[Eric_C]

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Finally got the optical out put working through the headphone jack. Works great now. Will come in handy for my other non USB DAC.

Grats, man. Mac users need to save every USB port they can.

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

 
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Grats, man. Mac users need to save every USB port they can.

Too true. Apple never was a big fan of ports... You should invest some good money into a powered USB-hub. Belkin makes a decent one, for example. Then use that to plug in all your peripherals. Will make removing your Mac from any rigged-up desk setup a lot easier.

 

[Eric_C]

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Too true. Apple never was a big fan of ports... You should invest some good money into a powered USB-hub. Belkin makes a decent one, for example. Then use that to plug in all your peripherals. Will make removing your Mac from any rigged-up desk setup a lot easier.

That's a great idea. I've always thought about it, but was never sure which one was worth the money. Would this be it?

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

This is the one I have. I've been quite pleased with it. I especially like the cable hook on the side. Though, Newegg.com has cheaper ones that might be worth checking out as well.

 

[Eric_C]

Mmm that's a neat one. Might spring for a smaller, cheaper model though--my desk is cluttered enough as it is.

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

When I just had a laptop what I actually did was sit my laptop up on a Griffin Elevator (it's a stand) and had that bad boy sitting under it. Then wireless keyboard and mouse, of course. Was a bit more ergonomic and meant if I spilled anything it hit my extra keyboard instead of my very expensive laptop.

 

[MoSXS]

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Sorry you had a bad experience. I've had my MacBook since 2007 and haven't had any serious problems. My battery is on its last legs, and I had to replace a busted hard drive (but that was an aftermarket upgrade, not the stock HD), but other than that it's been smooth sailing.
 

 
I bought my first MacBook in 2007 and I have not had a year go by where some sort of game changing problem didn't come up.


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No idea what happened with your machines. I'd swear by Apple build quality. It is one thing they're known for. Heck, the latest MacBook Pros are three solid pieces of aluminum. It doesn't get much more stable than that.

I'd honestly have to say that Apple's "superior" build quality is a myth. Look at the plastic machines. They have all sorts of cracking and discoloration issues that just don't exist in the PC world. Their metal systems have all sorts of other issues. Denting, scratching, warping due to heat. Poor cooling design choices added to the fact that the case designed with metal keeps heat in causes the Sandy Bridge systems to overheat and force suspend. Plus all the yellowing issues the iMacs had, even some condensation issues with the last generation.

Apple systems have all sorts of issues. The problem is that Apple fans are so devoted that they'll take these problems and still think they're having a better experience than a PC user which would never experience any of this.


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Snow Leopard isn't anywhere near as stable, capable, or powerful as Windows 7. 

/chuckle @ 'oSX' in your user name

Haven't had a single problem with any of my mac products, and I'm happily writing this on a new 2011 MBP. Had plenty of issues on various windows machines over the years though.

(And yes, I'm very aware that no technology is perfect - I don't expect it to be)

Every single Mac and iPod nano I have ever owned has had issues. Typing this on a desktop PC I put together myself for 1/3 the cost of the top end iMac at the time (3 months ago) but with more processing and GPU power. Never had a single issue with any PC I put together myself.
 
 
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I would debate that, MoSXS. How often do you work in OS X? I dual-boot OS X Snow Leopard and Windows 7 Ultimate. Between the two, I'd say they're both relatively stable but OS X takes a slight, if only, lead. Depending on what you do, Windows could be argued to be more stable.
 
I think the fair thing to say is both are very stable and, depending on the software you use and what you're doing, either can be rock solid or very unstable.
 
As far as capable, that's not true in the slightest, same with powerful. In fact, if you'd like, I can go down the list of things that OS X has built-in that Windows does not. I'm sure there is an equal list on the Windows side but that's not my point. My point is this idea that OS X is not as capable or powerful as Windows is an absurd fallacy from the days when OS X had massive compatibility issues with a number of more-common Windows-specific softwares and functions.
 
The truth is now, Windows has been known to take cues from OS X. Though, Microsoft has a long history of taking features it's competition has and saying, "Look at this new thing we have! And you can only find our version of it in our products!" Looking at the IE9 feature page is laughable. "You want HTML5 and CSS3? Gotta have IE9."

I've been using OS X since 10.4.8. I have Snow Leopard on my MacBook right now, had Windows 7 Home Premium x64 on it, now I have a desktop PC again so only Snow Leopard which was fresh installed after a nice 7 pass wipe to completely clean the drive and start fresh.

On my MacBook (2GHz Core 2 Duo Penryn, 4GB of RAM, 7200RPM 320GB HDD, 9400M, 2008 unibody), Windows 7 was always faster, always more stable, and never had any of the little quirks that OS X had, like the random disappearing of the "SuperDrive" or "AirPort" card that worked fine in Windows but disappeared in OS X requiring me to do SMC and PRAM resets to get them back.
 
I wouldn't say that. The big feature in Lion is fullscreen apps. I had that in Windows 3.x. What about proper alt-tabbing? Cut and paste in Finder (not apps, Finder)? Thumbnail icon previews in Leopard? Had that in Windows 98. What happened to live previews in the dock and command-tab? They disappeared from OS X but Windows has them. Quicksnap? Another useful feature Windows has that OS X doesn't. Oh, like I said, what about blu-ray disc playback? Modern 3D API support? OS X is stuck at OpenGL 3.0 while Windows supports whatever your GPU supports. In fact, OS X didn't get OpenGL 3.0 support until nearly 2 years after the OpenGL 3.0 spec was released! Windows can output 8 channel LPCM over HDMI and DisplayPort. OS X can't. I can hook my PC up to my home theater system with a single cable and get 8 channel sound out of my games and movies. I can't do that with a Mac, even one that has HDMI out, because Apple doesn't support it. I can bit-stream DTS and AC3 from DVDs and iTunes rentals on a Mac, but thats it.

I really can't think of a single thing that OS X can do that Windows can't. I can think of plenty of things Windows can do that OS X can't. From everything I listed above to running on various hardware platforms.

The only benefit any Mac has is battery life. But even thats not realistic any more. Apple's real world battery life is only slightly better than a modern PC. Their claims aren't anywhere close to real world. And getting an extra hour isn't worth paying twice the price for less than half the hardware.
 
Also, the comment was made about 100% return rate for PC failures. When did that happen? I can't remember the last time a government forced a PC manufacturer to do a recall, unlike Apple http://www.pcworld.com/article/131548/danish_agency_finds_apple_ibook_design_flaw.html

 
 

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

Ugh. I'm not doing this again. You know what, enjoy your opinion. I'm not going to spend my energy poking holes in it.
 
Oh, and you have a Core Duo. There was no 2 Ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro. It was also the first MacBook Pro, by the way, right after Apple switched to Intel processors.

 

[MoSXS]

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Ugh. I'm not doing this again. You know what, enjoy your opinion. I'm not going to spend my energy poking holes in it.
 
Oh, and you have a Core Duo. There was no 2 Ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro. It was also the first MacBook Pro, by the way, right after Apple switched to Intel processors.

 
If I'm wrong then it should be incredibly easy to prove it.
 
I have this MacBook: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/stats/macbook-core-2-duo-2.0-aluminum-13-late-2008-unibody-specs.html First one was this one: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/stats/macbook-core-2-duo-2.0-white-13-specs.html which was replaced with this one: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/stats/macbook-core-2-duo-2.16-white-13-mid-2007-specs.html which was then replaced with the first link. Two replacements thanks to Apple's awful build quality and even worse repair service.
 

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

Fun fact, MacBook Pro != MacBook.

 

[Currawong]

MoSXS: So, you have a faulty machine. You can't use that to generalize about Apple's hardware or software.

Having been involved in computer sales and support for both PCs and Macs for many years and having used Apple computers since the Apple II, I can say that the models available NOW, with the information I have about the changes Apple made to their design and manufacture processes, are well-made. Prior to now, they have had serious issues with some models, but, with a couple of exceptions, this isn't anywhere near as bad as what I've experienced with (to compare) Compaq a decade ago (famously bad for abysmal laptop quality), Sony a few years ago when they destroyed the reputation for quality by doing much what Compaq did to destroy theirs (working in a large company, with a particular model every customer-purchased one was returned faulty within a few days), a HP model that couldn't be repaired because HP hadn't any spare parts (illegal, in Australia) and don't get me started on getting Dells repaired out of warranty (good luck getting parts) when Apple keep stock of parts for all models less than 7 years old (as required by law in Australia). You don't read about this stuff as it isn't news for people, unlike anything about Apple, which people, loving or hating, obsess over.

As for Windows, don't let me even go there. I know a guy who coded the Vista kernel...

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

A wise man once said, I don't worry about the things I read in the news because they're so rare that they're newsworthy. It's the things you don't hear about in the news that I worry about.
 
You hear every time Apple gets a virus. You hear every time there's a faulty piece of Mac tech.

 

[MoSXS]

 
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Fun fact, MacBook Pro != MacBook.

 
Fun fact: never said I had a MacBook Pro.

 
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MoSXS: So, you have a faulty machine. You can't use that to generalize about Apple's hardware or software.

Having been involved in computer sales and support for both PCs and Macs for many years and having used Apple computers since the Apple II, I can say that the models available NOW, with the information I have about the changes Apple made to their design and manufacture processes, are well-made. Prior to now, they have had serious issues with some models, but, with a couple of exceptions, this isn't anywhere near as bad as what I've experienced with (to compare) Compaq a decade ago (famously bad for abysmal laptop quality), Sony a few years ago when they destroyed the reputation for quality by doing much what Compaq did to destroy theirs (working in a large company, with a particular model every customer-purchased one was returned faulty within a few days), a HP model that couldn't be repaired because HP hadn't any spare parts (illegal, in Australia) and don't get me started on getting Dells repaired out of warranty (good luck getting parts) when Apple keep stock of parts for all models less than 7 years old (as required by law in Australia). You don't read about this stuff as it isn't news for people, unlike anything about Apple, which people, loving or hating, obsess over.

As for Windows, don't let me even go there. I know a guy who coded the Vista kernel...

Not a faulty machine. All three machines had problems.
 
Been in computer sales, building, report, etc. since the mid 90s myself. My own experience, my experience with others systems, that of my family and friends, all leads me to doubt the fact that Apple's systems are well built. Especially when governments have to step in and force Apple to issue recalls: http://www.pcworld.com/article/131548/danish_agency_finds_apple_ibook_design_flaw.html
 
Well, let me know when OS X supports blu-ray discs and Apple doesn't make a big deal out of OS X finally getting features that Windows had nearly 2 decades ago.
 


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A wise man once said, I don't worry about the things I read in the news because they're so rare that they're newsworthy. It's the things you don't hear about in the news that I worry about.
 
You hear every time Apple gets a virus. You hear every time there's a faulty piece of Mac tech.

You hear about it so much for a couple of reasons. One being that Apple is supposed to be perfect. Apple generally charges significantly more for their hardware than they should, so its definitely news worthy when a $2,000 system thats less powerful than an $800 system has some game ending fault.
Theres also the fact that most tech news sites these days are run by Apple apologists that seem to think that an OS X point revision is breaking news for the world to know about.

 

[ozz]

I had to do a double take for a minute thought I was on ZDnet they are famous for spreading fud about Mac. If you truly do use both OS's then you know both are capable of getting the job done it just seems to me its a whole lot less micromanaged on a Mac.

 

[stew1234]

I'm typing on an Aluminum powerbook g4 I purchased in 2005. It made it through 4 years of college with daily use, dropped a few times, traveled with frequently etc. and it's still working just as well as the day I bought it. So going from my experience the build quality works great for me.