Mac or WinTel? Which are you?

I'm a confirmed Macintosh fan. Have never owned any other brand of personal computer since 1985. So far, I've had five Macs in the house, starting with the venerable Mac SE 30 (with a whopping 30MB hard drive) to the current G5.

My house has a wireless network for the three Macs we still have, and all I had to do was turn on the Macs and they find each other...

With a couple of exceptions, I've only used WinTel machines at work (the two exceptions were ad agencies, which continue to be a bastion of Mac friendliness).

I'm a new Mac convert, and have to say that I love it! I love the use-ability, and the inventiveness. I like the fact that it is fast as hell and is creative and cool and doesn't do stuff just because that is how it has always been done. Mac took a step back and rethought a lot of basic things, reworked accepted paradigms (sp?).

Go MAC!! (may my little Gretchen live long and prosper)

Back when we were deciding which format would survive - VHS or beta - I had to choose IBM (now referred to as PC) over Mac. More programs were written for PC, and more users (80% vs 20%) meant a broader market for my books. It was a no brainer. When the web was invented, I jumped aboard because it was truly cross platform. I picked up the last 20% of the market! And I haven't looked back. There was no question that VHS was inferior, and none that it is the survivor.

My guru's younger sister went to college and earned a degree in some kind of art, technical, design, category - entirely on Mac. All the jobs available when she graduated in the mid-90s were on PCs. Even the publishing industry changed over about that time.
I've never used a Mac, but I will accept that they are better than PCs. They are the beta.

When I was in college, there were 2 computer labs - one PC and one Mac. The PC lab was big and always crowded. I went in there once and couldn't concentrate on what I was doing. From that point on, I made it into the very cozy Mac lab with only about 6 computers. Usually I was the only one there. Since then, I have never left my college companions. I am on my 3rd Mac in 11 years, each being upgraded due to technology advances and not because they were broken. I love my PowerBook.

I have worked with PCs in many jobs. Including one place with IT support so overwhelmed that I left the blue screen of death on my computer for an entire week before he could attend to my needs. Curses of crashing programs and computers are frequent in my current job. Something that is rare (though not unheard of) in the Mac environments I have been in.

They may be more pervasive and have a greater marketshare, but PCs, in my opinion, are not better than Macs by any means.

Boy, talk about a subject designed to elicit comments!!!

We're having this very discussion at the college at which I work. IT techies are generally VERY anti-Mac. They let us keep our Macs, but only very grudgingly, and anyone requesting support must endure a 20-minute lecture or ragging before getting said requested support.

We've started a Mac discussion group and have discovered, through actually gathering data, that just about 30% of the faculty not only use Macs, but are very enthusiastic and adamant about it. It's going to continue to be a crazed discussion here on campus.

I'll have to disagree with Richard Frisbie about a couple of things. I am taking a certification course for electronic graphic design at the New England Institute of Art. It is exclusively Mac-based. Every professional I've talked to in the design field says you gotta do Mac, end of discussion. And here at the college at which I work, the graphic design courses were always taught on PCs, but that is likely to change soon -- again, because they want to make their students marketable. Some of the science departments are also exclusively Mac, but I don't know enough about science research to explain why they are so emphatic about Macs.

Given a choice, I will use nothing but a Mac, and frankly, I can't understand why anyone would even consider anything else. I think the marketing people at Apple have learned their lesson from the 1970's and they're creating computers that meet the needs of the AVERAGE user. I can put up a web page in 10 minutes, using my .Mac account, iWeb, iPhoto, iMovies, etc. It's a no-brainer. And iPod is going to suck a lot of people over to the Mac side. I gave my nephew, a confirmed PC user, my old iMac and now, he won't consider anything but a Mac.

Once you go Mac, you never go back.

And furthermore, as a CompUSA employee said to me once, "A Bill Gates World is a Very Bad Place."

Oh, by the way, re Catholic vs. Protestant. Umberto Ecco wrote a very funny article once, arguing that PC were Protestant and Macs were Catholic. I've got to see if I can find that article, because it was a hoot.

Oh Wendy PLEASE find that! I love The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum (although I must be the only one) and I love Mac, and I love Catholics! This is perfect! (LOL)

Eric, you're not the only Eco fan out there! I loved the two books you cite, with Foucault's Pendulum being one of my favorites of all time.

For what it's worth, I use both Mac and PC on a daily basis. Given the choice, I'd always go for Mac. It's just much more of a pleasure to use. The funny thing is, with OS X, it's better both for software development as well as user experience.

Love the new ad campaign with the Daily Show reporter acting as the PC.

I am a regular in Adobe's Photoshop forums. Many of the people there are Mac users, and there is constant dialogue on the subject of Mac vs. PC, and it's not always civil. Some of the forums are even segregated! I guess they were afraid the two factions would tear each other apart!
My observations: Maccies tend to be fanatically enthusiastic about their machines. PC users consider theirs a tool to get things done and have little emotional involvement, other than swearing at Microsoft occasionally.
I worked in an engineering environment for forty years or so, and virtually everything in business/technical (not artistic) is PC-based. So, when I bought my personal machines, I bought what I knew.
I do think that if you look at the hardware and software costs to own either, the PC is the better value...if your main interest is in WHAT the machine does, rather than HOW it does it. In the early days of Mac's, I think Finder had a real edge over Windows. Nowadays, I am not so sure it is significantly better, but I am not an expert on Mac's, so I could be wrong. A lot of the preference for one or the other is based on what you have become accustomed to. Either one will do the job in most cases.
Final point...there is a LOT more software available forPC's

pc... pc....

what is that ? some kind of computer?

well, I prefer a mac . . . own both, but the Windows based machine hasn't been turned on in a very long time. I think the only place where using a Mac really makes a difference is with print designers, as many print houses still are mac based. Web based jobs, I think could go either way - but if I had my druthers, I would be on a mac.

I am not too bog a fan of those new commercials though. I think I don't like them because I have a more technical background, and they are overly simple.

One point - Wendy - you were not disagreeing with me. I said she earned her degree on a MAC. I agree that within the academic community most in the design departments prefered MACs. She just couldn't get a job in her field until she learned to use a PC. (She became a book and web designer) That was in the mid-nineties.
I don't know what platform will be prevalent in the market place when this crop of students is ready to work.
I do know that MACs were in exclusive use in the printing industry when I first started publishing. (1992) That changed quickly. What platform one uses hasn't been a subject that's come up in . . . I don't remember how long. (shrug) I think it's academic. <-pun intended

I use a PC but I envy Macs. My son-in-law is a huge Mac fan. I think he'd sell them door-to-door if he could.
As for my personel PC it's a hybrid I put together myself. It used to be O.K., but it's only so-so these days ( It likes to drop my Internet connection whenever it feels like it ).
As for my PC, I'll quote the old Listerine ad " I hate it, but I use it".

Up until now I have always used PCs. Since my wrist injury and until Apple came out with their Macs that have Intel chips and can run Windows at a reasonable speed, I have HAD to use PCs, because the only voice recognition software available for Macs is terrible. In spite of that, I think Apple is a great and innovative company and would consider a Mac in the future if it meets my above-mentioned needs.

Mac, all the way.

Mac User:

Mac, all the way.

i.e...."RAH RAH RAH!!!"
PC User:

As for my PC, I'll quote the old Listerine ad " I hate it, but I use it".

i.e....it's a tool, as long as it does the job, what's the big deal?"
Q.E.D.

I have 2 Macs and a PC. The Mac is the one I use. It's easier and more dependable by far,

As for the dependability of Macs, Joseph: Whenever the IT guys at work start to harass me about my Mac, I just say, "Let's see, when was the last time my Mac needed tech support or a repair? Oh yeah, that's right -- NEVER!!!" It usually shuts them up for a minute or two anyway, since they're always doctoring up the Gateways on our floor.

Once, about ten years ago, my then-husband and I decided to give in to what seemed to be the inevitable and bought a PC. It took him three hours to hook it up (and the guy's got an advanced degree from Harvard, so he's not exactly a chimp), and when he did, we discovered that every time the phone rang, the computer crashed! We called the manufacturer to explain the problem. Their response? "Oh yeah, we know that's happening, but we don't know why. Give us about six months to fix it." Back to the store, and back home with a new iMac, which took all of 20 seconds to plug in, and we were off and running.

We Mackies can be a bit fanatical, yes, but it's only because we've seen the light.

I used to love my Mac 575 and my Power Mac was also fine but despite the propaganda to the contrary - a Mac used to be impractical if you do lots of file sharing - Mac finally admitted this mistake by adding Word and Explorer to the OS. I have heard that Mac no longer has the file sharing problems it used to have but - frankly I heard that years ago. If you use a Mac for personal projects - its fine - but if you have to exchange files with PCs it is really a pain. Plus - I got tired of lack of good software out there for Macs - Mac Soft tried to cure this but they were slow and it just got to be silly - Some of Mac's own bad business decisions trumped the great design they had going in. Mac was way, way ahead of any PC up until Windows 98 then the tide turned - now I don't know - if Mac runs on Intel will the software issues disappear? If it does - I will get a Mac when they start costing about the same as a PC.

Here ya go -- Umberto Eco's explanation of why Macs are Catholic and PCs are Protestant. Enjoy!

http://www.columbia.edu/~sss31/rainbow/mac-pc.html

Wendy, thanks so much for the link! That was really funny!

It is interesting to me that I have never spoken to anyone who was actually familiar with both Wintel and Mac platforms who didn't fanatically prefer Mac.

Sorry Nathan, I'm not buying the "I had a Mac once and even though it was pure crap I sort of liked it..." routine. True, in the early days (I go back to 1984 with Macs and 1981 with pcs) file exchange was a minor hassle, but was easily overcome. Word and Explorer (although why anyone would intentionally use Explorer is beyond me) have been available for Mac since the old Mac Plus, and Excel has always been generally (and ironically) rated to perform better on Macs.

As to availability of software, for the past few years the only significant difference has been in games. Here pcs still hold a decisive edge. Admit it Nathan, you're a closet Doom player!

Finally, it is true that Mac used to be in some respects an expensive or "elite" option, but for the past 5 or 6 years cost/performance studies (as opposed to cost alone) have come in about even for both platforms, or given a slight edge to Mac. Macs just don't offer low-performance / low-cost options - even the Mac Mini has more horsepower than a lot of pcs.

As Wendy implies, I think IT guys simply appreciate Wintel because it represents job security.

Fun article Eric!

- mike

I think everyone forgets that, other than DOS, Microsoft's main clients were Apple. They created Excel, Word and PowerPoint for the Mac to compete with Lotus 123, WordPerfect and Harvard Graphics.

Sure, Apple had its Claris software, but all true Maccy's were using MS software for office tasks.

Little did we realize that Ol' Bill was using his cozy relationship with Apple (and the uncompiled code for the Mac OS) to create a competing OS. You have to be mentally challenged to believe that the early Windows versions weren't just blatant ripoffs of the Mac OS (which were ripoffs of the Xerox GUI interface, but that's another article).

The responses to this article have been as expected. Very few (if any) WinTel people are enthusiastic about using Windows on Intel-based machines. They're pretty utilitarian about it. Very cognative, i.e., more software, larger market share, etc.

Conversely, the Mac folks are more affective about their preference, i.e., I love it, it's friendly, it makes me feel good, I enjoy it.

So, are there ANY WinTel fanatics out there? Seems like the only fanatics other than MacOS fans are the Linux fanatics and the Unix fanatics (all of whom seem to like running it on the Mac, which is optimized for Unix).

Actually Eric, Mac OSX is nothing more than Linux with a cool GUI.

- mike

Mac enthusiast here- though at work I must be satisfied with HP running winXP. My first Mac was THE first Mac- a toaster with a screen the size of a large slice of bread, and an operating system that fit on a 400K floppy, with room left over for an application or two. I had TRS80 before that, and Apple //e, but the Mac quickly became my darling.

Since then my family have upgraded our way through 5 or 6 macs, with a LAN to tie together the ones that can use ethernet. (it's been standard now for, what, about 10 years now) In a month or two I'm replacing my old blueberry iBook with a new dual-processor Intel laptop, which will FINALLY be able to run the GPS software made by the unenlightened Garmin people.

Oh, yeah, I've got a PC I got for free, that I'm STILL trying to figure out how to use as a file server for my LAN. Maybe I'll just recycle it. If it had been a Mac I would have been done by now.

Hal,

So funny! Well, I just finished drooling over the new MacBooks that Apple is releasing... Has a duel core Intel processor but runs the Mac OS and all apps as if it were running native on the Motorola PowerPC chip...

I don't Hal... Given a choice between a free PC and the opportunity to run WinTel apps on a Mac, I'd probably still pony up for the Mac.

Guess that makes me a fanatic!

MACMACMACMACMACMACMAC

I've done both going way back to the early days of Windows 3 and Mac OS 6. I support Windows at work and I use Macs at home. In fact I had a Dell just like the one in your post that crashed constantly

Not sure why I did not switch soon. Bought my new IMac on july 4th and am very happy. As a gamer I wish there were a few more ooions however - that is about the only downside I have seen so far (will just have to stick with my xbox 360 for the games). I have talked to several people who have switched and have yet to find anyone who regreddted the decision.