Sunday, April 6, 2008

PC's or Mac

I'm curious, which is preferable and why Mac's or PC's. Mac's seem to be epidemic in their recent growth and supposed "user friendliness" while PC's are established in the business world, economical, and powerful. I use PC and my friends who study computer science (PC users) say Mac's are a joke and the real debate is between PC and Linux. I know people who have "made the switch" seem to be very happy with Mac's so I want to know why exactly. Points to consider: price (I've heard PC's are MUCH more economical than overpriced Mac's), performance, user-friendliness (for computer guru's as well as the average Joe), Power, Repair (I've also heard Mac's are good until you have a poblem and then instead of being able to fix it yourself you have to spend big bucks to send it in to Mac to get fixed), and anything else you guys can think of.

Please respond with some input, I'm developing an opinion in this matter and need more sides of the story before I can put everything together. Thanks!

3 comments:

Josh said...

This debate has nothing to do with "facts" as it does with opinions. If you try to prove your point with numbers then the other group will just come back with some other lame number. My personal experience has taken me to an understanding of both sides. Most CS guys do in fact consider Mac a joke/lame, but I don't blame them because PCs are very powerful and economical. Mac depends on a culture more than a product. Mac wants you to have an attitude of creativity and growth while they charge you a large amount of money for inferior specs. I build PCs and love my desktop the way it is. Spec wise it exceeds the power of the new Imac, but it cost 1000 dollars less! Sure its a silver box with different parts in every motherboard slot, but I have more bang for my buck. I do however have an affinity for Macbooks and Macbook Pros. I love these laptops and think they are better than comparable PC laptops. That is just my opinion based on years of computer use. PC=Better Desktop, Mac=Better Laptop.... my opinion changes as technology changes.

darren said...

i'm no computer guru, but i did make the pc to mac switch. the operating system on mac made a lot more sense to me, seemed more accessible (interesting that microsoft's new windows takes a lot of its new gadgets straight from the mac playbook). there's the virus factor as well...from what i understand, since mac's are less popular than pcs, there are very few viruses written for macs, which means security is a lot easier. i have 0 security software on my macbook and nearly a year later haven't had any issues. also, upkeep seems easier...mac sends almost weekly updates and patches and such to fix problems that come up, so most problems are prevented. no crazy error messages or such here. other small details...i like the macbook's keyboard with the separated keys, makes typing more accurate for me. Also mac's magnetic power cord keeps them from getting violently ripped out.

those are the factual reasons, although i do think there' s a bit of a cult following phenomena that may have slanted my decision-making...oh well, it's still far better than my old dell that crashed every other week.

K. W. Broad said...

I think like Darren said, the main difference is with operating systems. The Mac OS tends to be a lot more stable and secure, wheras Windows is 'designed' to decompose over time, either requiring you to reinstall everything or get the newest edition. Mac also has a number of programs exclusive to it that are great for things like sound engineering or video editing, where PCs are great for gaming and compiling. The rest is simply politics. At this point you don't even have to buy a Mac though. You can just build one now with twice the specs for only $500 from what I understand.