Hey m planning to buy a new laptop, which os shud i prefer...
MAc or Xp or Vista??? Please recommend

Whatever you're most comfortable with, or have software for. In general, Mac is preferred for video editing, they seem about even for photo and sound, and Windows is more common in corporate environments, at least in the US. That doesn't mean one is necessarily better than the other at any of these things, but that's how people tend to use them.

I would stay away from Vista. I have never used a Mac, but everyone I know tells me that the OS is more secure. However, there is often a delay in software coming out for the Mac and coming out for the PC (sometimes, several months.)

That really depends on which OS you prefer to use, and what kind of tasks you plan on doing with it. Regardless of which OS you decide to go with, I would say to get one that has a good graphics card(NVIDIA or Radeon), and at least 2GB of ram. Having plenty of ram is especially important if you go with vista.

I switched from Windows to Mac about about a year ago and have just loved it. It does a great job with videos and other intensive jobs like creating digital art. I don't know that Macs are really more secure than Windows. There are just no viruses and very little malware out there that is made to target them. Like most Mac users, I have always used mine without any virus protection software and never had any problem. Most games are compatible only with Windows, but if you go with Mac then you can get around this by installing XP or Vista via boot camp.

You can actually get away with 1 GB RAM for Vista; that's all that I have on my laptop and I'm good to go.

If you can get your hands on it, and it's very difficult, the best OS that I've found for what I do is XP Professional 64-bit edition (64-bit edition of Windows XP). It's the precursor to Vista, and unlike XP32, handles dual core processors and more than 4 GB of RAM.

The only downside is that not everything will work properly on it. AVG Free will work if you pay for it (because it's considered a business O/S), although you can work around this by putting Avast on your machine (which is free regardless); older printers may not have driver support (I had to replace mine, but that was okay because my GF at the time needed a printer so I just gave her my old one); and eLicense won't work (they haven't ever bothered to fix that).

So...I've only had one problem with software compatibility (eLicense) for which there wasn't a solution. Other than that, it's been smooth sailing.

Originally Posted by GeekGal

Like most Mac users, I have always used mine without any virus protection software and never had any problem.

You're smart, unlike most Mac users. I know plenty of folks who use Mac but you're the first one I know of that uses an anti virus. The rest just say that Mac is more secure and they never got a virus so they don't need one. Which at the end of the day puts them at more risk because there's no recovery plan and no defense whatsoever and a false blanket of security. But (and this is a definite theme here) it's a user error and nothing to do with the software itself.

Actually...she said that she doesn't use anti-virus software.

It's nothing new. Most Mac users are lulled into a false sense of security, protected only by the relative lack of reward associated with attacking a Tier 2 (in terms of popularity) OS. Macs don't even have backup software by default (even Vista Home's borderline useless "home consumer friendly" backup is better than what Mac has.)

Personally, I would move to Mac in a heartbeat if it had half the software available with PC does. I hate windows with a passion.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Actually...she said that she doesn't use anti-virus software.

It's nothing new. Most Mac users are lulled into a false sense of security, protected only by the relative lack of reward associated with attacking a Tier 2 (in terms of popularity) OS. Macs don't even have backup software by default (even Vista Home's borderline useless "home consumer friendly" backup is better than what Mac has.)

Actually, Time Machine is very similar to system restore and comes with Leopard (OS X 10.5).

I don't use antivirus as at the moment, there is like only 1 or 2 viruses in the wild for Mac and from what I've heard, they are spread via iChat and other Mac-only programs which I don't use very much. Besides, I'd be intelligent enough not to blindly accept any virus over any IM program - something a lot of people (especially non-techie people) repeatedly fall for.

Mac is slightly more secure than Windows simply because it is Unix-based and has better inbuilt permissions. Linux is by far the most secure OS though - it's permissions mean you'd usually have to be running as the root user to install anything and get yourself infected.

For the time being, I'll continue using McAfee siteadvisor to tell me whether sites are suspicious, Firefox (it's more secure and I just love it) and pure common sense to stay away from viruses. Once the Mac market share increases and hackers begin targetting Mac, then I will buy myself an antivirus. I'm alright at the moment though as I am

I wasn't referring to system restore, Daniel. I was referring to backing up onto say an external hard drive.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

I wasn't referring to system restore, Daniel. I was referring to backing up onto say an external hard drive.

Ah right I see. Well Macs generally aren't built for the corporate environment, certainly not for holding important data and files on. I think a Mac server does actually exist, but they aren't used very much in reality. Macs are great for graphic design, video editing and other multimedia tasks, but they don't really cut it when it comes to the corporate environment - they simply weren't designed for that sort of usage.

Yeah, that's kind of my point. They're a niche machine. There seems to be this mindset among Mac users in general that someday soon the Mac will overtake the PC in terms of usage and popularity...but that's not going to happen on their present path. Like you said, they were built for a niche market.

Have a look at www.reactos.org

Not fully there yet, but certainly holds well for the future.

Hello,

I think mac is the best at the moment, they are more stable, and wildly used in some homes, not as much as Windows though, but afterVista came out a lot of people decided to move over the Mac, can't wait to get my apple laptop.

Originally Posted by whym

Ah right I see. Well Macs generally aren't built for the corporate environment, certainly not for holding important data and files on.

Anything that goes through Photoshop is an important file.

Originally Posted by whym

I think a Mac server does actually exist, but they aren't used very much in reality. Macs are great for graphic design, video editing and other multimedia tasks, but they don't really cut it when it comes to the corporate environment - they simply weren't designed for that sort of usage.

My usage is smaller in scale than a lot of corporate environments ... I don't need 16 gb of ram ... but my data is a lot more important than most corporate data. If a computer can't handle fire-and-forget work in a corporate network, it's definitely not up to par for home use where data loss is a bad thing and having IT restore yesterday's backup isn't an option. Some of my PSDs literally take days of Photoshopping.

That is your choice. You should choose that operating system, with which you are comfortable and in which you are expert and have good knowledge. If this is your home PC, then i suggest you to use Windows Xp.. But if it your business pc and you need more security, then MAC is best. If you need good looks and need more 3d graphics with security go for vista.

The operating system i personally use is Windows Vista and in my office i use Linux.

Wish you all the luck lol.....

Vista is just fine; been using it for months. PC's can edit video and graphics just as well as Macs; that's an old misconception from the late 90's.

The down side of macs is the limited software and games written for the OS; the plus side is fewer viruses.

I'm hoping linux (ubuntu) grows in popularity so we can get some decent web dev. apps for it.

Originally Posted by gridsix

Vista is just fine; been using it for months. PC's can edit video and graphics just as well as Macs; that's an old misconception from the late 90's.

Well - I watched a review of video editing software on the Gadget Show a few months ago - Mac iMovie HD beat most Windows software hands down, and iMovie comes free with Macs. They were working with Hi-Def video and the other software was crashing the Windows systems.

Originally Posted by gridsix

The down side of macs is the limited software and games written for the OS; the plus side is fewer viruses.

Limited software is an issue, but there is now quite a lot of useful software out there for Macs that do the job just as well as on a PC (if not better). There are almost 0 viruses in the wild for Mac, compared to over 100,000 known threats for Windows. This is probably because of the much smaller market share that Apple Mac has.

Ew. Don't use iMovie! Avid Xpress Pro is the way to go! (i mean.. that is iyou're an avid video editor)...

FYI. I've had more problems with Final Cut Pro then I've had Avid Media Composer (run on windows)...

Alrighty, I'm a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), I've worked in IT for 5 years as a system admin focusing on Microsofts products. I've done everything from NT4 domains, NT4 to Active Directory Migration, Exchange admin work, Helpdesk support for Win2k and XP, dozens of various windows apps in a large corporate environment, Anti-Virus deployment, patch management, etc.. .I know windows like the back of my hand. That's why I'm a Mac user.

Time Capsule is one of the best backup systems ever designed. It handles everything you throw at it, and makes restoring a breeze, even if you've made multiple incremental backups since your last full backup. It's a few clicks of a mouse and all of your files are back. I don't run anti-virus on my mac either. It truly isn't neccessary, especially if you keep your system patched and run even just the built in firewall. Macs are also built very rugged. Mine has been deployed with me to Iraq for a year now. All of the Sony, Toshiba, and Dell laptops that everybody around me has, and that I administer for my job are dying or have to be disassembled to remove the dust every week. The Mac simply doesn't suck in dust because of its excellent design. The image quality of their screens is unmatched. Their drivers are top notch. I just simply can't find anything I don't like about my Mac.

There is tons of software I run on my mac that I wish their was a windows version for. Adium, my chat client, is the first that I think of. I've simply never found anything on Windows that's as good as Adium. The only software limitation for the Mac is games. I have a bootcamp install of XP for the few games that I wanted and couldn't get for the Mac. Now that Eve-Online has a Mac client, I pretty much never boot into Windows.

There is one thing, and only one thing bad about the Mac. They're more expensive. I'm a big believer that you get what you pay for though, so I pay that premium. That's just my thoughts.....