PC vs Mac
By Dominic A
To start off...
Before I begin this "essay", I would like to say I'm not choosing one over the other. Thats for you to decide. I'm just providing the pros and cons of each operating system/computer. I personally, I am a PC, but what you are is your choice. Don't forget to leave your opinions in the comments below!
Main Points
To start off, I would like to say that PC offers more customization, while Mac offers ease. If your not as tech savvy, Mac might be the way to go. Not to say that PC isn't easy, just Mac is easier. However, if you are very technologically intelligent, PC is the way to go. It provides third-party applications that mac just cant run. Thats pretty much why I run PC. The programs I need to run for my projects (video game creation, 3D modeling, animation) I just cant run on Mac! Plus, I was literally raised with PC (my dad is a computer fan, as well), so I'm just more familiar with the layout. But, if your just getting a computer for work, such as creating word documents, power points, and other things alike that, you could pretty much go either way. But now on to the main points of both Mac and PC.
PC pros:
PC provides more customization than Mac will ever have. This allows users to hand pick the items and build a computer with whatever parts they please. But, you don't always have to hand build your PC's (obviously). They also come preset, and a lot of preset computers are really good! Another pro of the PC is that its more widely used. Third party programs that run on PC, a lot of times don't run on Mac. This is because the coding is specifically made for PC. So basically, if your running mac, and the program your trying to get isn't branded with "Mac OS X", your pretty much screwed. Another pro that PC provides is being able to customize not only your computer, but your monitors. With Mac you plug in your keyboard and your power and your mouse and thats it. But with PC, you could decide if you want a VGA, DVI, or HDMI monitor, you could decide if its LED back lit, flat screen or not. You could also set up monitors on PC with eyefinity and other things alike. Basically just in general, PC has more customization.
Mac pros:
To be honest, Mac doesn't have very many pros. You cant run any graphic demanding games, considering that, 3D modeling would be a nightmare. If you delete something, there is absolutely no recovery, whatsoever. But those are cons. I'll save those for later (haha off track). Heres one pretty good pro: Macintosh coding is really, REALLY tight, so crashes will almost never happen. Also, if your not tech savvy with hardware, everything you need is preset. And, I will be honest, Macs look pretty good. But any tricked out PC can and will look better. Mac kinda simplified everything. Like rather than right-clicking, choosing your folder, saving, and onwards, on Mac, you drag and drop the image to your desktop. But then, if you want it in a specific folder, you have to open the finder, go into the folder, and drag and drop it there, so I guess the Mac and PC are kinda equal on that I guess, but Mac is more drag-and-droppy (pretty much).
PC cons:
Not much. PC is great on all ends, or, at least thats how I see it. PC is built for performance, and if you pay the right price, they could be built for both looks and performance. There is one con that sticks out though. If you're PC crashes, your done. I mean, it's not like your computer is fried or anything, you can still re-install Windows and start over, but you still lost all your files. But there are ways around that. You could take your hard drive to a specialist, and they will retrieve the binary off the hard drive for you and put it on a DVD, or a few, depending on how much info you had. So not all hope is lost, when you computer crashes. As a second con, I can only think of one. When your new to computing, going into all the technical stuff can be really intimidating at first. Not everything is labeled with a really nice look. When coding with the Command Prompt (considering you don't use another program for coding) it's a little bit rough around the edges, giving the feel that if you mess up, your finished. But that's not the case nine out of ten times.
Mac cons:
I guess I could think of a lot of things to write here. I'll just list all of the ones that I think of as I'm writing this: Virtually NO customization, pretty much everything is based on looks, anything you look has a casual appearance to it which can be annoying when your trying to write a professional letter or something of the sort, when you get the "spinning load wheel of death", your screwed, NOTHING can be maximized (kinda annoying, cause I like things maximized), I'm not a 100% on this one, but I think only Mac keyboards and mice are compatible with Mac, (here's a big one) wanna code something? Good luck. And lastly, EVERYTHING revolves around the stupid mac task bar at the top of the screen. It's horrible. I hate it. There are plenty more, but I'd rather spare you the thousands of words I'd have to write to get all of it out.
What's better?
You choose. Try out both before you make a decision, though. I really prefer PC over Mac, but you should talk to about it in person with a PC person and Mac person. I'm sure both will be bi-est, but you'll hear both sides of the stories so it'll be alright!
That's it! Sorry that the quality of this hub is a little bit lame, but I'm not feeling to formal right now (hah). Don't forget to rate and comment and have a awesome day!
Comments
This helped me make a decision on the next computer I purchase. Thanks for Useful and up 1 info RJ
@Reynold Jay: glad I could help!
@Pente: I haven't really been in contact with Mac enough to learn about how they act when they crash or how they are after being refurbished. But I agree with what you have said about apple. I think that the only reason that apple computers are so famous is the iPod. I'm not going to lie, I love the iPod, but since the iPod is so famous, people remember it when they decide to buy their first computer, and it kind of shifts their opinions to one side. That's what I've gotten from it, at least.
For me, Apple is famous for its Apple II computer. I wrote a chess program in 6502 code back in 1978-1979. It was my first serious programming project. Back then Apple's main appeal was to the nerd crowd. Things have really changed since then.
thats really cool! The only codes I've every gotten really into is every day stuff like flash action scripting, UDK code, and HTML. The stuff I do is more artsy (3D modeling, animation, Photoshop, etc.). But yeah, Mac has changed a lot. Pretty lame if you ask me.
Pros to macs would be: very secure system which equals to way less viruses. Also if you are looking for a long term computer than Mac is the one because it doesn't die out after a few years (like pc). Also you get alot of out of the box features (imovie, garageband,iphoto) that if you wanted to buy for PC would easily cost $300-$500 dollars. Also you said that once you delete something from a mac it is gone forever, well this is not true. Their Time Machine program backs up all your files ever once and a while so you will have a file and how it looked in days, weeks and months passed!
Also cons for PC: Lots of viruses, also because the software is licensed to other companies for use rather than closed like mac, you will find so many computers not able to function well with the OS, resulting in freezing and or crashing of lower model PC's which is rather annoying.
Overall This was an interesting hub, but with alot of bias towards PC. Comming from a Mac and PC user and lover of them both, I have to say ease of use, functionality and reliability is with a mac, but customization, more programs are of course with PC.
Clear out the bias and this would be a good hub!
Pente 15 months ago
As the previous owner of a computer store, I can say that Apple computers depreciate very rapidly. A five year old refurbished PC will still be worth a couple hundred dollars, while a five year old Apple will never pull in more than about $25-30. This would seem to be a good thing though, if you are looking for a low cost used computer. What you will discover is that very few people will be able to help you out with technical problems.
Apple computers rarely require work, but when they do, they are much more difficult and expensive to repair. It is usually cheaper to just buy a new computer.
When I was young I loved Apple Computer and strongly rooted for them. As I have aged though, I now associate Apple products with technically illiterate yuppies with way to much money.