Mac vs PC in marine environment

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by MJH

Use whichever one you prefer but buy two of them. Keep both loaded with the same navigation program of choice and updated on your departure. Keep that backup in a waterproof container ready if the primary fails.

Good Luck.

Good advice!

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

I live on the beach in Hawaii 150 yards from the ocean. [...]

Lucky man!

[Tanqueray]

I have been a “Windows guy” most of my adult life. Father in law bought an IBM 8088 PC when they first came out and learned on that.

Kids are more Apple fans, and I liked the. A book Air for its size, relative build quality, aesthetics, etc. But I installed Windows on it and ran it that way for years, along with my Dell desktop.

I played around with Linux some on an old desktop machine, but did not find it polished enough for my use (I need a decent GUI).

Recently, I put MacOS back on my laptop, but it was not upgradable. So I ditched it and tried Linux Mint. Great distribution in my mind, very user friendly and complete GUI. Amazing how easily it installed, found all the hardware (except the webcam ;-( and runs great. Then I installed it on an old iMac desktop…same experience. Finally, replaced Windows on my primary desktop, and again found Mint to install easily and it is easy to use.

I could see an Apple Mac book as a boat computer, but I think I would go with something like this mini-desktop from Lenovo or Dell.

Small foot print, SSD, cheap and easily backed up and replaced. Run Linux Mint for a hassle-free experience.

You do need a separate monitor…but I would have a TV/Monitor for that purpose.


I do like the idea of the Raspberry Pi, and am looking for an 8gb one for a fair price to test. I like the 12-volt power supply option so it can be wired right into the DC system.

Greg

[dannc]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

Well to be fair people keep saying they have mini computers
Must have a big boat and a huge amount of available power to run a mini computer

Yeah, it cracks me up every time someone mentions a mini computer.

Now a days, a mini computer is just a much smaller cased system that is paper bookish sized, not the old school mini computers that could be quite large. The definition has changed.

When I was in school, there were micro, mini and mainframes computers. The systems were in that order by size. Then IBM came out with their micro computer, called the Personal Computer, which coined the term PC, which IBM had used in the mid 1970's for Portable Computer. The 1970's IBM PC was a "light weight" 50ish pound "portable computer."

Course, the old time mini computers are gone from a size perspective, though the hardware, OSes, languages, and software are still being used.

Later,
Dan

[s/v Jedi]

Apple Mac Mini M1… maybe it means that it is a mini version of the Apple Mac? With M1 processor?

To talk about mainframes and mini computers, isn’t that a bit off topic?

[sy_gilana]

Running a 2012 Dell Latitude E5410 with Linux Mint Mate.
Power from the 24v batteries through an automotive charging adapter. No battery installed in Laptop. That's 10 years. Plenty fast enough for anything I want to do.


My Macbook Pro, purchased in 2008, found a home in the garbage in 2009.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Apple Mac Mini M1… maybe it means that it is a mini version of the Apple Mac? With M1 processor?



To talk about mainframes and mini computers, isn’t that a bit off topic?

Well it would be but I kept seeing people referring to a Mac mini as a mini computer, which by the way still exist. I happen to have a single 4U computer that is part of a frame that would be classed as a mini computer if I had a whole frame of them. But we digress
As usual

A Mac mini even an older one with an intel processor is still a very nice self contained device that you can easily put windows or Linux or bsd on. Quite a bit of horsepower in a small box that doesn’t draw significant power, more than a pi but still small anyway

[Chipg]

Don't forget you can run Windows on Macs including the new M1 & M2 Apple Silicon Macs, best of both worlds.

[SV Tom Crean]

Originally Posted by Chipg

Don't forget you can run Windows on Macs including the new M1 & M2 Apple Silicon Macs, best of both worlds.

You need to purchase something like Parallels to run Windows on Apple silicon and even then it’s not perfect, especially when counting external devices.

[FlyingScot]

I think the MacBook Pro 13" is a lot of bang for the buck. Feels well built, nice screen, no fan. Not needing a fan prevents a common failure point in a moist salty world. The lack of touchscreen options for Mac is troubling to me. I guess they want you to buy an iPad. We have two of those. An old mini and a gen 3 air. Love them both. The RAM pricing and SSD pricing for Apple products are way overpriced.

I prefer using Windows myself. It's a comfort thing.

I use a Dell XPS13 with 4k touchscreen in a small format. Buy the extended warranty as these screens can be expensive to replace.

Our boat usage doesn't fit an installed PC/Mac. We both like to move our stuff around from the cabin, salon, cockpit.

[Christmas Beetle]

I have been an IT geek for nearly 40 years including the ever increasing Cyber Security risks and I have heard all the pros, cons and “stories” of both. I still have to support Windows at work but refuse to when it comes to personal use - I only use iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple are Unix based systems, same as Linux and Android.
And before anyone starts some tech challenges to my comments - yes I know that Microsoft is actively evolving Windows with layers of Unix.

[Chipg]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

I think the MacBook Pro 13" is a lot of bang for the buck. Feels well built, nice screen, no fan. Not needing a fan prevents a common failure point in a moist salty world. The lack of touchscreen options for Mac is troubling to me. I guess they want you to buy an iPad. We have two of those. An old mini and a gen 3 air. Love them both. The RAM pricing and SSD pricing for Apple products are way overpriced.

I prefer using Windows myself. It's a comfort thing.

I use a Dell XPS13 with 4k touchscreen in a small format. Buy the extended warranty as these screens can be expensive to replace.

Our boat usage doesn't fit an installed PC/Mac. We both like to move our stuff around from the cabin, salon, cockpit.

The new Macbook Pro's have fans, your probably thinking of the Macbook Airs that are fanless

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by Chipg

The new Macbook Pro's have fans, your probably thinking of the Macbook Airs that are fanless

You're basically right. The newest 13" has a fan. I was thinking of last years model that we own. The lack of fan is probably my favorite feature.

But thanks for pointing that out.

I don't think the MacBook Air is a good fit for boats, as it seems more fragile.

[250224]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

I don't think the MacBook Air is a good fit for boats, as it seems more fragile.

From experience I can say that they are NOT fragile. But who knows, maybe it was pure luck when they survived falls (this were pre-M1 models).

[Chipg]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

You're basically right. The newest 13" has a fan. I was thinking of last years model that we own. The lack of fan is probably my favorite feature.

But thanks for pointing that out.

I don't think the MacBook Air is a good fit for boats, as it seems more fragile.

I have both, the pro and air m1 apple silicon, the screen is 25% brighter on the pro but I use the air more becasue it's so much easier to balance on my chest when I lay down. If the Air had the same screen brightness as the pro I'd only use an air.