Advice on home computers for a growing family

you said it , pal

no surprise legends like soundproof don't post here anymore

as apple rises like a phoenix and takes over the entire home entertainment idiom ( without even really trying - lol ) bno falls into long deserved oblivion and will be mentioned alongside Sinclair .amstrad and other cheap under-performing overhyped $hit

there's a reason why apple have won the JD power awards the last 5+ years running and bno are going rapidly bankrupt....

don't shoot the messenger !

 

Necrophilia? There's an app for that!

no doubt you're a regular user , seeing as your comebacks are from the grave

iDiot

I note that one thread has already had to be moderated - I will just delete this if there is any more flaming - I use exclusively Apple but have no problem with others preferring PCs. They are all just computers.

I haven't even bothered to read most of the thread, because of the predictable response of the Android Windows Plasma TV brigade , who have a strange aggressive and at the same defensive emotional involvement in their blessed technology.

Thread after thread saying posters are constantly acclaiming Apple, and yet I can't find or think of a single one. I too use Apple mostly, if I found something better I'd buy it in an instant. Interestingly my company that has its purse strings tighter than a mouses ***, has just bought 500 IPads for us to use on the flight deck. They looked at Android but didn't bother with Windows as its too new, relatively.

They chose Apple as the build quality was better, as was the availability of software and the stability and integration of said software. In every case the software was far more secure. Out of the 200 or so airlines that have done the same experiment globally, every single one bought Apple.

And the Apple fanboy who is the buyer in our company, sports a Galaxy S3

Nuts

Many thanks for all your suggestions, although I admit that I'm not entirely sure where to go with the suggestions, so am now thinking a main family PC - somewhere central in the house with tablets (Apple) for the family etc, as and when they are suitably responsible for them.  so may opt for a small form factor pc for the family to use etc any thoughts about using the X3i - seen some good reviews and would be discreet to have in the main living space.

thanks, Hugh

From my own experience of PC's at work and at home I'd say that you still probably have to go for a Windows based PC for maximum compatibility with other users. Having said that, if your children use Apple at school, go for Apple! As Puncher says, there is nothing worse than a child struggling with compatibility issues when trying to submit an assignment.

Apple use a much more bomb proof operating system, and Windows remains full of exploitable vulnerabilities. Large companies buy their Dell or similar computers on the cheap and then spend a fortune on IT departments sorting out the endless compatibility and security issues.

Even PDF files, which should be universally readable, have problems. Microsoft developed their own way of saving/ creating a PDF file.... and suprise suprise, it won't display correctly on an Apple machine. 

I use Apple at home (iMac and iPads)..... but the absence of Adobe Flash on the iPad is maddening, particularly when so many sites embed Flash based videos that just show up as white space.

For a home main computer that's permanently on-line I'd go for an iMac purely for security reasons. Then have a separate Dell or similar Windows laptop with reasonable (free) security software that is only used for Windows specific applications and is only taken on line for specific purposes. Probably within a year or two the emphasis is going to move more towards Cloud  based computing and storage, and the computer maker and operating system will gradually become less important.

Graham

Chris Townsend:

I haven't even bothered to read most of the thread, because of the predictable response of the Android Windows Plasma TV brigade , who have a strange aggressive and at the same defensive emotional involvement in their blessed technology.

You should have taken the time to read most of the thread!! This is one of the threads you can't find where a sensible discussion about what to get a school age child was overtaken by constant acclaim and subsequent argument!

I just read Peters remarks about moderation,and filled in the gaps!