Honest opinion on Macs please- more OS question.

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Diseaseboy

[H]ard|Gawd
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I have always been a PC guy- I build all my computers. My wife however uses an old XP laptop we have just to surf, use webmail and itunes. She seems to get a lot of spyware and pop ups despite all the security features I have on her pc (we use Microsoft's LiveOnecare). Seems like when she looks up recipies and song lyrics is when I get the phone call at work that all she sees are pop up screens. I am really considering getting her a mac- in particular a small macbook (the old model is on clearance at our local Best Buy). It still is a good $200.00 more then a Vista notebook, but I can't see her tolerating all the User Account Control popups and I don't feel comfortable turning that off. I guess I am asking for those with experience with Macs and the OS is it really that much better in terms of surfing and popups/spyware. She doesn't use her computer other then to surf, webmail and iTunes. It would be nice to get her a more simple machine with minimal problems- she would be much happier and I will get less phones calls. Thanks for your honest advice.

Scott
 
From the Vista side of things, I seriously doubt your wife would often if ever do anything that'd make a UAC prompt come up in the first place -- you'd see plenty of them during initial setup, but afterward? No. Maybe once a week.

OSX is a custom Linux/Unix variant with a pretty skin on it. That's all, really. If you're willing to do a bit of research you can install it on many newer laptops and netbooks without too much trouble, so that's another potential route to go.

Given what she wants to do, if you're asking "will the Mac do it?" then sure... but I generally avoid Apple hardware if only due to the price premium there.


Background: I've used PCs since the 386 era, but my first machine was a Mac LCII, pre PowerPC. We had that forever, replaced it with a 200Mhz Pentium Pro, replaced that with a Powermac G4 and a 1Ghz Athlon, replaced those with a 3Ghz P4 and a Athlon 64 3500+, and now I'm running the X3220 Quad. So, more PCs than Macs, but a couple Macs in there. I have OSX instaled on the G4, which is still running, but I don't use it much.
 
Spyware isn't really an issue on OSX, at least I haven't run into it. It has been a while since I've gotten a pop up, in fact I don't remember getting any on my Macs, but I rarely had those on my old XP machine since I had switched to Firefox.
 
felix88 said:
Spyware isn't really an issue on OSX, at least I haven't run into it. It has been a while since I've gotten a pop up, in fact I don't remember getting any on my Macs, but I rarely had those on my old XP machine since I had switched to Firefox.
Click to expand...

...a browser switch would be good too, if she's using IE. Good point.
 
Not just a browser switch, but a browser switch with something like NoScript - probably 95% of the popups are caused by scriptlets and NoScript handles all that stuff. I very rarely if ever see popups using Firefox 3 with NoScript and updated. IE7 is "ok" for most surfing habits, even required on some sites (Windows Update being the primary one), but, for casual day to day surfing, Firefox (or Opera, of course, I'm not dismissing it in this) would be infinitely better than IE7 alone.

Hell, using Avant or IE7Pro would cut out a lot more of the popups and spyware/malware stuff that affects vanilla IE7 as well. They're addons that give a lot more functionality for IE7; I'd say they can help IE7 become the browser it should have been in the first place.

You can get themes for Firefox that even load tabs with IE7 - that would let you use Firefox as the primary browser and even be able to use it for Windows Update, amazingly. It just loads IE7 instances in tabs inside Firefox. Pretty cool stuff.

If you're leaning towards getting a Mac just because of potential virus or spyware activity, that's not necessarily enough to sway someone because OSX is very different for people that have never used it before. But who knows, your wife could take to it like it was second nature.

Take her to an Apple Store in your area if you have one, or a Best Buy and play with the MacBooks for a bit. Sales people will help if they can, if they get annoying tell 'em leave you alone while you check it out yourself. The Apple Store would be the preferred environment, of course, as their employees typically - note I'm saying typically - are more knowledgeable since it's what they sell exclusively. Let the wife do a hands on and figure out what she thinks about it. That's the best way to find out if she's "OSX compatible" herself. :)

And, of course, with Parallels or VMWare Fusion (and VirtualBox too, which is completely free) she/you can still run Windows on that MacBook if you decide to get one. Best of both worlds.

Good luck...
 
The product life along makes it worth the extra $200.

Buy that Vista machine now, it might run Windows 7, and probably won't meet the minimum system requirements of Windows 8. Spend the extra $200, and you'll be able to run at least Mac OS X 10.7, probably 10.8 or 10.9.

As for the spyware and popups issue - that is a fault of your user and web browser, not the operating system. Install AVG, switch to Firefox, and you'll never get silently-installed malware from random pages again. Phishing....no protection will help with that - the burden lies 100% with the user.

That's not to say Mac OS X isn't great for day-to-day computing. It is amazing. Surfing the internet, typing documents, syncing iTunes, it does all the stupendously.
 
InorganicMatter said:
The product life along makes it worth the extra $200.

Buy that Vista machine now, it might run Windows 7, and probably won't meet the minimum system requirements of Windows 8. Spend the extra $200, and you'll be able to run at least Mac OS X 10.7, probably 10.8 or 10.9.
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Not that I don't agree with you, but Windows 7 is said to have identical system requirements as Vista.
 
InorganicMatter said:
Suuuure it will, just like all those PCs that HP and Dell sold at the end of 2006 were "Vista Premium Ready." ;)
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Touche. But 7 won't be near as big of a transition as XP to Vista was. My understanding is that it's nearly the same user interface with some usability tweaks.
 
I run all the computers at my work (tv station with active directory+exchange), so when I get home I refuse to use any PC's. My macbook does what I need it to without worry. Sounds to me like your wife is an ideal candidate.
 
Diseaseboy said:
I have always been a PC guy- I build all my computers. My wife however uses an old XP laptop we have just to surf, use webmail and itunes. She seems to get a lot of spyware and pop ups despite all the security features I have on her pc (we use Microsoft's LiveOnecare). Seems like when she looks up recipies and song lyrics is when I get the phone call at work that all she sees are pop up screens. I am really considering getting her a mac- in particular a small macbook (the old model is on clearance at our local Best Buy). It still is a good $200.00 more then a Vista notebook, but I can't see her tolerating all the User Account Control popups and I don't feel comfortable turning that off. I guess I am asking for those with experience with Macs and the OS is it really that much better in terms of surfing and popups/spyware. She doesn't use her computer other then to surf, webmail and iTunes. It would be nice to get her a more simple machine with minimal problems- she would be much happier and I will get less phones calls. Thanks for your honest advice.

Scott
Click to expand...

You and I had the same problem! I switched my wife over to Mac and after a week of newbie questions, she became problem-free. Now the only phone calls I get are "Honey, I need another 1TB drive for my photography" :D

I liked the Mac platform so much that I built Hackintoshes for my entire family. iChat with Screen Sharing for troubleshooting is the best thing EVER! Some of them still use Windows apps, so I use VMware Fusion (full Windows experience) or Crossover for Mac (just if they need something specific, like if they prefer the Windows version of Office). My "tech support" phone calls have been dramatically reduced.

Macs are nice for several reasons. They are built on a UNIX core (BSD), so they're very stable. They're not Windows, so malware isn't a problem. Even if you do visit a site that downloads a trojan in the background, it will download as an EXE, which Mac can't run. You still get popups, but the Safari pop-up blocker does a good job of killing most of them. You can also use Firefox for Mac with the Adblock Plus plugin, which is really great. Also look at 1Password, which stores passwords for your browser for easy login (Paypal, eBay, Email, etc.). It's pretty much the most hassle-free Internet platform ever. You don't have to run Anti-virus, Spybot, Adaware, CCleaner, Windows updates, Disk Defragmenter, Disk Cleanup, nothing. Just Apple Updates once in awhile if you feel like it. All in all it's great and I'd definitely recommend picking up a Mac for your situation :)
 
If choosing between a windows and OS X laptop, I'd choose an OS X one in a heartbeat. That said, if you're just looking for a rock solid, fast, and pretty OS on the cheap, I'd consider installing Ubuntu on her current notebook. It might take a little more than you're used to to get it set up, but it'll be fast and easy to use after the initial set up.
 
lmao, asking if you should get a mac in a mac forum is just asking for the answer to be bias. do what i did and test out osx yourself and see if you like it. personally i was in the same situation as you, so i borrowed my friends macbook for a week and it wasnt for me. if you dont have someone you can borrow from do it the hackintosh way since you're seriously interested.

btw the thing i hated the most about osx is backspace to rename files. argh.
 
ubuntu would be a good choice but from the op it sounds like itunes might be something she uses everyday. i know that there are countless other media player but itunes is simple and easy to use. not only that, but if she needs to install a program can you imagine how frustrating that could be? .exe and .dmg are easy mode which is what they want.

if you do decide to buy a windows laptop, grab nod32 which is an awesome antivirus. im almost certain that shes clicking on links she shouldnt when searching for recipes and what not, i know a few people guilty of this.
 
I have no experience with MAC's but plenty with windows based PCs since I ran a PC repair shop foir three years.
From my experience a user who suffers from tons of spyware is usually one who doesn't pay attention to what they're pressing when surfing, and get tons of stuff installed in the background.
This includes "free" messenger add ons , cool backgrounds and many other nice toys.
The only semi-efficient solution I've found is to revoke that user's admin privileges and have security apps in the background like an AV of some sort and some Spyware protection.
Most PC's are fine with AVG free and windows defender if set up correctly.
It is also recommended to be behind an SPI enabled router and an alternative browser like FireFox 2/3 rather than IE. If using IE then no less then Version 7 with all the protection turned on.
My wife surfs with IE7 on Vista with annoying UAC off and we have 0 problems with her PC.
 
Reload Xp with SP3 and all the updates, dump live one care and load the free edition of Avast. Since your wifey is a crazy clicker give her a restricted user account.

Seriously I would recommend getting a Mac because as it stands right now there are'nt any real threats like spyware,adware , or viruses. I have a feeling due to Macs growing popularity that will change.

I'm Windows admin that bought a Mac to learn something new and I really like it :)
 
InorganicMatter said:
The product life along makes it worth the extra $200.
Click to expand...
While it's cute to talk about the latest OS X 10.5.5 running on old Powermacs, there's no denying that Apple will lose more and more interest in the older PowerPC platform stuff and it will eventually orphan all those expensive G5 towers. The big rumor with Snow Leopard was the whole "Intel Only" thing.

Not that Apple's track record says anything to the opposite.. I mean in the last 10 years they only up and switched entire hardware platforms twice.
 
SuperSubZero said:
While it's cute to talk about the latest OS X 10.5.5 running on old Powermacs, there's no denying that Apple will lose more and more interest in the older PowerPC platform stuff and it will eventually orphan all those expensive G5 towers. The big rumor with Snow Leopard was the whole "Intel Only" thing.

Not that Apple's track record says anything to the opposite.. I mean in the last 10 years they only up and switched entire hardware platforms twice.
Click to expand...

Yeah but this time over its still a Windows box if all else fails. So its a safe choice.

Just take her to an Apple store near you and see if she'd be comfortable using one.

When we got our iMac G5 my parents were confused for the first few months. They got over it.
 
Ever since I got my MBP I never use windows unless it's at work or I need to use mkv2vob with VMWare on my hack. I got so fed up with needing to run anti spyware, anti virus and all this other crap in windows and STILL get annoying toolbars installed without asking permission. OSX is internet heaven, I can go to any website and not worry about it. I don't have to run any spyware or virus scan, no driver updates causing BSODs and the interface,usability and stability of OSX is light years ahead of windows. Now everytime I'm forced to use windows at my job I gain more appreciation for OSX and wonder why anyone would use windows unless they're being forced to.
 
The worst thing about OSX is the mouse.

I HATE how if you move the mouse really slowly the mouse on the screen moves really slowly......

It's REALLY annoying. I could NEVER work like this, everything I use a mouse in OSX I immediately boot into windows.
 
You can alter the mouse acceleration features, especially if you install the actual manufacturer's software for the mouse you have (surely it's not an Apple one... right?). :D
 
Armoured said:
The worst thing about OSX is the mouse.

I HATE how if you move the mouse really slowly the mouse on the screen moves really slowly......

It's REALLY annoying. I could NEVER work like this, everything I use a mouse in OSX I immediately boot into windows.
Click to expand...

When i got my first Mac, i wanted to use my PC's Logitech MX510. I found that the mouse accerlation with this mouse was very "slow". Using "Steermouse" software(payware) i got it to move just like in Windows.
 
See if shes comfortable first then get it. People say use windows with protection, but i prefer using a OS that doesnt need protection. We get macs because we have less headaches with them. They just work and hardly ever needs upkeep. Plus if youre into reselling, macs resell for ridiculous amounts. I tried selling my 3 month old dell m1330 that was maxed out at the time, and i was getting offers that were 35% less than what i was asking for. I bought a macbook pro $2500 on clearance for $1800. I used it for 3 months and sold it for $1800. Now im sitting here on my new macbook pro and i couldn't be happier. Ive grown out of windows (except for gaming) and do just fine on a mac. It runs everything i need and i dont have headaches. The battery life is mildly ridiculous if you know how to squeeze also.
 
This is my honest opinion about a mac :
1. Mac give you more than you expect.
2. Using mac is just easy, no driver needed bla bla2
3. Like everybody said before, mac doesn't need a lot of protection
4, The impportant thing is you won't feel any stress again
 
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