Should we stay Mac move to PC?

I’m assuming you’re talking about a school system. In which case – PC. Save some money so you don’t have to cut back on teachers or sports or books for English class. For you? Mac. I’m typing on mine right now. How can you resist video chat and iPhoto and way too many other cool things? :)

@smack Who needs Mac Video Chat and iPhoto when we have skype and picasa? Hah!

@techlady My old school used macs. Although they were interesting to use, I honestly prefer PCs. Sure, they may be virus-riddled and may tend to crash more often than macs, but everyone uses them, and using macs would only possibly make things difficult for integration and installation of other products which I assume the school would use. Furthermore, PCs are cheaper than macs.

Anyway, you must consider that you’re buying it for a school. Unless it’s an arts school, I don’t really see any great benefit with going for a Mac (I don’t know, I just heard that Macs were good for those people interested in arts [I think it was graphic designing I heard] and stuff like that).

@Saturated_Brain PC’s are cheaper because they are made cheaper.

if the main purpose of the computers is to be writing papers or making spreadsheets, lean towards PC, if they will be used for anything and everything else lean towards mac.

Macs dont require anti-virus software, macs are infinitely easier to use, more user freindly, make more sense.

Well… My friends who works in sound editing use Mac. But if it is for a school I agree with @smack. Mac is too expensive. anti-virus software? The problem is not the PC, the problem is the hackers who hates Microsoft… so you can use Ubuntu in that’s it.. In fact I think students can learn more dealing with the “Problems” that other people see in PC’s..I.
It’s is important for students learn about OS, I use computers before Windows 3.1, It was a pain in the neck, but I learn a lot dealing with MS-DOS based systems and then with Linux. Anyways… you can build your own PC’s as a school project. We did it in my school…. It was really fun and everybody learn a lot.

Definitely depends on the use for the computers.

If you want to teach students about graphic design or sound editing gor with a Mac.

If they are learning about spreadsheets, charts and writing, then go with PC.

Either way, you will still need a knowledgeable tech person who can manage the network and watch out for any potential issues.

Go to PC. Wait for Windows 7. It’s pretty kicka**

Macs are only more expensive in the short run. Look at resale value after using a Mac for a couple of years versus PC’s. Also, your tech support costs will go up using PC’s. And besides all that, you can run windows on a Mac but not the other way around. Talk about an all around education machine. There is no need to cut pay for teachers just because you stay with Mac. That is crazy.

Go pc and get HP or Lenovo.

If it’s limited to those two choices, I’d go with PC. If you just need a mass amount of computers that can browse the internet and can process word documents, the extra money you will be spending on a mac is not worth it.

For my money, spending the 1 or 2 hundred dollars for each Windows license is not worth it either. Buy a mass shipment of basic computers straight from the manufacturer with no OS installed and put Linux on them all. You will save yourself a ton of money, you will never have to worry about security, and they will do everything you want them to.

If you switch from Mac to PC, plan on hiring one person for every 20 or so computers to keep them operating, and replacing them every two years instead of every four. That eats up a lot of the price savings right there.

There’s a lot more information and advocacy at http://www.macvspc.info/.

@Ivan is probably right. If you go with Linux you will get the best of both worlds for a lot less money (which is a big deal in schools nowadays). At least give it a look, a lot of people don’t think Linux is a viable alternative because they don’t give it the time of day. Take a few minutes to check out Linux and you will be happy you did.

More maintenance, virus issues with PCs, more security risks.

Learning on Windows might ruin your students for computing forever.

I agree with cwilbur: You’ll pay more for support and replacement on PC in the long run, and forever. Think 1 nerdy student being paid $10/hour for your whole shabang if it’s Mac, versus a $60000 salaried admin and a helpdesk of hourlies for PCs.

And as to licensing, Mac OS X is crazy cheaper than Windows, especially Windows 7 v. Mac OS X 10.6, which are both coming out later this year. Wondows 7 = $120—$220 a pop, Snow Leopard = $30.

Edit: and Windows 7 is Windows Vista all over again. I mean, they’re very different, but people who hated the switch from XP to Vista will open up their new 7 machine, all excited and happy, and say “wtf?” because it looks exactly the same.

If people hate 7 the way they did vist they are retarded and don’t deserve to use a computer. Upgrade people! Technology updates and change is good.

Yes, update from Windows/Mac to Linux.

@monsoon Yes it LOOKS the same, but it’s not the same. The major problem of Vista is not the graphics, its the bad administration of resources. I have been using 7 for the last month and I think it’s a lot better.

I’ve ben using 7 also, and I like it. However, I work at a help desk with lots of old people and average, non-technical users, and to them, it will be the same, and they will be sad, because they don’t dislike how it’s shitty it is, they dislike how it’s different and unfriendly. And this post is about representing this decision to board of education, meaning mostly nontechnical users will be writing text documents and searching the web on these machines.

That’s all I meant.