Guillotine

After reading a rather heated debate on PCs Vs Mac I feel I must write my own opinions. This is a view from my perspective since I have used both platforms regularly throughout my life. I built my first PC when I was 19 out of parts I ordered out of Computer Shopper magazine (are they still even around?), then used Macs during my college years, switching back to PCs when I worked in computer sales, back to a Mac when I got out of retail, and now on a PC again. One thing I can’t stand is people who will blindly make accusations about one platform or the other when they obviously haven’t used both, and thus usually have no clue of what they are talking about.

So let’s find out the truth after the jump…

So who’s right??? Which platform is better??? Let’s see.

Let’s first look at Apple. A lot of people criticize Macs over their price. The Apple supporters will cry out that you are paying for a premium product, so you should expect to pay more. Okay… What makes it premium? The PC supporters are quick to point out that Macs aren’t upgradeable. This is true, but now you get to discover why the Mac is a Premium product… It’s because unless you got a defective unit you can expect to get 4-6 years of use out of it before the need to upgrade really occurs. My eMac was still handling all the new software after 6 years of use when the hardware finally died. So knowing this do Macs really need all the upgrades??? No… They just need you to buy a new Mac in a few years.

Now let’s talk about OS X. Is it better than Windows??? Yes and no… The truth is that OS X is more stable, and this is simply due to the fact that it’s being operated on Mac hardware, so all the variables are for the most part removed whereas Windows needs to run on systems made by 100 different manufacturers who use parts From God knows how many parts manufacturers. It would be impossible to cover every single piece of equipment in every possible configuration to completely guarantee 100% compatibility. As far as functionality… They are both about the same… A graphic interface is a graphic interface. Once you get used to either it works about the same. Mac gets a slight advantage on the OS issue because of the compatibility issues I mentioned… The only real problems Macs tend to run into are software since Apple really has no more control over third party software than Windows, and 9 out of 10 times a Mac can recover from a software error without requiring a reboot. So is OS X better??? That’s hard to say… I think both platforms do their job to the best of their abilities, so neither has very much advantage over the other in the end.

I can say one thing about operating systems… Either one you use whether it’s Microsoft or Apple they both have you by the short curlies. Remember all those folks griping about having to upgrade to Windows Vista last year??? Or for that matter having to Upgrade Windows every couple of years… Makes Mac look like a better bet huh??? Hmmm… Not if you were a Mac user a couple years back. While it was much quieter than the Vista publicity Mac users who were using the OS X Jaguar discovered that they were no longer receiving updates to their software because in order to maintain full functionality you had to upgrade to OS X Tiger (I’m actually looking at my Tiger upgrade box from back then right now)… Truth simply is that no matter which platform you use you are going to have to upgrade every few years or run the risk of having compatibility issues with new software. So on that front neither side is any better.

Another note on expandability… Macs and PCs both have USB ports, and these days 99% of upgrades are USB peripherals, so really there is no upgrade-ability issue with either. Matter of fact when my eMac died about a year and a half ago I took all the USB upgrades I had on the Mac, and moved them over to the PC. So saying one is better than the other in that sense these days is a crock.

Now we will talk about PC hardware… The biggest advantage with a PC seems to be cost and that word I used above… Upgrade-ability… Which I’m about to completely blow out of the water. So a PC costs $500, and runs every bit as well as a Mac. You saved quite a bit of money there right??? Well This is where the Mac’s Premium label comes into play. Chances are you will have to perform regular upgrades on your PC in order to keep up with software. I’m willing to bet if you added up all the things you installed on your PC in the end you have paid as much as you would have for a Mac. One PC user blatantly announced that his next PC upgrade would probably cost $500, and would include a new video card and CPU. I hate to tell this fellow, but I’d like to see him update when he actually does this “upgrade” because the fact is that Intel and AMD typically change CPU packages every two years. This fellow doesn’t realize it yet, but if his PC is over a month old I’d give it a 99% chance that his CPU uses the LGA 778 pin socket, and Intel has just released the Core i7 which uses the LGA 1336 pin socket. This means that anyone with a 778 based processor in their current system is limited to the Core Duo Quad as your highest possible upgrade. To go to Core i7 you will need a new motherboard, CPU, and probably new memory. If you are thinking AMD… Well they typically follow Intel soon after with an almost identical pin package. So in essence in order to keep up on a PC you will most likely have to completely swap out the internals at some point to get the same 6 year lifespan as the typical Mac gets. So much for upgrade-ability huh?

So which one is better??? The honest truth??? Neither. Regardless of which platform you choose you are going to spend about the same amount of money. The PC while seeming cheaper will end up costing about the same as a Mac during the same lifespan, so it all boils down to personal preference. People just need to realize that a computer is not a simple appliance… It is an ongoing investment, and once you decide to enter this world you are giving your money to one company or the other on a regular basis or you get left behind. What you should really consider is that the guy on the different system is giving up his money in equal amounts as you to keep up, and in the end we are all in the same boat.

So who really is the winner??? And here’s the part that will really upset some people… The real winners are the guys running the computer industry… You know… The guys you used to give wedgies in high school. Back then you were stealing their lunch money, and are now paying for it 100 times over. Remember that bible verse about the meek inheriting the earth?

The real irony of this article is that I only stumbled across the debate because I checked my newsreader while taking a break from scouring Tiger Direct trying to figure out which motherboard, CPU, and memory I’m going to use when I upgrade my PC within the next few months.

I aslo would like to take this opportunity to dispell one myth about Macs that always comes up… Yes you can and always could right click on a Mac… It’s just called a CTRL-click as you hold down the CTRL button while clicking. I actually spent the first few weeks after switching back to PC screaming at the thing because I was always trying to CTRL-click… Even a year and a half later I still catch myself doing it. Even at that a Mac user could always go buy any standard $20 2 button mouse if the really wanted. Most don’t seem to mind though, and personally I used the single button mouse that came with my Mac until the end.