Mac vs PC

Sincerely Jackie sincerely asked us “I know the basic differences between Microsoft windows and Macs but I was wondering if you could do a show on which differences actually matter when figuring out which one to get.” Of course we can but there’s one qualification, some apples have worms and some windows need cleaning so you can’t call us for tech support. Deal? Deal.

Product selection. Pc’s are all over the map you, can buy a new Pc made from bargain basement parts or a screaming fast super machine. Apple has a very limited product line, their models for pros and consumers. But you need to compare apples to apples here, apples to windows. What I mean is you need to compare the same things. All Mac gear even the consumer stuff is high end not like a cheap e-machine where your buying yesterdays technology for a deep discount.

Available extras. If you want a lot of software and peripherals and printers and external hard drives and wait that’s what peripherals are. Well than the Pc is the winner, but with that comes the down side, there’s the hassle of drivers and operating system compatibility. Will what you bought work with your machine? Apple has fewer choices but the software and peripherals are much more likely to work right out of the box. If it’s something odd like a credit card scanner or a weird piece of alien technology you just need to be sure that it works with your version of windows or your mac O.S.

And in the case of software more choices doesn’t necessarily mean better. Lots of Pc software out there is complete garbage. Super power paint shop professional pro for the professional painter who praints paints professionally portraits of people. Mac software choices are fewer occasionally that can be a big letdown but the choices available tend to be higher quality. Photo shop.

Upgrading. Consumer macs like the imac are all in ones, that means the computer is built right into the back of the screen. This makes them notoriously difficult to upgrade. They’ll let you add a little bit of R.A.M. But swapping out the hard drive is gonna be an adventure. Were goin’ in, hu-rah just like the marines. Nerd marines. Trained in twenty seven different ways to kill a hard drive. The professional macs are much more suited to hard ware tinkering but they still have some limitations. Pc’s reign supreme here. If you want to swap out processors, graphics cards, and mother boards, you can do it. And if your the type that does pullout your mother bored, why are you watching this?

Cost of ownership. How much does your computer cost to run when you bring everything into consideration? Pc’s require a lot of love, anti-virus software, removing mal-ware and spy-ware, the time it takes to maintain tinker and fix all the little problems that creep in, and the cost of outside tech support. Have you ever been spanked with one of those big paddles with the holes drilled in it. It feels a lot like that. Fiscally. Apple proponents will make it sound like macs are not only virus proof but that they never ever have any problems, and they never crash, trust me, their computers, they all go down. But to be truthful when it comes to cost of ownership the mac just has less to deal with. I hate apple tech support but I don’t have to call them nearly as much as I used to call pc tech support.

But the biggest factor of all is personal preference. Go to best buy or somewhere you can find a working pc to play around with, tell the sales guy you need some time alone, and just use the computer. Try and do stuff you’d normally do then try and figure out the stuff you would call tech support to find out how to do. You know change settings mess with the machine, cuz the sales people will love it when your done. When your done with the pc go to the apple store and do the same thing on a mac. Then pick the one that’s more intuitive the one that you seem to understand and like the best.

Around here we both use macs, but since nobody’s buying my loyalty I say pick the one that you like.

And now we’re gonna take a special behind the scenes tour, this is the secret place where we edit the show check this out mac, mac, wait a minute dude we use a dell, weird.

Transcribed by: Nick F.

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