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Question

Mac (Apple) vs. PC (Microsoft Windows)

by Apr 28, 2012 6:14AM PDT

I am about ready to finish my junior year in high school, so I've started my college search process and everything like that. One question that I have is, what is the difference between a Mac and a PC? Obviously brands are different, but I'm pondering what I should get when I need to buy one around this time next year. I know technology will change in a year, but just wanted the basics now. My family and high school has always used PCs, but I've seen a lot of Macs on college campuses. What is the difference? Why choose one over the other? Benefits? Downfalls? Any information and/or personal experience would be greatly appreciated!

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4 Posts
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Answer
It's a matter of personal taste
by Apr 28, 2012 7:07AM PDT

It's a matter of personal taste really.

Apple has a pretty vertical supply chain, controlling the entire product from start to finish which does give them an edge as far as build quality goes, but the company... The company is a friggen nightmare to deal with. On the outside they're all smiles and "how may I help you" but you pull back the curtain and the reality is very very different. And they seem to be marching ever forward on the path of the walled garden, where Apple is the official gatekeeper for what programs you are allowed to install. Much like they already do for the iPhone and iPad.

I could go on at some length about a lot of the things Apple tries very hard to keep from being public knowledge, which would quite probably change most people's perceptions about the company, but that's not what you asked.

Despite some inroads from Apple, Microsoft Windows and Office are still what you're going to find in "the real world" (and if you're anything like me when I was your age, you're sick of hearing that phrase), and I just don't see Apple ever dislodging Microsoft. In fact, by the time you finish with college I'd be amazed if Apple isn't already well on the road to ruin again. Apple has been slowly but surely dismantling their computer business in favor of the consumer electronics division. Mac OS X has been getting the iOS-ification treatment in a big way with 10.7 and 10.8, and unlike Windows 8, it's not optional.

Up until recently the major benefit to the Mac platform has been the lack of malware and what not, but it would appear as if the day of reckoning for Mac OS X has arrived more or less. The dam is still holding back the flood, but only just, and there are cracks forming.

Personally, I wouldn't really spend a great deal of time with the Mac platform. I'm not saying don't learn anything about it, but I wouldn't make it a big priority. Tim Cook will likely have become the latest CEO to oversee the demise of an american icon company before you're done with college, and this time there's no Steve Jobs to save the company from the brink. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Oracle ends up buying what's left, since Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs were friends, and it's possible Microsoft will keep propping it up so any time anti-trust regulators come sniffing around they can point at Apple's rotting corpse kept alive at Microsoft's sufferance. If you're looking to go into any kind of IT field, Linux and Unix in general would be where you'd want to focus most of your non-Windows efforts.

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Thank you for the information...but I have more questions.
by gegen4 Apr 28, 2012 7:25AM PDT

Thank you very much for the reply, and the insight on Apple's computer division. I had not realized some of those thoughts, and it does raise some issues in my mind that I will want to do so research on.

My main question however was more so about how the actual computers are compare to each other. Is one faster? More reliable? Better battery? I've heard that Macs don't get viruses/spyware/malware - is that true? Do programs work well on Macs? Can you still use Office on Macs - or is there a Mac equivalent? Which is better to use for school work? Business?

Those are the types of questions I was more so curious about. I want it primary for student-type use, but will also use some kind of Office, lots of emails, web-browsing, watching videos online, some music (primarily iTunes since I do have an iPhone), etc.

Any information related to questions like that would be very appreciated! I've always used PCs, because that is what is used at my high school, and what we have at home. However, as I've been visiting college campuses, I've noticed that there are a lot of Macs on the campus, and just wondered what the difference was, and how people made that decision.

Thank you!

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Personally
by Jimmy Greystone Apr 28, 2012 8:22AM PDT

Personally, I'd say you're about a year premature with these questions. If you're even remotely like I was at that age, your interests change almost weekly. When you're actually getting ready to go to college and have a pretty good idea what you want to major in, you can figure out which platform would be better suited to you.

Curiosity is good, so keep that, just focus it on something else for the time being would be my suggestion. Enjoy your high school years, because in a lot of ways it's downhill from there. No more free rent, your laundry doesn't just magically get cleaned, folded, and maybe even put away. There isn't anyone making sure you get fed a couple times a day. Believe me, that is the life, so enjoy it no matter how oppressive and stifling it might seem now. And in about a year, when you're getting ready to head off to college, you can pester people endlessly with questions about Mac v PC.

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I still want to know...
by gegen4 Apr 28, 2012 8:36AM PDT

I've always been very interested and have been pretty tech savvy, but I've always used PCs. I'd still just like to know, just as a person, what the differences are. I'm fairly certain that I will major in Criminal Justice, Political Science, or Business, which all kind of go hand in hand. I don't necessarily want to make a decision right now, especially on what I'm majoring in. I'd just like to know the differences between Macs and PCs as they stand right now.

Trust me, I fully understand the life I'm living right now. I'm just curious about this topic and trying to find out more about it.

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