We have arrived at the conclusion of the 5 reasons to buy a mac series. My final reason why Mac’s are a better choice for the Home user is to do with Customer Care. We all know how incredibly frustrating when we have to try and speak with tech support on the phone. Usually goes something like this: ‘(Computer Manufacturer) Oh we don’t have control over that you will have to contact Microsoft, (Microsoft) no no thats not for us to look at – oh and by the way this call is costing you $50, try calling the computer manufacturer’ they run you around in circles and you never get the problem fixed, not to mention their service is always rubbish.

Well Apple have addressed this as well! Now in Australia we don’t have the saturation of Apple Stores that they do in America, but they truly are the best way to buy your mac. You get your own personal shopper to help you choose your preferred machine, if you need an Apple Genius will give you free training to get you up and running on your new computer and they will even help you migrate all of your data from your old machine (windows or mac) to your new computer. The stores always have a host of free workshops that you can attend as well that cover all different areas from basics of using your computer to getting the best out of photos, movies etc. Not to mention that they do have a very good reputation for helping out their customers if something goes wrong i.e hard drive crash, machine faults etc. There have been many stories of customers with computers out of warranty going in with a failed hard drive and having it replaced at no extra charge while they wait in the store. Now that I’m not sure would apply all the time but the point is it does happen.

If you don’t have the luxury of going to a store you can order online or over the phone or go to one of the many resellers – not always as knowledgeable but usually have a pretty good idea. With every computer you get a full year Apple Car (thats like their warranty) if you have any hardware issues and complementary 90 days free tech support. I have used this several times and the tech support is great! They are not condescending in any way and more than happy to help get your issues sorted. If you feel that you need further phone support than you can purchase additional Apple Care, definetely worth it if you are one to often call tech support.

I do feel that they look after their customers well and go beyond what is normally expected in retail – and really isn’t that the kind of service we all expect. Especially when paying a premium price in the first place? My belief is that if a company can provide continued good customer service, they will keep my business far longer than a company who doesn’t give two hoots about me.

So this concludes the series, I hope that these posts have been of some help without me coming across as too much of an Apple ‘Fanboy’ (the name they give to people who are fanatical about macs) but the reason I have posted this is because I believe there are just too many people out there who are too frustrated with the experience they get from their PC’s that they don’t use them to the full ability. I’m passionate about this because we made the change and haven’t looked back since – those photos sitting on your hard drive, you will do things with them on a mac. Have home videos that you never got of the tapes and haven’t looked at them since? I promise you will finally do something awesome with them on a mac!

A little clip you might enjoy

In the past if you bought a Mac you were stuck with the Apple OS and had no choice, PC’s have always enjoyed the ability to ‘dual boot’ between different operating systems like Windows & Linux. With Apple switching to Intel based processors about 3 years ago this has enabled Macs to do the same.

In my opinion this really is as good as it gets, you have your user friendly, easy to use & reliable apple OS for your normal use, and for those specialty programs that you may run which are only available on Windows – or if you need Windows for some other reasons you can simply choose to either ‘Dual Boot’ or use special software to have both systems running at the same time.

This means that if you don’t mind the odd game you can still run them, if you have already got software from previous systems then you can continue using it without forking out heaps more for new stuff! It really does give you the best of both worlds. Two for the price of one!??!

When it comes to buying any item whether its as simple as a bottle of milk or as high involvement as a car one of the biggest things that our decision is based on comes down to the dollar figure of the product. If we perceive it as too expensive or bad value for money then we won’t buy it, likewise if we perceive it as too cheap then we might think that there are quality sacrifices. Nothing is different about computers.

When it comes time to look at purchasing your new computer you will undoubtedly think about how much you want to spend. Now before you look at the price tags on the Mac compared to the PC cousins in the stores there are a few things that you really should be aware of. It is no secret and Apple don’t pretend to hide the fact that they have a premium product with a premium price tag, in fact Microsoft advertising frequently reminds us of this. Here are a few reasons why I believe it really is worth spending the extra $’s.

1. Software: Yeah fair enough, you can get a PC at a nice price, but what you fail to realize is just how much you will then need to spend on software to do what you want. One of the benefits of Mac’s is that they come bundled with a stack of preloaded software. The iLife suite of programs is the best example of this and it includes iPhoto, iWeb, iDVD, iMovie & Garageband. To get movie editing software even equivalent to iMovie on a windows system you would be spending in the range of $200 up, and that’s one program! This all comes bundled with your computer, you also have the choice to pay about $100 and get a fairly full featured lineup of Word Processing, Spreadsheet & Presentation software. That price tag really beats microsoft’s Office price! By the time you spend what you need to on your PC you would have spent enough to buy a Mac anyway!

2. System Longevity: We all know that the computer and Technology industry progresses at an astounding speed, and no matter what computer you buy it will become outdated quicker than you would like. Traditionally speaking if you purchase a windows system, once Microsoft release a new version of their operating system if you want to get it you would have to upgrade your system for a faster meatier one. Windows 7 will be an exception to this rule as it actually has lower system requirements than Vista, however with the Windows 7 price tag – you’re going to wait until you purchase a computer with it already installed anyway. Mac’s just keep trucking! A great example of this is Melissah’s mums computer is an Apple eMac. These were built between 2002-2006, I would put its age at probably 2004 ish. Now admittedly it is slower than our much newer system (of course) but it has kept up and doesn’t suffer any of the problems that a PC of a similar age would be suffering. Also on this point, Apple prices new operating systems at incredibly reasonable prices, the next one to be released in September will be priced at about A$50, that is if you already have the most recent OS, but standard pricing is about A$130, that sure beats Window’s $700 OS in my books any day!

So I really feel that the benefits of spending a little on your system initially will reward you in the long term with lower operating costs in terms of upgrading your OS when that time comes as well as running the appropriate software you need.

One of the big advantages that Apple has over every other computer maker out there in the market is that when you buy a mac you know that the system you purchase is a well tuned machine! What do I mean by this? Well ever since Apple has been around, they have controlled every aspect of their product, from all of the hardware through to the software that you get with your computer. This is a huge contrast to other computer companies that need to run Windows – and an even bigger problem for Microsoft. This is due to the fact that Microsoft can be installed on computers with infinitely different combinations of set up, with different hard drives & monitors & mother boards. It is a nightmare for them to have to be compatible with each and every computer out there.

This is the beauty of a Mac, because apple controls everything you know that they have optimized their operating system to run optimally on the hardware you have in the computer because there is only one set up available and that’s the one Apple put in the computer to start with. This is where they good stuff comes in for the home user: say for example you just purchased a new digital camera heres two scenario’s:

Windows: Plug it in, please install drivers, muck around finding drivers, install, doesn’t work because driver is too old, find the right one, install, restart, ensure you have the chunky memory hogging software that came with the camera to get your pictures off, and then finally get your pictures off the camera

Mac: Plug the camera into the computer, give it 5 seconds, your photo software opens and you can do what you please with your photos.

As Apple knows the hardware in your computer they can bundle all of the drivers necessary on the computer and ship it so when you plug in your device it works!

The other advantage of this is that OS X (the apple operating system) is designed specifically for this platform, this means that your system is a very stable system. You will notice that even if a program stops responding (which is inevitable on any computer) it won’t crash your whole system, that single affected program will shut down leaving the rest of your work space in tact. Its these nice little things that make using your personal computer a pleasure and not a task.

Security is such an important thing for us all when we are using a computer, especially given that we are essentially connected to our computers 24/7, one of the biggest advantages of running a Mac is the Security of the system. You would have certainly heard the good old argument ‘Mac’s don’t get Viruses’. Well this is pretty much true, let me explain:

Mac’s are not immune to viruses, they can get them! The thing is that Mac’s make up such a small segment of the overall computer footprint in the world that from a virus authors point of view – why would we bother spending all that time writing a virus for mac when we can write one for windows and have such a bigger effect. At this point in time there is essentially no reason to run anti-virus software on a mac, in fact the anti-virus software that is out there only scans for windows viruses anyway!

One of the other reasons Mac’s are less vulnerable to these attacks is due to the way viruses and other malware works. In order to get onto your system in the first place viruses and malware need to ‘trick’ you, they are like a mini program that has to install itself on your system to run. Now one of the great things about the Mac OS is that whenever any program try’s to gain access to change or install something on your system the Mac will request you enter the administrators username and password. This not only stops a hacker from taking over your computer and installing at free will but it makes you actually think twice about what you are installing. Now having said all of this, Windows is (finally) learning this and thats the reason Vista always asks you allow or deny, and why windows 7 will take a similar route as Mac OS for your approval before installing.

There are a number of other reasons as well such as the difference in file types that a mac can open and use and so on, but I think that at this stage the biggest benefit is that they just aren’t a target for the ‘bad guys’ as there isn’t a huge penetration of Macs in the over all computer market making them less of a target.

This is going to be a series of 5 posts, and before you turn off and get all offended about what I have to say, (I know there’s a lot of Mac haters out there) I know that there are a lot of things out there that Windows is better suited to. This however is aimed towards home users, people who don’t have a large IT department to go to in order to have their tech problems fixed, or have the will, determination or patience to solve these problems themselves.

I will start by saying that if you are a gamer and a serious one – you will undoubtedly be better off with a Windows machine. If you are the person that your family and friends come to when they have an issue with their computer then chances are that you have a pretty good knowledge of computers while also having the patience to troubleshoot when things go wrong. If you are this person then switching to a Mac may not suit you but wouldn’t be out of the question

I believe that the typical home user should be able to use their computer without having to worry about having to worry about knowing what a system registry / .dll file / driver is: they should have the ability to use their computer with ease and without frustration and know that when they open a program it is going to do what they want – the first time. It is for these people especially that I would suggest a Mac.

The thought of buying a computer can be daunting enough without even thinking about going to a system that you haven’t had any experience with – this I know – while I consider myself pretty technically savvy we had just had enough of our PC’s, they were giving us all kinds of trouble. Being the impulsive type of people we are, drove all the way to Brisabane (Toowoomba didn’t have anywhere selling Mac’s at the time) and purchases an iMac our first Apple product other than an iPod. We were walking back to the car with our new computer in hand and all I could think amongst the excitement was ‘Oh my God what have we done!! We don’t know the first thing about Mac’s and this could’ve been a very expensive mistake that we have just made’. It turns out that within the two years of our initial iMac purchase we were so thrilled with our new system that we had purchased another two laptops, our little Apple famliy.

So hopefully over the next couple of days as I post my 5 reasons for choosing a Mac over Windows, this may lessen your hesitance to buy a Mac and help you understand why I truly believe they are a better choice for the General home user.

You may enjoy these ‘Get a Mac’ ads from the Apple Website > click here