Mac or PC? Forum

[ricekrispies]

Does it matter whether you have a Mac or PC in law school? If not, which one do all of you prefer? My computer has recently died and I am in need of a new one so I want to make sure I purchase one that will help out as much as possible.

[noobishned]

Choose whichever you are comfortable with....

[sinfiery]

PCs are better in every case (specs vs cost) except in the case that you want to shell out $2000+ for the best laptop screen currently available and lose out on other benefits for this price range. Then, I guess, get a macbookpro.


Otherwise, which OS do you prefer?

[rad lulz]

You're gonna need a machine that can run Linux bro

[jselson]

I got a Surface Pro and love the hell out of it.

[tuffyjohnson]

I got a Surface Pro and love the hell out of it.

Right. I think picking the right sized device is the more important piece here. You're going to want something light and agile since you'll be toting it all around. Also, if you're already used to windows don't go rushing into mac as there is a learning curve that could be frustrating during a busy time like attending law school.

[laxbrah420]

Get a laptop and a desktop and leave the laptop at school.

[kalvano]

Whichever one will allow you to better utilize the search function on Top Law Schools.

[reasonable_man]

You're gonna need a machine that can run Linux bro

[J-e-L-L-o]

Eniac is TCR

[Micdiddy]

I'm thinking Mac 'cause it's easier to transport and boots up faster. I have a PC right now and I can't imagine turning it on, booting it up, shutting it off for every class. I know I don't have to shut it off between classes, but in my experience PC's don't do well being on all day while being transported, Macs seems better at this.

[A → B ⊨ ¬B → ¬A]

Get whichever operating system you prefer in your price range. Comparing cpu speed and amount of ram is really apples to oranges between a pc and a mac, so don't focus on those specs. For something to carry around between classes, check the weight, battery life, and quality of the trackpad if you don't want to have to pull out a mouse to get shit done. Definitely get something with a solid state drive rather than a traditional hdd because it will make the computer boot/wake faster and use less battery, and it will be much faster in general but more $/GB. If you plan to do any photo/video editing or gaming, get something with a decent gpu because that is what will hold you back as it ages and it can't be replaced. Both have versions of common programs, but osx has better ios integration if you have an iPhone. Lastly, people are less likely to think you're poor if you get a mac. The 13-inch retina macbook pro is pretty legit for $1500.

[sinfiery]

I'm thinking Mac 'cause it's easier to transport and boots up faster. I have a PC right now and I can't imagine turning it on, booting it up, shutting it off for every class. I know I don't have to shut it off between classes, but in my experience PC's don't do well being on all day while being transported, Macs seems better at this.

Get a Solid State Drive and a PC will boot up in 5 seconds. A mac, maybe 3 seconds.
Both idle the same. There is no difference.

Get whichever operating system you prefer in your price range. Comparing cpu speed and amount of ram is really apples to oranges between a pc and a mac, so don't focus on those specs.

I disagree. They use the exact same processors once macs went to Intell so they could dual boot Windows. Specs are very important as you are literally getting the same exact orange picked in the same Shanghai plant by the same 57 year old Chinese women. Her name is probably Zhang.

For something to carry around between classes, check the weight, battery life, and quality of the trackpad if you don't want to have to pull out a mouse to get shit done. Definitely get something with a solid state drive rather than a traditional hdd because it will make the computer boot/wake faster and use less battery, and it will be much faster in general but more $/GB.

truth

If you plan to do any photo/video editing or gaming, get something with a decent gpu because that is what will hold you back as it ages and it can't be replaced.

If you want a decent GPU in a laptop, there is no question a windows laptop will provide you the far superior card at the same price.

Both have versions of common programs, but osx has better ios integration if you have an iPhone. Lastly, people are less likely to think you're poor if you get a mac.

If you get a Mac, people are more likely to think you are less intelligent.

The 13-inch retina macbook pro is pretty legit for $1500.

There are way too many amazingly priced windows laptops with their own specific strengths for me to give you a recommendation with the given information.

[guano]

I'm thinking Mac 'cause it's easier to transport and boots up faster. I have a PC right now and I can't imagine turning it on, booting it up, shutting it off for every class. I know I don't have to shut it off between classes, but in my experience PC's don't do well being on all day while being transported, Macs seems better at this.

Wait, what?
Don't shut down every time you turn it off. Learn to use the sleep and hibernate functions. My laptop (7 year old pc) turns off on 3 seconds and starts up in about 10 when I use hibernate, which is 99% of the time.

You should not be booting up any computer more than once a week (and even that is probably high)

[Micdiddy]

I'm thinking Mac 'cause it's easier to transport and boots up faster. I have a PC right now and I can't imagine turning it on, booting it up, shutting it off for every class. I know I don't have to shut it off between classes, but in my experience PC's don't do well being on all day while being transported, Macs seems better at this.

Wait, what?
Don't shut down every time you turn it off. Learn to use the sleep and hibernate functions. My laptop (7 year old pc) turns off on 3 seconds and starts up in about 10 when I use hibernate, which is 99% of the time.

You should not be booting up any computer more than once a week (and even that is probably high)

Really? I've found that when my machine is hibernating for too long it slows down and I restart it to pick up the speed.
Does it hurt the comp to shut it off reboot it every night? I don't know why I've always thought that was the "right" thing to do, but maybe I've been stuck in the same habit for 8 years and need to break it.

[nickb285]

.

[guano]

Wait, what?
Don't shut down every time you turn it off. Learn to use the sleep and hibernate functions. My laptop (7 year old pc) turns off on 3 seconds and starts up in about 10 when I use hibernate, which is 99% of the time.

You should not be booting up any computer more than once a week (and even that is probably high)

This is false. First, there's nothing wrong with shutting down/booting up a computer. It doesn't harm it. Second, there can be something wrong with only putting your laptop in sleep mode if you don't have a solid state drive--while putting the computer in sleep mode does turn off the hard drive, in some models, the actuator head remains above the platter unless the computer is shut down. This is akin to carrying around a record player with the needle above the record--if you drop or bump the computer, you've got a good chance that the actuator will impact the platter and potentially cause problems down the road. Granted, this is minimized if a) you're careful and b) you keep your laptop in a properly padded pack/bag, but still. I'm a clumsy mofo and I'd rather just take the extra ten seconds to shut down/boot up my laptop and make sure I'm not causing damage to the drive.

This is less of an issue with desktops (I generally don't shut down my desktop unless I'm going out of town), since they don't get carried around and bumped and dropped, and if you have a SSD it's largely irrelevant.

I don't mean it's harmful, it's just a waste of time. The problem you highlighted doesn't occur during hibernation, but may be a risk factor in sleep mode.

[nickb285]

.

[Micdiddy]

Wait, what?
Don't shut down every time you turn it off. Learn to use the sleep and hibernate functions. My laptop (7 year old pc) turns off on 3 seconds and starts up in about 10 when I use hibernate, which is 99% of the time.

You should not be booting up any computer more than once a week (and even that is probably high)

This is false. First, there's nothing wrong with shutting down/booting up a computer. It doesn't harm it. Second, there can be something wrong with only putting your laptop in sleep mode if you don't have a solid state drive--while putting the computer in sleep mode does turn off the hard drive, in some models, the actuator head remains above the platter unless the computer is shut down. This is akin to carrying around a record player with the needle above the record--if you drop or bump the computer, you've got a good chance that the actuator will impact the platter and potentially cause problems down the road. Granted, this is minimized if a) you're careful and b) you keep your laptop in a properly padded pack/bag, but still. I'm a clumsy mofo and I'd rather just take the extra ten seconds to shut down/boot up my laptop and make sure I'm not causing damage to the drive.

This is less of an issue with desktops (I generally don't shut down my desktop unless I'm going out of town), since they don't get carried around and bumped and dropped, and if you have a SSD it's largely irrelevant.

So my reptilian instincts have been correct these 8 years? 'Cause I often yell at my wife for just closing the screen on my laptop and throwing it in luggage without properly shutting it down (and by yell, I mean "politely reminding").
This is actually an important question to consider for me 'cause I have a PC and was going to get a MAC just for the purpose of its ability to be closed, transported, and re-opened with no apparent repercussion (is this true for macs or am I making this up?). If I will need to shut-down, boot-up each one for each class maybe it's not worth the money (though macs still boot up a lot faster, so maybe it is...)

[nickb285]

.

[sinfiery]

Any laptop you buy today that costs as much as a Macbookpro will undoubtedly come with a Solid State Drive alleviating this problem along with making bootup times from a complete shutdown under 10 seconds for both macs and PCs.

[Micdiddy]

So my reptilian instincts have been correct these 8 years? 'Cause I often yell at my wife for just closing the screen on my laptop and throwing it in luggage without properly shutting it down (and by yell, I mean "politely reminding").

Yup! Make sure to let her know that you're right.

This is actually an important question to consider for me 'cause I have a PC and was going to get a MAC just for the purpose of its ability to be closed, transported, and re-opened with no apparent repercussion (is this true for macs or am I making this up?). If I will need to shut-down, boot-up each one for each class maybe it's not worth the money (though macs still boot up a lot faster, so maybe it is...)

TBH I'm not sure, I only ever worked on PCs so I don't know the Mac specs. I'm Paranoid Parrot when it comes to my data though so I'd personally probably still shut down every time, YMMV. I also would personally not drop an extra $500-1000, to save 5 seconds on startup/shutdown, but that's just me.

True. It's not just for the extra seconds, my PC battery is so shot it lasts about 12 minutes without a power source. It might no be ideal to be at school all day and need to sit next to a power source in every single place I want to check my comp (class, library, dining hall, bus home, etc.). I could get a new battery...but there is also that exciting prospect of "new stage of life, new computer!"
Anyway, I'm sure I'll invent a million reasons why getting a new one is a good idea, but I am still happy to hash out whether this specific one is valid. Especially because it may be the difference between whether my new one is another PC or if I finally join the mac community.

Anyone with experience know if simply closing a macs screen and transporting it from class-to-class is particularly harmful?

Any laptop you buy today that costs as much as a Macbookpro will undoubtedly come with a Solid State Drive alleviating this problem along with making bootup times from a complete shutdown under 10 seconds for both macs and PCs.

My current comp is from 2009 (Sony Vaio pcg-3h1l) and takes probably 30 seconds to boot up and 90 seconds to finish digesting whatever its got going on and run properly. Don't know if it has a solid state drive but have PC's progressed a ton in this regard since then?

[rebexness]

I don't know why people say that you need to spent $2k to get a Mac.

[laxbrah420]

Wait, what?
Don't shut down every time you turn it off. Learn to use the sleep and hibernate functions. My laptop (7 year old pc) turns off on 3 seconds and starts up in about 10 when I use hibernate, which is 99% of the time.

You should not be booting up any computer more than once a week (and even that is probably high)

This is false. First, there's nothing wrong with shutting down/booting up a computer. It doesn't harm it. Second, there can be something wrong with only putting your laptop in sleep mode if you don't have a solid state drive--while putting the computer in sleep mode does turn off the hard drive, in some models, the actuator head remains above the platter unless the computer is shut down. This is akin to carrying around a record player with the needle above the record--if you drop or bump the computer, you've got a good chance that the actuator will impact the platter and potentially cause problems down the road. Granted, this is minimized if a) you're careful and b) you keep your laptop in a properly padded pack/bag, but still. I'm a clumsy mofo and I'd rather just take the extra ten seconds to shut down/boot up my laptop and make sure I'm not causing damage to the drive.

This is less of an issue with desktops (I generally don't shut down my desktop unless I'm going out of town), since they don't get carried around and bumped and dropped, and if you have a SSD it's largely irrelevant.

Hard drives are like 60 bucks. I'm willing to risk the 5% chance of scratching it for not shutting down.

[sinfiery]

My current comp is from 2009 (Sony Vaio pcg-3h1l) and takes probably 30 seconds to boot up and 90 seconds to finish digesting whatever its got going on and run properly. Don't know if it has a solid state drive but have PC's progressed a ton in this regard since then?

99% sure it doesn't. SSDs help every OS, but in absolute terms it is a significant plus for the Windows based OS because of the startup time improvement.

My Desktop goes from the bootscreen to fully digested and ready in about 10 seconds. YMMV but not significantly.