“PC or Mac? Nothing is more of a divisive issue in computing today. But Mac users actively advocate their choice. If you say something crummy about IBM or Dell, you never get a letter. Say something nasty about a Mac and villagers gather at your house carrying torches and pitchforks. It comes from being an underdog; at best Apple has only about 5 percent of the market. But their product is very nice,” James Derk, computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service writes.
“In my view, the answer is software-driven. If the software you plan to use is available for both platforms, then Apple is the most elegant choice. Their stuff just feels better. The PC is the more frugal, universal choice,” Derk writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Concerned about software choice for Mac OS X? Don’t fall for a myth. There are currently over 18,000 software applications for Macintosh with more coming available every day. Browse through them all here.
If more tech journalists sat a Windows PC and a Mac on their desks, and used them both before writing articles, Mac users would be a lot less vocal. A lot of what is written about the Mac is quite valid….if you are talking about Mac OS8. Just like most of the IT world, tech journalists in the main know Windows and not much more, and most of those that have used a Mac haven’t done so since the mid-90s. If I were to write in a newspaper that Windows networking was based on NetBEUI, and that Windows only used the first 640k RAM effectively, what would their response be? The first time they would laugh, the second time may annoy, but after several hundred times, I think the pitchforks and torches would be coming out. Better journalism is required, that’s all.
There is nothing “Frugal” about a PC, “Foolish” I would accept. There are TCO studies available on the web that prove this point.
All I can say is I have enough PC headaches at work, why bring it home? Therefore, I use Macs at home and can forget all the PC crap!!! Mmmmm, may be this is a new foundation for a brand new Mac ad campaign!!!! Hello, any ad executrices out there listening? The new slogan will be: “You have ENOUGHT PC at work, WHY bring it home? Use a Mac!!!”
Yeah… too bad Apple overprices their products. 🙁
Wouldn’t it be nice if Apple came up with something comparable to PC performance and equivilant prices. Now that’d definitely increase sales.
Yeah… too bad Apple overprices their products. 🙁
Wouldn’t it be nice if Apple came up with something comparable to PC performance and equivilant prices. Now that’d definitely increase sales.
Mac & PC Guy: “Wouldn’t it be nice if Apple came up with something comparable to PC performance and equivilant prices.”
Now there’s a scary thought!
The most virulent anti-Mac people I have met are those who have never used a Mac. That is, a significant number of PeeCee apologists are people who choose to be ignorant about the very subject that they claim to be an expert.
Then there are others who damn Apple with faint praise. I suggest that these people also have failed to use the Mac or lacked the appropriate skills to use the Mac as intended. For many of these people because the Mac �works differently� from a PeeCee this is itself a �problem�. These are people who find it difficult to learn much of anything or are simply content with the status quo of Windoze.
Yes, yes, PeeCees have more software than Macs. This is often the standard complaint raised by those who are too parsimonious to buy new software anyhow or are again too challenged to learn how to use new software. True, the PeeCee has some excellent software that that Mac�s do not have, however, I have yet to find that even this is a genuine concern in day to day use in business, academics, or at home.
“parsimonious”…huh?
parsimonious (as in “parsimonious”) adj. : excessively unwilling to spend; “parsimonious thrift relieved by few generous impulses”; “lived in a most penurious manner–denying himself every indulgence”
Macs are overpriced? How? I will use my current Mac longer and with fewer interruptions (i.e. crashes, virii infections, etc.) and thereby be so more productive and get better value for my money paid for a Mac than any PC user ever will. How can that be overpriced? Every time I’ve looked at those combined ratios, TCO for a Mac wins over a PC.
And thanks for the dictionary lesson of the day, Ary.
Last time I looked, the software that was best-in-class and mattered to me most ran only on Mac:
iMovie, Safari, Final Cut Pro, iDVD, DVD Studio Pro, iSync, iChat AV, Mail, iCal, GarageBand, etc., etc., etc. Hell, even MS Office for Mac is better than it is on a Wintel PC.
I pity the Wintel Sufferers� – I really do.
Articles always talk about apps missing on Mac… but funny how they can’t give examples that don’t have good alternatives. The legitimate examples of Windows-only software dealbreakers are pretty obscure compared to the MAINSTREAM apps that Macs DO have. And how about the Mac-only stuff like iMovie and iDVD?
For many users, its the PC that lacks good alternatives.
(Games? There are more on Mac than I could ever play, and more than enough to keep me busy for the weeks or months delay that SOME games have in coming to Mac. Is the game less fun because I can’t brag about being one of the first to own it?)
I think this comic from yesterday says it all about the pc experience for some…
http://www.ucomics.com/reallifeadventures/2004/04/24/
Macs more expensive? Humm, Powerbooks at the lab cost ~$100 LESS than the laptop PC when in similar (but not better) configuration.
It also depend how much value you give to your money: to me ~$2000 on a Powerbook is better spent than ~$1499 on any PC clone laptop.
No Maya Unlimited for Mac….
will this change now that alias sold????
Macs are overpriced? Hah! Yeah, a mac may cost more initially, but how much does it cost to maintain a mac over it’s lifespan vs. a PC. As Apple says, “it just works”. I have a Dell Inspiron that cost me $1,300 (refurbished), I have owned it for just one year, and have spent around an extra $1,000 just to maintain the thing. Who’s overpriced now?
Nagromme – There are windows equivalents to iMovie and iDVD. They’re probably not as good and will cost more than iLife, but there are certainly equivalents. In fact, I doubt there’s really anything available on a Mac that doesn’t have an equivalent on the PC.
Maybe something like Konfabulator, but they’re working on a windows version AFAIK.
It’s not so much that there’s an alternative either. Sometimes it needs to be the same product. So it needs to be microsoft Word rather than an alternative. If I was to use a Mac at work, I’d need a Visio viewer, a Virtual Source Safe client and the company I work for would have to port its proprietary applications to OS-X as well.
These last ones are the ones that fall outside the mainstream description, which I think is perfectly valid. I don’t use any of those things at home, so I’m not missing any software here.
For games, the point is that people want the latest greatest games when they’re released. For those that just want to play a few games, but aren’t hardcore gamers, then the mac is a perfectly good gaming platform. Those hardcore gamers are also outside the mainstream.
It would be interesting to figure out what 90% of users actually do on their computers. I would be surprised if the Mac didn’t do everything they needed to do. Without hard data though, we’re just making this stuff up.
Hywel,
There are several programs on Mac that don’t have PC equivalents. Even better, many programs are better on Mac even though they’re on PC. But the MOST IMPORTANT program on Macs that will never be on PCs is OS X. That alone makes it worth the switch. Period!
this is a really nice article… too bad we’ve still got guys like Mac n PC guy who think Mac’s are overpriced…
guess Apple still has a long way to go to educating the masses on what’s a low-end computer and what’s mid-level…
You might wanna do an amortization of a mac to see how much it costs per year of use.. that might be sth to try
Macs are not perfect, but when compared to a PC, they just seem that way
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
I consider the Mac the reliability standard.
Hywel
It would be interesting to figure out what 90% of users actually do on their computers. I would be surprised if the Mac didn’t do everything they needed to do. Without hard data though, we’re just making this stuff up.
90% of computer users use a few features of MS word and they send a few emails and browse the web because they dont know how to do anything else. When they use MS Word they only use about 5% of the features in it for writing a few letters. The most of the rest of what they do is done at work which includes sending more emails, writting more word documents and maybe Excel/data entry and navigating their work intra net/file server.
winmacguy has it right re what most people do with their computers. The only substantive obstacles to Macs in most offices (not counting pure ignorance) are: cpu clockspeed (people can compare it easily, regardless of it’s real importance), initial cost (people view TCO as too speculative) and remaining problems Mac client machines still have accessing shared files on Windows servers (though these can be fixed with $150 and DAVE). If these issues were fixed, Mac marketshare would go up pretty quickly, at least to double-digits.
Judge Bork. I agree with all of them except iCal. I use iCal but it still has a lot of room for improvement. But I pity the windoze sufferers too
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
I am lucky enough that I can use a Mac for work too but I did have to buy it myself 🙁 But hey, if I can spend a little money and make a large percentage of my work life fun rather than a chore I figure it is worth it.
Hywel, Yes there are windoze equivalents for iLife but they are not integrated. There is no equivalent for iLife on windoze when viewed as a whole.
BTW here is another Products guide page that is pretty good too and is a little bit harder to find and is more international:
http://guide.apple.com/index.lasso