Prius Owners and Mac Users

I think there's a thread in Fred's HOP discussing this very thing. I'm a Prius/MAC snob! I use a PC too, though.

 

Mac, of course! Is there any other kind?

8) Mac, of course! Is there any other kind?

 

There should be a strong correlation between Mac and Prius ownership - Mac is UNIX-based, multitasking, runs Wintel, Mac and Linux operating systems, uses 64-bit CPUs, is efficient. Owners see both their computer and their car as long-term highly productive while optimizing fun.

Prius is AT-PZEV for better air quality, Mac is G5 for 64-bit speed and processes. We get the best of both worlds.

 

I know I'm gonna hear it for this but...

Mac?? Ewwwwwwww...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee\";p=\"90311)</div>

[font=Comic Sans MS:95981f37e5]Why do you say that, galaxee? Do you have a lot of Mac experience? Bad Mac experience?[/font:95981f37e5]

 

i agree with skruse. I fail to understand why people put up with computers that give fits, viruses and spyware abound, and a interface that is clunky compared to the intuitive nature of a Mac.
Software issue is mute as I used to have a windows machine run my telescope but now I have a choice of 3 or 4 programs on OS X that are easier for me to run.
Not bashing windows, just don't need the trouble I have seen and heard from friends.
Prius and Mac's have those little epiphanies that have me saying "makes sense".

 

The only apple product I use is the iPod and even that makes no sense to my inner logic. I have always used lab software that was designed for PC. I worked in one lab that was run by macs and I could not for the life of me get results out of that computer. What it comes down to is that to my logic, the mac is simply NOT intuitive. And I gave them a chance- I learned to use computers on a mac way back in the day so they were my first impression of what a computer was like. But after using PC I found I preferred it, and have bought PCs since. Macs just aren't for me.

 

I am totaly in Steve's reality distortion field. I learned computers back in the command line days and with my dyslexia it sometime created interesting and unexpected results. I first saw a Lisa demo at the old A.P.P.L.E. users group in Seattle and new that that was for me. I could not afford the price tag but when the Mac came out I signed up the next day and got my first Mac on February 29th 1984 and have never looked back. My daughter who is now a Graphic Designer recently applied for a job at the Apple Store to earn extra money for a European vacation was asked when she started using a Mac and she told them when she was 5. She got the job. She uses Macs at her work of course.

 

<<I know I'm gonna hear it for this but...

Mac?? Ewwwwwwww...>>


Ditto. and then some.

I am forced to use a Mac at work. I hate it. More and more every day. NOTHING is intuitive.

Even though I use one at work, I voted no because I use it under duress. I would never choose to use a Mac myself. Now I am not saying Windows is the best thing since sliced bread, it has it's problems too, but I'll take it over a Mac any day.

 

oh, c'mon guys and gals... given that there have been roughly infinity plus one sites and blogs and editorials and whatnot about mac versus pc, do we REALLY need another one here???

i DO think it's interesting that the mac/pc split is somewhere close to 50-50 as of my vote today, and maybe there's some conclusion that could be drawn....

maybe mac users are more left-brained than pc users ON AVERAGE, and the same "reason" or inclination drove us (pun intended) to choose the prius, too.

as for the proverbial complaints about viruses, etc., on pcs, remember, it's market-driven. pcs outnumber macs a few jillion to one, so that's where the market is for viruses. were mac the market leader, there would probably be as many viruses for its OS, too...

drive what ya brung and if you like it, keep it.
[]

 

I was thinking the same thing.

Been a Mac user for over 20 years.

But your stats are off. Mac has larger % of market if you go by laptops, smaller if by desktops. Not sure of combined score. Goes way up if you include iPods.

I've used PCs, my Dad has one. Even virtual PC on my G4. I don't understand how people can tolerate some of that stuff. Just ejecting a pendrive in virtual PC was awful! And I won't connect to the internet in PC mode. Why does everything have to be so difficult, so inelegant and so.....unreliable?

My primary is a titanium G4 running Panther and using Mozilla. Sure, it costs a little more for a computer that runs like a computer should run. But I think I spend less time tweaking my system and more time being productive.

The Prius is a bit more $ for how a car should run. Can't wait until the 2009s come out. I'm thinking of some of the standards they'll add. Improved seats (heater, lumbar) with optional leather. I'm hoping the back up beep for the outside pedestrian will be standard. Lights in the upper glove and console. Some of the other tweaks people have been doing to become standard. Better materials for interior trim. But I do hope they retain the hatchback....I love it. Better batteries, better mileage, better, better, better.

 

I am typing this email on my new 1.8 GHz iMac G5 right now. I guess I would fall into the cult of both the Mac and Prius.

 

Being one who's used computers since the days of the Control Data 160 (oops, dating myself), and being a hardware type. I've always preferred the Motorola archithcture over Intel's, (Motorola is the guts of a Mac, PC's use Intel), the circuit design can be much cleaner and more streamline with Motorola than Intel.
But working in a business environment, PC's became the original choice for that environment while the artistic fields attracted the Macs. After several years of using PC's I finally had a chance of getting some hands on time with a Mac (Mac II actually), well after a couple hours of total frustration, stupid 1 button mouse, keyboarsds with symbols that must have come from a Kilingon Playstation, (what is that little loop ty loop thing for anyway), and screen icons that defy any logic, I vowed to never touch one of those beasts again. That coupled with overpriced peripherals and a total lack of software, compared to the PC market.
But now, after a number of years agail, Peripheral prices have come down, they now rely on a true Unix/linux OSX, and now that incredible Mac mini, I find I'm softening my view, now if they would discover multibutton-scroll wheel mice and put a label on that wierd loop-ty-loop key, I might have to look again.

 

You can use a two button scroll mouse with a Mac. I use one with my 12 inch PowerBook that I use at school.

 

I vote for PC.

For me it is way more intuitive than the Mac. I made a CD with a bunch of JPG pix of a vacation on it. I put it in my PC at work, douple-clicked on one of the files and was in "Window Picture and Fax Viewer" from which I started a slideshow with one click.

I tried to show the same CD on a friend's Mac and it was so frustrating. I think we ended up using IPhoto to view the pictures but even then the Mac wanted to slowly copy in the entire CD before showing the pictures. I confess that I've not taken much time to learn the mac. But I'm always hearing that it's so easy and intuitive.

Is there an easy way to view those pix on my CD on a Mac? As easy as on my PC?

 

I love my Prius and I love my Mac, simple as that! I am fortunate enough to have 4 Apple stores within a 40 mile radius and I am a Mac addict. In fact, I even have the little white apple on the back window of my little Silver bullet

04' Millenium Silver
& 15in. Powerbook G4

 

I've recounted my switch from hard-core Mac person to reluctant Windows user elsewhere.

However, as I'm thinking of leaping back to the Mac at the end of the year, let me ask you experienced OSX folks a question:

Do Macs "bloat" over time, like Windows PCs?

Specifically, a long-standing thing I've noticed about "modern" Windows PCs (32-bit Windows): even if you don't install new software onto the machines, or fill up the hard drives, the machines just sloowwwww dowwwwnnnn after about a year or so.

(I've heard it attributed to the bloat of the Windows registry, but don't know for sure.)

The only way I've ever found to solve the problem (reliably, and without damaging the Windows environment) is to reinstall the damn thing over again -- a 2-day job at best.

The carrot/r'eason d'etre for switching to the Mac would be: Over time, and "by itself", it doesn't slow down.
[hr:fda7a68405]
I'd love the sort of objective, fact-based opinion I get about Prius technical topics on this question. TIA!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bookrats\";p=\"90398)</div>

No, OS X will not slow down over time - this is the biggest complaint I have, next to viruses, spyware etc, about the PC I have to use for testing purposes. I run web servers, mail servers and have both desktop Macs (6) and Powerbooks (5) (11 computers in my home office) and one PC - the PC takes more maintenance time and effort than all of the other OS X machines combined. I have never had a virus or any spyware on the Mac and never had to reinstall a system.

Any USB 3 button mouse will work fine - the scroll wheel too.

It is far easier to train a new employee on the Mac and they soon learn to figure things out on their own. The cost of ownership of a Mac office is far below a PC office (unless you have a competent in-house PC tech) -- we have never had to pay for technical support.

The argument that there would be viruses for the Mac of there was a larger market share is false - OS X is a far more secure system out of the box. There is a lot of info on the net about this and there have been competitions to crack a Mac etc.

It has also been shown through testing that PC users have a harder time adjusting to the Mac initially because they are looking for more complex solutions to do simple things and are afraid to experiment. The Mac is all about experimenting. It takes time to unlearn one system and this is often the source of frustration PC users vent when trying out a Mac.

I have run tests at the university (in Japan) with my IT classes on PC/Mac productivity. We have access to a large lab with a mixed environment and similar tasks were assigned to students on the Macs and PCs. We ran all kinds of tasks and despite the fact that we had only a few students familiar with OS X, the Macs won hands-down and by mid semester, students were arriving early to class to make sure they had a Mac - the PCs started looking very lonely - at least those that did not have 'out of order' post-its stuck on them.

There is plenty of software available for the Mac - except maybe games - which is a good thing when you are trying to run a business! Because OS X is UNIX based, many open source application will now run on the Mac and this means access to thousands of free applications. If there is a PC application you absolutely need to run, you can run Virtual PC - but then you open yourself up to PC viruses and other PC nightmares.

The built-in help menu in the Mac is often ignored by users but unlike the help files in Windows, Mac Help is very well written and will show you the capabilities of the OS and applications if you have any problems.

I have Macs in my office that have been running 24/7 for over 2 years with OS X that have not slowed down or even been restarted (except when applying new software updates) during that time.

If you want to open a .jpeg on a Mac, simply double-click on the file - it will open in Preview - an application built in to every system with OS X installed. iPhoto is an application used for storing, displaying and organizing photos - but you can load individual photos simply by dragging and dropping the photos in the main window.

I could go on - but I'll wait for the PC flames first!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar\";p=\"90361)</div>

That's the "command" key. For PC I'm not sure what the equivalent might be...alt maybe?

And I use a two button mouse with a scroll. It's a Wacom graphics tablet, the mouse is wireless and it also has a graphics pen.

Unless you need something very specific basic software is available for both and works very similar on both machines if you learn on one and switch to another.

But I still prefer Macs. It's not just ease of use. They just seem to operate more cleanly. I can eject my pendrive by just dropping it into the 'trash' in the dock which has automatically changed to an 'eject'. It changes itself just like my Prius goes from ICE to electric.

One complaint though....I learned and still prefer the original Appleworks. I have the entire Office Suite including Powerpoint but I still prefer Applewords because it had a database I don't have to buy extra.

The new iWorks that is advertised to replace Appleworks...it doesn't have draw, paint, spreadsheet or database. Only word processing and KeynoteII. Nope. Not buying it. They want me to buy iWorks? They'll add spreadsheet, database and at least draw. Paint I can use something else but I really use draw a lot too.

As for pictures. When my parents had their 50th wedding anniversary I had already downloaded four digital cameras and was burning the pictures onto CD when my Dad was still downloading and installing drivers. I had also made two movies to show during the dinner using my laptop and iMovie. Everyone really liked them. I made a third movie with the downloaded pics from everyone's cameras. I didn't need to buy, download or install anything extra either.