The Mac vs PC Argument: My Take

This post is pieced together from my replies to a thread over at ProBoards Support – General Talk.

Neither is better.

They are tools. Lets say PCs are shovels and Macs are hoes.
Depending on which task you are trying to accomplish one will be more suitable, and depending on your job (are you a gardener or a general contractor?) one may be the right choice more often than the other. At the end of the day you can basically accomplish the same things with either, it might just be more awkward, slower, messier, etc if you don’t have the “right” one for the task at hand.
Also, if you’ve never used a hoe before, but are comfortable with a shovel, it might be a bit of a learning curve to get used to the hoe. You’ll have to evaluate if the benefit you’ll receive by using the more appropriate tool outweighs the slight annoyance of using something you aren’t familiar with.
Of course this is a huge over simplification. Computers are much more complex machines that are used for much more complex tasks than hoes and shovels, but you get the basic idea.

There are also some generalizations that come into play. If you are someone who is generally more concerned about security then logically you will chose a Mac. OS X is based on BSD, which is based on UNIX. UNIX was originally written with the intent of being a multi-user security aware system. Windows is based on DOS which doesn’t fully understand the concept of multiple users or security. Because the foundations are different, that may make some difference in your choice as well.
And of course, if pretty is a factor, you’ll probably choose a Mac. From both an engineering and design standpoint experts in those respective fields will agree that Macs are in general superior. Not at all to say they aren’t without their flaws. No technology is bullet proof, and not everyone has a fetish for brushed aluminum. Also, I don’t mean Macs are better for designers and engineers, I mean from design and engineering (like, electrical engineering) perspective Macs are, arguably, superior products. Or so I’ve been told. I’m neither a designer or an engineer. I’ve actually heard that Macs are fairly lousy for engineering due to a lack of quality statistical and CAD software available.

I personally use and prefer Macs 9 times out of 10 (or… 3 times out of 4, if you want to get technical). However, when recommending to someone which machine would be appropriate for them, I can be objective and actually take into consideration what they’ll be using the machine for, what their budget is, etc. If your computer usage is limited to surfing the interwebs, reading emails, Facebooking, and listening to music, then you really don’t need a $900 MacBook. A $400 netbook will probably actually serve you better (even if it does run Windows… eww – better yet, get one that runs Ubuntu).

Speaking of netbooks, I think the MacBook Air is probably as close to a “netbook” that Apple will come. I don’t think the “real” netbook space is one that they want to compete in. Netbooks are basically throw away cheapo machines. Apple thinks too highly of themselves and their products to ever make something that would be considered a throw away product (although I suppose the lower end iPods are there/getting close, so…).

OS is, in my opinion, becoming less and less of a factor with the advent of virtualization and cloud computing. Most modern computers have the resources available to run two or more operating systems concurrently, so if there is a “must have” application that you have to run in one, but you want to run another, most likely that is within the realm of possibility. I spend the majority of my day in front a of web browser, and all of the operating systems take you to the same internet. This is why Chrome OS is such an interesting idea. Do I see myself actually using it? Probably not, at least as not as my primary OS. But it’s a cool idea. I think it’s the perfect OS for grandma.

The above is all conjecture, of course, but I think it’s a fallacy to say that something (in the computing world) is “locked down,” or “invulnerable.” Security is a moving target. There are new exploits being researched as the old ones are being patched.