Mac vs PC

In this corner wearing white trunks—the kid from Silicon Valley, Mac! And in this corner, the kingpin of the Puget Sound, PC!

The debate has raged on for decades. Fans, consumers and users all loyal to their computing preference, or simply their brand, have gone back and forth exchanging nerdy quips, pros and cons.

But at the end of the day, what really matters is what you are comfortable with for your own personal taste. If you like PCs, use them. However, it won’t stop the fact that Macs are, by far, the superior computer.

Now, I’m just a mere computer user, like many of you. I have had to use both PCs and Macs for work, school and play. I have run through Windows, OS X and Linux only to settle on Mac after my many trials with computers.

I’m a big fan of the real-life commercials conveying tales of buying a PC. “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person,” one PC consumer says. In the end they find their PC and are handed all the cash they saved—which is good, because they are going to need that money.

They will need it for all the antivirus services required for a PC. Without such a service, one little bug will take down the computer. But even if it doesn’t get a virus, it will still need to get fixed eventually for one thing or another—or at least given a “tune-up” of sorts when it ultimately gets so bogged down with miscellaneous clutter that it is about as quick as molasses in winter.

Macs just work well and don’t get viruses (knock on wood).

“I really think it’s how easy they are out of the box,” said Liz Miller, freelance user experience designer. “They’re just lovely. The user experience from the operating system is just intuitive.”

Miller has used a variety of computers in her field, and while at one point she could take or leave either one, she now feels that Apple has upped their game in recent years. For her profession, she wouldn’t use anything else.

“Before they had multithreading, Photoshop would crash and your entire machine would crash, unlike PCs,” Miller said. “But ever since OS X, and they rebuilt the operating system from the ground up, now the multithreading works great and it’s just faster.”

People will rail against Apple for their proprietary greed, their higher price tag and their stores with the annoying up-selling sales clerks who offer a thousand hellos upon entering the store. Greg Dewar, columnist for the Daily Emerald, commented on this last week in his article “Apple’s omnipresence infuriating.”

Dewar may call Mac fans a “cult”—I call them Mac douches—and he may point out that they cost more—and he’s not wrong. Macs do cost more, and let’s face it, there are Mac fans out there that will buy anything Apple puts out.

However, such minor grievances are just that—minor. While initially Macs may be more expensive than a PC, this is only an illusion.

“They last longer,” Miller said. “My first Mac I had for six years and my second one for five—and I’m still using it even though I’m on my third.”

This is one significant point as to why Macs come out ahead. They make things simple for their users. Frankly speaking, not everyone is a genius with computers—not everyone navigates through a computer well. For the everyday Joe Schmoe user, Macs address this.

“The elegant simplicity of Mac versus Windows for home users is striking,” said Travis Luckey, IT specialist. “It compelled me to replace my Windows PCs with Macs at home back in 2007, and it was an easy and worthwhile transition for me and my wife at the time.”

But Luckey further notes that both Windows and OS X have been closing the gap on each other for some time now, with Windows 7 taking considerable steps. For example, though Windows is his preferred business platform, Mac has been catching up in business applications. In the meantime, Windows is coming up to speed on graphic design operations—an area that he feels Macs have been relegated to in the past.

Luckey’s observations on how both systems are closing the gaps are fair. But what many don’t consider is that while Apple still plays in the stadium of computers, they have also been playing in other leagues altogether. Apple dropped the “computers” portion of its company title years ago, as it felt the title was limiting. What Apple provides with the Mac is a portion of a bigger system that can encompass one’s life, with the ultimate goal of providing pleasure and ease. From music, movies, books and more, to managing your daily personal and business life and to communication, Apple has charted new territory.

Until someone else comes along to play in that league, Apple will remain champion. Someone such as Google, perhaps, with many innovations such as its Android operating system—ah, but that is another discussion altogether. ?