Hello, I'm an Apple.

[alexstream]

What do you guys mean by building your computers?

That's David B and his kid actually :

[alexstream]

It means:

I want this ACER motherboard with this NVidia graphics card, this power supply in this case, I only need the 666 speed ram, but I want a terabyte HD, onboard sound is all I need unless I can get a Creative 5.1 for less than X dollars, etc, ad infinitum almost.

You pick and choose exactly which components you want on your system then either put it together or have someone do it for you. THEN you have to get the appropriate drivers and hope there's no conflicts (some hardware devices don't like others at all), try to configure it all into Windows which may or may not be an easy task (and 99% of the time you have to reboot at each addition - YAY) ........

...and then watch as something goes wrong.

It's fine for the person who really knows what they're doing and does the research; in fact it's an excellent way to get exactly what you want on a system. I used to do it all the time and had great success because I didn't leave anything to chance. Still, there's always issues doing a computer this way and you inevitably bang your head against the wall for something.

In the end, though, you either use Windows or you learn Linux (not that hard, but another learning curve) and by the time you have your computer up and running the way you want it, someone with an Apple has already completed more tasks than you'll ever complete before components in your system are out of date.

Again, pros and cons both way. The uber-geeks who fight for Apple and the mega-geeks who are proponents of the PC are just fighting two sides of the same coin. After all, they're all geeks anyhow. It's the small things that will make a difference with someone who really understands computers - a connoisseur, if you will. Not the snobby kind, either, just someone who's done his or her research and knows exactly what they need and what will fill that bill nicely.

Sometimes the PC is the better direction, sometimes it's the Apple. Depends on what you want and how you want it. I really do NOT want to put together another computer. I've done it plenty and I dislike the process. That's not to say I won't again in the future, but now?

I haven't made any firm decision. I've actually had a few very helpful private PM's which have been more beneficial than this thread. And conversations on YIM - one of which led to a much more interesting conversation about Star Trek and Star Wars.

[Peter Puck]

Okay I have a MacBook Pro (and a Mac Powerbook and a Mac G5). I switched to Apple about 2000 and I would never go back. I still have a PC (for work) which is 18 months old and it is way more of a headache than the Macs combined. Plus in the long run I find Macs cheaper. When I had PCs I had to upgrade every 3 years or so because lots of software would become obsolete over a few years and the machine would always become unstable. My Mac Powerbook from 2000 is still runnning fine but it is too slow and now that I would like a new battery they are no longer sold by Apple. Still I have had no regrets. My Macs crash about once every 4 months (if even that often). My PCs would crash on a daily or weekly basis after they were two years old. My newest Mac is 5 years old and I am thinking I should buy another or else get a bigger hard disk. 80 GB is no longer enough.

Most of my PC experience is 10 years out of date so maybe things are better now.

I bought the software to run Windows stuff but I actually never use it. There are some programs only available for windows.

Finally you asked about the MacBook Air. I'll say this: if you need a compter that will fit into an envelope the MacBook Air is the unrivaled.

Edited May 2, 2009 by Peter Puck