Hey I was just wondering of Element owners - How many are using Apple Macintosh Computers ? Seems like there is lots of refrences to iPod's, Mac's and Photoshop.


Webfunky -

Portland Or
2003 EX - Silver w/ White Apple

MAC! What is that? Long live Bill and the PC :lol: J/k Please no flaming from MAC users :P

Another mac daddy checking in.

Bill who?

e-j

http://www.ecnet.net/users/gallery/element-j/images/apple1.jpg

My boyfriend is a Mac User. Does that count?

Iskie

[quote:66ccfe9830="C7ME"]MAC! What is that? Long live Bill and the PC :lol: J/k Please no flaming from MAC users :P[/quote:66ccfe9830]

You know that this a total invitation for return fire - Well let the first scud go unnoticed.

:twisted:

Element J - Kudos!


Webfunky

[quote:fa84df506f="isketerol"]My boyfriend is a Mac User. Does that count?

Iskie[/quote:fa84df506f]

Could count - Does your Element sport and White Apple ?

I was just taking a poll of users.

Just got the 17" i-mac. Still have pc's. I think there is a place for both.

In any event, the real reason I got the mac is for the OS.

UNIX rules. :twisted:

peace,

-jdef

Dual G4 mirrored tower, 10gb ipod, 500mhz snow ibook, who needs a PC?

Still have pc's. I think there is a place for both.

Yeah macs go on the top of desks, pc's go in the trash :D

Hey just kidding! :lol: But really after owning a mac I don't see the use for a pc.

Dual 1ghz G4 (not the mirrored... the first one). Use it in my home studio for composing music. Don't have an iPod though... too freakin' expensive for a music player when MP3-CDRW portables are $50 at Targét.

Drew

http://www.electronicscene.com/arothman

The Holy White Apple is the only sticker that will EVER go on my Element! My Powerbook 17 should be here any day now... and it will probably supplant the Element as my favorite toy! :shock:

Dual G4 mirrored tower, 10gb ipod, 500mhz snow ibook, who needs a PC?

[quote]Still have pc's. I think there is a place for both.

Yeah macs go on the top of desks, pc's go in the trash :D

Hey just kidding! :lol: But really after owning a mac I don't see the use for a pc.[/quote:ee15cd088b]

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know... But I use it for my job, and I do have one at home, too. Have to play trouble desk for all the relatives (the downside of a tech support career).

peace,
-jdef (whose work address may be One Infinite Loop, Cupertino in the next month or two... 8) )

Just checking in. Mac here

(former PC user - gave them up in totaly frustration at their uselessness- at least in my line of work)

But, use what works for you!



:P

UI designer for a video game software company here in Detroit. Like many others in our industry, we recently switched from a Mac shop to a PC shop. And nerds, I can honestly say the transistion was seamless. The biggest difference between the two is in your minds.

Unlike Honda and the Element, Mac's small (and dwindling) user base is a result of bad business practices. It's not because they're so cool only a chosen few are hip enough to recognize it (like the Element :wink: ). They make good machines with great OS's but some bonehead decisions made them second fiddle.

If the Honda Element is a Mac, then the PC is a Ford and if the PC is a Ford, then Bill Gates is like Henry Ford. He didn't invent the thing, but he practically put one in every garage (or home, in this case). Pay your damn respects!

Although, Oregon Trail on the Apple II rocked! :D

[quote:0c877be7e6="tigernumber6"] The biggest difference between the two is in your minds.

If the Honda Element is a Mac, then the PC is a Ford and if the PC is a Ford, then Bill Gates is like Henry Ford. He didn't invent the thing, but he practically put one in every garage (or home, in this case). Pay your damn respects! [/quote:0c877be7e6]

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make with your Element/Mac, Ford/PC statement. Netiher Mr. Ford or Mr. Gates need my praise. They both have been praised and criticized more than their due, IMHO. They are/were wildly successful. Good for them. Whoopee. Philip Morris, Dow Chemical and Chevron/Texaco are very profitable ventures as well, but I don't feel the need to sing their praises. But I digress...

My point would be that there's always room in the world for competition and for niche products. So what if Mac has not reached the potential that it arguably deserves. So what that the main reason your transition to PC's was seamless is primarily due to the fact that PC makers and MS have gotten closer to what Macintosh has been all along. The company I worked for transitioned from Apple to PC's in 1994/5 and it was anything but seamless back then.

Apple richly deserved the pounding it took in the marketplace in the 90's. The boxes were lifeless, slow, dull and broke a lot. Most companies don't survive when so many things go wrong. Whether they will regain share is up to the marketplace. I am confident that the money I spent on this computer will be at least as good as if I had bought a Dell or whatever.

In any event, this is a religious argument, just like when you should change your oil.

I still think they both are useful tools that meet the needs of various people.

Besides, everyone *knows* the AMIGA was the true ultimate home computer...And Beta was better than VHS and etc. etc. :twisted: :shock: :roll:

Whoa, where'd this dang soapbox come from??

There, that's better.

Never mind... :wink:

peace,
-jdef (I liked the Sperry Univac AN/UYK-7 with the RD-281 hydraulic disc drive alot!)

Folks I was just trying to identify percentage of Element owners use Mac's.

What I see here is we all have good taste as far as vehicles are concerned!

If your a PC user and you don't have the ability to decipher between OSX and XP then please don't flame the balance that are simply answering the questions as requested.

Mac users have an acquired taste for a greatly engineered product that has been uniquely designed.

Hmmm ? Sounds like the ELEMENT.

[quote:2a2ee94c0e="jdef"]Just got the 17" i-mac. Still have pc's. I think there is a place for both.

In any event, the real reason I got the mac is for the OS.

UNIX rules. :twisted:

peace,

-jdef[/quote:2a2ee94c0e]


WORD! I have both too, but prefer the stability and command line(yippee!). My crazee self has an iBook, iMac and an iPod.

No white apple will appear on my "E". And there is not one on his Mercedes either. Neither one of us is in to putting on stickers and the like on our cars.

Sorry.

Iskie

Too many Macs to count, and even a G4Cube!

There are three people in my house and between all of us we own:

2 iPods
1 366 G3 clamshell iBook (blue)
1 800 G3 iBook 14" (the new white one)
1 G4 TiBook 15" (last year's model)
1 300 G3 PowerBook
1 2.4GHz P4 Sony Vaio
1 450 P3 Dell desktop
1 400 P2 Gateway desktop
1 Element
1 Hyundai
1 TDI VW

and photoshop is not only a mac program. i have a windows copy that works just fine. i generally prefer the macs with OS X (Unix rocks, as someone else said), but have some work software that can only run on PCs.

we have too many damned computers in this house. does anyone know of any good charities where we could donate a couple of them?

let me know.
shawn

Its apple and oranges. If you do what i do- well then you need postscript. PCs are nice/and a good deal more frustrating. But hey how many people are using OSX? I think that is going to be a whole other nightmare! Im not to happy with OSX, I dont think it was a great improvement. I think it was more of a PC appeal design. and idiot user design feature. I like the controll I have over the machine now and in OSX it seems harder to customize extensions and settings. We'll see! I sure as hell wont be switching in any case.

iMac 400 SE here, but I want a new 17" iMac. Maybe this summer. I'm saving money by buying an Element instead of an Escape or pretty much any other SUV, so I might be able to get one. I love that the E has a AUX jack. Now I just need to sneak an iPod in the bag when I get my new iMac!

8) Macs are funky and cool. I think it's very much like an Element. I also prefer Dr. Pepper, snowboarding and hockey which are all (or once were) secondary items compared to the market dominators!

Mac user in da house here! BIG TIME!

Apple is gonna by Universal Records?

[quote:e898948473="designguy"]Its apple and oranges. If you do what i do- well then you need postscript. PCs are nice/and a good deal more frustrating. But hey how many people are using OSX? I think that is going to be a whole other nightmare! Im not to happy with OSX, I dont think it was a great improvement. I think it was more of a PC appeal design. and idiot user design feature. I like the controll I have over the machine now and in OSX it seems harder to customize extensions and settings. We'll see! I sure as hell wont be switching in any case.[/quote:e898948473]

OS X will SAVE APPLES life. Period.

BSD UNIX now and 64 bit PPC 970 CPU this summer!

Can you say "buh-bye SGI"? Even Solaris is looking long in the tooth!

Quark 6? Where are you?!!

I use g4s at work. I'm a retoucher/color corrector at a pre-press house.

4 Mac family here, and my favorite is my own G4/450. (The DP MDD model is just too noisy!).

I manage an NT network at work so it's nice to come home to a system that works and doesn't need regular fixing.

I have new eMacs, both at home and at work. I love them! Large flatscreen monitors are very nice. I didn't like the screen on the iMac very much. This one is much easier on my eyes. They're also quite a lot less expensive. (G4 with 700 mHz, superdrive, is around $900-950).

I've even grown to really like OSX. I'd fought against the change, but wouldn't go back now for anything. No more lock-ups at all. No loading drivers for printers, scanners, etc. Also, OSX has made an enormous difference on my connect speed at home. I live 18 miles out in the woods, and even further from my ISP, so my modem connection is very slow. I'm still connecting at 24-28 kbs (just checked- 26.4 kb), yet the information is processed so much more quickly than it was with my old Mac. My speed now is comparable to my ethernet connection at work (T1, I think), hard as that it to believe.

I have to use a PC at work but this new 17" G4 Powerbook is cool! I love my Powerbook like my Element. I am changed forever!

The very first computer that we had in our house was a Power Book. This was a looong time ago. Unfortunately it was a company computer and my dad had to give it back. We currently have Win XP.
I'm going away to college in a year or so and I'm looking at getting an iBook. That is, of course, once I have $3000 Cdn.

My wife and I both use Macs and have for about a decade. I have a 17" Powerbook; she a 12" Powerbook. We run 802.11g from an Airport Extreme basestation from our cable modem. It's simply the best setup we've ever had (Macs or PC).

I've worked at Cisco Systems for a long time and I've been amazed at how many hardcore Windows, Linux and Solaris users have been switching to Macs.

Running OSX on high end Apple hardware is simply the only way to go (for us, anyway).

Count me Mac. Past 15 years or so. I don't care what the market share is as long as I get mine!

Steve
from the couch on a Pismo 400, AP but not X
and with a collection of classics...
Lombard
iMac slot ruby
Umax c500
Performa 405 (okay, so it was a dog!)
SE/30
Plus
Plus

white apple sticker and same-size Tennessee Titans sticker on the back of the Element. 15in flat screen iMac at home, dual 1gig mirrored G4 at work.
From the 1st time i used OSX, i never wanted to go back. What a leap!!

[quote:1ed673c8cb="shawns"]
we have too many damned computers in this house. does anyone know of any good charities where we could donate a couple of them?[/quote:1ed673c8cb]

Kidney Foundation, any Animal Rescue outfit could use them (track animals, adoptions, etc), local libraries, schools,...

That should get you started :)

I use Windows at work, when I'm not working with Sun/Solaris. At the house, I 'switched' to a 17" iMac recently. I still have my Dell desktop - some things I need it for, like my VPN client for work (USB dongles that use HASP will *not* work under Virtual PC, and I doubt if that will change now that MICROSOFT owns Virtual PC). I also have a G3/500 iBook, and my wife and I both own iPods (20GB Mac for me, 10GB Windows for her).

No stickers on the Element, I just prefer my windows and bumpers to be unadorned. I've even removed the 'anti theft' stickers on the glass! :D

Doesn't matter to me what platform folks prefer. If it does what you want/need, and you're happy with it, then go for it! :)

Count me in. I design book jackets and covers. Would be lost without my mac. I have been using them for 13 years now and would never look back. OSX Jaguar is the best and can't wait for Panther. I'm getting the 30 gig ipod for the "e" for x-mas. There is nothing better.

<- mac user

I'm a Mac user since 1984 when they first came out. Worked for a dealer at the time and I picked one up for $1100 including a dot matrix printer and a 128K single floppy (400K) Mac in a green mac bag. It was right after Steve Jobs announced it. Original retail was $2500 for the Mac 128, $595 for the Imagewriter printer and $125 for the carry bag!

Nowadays, I use a 15" Titanium laptop and a PC as well. I guess I must be ambidextrous.

You bet. I do all my work on Macs. I only have a PC for gaming.

Another Mac user, and I'm a developer. At last count I have thirteen, of which five are in daily use. Two token Intel machines in the lab, one running Win2K and the other BSD Unix.

Jimxenus - if you need a nostalgia hit, I have an original Imagewriter sitting on a shelf behind me.

:lol:

I'm shopping around for an E so I can have a vehicle worthy of the white Apple sticker! 8)

Seriously though, I have a 17" iMac and have been a happy "switcher" for almost a year now. I have never been into gaming and don't miss the pc much at all. I still have my old HP but I haven't turned the thing on in at least eight months.

The Element seems to be a vehicle designed for people who "think different" so I would encourage any owners to consider the Mac when they are in the market for a new machine.

AND NO, I DON'T WORK FOR APPLE! :lol:

:shock: Think Different! :shock:






:roll:

Still waiting to jump off and by a mac. I know it would be better but still trying to convince myself.

My brother just bought me a 40G Ipod for my b-day, I've been considering the switch to mac for some time now. As soon as some bills are paid I think I will replace my aging PC with an ibook! (I know I can use the ipod w/ windows, but it is a good excuse :wink: )

I work for a school district in the technology dept. as a database administrator amongst other things so I support both macs and Dell's, I love my 600mhz Titanium G4 Powerbook (running OS 9.22) and my Sony VAIO PIII notebook. The Macs are easier to deal with when the software gets corrupt "damaged resource forks" just reinstal the system folder and your up and running. Now for PC's thats another story, lets not go there.

"Imagewriter's" We use them in the district for purchase orders, the Imagewriter II's are workhorses with the localtalk board LOL


[quote:974e3f1113="MikeQBF"]Another Mac user, and I'm a developer. At last count I have thirteen, of which five are in daily use. Two token Intel machines in the lab, one running Win2K and the other BSD Unix.

Jimxenus - if you need a nostalgia hit, I have an original Imagewriter sitting on a shelf behind me.

:lol:[/quote:974e3f1113]

[quote:db56e7542e="ShaneS"]"Imagewriter's" We use them in the district for purchase orders, the Imagewriter II's are workhorses with the localtalk board LOL[/quote:db56e7542e]

Heh! I have one of those upgraded IIs, and a separate Localtalk to Ethernet bridge, gathering dust in the basement...

-brendan

I switched to a Mac earlier this year for my home office. I have a 17-inch Imac G5 and I love it. I still use a PC at work and it is good for many things. But, the Mac is better for video editing, etc. Plus, it looks cool, just like the Element.

Mac user here too.

No sticker on Gus though.

So I'm a build-it-yourself kinda guy when it comes to computers, lost track of how many I've fixed/built for family and friends. I have dabbled on macs when I was in the mall, but haven't spent a lot of time on them.

Today I was setting up a mac mini for my madre and at first I was thinking "oh man,.. this sucks!'' and then I was like "oh man this suuooooosweeet!" LOL
Fogs first Sam, Fogs first.........

Mac-using family here, too many to itemize.

It's no suprise that Element owners are often Mac owners. It's no secret that Mac users disproportionaly choose Honda as their brand of automobiles.

Mac-cie here! :)

I have a 17" PowerBook, 20 G IPod, and a LifeDrive. I like them all. I also have a 15" Dell notebook for using the few item that are not compatable with my PowerBook.

Mac Mini at home, Compaq V2220 notebook for 'round town. Love 'em both.

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/images/icons/icon12.gif

Just switched to an iMac! Love it.

15" G4 Pwrbk Alum. & G5 Liquid cooled 8meg Ram w/30" (hey, i'm a photographer - whadaya expect - not smart enough to figure out how to operate a PC)!
and yeah, i agree - there is something spiritually similar about these two physical universe widgets ... they do their respective jobs PERFECTLY and are downright fun whilst doing so!

I have a PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz w/768 MB of RAM. Also, have a iPod Shuffle and made everyone in my family jealous, they have a all have shuffle's, too. The G4 was my first Mac, and I probably will never go back. I must say, however, the Media PC that I have from Gateway is fantastic. I never miss a good show, and don't have to get a DVR from the cable/satellite company. (I hope paparazzo1 has more than 8MB of RAM)

Mac user...with Apple sticker on back window too.

Suppose it's time I raised my hand. My current whip is a Dual 2.0 G5 I bought when they first came out and later added some RAM. It will be eons --- if ever --- that I have top of the line again. Damn that was a wad of cash (er, credit). WTF was I thinking? Love the G5, a paragon of design.

Been through 2 CRT iMacs. The basement is filled with ancient Beige (such Plus, SE, Quadras, various PowerMacs and G3s, a IIfx, etc.) and some black. The "black" is two Mac TVs (make me an offer?) and a cube. And I don't mean Apple Cube. :D

Dual 2.5Ghz PowerMac G5, Cinema 23" HD Display, Powerbook G4 12", several iPods & Airport Express here :) - just like the E, they just work. Cant understand a PC owner owning an E, wouldn't something less reliable be more appropriate :cool:

My powerbook G4 matches the color of my E :) too bad my ipod shuffle doesnt come in silver:|

It's about time I step into the 21st century, still have an old iMac G3, can't part with that adorable blue-green box. Waiting for January when Apple comes out with the IBM chip. Can't wait!:)

OK, I'll bite.

Me: 17" PB/2GbR/100GbHDD (2 months old), Apple 20" LCD, iSight, 20Gb iPod, 1Gb Shuffle
Wife: TiBook/1Gb/80GbHDD, 20Gb iPod,PMG4 WindTunnel w/ 17" Studio+15LCD.
Daughter: Snow iMac DV with a 20Gb iPod
Son: 1Gb Shuffle
Around the house: one Grape DV (home file server), one Blueberry slot load, one Lime iBook.

Work: Three Mac Minis running OSX Server. Two G5 Dual 2Ghz, each with 2.5Gb RAM and triple 19"LCD displays. Soon: two more G5s, dual core and triple monitors.

RIP: 14 Macs at work lost to Kartrina, including five G5s and twelve 22" Diamondtrons (did you know they float?). Also flooded: nine original Think Different Posters.

Apple Stickers on 2005 E, 1994 Miata R, 1994 Accord Wagon, and every vehicle I ever owned.

Honda and Apple just go together.

Benson, does this mean your O.K. with Macs!:shock:

I'll chime in with a voice of reason. Err, maybe.

I have always been a PC user, while at the same time being virulently anti-Microsoft. I can understand folks switching to Macs out of frustration with Windows. But hardware-wise, the PC architecture (Intel/AMD) I think caught up with Mac a long time ago, and passed them by. And the cost difference is astonishing. I could never justify those Mac prices to myself.

Then again, I have the advantage of 1) knowing how to build my own machines to my exact specs, 2) understanding more or less how to avoid common Windows problems in the first place (never had a problem with virii or spyware, and don't even use any of that intrusive anti-virus SW). I have used Macs here and there at work, and generally speaking I have not been impressed. They seem to crash just as much as PCs do, and what's frustrating is that at least with PCs, if they crash, I know what to do to solve the problem. With a Mac, I and most others are clueless. The OS X gui is definitely eye candy, but IMHO that stuff just hogs up precious resources that are needed elsewhere. So even though I run Windows XP (on one box), I have all the Fisher Price junk turned off.

I know a few PC users who switched to Macs, and by and large they are satisfied, but they also seem to have their Macs in the shop ALL THE TIME. Again this goes back to the Mac GUI giving little in the way of system settings options. Here's a question for you Mac'ers: have you started to learn your way around the command prompt at all under OS X+? Does that solve the problem of not being able to get under the hood? The reason I ask is because I know my way around the Linux/Unix console and was curious if aspects of the interface could be controlled thru the shell in a pickle, or if it's possible to kill bad procs. I have my doubts because I have it on good authority that MAC's version of UNIX is less than perfect.

My home office goes like this: I have 2 windows PCs on my LAN (one is wife's, one is mine, stictly for games and occasional development uses where I'm forced to use Microsoft apps). These are both sitting behind a Slackware Linux box that serves as a firewall, router, gateway and file server. All were built from scratch. No problems except the occasional unavoidable electrical/hardware meltdown.

Oh - and having that file storage is a HUGE blessing, because when things DO go wrong with one of the PC's, like a blown up hard drive, I have my backups right on the Samba share. Up and running again in an hour or less.

But hardware-wise, the PC architecture (Intel/AMD) I think caught up with Mac a long time ago, and passed them by. And the cost difference is astonishing. I could never justify those Mac prices to myself.


For the things that I value in a computer, a PC would not only cost me more in either dollars or time and likely be unavailable at any price.


Then again, I have the advantage of ... etc. etc.


I know. Reverse the brand names in what you just said, and that's the way Mac users feel. Half the battle is what you're most comfortable with.


Again this goes back to the Mac GUI giving little in the way of system settings options.


Wow, really? Like what?

Here's a question for you Mac'ers: have you started to learn your way around the command prompt at all under OS X+? Does that solve the problem of not being able to get under the hood?


I know a few basic Unix commands, but by and large they aren't necessary. Problem? What problem? I use my computer, I don't spend my time configuring it. But if you would rather use a command prompt for some things instead of the GUI you could. You can boot an OS X Mac straight to the command line if you want and never see any part of the GUI.

And with root setup the computer will let you get to, and do anything and everything you want, for good or ill. Even without using the command line.


The reason I ask is because I know my way around the Linux/Unix console and was curious if aspects of the interface could be controlled thru the shell in a pickle, or if it's possible to kill bad procs.


Yes, of course. It's Unix.


I have my doubts because I have it on good authority that MAC's version of UNIX is less than perfect.


You're un-named "good authority" isn't so good. That stuff usually comes from sources that have agendas of their own. But Darwin is a free download for the x86 platform. Carve out a partition and try it yourself and learn about it.

bustamelon, your misconceptions about OS X are understandable but still pretty basic. If you're indeed curious about it, I'd suggest investing in a book or two. If really curious, PM me one day and I'll help steer you to an old Mac box on eBay or wherever to play with and set you up with some software.

and as for macs crashing often:

i run mine pretty hard, lots of image analysis/graphics, plus day to day, and my uptime is: 30days23hours.

and that last restart was for installing a system patch (an automatic download courtesy of apple, of course)

macs used to crash a lot (seven years ago), just as win98 did. these days, they are rock solid

Half the battle is what you're most comfortable with.
That's really it in a nutshell.

You're un-named "good authority" isn't so good. That stuff usually comes from sources that have agendas of their own. But Darwin is a free download for the x86 platform. Carve out a partition and try it yourself and learn about it.

bustamelon, your misconceptions about OS X are understandable but still pretty basic. If you're indeed curious about it, I'd suggest investing in a book or two. If really curious, PM me one day and I'll help steer you to an old Mac box on eBay or wherever to play with and set you up with some software.

It's a good friend who is a total linux lunatic, builds his own linux "distibutions" out of parts taken from here and tweaked there. Runs a custom linux server on Mac hardware in fact. I don't know how much he has used os x, and I do know he's a little over the top about good performance and streamlined software, so a grain of salt is recommended.

I probably won't get started using a Mac anytime soon just because there isn't enough time in the day, and because I have my particular Linux thing down to a science. Of course, with technology, everything could change in the blink of an eye, and I will always have to RTFM for the next new version of Mergatroid Couplings and Johnson Rods. :)

But thanks for the offer -- who knows, I might yet. I might put on a set of HIDs too! :cool:

I have been waiting for this thread to go this way. :D

I may have posted this before. I was researching laptops for the kid to go back to school. She does not like computers and can use only IM and word. At the time the only PC laptop under 1600 cdn were 15 in too big for a student I looked at the ibook. Dollar for dollar a better value. Smaller and lighter than a PC laptop, other that student teacher office, no other software was needed. (ilife and apple works takes care of everything) I ended up buying three. The girlfriend uses her ibook more then other computer and the kid actually enjoys learning how to do stuff. I had just bought a toshiba 15 wide p4. It now live on the desk (to heavy to carry around) I use it for mail and syncing my pda and a little surfing. The little ibook does everything. Word processing, recording and editing my podcast, surfing and a bunch of other stuff. Not bashing PCs but when my GF bought an ipod and did not need any help to set it up on her mac I knew that mac was now the one to use. (two years ago see couldn't send email) My mom will be the next to switch. The regular maintance that I have to do is killing me. (Anti virus, spyware, etc.) For power users and gamers the PC is king. For people like my GF and mom mac is ready to use out of the box. For me, I ain't that technical but I do pride myself on knowing my way around windows and I like the pc but I love my mac. It is just easy.

bone

PS if this offends then read the sig

I'm in the printing business. For prepress, the Macs represent the shortest possible path to get from marketing ideas into ink on paper. If Windows was faster for what I do, then I'd scrap every Mac and call Dell. Anything to get more work to those million-dollar printing presses.

Clock speed isn't everything. Getting the work done is my goal. The Macs simple do this faster, despite slower clock speeds.

My wife is a photographer and artist: for her creative needs, the Mac is her first choice.

To me, the Mac is all about business. Windows is for games.

Ironic, huh?

More ironic still is that Apple is making serious inroads in the server environment with the xRAID... because of price. Go configure a 7 terabyte high-availability RAID from Dell, IBM, Sun, etc, and compare it to Apple's price of $13K. The others want $50K+ for the same amount of storage.

I know a lot of Windows-to-Mac switchers, and most of them are quite happy. I don't know many Mac-to-Windows switchers. Most of them are unhappy. I don't hesitate to recommend Windows when it best suits a person's needs. One woman, a service technician who takes care of some of my equipment, finally switched earlier this year. She can't be happier: "I can't believe I wasted all those years fighting with my PC. Life is too short to use Windows."

PS: Windows machines still outnumber Macs in my company by 3-to-1. However, they are part of our overhead. The Macs *make* money: we bill for their time. My IT guy is often amazed at what they can do.

My point is: Honda's have always appealed to the creative types. Their advertising is clean, full of white space, and elegant. Their automobiles are well thought out and high in value. Creative people seem to be draw to Hondas, and creative people tend to be Mac users. In my experience, about 20% of creative types own Honda products, where as Honda has less than 5% marketshare among the general public. I would guess that out of all types of careers, percentage of Element owners that use Macs must be quite high.

Linux convert to Mac here. I use LaTeX (a document processing application)quite a bit, and it was a snap to migrate over to the Mac. I can pop open a command shell anytime I don't feel like fishing through the GUI. The big advantage over Linux is that I've got access to MS Office when I need it. Unfortunately (whether I like it or not) "Word" has become a standard in document preparation, and if you don't use it you're some kind of pariah...

I've used pretty much every flavor of Windows, many distributions of Linux, BSD, FreeBSD, Solaris and even BeOS. Mac OS X is my hands down favorite for just getting things done.

There's only one major limitation that I've found after a few years of hard use: where's the GPS support??! You can't even RUN the software for the major vendors (Magellan, Garmin) and then you're stuck using something like MacGPSpro for uploading/downloading waypoints... lame! Until there's more mac GPS support, I'll still have a use for VirtualPC. Blah! :shock:

Alright folks, I'm back from the land of No-E, just to post here...

As some of the oldtimers here know, I was in tech support and PC Consulting for several years. After a Windows induced breakdown I'm now a carpenter and Mac user.

The only thing I have to say is this...my Powerbook works the way a computer is supposed to.

Crashing?!?! What source did you have that said OSX crashed?!?! I've had my PB running for 2 weeks now, with many CAD and Photoshop sessions and haven't even needed to reboot!

'nuff said, by the way...Hi to anybody here who remembers who I am!

Jesse

Mac G4 Tower, twin 1Ghz processors.

Bought it damn near 4 years ago.

A couple of crashes, nothing lost (knock on wood) and easy to restore.

Love OSX. Love the Mac system. Never did understand PCs really, Mac seems more intuitive to me.

It really is about personal preference. I use a PC at work all the time. Have to, Crestron and Marantz remote programs only work on WIndows!

Get what ya like.

Mine: Dual 1.25ghz G4 PowerMac w/ 1.25gb RAM, iSight, 3G 40gb iPod, 4gb iPod Nano, HK Soundsticks

Hers: Dual 867mzh G4 PowerMac 1.25gb RAM, 17" Apple LCD, iSub with Apple Pro Speakers, Wacom Graphire 3 tablet

Ours: 15" PowerBook G4 1.5gb RAM

Work: Dual 2.0ghz G5 w/ 1.5gb RAM, with 17" Apple LCD

I guess you can say I like Macs.....

OSX Crashing? It does happen occationally admittedly, but in our household it is usually cause for celebration similar to seeing a blue moon :).

As a software developer, you cant beat OSX imho, it has all the development tools you need (Eclipse is my weapon of choice) and a fully fledged unix command shell at your command.

As most people have said on this thread before - like the E it simply works, you don't have to spend endless days configuring tweaking etc.

As a switcher about ten months ago we bought the grand daddy of PowerMacs back then, I loved it so much that we traded the Dell Laptop as well for a small Powerbook - I was thinking, the Powerbook isn't that powerful (1.5Ghz G4) and the GFX card is a bit weak, but its only for web surfing anyway... the amazing thing is I actally use it also for development as it is every bit as responsive as the Dual Proc. 2.5Ghz G5 - and unlike XP, you can truely multitask.

I put this down to the distinct advantage that Apple will always have over Microsof - they control the Hardware AND the Software, Microsoft has to cater for the least common denominator, and cannot thoroughly test against all hardware.

Don't forget OSX was also a newly devised OS in 2000 with limited backwards compatiility to OS9 - another great advantage, its also basd on FreeBSD & NeXt, many people would argue FreeBSD is the best flavour of Unix and the most secure.

As is always the case, Windows users who 'don't get it' 98% of the time have not spent a couple of weeks or a month using OSX on a day to day basis.

For the record, my Mac has only crashed on a software level in the year that I've had it. The software that crashed was Word, Excel and Entourage. To solve that problem, I successfully killed it with the Force Quit tool in OSX and all was great. Now I use Apple Mail for email, and OpenOfficeOrg until I need to share the file with other people who use Microsoft Apps.

In case anyone didn't get my point (which wasn't clear admittedly), here it is:

http://www.maconintel.com/

Since Mac runs a weighted-down Unix OS on, eventually, Intel hardware, why not just make your own Lintel box? It's essentially the same thing, only much cheaper (software: $0). That's what I did.

Linux and Mac OS X share similar underpinnings, but they're far from being comparable. The availability of commerical apps in OSX (like Microsoft Office, Photoshop, etc) is really appealing to many... OpenOffice, GIMP, G-Photo, etc are good linux apps that you can ALSO use on your mac if you don't want to shell out the $$$ for the others (google Fink for more info). Like I said before: best of both worlds! :)

... It's essentially the same thing, only much cheaper (software: $0).

It's essentially the same thing ... just as my Element is to a Ford Escape. To many, many people there's essentially little substantive difference between the two.

I'm not picking on the Escape or Linux for that matter, but a shiny GUI on top of a Unix-like layer does not a Mac or MacOS make.

Also, I can't agree Linux is free, not in a practical sense. It takes investments of time, research and opinion, all of which you have the luxury of amortizing due to being an enthusiast.

(snip)
Also, I can't agree Linux is free, not in a practical sense. It takes investments of time, research and opinion, all of which you have the luxury of amortizing due to being an enthusiast.

Agreed. I love my linux and have been using it at home since 2000, but it does take time and research. And I can no longer conveniently curse the beast from redmond when it's my mistake. But on the bright side, have not had one virus or break-in (although my security logs show a lot of attempts).