So I had a hard drive crash and had to reinstall Windows
INFO - I was running Windows 10 upgrade from Windows 7 on 64 bit PC. The upgrade is free so I decided I would re-install Windows 7 then upgrade from there.
PROCESS -
Removed the bad drive and 2 storage drives
Installed new SSD
Installed Windows 7
Ran Windows Update (wanted to have all updates before upgrade)
There were 231 updates available. It’s took nearly 3 hours to download and install them. The Windows dialog shows update progress and the DO NOT TURN OFF OR POWER DOWN YOUR MACHINE message, Then when all updates were complete I got the message Failure configuring Windows updates. Reverting changes. Do not turn off your computer
So I ran the upgrade tool again and there was the option to proceed without installing updates. I did that and it worked. If you find yourself in the same situation I suggest not doing Windows Updates on the clean install. Get your Ethernet driver installed then proceed right to the upgrade, skipping updates.
But Macs are better. PC Magazine consistently rates Mac computers as some of the best machines to install and run Windows on. And I can run OS/X and Windows on a Mac. Can’t do it other way around. I look at it as I know what you’re missing, but you don’t.
Both have their purposes but the ability to run all the various OS’s on a Mac is a great edge. The other is having a single source that is the manufacturer, OS vendor, and support. They have no one to pass the buck to most times. To each their own, but after 25_ years in IT tech support I wouldn’t have anything but a Mac as my main machine.
No, but I’m a nerd. Been around enough of them to know I would like to have one. But at the same time I don’t do a lot of stick measuring either. If I did I would compare hardware with pretty much all Mac owners. Easy one to win right there!
Not a stick measuring. I use both. All from one computer, a Mac. And if you’re talking about custom builds then yes for hardware, but it’s not a straight win at that. If you’re talking prebuilt, I’ll just politely disagree. There’s a lot to be said for an OS being tuned to the hardware rather than multiple vendors slapping pieces together.
If I were just doing Graphic design, and absolutely nothing else. No internet browsing. No CAD/CAM, no 3D modeling, no downloading of old Benny Hill shows, no anything, I may consider an Apple. Then I would shoot myself in the foot and go back to work on a computer that can do all that stuff
But seriously, they are wicked for computer graphics. Always have been. But you won’t ever see one in an engineering office working with models like this… (I programmed and machined the molds for this little guy) http://www.monterreyaerocluster.com/img/m22.jpg
Lol. Those are just a bunch of people watching Youtube videos
The guys that designed all Nasa’s toys are in the back in a dimly lit room modeling shit up on $25,000 Xeon processor powered think boxes with dual Quadro 6000’s and 128GB of memory. And the CAD/CAM guys are programming the parts on similar boxes with just a tad less horsepower. The programs are then fed to PC based machines that produce the parts. I know this for a fact because I have made a lot of parts for Nasa over the last 20 years. Check out Applied Composites. That was a job I left to advance my career, and one of many Aerospace firms I have worked for.
An Apple is an Apple. And a PC is a PC. They are in two different leagues and they always will be. That is not saying an Apple doesn’t have its place. But it will never find its way into the industrial environment in the direction they are heading.
And yeah, I have used an Apple. I really tried to like it. But it got old in a year and a half and no way to upgrade it left me feeling a bit took.
Fair enough. At least you tried. How long ago? In my tech support I’ve worked with Nasa as well as Boeing, Bombardier, and Lockheed Martin (Skunkworks). They all had a nice sprinkling of Macs in them. They weren’t the predominant flavor, but they were in use and those are all engineering heavy firms.
It was a few years ago. It was a Macbook Pro something or other. $2400 laptop. My PC right now cost less and is more powerful. And my PC I had a year ago was 5 years old and more powerful because I upgraded it with the best I could put in it. I build all my PC’s. Which is another thing I believe sets the PC world apart. It’s like buying a Lamborghini, or buying a Mustang and dumping half the amount of money into it and kicking the Lamborghini’s ass at the track. Ford did it with a Focus for $65,000 at the drag strip and a road course.
I have yet to see a Software like Catia designed to run on Mac’s, which is what Skunkworks (you talking about the plant in Florida?), GE, Pratt Whitney, and all the other big name Aerospace companies use. Sure, they all probably have Macs. That is because they have an IT department and those guys all seem to love them (jab jab ) for the aps and whatnot. But the Engineers are always the guys in every shop that have the baddest PC’s in the building.
I am not in any way knocking Apple computers. I just think it is comparing apples and oranges because the world has a need for each for their own specific reasons.
A few years ago a friend of mine who is a Macamaniac and who does video editing and graphic design asked me to put a memorial video together for him because he was committed to two people at once. So he was next door at his Dad’s house working on one project and I was here working on mine. It contained about 40 photos and several video clips (already digitized) totaling about 15 mins worth. It took me about 2 hours to compile and another 90 mins or so of rendering. When I took the disk to him he couldn’t believe it. I could have done both projects in the time it took his Mac just to render 30 mins of video. Of course I don’t know much about his Mac other than it was about the same age as my build.
Didn’t disagree on custom builds. And let’s be honest, if you’re talking about a macbook pro… most laptops have very limited upgrade options. No upgradeable processors or video cards, etc. Again. Talking about prebuilt computers and the comment that you’ll never see them in an engineering shop. I disagree but that’s just my experience. Never claimed they were predominant
Skunkworks is actually Palmdale, CA. But I have worked with the Florida group and fort worth, TX group as well. And Catia is just one of the many program inputs they used on the groups we worked with. Mostly engineers btw not IT. My job at the time involved setting up systems to catalog, version control, and build audit trails behind all the changes made.
I love my Macbooks, I have worked many many hours on them - A significant part of ELR was built using Macbooks. I love that it’s a Unix based OS, and that all console stuff just works (it most definitely doesn’t on a Windows box).
I am currently using a home built PC, with tons and tons of power. Running Windows 10. I really like it (and the large monitor)!
Apple makes expensive, but extremely nice, stable and good laptops!
All the time…the word wicked no longer has any other meaning to me. LoL.
EDIT: Oh, and I’m a Mac user who runs windows for my programming classes because they just love visual studio. I hate it and wish I could use Xcode for everything. Which I do. And then open it in Visual Studio and cry because it doesn’t work nearly as well as it did.
VS is one of the absolutely coolest IDEs there is That’s one thing that Microsoft nailed. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of opportunities to open it these days
I’m sure if I knew how to use it to its full potential I’d probably appreciate it much more. And I’m also sure that’s coming in the next couple of semesters. At least I’m constantly learning lessons in portability. LoL
) for the aps and whatnot. But the Engineers are always the guys in every shop that have the baddest PC’s in the building.
hehe
That’s one thing that Microsoft nailed. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of opportunities to open it these days 