Hey Yo! You know anyting about compuuters?

o-maco-mac
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I was talking to this dude who was telling me that he didn't like Macs because you couldn't learn about computers on them since everyone out in the real world used PC's.



I didn't know what to say.

I still don't know what to say...



Can anyone formulate a decent answer for me?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    stevesteve Posts: 523member
    Well, he does have a point.



    Macs aren't computers; thus, you cannot get computer experience from using one. They are similar, though. Hell, even Tony Hawk says, "If you can use a computer, you can use a Mac."
  • Reply 2 of 16
    dogcowdogcow Posts: 713member
    "Learn about computers"? in what way? like computer science and coding and stuff? or like learning to burn a cd? If you're into computers to learn about how a computer works internally than yea a PC box would probably be better in most cases. If you want to learn to develop software for the mac then you learn how to do that and same thing with learning how to develop on te pc side [windows, linux, whatever] If it's learning how to use MS word, well there really is no difference at all besides what the person prefers. So what exactly do you mean "learn about computers?"
  • Reply 3 of 16
    cybermonkeycybermonkey Posts: 604member
    [quote]Originally posted by Steve:

    <strong>Well, he does have a point.



    Macs aren't computers; thus, you cannot get computer experience from using one. They are similar, though. Hell, even Tony Hawk says, "If you can use a computer, you can use a Mac." </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Macs aren't computers? <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

    What are they then? sports cars?

    if you want to learn how to waste shed loads of money swapping out CPU's and hard drives every other month then a PC is for you. Though you dont't need to do this with a mac because theres really no need. howwever if youu want to use a super computer (G4) and learn how to use unix (all those command lines),publishing, web design and programming then a mac is for you.

    I guess your friend is referring to building PCs, which these days isnt learning computers as most PC's are now jumperless and everything just plugs in.
  • Reply 4 of 16
    o-maco-mac Posts: 777member
    That's what I said! Ha ha...I wasn't sure what the dude meant by "Learning Computers" but after asking a few more questions it dawned on me he meant learning to fix them.



    I mentioned if you were in school and you used computers to do term papers and stuff it didn't really matter what you used as long as it worked.



    Then the dude goes onto mention that relatives of his used Macs in their schools and they didn't learn anything about computers.



    Then I went on to say well they're not there to learn computers they're there to learn english and history and math.



    As you can see the conversation was going in circles so that's where it ended.
  • Reply 5 of 16
    stunnedstunned Posts: 1,096member
    If this dude isn't your friend or owe u any money, dun talk to him!
  • Reply 6 of 16
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    they're expensive toys. (but you're still able to do work with them )
  • Reply 7 of 16
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    The difference between a Mac and a PC is that a PC forces you to go digging around to get things to work - and you don't learn about how computers work, you learn how Windows doesn't work. You can use a Mac without having any idea of what's going on underneath, but if you want to know, everything underneath is laid out sensibly. Mac OS X is much more "discoverable," and at the same time you only discover it as much as you want to (with an ever-shrinking list of exceptions).



    I'd say the hardware is more discoverable as well. The exceptions are notable: Only serious gearheads take iBooks apart, for example. But there is no more accessible tower than a PowerMac's, and Apple boards are beautifully laid out.



    Even if you use Macs personally, you'll probably end up learning some of what's required to make Windows work. The ubiquity and fundamental brokenness of the platform pretty much guarantee that. But if you want to find out how computers work, why not start with a computer that actually works?



    [ 02-24-2003: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
  • Reply 8 of 16
    bluerabbitbluerabbit Posts: 105member
    [quote] Originally posted by O-Mac:

    everyone out in the real world used PC's. <hr></blockquote>

    Don't most companies use Unix?
  • Reply 9 of 16
    overhopeoverhope Posts: 1,123member
    I'd restate it as "every wage slave uses Office on a PC". Big frikkin' deal...



    I'd say at least 80% of the skills used to drive Windoze are transferable, and the other 20% is crap you don't need to know anyway. I laughed the other night watching a friend defrag and virus-scan his Compaq while everyone else drooled over my 12" Powerbook, not least the guy who'd just had to totally reinstall his system because the Registry got hugely corrupted and slowed his VAIO to a crawl...
  • Reply 10 of 16
    proud ibook owner 2k2proud ibook owner 2k2 Posts: 1,011member
    [quote]Originally posted by Amorph:

    <strong>The difference between a Mac and a PC is that a PC forces you to go digging around to get things to work - and you don't learn about how computers work, you learn how Windows doesn't work. [ 02-24-2003: Message edited by: Amorph ]</strong><hr></blockquote>





    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
  • Reply 11 of 16
    chychchych Posts: 860member
    [quote]Originally posted by BlueRabbit:

    <strong>

    Don't most companies use Unix?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hah! If only they did... though considering lots of Unices run on PCs, can you call that a PC?





    Anyways, whats there to learn about a PC that you can't do on a Mac? If fixing the computer is in question, then it is different for both platforms.



    OS X was done well in terms of user level though, you can know as much about the OS as you need to, and it doesn't conspire against you *cough* windows.
  • Reply 12 of 16
    tmptmp Posts: 601member
    [quote]Originally posted by O-Mac:

    <strong>

    Can anyone formulate a decent answer for me?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Let him be- otherwise he'll never know the joy of repeatedly hitting Ctrl/Alt/Delete while cursing like a sailor, or become really close friends with the IT department.
  • Reply 13 of 16
    jccbinjccbin Posts: 476member
    Buy a PC if you want to learn how to computers work. Buy a Mac if you want to get some work done.



    Hey, I just realized, doesn't that make PCs the expensive toys and Macs the useful machines?



    [ 02-25-2003: Message edited by: jccbin ]</p>
  • Reply 14 of 16
    fawkesfawkes Posts: 80member
    If you'd like to get an idea of the general ignorance of the PC community, one of my cow-orkers, upon hearing that I use a Mac, commented, "But I thought that they were just good for games."



    I thought that was rather ironic.
  • Reply 15 of 16
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    [quote]Originally posted by Fawkes:

    <strong>If you'd like to get an idea of the general ignorance of the PC community, one of my cow-orkers, upon hearing that I use a Mac, commented, "But I thought that they were just good for games."



    I thought that was rather ironic. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Wow. That one dates from the mid-80s.



    BTW, welcome back to AI. We've missed ya.
  • Reply 16 of 16
    fawkesfawkes Posts: 80member
    [quote]Originally posted by Amorph:

    BTW, welcome back to AI. We've missed ya. [/QB]<hr></blockquote>



    Thanks!



    An unfortunately located water leak in our new house caused my Pismo's motherboard to explode (literally!) and I started popping back more frequently to glean some buying advice. A new superdrive 12" PB is on the way!
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