Expert: Bobbert - 10/23/2009

Question
QUESTION: My biggest thing of interest is the differences between PCs and Macs. It seems everyone has brand loyalty and therefore a bias. For most people's general purposes which is better, and generally what is the price difference? Do Macs really have fewer problems? I've only assumed they have fewer problems because they are less popular and therefore hackers don't really bother messing with them. What do you think? And lastly, if I were to get a computer mostly for backing up large amount of information, and designing stuff, but with no internet connection or need for high speed graphics what would be the best deal?

ANSWER: Generally you've got the right assumption looking at Windows PCs contrasted to OS X PCs, basically they're not as popular, and therefore not as targeted. The hardware is generally fairly high quality on Apple products, but this is no different from a high end solution from HP, Dell, Sun, or Alienware. This isn't to say Windows is insecure, it generally can be just as secure as OS X, you'll just more likely than not be using at least one third-party solution for security on top of the provided Microsoft solutions.

You mention design as a need, which makes me curious as to what application(s) you're using, as this has the potential to require some heavy duty graphics processing, either way, either Windows or OS X would be an appropriate solution, really it comes down to personal preference and application preference (if you have applications which only run on Windows or only run on OS X, this is a large factor).

-bob


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Well the computer I am using now is really aging, and it freezes up so often it's really getting out of hand. I think it has already had some damage to the hard drive from viruses. I'm not sure if a reformating would be in order or not. I would like a computer I can use to backup everything on this computer, and that I can use for my writing, building of webpages, editing of photos, and some basic business functions. I don't need any high powered graphics stuff for video editing or anything. Just something kind of basic. With a DVD-WR drive for seperate backups. What would you suggest for something like that for in the event that this one dies before I get a number of things done?

Answer
A virus cannot (generally) damage a hard-disk, physically, so you could reformat if that is within your abilities. As far as buying a new system, if you like Apple, why not grab a new iMac or Mac Mini? Otherwise, I'd look at whatever fits within your budget from Dell or HP, as basically anything will meet your needs. You may wish to consider a multi-monitor system, or a large single monitor, as it can improve productivity, and make web design and business tasks more enjoyable.

As an aside, the graphics adapter doesn't generally play into video editing or similar, its more used for functions like 3D gaming or CAD/CAM.

-bob