<p>dude, for school work, just get an asus EEE solid state with linux. much cheaper ($300) and much better than both macs and windows and you can learn it in no time.</p>
<p>if you can figure out a way to get torrent to work, no you wont get in trouble for it. but just forget the idea anyway since you are limited to how much data you can download a month and torrenting would top that in a few days. no way around that.</p>
<p>gamer or not, go with Windows.</p>
<p>Firefox + noscript + simple antivirus like avast (and its free) = no virus, unless you’re ■■■■■■■■ and download nasty porn all the time.</p>
<p>**** mac.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>i 2nd firefox + no script. and toss in a WOT while you are at it and you are set. for my windows, i haven’t used any other antivirus for a year now and its still completely clean (as clean as windows can be anyway).</p>
<p>mac is the bomb!</p>
<p>I use AVG + Firefox + Noscript and am totally fine. And Zonealarm as a firewall.</p>
<p>pc is the worst</p>
<p>PCs are cheaper, but you have to run antivirus.
and antispyware.
and optimization programs.
and tweak things.
all for a 10% gain in performance.</p>
<p>Now, for a Mac, you get a complete package.
No worrying, no tweaking, no wasting time.
So you can get real work done. =]</p>
<p>Just to play devil’s advocate, you don’t need antivirus, antispyware or any optimization programs for PC. Again, I like Macs too and think they both have their strengths and target markets.</p>
<p>True, you don’t need them.</p>
<p>But you don’t need protection when visiting a honey farm either, it’s just a really, REALLY good idea.</p>
<p>I guess ‘need’ was the wrong word to use. I haven’t used 24/7 AV, antispyware, or any optimization programs on any of my Windows PCs for years without a single virus/spyware issue, etc. How do I know that? My disk images are manually scanned every few weeks just to confirm that security software isn’t necessary. I visit plenty of unknown websites, download files, torrents, usenet, etc. Common sense goes a long way… and this is the same for Mac, which can just as easily be compromised as Windows can.</p>
<p>And if anyone reads Coding Horror, Jeff had a very good blog post about this 2 years ago (<a href=“http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000803.html[/url]”>http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000803.html</a>).</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with using security software if you want to, but it’s not reasonable to use that as a basis of an argument against Windows PCs compared to a Mac.</p>
<p>But then again, what else can Mac guys argue? </p>
<p>“I paid 400 bucks more for a prettier desktop!”?</p>
<p>=P</p>
<p>No hard feelings, don’t start a flame war. Each to his own.</p>
<p>But, ultimately, to your question, go to the Apple Store to try out a Mac as see if you actually like it. Best way to decide than have people tell you either way.</p>
<p>hmm nice macs</p>
<p>Go to the SF Mac Store (actually any Mac Store will do so, but…well…haha) and tell them you’re going to Berkeley, discount!
No I’m kidding (not about the discount, you do get one, lol), but I think you should test out/go see your options! [:</p>