Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy
Subject: Re: For all you Mac users...
From: feijai@endor.byu.edu (Sean Luke)
Date: 23 Nov 92 21:39:45 -0700
Reply-To: sean@digaudio.byu.edu



In article <By6y7M.n4@news.cso.uiuc.edu>  writes:
>feijai@endor.byu.edu (Sean Luke) writes:


>>1)  The Mac's graphics I/O is significantly faster, IMHO. 

>Most new PCs come with accelerators. The point is that you have the  
_option_
>of slow, cheap video. And nifty stuff like Quicktime is being ported by
>Apple.


Although it probably exists, and I'll be told so on the Net, *I* have yet  
to see a 486 with a good accelerator card beat out a Quadra at graphics,  
when loaded down with Windows.  Now, the 486, even with a good card, is  
probably cheaper than a Quadra.  Nonetheless, the 486 is an equivalent  
chip, yet the system cannot keep up graphics-wise, even with a good  
accelerator card.

Typical 486's, as purchased by people here at BYU anyway, are equivalent  
to their price in Mac when it comes to graphics speed.  And the Macs we're  
talking about here are IIcis!  Possibly even an LCII.

We'll see how fast QuickTime is when it comes out.  But I'd expect  
QuickTime to require a good fast PC, though it runs nicely on a IIsi.


>>2)  The Mac's graphics I/O is better-designed and much more flexible.
>>Whereas two-headed PCs are few and far between, the Mac can accomodate
>>large numbers of monitors as a virtual screen.  

>Obviously your experience in the PC world is not that great. As far as
>most Windows developers go, multiple monitors are used, and they usually
>consist of one low bit-depth monitor and one high bit-depth monitor. And
>virtual screens and unusual-sized monitors can be accomplished with
>drivers from the manufacturers.


Correct me here everybody, but it is my understanding that there is no  
easy way to do this, leastwise not as easy as plugging in another card and  
monitor and pressing a button on the Mac's control panel.  Nor is there a  
standard way of handling it.  And as far as I knew, virtual screens or  
unusual-sized monitors required *very* unusual drivers and cards indeed.   
On the Mac, they require nothing.


>>3)  The Mac's OS was designed to be easy to manage.
>What OS is designed to be difficult to manage? 


Sorry.  Windows is *not* easy to manage.  How exactly do you install that  
printer driver?  On the Mac, you drag it to the System Folder.  How about  
a font?  How do you manager TSRs?  On the Mac there's no such need for,  
say, QEMM.  How about installing an ethernet card?  Plug-and-play.  Other  
issues here may be nebulous, but this one is not.


>>5)  Macs use NuBus, which has better throughput (I believe) than ISA or
>>EISA.  As a result, a Macs can do data acquisition rapidly and flexibly.
>>My personal experience with this is in sound production and  
direct-to-disk
>>recording, where the Mac shines.
>
>This is true. But data acquisition with a sound board on a PC is no
>worse than on a Mac. 


In the situation above, you use a *NuBus* for high-speed data acquisition,  
not just 16-bit 44KHz.


>The bus speed problems is one of those that will
>eventually be addressed by VL, PCI, or QuickRing.

EISA was supposed to solve it, and didn't.  The problem can only be easily  
solved by changing the very architecture of the machine, something  
unlikely to happen anytime soon, considering the inertia of the PC  
marketplace.



>>8)  The Mac does peer-to-peer networking for free, and its operating
>>system had networking built in from the start.  As a result, Macs handle
>>peer-to-peer, IMHO, better than PCs running DOS or Windows.  Now UNIX  
(and
>>NFS) is another matter, but we're comparing typical PCs here.
>
>Windows for Workgroups now ships with some computers. And does ptpn.


WfWkgps is coming out years after peer-to-peer was available free on the  
Mac.  The Mac's arrangement is simple and elegant, mostly because the Mac  
doesn't map to drives:  it uses a volume concept.  The jury is still out  
on WfWkgps--we'll see.


>>There are others, of course.  The point of this is that the Mac has some
>>advantages over the PC, mostly based on the Mac being a newer
>>architecture, that lend credence to the Mac being able to do stuff that
>>the PC cannot do, or cannot do without some significant add-ons.
>
>Yes, the add-ons are significant. But the overall price is still cheaper
>than a Mac.


I disagree here, but that's just opinion I suppose.


>>It's also a market issue.  Apple *must* be better than the PC, or Apple
>>will die.  Why buy a Mac when you can get something better for cheaper?
>>No one would consider purchasing Apple products.
>
>Because Macs are most certainly easier to use. Any idiot can use a Mac,  
but
>this is not possible on a PC. So you pay a premium for the smaller  
learning
>curve.


Having had recommended both, I must respectively disagree.  I work at  
BYU's Computer Consultation Center.  When people come in asking for a PC  
or Mac in the under-$2500 range, typically we set up a 486 with no  
accelerator card and a 120-Meg HD, a good (.28 dot pitch) SVGA monitor,  
Windows, W4W, and a DeskJet.  It usually runs around $1900 all told,  
including $300-400 for the DeskJet, ed. price.

An equivalent Mac, graphics-speed-wise, has proven to be the Mac LCII  
(keep in mind the 486 has no accelerator card.  Likewise we're not  
comparing a IIsi or IIci--which is not that much more, but much faster  
graphics-wise).  It has an 80 Meg HD (since Windows' drive requirements,  
this is fair), the standard keyboard, a better monitor (Apple 13", which  
is at least .25 dot pitch), Microsoft Word, and a DeskWriter.   Ed price,  
we're looking at around $2200.

So for students and faculty (our main body of clientelle), a Mac costs  
$300 more.  But it is easier to maintain, breaks down less (it's not cheap  
clone stuff), and has a significantly shorter learning curve, an important  
consideration for new buyers.  I think it is well worth the price  
difference.  

--

Sean Luke
Brigham Young University                   MILK:  It Comes From Cows
sean@digaudio.byu.edu  
NeXTmail and nifty Mac stuff welcome
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy