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Why is Mac better than a PC? Input needed!

A

amsnbn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 10, 2012
2
0
Georgia, USA
Dear MacRumors Community,

I will soon be applying for a staff writer position in the Technology section of my college newspaper. Needless to say, I need a couple of writing samples to showcase my writing ability. I have decided to make one of my samples a feature story, focusing on the following topic: What makes Apple computers superior to Windows computers? That’s a fairly broad question, but I figure everyone has a slightly different reason(s) and I don’t want to pigeonhole your responses. That said, I do request that you focus on one or two primary reasons. Please feel free to elaborate, and personal experiences always make things more interesting!:)

Since this is a feature story, I will use direct quotes. However, this will be used just as a writing sample and is not intended to be formally published.

On a final note, I welcome all reasonable opinions and if you have criticisms/praise of the Windows software/hardware please express them. Also, if you have criticisms of the Mac OS please explain them as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read and contribute to this post. Your input is greatly appreciated!
 
Neither is "better"
They are different ways of doing the same things
And it comes down to personal preference

Your question might be better phrased, "why do you prefer X over Y?"
 
Wow, your first post is quite a doozy there my friend. Being new to this community you probably don't realize the oft debated can of worms you've opened and what this thread will probably evolve into.

In the spirit of helping you out I'll give you a few thoughts. I've owned both Mac and PC computers and use both on a regular basis. In my personal life I'm all mac, but do bootcamp for a side business I do. In my job it's all PC as that is what the company uses. Both platforms will get the job done and thus it really comes down to a personal preference.

For me specifically, I like using Macs because I enjoy OSX and the design of the hardware. When I was a PC owner I did struggle with the occasional virus and spyware. I hated having to keep up with Norton or McAfee and all the virus definition updates. It frustrated me that system resources were constantly drained to run virus software in the background. As my machine aged I endured slow down and regular crashes and freezes.

With Mac I do not have these same struggles. Have my Mac machines crashed, yes, but nowhere near the frequencey of the PC's I've owned. My Macs are easier for me to manage (I'm not an IT guy) and setting up networks, working with externals, and general software stuff is just easier. I have not run into driver conflicts or bios problems.

Of course this is just my personal opinion and my personal experience, but for my uses, my time, and my money I prefer to use a Mac. I don't dislike PC or feel the need to bash them. Computers are tools. Find what works for you and use it.
 
They're different. Neither are better, both have their pros and cons, both are used for different things.
 
One word, UNIX.

As a programmer I can write Python, Perl or PHP scripts and I don’t need to install a single piece of software. I’ve learned UNIX and I don’t need to learn how to use a bunch of new command line utilities. Vi/Vim is installed by default, so is Apache along with mod_php. Also, unlike Windows, OS X has a usable Terminal app.
Install Xcode and Git is installed for you.
 
For a desktop I far prefer my PC over a Mac desktop. I can put the components I want in it - processor, graphics card etc. - and have a powerful machine that's great for gaming and video processing and such. Macs just aren't customizable. For a notebook however, I really like my Macbook Pro. It's great on the go and for in class and everything like that. I'd like to move to the Macbook Air. Both Windows and Mac have their pros and cons.
 
Thank you for the responses so far! Perhaps the original question eluded to pro-Mac bias, which wasn't in any way intended. I guess the more appropriate question would be Do you prefer Mac or Windows (or UNIX), and why? I notice many of you are saying they are different and it comes down to personal preference. Could you elaborate more?

I'm also aware of the inherent risk of starting a thread such as this one, but all answers up to this point have been helpful so far. I would like to keep this as civil as possible.

And I promise I'm not trying to write a feature on personal preference. A biased story is the last thing an objective media outlet would look for.
 
MacDawg said:
Neither is "better"
They are different ways of doing the same things
And it comes down to personal preference

Your question might be better phrased, "why do you prefer X over Y?"
Click to expand...

roadbloc said:
They're different. Neither are better, both have their pros and cons, both are used for different things.
Click to expand...

Both of these pretty much answered your question. Also, I am sure if you did a search of the forums you will find quite a few different threads on this very subject. Just a suggestion. :)
 
TaterToT said:
For a desktop I far prefer my PC over a Mac desktop. I can put the components I want in it - processor, graphics card etc. - and have a powerful machine that's great for gaming and video processing and such. Macs just aren't customizable. For a notebook however, I really like my Macbook Pro. It's great on the go and for in class and everything like that. I'd like to move to the Macbook Air. Both Windows and Mac have their pros and cons.
Click to expand...
Agree, for desktops, PC all the way. The way I have my office and home setups (especially the home one where for example the media setup streaming to my home theater, trading, business, games etc blows away trying to do the same with the iMac or Mac Pro I had), you get a badass desktop setup from a store/direct or upgrade parts easily or build your own. For notebooks though I prefer Macbook Pro's for the aluminum build and battery life and still has the edge in trackpad over the newer laptops from others, but also mainly b/c I can run Win7 in a virtual system at the same time as OS/X, best of both worlds.

I would say some years ago, Mac's were more stable etc, but I've honestly had all my Mac stuff crash more then my PC setups or regular laptops. And I've seen PC's get much better than before, I mean Win7 pretty much negated the big difference between Apple OS and Win before, Vista was a horrible resource hogging buggy OS (even went back to XP at the time).

You can't go wrong either way now IMO. Just depends on what you prefer. I mean for example I do a lot of trading (forex) and greatly prefer using the platforms on the PC. Though if i'm not around them I'll load up Win7 in virtual box and use the MBP.

Neither are really better than the other, pro's and cons to both as was said before.
 
amsnbn said:
And I promise I'm not trying to write a feature on personal preference. A biased story is the last thing an objective media outlet would look for.
Click to expand...

I don't think there's one media who is not biased...


But back to the question why we think Mac are better...

The resell value of the Mac... (for my exemple we forget about the apple refurb store online, I'm talking about you pay, you use it right now) Exemple the iMac... if you want an iMac new, you'll need to spend 1000$ to get it... year after year, it's 1000$, it's the same thing with the macbook...

So a buyer would be pleased to buy a mac for 800$ even if it's a year or two old... He just can't buy a new one for that price..

The PC market is marketed differently... A PC... how much is a new PC ? You can get a new PC for 300$... They look all alike.

Even the gamerbox who cost higher, you will not buy a year or two old.... it's against logic, you want today power, not yesterday tech..
 
amsnbn said:
Dear MacRumors Community,

I will soon be applying for a staff writer position in the Technology section of my college newspaper. Needless to say, I need a couple of writing samples to showcase my writing ability. I have decided to make one of my samples a feature story, focusing on the following topic: What makes Apple computers superior to Windows computers? That’s a fairly broad question, but I figure everyone has a slightly different reason(s) and I don’t want to pigeonhole your responses. That said, I do request that you focus on one or two primary reasons. Please feel free to elaborate, and personal experiences always make things more interesting!:)

Since this is a feature story, I will use direct quotes. However, this will be used just as a writing sample and is not intended to be formally published.

On a final note, I welcome all reasonable opinions and if you have criticisms/praise of the Windows software/hardware please express them. Also, if you have criticisms of the Mac OS please explain them as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read and contribute to this post. Your input is greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

The title of your article states a bias for the Mac. Try something more creative (or at least not already debated to death). I would also suggest talking to real people and getting real quotes. Folks in forums have been known to say stuff just for the heck of it.

Dale
 
Writing a piece like that in my book would be a quick reason NOT to higher you.
Reason why is
1. it is wrong on multiple accounts either way.
The correct answer to which OS is it depends. Each one has its plus and minuses. The second you go into saying why it is better than blank you loss all credibility as at tech writer.

So wrong type of piece to write and would be a reason not to higher you for the job. A review of something is fine but do not use that as a sample. I would not higher no matter which way it went. The title along is a reason to throw your resume and samples in the trash and move on to the next person.
 
PC. It's the industry standard, unless you work in desktop publishing, but even in that industry Macs are losing ground.

Bottom line is:

(1) There is so much more software for Windows than Mac

(2) Even if there is a Mac version of that software it is inferior to the Windows version. (Examples: Office, Flash, Maya and even Adobe Creative Suite is superior on the Windows version).
 
Mac is superior because its user interface is better, it is better built, it looks great, and it will make PC diehards rage until the end times.
 
Why is a kitten better than a puppy?

ristlin said:
it will make PC diehards rage until the end times.
Click to expand...

Nope, it's just people like you who make people rage, and give mac users a bad reputation.

Dagless said:
I like Windows for XYZ.
I like Mac for OSX.
(tee hee)
Click to expand...

oh-you-dog.jpg
 
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amsnbn said:
Thank you for the responses so far! Perhaps the original question eluded to pro-Mac bias....

And I promise I'm not trying to write a feature on personal preference. A biased story is the last thing an objective media outlet would look for.
Click to expand...

Did you mean 'alluded'? Or did you hope to elude the grammar nazis? And I would only point that out because you are applying for a writing job where writing accuracy kinda counts.

Sorry, but you are absolutely writing about personal preference. Personal preference doesn't have to "biased" if you have made your decision based on clear criteria. Apple computers are not better than Windows computers. They each offer solutions for the problems that people have. For some people, the Apple solution works better. For others, it's a Windows solution they need.

What works for you is personal preference. State what your problem was, and what you needed as a solution, and then compare the two systems fairly.

On the other hand if you are writing a column, then it is all about personal preferences and nobody wants to hear about assessing the criteria fairly. They want to read about gossip and innuendo and jingoism. :)

Luck.
 
Last edited:
Nothing, it's down to personal preference now. Each has a few small advantages over the other but those are only significant to people that do specific things (gamers, film work, design etc.).
 
Well, I like kittens dredged in flour and deep-fried, but I like puppies marinated and then roasted. Different preferences for different tastes.

Did I mention I'm a troll, so eating cute things is normal.
 
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