Shedding your Luddite skin you decide to join raging tides of modern society by purchasing a computer. You’re intrigued by Apple’s ads and surrounded by PC’s but you just aren’t sure; which territory will you side with? Underneath banners of chewed apples or flying windows, Geeks in both camps decry the evils of their enemies but you are wise enough to steer clear from the extremists. Although they quote their gods (Steve or Bill) with a passion, you know that you have to ask someone who is more even keel. You have to talk to someone like me.
1: Ask: “What Am I Going To Do With This Thing?” Geeks will start way into the discussion by asking “How do you use it?” but having no life affords that sort of time to worry about which is “simpler”. Both Macs and PC’s are ridiculously easy to use and they each come with their own learning curve so anyone saying differently is either a fanatic or a liar.
- If you’re itching to play the most recent video games you’re going to want to steer clear from a Mac. Lots of them don’t come out for it and the ones that do don’t get a ton of backend support for odd crashes. Macs make up a small segment of video game producer’s market share so if Mac Users are having problems its not something that can turn the name of the company into a pariah. But if PC Users are having a problem you can bet money that they’ll jump to fix it.
- Lean towards a Mac if you’re planning to do design work. Sure, PC’s are exactly the same in this respect but as a designer you’re probably already using a Mac so maximize your business dollars; stick with what you know. No one but designers will care for this bit but it must be mentioned: font management (like auto activation of fonts) is much better on the Mac.
- IT guys or coders might want to go with a PC because of familiarity and applications although you can easily set up a Mac to dual boot. But if you’re going to spend most of your time in that other environment anyway, why bother with a Mac?
- Now note: if you’re going to just use the thing for surfing the web, writing emails and maybe posting on your blog spending a boatload of money on anything expensive is just purely idiotic. Those very minor tasks (sorry they are) don’t necessitate a lot of power so put down the bazooka and focus on how to squash this bug of a problem. What you want to do is get a Mini-Mac or a mid-range PC. Both have security problems and both should have proper security protocols (like Anti Virus) put in place. (Anyone who tells you that Macs are immune to viruses is a moron. Viruses get on machines when end-users do stupid stuff with their machine that allows them to get in; this is true on both macs and pcs. Mac Viruses have come around but it affects such a small market share that virus creators just don’t bother tweaking their code). Either way you’ll want to buy a monitor.
2: Ask: “How long is this thing going to last me?” If you want upgradeability go with a PC; Mac’s have a time stamp that lasts as long as the next conference in June or the Christmas season. Anyone (including that guy behind the counter in Best Buy) can swap out any part of your PC for the most recent edition. The only time that becomes problematic is when a major change comes along (like Intel’s dual core chip) which changes the face of computer tech. But if you do buy a Mac (especially if you’re a designer) throw away all your MacZones for 2 years. Trust me.
3: Ask: “Is there anything I should avoid?”
- Avoid laptops: Laptops are only a necessary evil; buy one if you truly need to use it on the run.
- Avoid iMacs (the flat ones with the harddrive behind the monitor) because there are some serious heat issues and it consists of condensed technology like a laptop.
- Avoid E-Machines since they’re practically junk encased in plastic and shipped in cheap cardboard.
- Avoid building around peripherals: Mac’s and PC’s both can interact with printers, scanners and iPod so don’t buy a computer based on the peripherals you currently own.
- Avoid Apple’s Monitors: though pretty, they aren’t all that great considering their steep price tag. Shop around for a monitor because both Macs and PC’s can use them and it’s the one piece of equipment that might outlast your system. My ViewSonic is great for games, movies and detailed design work and is crisper than my Cinema Display. The Cinema Display cost over a thousand, the ViewSonic cost three hundred: ’nuff said.
- Avoid Old Tech: Focus on the mid-range folks. You want to get the most bang for you buck.
Now you’re armed with knowledge go join the fray; buy something. I own both but I am a designer, a coder, a writer, an emailer, a movie watcher and a gamer.
19 responses to “What Should I Buy: A Mac or A PC?”
So are you telling me that my powerbook G4 is already a piece of junk…or can I squeeze a few more years out of it? (especially if I don’t care about having the latest and greatest stuff) …this is a very helpful post because eventually we want to upgrade our second computer (currently my archaic pentium w/win 98SE which my husband uses to surf the web) and I didn’t know whether we should go all Mac or keep one of each. I’m still not entirely sure, but this is good food for thought.
He’s more right brained (artistic/visual) but he likes video games (we have a gamecube, tho, and plan to get a Wii eventually), so it’s bit of a close call…
What if you buy a Mac because you’re a designer, but then you ultimately end up using it mostly for surfing the web, writing emails and posting on your blog, occasionally going in to PhotoShop to make a banner for a meme or to post process your digital photos? I can’t tell if I’m idiotic or not, which probably makes this a rhetorical question. ;)
Seriously though, this is probably one of the best breakdowns of the pros and cons for both sides I’ve ever read. Good useful junk.
Marla: You’ll definitely get good use from your powerbook G4 but its definitely a time capsule; sorry =(. With the newer new Intel chips out on the market the things are getting ridiculously better. But if you get the Wii you can satisfy most gaming needs right on that unless he’s wanting to play multiplayer online role playing games but with kids in the picture I tend to doubt it; those things take a lot of time.
MCF: Thanks for that, I was trying to stay balanced with this thing. It was tough answering Janet’s Question because I can’t really say I would junk a Mac and side with a PC forever; especially as a designer. The field is all mac and we better keep our pencils sharpened in that respect.
Rey, although there is some good advice here, I found myself scratching my head on some of your points.
“Avoid Laptops”?
“If you
Thanks, Rey. Do you think there will ever be any Christian games for consoles? All of them seem to only run on PCs right now. We’re hoping they might make Angel Wars (cool anime-type Christian DVD series) into a game.
I think our next computer might also depend on what the kids are using at school, so we’ll have to see…
“Now note: if you
Hey Jon, I can see you’re a MacFan.
Lappys: Laptops are condensed technology that are a bear to upgrade. Since its moved about its most likely to have an accident and thus rendered useless (whereas water on a keyboard just means a new keyboard).
Emulators: Rey does know about the PC Emulator for a Mac but it doesn’t run PC games as well as running them natively on a PC. I’ve also run Mac emulators on a PC and its not like I’m actually using a Mac; it sucks.
Upgradeability: Check out the history of the IMac which went through permutations that later users couldn’t upgrade save for the harddrive and maybe the Ram. Check the history of PC computers and see how a person can upgrade any single component. I’ve had my PC for 5 years and only now with the dual core tech-changes is my system proving outdated. MCF’s old G3 runs like a dream but upgrading it to a G4 isn’t going to offer him a super difference considering the cost.
Flat iMacs suck: I worked in a company of over 200 Mac users that started migrating to the flat screen single unit iMacs. 25 of them had to be returned with heating problesm, another 20 had a ghost image of the harddrive on the screen and MCF’s overheated and sounded like a vacuum cleaner when there was a post it on one portion of the vent. Apple’s advice? Don’t just put it to sleep, turn it off at night. A Monitor in front of a hard drive and a power supply is the heights of stupidity for the sake of simplicity.
Macs are sexy, no doubt about it. They’re also cutting edge and I love that. But in all honesty, they should’ve never squashed the Clone Wars because they were innovating left and right. Now they use cheaper parts which doesn’t justify the higher prices and although integration with the rest of the world is getting better, it’s not worth pouring cash in just for a few aps that a person will rarely use. The fact is everyone uses web browsers and typing programs which work exactly the same on both platforms.
Marla: If an action Christian game goes console I have a feeling that it’ll be distinctly un-Christian if you get my meaning. They’ll do so many changes to the thing to appeal to everyone. Console games are marketed with a mass appeal and so far gaming companies might see the conservative Christian group as their enemies (which they might politically be). But I can see them making a Christianese game like Veggie Tales or the Adventures of Larry Boy.
Jungle Pop: You are absolutley right. The beauty of Linux is that it can run on Mac or PC (or cell phones or iPods or PSPs; the list goes on). It’s free, its safe and its made by the people for the people. The only reason I wouldn’t recommend it to the average user is because when a problem happens its hard to figure out how to fix it (Working with the kernals is like working in Mac’s Root; it’s a nightmare).
You should buy a PC. You should by this PC. You should buy it for me. You should have it shipped to my home via UPS. You should do this within the next hour.
Interesting approach. It’s more like a How to guide than anything else. I agree with a lot of this too. My laptops have treated me well though. I don’t know what this says about me.
Darrell: As long as you buy me this pc.
Janet: it probably just means that you’re not a geek. =)
Not in the traditional sense, I suppose not but in a non-traditional sense, I’d beg to differ.:)
Rey, for what it’s worth: I was at a Mac store yesterday and checked the back of several iMacs for heat. I did not feel an ounce of heat from any of them. I asked one of the workers if this was every reported and he looked at me like I was crazy. He said they leave the computers on night and day and they just don’t get hot.
Janet: Your knowledge of pop culture is extraordinary…
Jon: LOL. I can just picture it. A dude behind a counter at an Apple Store making maybe seven bucks an hour receiving Apple’s corporate complaint reports and then saying “don’t buy these…they overheat.” I’m rolling here. LOL!
hrmm..
PC > MAC
Hey testpig, I’ll try to quote my brother:
“I’ll always build a PC: that’s my power box. But everyone’s gotta’ have a Mac lying around.”
heh.
I would love to tell you of our experience my wife and I add with the Big Blue Box (Best Buy) in Green Bay Wisconsin. Trust me if I would have know of your Web site I would have heeded the warnings and advice of others that have had just horrible experience with Best Buy.
Well here goes:
My wife and I decided to take some of our Tax Return to buy us a new Washer, and Dryer. Well as usual we went to BB as we have done for in the last (9) years to buy all of our Big Price appliance items, as we have bought our (3) Desktop Computers, (2) Refrigerator, (1) Dishwasher, (2) TV
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