Macs in my humble opinion are well worth the money.
My pre-press/ design manager has a MacBook Pro that's 8 years old and it still runs well, the only issue is since it's a Power PC machine we can't install the newest software. I use log me in ignition on my iPad a lot to fix issues when I'm outside the office and in 4 years of owning Macs I've never had any issues at all. I have a copy of Windows 7, but I've have booted my bootcamp partition in 2 months. Now I have an iPhone 4, iPad 2, and my MacBook Pro.Īll 3 items work seamlessly in my enterprise environment, I have no issues doing my work at all running OSX. Then in 2010 I bought the aluminum MacBook Pro. Shortly afterwards, and mostly do to constant issues with my HP laptop and the Toshiba before that, i bought the black MacBook. I used to hate Apple with a passion like a lot of computer guys until my wife (now ex) bought the first iPhone in 2007. To me Macs are 100% worth the cost and justifiable. IMHO, Boot Camp that allows you to install Windows on an Apple computer is not worth the effort. It usually boils down to the applications you need to use.
If you time is taken into consideration and is worth anything, Apple may not be so expensive in the long run. It is one of those issues.pay me now or pay me later. I use an Apple Air as my personal laptop. The platforms are very different and there is a learning curve for both.
I use Apple Remote Desktop in the Apple network with an Apple Mini Server. The updates from Apple are less frequent, but often require you to log on to each machine.
I recently installed Windows 7 on a new drive and it required 99 updates that took a very long time.
Apple machines, with their controlled software environment, seem to require less maintenance. Windows seems the way to go if you are in a big company and need to centralize your management. I maintain two networks, one Windows based and one Apple based. I agree with Jeremy that you likely got a bad device. I have years of experience with both platforms. Windows 7 is a really great OS and I enjoy working with it, but at the end of the day I choose Macs for work and personal use, and I never have had one single compatibility issue or workplace issue with opening or working on anything sent to me by a windows user. You can say all you want about windows and macs using the same components but the build quality is a lot better on Macs. I've saved 15% in the past 3 years in repair costs, and downtime due to catastrophic failures. Since adding more Macs to my organization my overall total cost of ownership is actually down over a 4 year period. My overall point is you can't just listen to the standard "We hate Apple mantra" of a lot of IT people, you really should look at the overall value. I have replaced my $3,000 G-5 towers in my pre-press department with the new Mac Mini and the Mac Mini easily handles all our daily tasks, for a mere $600. Since I mentioned it the new Mac Minis I think are often overlooked and consider underpowered by a lot of folks. You can't just look at the $1100 price point on a MacBook Pro or iMac, or $600 Mac Mini and say "Oh they're too expensive." You have to look at the big, huge long term picture before ruling out Macs for your environment! All my macs are hence on the domain, no issues there either. We print for the healthcare industry so we have to be HIPPA compliant which means my Macs have to follow domain policy. I've never had to repair permissions, despite what someone else said in another post having to do it. However my windows machines make it 3 or 4 years and they have to be replaced otherwise my productivity just goes in the tank. I have Macs in my organization that are 8 years old and they are working just fine, no issues at all. Look at the build quality of any mac computer especially the MacBook Pro line with the unibody construction, and take in the life span of a mac and the costs definitely even out.
Plus for everyone who talks about cost I say rubbish.
Remember every time you buy a windows machine it comes with trial software for Quicken, etc, then you have HP's special software or Dell's special software for managing this that and the other thing. Macs aren't subsidized, which is part of the cost factor, not to mention production numbers play a huge part. I just can't justify it, plus the cost of buying office again etc. I keep looking at the Mac's and come back to the same thing.they just cost WAY too much! if you look at the hardware you're paying $500-$600 or more just for the OS and Mac name.