It is a continuing debate as to which is better, Apple’s Mac or Microsoft’s PC, abbreviation for Personal Computer. Mac’s battle always conjures up feelings of “Us vs Them” amongst the biggest fan of either platform, which are creating confusion for a long time. There are lots of facts and questions regarding the two platforms and having worked with both PC and Mac, I will try to come up with an unbaised statement about each of them.. I am giving my own interpretations here.
(1) Myth: Macs are more expensive than PCs
Fact: Apple Macs are more pricey as compared to PCs.
A lot of hardware and software for Mac (both desktop and laptop) is manufactured by Apple themselves. Mac is only compatible with Apple’s own hardware. So Apple has a monopoly over their products and they do their own pricing and sell them through their own Apple Stores and few authorized Apple Centers. Even the tech-support Apple recruits themselves. They have built a class of users who uses their own propriatory Operating Software OS X. By contrast, Microsoft represent the image of PC and a vast majority of the PC users uses Windows as their operating system. But thats only the software, where as the hardware is built by over 20 different manufactures (small or large) prominent amongst them are Intel Corporations,Athlon AMD which caters to different market segments. The price of PC depends upon the manufacturers and the hardware you choose. PC has different market segment from low,medium, high and super advanced gaming purposes.
(2) Myth: Macs are good for multimedia(graphics, video editing, photography) while PCs are good for everything else.
Fact: Depending on end user preference both PCs and Macs can be used for graphics,multimedia, video editing and photography needs.
Now a days it has become the matter of choice for the Graphic Artist whether to go for a Mac or PC. In the good old days, magazines, newspapers, billboard ads or any other visual media, all had been designed using Mac. The PC appears to be an alternative options for those who cant afford Mac. But now the Graphic Artist uses either a Mac or PC. Both are equally stable. But the third party software support for PCs are way more than Mac. Today the business computers are 90% being PC but Mac is entering into that market segment with new options.
(3) Myth: There are far more softwares targetted for PCs as compared to Macs.
Fact: Quality matters not the quantity.
Its true apparently the third party softwares available for PCs are way more than that of Macs. So in order to encounter the disadvantages and the growing popularity of Windows as Operating System, Macs comes out with Mactels (Mac + Intel) which are basically dual platform i.e. capable of running both Windows and OS X simultaneously. There are softwares like parallel etc which help you run both Windows and OS X simulteneously or in other words its like running two computers in one.
(4) Myth: Viruses and worms do not effect Mac but can damage PC quite significantly.
Fact: Regardless of the platform, be cautious about viruses and worms and avoid websites that produce viruses.
Its is true that majority of the viruses and worms are built keeping Windows on mind and the main reason being PCs are so many in numbers (90%). But regardless of the platform one should always be careful. Mac OS X Operating System is more stable, secure and more intuitive as compared to Windows. Mac has less tendency to crash.
(5) Myth: PCs are so many in numbers but Macs are limited.
Fact: Quality matters not Quantity.
Because of the high cost of Mac, people prefer to buy PCs rather than Mac.. Also Macs earlier meant computers for graphic artists. But now the advertising campaign of Apple corporation is to get into the business sector which happens to be Windows strong hold. Very soon Pcs lion dominance on that sector will decline a bit.