Low End Mac Reader Specials
Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.
Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.
Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
What's So Great About a Mac? Plenty!
Charles Moore - 2008.09.25 - Tip Jar
Popularity: 
Bookmark in del.icio.usIn an editorial posted this week, the University of Denver Clarion's Alex Gallegos asks rhetorically: "What's So Great About a Mac? Alex says he's becoming increasingly "annoyed at the number of people who seem to have become enamored with the Macintosh operating system," further explaining that his annoyance is kindled by most of the arguments he hears about why Macs are superior to Windows machine are, he alleges, "based on an almost complete lack of knowledge about how computers actually work."
Some of these ignorami, he concedes, are "former Windows users who encountered one Blue Screen of Death too many," while others have been convinced into believing that Macs are the simpler yet more powerful cousins to the Intel market," and others think having a Mac is downright cool.
"I just don't buy this argument," he says.
Well fine, everyone is entitled to an opinion, but with due respect I just don't buy Gallegos' argument.
Real Men Don't Use GUIs
He starts off with a variation of a dismissive trope that reaches back to the "real men don't use mice" canard from the era when Macs had mice and PCs didn't (and didn't have Windows either), calling the Mac GUI a "Fischer (sic) Price" interface, while PC users "can indulge in customization, meddling and fiddling to an extent that would shock a Mac user's socks off."
Well, if "customization, meddling and fiddling" are what floats your boat, they're abundantly available in OS X as close as starting up the Terminal and interfacing with the OS's Unix underpinnings - and on a more sophisticated level than anything that's possible with Vista. Hold onto your socks!
But most non-geek real-world users would rather just get on with their day.
It's the Software, Stupid
As for Macs being "better artistic machines" - another timeworn (albeit true) rubric, Gallego says: "What people don't quite seem to understand is that these are questions of software, not the operating system. Software is software."
Yes, and software has to operate in the context of an operating system, and the context provided by OS X is far more satisfying for graphics work than Windows, not to mention that the software itself is often better. Where are Windows versions of Pixelmator or ToyViewer or GraphicConverter?
Even cross-platform graphics apps look and work better on the Mac - just look at Photoshop Elements.
Malware Doesn't Matter
Gallegos dismisses the relentless malware siege Windows users have to contend with by arguing: "Just because you don't get viruses, doesn't mean that nobody can write one. It's not an impossibility by any means."
No, it's not, but the operative reality is that no one has; there's never been a destructive OS X virus in the wild. As one commentator quipped: "Viruses: Mac OS X - three; Windows - eleventy-zillion."
I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I've been working with Macs on the Internet many hours a day for over a decade, and I've never bothered with antivirus software, firewalls, or any of the anti-malware tedium and ennui that is obligatory in the Windows orbit. I never felt the need to.
It is difficult to persuade ordinary computer users who have only used Windows that - at least up to now - viruses have been a non-issue for Mac users.
As Why Are There No Viruses for Mac OS X? on Switch to a Mac put it this week:
With today's cyber-threats and focus on computer security, it's no surprise that many people are ditching their Windows PCs for Macs running OS X . . . The requirement to protect Windows installations from viruses, spyware and malware, have prompted many to make the switch....
It's well known that there are no known viruses for the Mac OS X operating system despite it being on the market for over seven years. As of this writing, Mac OS X is virus-free. There have been some attempted exploits in the past but those relied on social engineering....
If they had noticed it, Windows fanboys like Gallegos would have had an "aha!" moment earlier this this year when an Apple Web page encouraged Mac users to install virus and security software on Macs, but the page is no longer linked from Apple's Website (you can still view it in the Internet Archive.
Macs Are For Lazy Folk
As the summary shot in his broadside of Windows-acolyte conventional wisdom bromides, Gallegos casts Macs as having "a very specific set of uses for a very specific niche of users - namely people who aren't really comfortable with computers and want things to be as simple and easy as possible without having to go find appropriate software for themselves."
This guy really needs to get out more - perhaps to a software developers' convention or other geek-fest venue where he could count the high proportion of users running Macs these days.
Why I Use a Mac
Windows is one of the reasons I use a Mac: the clumsy and obtuse angularities, the general clunkiness of PC hardware, the malware plague, and the irritation of having to deal with Microsoft DRM issues.
On top of that, a lot of the software I find "appropriate" to my
work as a professional tech journalist is not available on the PC, but
that's just poor ignorant "not really comfortable with computers" me.
Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and writing for Mac websites since May 1998. His The Road Warrior column is a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com.
Recent Miscellaneous Ramblings
- 3 WeatherBug Options for Apple Users, 11.19. Have instant access to current local weather conditions with a Dashboard widget, iPhone app, or Firefox plugin.
- Love My Refurb MacBook Pro, Eudora Forever, and the Lightest AA Batteries, 11.18. Also questions about nVidia GeForce 8600 problems in earlier MacBook Pro models and importing Eudora mailboxes into Eudora successors.
- Cruz Browser Introduces Useful New Features, 11.17. Although only a 0.1 release, this new WebKit-based browser has several clever new features that just might hook you.
- Refurb MacBook Pro Value, MacBook Too Big to Replace 12" PowerBook, Pismo Noise, and More, 11.12. Also installing OS X using FireWire Target Disk Mode, running Virtual PC under Leopard, and how to use filters in iCab.
- More in the Miscellaneous Ramblings index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Clamshell iBook G3/300 MHz, Sep. 1999 - innovative, rugged, heavy, clamshell laptop introduced AirPort and was a huge hit.
- Group of the Day: Mac Pro List is for those using a Mac Pro.
- November 20 in LEM history: 85: Windows 1.0 - 00: Mac dreams - 01: Stop the upgrade insanity - Good people, good software, good business - The digital lifestyle: Text - 06: To AppleCare or not? - One year with my 'free' Mac mini - 07: Why you want to avoid integrated graphics - Problem with Leopard on a MDD
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Virtualization Shootout: VMWare Fusion 2 vs. Parallels Desktop 4, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 11.20. Both programs do the same thing, but one runs Windows XP smoothly alongside Mac apps, while the other bogs down everything but Windows.
- Leopard Runs Very Nicely on PowerPC Macs, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 11.19. Some claim that Mac OS X 10.5 is so optimized for Intel Macs that it runs poorly on PowerPC hardware. That's simply not the case.
- No High Definition iTunes Video for You, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.19. The October 2008 MacBooks are preventing users from viewing some high-def iTunes content from being viewed on their external displays. Poor form!
- Every Working Computer Is Useful to Someone, Allison Payne, The Budget Mac, 11.19. Whether it's a PowerBook 1400, G3 iMac, or Power Mac G4, it could be all the computer someone needs.
- Anticipating Macworld: Nehalem, Snow Tiger, and Updated Desktops, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.18. Intel's Core i7 CPU has to make it way into the next Mac Pro, nVidia GeForce graphics will drive the iMac and Mac mini, and 'Snow Tiger' will unleash the animal within.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best iMac G4 Deals, 11.18. Used 15" 700 MHz Combo, $243; 800 MHz, $280; 1 GHz, $380; 17" 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $400; 20", $549.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.18. New 1.6 80, $1,150 after rebate; 120, $1,744 a/r; 1.8 80, $1,794 a/r; 1.6 128 SSD, $2,150; used 1.8 64 SSD, $1,500; new, $2,200 a/r; 1.86, $2,398 a/r.
- Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 Deals, 11.18. Mac OS X 10.0.3, $30; 10.1, $20; 10.2, $60; 10.3 CD, DVD, $100; CD, $119; 10.1 Server, unlimited users, $58; 10.3 Server, unlimited, $150.
- Best iPod nano Deals, 11.17. Refurb 3G/4 GB, $79; new, $114; refurb 8 GB, $99; new, $125; 3G/8 GB, from $134; 16 GB, from $189. Prices include ground shipping.
- Best Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.17. Used 1 GHz with SuperDrive, $478 plus shipping.
- Best Xserve deals, 11.17. Used G4/1 GHz, $999; G5/2 GHz, $1,288; new 2.0 4-core Xeon, $1,900; refurb 3.0 4-core, $2,599; 2.8 GHz, $2,499; 3.0 8-core, $3,499.
- Best classic iPod Deals, 11.14. Used 30 GB video, $126; 80, $53; refurb 80 classic, $169; new 120 GB, $224; refurb 160 GB, $249; new, $280. New & refurb include shipping.
- Best eMac Deals, 11.14. Used 700 MHz Combo, $120; 800 CD, $170; 1 GHz Combo, $229; SuperDrive, $260; 1.25 Combo, $250; SD, $300; 1.42 Combo, $329.
- Best MacBook Deals, 11.14. Used 1.83 GHz, $595; 2.0 SD, $660; refurb 2.1 GHz, $949; 2.4, $999; black, $1,099; new 2.1, $869 after rebate; 2.4, $1,150 a/r; black, $1,194 a/r; more.
- More deals in our archive.
About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts
Have a question?
Ask an expert!
Navigation
Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System
6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
Mac FAQ
Abandonware
Petition
Mac vs. PC Info
Affiliates
The Apple
Store
Mac
Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial
Memory
batteries.com
Advertise
