On the fence: Mac or Windows

Hey guys (and gals), I have the opportunity to buy a barely used Mac Pro (12 Core processor, 16gb RAM, 2x1TB hard drives, 1x500gb solid state drive, with support for up to 8 HD monitors) for a VERY reasonable price from a friend. I've been a Windows guy since, like, ever. So I need those of you with experience in both worlds to help me out:

What's the best move? 1. Buy the Mac, and use Logos 6 for Windows in Parallels, 2. Buy the Mac, and use Logos 6 for Mac, 3. Wait until Windows 10 comes out and buy a machine set up to handle Logos 6.

FYI, for some reason, I can't install SP1 on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64 machine. I had our tech support guy remote into my computer and he's saying he's probably going to have reinstall Windows. Ugh. That's what's driving this decision. That, and the computer is over 5 years old and starting to show it's age. What do you guys think?

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JT (alabama24)

What do you guys think?

I am a "Mac Guy" and have reasons for being a "Mac Guy." Why are you interested in the Mac Pro? (I am drooling over the computer, by the way). If your ONLY purpose is to run Logos, I say no. If you have reasons why you want to switch, I say yes.

toughski

I was a MAC-hater for all of my life until this summer when I got a MBP 15 retina. I was shocked how easy it was for me to transition. Out of all my applications there was just 1 (highly specialized trading app) that was not native for MAC, so there was zero challenges in transition.

My recommendation to you is to buy the Mac Pro and use Logos6 for MAC, you will not regret it as there is an almost absolute feature parity between L6 Windows and L6 Mac.

Too bad that your Mac is not the newest iMac 5K Retina [:'(]

Casey Scott

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664525#Comment_664525

Thanks toughski, what would you list as any feature disparity?

Casey Scott

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664517#Comment_664517

alabama, I'm open to new experiences. And, I have an iPhone and iPad that I like very much, and I think the Mac would provide closer integration with those devices. I'm one of the few Windows hold-outs in my office. ;-)

toughski

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664531#Comment_664531

I haven't checked in a long time, but there is a wiki page dedicated to it:

https://wiki.logos.com/Mac_and_PC_User_Interface_Differences#Feature_Parity

also, you can search Logos forums more effectively using Google search than native forum search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=parity+site%3Acommunity.logos.com

GregW

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664533#Comment_664533

alabama, I'm open to new experiences. And, I have an iPhone and iPad that I like very much, and I think the Mac would provide closer integration with those devices. I'm one of the few Windows hold-outs in my office. ;-)

I switched to a Mac a year ago, having had Windows from version 3.1 in the early 1990s. I have not noticed any lack of features in the Logos Mac version against the Windows version, and have had no issues with performance (or Wifi with Yosemite). One of my reasons for switching was that I had an iPhone and iPad and wanted to sync contacts, calendars, etc without having to use Google. I have no regrets at all, and didn't have any problems switching after the first few days. It is worth putting some effort into learning new keyboard shortcuts. There are a few residual scaling issues in L6 but apart from that, I have no yearnings to go back to using Logos on Windows. I don't buy the "it just works" line that Apple fans peddle, but I have found things like backing up with Time Machine are much easier to set up and run, and app and OS updates are a lot less intrusive. I hadn't seen a blue screen on Windows for years, so don't think there is a comparison to be made on that front. I'm not an "emotional" Mac user and would switch back on my next hardware purchase if I thought it made sense.

I use Logos every day, for reading, devotional, sermon prep, original language work and my MA studies so I think I do give it a fairly good workout. I don't use Syntax searches very often, but beyond that probably use most functions, tools and guides and would have no concerns about moving to a Mac, so long as it is reasonably current hardware, and I do have a Solid State disk which does make a difference as far as I can see from comments on these forums (I bought it with an SSD already installed).

Casey Scott

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664550#Comment_664550

Thanks Greg!

Ben

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664550#Comment_664550

Sounds like you might need a new machine, you have a great deal on an amazing machine, and making the change will enhance (not disrupt) your environment, integrating with your other electronics.

I'd do it, and just run the Mac version. (I used to run parallels, but it was a pain.)

Casey Scott

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664552#Comment_664552

Thanks Ben!

William Gabriel

Mac hardware runs Windows very nicely. My wife's MBP is set up to dual boot with Windows 7 and it runs flawlessly. My graduate school buys all Mac hardware and just loads windows on it. You don't have to necessarily use emulation if you want to run Windows.

That said, I think you'll be pleased with OS X. My wife never boots into Windows anymore. Logos runs fine on Mac, and I'm convinced it's going to get even better as .NET migrates to OS X natively.

Casey Scott

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664569#Comment_664569

Thanks William!

Deacon Steve

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664579#Comment_664579

What are the responses to the questions Alabama24 asked? What is the "reasonable" price from a friend?

GaoLu

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664785#Comment_664785

Don't do it! I know it looks awesome. My eyes about popped out. Envy reared its ugly head. I have iPhone and iPad and work on friends Apples, but I know its' playing with fire.

But just gotta say, Brother, you shouldn't go against your conscience. Once you cross that line and take a bite of the apple it's hard to go back. I can smell burnt toast from here. Eve took one bite of the Apple and look what has happened ever since. Noah opened the Windows and what a view! The Promise! The Covenant! A whole new world!

David Taylor, Jr.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/664802#Comment_664802

Don't do it! I know it looks awesome. My eyes about popped out. Envy reared its ugly head. I have iPhone and iPad and work on friends Apples, but I know its' playing with fire.

But just gotta say, Brother, you shouldn't go against your conscience. Once you cross that line and take a bite of the apple it's hard to go back. I can smell burnt toast from here. Eve took one bite of the Apple and look what has happened ever since. Noah opened the Windows and what a view! The Promise! The Covenant! A whole new world!

I went to Apple, then actually worked for Apple for almost 5 years, and now I am happily back on Windows and don't miss my Mac at all. Really, I don't. And believe me, I was a FANBOY EXTREME. But seriously, I do not miss it at all.

MWW

Having eaten the grass on both sides of the fence. The grass is definitely greener on the Mac side. And my experience is definitely "it just works"! The only time I spend fixing computer issues is with my wife's Windows 7 laptop and my daughters Windows desktop - though admittedly Microsoft is improving. Logos works great on my Mac.

David Betts

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665009#Comment_665009

I run Win7~64 via VMWare Fusion7.1 on MBP2010 (1TB/8GB 10.10.1) & have both Mac & Win Logos 6 to evaluate and try to decide which I like better. So far I like the Win version. While there are a few advantages to Mac, MSOffice2013 is a big factor for me to maintain Windows. If you can get the machine for a good price I say go for it. It's kind of nice to "have the best of both worlds," and have some of the Mac apps, but I'm on Win most of the time.

On another note: while I do like the Logos iPhone/iPad app for mobile, I anticipate a good (& inexpensive) Win10~64 Tablet so that I can take advantage of my complete $6K Logos investment without the iOS handicaps.

Shalom!

Jude 3, 4

David Taylor, Jr.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665039#Comment_665039

Having eaten the grass on both sides of the fence. The grass is definitely greener on the Mac side. And my experience is definitely "it just works"! The only time I spend fixing computer issues is with my wife's Windows 7 laptop and my daughters Windows desktop - though admittedly Microsoft is improving. Logos works great on my Mac.

I guess I am tarnished by working Apple Tech Support. I can guarantee the "it just works" mantra is anything but reality.

MWW

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665044#Comment_665044

As an MS Windows/IT Support Person with 20 years of work experience and as a Mac user for 8 years, "it just works" certainly reflects my reality and the reality of most of the Mac users that I know. I just came back from a sermon workshop where a majority of the pastors that attended had switched from Windows to Mac and were very happy with the results. From my observation most of the cutting edge application development taking place today is taking place in the Mac arena. I have no loyalty to either platform and if I had reason to I would be willing to switch back to Windows, but I can tell you that as of now "it just works" is far more true of OSX than of Windows. This is especially true when video is introduced into the mix. Our church has struggled for years with a Windows video set up and since we switched to using Macs the problems have gone away. So I can say unequivocally that, at least for me, "it just works" is a present reality.

James Hiddle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665120#Comment_665120

I've been a Windows guy for years. Never owned a mac so MHO I'd go with the Windows machine.

But I'm being biased [:D]

David Taylor, Jr.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665120#Comment_665120

As an MS Windows/IT Support Person with 20 years of work experience and as a Mac user for 8 years, "it just works" certainly reflects my reality and the reality of most of the Mac users that I know. I just came back from a sermon workshop where a majority of the pastors that attended had switched from Windows to Mac and were very happy with the results. From my observation most of the cutting edge application development taking place today is taking place in the Mac arena. I have no loyalty to either platform and if I had reason to I would be willing to switch back to Windows, but I can tell you that as of now "it just works" is far more true of OSX than of Windows. This is especially true when video is introduced into the mix. Our church has struggled for years with a Windows video set up and since we switched to using Macs the problems have gone away. So I can say unequivocally that, at least for me, "it just works" is a present reality.

Oh I'm not saying Macs are never the right choice, I'm just saying for the mainstream user it has no real benefit over Windows. Creative Professionals are a whole different story.

I will also say that most problems Windows users have are of their own creation. Really, they are.

Unix

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665155#Comment_665155

True, such as trojans and viruses. But I have a good grasp about security software for Windows. Also cautious when doing searches and I haven't opted for the safe search engine which comes with Avira Antivirus since I search pretty little and I rather want them to focus on the antivirus and not on sifting search engine results. So far I have Avira installed on only one computer but unless the competition changes I buy it for more computers next Summer when my very cheap Bitdefender license ends. However: the larger the market share of Apple OSX the more viruses there are going to be for it too:

I will also say that most problems Windows users have are of their own creation.

I haven't afforded a Mac since the late '90s, so I'm biased.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

What's the best move? 1. Buy the Mac, and use Logos 6 for Windows in Parallels, 2. Buy the Mac, and use Logos 6 for Mac, 3. Wait until Windows 10 comes out and buy a machine set up to handle Logos 6.

Yes. A free alternative to Parallels is Oracle's VirtualBox. Fast solid state storage improves Logos 6 responsiveness on OS X and Windows. Running Logos 6 on OS X and in a virtual machine would allow Library to be open in each application, which can also be done by using Verbum. Caveat: each Logos/Verbum installation has its own copy of resource files and indexes.

OS X has capabilities not cloned by Windows: easy to copy a partition for use on another Mac. Easy to boot up a Mac from internal or external device (hold option key when powering up Mac for choice of bootable partitions).

Review comparison of Windows 8.1 and OS X Yosemite => http://www.infoworld.com/article/2687908/microsoft-windows/deathmatch-review-windows-8-1-vs-os-x-yosemite.html

However: the larger the market share of Apple OSX the more viruses there are going to be for it too

Rarity of successful OS X malware provides strong news incentive. Several "hacking" contests have exploited browser and plug-in weaknesses on OS X. The underlying OS has security risk similar to other unix variants, which is notably lower than Windows. From a news perspective, Windows malware affecting millions attracts articles: e.g. Target and Home Depot data breaches.

Criminals have been attacking OS X for years => http://www.kaspersky.com/au/about/news/virus/2011/Quote_of_the_week_Malware_Explosion_for_Mac_OS_X

Shell shock => http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/146849/how-do-i-recompile-bash-to-avoid-shellshock-the-remote-exploit-cve-2014-6271-an/146851#146851 affected OS X users that enabled advanced unix services. Apple released patch for bash vulnerabilities.

I guess I am tarnished by working Apple Tech Support. I can guarantee the "it just works" mantra is anything but reality.

Have experienced a number of Sad Mac and Windows Blue Screen issues; technical troubleshooting of either platform can be challenging (and frustrating). Caveat: Logos on OS X has inherited Windows tendency for periodic computer restart. Typically OS X works better than Windows (use both daily).

Keep Smiling [:)]

Nathan Parker

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665128#Comment_665128

Go for it. You'll enjoy it and have a lot of fun. It WON'T be a 100% problem free experience (no computer is), but it'll be a great learning experience for you and give you a very powerful machine.

mab

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665128#Comment_665128

Nice toy. For Logos, it's still better on a Win box and that's from a committed Mac user. Running it in virtual on a Mac is what a late mentor of mine would liken to putting an outboard motor on a bathtub.

Otto S. Carroll

I made the switch from a Windoze based PC to a MacBook Pro in 2009 and haven't looked back. And as others have already said, there's no difference between the Windoze and Mac version of Logos. So to me, the question is what system is better - Mac or Windoze. And my answer is Mac, hands down.

The main reason I love Mac's is the rapid disaster recovery options there are available in case of a internal hard drive failure that are not avaiable in Windoze. I have a bootable clone (on an USB-3 external SSD) of my internal flash drive that I can run my MacBook from in the event of a failure of my internal drive. And if I the internal drive is replaced, I can restored all my applications and settings in a matter of minutes (instead of hours to days) by either re-cloning it from my external clone and restoring it using Time Machine, Apple's own back-up system. And Time Machine allowed me to migrate from my old MacBook to my new one in a couple of hours - without having to reinstal any application.

The other reason I use Mac's is I can also run Windoze at the same time. I still use Win XP (IMHO the best Windoze) for work and Win 8.1 "just because" on my Mac. My MacBook specs are listed below - using VMware Fusion 6, I can run XP or 8.1 or both at the same time while I'm running OS X 10.10.1. So with at least 16 GB or RAM and a SSD, you can ran either version of Logos, or both, on the same machine and get excellent performance. Moreover, XP and 8.1 each appears as a single file on my hard drive - if I wanted to back it up or run it on a replacement machine, it's just a matter of "copy and paste" - I don't have to reinstall anything.

So far, I haven't felt the need to go back to using the Windoze version of Logos. But if I did, I could do it on the same machine!

James Hiddle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/665928#Comment_665928

Just go bubble gum bubble gum in a dish and have fun with your new machine [:D]

Aaron Brockmeier

I switched to a mac this fall and love it! It took a bit to get used to but I love how it runs/responds/ and just plain works! The only reason I would ever go back to a PC is because of cost of the laptop or desktop. Here's the feedback I received from the forum when I asked the same question:

https://community.logos.com/forums/p/88996/625849.aspx#625849