Mac vs PC

[2pennies]

Hi,

Is it true that it's better to use a Mac while surfing the net and checking Email vs using a PC? I -heard- that Macs have better security and resistance to Viruses. Is the reason that Macs are superior to PCs on the Net?

[razor]

You are correct to assume this, however it doesn't mean that Macs are not prone to getting viruses. Since there are more PC and more people that like to exploit the windows OS architecture (easier to breakdown) you will find more viruses on PCs. One thing that is not used on a Mac platform is macros, which causes a lot of problems with e-mail viruses.

Mac's are not built on a dos platform, they have their own language and it doesn't permit it to be altered when programs are loaded (like Windows), instead they load extensions that carry individual information for each individual program that has been loaded. It's not until the release of MacOSX that the backbone truly became Unix, which is a very secure system.

Hope this helps.

RaZoR [img]smile.gif[/img]

[2pennies]

Thanks Razor. I'd like to try to find a nice inexpensive Mac to start with. What do you think would be the oldest model I should be looking for? You know, a nothing older than a ___ model.

Laptop or Desktop, either is fine for my purposes.

Thanks.

[ November 09, 2001: Last edited by 2pennies ]</p>

[razor]

You probably want to start with a Power PC, a nice 7200 or 7600, they usually run at 132Mhz and up. I'm sure you can find a decent one for a good price. I would also suggest getting OS 9, it's a much stable system than OS 8.6. Other than that losts of ram and start testing.

You can also get lower end macs but I wouldn't recommend them, they just frustrate you in terms of speed and what OS you can install on them.

RaZoR [img]smile.gif[/img]

[2pennies]

Thank razor. I appreciate the input. I'll start my searches for a good used Mac.

[wrathlon]

Check here daily I have seen some great basement deals here from time to time from respectable dealers . Check the basement special

http://dealmac.com/
a few other places to look

http://www.shrevesystems.com/ppcmacs.html
http://www.powermax.com/cpus/used_under_500.html
http://www.sunrem.com/
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings...910/index.html

[ November 11, 2001: Last edited by wrathlon ]</p>

[2pennies]

I'm getting ready to check those links now. Thanks for the help!

[Zone-MR]

I personally prefer PCs as they are always a few specs ahead of PCs, and there is a larger choice in terms of hardware, software, and operation systems.

The only reason PCs have historically been more prone to viruses originates simply from the fact that the way boot sectors, proccess and memory handling etc was approached. Proccesses running on PCs have the option of editing the hard disk directly, running hidden, etc. Although this makes the computer more prone to viruses, it gives programmers many more options. If you want something that cant get a virus due to being less advanced, get a gameboy.

If you are running Windows XP or Windows 2000, you are much less prone to getting viruses as the Windows NT kernel takes some steps such as not allowing foreign services to start in the boot sector, etc. Unless a virus is specially designed to overcome this limitation, many win95/98/me/dos viruses will not work.

[razor]

I would disagree with you in terms of the PC always being a few specs ahead of a Mac. In fact the Mac has always been ahead of its time. From its scsii drives to the way the OS was written to the overall concept of what a computer should be.

What I will agree with you is that the PC does have more hardware to make your PC better and as well it has more apps and OS's as well. However, the one thing you forgot is that you don't need extra hardware to make a Mac better, it already is better than your PC. In terms of software, you have programmers going where the money is. This is changing as we speak, microsoft has jumped on the band wagon and so have others. About OS's, why come up with something new if the old one isn't broken, an example, windows 95 with win98, win98se, winME patches.. yes, those are huge patches if you ask me.

I wouldn't call a Mac less advanced, actually it is its stable programming that has kept the mac os around for so long, and the fact that it takes hackers longer to figure it out tells you plenty about the security and stability of the OS. If you programmed something properly the first time you wouldn't have to go out and fix it every 2 years, aka Microsoft.

I will point your attention that viruses are now in the habit of not just screwing up your machine but actually getting into the programs that make it run ie. MS Outlook. This has now become the challenge, not just getting your machine to not boot up or erasing your hard drive. In terms of hackers getting into machines, this will always happen regarless of the machine or OS that you're running. Where there's a will there's a way.

I personally have a Mac and a PC. My mac is about 5 years old with a upgraded card and it runs great. My everyday machine is a PC, why? because its cheaper that's it. If I could afford a new Mac every year or two like I can a PC then I would be fine, however, for the price of one Mac G4 I can probably get 3 decent PC's. I'll leave it to you to figure out what the math comes out to.

I have no real biases towards any of the OS's that are out there, Linux, Mac, Windows, BeOS, etc or the machines that support them, I have tested them all, but lets give credit where credit is due.

Till we meet again.

RaZoR [img]smile.gif[/img]

[KingCobra]

I agree. Back when I was in school and there was no such thing as Windows, I was using a MacSE in computer graphic arts class. The Macs menu system, screen look, (like the trash can) drag & drop feature and multitasking was all there. I had a PC at home running DOS and because the Mac was way out of my price range I never did get one. I own a PC now not only because they are cheep, but because there's more support for PC's out there, not to mention software selection.

[ December 04, 2001: Last edited by KingCobra ]</p>