Apple is just a PC?

I have been a PC user for more than 15 years and I am thinking of giving MAC a try. So, I went to Apple website and see what they have to offer for both notebook and desktop. It seems that all their CPUs are now Intel based. Graphics are either Intel, ATI or Nvidia. Does it mean that Apple is really no different than PC? Hardware wise at least? It's just different OS inside?

 

Pretty much, now that they're Intel-based.

 

Switching to intel was excellent decision on Apple's part. It basically makes them - hardware wise- the same as pcs. That's why you can install XP under bootcamp

 

Macs these days are directly comparable to Windows machines, hardware-wise. There are small differences. I don't know what they are, but there're there enough that you can't install noncracked versions of OS X on PC hardware, and you can't install Windows on a Mac without Bootcamp (I think).

I have noticed that all the hardware in my Macbook seems to be above this baseline level of quality. I really appreciate that. A lot of PC notebooks seem to be a little hit-and-miss.

 

Other than the motherboard, what part of the hardware still made by Apple? Does the CPU exactly identical with the PC version? Can you install removable component to a PC?

 

AFAIK, the Intel based Macs are PC's,they just have a TPM module added to it, so the Mac OS X would know the difference...

 

Despite the fact that most of the components in a Mac are now made by the same companies that make the PC components, they are different. A dedicated GPU for the Mac will only work for the Mac, and any normal PC GPU will be incompatible with a Mac.
The motherboard is Mac unique which makes the greatest difference as the chipset used would also be Mac unique with several other integrated components (the integrated wireless airport card for example).

 

But how about the CPU? Can you take out the Intel CPU from a MAC and put it in a PC? Like taking out Core 2 Duo from a MAC and put it in another Core 2 Duo PC?

 

The CPUs are the same, so it would be possible to exchange them (in the Mac Pro at least).

 

1. Regular PC's do not use EFI technology which greatly increases boot times.

2. Apple uses hardware that is 100% compatible with OS X and therefore are more stable than a PC. This means almost no blue screens or driver problems as there is only one choice of hardware.

3. Apple's build quality has been known to be number 1. Other PC manufacturers use chassis from other companies. Other manufacturers use cheap parts to make more profit. Apple uses premium parts at the highest quality thus charging a bit more but the end product is simply just better.

4. OSX is more stable, as it is based on the UNIX kernel. It is less targeted by hackers because PCs make up the majority of users.

5. You don't need to download an update and get that pesky message box that makes you restart every day like windows update.

6. I've built some really good computers in the past 5-7 years. One of them has phase-change cooling and had bleeding edge hardware the time I built it last spring. I can't even begin to tell you all the driver issues/64bit compatibility issues/memory tweaking I had with that machine. When you buy an apple with bleeding edge hardware, it is almost always a stable environment.

7. You can switch between Mac and Windows (Parallels or Bootcamp)


Hope this helps.

 

excellent summary zentox!

here's a link about EFI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface

Also, just as a point, though the hardware is similar, OSX is so much nicer to use than XP. I don't have to download dozens of third party apps to manage it, I don't have edit the registry to smooth it out. I don't have to fill my desktop with quick link icons for applications, or claw through the start menu and window upon window of folders or a mile long list. I don't have to defrag the drive.. OSX does that automatically. That's just a few points about the OS. XP is good for work, but OSX makes me WANT to work. You pay a premium, but you also get an incredible computer.

 

Yup, what Zentox said.