Help! Mac or PC ?

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
My company is about to purchase several new computers to run our office. I like macs and my partners like PC. I know this forum might be biased, but can an office of Imacs run as well as an office of PCs? My partners are afraid we won't have the same software choices, be able to sync Ipaqs, etc. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.



John

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    rick1138rick1138 Posts: 938member
    You can sync any PDA running the Palm OS.There is some software that isn't available for the mac platform,but as far as overall efficiency is concerned a Mac network is far easier and more efficient to build and maintain.In general it takes about 3 times as much work to perform maintenance on a PC network as a Mac.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    bluegeckobluegecko Posts: 11member
    I help run a school with about 200 Macs and 40 PCs, so that's my background.
    • Rather than just wonder idly if you will have software issues, make a list of what you need and then see if solutions are available that will do that. If you cannot find something that does what you need, and it is unreplaceable, then that will help you make up your mind right there. iPaq synchronization software does not exist, for example. (Though Palm software does.)

    • PCs are harder to maintain. I'd say we spend about half and half between the Macs and PCs. Now check out the ratios. It's about 5:1, yet the 200 Macs require just as much attention as 40 PCs. I think that's telling.

    • If you can afford it, go full Mac, meaning get a Mac server. You can do some absolutely wonderful things that way. For example, using OS X Server with your Macs in NetBoot mode, you can centralize all upgrades on a single server, and also make it so that any employee can login to any computer in the company and have his desktop and all of his settings there immediately. Further, with all data centralized, it's easy to backup everything.

    If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    xaqtlyxaqtly Posts: 450member
    I agree 200% with BlueGecko. If you have a room full of Macs and an OS X Server, it's mind boggling the things you can do. In addition to all the super-cool stuff that Apple provides with OS X Server, there's also Apple Remote Desktop which allows you to push files to remote Macs (or just other Macs in the room) and you can also view the user's screen, or even take over and control somebody else's Mac from yours.



    I just went through the 5 day Apple training class, OS X Admin Basics and Server Essentials, and OS X Server has got to be the easiest server out there to set up and use, as well as one of the best performance bargains out there.



    OS X Server, by default, gives you a DNS server, DHCP server, IP filtering, Netboot server, Appleshare File Services, Print server, Mail server, FTP server, HTTP server with CGI services and WebDAV, Macintosh Manager (for OS 9 Macs), Network Users and even more stuff that I can't remember off the top of my head.



    I too work in a mixed Mac and PC environment. About 700 Macs to about 3000 PCs. There's only two people taking care of the Macs, but about 16 techs AND 8 help desk personnel handling PCs. Even with all those people, the PC trouble tickets are usually in the 40-50 ticket range every day. The Mac trouble calls are usually 2 per day, average. Sometimes more, sometimes less.



    Work through those numbers and you'll find that on average, one out of ~350-400 Macs has a problem each day (and usually it's very minor, sometimes related to user error), while on the PC side it's closer to one 1 out of 60 PCs having problems every day, and they can barely keep up with it even though they have at any given time, say 7 times the personnel we do.



    Believe me, our IT department is happy with the two of us because we save them so much money. They still scratch their heads and ask us how only two of us can handle all those Macs by ourselves.



    The answer is "because they're Macs".



    Nuff said?



    [ 05-06-2002: Message edited by: Xaqtly ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 5
    eskimoeskimo Posts: 474member
    [quote]Originally posted by PVPJohn:

    <strong>be able to sync Ipaqs, etc.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    The only software I've seen that allows a Mac to sync with a Pocket PC such as your Ipaqs is PocketMac which can be found at <a href="http://www.pocketmac.net/"; target="_blank">http://www.pocketmac.net/</a>;



    It costs $49.95 but has gotten less than stellar reviews on versiontracker. I agree with BlueGecko, if you list your exact requirements and that of your customers it would be much easier to advise you. There are some times when it might be necessary to stick with the PC platform and other times when Macs will suit your purposes fine.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    rick1138rick1138 Posts: 938member
    Go all Mac,tell the people with iPaqs to get a real PDA.Ditch any software that doesn't work with a Mac,you'll save yourself and your company a lot of trouble and money.
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