Mac or PC? It’s that old thorny chestnut. (Or should that be thorny Apple... )

MBPro AND pc at work. And in love...!

After years of p.c’s I got my first 15 inch Macbook Pro about three years ago and have been very pleased with it. I particularly like the i-life suite of programmes that comes pre-loaded with every new machine. In one suite you can edit video, catalogue photos, make music and create web sites. And it’s all pretty straightforward.

The i-phone revolutionised mobile phones for a similar reason. They just work. They are easy and instinctive to use. There might not be huge bangs for your buck under the hood, but you don’t have to spend hours on the system itself. In fact the camera was woeful on the first i-phones. I guess they had to have something to improve  for later models.

I-phone. Improved with age

When I first considered using media players I asked the lovely Simon Cross, an engineer at Heart-FM and The Arrow where I was working, which would be the best player to use.

“For someone like you?” he asked.  Someone like me?  I was a DJ on a radio station. He was an engineer. Not for the first time I saw that sympathetic look in his eye.  It was the look many of the engineers had when approached by a presenter with a technical problem.  The same look a Mother may give an innocent, misunderstanding child.  A look of pity.  Sorrow, almost, that one so grown up could be so.. well... naive!

“Er.. yes”, I replied, “someone like me.”

“I-tunes and apple media player.” said Simon without hesitation. “Not the best, but the easiest to use.” He almost patted me on the head as he walked out of the studio, looking sad for my lost technical prowess.

I did the breakfast show here. And Simon (and others) kept it running.

And he was right of course. A smart lad is our Simes. I think he now works for Facebook in the USA or the BBC or both or something and well deserved it is too.

I’ve heard stories of how Steve Jobs will be in a meeting talking about a new app or programme and spend all the time worrying about how the icon looks. And he’s quite correct too. Computers are about making our lives easier, not increasing our knowledge of html. (If Simon knew I was talking about html I think he’d be very proud of me. Even though I don’t really have much of a clue what it is. He’d appreciate me trying!)

So it’s a bit of a no brainer. Mac good, PC.. well if not bad, then certainly average. Unless you’re a starving artist.  Suddenly £850 odd quid for a Macbook Air takes on a new perspective. When there are netbooks from a couple of hundred quid. A writer mate of mine is battling with this. The macs look great, but is that all you are paying for?  He has a ten year old Sony Viao that now takes about 40 mins to boot up, so he needs to do something!

So maybe you can help with a suggestion or two. Netbook?  Or save up for a macbook. Whaddya think? And if a pc, which one would you recommend?

Where’s Simon when you need him...