PC’s vs. Mac’s - No Contest?

This review may seem one-sided seeing as how I am a PC mark. I have however used Macs in the past quite frequently so I will add my insight into the two brands as democratically I can.

Pro’s

Parts/Repair Shops

Open up just about any phone book and you will find tons of listings for PC repair and parts stores. Stores like CompUSA, Staples, Office Max, have warehouses full of PC’s and PC parts ready for shipment. Parts for PCs are available at just about every shop in the book.

Look for someone who sells Mac parts (or even sells Mac’s) and you will be lucky to find one store in a 100-mile radius. Where I live there are 2 places in that radius that will sell Mac’s. One place will have to specially order it along with any parts you need. Both companies would have to ship out your Mac to have it repaired because they do not do it in house. Now I didn’t call every single store in my area, but out of the 15 places I called only 2 places did anything with Macs.

Of course you could do everything online. On the net you will find a wealth of software and parts for Macs. Of course doing it this way you will have to pay shipping and then install everything yourself.

Software Availability

This poses the same problems as hardware, just about everywhere you go sells PC software and maybe if you are lucky a tiny section of Mac software. Of course the software you do find for Macs are usually more expensive that the PC software.

Of course you can go on the net and get your software, but again you are paying extra for shipping and handling.

PC Vs. Mac’s

This is the literally fight of the century. While PCs have the backing of some of the biggest companies on the planet; Mac’s struggle along with their tough ardent group of supporters.

A few years ago Mac’s had the argument that they were better at doing graphics than PC’s. And they were right they were, but now with the faster processors, better graphics cards, faster motherboards, etc. PC’s have the Mac’s beat yet again.

Speed wise Macs were faster than PCs, but with the new chips they are again beat. Mac’s unfortunately don’t come out with new versions as fast as PCs. Which is good for the people who buy them. You don’t have to worry about buying a system and having it outdated by the time you get it out of the box.

Reliability/Stability

Of course the main argument for Mac’s is they are a hell of a lot more stable than PC’s. Well there you really have no argument from me. Of all the times I used a Mac (which was actually quite a bit) it never once crashed. I wish I could say the same for my PC.

Another thing I noticed with Mac’s is they are a lot more reliable when it comes to always booting up and shutting down properly. Of course I think you can contribute that more to the OS than to the system itself.

Both Mac’s and PC’s seem to last a long time if given the proper treatment so there really is no difference there. Most of the PC problems I experienced in the shop I worked for were user errors. Of course there was the occasionally dead hard-drive and broken CR-Rom. Most of the time it was people screwing around with settings or foreign programs.

Mac’s on the other hand are probably a little more reliable seeing as how it is a lot harder to change the settings on a Mac since they are so user friendly. Trying to change system settings or deleting system files is tougher to do on a Mac, which protects the user.

Overall

All in all I will keep my PC. Parts and repair shops are abundant, I know it inside and out, and it is almost the industry standard.

Will I ever go over to a Mac? Probably not, it would take a lot of convincing for me to give up my PC. Mainly I would need better access to support and repairs, software would have to be more abundant and cheaper.