Mac vs. PC

I understand and agree with Michael viewpoint, namely that Mac is a very reliable tool; if i could, i would get one myself and it would be money well spent. Looks great also 🙂

But i don’t accept the dogmatic, black and white viewpoint that mac is the only option out there, or even worst, the concept that if one isn’t using a Mac, then that means anything at all by itself. I guess it’s the difference between “best” and “good enough”.

Anyway:

– No self-respecting DJ would use a computer anyway, so why mention it? Only vinyl, or if possible any even older medium.

– No self-respecting DJ would spin that cheesy tune. There’s a list of official “allowed to spin” tunes, period.

– No self-respecting DJ would use an audio interface under 500 bucks. Actually, forget anything under 500 bucks, and that includes 3 feet long jack mono to RCA cables, like Crystal Cable. Anything less than that means inaudible sound. Honest!

By the way, what is THE brand of underwear that self-respecting DJ’s use?

It comes down to this.

Apple brands/markets itself as the computer company for people that aren’t computer people(back when geek was a derogatory term). Harken back to the “think different” counterculture campaign in the early 90s which was followed by the “I’m a Mac” brand association campaign in the late 90s and it’s clear to see how Jobes and Co. were trying to portray their company compared to PCs. DJs typically aren’t computer people, sure they enjoy technology and gagdets like most people these days, but in general they don’t care much to get into the down and dirty of what makes a computer and OS tick, and more importantly, can’t be bothered to figure out whats wrong themselves when something does eventually go wrong.

Mac people like to claim “it just works”, even though there are countless anecdotes of Macs failing in live shows, getting viruses, etc just like any other computer using any other OS. What they really mean is, when their PC didn’t work they didn’t know what to do, when their mac doesn’t work they call apple tech support line or take it into a apple store.

Windows is fine and great for those who are both comfortable with the OS and comfortable fixing any minor quirks themselves(google ftw). Mac is great for those who are comfortable with the OS and would rather have someone on call to help them with any minor quirks they find, for the added cost of course. Neither is a right or wrong choice.

Michael, i’m really sorry for not making myself clear: in you post you were very reasonable and what you’ve said is both true and relevant. I used the expression “dogmatic” to classify the sentence “No self-respecting DJ would use a PC”, not your post or you:)

It’s funny, my English (Portuguese is my native tongue) is always getting me in trouble, i guess i have a funny way of expressing myself in English :confused:

On topic: i’m sure that near every DJ in the world tries to get the best tools possible/affordable/available for making as cool as possible shows, and that sounds good enough for me; sometimes the gear will not be state of the art, but honestly i don’t care. My dream kit would be a Mac and a 4midiloop, and yet i have a really humble kit (that includes Windows 7).

Fluxdeep, post: 5409 wrote: Michael, i’m really sorry for not making myself clear: in you post you were very reasonable and what you’ve said is both true and relevant. I used the expression “dogmatic” to classify the sentence “No self-respecting DJ would use a PC”, not your post or you:)

It’s funny, my English (Portuguese is my native tongue) is always getting me in trouble, i guess i have a funny way of expressing myself in English :confused:

On topic: i’m sure that near every DJ in the world tries to get the best tools possible/affordable/available for making as cool as possible shows, and that sounds good enough for me; sometimes the gear will not be state of the art, but honestly i don’t care. My dream kit would be a Mac and a 4midiloop, and yet i have a really humble kit (that includes Windows 7).

Flux, no worries. I didn’t take offense and I understood you didn’t mean it personally. I agreed completely with what you wrote.

Michael M. Hughes, post: 5411 wrote: I disagree. Most DJs I know are definitely computer people, especially those like us, on this board, who DJ digitally. Most Windows users, in my experience, also don’t care much about the inner workings of their PCs or feel the need to use terminal commands—they also want things to “just work.” But unfortunately, Microsoft has always forced them to dig down into multiple settings and install drivers/uninstall drivers and so forth just to be able to have things just work. Years ago, when my friend would get a PC game, we’d enthusiastically open the package and install the game. But nearly every time, there would be missing .dll files and other crap to deal with. It was often an exercise in frustration just to get a game loaded and playable, often necessitating a lot of research to find out why it wasn’t working. And he was quite proficient in operating his PC.

Then I’d buy a Mac game, install it, and play it immediately.

And Macs do not get viruses just like any other computer. I haven’t had a virus or malware infect any of my Macs since a bad MS Word macro hosed my system in the mid-90s. There simply aren’t any Mac viruses out there, except an occasional Trojan horse. I see my work colleagues constantly dealing with infected PCs and I just shake my head. In fact, ten minutes ago, one of my coworkers just had some rogue mail program/virus install itself because she opened an email. That just doesn’t happen on Macs.

And I also disagree that Mac owners are more likely to want to call someone for support instead of doing it themselves. That’s not an accurate characterization, from my many years of doing Mac support, professionally and just helping people out. In reality, Macs owners, even newbies, don’t encounter as many problems because the OS is much more user-friendly, whereas Windows is still, by comparison, much less so.

Again, I really don’t care what anyone uses as long as he/she is happy. But the Mac OS is not just for people who dislike using computers or digging into their capabilities. Many of my über-geek friends have switched to Macs because they can run OS X, Windows, and Linux all on the same box.

I like how horror stories on windows comps by mac enthusiasts are typically prefaced by “years ago”. It’s almost as if we should be sitting around a camp fire while hearing the tales of windows woes.

Macs DO get viruses just like any other OS, use google and read up(here is a good starter list http://www.iantivirus.com/threats/), you really have to be blinded by bias to think they don’t. I haven’t gotten a virus on any of my PCs in over 10 years, but I still know PCs can get viruses if you download anything iffy or visit shady websites without up to date anti virus software. They are less likely to have viruses written for them due to a variety of reasons, but to claim they don’t get viruses only brings about carelessness from Mac users who don’t know better.

As for the Mac support comment, I’m going by every person I’ve known that’s a Mac enthusiast. They’ve all told me the same thing, about Mac’s great tech support phone line whenever they get a issue and why it’s much easier than having to deal with something going wrong on a PC that they have to look up and try and fix themselves unless they want to pay extra. It has little to do with ease of use, but the mental assurance that if they screw up it can be fixed without having to hire someone to come out and fix it or worse yet, actually learn enough about their computer to fix it themselves!

Mac was and is still marketed as counter culture to your typical computer users(PC), its marketed as the computer for those who don’t like “computers”. Are there people that use macs that are typical computer users? Of course, as there are plenty of other factors involved in choosing a OS, however in general Macs are targetted at people who aren’t “computer people”. That’s not a diss, it’s actually a brilliant marketing strategy that Apple has used the last 20 years which great success. Computers were a niche market 20 years ago, so you market yourself as the “anti establisment” of that niche so that you can eventually command a huge market share while advertising yourself as the little guy going up against the “man”.

Lastly those Uber geek friends of yours should know that windows systems can run all 3 OS as well, it’s not something Mac’s only enjoy.

At least we both agree to each his own when it comes to OS choices. I never said the way they are marketed was the ONLY reason people choose Macs(which seems to be what you’re debating back at me), I’m just saying it’s a very large factor when it comes to people’s choice between a Mac or a PC.

Macs are great, PCs are great, anyone telling you one is better than the other has a biased agenda whether they will admit it or not.

Sorry Im just not buying what you’re selling, anyone trying to claim macs are better in general is indeed biased whether they want to come to terms with it or not. We’ll just have to disagree on that.

There are times when a Mac is a better option, like I stated in my first post when you don’t know how a computer/OS works and still want the ability to do things on a computer(a very large portion of mac’s consumer base), but for those who are computer savy there is no “right” choice, only biased opinions.