PC vs. Mac – Which is better?
Posted by admin on Aug 23, 2010 in Blog | 10 comments
I’ll give you the answer first and then explain…it depends. Almost everybody will give you a different reason why they think their mac or PC is better than its counterpart. However the true reason why there is no right answer is because everybody has a different level of understanding of computers, and different computer needs.
A bit of history
First of all many people misunderstand what the differences are between the two. When you buy a PC you either get an AMD or Intel processor, and that defines what all the other parts must be (motherboard –> memory, video card, etc). It used to be that Apple made its own processors (PowerPC), however now they have switched over to Intel. That’s why you can run bootcamp and use Windows on a Mac, because there is no difference hardware-wise between a PC and a Mac. Just to be complete, you could run Mac OSX on a PC too with VMWare or other virtual environments. Again, there is no difference hardware-wise between a Mac and PC.
What’s the difference?
The difference comes in the Operating System that is installed on your system. OS X ($49) vs Windows 7 ($129+). Of course these would come pre-installed on any respective new system you buy. You may be wondering, if they have the same hardware, then why does a mac cost so much more than a PC? The answer is great marketing. Mac is sheik, it’s fashionable, people think that they don’t get viruses. This is kind of true, but mostly that’s a result of the fact that Mac only has 6.4% market share. If you were a hacker why would you bother making a virus for mac? In every hacking competition (these do exist) Mac is always out first, with Windows falling after that, and Linux hacked last.
As someone who greatly admires well designed user interfaces, I must say that Apple has done a magnificent job creating OS X. It is ridiculously intuitive and laps even Windows 7 in it’s ease of use. However, anyone who is more than a basic user will find working on a mac less efficient. The lack of 3rd party and open-source software is a huge issue for Mac. The idea of using a Mac for my computer engineering projects is silly. Many people make the case that Mac is better for media, but what’s on Mac that isn’t on PC? The whole Adobe Creative Suite is on both, and what else do you need? The only thing that I can think of is Final Cut Pro which is better than Sony Vegas. Other than that, there are 10+ programs on PC for every Mac program in a given profession.
The other argument people make is this: A PC costs the same amount because you have to buy Antivirus and Security software. The best antivirus solutions are free, try AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials. They kick ass. See our downloads section for more useful software.
What it comes down to is this. If you have the extra money to shell out for a Mac, and you are a basic user that goes on the web and you do text editing, then go for it. Otherwise, save your cash and buy a more powerful PC.
Here’s two similarly priced computers:
Macbook Pro 13-inch
- 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x2GB
- 320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
- SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide
$1499
Dell Latitude E6150
- Intel® Core™ i5-520M (2.4GHz, 3M cache) with Turbo Boost Technology
- Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 32-bit
- Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
- 15.6″ HD(1366×768) Anti-Glare LED
- 512MB NVIDIA® NVS 3100M for Quad Core
- 4.0GB, DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
- 500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
- 8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD™
- Internal English Backlit Keyboard
As you can see there is a huge difference. Mac is still using Core 2 Duo while Dell offers a Core i5. The ram is faster on the dell, which also offers MS Office for free. A larger faster hard drive, and a massively faster video card (vs Mac’s on-board GPU) top it off. Oh and the 2.3″ extra of screen too.
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ian@slocomputers.com
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Put something at the back so it’s not sitting right on the desk, and make sure it’s on a desk not on your bad or whatever because it won’t cool down if it’s on your bed or something like that. My lap top had that built into it so it’s not sitting flat on my desk and it stays very cool. And also the fan might be dusty which will make it slower so you might want to get that cleaned out to. My old lap top did the same thing so I had to prop up the back of it and it wouldn’t over heat and shut down but I had to get this new one for school and I still have the other one for down loading crap onto and I still have to prop the back of it up. So maybe just try that at first and if that doesn’t work get the fan cleaned
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