Mac vs. PC: Roadside Edition

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief August 31, 2010 · 1 min read

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Whenever someone asks me why I have not converted to Mac, I’d like to show this little photo as some sort of analogy.

This is a Mac, it will never fall on it’s side. Nobody dies on a Mac, you always have steady speed and it does not let you customize so you don’t ruin it. Anyone can drive a Mac.

This is a PC, in fact, it’s an example of a PC because there are unlimited choices. It’s hard to drive, but if you learn how to do it, you’ll easily reach 150mph in a few seconds, many people die in them because it’s hard to handle, you can customize it anyway you like, only people capable of driving transmission of fastass speeds with nothing to protect you from falling manage to see it’s full potential, the rest die out by natural selection or quit and buy Macs.

{via Lockergnome}

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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150 Comments

Epstein · 16 years ago

I would want a Mac too but it’s very expensive. mainly the reason why there are more PC users than Mac users.

I bet a lot of PC users want to try a Mac too, they just don’t have the money to spend for it.

d00dz · 16 years ago

Was a longtime user of Windows (every version from Windows 3.1 up to Windows 7). I bought one of the new Macbook Pros a few months ago and I’m a convert.

Bootcamp and you have the best of both worlds.

Cisco · 16 years ago

For a long time I was a window user till I switched to mac a year ago. Mac boots faster and mine has no crushes yet. My present window computer takes forever to boot.

Karl Mac · 16 years ago

They are both PERSONAL COMPUTERS! Perhaps you need to clarify that it is Windows vs. OSX. You can install windows or even linux on a mac. OSX is unix. WIndows appeared in the 80s, unix is here since the 70s, linux is a unix clone from the 90s.

RIv10 · 16 years ago

they’re both just working perfectly..but on different user. plus, a lot of laptop pc are copying mac physical form..

RIv10 · 16 years ago

Whatever happened to MAC sexy form???i think you chose the wrong analogy there..it should be MAC for angelina jolie…sexy, glamour, HOT.. to, say,marion jones..the runner.fast, powerful, well..ok..a bit pretty..
hahahaha..
Switced my good ol laptop to mac…will never look back!:p

JP · 16 years ago

Err… analogy, you say?

IC DeaDPiPoL · 16 years ago

IMO Windows for gaming & compatiblity, GNU/Linux for everything else.

other than that this is a good reference how each OS measures against each other
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/ic_deadpipol/usabilitybyoperatingsystem.jpg

chibabs · 16 years ago

I’ve been using my ultra-reliable Mac Powerbook G4, be it for personal or business use. Bought this in 2006 as a replacement for my first iBook and very much satisfied to date.
I don’t have that much money to buy an iMac so I just decided to install Linux Ubuntu installed on my 10 year old AMD Duron home PC and it works great!!!
Ubuntu gave it a new lease on life!
It’s got OpenOffice (which is very much the same as MS Office) and Firefox, plus ANYONE can use it for working on documents and Surfing the Net without getting worried of virus infections, and nobody complaining “ANG BAGAL!!!”

I’m a computer technician (hardware and software), and I still recommend WINDOWS to my customers.
REASON: If I recommended them to buy a Mac, wala na akong ire-repair na sirang computer, wala nang ire-reformat, wala nang kaialngan ng upgrade, at mawawalan na din ako ng trabaho!!!

Joshua M · 16 years ago

@diablo3 a laptop is for an on the go device a computer that would come in handy to browse the web, do documents, and stuff but alienware for a laptop? I know what you are thinking – gaming! – NOT worth it if you are going for gaming machine stick with a desktop PC at half or 3/4 the price of your alienware you can get and build a monstrous desktop on watercooling an SLi or Crossfire VC. Laptops are laptops

Laptops = MAC OSX
Desktop = PC Windows 7 or what ever version

nuf said

david · 16 years ago

wrong analogy. the more appropriate one would be segway vs motorcycle. one gives you a proprietary, smooth, expensive, and easy to use experience, the other you can keep as stock, or customise however you wish.

John Carl · 16 years ago

Awts, I was a hardcore PC user. I needed a PC because of my work environment – Electronics Engineering. Most simulation softwares work only on PCs. Indeed, Mac can’t tear down that fact.

I just shifted to Mac last Saturday. I’m a lot satisfied and every time Snow Leopard greets me, I become stress-free. A Mac can give a dose brand coolness for my ego. It’s a lot secured. It’s also UNIX-based, so I can play around with the Terminal.

On the other side of the spectrum, I thought I would still need the power of Windows. Simple problem to solve: I installed Windows 7 on my Mac via BootCamp.

JKisaragi · 16 years ago

I’d give up my Windows desktop and notebook for one of those new Macbooks.

Don’t get me wrong though. I’m having quite a good experience with Windows. I guess the 10hr battery life and the Garageband software (included in iLife) is really the highlight as to why I want one of those.

But alas, I quit my job to become a full-time student. So even if I manage to sell some of my stuff, I’d still be short of cash as to the accessories that I’ll need to protect that thing. And also additional software (like maybe Microsoft Office for Mac).

Maybe when I pass the bar I could buy one for myself. But until then, I guess my PC and notebook will have to do.

diablo3 · 16 years ago

choose alienware as laptop rather than mac laptop! end of story! :p

John Carl · 16 years ago

Awts, I was a hardcore PC user. I needed a PC because of my work environment – Electronics Engineering. Most simulation softwares work only on PCs, and Mac can’t tear down that fact.

On the other side of the spectrum, I thought I would still need the power of Windows. Simple problem to solve: I installed Windows 7 on my Mac via BootCamp.

Monborj · 16 years ago

This is exactly the sort of thing I’ve been trying to tell everyone!

I’ve been a Win user since version 3.1 to Windows 7. Last year, I was forced to use a Mac at work. After using it for around 6 months, I got so frustrated about the inability to customize things and the way it babies you too much.

I ended up demanding the office to issue me a Windows 7 laptop =) I’m now a happy boy

never again Mac.

Miss Kate · 16 years ago

I beg to disagree Mr. Yugatech. I’m a mac user and just like what phoenix_down10 said, Mac can be customized according to your liking. I know that Mac is more expensive but if you’re looking for longevity, a Mac is worth every centavo. It won’t crash on you and you need not install and run virus scans. You also get free system/application upgrades from time to time. Mac solved my simple problems: I don’t want a computer that keeps on hanging, I want a computer that’s easy to use and I don’t like a computer that crashes all the time! Boo PC. :P

android_fanboi · 16 years ago

what about security on the Macs..

–
Googleâ€™s answer to internal security: Drop Windows, use Mac or Linux instead

http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/31/googles-answer-to-internal-security-drop-windows-use-mac-or-linux-instead/

android_fanboi · 16 years ago

nice analogy.. definitely the mac losses there (one Mac VS the rest of the PC Windows machine hehe )

but they still have their iPhone OS devices versus the rest of the Android smarthones (iPhone OS Vs Android)

if you’re a pro gamer most likely you’re using a PC or a Windows machine…

Gaming on a Mac = Stability but less Framerates (FPS)
Gaming on the PCs = Sky High (fps) but less stable

Source from Arstechnica
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/05/mac-lags-windows-in-gaming-performance-excels-at-stability.ars

Also, said Newell, “what’s sort of surprising is how much more stable our games are on the Mac.” Looking at the early data available from the Steam client, “the Mac is five times more stable than Windows” when using the metric of minutes played versus number of crashes.

Mac OS X has never been the preferred platform for gamers, despite its support for the OpenGL 3D graphics framework. Part of the issue is that graphics hardware drivers for Mac OS X just aren’t as well optimized as they are on Windows. In an OpenGL benchmark comparison between Mac OS X 10.6.3 and Windows 7 x64 by Phoronix running on identical Apple hardwareâ€”in this case, a 9400M-equipped Mac miniâ€”Windows 7 trounced Mac OS X in terms of raw speed.

Valve founder Gabe Newell said the Mac platform and its support for OpenGL represents a great opportunity for the company. “We’re definitely not as mature on the Mac as we are with our work on the PC,” he said.

“We’ve been shipping games for years on Windows; we’ve been shipping them for a week on the Mac,” said Mitchell.

–
you can install Windows 7 (supported by Microsoft) on a mac and experience the same gaming experiences on a PC or much better

Starshadow Rivaulx · 16 years ago

I had a wee Apple iBook G4 and a desktop that ran first on Windows, and then on various flavors of Linux.
Sold the desktop and got a laptop that’s been running Linux Mint for about two years now. And more recently I acquired a netbook running Windows, because my scanner only talks to Windows.

The iBook turned “obsolete” and was sold, and was never replaced by a newer model.

Why? Usage – I have to be one of the most bare-bones users ever on a laptop. Email, social networking, photo editing (yay, GIMP!), and the occasional office app, mainly word processing. For these, the desktop on Linux and the netbook on Windows do me just fine. I can cheerfully state that 98% of my time is on the Linux laptop, and rarely have I had the kind of tear-out-your-hair problems that previous versions of Windows used to give me.

Price also matters. Just couldn’t afford the price of a new Apple machine, much as I enjoyed working with my iBook. It’s got everything all beautifully integrated, and it’s really worth what you pay for, only I wasn’t willing to pay it. *grin*

It’s all a matter of choice, I think. If you like what you’ve got, and it does what you want it to do, then more power to you!

Dave · 16 years ago

Still don’t have idea about Mac until i read this one, well thanks for the analogy. It really shows that MAC has different better features.

Marcus · 16 years ago

kaya lang nga, when it comes to price, it’s the other way around hehe… (is that a Ducati or I’m reading it right, Kawasaki?!)

phoenix_down10 · 16 years ago

contrary to popular belief, macs can be customized. the latest mac pro can reach up to 12 cores and more than 8gb of RAM. video cards can also be upgraded. but after all of these, iiyak ka sa hirap.

when you talk about macs as computers, i say macbooks are still the leaders in the portable computing world. nothing beats that 10 hour maximum battery life. i once had to write a test for my philosophy class in a coffee shop without any wall plugs left. from 6pm to 11:30pm i worked without even needing to charge and i stilll had 2 hours of battery life left. of course netbooks can achieve something like this but a macbook is a laptop, not a netbook.

But i guess the mac versus pc debate is a stalemate after all. macs are expensive, and you can get more bang for your buck for a pc. with the release of windows 7, snow leopard now has a rival in the scene.

btw, i use both pcs and macs. i still tweak desktops at home, build them, and fix em. i use xp, vista, and 7. i dual boot osx and 7 on my macbok.

MacMoMukhaMo! · 16 years ago

i’ve been w/ computers far too long now i cant even remember when i started. i’ve been w/ Linux,Win,etc and MacOS as well. As for this argument, theres only ne thing i can say. MAC are for Dumbasses.

bogus · 16 years ago

try it both before making any comment. if you can’t/didn’t try it then you don’t have the right to comment. otherwise your comment are just hearsay. no substance.

Teknisyan · 16 years ago

If that bike is a MAC, then that’s one expensive bike!! :)

That’s one heck of an analogy! :)

Jiro Yan · 16 years ago

I love Mac so much…

mAdden · 16 years ago

MAC just made for sosie people who are always on the coffee shop to display it. LOL
PC rocks!

Ronaldo F. San Pablo · 16 years ago

PC rocks! \m/

It’s EASY when you know HOW. ;)

JunAlquis · 16 years ago

let’s face it.. what made Macs famous was the failure of Vista and iPods. I’m not saying that it is bad just what made it famous.

manong · 16 years ago

do you mean an apple mac is an overpriced bicycle while a windows pc is crash-prone motorcycle?

and linux? maybe a free bus ride with a hostage-taker inside…

jay · 16 years ago

i smell bloodshed in the air hahaha

lawreas · 16 years ago

versatility/function/apps/games/familiarity (read: computer lessons since elementary)/productivity/price value = windows

hardware/software integration/premium feel/user-friendliness/stability/rich people/simple ui= mac

A · 16 years ago

Mac is stupid. Linux has everything that Mac has in terms of security and performance as compared to windows. The only thing Mac has that Linux doesn’t are those idiotic media products like Adobe and whatnot, which are on Windows anyway.

HP Guy · 16 years ago

Supporting corporate business, we’re still using windows and i bet we will be using windows until eternity… at home im using Linux!

marco rodriguez · 16 years ago

AFFORDABILITY OVER POPULARITY.. YOU ARE JUST PAYING FOR THE NAME WHEN YOU BUY A MAC.. BETTER BUY A PC..

Fleeb · 16 years ago

A Mac is still a personal computer.

sylv3rblade · 16 years ago

Mac for programming work (unless of course you’re a .NET guy), PC for gaming.

Steve Jobs · 16 years ago

P.S.

and if you like mac, then buy a real mac!

Steve Jobs · 16 years ago

for windows users here who didn’t have a chance to experience the wonderful world of mac, you can try to install mac on your pc via several i-distros (iATKOS, iDeneb, iPC, Kalyway) just google it for more info.
_____

—-> TurkOSX86

Joshua M · 16 years ago

When I go for a desktop computer I choose PC

When I want a laptop I choose MAC end of story

fr0stbyte · 16 years ago

There’s a reason why driving lessons are created. Boo Yah! :b

Tim · 16 years ago

I mostly just surf the web, email, watch some movies- Windows XP on a used Dell works fine for me. Macs are quite overpriced.

Rico ZuÃ±iga · 16 years ago

I’ve been a PC user for more than a decade and a half and have recently “switched” to a Mac (I still have both systems though). Working on a Mac is definitely smoother with its accurately blended hardware and software. When we talk about a PC, it’s just an empty shell wherein we decide what OS to put resulting in a not so smooth and almost crude experience (e.g. multitouch support and gestures). And when it comes to power, hardware-wise they’re just the same except for the price of course. But with regards to the OS, unless you put a Linux or Unix based OS on your PC, OSX is still the most technically advanced. One good example is your command prompt in Windows as compared to Mac’s bash-based terminal. You still need to install a 3rd party tool (like PuTTY) on Windows to get even the most basic of services such as SSH. This is where the Mac really shines, it can cater to beginners as well as power users.

Arnold Gamboa · 16 years ago

Ouch! Sakit mo naman magsalita, Abe. :D

MyMaria · 16 years ago

Been a Windows power user for 16 years… converted to Mac last year — best decision I’ve ever made. Oh and no, I’m not a gamer so customization was never a real issue for me. I just grew tired of the crashes I get from Windows. But it all really depends on the user — what you need your computer to do and how much money you’re willing to spend for it. It’s that simple. no need to choose sides really. ^_^ Just like I prefer driving my automatic car now over the previous one I had with manual transmission (i don’t miss it one bit). But that’s just my 2 cents…

http://www.bastaigatsikat.com/2009/04/one-about-mac.html