PC vs Mac

[daenvgiell]

I was just curious as I have a PC and my good friend has a Mac, I've never really been a part of the PC, Mac battle, and I'm still not, but I would like to know why any of you prefer one over the other.

For me I use a PC because that's what I've always used and never known much about macs, but I'm kind of intrigued by the Macs...

Your thoughts?

[ztodd]

I haven't used Macs very much, just cuz there's not as much support for them- we don't use them at work. But I hear they crash less often.

[Moksha]

The Berkley Software Distribution on which the new Apple OS is based, was a very stable Unix variant. As such, it gives excellent stability with a limited software choice run on comparatively pricey hardware.

[ADoyle90815]

I have a Mac at home, but I've got plenty of experience with PC's. One thing I do like about a Mac is that you don't have to worry about viruses as much.

[Snow]

I use both PCs and Macs,

If you want something old, unattractive, cheap, buggy, prone to viruses, resource hog, more expensive to own and operate, disposable, etc, then buy a PC with Microsoft Windows.

If you want something that makes you happy every time you use it, buy a Mac.

[Snow]

The Berkley Software Distribution on which the new Apple OS is based, was a very stable Unix variant. As such, it gives excellent stability with a limited software choice run on comparatively pricey hardware.

Limited software? What type of program do you want that you can't get on a Mac?

As for cost, sure, you can buy a piece of junk Dell box for less than a state of the art Mac but you'll wind up paying for being miserly. Total cost of ownership is cheaper on the Mac.

[Mahone]

This may be fairly lengthy, so beware.

From my experience with macs, I'd say if you want something that is fine when it actually works, go for a mac. When it -doesn't- work however, they are considerably more difficult than windows machines to fix (I'm talking software wise here). Mac OSX is notorious for giving the most useless error messages ever (two I've had in the past month are "an error has occured" and "could not log in due to an unknown error". At this point I just banged my head on the desk and cried a bit - in the case of the latter, it turned out that it was because the computer clock was two minutes out from the domain controller, there is no logical reason it couldn't have told me that).

Windows computers, while generally they don't have as much eyecandy (though that totally depends on if you are willing to spend as much on hardware as you would with a mac) do actually produce error messages that give you -something- to work with. Windows also has a go at attempting to repair itself if there is something wrong, which Mac OSX does very rarely, if ever.

You cannot do anything on a mac that you cannot do with a windows PC - saying otherwise is just apple hogwash. Are macs generally more stable than windows machines? Not in my experience, when I've seen them put under pressure. Your mileage may vary.

It is also true that there is just some software that you cannot get on mac OSX. I'm not referring to mainstream software packages, I'm referring to those software packages made by far smaller companies and organisations. If they can only afford to design their software for a single platform, 99% of them will choose windows over Mac OSX. Unless you are only going to use very popular and industry standard software, then you are taking a risk. You'll have to get used to checking that they have made a mac OSX port of their software before looking into them. Windows users usually just take this for granted.

Finally, drivers for peripherals. This isn't apples fault, however manufacturers have been known to make sub-standard drivers for OSX. While it may be officially supported, they sometimes just don't work as well (I've done plenty of hitting my head on a wall over this as well). As an example, some modern epson printer drivers which were designed purely for USB. Attempting to connect them via ethernet in any way was useless because they had omitted this feature from the drivers (the windows version of the drivers worked perfectly). This is another thing OSX users need to do - research that their hardware actually works with OSX before purchasing. Again, windows users usually take this for granted.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Mahone

[Elgama]

I am totally non tech but don't think we have either lol I use ubuntu linux through my TV, hubby seems to have no bother fixing it, we don't get virus, if we needed a piece of windows only software we just install windows on a partition.

I notice a huge difference in my frustration levels when I use Windows but being non technically minded not sure why that is:)

[annamaureen]

I hate the PC vs Mac argument, because so many Mac users get smug about how SUPER AWESOME AND AMAZING their Macs are. I have a PC laptop and it works great. My husband has a Mac which I use sometimes, and I don't see what's so wonderful about it.

[Dravin]

Limited software? What type of program do you want that you can't get on a Mac?

As for cost, sure, you can buy a piece of junk Dell box for less than a state of the art Mac but you'll wind up paying for being miserly. Total cost of ownership is cheaper on the Mac.

Games. The game selection on the Mac is fairly limited. Obviously if one doesn't game that won't bother one much.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Dravin

[Mahone]

I hate the PC vs Mac argument, because so many Mac users get smug about how SUPER AWESOME AND AMAZING their Macs are

That is precisely why I love this debate :)

[Bini]

I have a PC and I love it.

I have no desire to get a Mac at all :] My PC handles gaming beautifully, which, is what its primary use is for. I'm not very familiar with Macs but I have heard and read that they just don't compare when it comes to gaming. I've noticed there's a lot more frustrated Mac gamers than there are PC gamers.

[bytor2112]

PC vs MAC?

Well, I have to go with Prison Chaplain of course! Not really sure who MAC is...but PC always has some great posts!!

[marts1]

I have had very few troubles with my cheapo PC. Any probs I've had I was able to fix on my own for next to nothing. The gaming end of it was a no brainer.

[Snow]

This may be fairly lengthy, so beware.

From my experience with macs, I'd say if you want something that is fine when it actually works, go for a mac. When it -doesn't- work however, they are considerably more difficult than windows machines to fix (I'm talking software wise here). Mac OSX is notorious for giving the most useless error messages ever (two I've had in the past month are "an error has occured" and "could not log in due to an unknown error". At this point I just banged my head on the desk and cried a bit - in the case of the latter, it turned out that it was because the computer clock was two minutes out from the domain controller, there is no logical reason it couldn't have told me that).

I and my six person family have had, and still have and use, 7 Macs over 8 years. We are all heavy users. I've never had an error message. The only trouble I've had, other than a hard disk that died after 3 years - replaced with a better drive free - has been from Adobe Flash on websites. That's an Adobe problem.

On the other hand, our PCs here and at work need constant maintenance, virus protection, service.

You cannot do anything on a mac that you cannot do with a windows PC - saying otherwise is just apple hogwash. Are macs generally more stable than windows machines? Not in my experience, when I've seen them put under pressure. Your mileage may vary.

That's missing the point. I can search my PC for some obscure file or email or photo just like I can on my Macs. The difference is that the PC will take minutes and minutes (and do a lousy job) while my Mac can do it in 11 seconds. Now maybe Vista changed that but we didn't get Vista because it was a colossal failure and we don't have Windows 7 because we don't want to buy new PC hardware to run it. Sure you can do the same things but on both platforms but one is elegant and the other often clunky and frustrating.

It is also true that there is just some software that you cannot get on mac OSX. I'm not referring to mainstream software packages, I'm referring to those software packages made by far smaller companies and organisations. If they can only afford to design their software for a single platform, 99% of them will choose windows over Mac OSX. Unless you are only going to use very popular and industry standard software, then you are taking a risk. You'll have to get used to checking that they have made a mac OSX port of their software before looking into them. Windows users usually just take this for granted.

1. That's a huge exaggeration. The overwhelmingly vast majority of consumers run about ZERO risk. There are thousands upon thousands of software applications for the MAC. Most people will never run across a problem. Amusingly, the most significant Windows application - Microsoft Office - is better on a Mac.

2. Macs run Windows better than most or even all PCs So there is NO compatibility problem. None. PCs, on the other hand, don't run OS X.

Finally, drivers for peripherals. This isn't apples fault, however manufacturers have been known to make sub-standard drivers for OSX. While it may be officially supported, they sometimes just don't work as well (I've done plenty of hitting my head on a wall over this as well). As an example, some modern epson printer drivers which were designed purely for USB. Attempting to connect them via ethernet in any way was useless because they had omitted this feature from the drivers (the windows version of the drivers worked perfectly). This is another thing OSX users need to do - research that their hardware actually works with OSX before purchasing. Again, windows users usually take this for granted.

I've experiences that in the past with a printer. The solution is to spend an extra 45 seconds before purchasing a printer to avoid the potential problem.

[Mahone]

I and my six person family have had, and still have and use, 7 Macs over 8 years. We are all heavy users. I've never had an error message.

As a small part of my job, I am the primary network support for ~27 macs, running leopard 10.5, with a Mac OSX server controlling them. These are in almost continual usage for around 12 hours a day, five days a week. I guess I've had more room to come across the errors.

On the other hand, our PCs here and at work need constant maintenance, virus protection, service.

The ratio of windows PCs we have to macs is -very- high (PCs obviously being the higher quantity), so I do have to take that into account with my comparison, however I would say the macs cause us just as many problems as the PCs do. However, this is where I have to say your mileage may vary. It depends exactly what you want to do with them as to whether you are going to have issues. It's also unfair to compare macs at home to windows PCs at work. They are two completely different environments and two completely different setups. They need to be in the same environment to do an better comparison.

That's missing the point. I can search my PC for some obscure file or email or photo just like I can on my Macs. The difference is that the PC will take minutes and minutes (and do a lousy job) while my Mac can do it in 11 seconds. Now maybe Vista changed that but we didn't get Vista because it was a colossal failure and we don't have Windows 7 because we don't want to buy new PC hardware to run it. Sure you can do the same things but on both platforms but one is elegant and the other often clunky and frustrating.

Hmm, again your mileage may vary. I can only speak from my experience with the two. However, my statement still stands as true.

1. That's a huge exaggeration. The overwhelmingly vast majority of consumers run about ZERO risk. There are thousands upon thousands of software applications for the MAC. Most people will never run across a problem.

It's not that much of an exaggeration actually. The situation is very slowly getting better, but if the software you want to run is rather more obscure, the chances are it will only have a windows version. I do know that most educational establishments (especially primary schools) will refuse to run anything other than windows for the simple reason that most suitable software designed for that age period won't run on anything else. This will also extend to any teachers in a primary school at home. They will need to run a windows PC at home in order to use the software they need to use at work.

2. Macs run Windows better than most or even all PCs So there is NO compatibility problem. None. PCs, on the other hand, don't run OS X.

That's actually more of a compliment to windows. Mac OSX was designed to run only on it's own hardware. Windows however was designed to run on many combinations of hardware, including the hardware contained within the average mac. Besides, your statement isn't entirely true anymore. It can be done a lot more easily than before.

I've experiences that in the past with a printer. The solution is to spend an extra 45 seconds before purchasing a printer to avoid the potential problem.

That's actually my point, just reworded and made to sound a lot more simple than it actually is. The printers were there before we needed to network them, so they only have a USB port. However, ethernet connectivity is still an expected standard from these printers (and has been for years), so they can be connected to a USB to ethernet print server. It's a bit of a dirty hack, but should in theory have worked. The windows drivers had this feature inbuild, but the mac driver did not. The reason? They are sub standard drivers. No, it's not apples fault, but the only reason I can think for this occuring is that most of the manufacturers userbase are windows users, so any issues with their windows userbase are fixed first, the mac users are pushed the the back of the priority queue. That makes sense unfortunately.

Edited March 15, 2010 by Mahone

[Snow]

I have a PC and I love it.

I have no desire to get a Mac at all :] My PC handles gaming beautifully, which, is what its primary use is for. I'm not very familiar with Macs but I have heard and read that they just don't compare when it comes to gaming. I've noticed there's a lot more frustrated Mac gamers than there are PC gamers.

That's a thing of the past.

Macs now have the same, often better, hardware, than PCs - CPU, graphics board, besides which, Macs run Windows and so can run any game that a PC can run.

[orrinjelo]

I go for PC. I actually like putting my own computers together, switching out components on my own, upgrading, etc. I don't see a that very easy to do with Macs (and some of these Intel machines that have the processor soldered on the motherboard...*sigh*). I have for my desktop computer one that I built myself and is nearing a processor upgrade, so I won't have to pay too much for a new computer and it still runs like top of the line. I have Vista running on it, however drivers are always buggy on that. I also have Ubuntu Linux running on it, and it has troubles only with Flash. I have also XP 64 running on it and the only problem I have with that is the wireless card (because no one cares to make a 64-bit wireless card driver...). I could also install OS X on it with a few tweaks, but I don't have the software, don't see a need for it, and don't want to quadruple boot my system.

It bugs me that so many software developers target Windows users though. I think the prime of Microsoft's time was Windows XP, that seems stable enough. But seriously...what about Linux and OS X? These are both powerful OS's that need more attention.

Oh, and I'm dual booting XP and Ubuntu on my lappy, which I am writing from right now. Works like a charm, best laptop I ever had and it might last me a few more years. I've had it since 2007, and in some people's opinion, the model was the very first netbook. If a traditional laptop, it's an amazingly compact and lightweight one for a cheap price. For a netbook, it is the most powerful one I've seen.

[Snow]

As a small part of my job, I am the primary network support for ~27 macs, running leopard 10.5, with a Mac OSX server controlling them. These are in almost continual usage for around 12 hours a day, five days a week. I guess I've had more room to come across the errors.

Are Macs Really Cheaper To Manage Than PCs? - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership

"Macs in the enterprise aren't just cheaper to manage—they're a lot cheaper, according to a new survey released today by the Enterprise Desktop Alliance..."

The ratio of windows PCs we have to macs is -very- high (PCs obviously being the higher quantity), so I do have to take that into account with my comparison, however I would say the macs cause us just as many problems as the PCs do. However, this is where I have to say your mileage may vary. It depends exactly what you want to do with them as to whether you are going to have issues. It's also unfair to compare macs at home to windows PCs at work. They are two completely different environments and two completely different setups. They need to be in the same environment to do an better comparison.

Unfortunately I have to use a PC at work. At home I can use what I choose. However, we do have a PC at home and have always had one. Overtime everyone in the house has abandoned the PC except for gaming that were PC based.

It's not that much of an exaggeration actually. The situation is very slowly getting better, but if the software you want to run is rather more obscure, the chances are it will only have a windows version. I do know that most educational establishments (especially primary schools) will refuse to run anything other than windows for the simple reason that most suitable software designed for that age period won't run on anything else. This will also extend to any teachers in a primary school at home. They will need to run a windows PC at home in order to use the software they need to use at work.

You sound like the expert but I'm going to say that is untrue. I doubt there are Windows based programs that don't run on a Mac since Macs are one of the most capable Windows machines on the market.

That's actually more of a compliment to windows. Mac OSX was designed to run only on it's own hardware. Windows however was designed to run on many combinations of hardware, including the hardware contained within the average mac. Besides, your statement isn't entirely true anymore. It can be done a lot more easily than before.

Sure, with some hacking you could run OS X on a PC. Other than a hacker's exercise, I'd venture that no one does.

That's actually my point, just reworded and made to sound a lot more simple than it actually is. The printers were there before we needed to network them, so they only have a USB port. However, ethernet connectivity is still an expected standard from these printers (and has been for years), so they can be connected to a USB to ethernet print server. It's a bit of a dirty hack, but should in theory have worked. The windows drivers had this feature inbuild, but the mac driver did not. The reason? They are sub standard drivers. No, it's not apples fault, but the only reason I can think for this occuring is that most of the manufacturers userbase are windows users, so any issues with their windows userbase are fixed first, the mac users are pushed the the back of the priority queue. That makes sense unfortunately.

Not really an issue that for a consumer that is looking to buy a computer (the topic of this thread). Unless one can't afford a free or nearly free printer that comes with computers deals these days or is so emotionally attached their out of date Epson inkjet that they can't stand to part with it.

[Moksha]

The only time I have needed to reboot my homemade PC running XP SP3 in the last several years was due to the game Fallout 3. Love that game (never did run across the Washington DC Temple - unless that was the building the runaway slaves hung out at).

BTW, Fallout - Las Vegas comes out this year, and I am hoping that Hilldale and Colorado City will be listed as settlements on the fringe of the map. They are on the fringe of most things.

[Moksha]

Sure, with some hacking you could run OS X on a PC. Other than a hacker's exercise, I'd venture that no one does.

Besides the exercise, Linux has more software available than FreeBSD or OSX.

Edit: Still, the Apple OSX does have Microsoft Office and Linux does not.

Edited March 15, 2010 by Moksha
added last line

[Mahone]

You sound like the expert but I'm going to say that is untrue. I doubt there are Windows based programs that don't run on a Mac since Macs are one of the most capable Windows machines on the market.

I do agree that more modern mac hardware runs windows extremely well. That is assuming the OP wishes to do this. All of my concerns relate to OSX itself, not the hardware.

Not really an issue that for a consumer that is looking to buy a computer (the topic of this thread). Unless one can't afford a free or nearly free printer that comes with computers deals these days or is so emotionally attached their out of date Epson inkjet that they can't stand to part with it.

Printers with an ethernet port are still surprisingly expensive in comparison to USB only printers. Yet with the vast increase in popularity of home networks over the past 10 years that came with increased internet speeds, more and more people wish to network their printer as well, to save having to share it from the nearest computer and having to leave that computer switched on. To save the expense of getting a network ready printer, a lot of people opt to get a cheap USB to ethernet printer server. I've never known these not to work on windows. I actually did manage to get it to work with OSX, by using a third party open source driver that someone made for that model of printer. However, this third party driver didn't include some of the features we required, that were in the original driver - so that was a no go . It was not an option to replace it in my case.

[Guest mysticmorini]

I'm a mac guy all the way. especially with newer macs, macs are just as compatible as most pc's, macs do what they are supposed to do and they do it well. heck they even run windows better than any pc i've ever used. on the flip side you do pay for its benefits but you won't buy a pc that does what it does for the same price.

[Bini]

That's a thing of the past.

Macs now have the same, often better, hardware, than PCs - CPU, graphics board, besides which, Macs run Windows and so can run any game that a PC can run.

Macs may be able to run any game that a PC can but they're not recommended gaming rigs.

[Snow]

Macs may be able to run any game that a PC can but they're not recommended gaming rigs.

Recommended by whom - the guy that wants to sell you a PC?

What makes a good gaming machine is specs and Macs have as good as specs as anyone and usually cheaper on the same or comparable set of specs.