Mac or PC?

Grendel
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Edited Date/Time 1/21/2012 2:40am
I'm starting to believe that most are of the mind that once you go Mac, you never go back.

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FishBone
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9/12/2009 9:15pm
Isn’t what you really mean … MAC or Windows ... Wink
Grendel
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I could whip up a gun-nut vid for you Paul, but I'm not narrow-minded enough to judge a whole group of people based on a few obsessive compulsives.
Void Main
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9/12/2009 9:43pm
Both Macs and PCs are great if you run Linux on them.

The Shop

Void Main
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P.S. The new Macs are PCs.
Void Main
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FishBone wrote:
Isn’t what you really mean … MAC or Windows ... Wink
I think what you really mean is OSX or Windows. Both suck but Windows sucks worse than OSX.
ProMed
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9/12/2009 9:47pm
Grendel wrote:
I could whip up a gun-nut vid for you Paul, but I'm not narrow-minded enough to judge a whole group of people based on a few...
I could whip up a gun-nut vid for you Paul, but I'm not narrow-minded enough to judge a whole group of people based on a few obsessive compulsives.
lol at you, but you are narrow-minded enough to post the picture at the start of this thread that an obsessive compulsive created?
FishBone
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9/12/2009 10:01pm
FishBone wrote:
Isn’t what you really mean … MAC or Windows ... Wink
Void Main wrote:
I think what you really mean is OSX or Windows. Both suck but Windows sucks worse than OSX.
thank you ... mr. void GEEK main Smile ... I really didn't know that you could run anything on a mac …other then the OS it shipped with ...

Jack Flash
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9/13/2009 3:08am
Macs run Windows and OSX
flarider
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Was on PC (Windows) for years, switched to Mac one year ago, and I'll never go back to Windows
Void Main
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New Macs are PCs that "come with" OSX. They don't have to run OSX. Linux, BSD, Windows, and more run fine on them just like any other PC. In fact you can run OSX on your own Home Built PC if you get the right hardware (OSX doesn't support nearly the range of hardware that the other two OSes support).
ruckus
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9/13/2009 8:26am
Void, explain to me how a MAC is now a PC?
Void Main
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ruckus wrote:
Void, explain to me how a MAC is now a PC?
It runs the same hardware that every other PC runs. It is now x86 based (which by itself makes it a PC) where it used to be based on the Motorola and PowerPC chips. The only difference is it comes in a custom Apple case and ships with OSX.
Grendel
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By that logic (Not arguing), is it safe to say they will be practically identical to each other in a few years barring the gimmick-of-the-month?
Void Main
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9/13/2009 9:51am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 2:08am
They already *are* identical to each other. "PC" is a class of "hardware". A Mac is a piece of hardware that falls within the "PC" class of hardware. All I am saying is it's not the hardware that any of you are in love with, it's the software. You can build your own more powerful Mac for less money yourself out of ordinary PC hardware if you are so inclined. You won't get support from Apple if you do though:

http://lifehacker.com/...sh-mac-for-under-800

"Mac" and "PC" are really two different categories that can't be directly compared much like oranges and fruit can't be directly compared. What do you like more, oranges or fruit? An Apple Mac is a PC just like a Dell Dimension is a PC. The difference is one PC is sold with the Windows operating system on it and the other PC is sold with the OSX operating system. There are other manufacturers that sell their "PC" with Linux on them:

http://www.penguincomputing.com/...s/linux/workstations

What you (and those Apple ads) are really comparing is OSX to Windows and calling it Mac vs PC is just wrong.
FishBone
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9/13/2009 10:09am
Void can you build me a 'HAL 9000' ?
Void Main
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Sure if the price is right. You know the story about where the name "HAL" came from don't you?
FishBone
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no I don't know where HAL comes from ?…

I just want one so can take over VT and eradicate the evil mods Evil
Void Main
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9/13/2009 10:16am
FishBone wrote:
no I don't know where HAL comes from ?…

I just want one so can take over VT and eradicate the evil mods Evil
You don't need HAL to do that.
FishBone
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9/13/2009 10:19am
FishBone wrote:
no I don't know where HAL comes from ?…

I just want one so can take over VT and eradicate the evil mods Evil
Void Main wrote:
You don't need HAL to do that.
what do you suggest an endless flood of John Candy threads .. thereby causing a dos of sorts
Void Main
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9/13/2009 10:26am
They say they didn't know that each letter in "HAL" is just one off from each letter in "IBM" but I don't believe it. Waaaay to coincidental if you ask me. If it came from Heuristic ALgorithmic like they claim I wonder why they only used one letter from the first word and two letters from the second word? Maybe they should have taken 2 letters from each word and called it a "HEAL". Here's a little more on the story:

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/faq/index.html#slot7

7/ What do the letters HAL stand for and is there a connection with IBM?
Just to show you how interpretations can sometimes be bewildering: A cryptographer went to see the film, and he said, "Oh, I get it. Each letter of HAL's name is one letter ahead of IBM [...] now that's pure co-incidence [...] an almost inconceivable co incidence. It would have taken a cryptographer to notice that.

Stanley Kubrick (1)

*******

HAL is an acronym for Heuristic ALgorithmic, the two competing methods of computer programming that, in the sixties, were seen as the leading conteders to produce artificial intelligence (AI). Arthur C. Clarke admitted Kubrick chose the name for the computer (2), his original idea was to make the computer a female called Athena. A while after 2001's initial release, it was noticed that the letters H. A. L. also came one place before the letters I. B. M. in the alphabet., which led people to suspect that Kubrick and Clarke were having a joke at IBM's expense.

Although Clarke concedes the odds against this are 17,576 to 1, he strongly denies the connection was intentional and admits to being embarrassed by the whole affair, especially as IBM had been very helpful to him and Kubrick during the making of the film. Clarke even went as far as inserting a passage into his novel 2010: Odyssey Two, to try to bury the story

"Is it true, Dr. Chandra, that you chose the name HAL to be one step ahead of IBM?"

"Utter nonsense! Half of us come from IBM and we've been trying to stamp out that story for years. I thought that by now every intelligent person knew that H-A-L is derived from Heuristic ALgorithmic."

RM thanks to BA

Notes:
Most of the information in this answer came from Hal's Legacy online at: mitpress.mit.edu

(1) Kubrick quote from an interview with Chris Kohler in the East Villiage Eye, reproduced in The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey, edited by Martin Scorsese. (back)

(2) Interview with Clarke from the January 1997 issue of Wired Magazine (back)


mxtryon231
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9/13/2009 11:10am
mac
Scotty
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9/13/2009 11:15am
Grendel wrote:
By that logic (Not arguing), is it safe to say they will be practically identical to each other in a few years barring the gimmick-of-the-month?
Trust me there is no gimmick, Mac is far superior. Make the switch, you will not regret it.
Void Main
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9/13/2009 11:49am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 2:08am
This article sums it up pretty well:

http://www.pcmech.com/article/reality-check-a-mac-is-a-pc/

Reality Check: A Mac is a PC

Posted Sep 25, 2008 by David Risley


We live in a world where marketing is reality. All you have to do is look at the world of politics to see that. Perception is reality. Apple is the king of perception marketing in the tech industry. The “Mac versus PC” commercials have successfully put forth the idea that a Mac is different than a PC.

It isn’t and it is about time we get this right. No, I will not be creating a “MacMech” as many times as people shoot the idea to me.

The biggest misconception here, perpetuated by Apple’s brilliant marketing, is that a Windows-powered computer is a PC while a computer running OS X is somehow different. It is a MAC! It isn’t the same as that boring little Windows PC. But, the perception is dead wrong.

Just the other day, a site linked to PCMech saying “it is not a Mac site”. I have had people ask me if I’m going to create a “MacMech”. And, this morning, I also read a piece by the editor-in-chief of PC Magazine entitled “Macs are PCs, Dammit"!”. Apparently, people have been getting on PC Magazine, too, because that word “PC” in the title must mean they talk all about Windows computers, right? Well, I sympathize with Lance Ulanoff. PCMech also has the word “PC” in the title. In fact, this site used to be called “PC Mechanic” and there is little doubt that, yes, this site discusses Windows quite a bit.

Let’s remember, however, that “PC” means “personal computer”. Since when did the word “PC” mean a computer running Windows? Is a computer running Linux not a PC either? Or are we supposed to think that Windows and Linux powered machines are PC’s while a system running OS X stands apart as a different beast?

The evolution of this concept isn’t hard to see. The first PC was the IBM PC and it ran MS-DOS, a text-based operating system. MS-DOS was considered the de-facto standard at the time, just like Windows is today. Apple, in 1984, released the Macintosh. They gave it a different name so as to differentiate it from the text-based IBM compatibles. The Apple was the first computer to use a mouse and a graphical interface, and Apple clearly wanted to differentiate and make that fact clear. But, even then, the Mac was a box with an integrated display, keyboard, CPU, hard drive – everything the IBM PCs had. The word “Macintosh” was simply a marketing term. The only thing unique about it was the mouse, but the IBM compatibles had that before too long, too.



Today, it is the same. The Mac is no different than the PC except for operating system. They all use essentially the same hardware, and that is even more clear now that Apple is using Intel processors. Both are computers. The only different is the operating system.

The Apple commercials are brilliant. They clearly make the PC seem radically different than the Mac. But, introducing reality to it would make the commercial suck. What if the Mac guy said “I’m also a PC.”. He’d be correct, but it would obviously suck as a commercial. Or what if the PC guy says “Hi, I’m a Windows”. Yeah – lame.

Every move by Apple is designed to foster the image of the Macintosh as the gift from the heavens. They position it differently. They price it higher. You have to go to certain stores to get the thing. You can’t build one, really. So, every little thing that they do is designed to do one thing: create an image of the Mac as an exclusive, premium machine. You’re cool if you own one, dammit.

But, alas, it is marketing. Pure and simple.

Don’t get me wrong: The Mac is a fantastic product. OS X is a superb operating system and the Mac Pro (which I use daily) is a solid machine. My Macbook Pro, too, is an awesome laptop. But, on both, I happen to also run Windows. Does that make them PCs and not Macs anymore?

A computer is a computer. They all are, essentially, dumb boxes with circuits that sit there and blindly execute every instruction passed to the processor. That’s all it does.
Void Main
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9/13/2009 12:05pm Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 2:08am
Ooops, I just noticed a couple of errors in that article I just quoted. The original IBM PC did not run MS-DOS, it ran PC-DOS (which is actually the same thing except for naming/licensing but is not in fact MS-DOS). The second thing he said that was wrong is that you can't build your own Mac. I provided a link in an earlier post that explained just exactly how to build your own Mac (and more powerful than the Mac that you can get from Apple).

This is even better:
Wiki Entry for PC
FishBone
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9/13/2009 12:54pm
nice Void ... and congratulations .. you have made grown men cry today … with the discovery that despite all the hard earned coin they spent ….. what they in essence have is a PC with a different wrapper ...
Void Main
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9/13/2009 1:00pm
Actually the wrapper has nothing to do with it. They just have an expensive PC, period. Smile
J.F.S
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9/13/2009 1:02pm
OSX and Macs rule!
kdx man
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9/13/2009 1:12pm
I think my macbook pro is the cat's ass. And the Bee's knees.

Apple warranty is the best you can get too.

Sorry, I'll never buy another pc again. And I'm not about to waste my time building my own computer and dealing with all the bullshit. I want something that works, that has great support, and allows me to do the least amount in order to keep it working. I've not had to do anything other than replace the battery under warranty and it was here in a day and a half for me.


I honestly can think of no reason that anybody would want a PC. That makes no sense to me at all.
Void Main
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9/13/2009 1:14pm
You have a PC. Smile

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