Apple Devices

Looking for someone knowledgable about Apple devices.

I know quite a bit about iPhones, iPads, iPods, Apple TV and Apple Airport routers. Don't know much about mac's or time machines though.
What's your problem?

Pete.

The Apple Help Desk is fantastic, the best customer service I've come across, the staff are helpful and very knowledgable and not conStrained by time. They give you personal emails/numbers so that you can contact the same person on any follow up.

Clivespana

Why go to Apple? What will they do normal PCs wont?

Normal PCs don't come anywhere close to an Imac. I have had computers for over twenty years and wouldn't even consider buying a PC.

I have never used an Apple but considering obtaining one. However, I am interested what advantages you get. I use Internet for email and shopping, big user of spreadsheets, data base building, word processing. Advantages need to be considerable to warrant the large extra cost.

IMO they are not worth the extra. Photographers swear by them and they are usually found in studios, however, there is a lot of snob value attached to apple devices. They used to be more stable than PC’s but that’s all changed now. For what you want to do I would go with a PC I also recommend Kaspersky as probably the best anti virus prog.

I've had computers since ever since I bought a Commodore 64 in the 80's. There are those that are Apple fans and those that are not. I fall into the latter category. I do know people though, who love Apple.
They look nice, like Bang and Olufsen sound systems used to do, but cost more and, in my opinion, don't provide value for money. (same as Bang and Olufsen) As stated above, they're the tool of choice for most graphic designers, but for what you want to do, I'd stick with a PC.

It’s interesting that the original poster hasn’t responded to this thread, which has been running for 10 months now.

I’m an Apple fan when it comes to portable devices - iPods, iPhones, iPads etc.
I used a variety of MP3 players before finally trying an iPod. The difference in price was substantial, but the difference in functionality, reliability and performance was incredible.

I used a variety of multi-function ‘smart’ phones and they were good in their own ways, but often had major flaws. A phone that allowed you to edit documents and spreadsheets and to send emails was great, but a pain when you wanted to make a phone call - often needing a reboot before being able to use it as a phone. I tried a few early Android phones and tablets, but was always frustrated by the fact that not all functionality was available on all devices. The open source nature of the operating system is the thing that trips it up in my book.
Apple are control fraks when it comes to their devices and the apps that run on them, which frustrates some users, but works well for me because I want something that just works - all of the time.

When it comes to desktop computers I started in the late 70’s with a Tandy TRS-80’s (where you loaded your program from cassette tape, later upgraded to 5 1/2” floppies) followed by Amstrad 1512’s then PC’s running Windows 2.1 all the way up to Windows 10.
For me,affordability and being mainstream rather than niche has always been the priority, so I’ve always stuck with Windows PC’s.

Anybody looking for a device to surf the Internet, check emails, do a bit of online banking and take a few photos should probably go for an Android tablet. An ASUS or Samsung if you want solid build quality and want to be able to buy a protective case, or a no-name device if you just want something cheap.

I have an ipad 9.7 and from my experience its not worth the money or the hassle. I bought it stupidly from Currys pc world, as a new boxed item. What I didn’t realise is that it was a refurbished unit that apple supplied to Currys with someone else’s data still on the pad. Apple stopped replying to my emails so I dont rate the customer service at all.
Its good for watching netflix, taking photos and basic photoshops, but, if you use all the available cloud storage, you will have to pay for extra storage every month. Using flash drives is a bad option as its complicated. Also transferring to anything other than a really up to date pc or laptop is time consuming and often the laptop/ pc needs more software adding to it.
Web design using a pre templated web site such as Weebly requires you to upgrade to a pay site to do nearly everything.
Its good for making music on the garage band app. Safari/ email is crap: after the recent ios 11 upgrade, the option to attach photographs and files disappeared and now has to be done via the dropbox option, which frankly, if you send a lot of emails with attachments is annoying.
I tend to use a Nikon camera and a Toshiba Techra laptop, which is very old, running windows vista which is medieval, but it works and because they cant update the systems any more, it does things reliably and without constant change.
To each their own, but my ipad is as much use as a chocolate teapot in many instances, particularly as mine is wifi only and struggles to pick up a router in many cases where the laptop just connects without any problems.