Mac or PC?

[Zorth]

PCs can't run OS X. I believe that speaks for itself.

Yea, Why would anybody want to run OS X..?
PC is clearly the winner here.

 

[Fraxinus]

I've always used PCs growing up, and I'm a pretty stubborn person to changes, so I think I'd still prefer them over a Mac if I ever were to get one. I just like what I'm used to, and that is why I am still using Windows XP. Windows XP wasn't too dramatic a change from Windows 95 which was on the old machine that was considered our family computer before Huey--and then my dad gave Huey to me and I personified him as the lovable computer he is now... /history lesson

No, but I was always afraid to try out a Mac since the probability that I wouldn't like it just because of the way I am is pretty high. And since they are fairly overpriced, I'd feel bad for spending so much money on something that I ended up not liking. Though, I detect that my dad may have tried to get me a Mac for Christmas this year, so I'm not sure how I feel about that. I probably should try to be more open-minded, but still... I'd rather go out and select a new computer on my own. But, if my dad tries to make me get rid of Huey, I'll thwack him.

But as of right now--and as I have always been up to this point--I'm a PC person. Though if I upgraded to Windows Vista, 7 or 8, I probably wouldn't be as much a PC anymore. I'm not too fond of how user-friendly everything is. ...And how Huey-unfriendly everything would be, ha. I'm not ashamed of it, because I love my Huey. <3

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

I have a problem with Apple as a company for many reasons, among them their anti-competitive nature. Besides not liking their software in general (and its asinine restrictions) I dislike how they, as a company, tend to acquire patents on really obvious things (design patents, etc.), often things they did not even come up with themselves, but that were in public domain or similar, and then use that to try and stop other companies from making their own products in a similar class.

In general I do not like Apple's stance on a lot of things, both regarding software, and hardware, and patents. I also don't really care for OS X either, even beyond the above reasons, I just don't favor it. As far as UI goes, I think some things about it are nice, but overall do not care for it.

Macs can run Windows 7; PCs can't run OS X. I believe that speaks for itself.

Pretty sure this invalidates that argument.

 

[Kazumi]

I think Macs are generally much better than PCs, especially for what I use a computer for. All I really use mine for is the internet and iTunes; and of course, iTunes runs infinitely better on a Mac than it does on a PC. I don't do PC gaming because I think it's pretty stupid, so no use for that option. Mac computers have much faster loading times, as well. They are a lot more expensive, and I agree they're a bit overpriced, but you pay for quality, and Macs are higher quality than PCs in nearly every aspect. And besides, PCs have more options? I've heard that many times, but I've never seen it proven. Macs can run Windows 7; PCs can't run OS X. I believe that speaks for itself.

I couldn't disagree more with the post, and I will go into the reasons why in a moment. Firstly I would like to clear up that no, I am not a blind "Apple Hater", and yes I can and do appreciate Apple's products including the Mac. I myself have an iPhone 4S because I believe that the iPhone is currently the best smartphone on the market (though the Galaxy Note II is sexy looking), and if I had a bajillion thousand hundred million space dollars to blow, I would probably get a Macbook because they are quite nice laptops. Additionally, OS X has very practical applications in the world of 3D Modelling, Video Editing, and Audio Production, and I definitely respect its uses there. However, I do not believe that Macs are inherently better than PCs, especially not for the reasons that have been thus far listed in this thread.

First and foremost is the price and customizability factors. When purchasing a Mac you're paying a premium price, but you're not paying for premium hardware. The hardware that is found in your average Mac computer is generally fairly out-dated, especially for the price that is paid. A $2000 dollar Mac often has hardware that can be purchased for ~$800 or less if not purchased from Apple. I can understand the mark-up for the brand and the fact that everything is put into a nice pretty looking case, but a mark-up such is this is completely astounding, and is frankly taking advantage of unsuspecting consumers.

Further more, once you've purchased that multi-thousand dollar hardware, your options for updating it in the future are severely limited. With your average Mac computer you can update what? The RAM? The HDD? Maybe the GPU? Even then, that's only within Apple's very specific hardware limitations, which 99% of the time can only be purchased through an Apple vendor. Even if you do opt for this option of upgrading these few select parts, purchasing them costs and astronomical amount more than similar or better components for PCs. Now if you buy yourself a PC you have many more options. Even if you (foolishly) decide to purchase a prebuilt PC rather then construct one yourself, you still, generally speaking, have the option of upgrading or changing every single component of the machine based on your needs, budget, and desires. This gives you much more leeway in how you can use your machine, gives you much more freedom of choice, and assures that your machine will potentially never become out-dated.

Another aspect of customizability that must be considered is the Operating System. With a Mac you're given OS X, which I'll admit is a fairly well designed Unix-based OS, however what you can change about it is very limited. Sure, you can install Windows or a Linux-based OS on your Mac, but without those proprietary Apple drivers you may be severely limited in what you can accomplish. Additionally, due to Apple's ideology of an "it just works" operating system, actually installing a new OS is made more difficult due to the "streamlined" process. On the other side of things there is the actual customization that can be done with the OS. On Windows, one may install custom themes, add or remove taskbars, and customize many components of the operating system not only to be more functional to the user, but also more appealing. On OS X, the amount of customization that can be done is severely limited by Apple, even though it is built with the same core architecture as popular Linux distributions that may be customized to incredible extents.

Yet another issue that I have with Apple, and by proxy Macs, is a rather nit-picky one, but an issue none the less. Apple is known for being a very restrictive company that likes to have control over the software and hardware that the user has available to them, and to certain extents even wants to have control over the consumer themselves. This may seem like a radical and baseless opinion, but from looking at other aspects of Apple that I've pointed out, we can see that there is definitely truth to this. Everything from pre-configured and upgradable, a lack of customization options, and heavy restrictions on where and which software can be purchased, we see that Apple wants to have control over everything related to their product and their consumers. Even looking towards their advertising campaigns and their userbase, we can see that Apple has a very interesting effect.

Many people will blindly defend Apple, even if they don't really know what they're talking about. They may cite reasons such as "faster", "better designed", or "virus-free", but really these are all just elaborate marketing schemes. Claiming that a Mac is any faster than a PC running Windows or a Linux-based OS simply on the ground that it is a Mac is a completely absurd and baseless claim. One of the reasons that OS X runs well is because the hardware and driver set-up for a Mac is configured to run exclusively with whatever version of OS X it was packaged with. While their are clear benefits to this as well as many negatives that I've already pointed out, the fact of the matter is that similar or better hardware (which, I may add, could be purchased at much lower prices) that is running Windows or a Linux OS can definitely be faster than a Mac running OS X. It all depends on the user's hardware and software configuration, and the same goes for Apple's Macs. This is definitely a claim that I find hilarious.

This concept of Macs being faster than PCs is just one example of Apples controversial marketing tactics. Just look at any of their adds from the past several years. They use many buzzwords such as "retina display" or claiming that they are bringing new innovation to the market and pushing the envelope. The truth behind this is that Apple is a marketing company, and marketing is what they do best. One of the primary reasons behind their success is their marketing tactics. Using these buzzwords and implanting these concepts of "innovation" in the consumer, they convince them that Apple products are in fact better than any of the competitors, sometimes even for made-up reasons. Retina Display is just a term that Apple made up for an IPS Panel, which can be purchased in the form of monitors and televisions for very reasonable prices and have been available for quite a while. Instead, the Retina Display is cited as a reason why Apple is allowed to bloat their prices far above their competitors, and why Apple is superior.

Hopefully you've started to understand why it's difficult for someone who is well versed in technology to trust a company such as Apple. For one they limit the user greatly in ways that I have outlined as well as using marketing tactics that many would consider very sketchy, and cause what is commonly known as blind consumerism. In a conclusion of sorts I would like to outline quickly why I prefer using PCs running Windows or a Linux OS over a Mac running OS X.

TL;DR:

PCs give the user many more options for customization, both in being able to choose and upgrade your own hardware as well as being able to edit the look and functionality of your OS and use a variety of different software. Macs however, restrict the user to over-priced hardware that cannot be easily selected or upgraded, as well as using a restrictive operating system where only software pre-approved by Apple may be used. Further more, Apple employs controversial marketing tactics such as buzzwords that I personally do not approve of, and I as well as many others cannot trust Apple as a company that values and respects the freedoms of their consumers. I hope that you've come to understand my stance on this subject and why I prefer PCs over Macs, even if you just read this paragraph.

Also, as a side-note I couldn't disagree more with HoT's bit about PC gaming being stupid, but this isn't the outlet for arguing that.

 

[Zorth]

I couldn't disagree more with the post, and I will go into the reasons why in a moment. Firstly I would like to clear up that no, I am not a blind "Apple Hater", and yes I can and do appreciate Apple's products including the Mac. I myself have an iPhone 4S because I believe that the iPhone is currently the best smartphone on the market (though the Galaxy Note II is sexy looking), and if I had a bajillion thousand hundred million space dollars to blow, I would probably get a Macbook because they are quite nice laptops. Additionally, OS X has very practical applications in the world of 3D Modelling, Video Editing, and Audio Production, and I definitely respect its uses there. However, I do not believe that Macs are inherently better than PCs, especially not for the reasons that have been thus far listed in this thread.

First and foremost is the price and customizability factors. When purchasing a Mac you're paying a premium price, but you're not paying for premium hardware. The hardware that is found in your average Mac computer is generally fairly out-dated, especially for the price that is paid. A $2000 dollar Mac often has hardware that can be purchased for ~$800 or less if not purchased from Apple. I can understand the mark-up for the brand and the fact that everything is put into a nice pretty looking case, but a mark-up such is this is completely astounding, and is frankly taking advantage of unsuspecting consumers.

Further more, once you've purchased that multi-thousand dollar hardware, your options for updating it in the future are severely limited. With your average Mac computer you can update what? The RAM? The HDD? Maybe the GPU? Even then, that's only within Apple's very specific hardware limitations, which 99% of the time can only be purchased through an Apple vendor. Even if you do opt for this option of upgrading these few select parts, purchasing them costs and astronomical amount more than similar or better components for PCs. Now if you buy yourself a PC you have many more options. Even if you (foolishly) decide to purchase a prebuilt PC rather then construct one yourself, you still, generally speaking, have the option of upgrading or changing every single component of the machine based on your needs, budget, and desires. This gives you much more leeway in how you can use your machine, gives you much more freedom of choice, and assures that your machine will potentially never become out-dated.

Another aspect of customizability that must be considered is the Operating System. With a Mac you're given OS X, which I'll admit is a fairly well designed Unix-based OS, however what you can change about it is very limited. Sure, you can install Windows or a Linux-based OS on your Mac, but without those proprietary Apple drivers you may be severely limited in what you can accomplish. Additionally, due to Apple's ideology of an "it just works" operating system, actually installing a new OS is made more difficult due to the "streamlined" process. On the other side of things there is the actual customization that can be done with the OS. On Windows, one may install custom themes, add or remove taskbars, and customize many components of the operating system not only to be more functional to the user, but also more appealing. On OS X, the amount of customization that can be done is severely limited by Apple, even though it is built with the same core architecture as popular Linux distributions that may be customized to incredible extents.

Yet another issue that I have with Apple, and by proxy Macs, is a rather nit-picky one, but an issue none the less. Apple is known for being a very restrictive company that likes to have control over the software and hardware that the user has available to them, and to certain extents even wants to have control over the consumer themselves. This may seem like a radical and baseless opinion, but from looking at other aspects of Apple that I've pointed out, we can see that there is definitely truth to this. Everything from pre-configured and upgradable, a lack of customization options, and heavy restrictions on where and which software can be purchased, we see that Apple wants to have control over everything related to their product and their consumers. Even looking towards their advertising campaigns and their userbase, we can see that Apple has a very interesting effect.

Many people will blindly defend Apple, even if they don't really know what they're talking about. They may cite reasons such as "faster", "better designed", or "virus-free", but really these are all just elaborate marketing schemes. Claiming that a Mac is any faster than a PC running Windows or a Linux-based OS simply on the ground that it is a Mac is a completely absurd and baseless claim. One of the reasons that OS X runs well is because the hardware and driver set-up for a Mac is configured to run exclusively with whatever version of OS X it was packaged with. While their are clear benefits to this as well as many negatives that I've already pointed out, the fact of the matter is that similar or better hardware (which, I may add, could be purchased at much lower prices) that is running Windows or a Linux OS can definitely be faster than a Mac running OS X. It all depends on the user's hardware and software configuration, and the same goes for Apple's Macs. This is definitely a claim that I find hilarious.

This concept of Macs being faster than PCs is just one example of Apples controversial marketing tactics. Just look at any of their adds from the past several years. They use many buzzwords such as "retina display" or claiming that they are bringing new innovation to the market and pushing the envelope. The truth behind this is that Apple is a marketing company, and marketing is what they do best. One of the primary reasons behind their success is their marketing tactics. Using these buzzwords and implanting these concepts of "innovation" in the consumer, they convince them that Apple products are in fact better than any of the competitors, sometimes even for made-up reasons. Retina Display is just a term that Apple made up for an IPS Panel, which can be purchased in the form of monitors and televisions for very reasonable prices and have been available for quite a while. Instead, the Retina Display is cited as a reason why Apple is allowed to bloat their prices far above their competitors, and why Apple is superior.

Hopefully you've started to understand why it's difficult for someone who is well versed in technology to trust a company such as Apple. For one they limit the user greatly in ways that I have outlined as well as using marketing tactics that many would consider very sketchy, and cause what is commonly known as blind consumerism. In a conclusion of sorts I would like to outline quickly why I prefer using PCs running Windows or a Linux OS over a Mac running OS X.

TL;DR:

PCs give the user many more options for customization, both in being able to choose and upgrade your own hardware as well as being able to edit the look and functionality of your OS and use a variety of different software. Macs however, restrict the user to over-priced hardware that cannot be easily selected or upgraded, as well as using a restrictive operating system where only software pre-approved by Apple may be used. Further more, Apple employs controversial marketing tactics such as buzzwords that I personally do not approve of, and I as well as many others cannot trust Apple as a company that values and respects the freedoms of their consumers. I hope that you've come to understand my stance on this subject and why I prefer PCs over Macs, even if you just read this paragraph.

Also, as a side-note I couldn't disagree more with HoT's bit about PC gaming being stupid, but this isn't the outlet for arguing that.

Hah, This post made my day. I couldn't agree more and you basically wrote down what I was thinking in a better way with even better arguments

 

[Krazy4Krash]

I whole-heartedly prefer the PC. I do frequently use Macs for creating videos at school, but the navigation of a PC is that I've always preferred. Aint gonna change.

 

[Omega Fury]

I wish i had a Mac because i know more stuff about it. PC is stupid. You could easily get it slow in a few months no matter what you do.

 

[OcarinaofLink]

I always had PCs, so i say PC. The only thing that annoys me is that they tend to get slower really quick, and the screen freezing is really irritating.
I've never tried Mac, is it really different from pc? I've been told it's pretty good (but expensive)

 

[Lamphobic]

Windows. I'd probably like mac if I'd worked with it more but because I don't I find it annoying and unresponsive to what I usually do.

 

[Norm]

Two words: Linux, b!tch. but if I have to choose between those two only, I'd pick OS X. It's essentially overpriced BSD, anyways.

 

[Not Take Mirror]

PC, It's what I grew up using and what I'm used to.

 

[Kazumi]

Two words: Linux, b!tch. but if I have to choose between those two only, I'd pick OS X. It's essentially overpriced BSD, anyways.

I'd like to point out that a computer using a Linux-based OS is still a PC. A computer doesn't need to be running Windows to be called a PC. Though I suppose, a Mac running OS X could be called a PC as well.

 

[Austin]

I'd like to point out that a computer using a Linux-based OS is still a PC. A computer doesn't need to be running Windows to be called a PC. Though I suppose, a Mac running OS X could be called a PC as well.

PC just means Personal Computer. Unless at some point when I wasn't looking Macs evolved into some sort of community-owned terminal for everyone to use regardless of whether the buyer desires it, they are PCs as well. The "Mac or PC" thing was probably created by Apple's marketing department to make it seem more fancy. You're not just getting a PC, you're getting a Mac!

 

[Emma]

PC just means Personal Computer. Unless at some point when I wasn't looking Macs evolved into some sort of community-owned terminal for everyone to use regardless of whether the buyer desires it, they are PCs as well. The "Mac or PC" thing was probably created by Apple's marketing department to make it seem more fancy. You're not just getting a PC, you're getting a Mac!

Well that's what Apple does with everything. With a non-Apple product, people call it by the name of the device type (smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.), but with Apple products, it's all by the product line names (iPod, iPad, Macbook, etc.). So it's hardly surprising.

 

[Chameleon]

It's simple, I prefer Mac for artistical purposes. You can work faster, at least I know I do. I grew up using Mac as well so... Anytime I have to use a PC I end up having a nervous breakdown.