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Why do PC users hate Macs?

hob

hob

macrumors 68010
Original poster
EVERYONE seems to hate macs, until they use them. My mum is computer illeterate and hates it, my friends at school seem completely hostile, unless they have an ipod, then they wanna play with my iBook! And even rational open-minded people I know seem to get all facist when they hear of the mac!!

Why is this?!
 
I think it's mostly due to people thinking Mac's can't play games or use most PC software titles.

But Mac gaming is on a rise and most PC software can be now had on the Mac.

Most people are just misinformed or they don't like someone saying their computer is better.
 
Well it is a yin-yang thing to put it simple. Coming from a PC user's POV, Mac users are rather religious, heck even as far as being called zealots. They tell PC users that their OS platform is outdated, or that their hardware is inferior to the Mac. In that case, PC user's than feel they are being forced onto something, that the Mac users are coming on as condescending (not good when you are trying to convince someone...usually convincing comes from eye-to-eye level).

On the other hand, Mac users probably feel the same way, but in a different perspective. PC users will (in general) ridicule those with Macs as being less knowledgeable, brainwashed, what have you. This in turn infuriates Mac users, who then retaliate...and the world continues to turn 🙂

Is that simple enough?
 
A more opened question is, why do Mac users hate/ridicule PC users? That is also a good question. Of course, i doubt that will generate good answers on this site 🙂 Oh well.
 
The reason I became a switcher was because of two things:
1)being ridiculed into looking at OS X rather than XP
2)actually USING some eMacs at my school

the guy that ridiculed me was a lifelong zealot, who's dad was the same - people at school who now use the eMacs now just seem to see it as no different to pcs, just with weird noises and easy to use movie editing (we used to use Adobe Premiere - a nightmare for younger students)

I seem to bridge this gap - i know the uses of each system, what it's good at, and what it's not good at. I've been bought up on pcs, but now I feel I can convert people to Macs because they know my history in pc usage!!

Hob
 
An oft asked and never fully answered question, but although I'd rather think it's just paranoia on our part, I'm inclined to agree with you.

Of course, many of us Mac users hate PCs as well, although in my personal experience in most cases it's with good reason. I, for example, spend a significant portion of my workday troubleshooting PCs, so I feel like if I hate Windows, I have ample reason and experience to back up that belief. There are a lot of irrational knee-jerk reactions from Mac users, but I still argue that many, if not most, Windows-hating Mac users spend a significant amount of time using it at work or before they switched, giving their opinion something of a logical foundation.

PC people seem to be touchier for some reason. Those with little computer experience at all, those who fancy themselves power users, and some of those who actually are pros--a lot of people, almost all of which have never used one, just can't seem to stand the thought of a Mac.

I'd have to say that experienced pros who are aware of current Mac developments, even if they're not actual users, seem the least likely to irrationally hate Macs, which would make sense because they can see the benefits of the MacOS, and are familiar with the weaknesses of Windows.

Anyway, I'm just sort of rambling, but I'd be interested to hear if anybody has any real insight into why so many PC people who've never even touched a Mac seem to cringe at the very thought of one.

My best guess is that a lot of people are frustrated with their computing experience, and it would make them feel even worse if there was a better alternative out there, meaning they've been tearing their hair out for nothing. Whether Macs are actually that much easier to deal with or not isn't important. What is is that Mac users generally seem a content bunch who like using their computers, and that'd be annoying to me, too, if I hated mine or routinely got frustrated using it.

Misery loves company, I guess. Either that, or they just don't like the thought of anything different.
 
When a person is always using one of something whether it be a computer, tv, sports equipment, car, etc. They will say what ever they have is the best. I can say i thought the same thing when WIN XP came out, considering i had it 3 days before release. I have had no problems with it and thought it was the best thing out. All until i tryed a mac running OS 9 in school for graphic design and saw how much faster a G4 400 MHz was fatster than my PIII 700 MHz in photoshop. Then i saw OSX Panther and i was in love. So it all depends on what you start out using, and the persons preference.
 
I think that it comes down to this. They don't like being told that they just "wasted" their time and money on an "inferior" product. People don't like being told that Macs are better after they just spent $2,000 for a PC. If someone has invested years of time and software on Windows I can understand why they would hesitate to got to Macs, even if they thought that Macs were better. The sad part is that they take it personally. Most Mac haters have never even used a Mac nor do they realize that much of the technology they use (and brag about) were Apple firsts or Apple invented. By the way, I switched to Mac about a year before they launched the "switch campaign". I still have to use Windows at work and my dislike for Windows is based on experience, not just an emotional prejudice.
 
Originally posted by io_burn
Please close this thread, NO good will come of it.
Click to expand...
That was certainly a nice little contribution to this thread. 🙄

Mav451 sums up my thoughts quite nicely. 🙂
 
Almost all the mac-haters I know are have a bunch of mixed up info and experience for the pre-OSX days. It's really just a small minority of PC users though, most PC users I know have valid reasons for using them. And there are many valid reasons, particularly during the dark days of Motorola. Heck, there's reasons I use a PC daily. I'm much more comfortable in the Mac OS, but that's just a personal preference. There were reasons I used macs back before the Pentium chips came with MMX technology.

Now most of the PC haters I know are frustrated users of Windows. Others are techno-phobes who cling to the mac's ease of use like a life-ring in a stormy sea. Most of the mac user I know are cross-platform users who have a decent working knowledge of Windows.

It's really just a small but vocal minority on both sides who cause all the ruckus over 'who's machine is better'. Which is pointless, 'cuz if it does what you want it to do, who cares about benchmarks and megahertz and such?
 
Cost of switching

For the thread, well, No one likes to be wrong, so on either side of the fence, when you tell them that their computer is inferior, it does provoke the standard response.

Why mac users don't get as mad, well, we know we have the better OS, and hardware, so we don't get as worked up.


Why don't people switch, it costs too much money. And it is an unknown. I gave my Mom my old iBook (G3 800) so she could play with it, and she does like it, maybe she will switch, but she did go out and by a AE base station for her house and networked a printer. She was never able to do that with her old network. But she would never have spent the money for a new computer, AE, adn a base station unless I gave her the laptop. Just my two cents,
 
In my class in school the only experience most of the people have ever had with macs is the mac lab. The newest mac in the lab is a 500mhz snow crt imac. The highest os is 8.6 and some are still using 7.1. Everyone just assumes that all macs are horible and that this is how macs are today. Than they compare it to the brand new dell lab and try to use that as proof that pc's are better.
 
Very simple theory:
People fear what they do not understand. This fear leads to aggression.

People didn't understand witches, so fear was invoked and thousands of people were killed for the fear of witchcraft. You can apply this theory to any aspect of history and current life. Thats why elderly people don't conform to new ideas, like computers because they don't understand it; hence fear.

Windows users don't understand Macs, thus they fear them, and even become aggressive about them. Mac users hate PCs because we don't understand them. But in all honesty, does anyone really understand Windows? Maybe that's why people hate to use their own PCs. Macs can be understood, and therefore we have no fear of our computers.
 
the vast majority of pc users don't care one way or the other...what could us three or four percent of the market pose as a threat to their pc world?

if pc users hate anything, it's windows from time to time😛
 
Different people have different reasons for hating Macs.

I think one interesting phenomenon is the hating of Macs by those who know almost nothing about computers. I have a friend who knows very little about computers but whose reason for choosing the PC over the Mac is because he supposedly likes its hardware customizability, the ability to interchange various parts.

When I pointed out that with the Mac that is probably easier, especially with the G5, he just said that he would stick with his PC. He's come to the point that he doesn't HATE Macs, but I think I know why he still refuses to acknowledge the Mac's superiority in the tasks that he needs a computer to perform.

He, and others with limited computer knowledge, want to feel that they aren't totally unaware (even if they admit that they are). One way to combat their inferiority complex is to have an opinion--any opinion. One great opinion for one to have in order to feel that he is knowledgeable is the opinion that a particular product is terrible. It makes one feel as if he has expert knowledge about a subject, and that he can ridicule, or even simply debate, those who disagree with him. That many PC power and pro users share his opinion is only an additional benefit.

Thus, I think that for many people, dislike of the Mac is an internal issue that they externalize. It has much less to do with the Mac than their own feeling of inexperience when it comes to computers.

I'm not saying that the same couldn't be true of Mac users. However, I feel that when Mac users make stupid arguments, it's more about their zeal for the Mac. Even those who do not know the ins-and-outs of, say, processor design (I only have a very, very rough idea of this, myself) tend to be more knowledgeable, than the PC user that falls into the above category. I don't think that same Mac user acknowledges his own neophytic nature, because his membership in a niche group lends him the feeling of expert knowledge.

I also am not saying that a more experienced PC user does not have a better reason to dislike Macs. If one uses his computer MOSTLY for gaming, then there is a reason to prefer PCs. The same is true for those people who enjoy the process of system software restoration. 😀 😉
 
Other way round here, i laugh at the PC users. All my friends, once they've seen my PB, have decided that PCs are bad and they all need a Mac.

Tempers only rise when i announce something new to them (like my friend who didnt know i had a iPod and AE).

Soon i will convert all these dark users to the light side 🙂
 
hm i have no idea why somuch people _hate_ macs
well i didn't liked them all the time by myself

1.elitist-niche group: many people don't want to be in such a group...i mean here in germany/austria i heard those famous words "i never gonna buy a mac" very often by people who have no idea about computers (for whom a mac would be perfect)

2.no retailers here/nomac aware technicans: "if you got a problem....your stuck" properbly very comman thought

(3.horrible prices outside of the US... apple is premium computer in the US but they are platin-diamond-madeofmoonstone priced here ..but thats apple germany's fault ..i mean ibm laptops are cheaper here than in amerika)

4.games....yeah pretty odd but there are many people with children...and children/teenagers like computergames

5.people who have to rely on x86 platform. i'm a computer science student(we use redhat 9.0 for software developmentin java/c++).. to buy 2 computers would have been to much for my budget

6.the lost performance in the "motorola age)
i can can remember the days where we sat in front of a powermac of a friend's dad computer i have know idea what model it was i just know it had a PowerPC 133 and asskickin' 96 mb ram... compared to the other pentium 100 and 16mb machines most people had,it was a monster (compared to my lousy 486dx-2 4mb-ram it was sent by god) they lost their performance somwhere... sorry have no idea where perhaps with the relaese of the pentium 3 (best intel chip since 486 and until now...p4 = lousy)

7.no advertising..never saw a apple ad -> most people don't know that there is a alternative to windows/x86

but i see a light on the horizon ;-) thanks to IBM (the enemy of 1984...pretty ironic) who want their user back...with their new chip releases, and their annoucing of new hardware /supercomputers/patents... it's like a car race on the one side the intel-car with their good start...on the other side the IBM-car with their turbocharger spining up..
how many patents had IBM the last year ? 3500 ? about 10 per day... a lot more than intel and amd together
for me as a very computer interested technican IBM and macosx with the ability to run Unix/Linux software are the 2 things put me back in the "save money to buy a new computer...an apple" mode.. (sadly it will take more than a year from now)
 
they hate us because we are better than them 🙂

seriously because people are retarded, and both sides dont get along and get defensive when they are atttacked.
 
Never seen hatred, just indifference

For everyone I know, there's no hatred, just indifference. There is nothing the Mac does that makes it interesting over and above what they do on the PC. It's not even on their radar, they simply don't care.
 
Originally posted by ITR 81


But Mac gaming is on a rise and most PC software can be now had on the Mac.
Click to expand...

Umm that isn't true there are plenty of titles that are not available for the Mac. And lets be honest the Mac's strong suit is NOT gaming. It would make a great platform for it but the number of titles pales in comparison to the PC.
 
Beyond that the other reason PC users have no love lost for Mac users has to due with the stereotype that ALL Mac users are fanatics that worship the ground that Steve Jobs walks on. That they wouldn't consider a PC simply because it’s a PC, and that Mac users are a bunch of stuck up snobbish ***es. Now yes I've met more then a few Mac users that can be slotted into the zealot category but you and I both know that these users are typically few and far between. The problem is this is the stereotype and stereotypes that are engrained are hard to overcome. I'm going to be honest here. Anytime I talk to someone about the fact that I'm going to, most likely, be purchasing a Mac sometime this fall I always feel I need to append that I'm not freakishly in love with the platform and that I think it has qualities that go beyond windows that makes a Mac a, hopefully, a sound investment. It irks me that I have to do that because I've gotten more the a few eye rolls when I've told people I'm getting a Mac and didn't explain myself.
Once a PC user gets beyond the stereotype and considers the OS and the hardware its easier for us to ignore the stereotype. Hence the reason why PC users who go Mac typically don't go back.
 
Re: Why do PC users hate Macs?

Originally posted by hob
EVERYONE seems to hate macs, until they use them. My mum is computer illeterate and hates it, my friends at school seem completely hostile, unless they have an ipod, then they wanna play with my iBook! And even rational open-minded people I know seem to get all facist when they hear of the mac!!

Why is this?!
Click to expand...
I would place the Mac-haters into several categories. In no particular order, here are several:

====
Macs are too easy. Proficiency on the Mac is insufficient to showoff the user's "manhood."

I know everything about [Windows] computers, but I still can't produce a decent Photoshop image, InDesign publication, or Final Cut Pro movie.

I can't produce a decent Photoshop image, InDesign publication, or Final Cut Pro movie. I don't know beans about computers, but Windows gives me an excuse. The Mac unmasks my lack of talent.

With the Mac, even nitwits who don't know motherboards from skateboards think that are experts.

I hate Windows, but I have to use it because my job requires me to use a computer. Mac people carry on as though they enjoy their computers. Something is clearly wrong with them.
=====

I have others, but I have to run.
 
Originally posted by Makosuke
I'd be interested to hear if anybody has any real insight into why so many PC people who've never even touched a Mac seem to cringe at the very thought of one.
Click to expand...
Having switched last Fall I can say that from my own experience Apple's long-time customers are its own worst enemy.

Mac fans brag about being "different" and "thinking different". Windows users don't want to be different, they need to "fit in" (have a computer that can easily share files with Windows users and customers. I know, Mac can do this, but Mac fans don't stress this), and they already have to think different because Windows is so God awful un-intuitive.

As a Windows user, when I was finally fed-up with the hassles and ready to consider what Macs offered, I knew exactly what I wanted: Thin, light, full-featured, and able to easily connect to an Apple Display. The only apps I needed to use were Office, Safari and iApps. Mac fans told me to get an iBook (note, not compatible with an Apple Display) because PowerBooks were "overpriced", or they told me to get a G5 because PowerBooks were "underpowered".

An unplanned stop by an Apple Store showed me that Mac fans were wrong. The PowerBook WAS exactly what I wanted. It wasn't underpowered. It wasn't overpriced (actually, it cost the same as a comparable wintel notebook, only it was better quality, smaller, and lighter). As for "thinking different, I realize that OS X is better than Windows because I no longer HAVE to think different.

So, my own opinion is that when Mac fans stop telling Windows users that they need to "think different", stop telling Windows users that Macs are overpriced, stop pushing Windows users to buy something that doesn't fit their needs, then Windows users will begin to think that Mac fans are worth listening to.

Should Steve Job be able to strengthen Apple's position in the marketplace, it will be at the expense of Mac fanatics. It's time for Mac fans to realize that the world doesn't revolve around them, because it doesn't.
 
OK, I have lurked here a while, but anyways,

I am both a PC and a Mac user and yeah, the right tool for the right job. I also have a xbox to play games on (modded so it also acts as my movie player mostly) and yeah, i think i know a thing or two about computers (I have been using them since i was 8 and I am 25 now) and yeah, macs are good if you just want to USE it, don't want hassle. I use it at work alot now (I also have a dell but it sits at home) and i like it....i'm a network engineer so all i need it for is ssh and email.

now why would pc users hate mac users? I dont think they do. I think its kinda like teasing your sister, she reacts soooo well. I mean, the mac isnt exactly in a dominante market position really (well, not in areas most people care about) and so yeah, being a pc user and taunting a mac user can be fun, mainly cause they take it so bad.

and reading this thread doesnt disprove that.

I mean, i like using my powerbook, does all I could ask of it, its light (anyone who says a 15inch powerbook is too heavy has been eating to many doritos and not getting a decent amount of exercise) and yeah, it just works.

so i dont really think any pc user hates a mac user, that would be downright stupid (and vice versa), i think its a bit of ego on the mac users side (they hate us cause we are better) and a bit of provocation from the pc camp (heh, watch me get those idiots going)

oh and by the way, i also have linux on this thing (gentoo) and its far smoother to use than OSX (heh)
 
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