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Hot take: Macs are technically PCs

I thought this came from deep in some archived thread for sure, but no, we're now 6 pages into discussing this anew.

What's a PC? What's Pro? Is a phone a computer? Is a tablet a computer? Is Apple Silicon just Arm? Is calling it "the iPhone" ok? Is Space Grey actually black? Is anything truly black? Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?
 
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cheesygrin said:
While we're at it, why do Americans call the fuel they put in their cars "gas"? It's clearly a liquid. Can we please change this.
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If you want the complete answer, it's called gasoline so Gas is short for it. Now GAS in the guitar or camera world is an entirely different thing.
 
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Squidiey said:
Hybrid PC or Dual OS PC
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That quite literally makes no sense.

Also, if it's not my PC, how on this planet am I supposed to know what on earth it's running?

PC as a simple, catch-all term for just about any computer is fairly reasonable.

Macs are a "special" kind of PC. In my experience with Macs, some stuff that would normally work on any old x86 PC won't work the same way with an x86 Mac, hence why I use "PC" to denote computers that aren't Macs, and "Mac" to denote a computer that's made by Apple, since they do have a tendency to operate differently than a Plain x86 PC.

Not to mention the fact I own many tablet PCs that use Atom CPUs and I count those as PCs since they do use a full x86 CPU.
 
I'm old enough to remember the personal computer scene before IBM released the 5150 "IBM PC". In fact I saw a demonstration of IBM's 5100 personal computer ca 1976 (10 to 20 grand at that time). To me, a PC is any general purpose computer that is marketed to be owned and operated by single person - note that marketing for said device is not exclusively for individual owner/operators. That said, a Raspberry Pi with keyboard and monitor qualifies as a PC.
 
meepdarby said:
So apple helped popularize the word PC to market their initial products in the 70s/80s (apple I, II, and Lisa). However after the Macintosh released they had a more clear identity and they ended up really pushing the word Macintosh in the 90s to differentiate themselves once the IBM clones and windows/dos pcs became more common. This really became important in the era of the powerpc Mac clones. But after Steve Jobs returned he simplified it to Mac and really pushed this idea that Macs are not PCs to help differentiate them. And it's been a great marketing strategy. It's not only that we make a competing product, we make a completely different type of product altogether. That differentiation has been at the core of the Macs cult following for years. Even back in the classic Mac OS days the differentiation existed to some extent because of how opinionated and weird apples offerings have always been. But it really got pushed after Mac OS X and the new world Macs (all the cool looking Macs apple released after 1998 that had the new world rom). Your PC doesn't have a smiling icon called the finder looking at you at all times. When things get slow you don't get a beach ball on windows. Or the chime when your computer boots and the fun little sounds Mac OS makes when something is moved or when you do something that your computer can't do. Everything about Mac OS is just different in a way that windows can't be. Some of it is branding, some of it is just the pleasant way that apple products tickle your brain. Just the idea of having an apple logo on what should be a tech product is weird. I am mostly saying this as someone who grew up using windows computers and then switched to Mac in my tweens. I have never been able to look back because it genuinely feels like I am using a completely different category of product. Part of it is also Microsofts fault, they just don't really have a strategy that differentiates them well. Most of what differentiates PC's are their negative aspects (bloatware and copilot). It's not a cool little icon or a fun little sound like on Mac OS. And notice that this same dynamic doesn't exist between iOS and Android. Thats because android does have good marketing to differentiate themselves. Apple has never said "smart phones" vs iPhones. They have always named Android by their name whenever they make a jab or mention it. This is because Google took inspiration from apples philosophy and also created an opinionated product with a robot mascot and a cool material design aesthetic. I think on some level apples marketing team understands that android is closer to IOS as a category than windows pcs are to Mac OS. And it is all Microsofts fault because Microsoft is a very lazy company when it comes to this stuff.
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can you give us the TL;DR of this wall of text?
 
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pshufd said:
Chatgpt summary:



Apple’s marketing made Macs feel like a completely different category from PCs, using distinctive design, sounds, and branding, creating loyalty that Microsoft never matched.
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Windows and Microsoft had just as many happy users but they messed up music, Content, mobile and wearables. The surface band 2 was an awesome device.
 
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notabitail said:
That quite literally makes no sense.

Also, if it's not my PC, how on this planet am I supposed to know what on earth it's running?

PC as a simple, catch-all term for just about any computer is fairly reasonable.

Macs are a "special" kind of PC. In my experience with Macs, some stuff that would normally work on any old x86 PC won't work the same way with an x86 Mac, hence why I use "PC" to denote computers that aren't Macs, and "Mac" to denote a computer that's made by Apple, since they do have a tendency to operate differently than a Plain x86 PC.

Not to mention the fact I own many tablet PCs that use Atom CPUs and I count those as PCs since they do use a full x86 CPU.
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If you don’t know a PC’s OS, just call it a PC
 
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I generally avoid the PC terminology minefield altogether ever since getting a lengthy talking to about it by a Mac-loving pedantic as a kid. I rarely slip up and use the term "PC."
Typically I just refer to any of them as "machine." Or by form factor: "laptop," "box," "tower," "desktop," "server." Only rarely by more specific terminology. "Windows laptop," "Linux server," "MacBook Pro." Or I'll group them: "Windows machines," "Macs." It seems to work fine.
 
JPack said:
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.
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The term "Personal Computer" pre-dates the IBM PC - e.g. OED cites an article from 1977 which used both Personal Computer and the abbreviation PC. The UK magazine Personal Computer World started in 1978.

IBM certainly popularised the abbreviation PC but they didn't create it.

In English, however, words get defined by how they are used, and dictionaries document usage, they don't define words. The OED article above also notes the "specifically IBM compatible" meaning and gives an example of an advert for software that is "Mac and PC compatible".

The reality is that the hugely successful IBM PC hijacked the term "PC" and it now usually refers to an x86/Windows compatible system. Deal with it - and expect confusion if you refer to Macs as "PCs"

Of course, "MAC" really refers to the hardware address of a networking interface, and a Macintosh is one of those hypertrophied red fruit that look delicious but don't actually taste of anything...
🙂
 
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