Wednesday 20 March 2013

Oh, Hey Big Purple Elephant


Ok, I know what you have been thinking throughout all these previous posts, when will the issue be tackled, Mac vs. PC. It is simple, what do you use the computer for?

As a consumer, you are probably frustrated, and as a sales associate, I have to ask the question. Mac computers are excellent for video editing, graphic design and, in the past, battery life. The MacBook line has amazing specifications and is sometimes seen as overpriced. Remember that most have great quality parts. I am not saying it is going to last you forever. A computer is a computer and it is mass-produced. In addition, they use the same processors as some PCs do and other technology is now interchangeable. I must say though, if you want a beautiful and breathless quality screen for photo editing and new HD video editing, go with the MacBook pro with Retina Display. It is expensive but worth it to an extent. I should clarify, by photo editing I mean using Adobe Photoshop for more than just the basics and use it literally every day. I have outlined the basics to a Mac, now here is the PC side of things.

PCs are strong computers especially when it comes down to business side of things. They make amazing word processing computers and typically come with more storage than Macs for the price. PCs also have more software available to them when it comes to legitimately free software (freeware). Most of my blogs are based on free software because people need to know it is out there. Why pay for something you will never use?  There are many math-orientated programs designed for PC as well like SPSS, which formulates data from surveys for you. Many programs are also available on PCs such as the Adobe Suite, QuickBooks and Simply Accounting. Business thrives on PCs because of the abundance of available software. Now the next question I usually get is about running PC on a Mac.

This is possible, and there are ways to get Mac on a PC. That is not entirely legal so I won’t be telling you where to get the information for a Hackintosh. Oops, spilt the beans on a common name for a PC with Mac OSX on it. So there are two ways to put Windows on a PC and it is either virtual/parallel or onto the hard drive as an OS directly.

Virtual will be a pain. It is like opening safari but inside the window is a full operating system. Typically this is done to use very minor programs, like all the freeware software I talk about and some business applications. If you install it directly to the hard drive, it is the exact same as running a PC. This is possible because Macs now use hardware like PCs.

Lastly, hardware quality and battery life are now very comparable. This has become a myth over time because PCs have evolved and have introduced Ultrabooks. An Ultrabook is a laptop made with power, portability and battery life in mind. Most of them are similar to Macs in this case. The hardware in a Mac and a PC is very similar. Many PCs and all Macs use Intel processors, which I recommend to everyone because they are more reliable than AMD chips. These processor/chips are the brain of the computer. Other parts are easily swappable between Mac and PC laptops as well. Both systems are also amazing for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations.

Therefore, when looking for a computer, pay attention to what you want to use it for and make the right decision. If it is graphic design, go buy a Mac, if it is for virtually anything else, go buy a PC. If you want to talk about viruses, refer to a previous post of mine, and remember that it is not about viruses anymore, it is about internet security where Macs are equally prone to such threats.

Side note: I honestly don't have a preference, I purchase what I need and I do not do any graphic design or video editing. Just some simple Photoshop, internet surfing and word processing.

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