on topic, the reason i believe you don’t see many windows users preaching is because you don’t come across many mac users who:
Are not preaching to you about getting a mac,
or:
Have a mac for more than 2-3 years, so they will not switch for still some time.

“#1 thing you hate most about buying a car? Seeing the saleman coming right for you.”
This is i think the best analogy i have heard, if more mac-users would understand this and actaly talk about the actual benefits of osX/macs instead of preaching about the flaws of windows over and over again, it would make a great difference in apples appeal.

I thought the same thing — I switched to Macs about three years ago. I’m in tech support, and no one at my university knew anything about them, even though we have close to 200 Macs on campus. It’s fun to learn something new, so I bought a G5 tower & three years later ended up as the Mac tech here (although I still work on PCs too).

From what I’ve seen, there are three basic things you can’t do on a Mac:
1. Right click with the mouse. Solution: buy a third-party two-button USB mouse. Cheap is fine.
2. Run Microsoft Access. But if you want to create a database you can use FileMaker Pro.
3. Run certain Microsoft prodcuts, because MS stopped developing some items for Macs. You can’t get Windows Media Player any more, but you can use Flip4Mac file converter to play WMP files in Quicktime. You also can’t run Microsoft Money. My solution was to use the free copy of QuickBooks that came with OS 10.4.

Yes, I admit it, you may run into a few games that aren’t designed to run on Macs.

After my last PC died, I swore I was going to build a new one. Every three or four months I promise myself I’m going to buy parts & get started. But as time goes on & I continue using the Mac, I can’t see why I’d need a PC.

Yeah, it’s awful what’s happened to roughlydrafted.com on Digg, now that anyone who submits his articles are instantly banned, he’s going to have a much decreased readership. As you say, that’s what creates the Nazism, blocking everyone from reading Pro-Apple blogs beacuse a few don’t agree.

Anyway, back onto to the point of Apple, I’m young so can’t afford my own computer, so I’m still on a family PC, but as quite a geek myself and Apple supporter I recommended to my brother and sisters to go Mac; they did and they got a Mac Mini and MacBooks respectively. Not once have I had to help them, and that is a testament to their ease of use. I will be jumping on the bandwagon as soon as I can, just from comparing my sister sitting there quietly tapping on her MacBook, working perfectly, and me with Windows XP cursing out loud repeatedly over the most annoying thing.

Hmm, after reading all these 54 ish replies, I’ve just relised I have an exam tomorrow… Whoops…

I’m not a Mac owner, but I am seriously considering the purchase of one next year. I’m just too scared that there will be something I can’t do on it that I can with my XP box. Once I get over that, I think I’ll be okay.

BTW, Ubuntu Linux is coming of age and is very easy to use currently. It is dual-booted with XP and is becoming my primary OS.

Those guys who throw the punches around like that behave like Stazi police or Nazi’s and they should not be accomodated.

Treehouse Burner: I disagree with you on the point of profits. You said “Apple isn’t any less interested in profit than Microsoft is, and I hope that Apple gains market share to force Microsoft to compete even harder — to open the war chest and really come up with good stuff.”
I think Apple is more interested in profit than Microsoft is. Microsoft is making the Zune and (previously) the Xbox 360 at a financial loss to themselves, just to get in the market. Apple however, is nice and cozy dominating the MP3 player industry with the iPod making them a nice tidy profit.

Thanks everyone for all the comments.

Now, to be fair, I don’t play computer games, so I don’t care if there are more or better games on PCs. Personally, I’d wager that nearly all of the folks who go on about how much they can “configure” their PCs, really mean how glorious they can make their gaming experience. But in that universe, aren’t you paying for the cool machine to impress your gaming friends? After all, the poor slob with a slow PC (or even a Mac) can still play the game—but you’d like your buddies to want to come over and play on your cool system, right?

I’ve been doing heavy-duty 3D graphics for well over 20 years, so I’ve had my hands on just about everything—but my platform of choice is a Mac. Even though I’m perfectly comfortable fiddling around inside the case or the config files (I was even a Unix sysadmin for a stretch), I don’t want to. I want my computer to be as close to hassle-free as possible. When there is a problem, I want it to be easy to address. And if that computer can offer me the robustness of a Unix-based OS wrapped up in an elegant GUI—well, now we’re talkin’.

It’s (far more than) just an added bonus that I don’t really have to worry much about malware (spare me the “security through obscurity” nonsense).

I also can’t tell you how tiresome it is to hear Mac-haters assert how folks buy iPods to look cool. My iPod is in a black rubberized case and sits inconspicuously in my car or tucked in under my monitor at work. It’s not there to impress anyone—it’s there to play music, podcasts, and perform other useful tasks. It excels at these things and for that I love it. If I want to look cool, I work on me, not pull out something I’ve bought.

Apple’s focus on the “user experience” is what makes them special. From the hardware to the GUI, from the apps to the iPod—they get it right. I buy other products, but none satisfies me quite as much as theirs–not my fancy new car, not my digital camera, not anything.

You can buy what you want, but cut the crap about folks who buy Macs or iPods being “elitist”, simpletons, or worried about being cool. I’m sure there are some idiots who buy things like that, but that’s not me, nor the vast majority of Apple product owners. Some folks (even smart ones) just buy the products they’re most satisfied with and don’t think twice what others think.

Anyway, Apple makes products that are extremely well-designed (and not just in the “looks cool” sense), so I’m very happy with my decision to use them. Now it’s time to go work on my photos…

Cheers.