Should I switch to a Mac?

[serious crayons]

My computer is fading fast. I have to get a new one soon, probably within the next week or so, probably a laptop. I've always been a PC user, but now I'm wondering whether to get a Mac this time around.

Has anyone else made this switch? How did it go? What advantages/disadvantages do you find in PC vs. Mac? What do you all recommend -- especially those of you with experience on both systems?

[MaineWriter]

My computer is fading fast. I have to get a new one soon, probably within the next week or so, probably a laptop. I've always been a PC user, but now I'm wondering whether to get a Mac this time around.

Has anyone else made this switch? How did it go? What advantages/disadvantages do you find in PC vs. Mac? What do you all recommend -- especially those of you with experience on both systems?

I bought a new laptop 5 weeks ago and thought briefly about getting a Mac, but went with Windows instead. My daughter got a MacBook for Christmas and loves it, but she uses a Mac in school, and has since 7th grade, so that's what she has gotten used to.

I got a Sony Vaio and am very, very happy with it. It is fast and the screen is beautifully crisp and clear. It is running Vista which I was nervous about, having heard many horror stories, but I haven't had any problems at all.

I have loaded alot of my old, antique software programs (Microsoft Office 2000) without any problems at all, even though everyone told me they would never work. So much for that myth!

The only problem I have had is that a few times the sound stops working. It comes back when I reboot the computer, but I haven't figured out why it stops in the first place.

L

[Front-Ranger]

I have 3 Macs and 1 PC, an IBM Thinkpad. Guess which one I use for work, LOL! The new Macs are very easy when it comes to Webcams/Skype, photo editing, blogging/internet site development, movie editing, itunes (naturally) and integrating all those things together. But if you're mostly interested in word processing, go with what you're used to (altho they keep changing Microsoft Office applications so often that you don't have a chance to get used to them anymore!)

[serious crayons]

Thanks for the info, L and L.

Lee, I know what you mean about going with what you're used to in word processing. If I did get a Mac, I'd consider getting Word for Mac.

One thing I'm nervous about is getting a PC with Vista, since I've heard so many terrible things about it (including memos from Microsoft execs complaining about all the bugs). My brother got a new laptop with Vista and had problems, so he wound up downloading XP onto it, but now many of the drivers don't work.

Plus, I've been browsing the Apple website, and THEY sure make the Mac sound good (no surprise, I guess, LOL).

[MaineWriter]

Thanks for the info, L and L.

One thing I'm nervous about is getting a PC with Vista, since I've heard so many terrible things about it (including memos from Microsoft execs complaining about all the bugs). My brother got a new laptop with Vista and had problems, so he wound up downloading XP onto it, but now many of the drivers don't work.

Like I said, 5 weeks on, I think Vista is just fine--and I seriously considered getting a laptop that still had XP. Dell sells one, I found one at Gateway, and one from IBM. But they are charging a premium price for retro-technology and that seemed ridiculous, so I went with Vista. And so, it has been just fine.

The one thing the salesguy said is to make sure you have enough memory. Apparently that is what causes lots of problems. I have 2GB.

L