The Great Debate:
Who Shall Win and Who Shall Be Eaten By Dragons?
I have used both PC/Windows and Mac/Apple throughout my entire life. As I start planning for college and the need to buy a laptop, I thought I would use my greatly neglected blog to present each side of this long lasting argument in a fairly unbiased way.
Let's begin. . .
Apple
The Story
My school district is an Apple Distinguished Institution which is basically just a fancy way of saying that Apple sponsors us and gives us lots of its products. Every student in grades 8 through 12 is given a personal MacBook to use during the school year. Elementary schools and the seventh graders have more than enough computers to go around as well. Several departments in the high school have recently gotten several iPads and iPad 2s in the last two years.
Having grown up in a Mac-Obsessed school district I am proficient as using Apple computers and programs.
The Pros
- More user friendly (though with all of my Windows experience 'user-friendly' isn't necessarily a requirement)
- There are some programs I really like that are Apple specific.
- Fewer viruses
The Cons
- Not Windows
- Sometime perceived as pretentious. I am in no way a pretentious person.
- I do not know all the tech secrets for Macs. I know basic troubleshooting that I have picked up but still have to bother tech support for anything more than Force Quit and Reboots.
- More expensive than many PCs
- I have had my Apple comps crash way more than my PCs
PC
The Story
I grew up using PCs. My older brother is a Computer Programming and IT major in college and my dad's one and only hobby is Computers. I am more familiar with troubleshooting and support for PCs because I have gathered slightly-higher-than-common-knowledge troubleshooting throughout the years from my brother and father.
Having being raised in a PC enthralled household, I am highly proficient in all things PC and Windows.
The Pros
- I feel that I know more about PCs even with all of my Apple experience.
- Less expensive
- Has the most up-to-date version of Word, PPT, Excel, etc that come with the computer when I purchase it
- Fewer crashes, easier to create back-up drives/disks (that I know of)
The Cons
- Not Apple
- More viruses
- It seems as if, moving into the future, many people are switching to Macs. This is not necessarily a con for PC necessarily but if I spend several hundred of my very small college fund on a brand new PC I want to make sure that I will not be behind technologically when I entire the career field.
- Some of my very favorite programs are not available for Windows OR there are not as advanced versions of said programs for Windows (i.e. Final Cut, Scrivener)
- One of the colleges I am seriously considering requires a MacBook Pro for all students in my prospective major
Conclusion
Despite everything that I have listed here (and other things that I have thought in my head but were too complicated to include on this blog) I still have not been able to come to a concise choice. When it comes to actually buying my laptop next year, more than a little will depend on cost and whether or not I'm accepted to the program and college that requires Apple products.
So, neither PC nor Mac wins. I feed Mark Zuckerberg to the dragons. Problem solved (until next year that is.)
