What do you use your Mac for?

I just want to get an idea of what people who spend that extra premium for a Mac use them for.

Other than the "Macs are better for multimedia" nonsense, what/why/how do you use your Mac?

 

sometimes i borrow my friend's mac just to fool around

 

Por... err um.... Well I use mine for games, music, videos, video editing, photoshop, testing programs I dono what else. Really a windows machine would do me just fine, I just didn't want to deal with windows anymore

 

I use my Mac for everything I use a computer for. Internet browsing, iTunes, music and video editing, converting downloaded movies for my iPhone and PS3, IM, audio and video chatting, Office 2008, Eclipse for java programming and software development, a lot of fooling around with SSH and remote control functions with my iPhone, and a little bit of work for the office as well with Mail and VPN.

 

Well,your point is "why are people paying more for mac if pc can do the same?".Cos the way the mac does it!I use D my mb for everything except gaming.

 

uh oh, another "trolling"/"flame war" variation?

cheers ...

 

^I don't think so,cos he used to like his mbp...no?

 

Mac's user remorse?

Well, I better put in my "to the subject" post. I use my mb for everything except gaming.

cheers ...

 

Pretty much the same as everyone above has stated...except with WAY fewer crashes/problems/issues than I had in Windows...and I'd been using Windows since I moved from DOS and having to write autoexec.bat and config.sys files to get gold box games to run properly =) ...

To be honest, I doubt I'll ever go back to a pure windows machine unless there is a program I can't make run using Bootcamp (which I initially tried on my MBP, then removed, realizing I could do everything I was doing in OS X.

I know folks will say you can get same components for cheaper in a Windows laptop...however I can't get an aluminum case, something I am willing to pay for...for size, looks, and durability...

 

Other than the usual things people have already mentioned, I use my MacBook as a test machine - installing software, updates, tinkering around with the OS. I'd rather blow that machine up than my iMac or MBP. And I use it when I travel on vacation out of town (watch movies on the plane, train, etc)

 

I use my Mac for everything I used to use a Windows based PC for. That includes Work (MS Office writing technical documents, requirements etc, UML modeling, DB design, Technical research of various legacy systems etc), and Home, (music, photography, videos, surfing etc).

I had dabbled in Macs for many years but until a couple years ago I was unable to do everything I needed to on a Mac so could not fully transition to one. As of a couple years ago, I was able to do everything I needed to on a Mac so I fully converted. I like the quality and synergy of Mac hardware an software as well as the premium user and support experience Apple offers.

My main motivations for switching was for a significant improvement in reliability and performance and a significant decrease in overhead and maintenance. Apple has delivered that in spades and I am a much happier user as a result. Not everyone has that experience, but for the 100 or so applications I regularly use its been fantastic.

For a new user I'd suggest creating a Windows Virtual MAchine with all your old Windows stuff on it (via Parallels or VMWARE Fusion), then slowly research Mac application equivalents (many are free, almost all offer a free trial, and while often not as feature rich they are often less expensive and more robust). Try the Mac stuff out side by side with the PC stuff and you decide what's right for you and what you like better.

 

I use my Mac for the exact "Macs are better for multimedia" reason.

I compose, sequence and mix music on my Macbook Pro.

 

@ cdnalsi
I love the signature!

 

I use it only for work (Microsoft Office, statistical and econometrics programs, internet, emails, etc.) and this laptop really works. The most important thing for me is that a computer don`t make me waste my time, and I have wasted a lot with windows OS. I started to use my MacBook Pro only a couple of weeks ago, and I'm very happy so far. I appreciate not to wait an antivirus to clean, the RAM busy, or programs failing for no apparent reasons...

 

Since I have a macbook white, I figured out that is easy to carry to class than my xps1530 so I took it to class and surfing ^_^. Desktop is for gaming & intensive work.
Still want a MBP though.

 

I use my MBP for 97% of all my computing needs. There might be a game or two that I run on my old PC, but it's less and less.
While it's true that both systems can almost do the same thing, it is my personal feeling that Mac seems to do what I need in a smoother, faster fashion. I start my Mac and am up and running before my friends even have icons on their laptops.
Customer service is another reason I made the switch and stayed. I can walk into an Apple store and get any amount of help I need, while I need to speak a foreign language to get help with the Dell or HP. My MBP has given me zero problems while the Dell I had constantly gave me headaches.
Over all, my reason for using Macs and staying in the Mac system is a better computing experience for me. The lack of problems that I've had with my MBP translates into time saved. That is very valuable to me.

 

I use my Mac for p0rn. It is so sexy I no longer need to download any.

 

I use my computers for animation (3d, 2d, handdrawn, stopmotion, and otherwise), film, illustration, web, and a few other types of projects. My main focus is animation. My MBP is a leader of the group as working on projects in the OS X environment is much much more friendly. Not to mention more customizable in ways that actually benefit a good workflow.

Plus all the standard uses I suppose, but I am spending a majority of my time on any computer working on animated films.

 

ROFL!good one!

 

What else do you use MACs for other than putting it in the living room as a nice table ornament?

 

I use my macbook for 100% of my computing needs.
@ work I run mail, safari, papers, office 08, endnote, PS4 for image and movie editing, dna sequencing & cloning apps, prism for stats and graphs, iCal for organization etc
@ home my macbook turns into my home-theater and does all the fun stuff like iTunes, iWeb, iPhoto, web & email, skype and niceplayer/vlc for movies etc.
I have parallels and XP installed but only so I can occasionally grab a sopcast web live stream of an EPL football match .. I wish they would release a mac version already... then I wouldn't need windows at all.
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I mainly use my MBP for working (Images processing, writing, editing, websufing...) while my main PC is for gaming, listening to music,watching movies...

 

Note to future self, remember to hug your children.

 

I use my Mac for everything.

 

What is your problem?

 

Lol. Wow. I ask a question about what else MACs are good for other than nice table ornaments and people get angry.

Well jeez, I guess I'll just keep using the latest MACbook pro I just purchased as a stand for my bonsai tree since its a problem to question other uses.

 

I pay the so called "extra premium" to get a thinner, lighter, and with a more decent battery life laptop that I can use at school without constantly having to plug in and pull out or always carrying that thick A/C brick with me. What I use my macbook for will not be any different from what I will use my pc laptop that I almost got before the release of the new macbook for, it's just that things are made easier in OSX except for gaming (of course).

 

I use my MacBook Pro for just about everything - email, internet, work, photo editing, graphics design, programming and web design, you name it...

 

I do everything. If people have used a computer for something, I've probably done it with my Mac.

I'm not a gamer, nor have I ever really been one (I don't think I've fired up a game on a computer in over 3 years, probably closer to 4), so that's not an issue for me. If it was, I could boot this puppy into Windows, and have some nice hardware to run anything. 8-Core Mac Pros are awesome

 

Please stay on topic and avoid personal attacks. Insulting and posting inflammatory comments will not be tolerated. Thank you.

 

I use it at work 100% of the time. I turned off my office computer and hook up the MBP to two external monitors. We're a Linux shop and it's nice to have the native Unix environment on my computer. I do software engineering work and also do development work on the Mac as a hobby.

At home, it's used for surfing, watching TV, playing music, software engineering and watching college lectures.

 

everything simple and everything complicated

 

Well, my MacBook being my main computer I use it for a lot of things;
Internet browsing
Basically anything in the Adobe Suite
Watching and listening to music and videos
Screencasts(Most of my tutorials I do are done on my MacBook)
The odd bit of programming
The odd bit of messing around in UNIX
And some other stuff, lol.
EMZ=]

 

^which macbook do you have?alu. one?

 

The new macbook pro in our shop was used to play on for a few days, then was put in an old case and has since been shuffled around various piles of computer garbage. - yes im serious.

 

I had a Windows XP notebook. Although I was facile with Photoshop Elements on the Windows platform, I hated the Vista Platform and heard about compatiblity issues with my All in One Printer.

I opted for the Mac OS X Macbook Pro (late 2008) to do video editing on Final Cut Express.

In summary, I am using my Macbook for Video editing (from my SDHC HD Camcorder) and photographic editing. I use my old notebook to surf the web.

 

I use my MB for every one of my computing needs. From internet, email, IM, Photoshop, XP gaming, ripping DVD's, and messing around with OpenSuSe.

 

We use it to edit h264 movies and i use it to mess around with my guitar + internet banking and email. Our daughter uses it for her school work.

 

Business - browser based internal / external apps such as Salesforce.com, etc via Firefox, word, excel, powerpoint presentations, email and calender (business via web and outlook running XP on the MB and personal yahoo account), things, etc. I am not a gamer, multi media person, or technical. Part of the value of OSX is it is not the corporate standard. Therefore not being backed up, tracked, etc. MB saves me time, in that I don't have crashes or spend time tweaking, rebuilding, etc I don't have to go down the hall to the IT guys to get something broken fixed... it just works well all the time with little effort and I can keep my own calender both personal and business cal without being visible to and subject to the company. Lastly, I wouldn't want to use a cor prate asset (my dell laptop) for personal use, it is technically against policy... even though a majority of the business world does

 

What are you using to hook it up to two monitors? A matrox box or something like that? Or are you including the screen as one of the two monitors?