Vista upgrade price. Is it better to buy a Mac?

So... We all know that Windows Vista has been released and Windows XP is outdated. It is deffinately time to upgrade your Operating System. Oh, I hear that the new Microsoft Office 2007 requires Vista. What did we expect though because Microsoft can make more money that way.

Yep... Microsoft is all about marketing, money, and monopoly. I guess I will say it is the "Four M's": Microsoft, Marketing, Money, Monopoly. This is pretty self explainetory so I won't stomp on anyone's toes about it.

Oh... Did anyone hear that you have to buy a new computer to run Vista. Well, not just any computer will work with Vista. It must be a Vista Certified PC and it must meet difficult hardware requirments. That means you can spend more money on a simple upgrade.

I suppose that the average Joe could run Vista and the new Microsoft Office Pro for a minimum of about $1000. This is if you consider just the price of buying a new computer to run Vista and the office suite but not including the price of buying the Vista OS itself. Then you find out that half of your programs don't work on Wndows Vista and now you can spend more money buying new programs. Well, there are other costs involved but I am trying to keep this topic at the bare minimum.

All of this great, new stuff is great to think about but... . Now you come to realize that you bought the cheapest Vista PC you could afford and it actually runs slower than your old PC with Windows XP. This is another thing I don't want to step on toes about. Windows Vista requires too much computer resources and is very slow on a new home PC. You need about 3Gb RAM, 512Mb video card, 64bit processor equivelent to ~3Ghz, among other things. It is simply too resource hungry.

Ok... What can I do about it? That is the real question.

First off, if you are going to spend the money on a new computer just to have Vista, consider more options (Linux aside for a moment). You can spend $1000 to get a bare minumum Vista PC that will run very slow. OR. You can consider a Mac.

Some people cringe at the thought of buying a Mac. This is understandable because Mac's used to have a bad reputation. You are free to think what you please but Mac is not the same as they once were.

For one, you can buy a new Mac and install Windows on it if you wish because Mac now uses the same computer components as PC's (they are PC's now).

Secondly, the Mac OSX Operating System comes free with your Mac and has been proven to be more secure than any Windows version ever marketed.

Third on the list is the cost. You can buy a bare minimum Mac for $600 right from their website. This immediatly saves you $400 from buying all that new hardware to run Vista. It also saves you the headache of buying Microsoft Office 2007 for $200 because a new Mac immediatly has iWork install for 60 days to try it out. To buy iWork, it only costs $79 but you don't have to go that route. If you still want Microsoft Office, you can buy Microsoft Office for the Mac for $130 but I can't see any reason for it.

To be completely honest, buying a Mac is now more practicle for normal consumers. It is cheaper, faster, more secure, and less painful than buying a new PC to upgrade your system.



This writing is completely honest and as straitforward as possible. I wrote this using the most common situations to be as fair as possible. There is no guesswork, exagerations, or rare case scenarios/conditions involved. I ask that anyone reading this please comment. Thanks for your time.

 

interesting viewpoint Adderall_Assasin
I still need to get a mac....
I like the overall design of the hard and software and it is secure and stable....

 

Hmm its a very interesting view and one thats pretty close to the truth.
I cant envisage having the power to run vista for another year 18 mths
By which time I am hoping linux desktops will be more advanced,

at the risk of sounding like I envisage everyone owning their own helicopter etc - I sort of sense thatMS has made a really vast mistake by bringing out vista, and maybe should have simply issued SP3 for XP - So I think that we will see other OS's eat into a chunk of the MS desktop market. Every company makes big mistakes eventually and I think MS is losing its way - hence the deal with Novell - I think they know it too

But a mac??? I mean WTF no way ! I am a loyal PC owner and that proprietry mac nonesense is out of the question

 

what? there is a real alternative to Vista???

 

Well I'm running a Mac and it's the best computer I've ever had. 1GB RAM, 250GB HD, partitioned between Windows XP and OS X with 116GB each. It's really the ultimate computer. OS X is great for editing images, video, and doing all the serious stuff that you can't trust XP with. XP is great because everything runs on it. You can play games, and use all the other programs that don't run on OS X. Ditch this Vista shit, go with a OS X/XP hybrid.

Apple provides a free program called Boot Camp that will allow you to install both and choose which to boot into on startup. This is what I use. It burns you a drivers disk to get XP working with all the Mac hardware. They also have a program (free) called Parallels that will allow you to run XP in a window on your Mac. This requires at least 2 gigs of RAM. Find out more at Apple's site.

 

i heard Parralles is great.

 

Vista was doomed from the start. The problem is that it's really got no coherent design. It seems like things are just thrown in willy nilly. Also, I think that Windows XP only really matured within the past two years. I see no reason not to continue running it for years to come.
Linux is also reaching maturity. Ubuntu really made it a everyday OS. Before, it was something to tinker with.

 

Hmm, a powerful alternative to windows and mac that doesn;t require expensive hardware upgrades, is compatible with lots of software, and...oh godamn, you guys know i am talking about Linux =)
even if you want a candy coated GUI you can still run XGL

but if I had to pick between osx or vista...
this is a tough one, but Iwould pick vista, only because I think(don't hold me to this) you can turn down all the candy flashy stuff and put your RAM and processor to good use =)

with mac you can't change anything, you have to buy a whole new one if you want different parts



Very good points assasain. I have been reading your posts and you really do seem to know what you are talking about =)