Hot take: Macs are technically PCs

[Squidiey]

I don’t like the term *PC* when people use it to refer a non-Mac since it stands for *Personal Computer*. and guess what? Macs are Personal Computers (aka. PCs)

So I prefer saying the following terms

Mac PC (If it’s made by Apple)
Non-Mac PC (If it’s made by a non-Apple company)

 

[Paul1964]

Yeah ... I get what you mean but you need to consider established lexicon and are people going to understand you?

 

[pshufd]

I say Mac if it's a Mac, PC if it's a Windows PC, Windows PC if it makes sense in the context of a discussion. I also sometimes have to qualify Intel or Apple Silicon as Intel is closer to a PC.

 

[dmr727]

With all due respect - this isn't much of a hot take. This kind of thing has been discussed since the early 80s, shortly after IBM released their PC in '81.

 

[timber]

I believe that historically it also has something to do with the fact that there was the literally called IBM PC (intel CPU and MS OS) which ended being the template for the PC Compatible market which in turn are the ancestors of today Windows PCs.

 

[Basic75]

Technically the Intel Macs were PCs, but it has been established since the IBM Personal Computer what a PC is and what isn't a PC. Nobody called an Amiga 3000 a PC. Nobody called an Acorn A400 a PC. Nobody called an Atari Mega ST a PC. And nobody called a Mac a PC. You should look at the old "PC vs. Mac" ads.

 

[Squidiey]

I say Mac if it's a Mac, PC if it's a Windows PC, Windows PC if it makes sense in the context of a discussion. I also sometimes have to qualify Intel or Apple Silicon as Intel is closer to a PC.

I respect your opinion, but personally I believe that computers should be categorized based on their operating system like the following:

macOS PCs
Windows PCs
Linux PCs
FreeBSD PCs

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I respect your opinion, but personally I believe that computers should be categorized based on their operating system like the following:

macOS PCs
Windows PCs
Linux PCs
FreeBSD PCs

I mean the pedantic side of me agrees with you, but the rest of me realizes that no one else is going to do this. 🙂

 

[maflynn]

I respect your opinion, but personally I believe that computers should be categorized based on their operating system like the following:

macOS PCs
Windows PCs
Linux PCs
FreeBSD PCs

Redundant and unnecessary

I'm not about to say my linux PC is doing this or that. I'm either going to say I'm having issues with cachyos, or my pc.

I think most people will get trolled and belittled in reddit if they said macOS PC. Also would also incur confusion, because there is a thing called hackintosh.

I don’t like the term *PC* when people use it to refer a non-Mac since it stands for *Personal Computer*. and guess what? Macs are Personal Computers (aka. PCs)

Well if you're going to be that detailed then lets call iPads computers, and our watches computers, wait my chevy colorado has a CPU, a display that is touch based and executes apps. So is that a computer too? 😛

I think overall being that padentic has more downsides then any possible positives.

With all due respect - this isn't much of a hot take. This kind of thing has been discussed since the early 80s, shortly after IBM released their PC in '81.

Yep, its been something since the macintosh came out, and Apple folks bristle at calling their computers a "PC"

 

[Paul1964]

I respect your opinion, but personally I believe that computers should be categorized based on their operating system like the following:

macOS PCs
Windows PCs
Linux PCs
FreeBSD PCs

I can be as pedantic as the best of them because I'm "on the spectrum" but long established lexicon means you'll actually cause more confusion, not less. Besides the ridicule.

 

[LeeW]

It's Mac or PC. Like it, don't like it, it's not changing.

 

[Steve Adams]

He's not wrong though. Both are computers, both are personal. They are all personal computers. They just run different operating systems. I cannot wait to try my new Macbook pc I am getting. ha ha. 😁

 

[LeeW]

The OP is lucky he posted in this section rather than the main forums, where he would have been slaughtered for raising this again (for the 30,000th time in 30 years). 🙂

 

[eltoslightfoot]

The OP is lucky he posted in this section rather than the main forums, where he would have been slaughtered for raising this again (for the 30,000th time in 30 years). 🙂

You are 100% correct. 😀

 

[throAU]

I don’t like the term *PC* when people use it to refer a non-Mac since it stands for *Personal Computer*. and guess what? Macs are Personal Computers (aka. PCs)

So I prefer saying the following terms

Mac PC (If it’s made by Apple)
Non-Mac PC (If it’s made by a non-Apple company)

Get help

 

[Paul1964]

 

[Mrbobb]

Once upon my teenage years, I came to conclude to calling male friends as boyfriends and female friends as girlfriends, perfectly logical right. People looked at me funny, I gave in not to do that because I didn't want to be the weirdo.

 

[maflynn]

He's not wrong though. Both are computers, both are personal. They are all personal computers. They just run different operating systems. I cannot wait to try my new Macbook pc I am getting. ha ha. 😁

You can be technically right and functionally wrong at the same time

The OP is lucky he posted in this section rather than the main forums, where he would have been slaughtered for raising this again (for the 30,000th time in 30 years). 🙂

LOL, truer words have not been spoken 😀

 

[Steve Adams]

You can be technically right and functionally wrong at the same time


LOL, truer words have not been spoken 😀

Well if we are splitting hairs, I am functionally right as well. Both are Computers, Both are personal, both do functional personal computing tasks. Both use different Operating systems. 🤪

 

[hg.wells]

Well if we are splitting hairs, I am functionally right as well. Both are Computers, Both are personal, both do functional personal computing tasks. Both use different Operating systems. 🤪

Pulling out my iPad PC

 

[maflynn]

Pulling out my iPad PC

You're joking but I recall people here at MR saying something along those lines at how the iPad is a PC and again, technically true, but functionally not because a PC is a certain type of computer.

 

[Corefile]

I don’t like the term *PC* when people use it to refer a non-Mac since it stands for *Personal Computer*. and guess what? Macs are Personal Computers (aka. PCs)

So I prefer saying the following terms

Mac PC (If it’s made by Apple)
Non-Mac PC (If it’s made by a non-Apple company)

PC is a generic term for a computer meaning Personal Computer. So that could be like a Atari ST or an computer with a CPU. The "PC" term today is incorrectly used against anything that might be running Windows. But this field goes back to the original IBM PC and compatibles. So PC today for those should mean IBM PC compatible which is directly running MS-DOS on x86. If your computer can run MS-DOS and is x86 then it is a PC by that definition. Computers running ARM chips with Windows are not really IBM PC compatible.

 

[Steve Adams]

You're joking but I recall people here at MR saying something along those lines at how the iPad is a PC and again, technically true, but functionally not because a PC is a certain type of computer.

Yes, it is. A computer that is owned by the person. AKA personal computer. AKA PC. My iPad is a PC too. You should say windows PC, Mac PC, Linux PC. It's all different, but kinda the same! They are all computers for the person.

I totally get what you are saying and I am having a bunch of fun with this, but I am factually and functionally correct. The rest is semantics.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Yes, it is. A computer that is owned by the person. AKA personal computer. AKA PC. My iPad is a PC too. You should say windows PC, Mac PC, Linux PC. It's all different, but kinda the same! They are all computers for the person.

I totally get what you are saying and I am having a bunch of fun with this, but I am factually and functionally correct. The rest is semantics.

The problem is you live in a society not by yourself. The semantics are honestly more important if you actually want to get your point across. But like I said, I agree with you in classic pedantic, "Well, actually!" fashion.

 

[JPack]

Industry definition vs. personal definition. Unless you live on an island or are still stuck in the 1970s, use the normal definition.

IBM coined the term IBM PC. After its tremendous success, the PC clones and PC compatible products that followed are all Intel and AMD based running a Microsoft OS.

After PC gained so much traction with IBM, Apple strategically replaced their references their computers to Mac.