Why are Macs becoming more popular for Network/System engineers?

1. The price difference isn't really that great when you compare business class laptops with similar features.
2. The build quality and durability of them is great. They don't squeek, they don't flex, and they hold up fairly well to drops.
3. The keyboard has backlighting and a nice feel to it. The trackpad is second to none, but I also don't like trackpoints. Gestures are an amazing thing for doing work quickly and smoothly.
4. I love OSX at this point, it was a natural step from years of Linux and I don't play games so it's a non-issue. Familiar command line and the ability to run most CLI linux programs I already use.
5. Battery life is great on my 13" MBP, I have seen as high as 8.5 hours which isn't bad at all.

I seriously don't get the war being waged against Apple right now. Don't agree with their business practices? Cool. Don't like the stereotypical Apple user? Who gives a shit. Most of the people who constantly talk shit either have never given a modern (2006/7+) Mac a chance or are frothing sperglords.

Child of Wonder said:
Even so, I simply cannot justify to myself spending $3,000+ on a computer when I can get one with equal specs for less than half that amount especially when I consider how rapidly technology evolves and they depreciate.
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I'm not sure how you think that they cost $3k but one of the nice thing about Apples is that they don't depreciate nearly as sharply as a whitebox/big name machine. I pay for my model refreshes by waiting until they come out as refurbs, keeping them in good shape, and then making my money back when selling on Craigslist. I get a new machine every year and I literally pay nothing or if I end up spending money out of my pocket it's less than $150.
 
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A fully supported, both software and hardware, stable and reliable POSIX based laptop <-- That's why.
 
Chibo said:
I get a new machine every year and I literally pay nothing or if I end up spending money out of my pocket it's less than $150.
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This. I just went from a mid-2010 15" MBP to a 13" high-end MBA and total cost is very close to $0 to change.
 
MrGuvernment said:
ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH52 - sexa~!
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It literally looks like a Chinese knockoff of a Macbook Air right down to the same backplate and lettering style as an Apple machine. Dear fuck.
Incoming fanboy accusations begin... now.

(ignore the fucking red arrows)
Ser5I.png
 
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Chibo said:
It literally looks like a Chinese knockoff of a Macbook Air right down to the same backplate and lettering style as an Apple machine. Dear fuck.
Incoming fanboy accusations begin... now.

(ignore the fucking red arrows)
Ser5I.png
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WAIT A SECOND!!! I saw what you started now....:eek:
 
So in other words there really isn't any real reason other than maybe a "hey look at me I spent a ton of money on a laptop" sign. Sounds like a good idea.
 
WoodiE55 said:
So in other words there really isn't any real reason other than maybe a "hey look at me I spent a ton of money on a laptop" sign. Sounds like a good idea.
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Like telling a mechanic that they only buy SnapOn tools because it's a statement...

Do you people actually WORK using your computers or what?
 
Chibo said:
I'm not sure how you think that they cost $3k but one of the nice thing about Apples is that they don't depreciate nearly as sharply as a whitebox/big name machine. I pay for my model refreshes by waiting until they come out as refurbs, keeping them in good shape, and then making my money back when selling on Craigslist. I get a new machine every year and I literally pay nothing or if I end up spending money out of my pocket it's less than $150.
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I base that on a friend who called me up about 4 years ago so excited to show me his new Mac. Come to find out he got the Mac thing that was a 24" LCD with all the components behind the screen. He walked into the Apple store and spent $3,000+ on it. I laughed.

Was it a cool computer? Sure. Not worth $3,000 IMO.
 
Chibo said:
It literally looks like a Chinese knockoff of a Macbook Air right down to the same backplate and lettering style as an Apple machine. Dear fuck.
Incoming fanboy accusations begin... now.

(ignore the fucking red arrows)
Ser5I.png
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almost all devices have the same FCC stickers on them, so cant really compare to that..

and really, how many variations can someone make of a laptop to make it look different, i mean we could say apple laptops in the past looked the same as X laptop maker and vice versa.

I am sure Asus is trying to get into the market with something and hey why not, copying is the best form of flattery ;)
 
WoodiE55 said:
So in other words there really isn't any real reason other than maybe a "hey look at me I spent a ton of money on a laptop" sign. Sounds like a good idea.
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a ton of money ? I dunno about you, but my mb pro 13" was $1260 plus 8 gigs ram @ 34$

and i've had it 2 years already, perfectly fine no issue and works EVERYTIME! I open it. I also have a work laptop Dell E6400 that works just perfectly, no issue with that, the price of that WAY MORE, the battery life ? 3 hours ish.


Like it as been stated, techs buy the mac's for their battery life. not because they are shiny...
 
And resell value. You get your money back on resell of a Mac. People at work ask me all the time how I can afford to upgrade every year and I show them the math. You can't sell an 18-month old PC for 2/3 what you paid. I can with a Mac.
 
NetJunkie said:
And resell value. You get your money back on resell of a Mac. People at work ask me all the time how I can afford to upgrade every year and I show them the math. You can't sell an 18-month old PC for 2/3 what you paid. I can with a Mac.
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+1 so true..

Example i broke my 15" brand new macbook pro referb model for 1400$ shattered the lcd, it was screwed the top aluminum part was screwed, the laptop was perfect condition except for the top lcd part.

Sold on ebay for ? $1733 why ? i have no clue why it went for so much... but some one wanted it badly.. Mac's do hold their value..
 
mct said:
Thanks for the info. I might eventually get a MBP or MBA to try however for my job Windows serves me well. It's never a bad idea to try different things though.
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This is how I started using them. My linux workstation was replaced by an older G4 Macbook ages ago when I was a supercomputing admin - built in SSH, Expose, good battery life, and a really small form factor? Win. And I could program natively on it, and just have to make minor tweaks to get it to run on our clustered SUSE or AIX machines. Now, I can't go back.
 
Anyone seeing companies or entire departments of non-technical users migrating to Macs?
 
marty9876 said:
Anyone seeing companies or entire departments of non-technical users migrating to Macs?
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Macs are pretty well established in education as well which is ironic because the EDU price for a Mac is $100 off of the retail price.

I have to say though that where I work we did a good job rooting the evil out. We simply said that we will not support Mac hardware and users are on their own. Didn't take long for the majority of them to abandon their Macs when it was time for a refresh. Now there are fewer than 10 Mac users out of ~450.
 
NetJunkie said:
In healthcare.
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Since I am in the healthcare industry I would like to know what areas in healthcare are you seeing PCs being replaced with Macs? We have very few, if any, applications that are supported on Mac. We have doctors ask us on a monthly basis why we don't support Macs, since according to them Macs are so much better. They have a hard time understanding that most applications that they use will not run on a Mac, or should I say OS X.
 
lopoetve said:
This is how I started using them. My linux workstation was replaced by an older G4 Macbook ages ago when I was a supercomputing admin - built in SSH, Expose, good battery life, and a really small form factor? Win. And I could program natively on it, and just have to make minor tweaks to get it to run on our clustered SUSE or AIX machines. Now, I can't go back.
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I was actually thinking of getting a Mac as a replacement for Linux.
 
mct said:
I was actually thinking of getting a Mac as a replacement for Linux.
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it's the one reason I still own one

Every time I need a new laptop, I repeat the same process: Buy PC laptop, install linux and dualboot windows. By month 3, I've found new kernel bugs or wireless bugs or something that just is painful. By month 6, I give up, give it to my dad to be his new laptop, and buy a Mac. Repeat every 2.5 years or so. :p I always give linux a shot, and I inevitably decide it's not worth the trouble yet and move on.

Now note, I do have a linux workstation at home I use constantly - just not on laptops, yet (it gets better every iteration!).
 
As someone who works at a datacenter and manages multiple Windows, Linux, and Unix machines, routers, switches, and vSphere, my MBA has become invaluable. I have a Dell Latitude at my desk, but I bring the MBA in every day and do most of my work on it.
 
shiznit said:
As someone who is works at a datacenter and manages multiple Windows, Linux, and Unix machines, routers, switches, and vSphere, my MBA has become invaluable. I have a Dell Latitude at my desk, but I bring the MBA in every day and do most of my work on it.
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I figured once you earn your MBA you take it everywhere with you anyway? :confused:
 
Apple arrogance right there! MBA = Masters of Business Administration. When you try to redefine this famous TLA that is a sign of extreme arrogance. I bow before you!





:p
 
Rectal Prolapse said:
Apple arrogance right there! MBA = Masters of Business Administration. When you try to redefine this famous TLA that is a sign of extreme arrogance. I bow before you!





:p
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Laziness not arrogance lol. I thought in a thread about Macs and in the same sentence as Dell Latitude that the abbreviation would be clear.
 
To be honest, I do not have a clear picture on how deep AD integration goes on MAC, but I guess Windows is a step ahead.

I think it really depends on what you exactly do. In my case for example (EMC engineer) a Mac would set me back a lot due to some specific windows only programs we use regularely. If we start talking about VM's, I can just run a Linux distro + Vbox too.

The "It just works" issue is mostly dependant on how your company manages its PC park. If you use images and profiles (SCCM) you can fabricate a ready-for-use laptop in under an hour.

Can you do your job on a Mac without having to fiddle around with 5 VM's and workarounds? Can you reimburse a lot of the price of a new Mac? Do you like shiny and long battery life for an extra cost? Then for all intents and purposes, get a Mac. If not, get a nice thin & light notebook. I've seen too many people (for example university) fail on stuff just because they want to use a macbook, bootcamp, Fusion, ... .
 
WoodiE55 said:
So in other words there really isn't any real reason other than maybe a "hey look at me I spent a ton of money on a laptop" sign. Sounds like a good idea.
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So, in other words, you didn't actually read the thread?
 
I'll be honest. I purchased my Macbook Pro out of curiosity sake; I wanted something different.

I use my MBP on a daily basis now. There are issues like the fact my console to USB converter does not work with my MAC. I have to power on my Win7 VM to get it to work. This is why I also have a Lenovo Laptop which I use for system administration work and also Visio's and such. The Office Suite on the MAC is downright terrible. A lot of the assessments I do are over 40, 50 pages and Word and Excel just randomly crashes.

But in general the OS is awesome and everything does in fact just work.
 
'What terminal app you guys using with those? I still boot a VM for Hyperterminal.
 
Uhhh... you can use the `screen` command to connect over serial, you don't need anything special, or at least I have never needed anything special enough to use another program.
screen /dev/tty.usbplblahblah 9600
 
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