Mac vs. PC - who invented this crazy naming scheme? And why it might be hurting Apple

[Jigglelicious]

I can't can't stand how most people go around comparing macs to PC's. Do they not realize that PC stands for Personal Computer? Is a mac not a personal computer? Of course it is! What a silly question to ask. So then why the huge line drawn between PC and Mac? As if the two are something completly different?

Obviously, most people are trying to compare macs to what some call "wintels", which is a much better name to use. Of course, not all computers use an intel processor, and not all use the windows OS, so even this can be misleading. The best name is still the one originally intended for it: the IBM-compatible computer. After all, all these DELL and Gateway and HP computers are just IBM compatibles, built using the same foundation as the original IBM AT computer.

The reason I make this statement is I feel that Apple might be getting hurt by referring to IBM compatibles as PC's. When an unknowledgeable person wants to buy a computer (which is what the vast majority of computer purchasers are), they know they are not only buying a computer, but that they want to get a PC, simply because its what everyone else uses. If you tell them to consider getting a Mac, they immediately shrug it off because they know that a Mac isn't a PC, and instead think its some alien computer from the 80's which can't run any software they want. Maybe i'm crazy, but I feel that if Apple started to acknowledge that Macs are indeed PC's, and that a DELL and the rest are really just IBM-compatibles, people might start to look at Apple as being a 'normal' computer, and the IBM compatibles as something ancient and too technical for them.

Does anyone else have an opinion on this? Or am I just nuts?

 

[Sun Baked]

I think you left out Amiga.

While they are once again in bankruptcy the Golden Master of AmigaOS 4.0 Beta give hope to the crazy people who think Amiga will some day rise from the ashes and start shipping Amigas again.

And yes somebody did buy the rights to the current OS and plans on shipping it, but it runs on the PPC platform.

And they would probably be crushed if you called an Amiga, just another PC.

 

[PlaceofDis]

i agree that apple is being hurt by the PC vs Mac name game, yet i do see apple trying to overcome this at times. after all in the G5 add they called it the "fastest PC" or "fastest personal computer" either way apple would gain marketshare if more and more people realized what a viable option it is

 

[g3ski]

Jigglelicious,

yes many of us Mac users arel conscious of this morally reprehensible mislabelling of the computers. Unfortunately the world is so entrenched in the use of the name "PC" that there is ultimately nothing that can be done. I have just gotten used to the fact that it is the way it is. Oh well.

On the other hand, and Mac is a still a Mac, and a PC, while a Dell and others are mostly just part of the clump of PCs. Hence the common users comments, "...oh I dunno, it's some sort of big PC tower thing that sits under my desk...."

 

[BornAgainMac]

Mac uses the PowerPC chip!

 

[g3ski]

Mac uses the PowerPC chip!

very nice

 

[dizastor]

...one more thing

Aren't Mac's now IBM compatible? Who makes the G5?

 

[MacFan25863]

How about "Macs" and "Not Macs".


Nice and simple.

 

[windowsblowsass]

Aren't Mac's now IBM compatible? Who makes the G5?

an "ibm comaptible" refers to a computer which is really just a
spinoff/derivitive of the original ibm pc while macs are derived from the apple1 and appleII. just because a computer uses a chip made by ibm doesnt make it an 'ibm compatible'. and if this was tre then any mac since the pm 6100 (first ppc mac) would be an bm compatible because the power pc architechure was made by ibm.

 

[arogge]

My PowerMac is sometimes called "Macintosh PC" because Apple made the PC before IBM made the term popular. The higher-end systems are called "technical workstations" or "visual workstations". Unfortunately, Apple continues to separate Macs from PCs in its
iTunes advertising: "For Mac + PC"

 

[upperblue79]

but didn't apple first use the phrase personal computer, since they first said it, they should market on it.

 

[FuzzyBallz]

Jigglelicious... LOL

Or the Mac lovers, they might as well call it Apples Vs. Oranges.

 

[legion]

but didn't apple first use the phrase personal computer, since they first said it, they should market on it.

No, A guy from IBM first used the phrase "personal computer"

See here:
Wikipedia

 

[mgargan1]

Hey Jigglelicious, how do you have an emac that's 1.4 GHz? They don't make any of those... and if you've OC'd it, how'd you OC your mac?

 

[cb911]

i don't think that the seperation by using the terms of 'PC' and 'Mac' is hurting Apple.... now people realise that Apple's (Mac's) are something special, better than a PC, because if not everyone has one, that must mean that it's better, right? people are starting to see that Macs are the exotic european cars of the computer world, you can't go around comparing a Mac to a PC, and i dont' think they should...

besides, most people realise that a PC and a Mac are the same thing: a computer. they dont' think that Macs are only for high-end stuff, especially now that the iMacs have had so much media attention and the eMac is out there.

 

[OldManJimbo]

apple would gain marketshare if more and more people realized what a viable option it is

. . . . and exactly WHY would Apple gaining marketshare be a good thing? I rather prefer being part of a secret society that is not meant or built for everyone.

If the whole world started using Mac, the software would become bastardized and would start to run just like the PC I have holding the door open in my office.

 

[slughead]

I can't can't stand how most people go around comparing macs to PC's. Do they not realize that PC stands for Personal Computer? Is a mac not a personal computer? Of course it is! What a silly question to ask. So then why the huge line drawn between PC and Mac? As if the two are something completly different?

First off, the proper name for a PC would probably have to be x86 PC I'd imagine.

Second, the Power Macs are more like workstations than PCs in price, performance, proprietary hardware, and speciality.

Therefore, the iMacs are the only PCs apple makes. I'm not sure this is true, but it makes sense.