No, Mac is not only for designers
One of the many responses I got from people when they knew that I am using a Macintosh is they always asked me why I am using the Mac. They always jumped into the conclusion that Mac is only for designers, or Mac is only for “drawing”.
Some people even said their wintel pc is much better than my mac. This morning someone realized that I have made the switch to mac and she asked me why I would use mac, isn’t mac only good for drawing.
I’m going to use this entry to explain from my own point of view, the reasons why I decided to use Macintosh system instead of a PC running linux, freebsd or Windows XP.
The Operating System
The main reason why I love mac is the Mac OS X operating system. I have used older Mac operating system before but I never considered buying one until apple released the Mac OS X. Mac OS X is so different than the older mac os because it operates on UNIX.
This is also the reason why many unix-geek made the switch to mac os x lately.
More software
Before the the switch to Mac, I was using PC with FreeBSD and Windows XP to do my daily activities. I use Windows to browse the WWW using mozilla firefox, to chat with friends using yahoo messenger, image editing with adobe photoshop, listening to my musics, watch movies, microsoft office and playing games.
I use the FreeBSD for development, php/mysql, managing my mail using mutt. FreeBSD is a great operating system, it’s free, fast and it’s pretty easy to use. However, I don’t think it is a great operating for desktop.
On Mac OS X, most of the software I need is available. By running Mac OS X, I can run more software because there is a mac version on most of my favorite softwares on Windows.
Because Mac OS X is operating on a unix engine, I can now run most of my favorite unix applications on my Mac OS X, which is a great thing. I can even run some X11 applications along with aqua software.
There are also many great software developed on Macintosh. I have found so many great software on Mac OS X that I fell in love with.
Beautiful graphical user interface
In my opinion, the Graphical User Interface of Mac OS X called aqua is so much better than Windows XP, KDE, or GNOME. It is like running FreeBSD with a beautiful GUI.
Pricing
Yup, the price is a bit more expensive than average PC especially the G5. But you don’t really need the G5 yet unless you really need a CPU power and a RAM more than 4GB.
The G5 desktop/laptop cost almost the same with a top-end Intel Pentium 4 systems. In fact, my iBook G4 cost cheaper than my Pentium 4 PC.
Programmer
For friends who are working as a programmer or a hobbyist who enjoy programming. You can develop program in Mac OS X using perl, ruby, python, C, C++, Objective C, cocoa, carbon. Compilers are also included with the Mac OS X.
Server
You can also use your mac to serve your websites because the Mac OS X is packed with Apache webserver with PHP installed.
Want to use your own SMTP server? Postfix, the popular mailer created Wietse Venema’s is included with Mac OS X.
Other servers that are included are samba, ftpd, openssh, and many more.
Security
I don’t need to buy an anti virus license from Symantec or Mcafee because there are no viruses on Mac OS X yet. You can buy an anti-virus software license for mac but it is only to protect you from spreading windows viruses.
Packet filtering software is included with Mac OS X. ipfw the FreeBSD packet filter is included.
Conclusion
Mac can be used not only for graphic design and creating web pages. You can use the mac to do most basic computing tasks such as sending e-mail, chat with your friends, web browsing. You can develop program on macs and you can even use your mac to act as a server.
So, in conclusion Macs are not only for graphic designers. I can now refer this page to my friends and family who doesn’t have a clue. Because it really pissed me off if you jumped into conclusion before you even do a research. No system in the world is perfect, each has it’s own advantages and disadvantages. I choose mac because I think mac is the system that can meet my requirement. Your requirement might be different than my requirement.
1. Johan 9 Apr 2004
Ahem my first ever comment here. :D Looonnngggg one.
Why not many people use mac:
Games: Believe it or not gaming software makes up the majority of bought software. And that’s what Mac lacks. Price:Standard spec’d Mac is more expensive than PC. Not to mention maintainance. Not many people understand mac, thus less supply of tech support capable workforce, meaning higher wage. Familiarity: People don’t want to learn how to use several software or OS. Heck, they won’t learn anything if can get away with it. Most office use PC with Windows because they’re cheap. Naturally, at home employees use PC/win.
So. Gamers don’t use Mac. Office dwellers don’t use Mac. Average Joe don’t use Mac.
Who use Mac then? Special interest groups.
A few years back, before the time of 3Dfx, Nvidia and Radeon 9700 Pro, PC didn’t have the muscle to display high quality images. Apple’s Motorola Chipset was leap and bound better. What did graphic designers chose? ;) And so born was the … myth.
2. William Pramana 9 Apr 2004
It is also NOT true that you cannot use Windows for graphic design. Many graphic editing software from adobe and macromedia are available to Windows now :)
3. amal 9 Apr 2004
Still in my dream… that someday I have experience using Mac…. :)
4. arb3i 10 Apr 2004
waaaaa ngomongin mac… sayah jadi kepingin ibook niy :)
eh iya, happy easter ^^
5. avianto 12 Apr 2004
Johan: basically i only agree with your FIRST argument. Your second and third arguments are quite vague =).
Maintenance? Heck, Mac even don’t need maintenance. One thing that I know is I use Mac because it get the job done without raking my brain out how to setup the gimmick-tidy-winky setup in Windows. Heck, if I want to do ‘costumizing’ stuff I’ll do it on Linux… and oh, right now Mac had a Terminal, so yeah, I can also do it on Mac.
Familiarity? Well, using Mac is as intuitive as ever. It like comparing Palm PDA and PocketPC PDA, Palm is more intuitive…
I have nothing against PC, heck… I am still using PC Notebook but to get my job done? I’ll stick with Mac. =)
6. Mr. Mac 12 Apr 2004
dont fall to the dark side !!! use mac ! .. may steve serve us well ! :D :D
7. amal 13 Apr 2004
First Mac OS X Trojan Horse Found,
http://www.spymac.com/news/index.php?contentid=288
8. noah 16 Apr 2004
Kayaknya sih emang MAC ini masih juga masang target bahwa “We’re different..” tentu saja salah satu aspek dari membuatnya jadi beda adalah teknologi dan inovasi yang digunakannya dan ya… ujung-ujungnya pasti adalah harga.
karena harga ini pula user mac hanya terbatas pada kalangan tertentu saja. demikian pula pada akhirnya dari sisi vendor-vendor software pun akhirnya melihat-liat lagi, kalau di PC biar kata ada banyak aplikasi serupa yang mirip, brani aja mereka launcing produk, lah kalau di MAC? karena usernya sedikit, mereka harus pinter-pinter nganalisis ROI, itu sebabnya aplikasi yang tersedia di MAC lebih sedikit ketimbang pada platform open architecture seperti PC.
btw, setiap orang punya pilihan sih… :-)