32 Reasons why PCs are Better than Macs

by Staff writers

Sep 19, 2007

| 18 Comments

Apple’s ads may be funny, but they’re woefully inaccurate. Here we reveal dozens of reasons why the PC outclasses the Mac.

"Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better.” So claimed Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, long before Steve Jobs was even an Apple in his mother’s eye. But Santayana’s prophetic sound bite perfectly describes Apple’s omnipresent “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” campaign.

For the benefit of those readers who’ve been droving in the Dandenongs for the last few months, the campaign portrays the PC as a crash-prone, virus-ridden, boring, office workhorse. A stereotype that’s so 1995, we’re amazed. How has the victim of these laughable slurs reacted? Aside from a few catty comments from Bill Gates, the world’s richest company – a corporation renowned for bullying its competitors – has meekly rolled with the punches. So, in light of Microsoft’s total lack of response, PC Authority has stepped in to defend the Windows corner. We’ve got 32 solid reasons why the PC is better than the Mac, ranging from the over-inflated price tag on Apple’s hardware to the under-valued ability to build your own PC from scratch. And we demolish the vast majority of the spurious claims made by Apple’s ad gurus in the process.

Of course, PC Authority isn’t immune to the Mac’s charms. Recently, we found that an Apple computer was one of the fastest systems we’d ever tested. So to prove we’re not PC bigots, we’ve invited our colleagues from MacUser magazine to offer ten reasons why the Mac is superior. Following this feature, we’ve also provided an in-depth guide to running Windows on a Mac, allowing you to reap the benefits of both platforms.

1 - Service packs don’t cost $199
Since Mac OS X was launched in 2001, there have been four “new versions” of the operating system – Puma, Jaguar, Panther and Tiger – with a fifth, Leopard, due imminently. That’s almost one a year, each costing a princely $199 – racking up a total bill of close to $1000 for anyone who’s bought every version. And they say Windows is expensive.

Apple has effectively introduced the first subscription operating system, and has somehow gotten away with it. If Microsoft had done likewise, Bill Gates would have been before the anti-competition courts quicker than you could say, “isn’t $199 a bit steep for a service pack?”. The Mac zealots claim that each new cat really is a new operating system, but that argument doesn’t bear scrutiny. Take Panther (Mac OS X 10.3): the Apple press release hails “more than 150 breakthrough new features”, the pick of which are a new “Finder”, a way to see all your open windows at once, and bundled video-messaging software. God knows how insignificant the other 147 were.

2 - No price premium for flashy design
There still isn’t a PC maker on the planet that can hold a candle to Apple when it comes to product design. But not everyone wants or needs a computer that looks like it fell off the back of a Bang & Olufsen lorry. Macs routinely cost more than their PC equivalents. The cheapest Mac you can buy, the Mac mini, costs $949 and comes with a piddling 60GB hard disk, a meagre 512MB of RAM and no screen. Pop over to Dell, and that same $949 will buy you a Dimension E520 Vista PC with a 160GB hard disk, 1GB of RAM and a 19in flat panel display. Dell’s cheapest system costs just $898 at the time of writing. We’re not expecting Dell’s bargain-basement models to trouble our A List anytime soon, and Kate Moss wouldn’t be seen dead near one, but they’ll suffice for a cheap office PC that sits under a desk all day or a computer for the kids’ homework. Mac buyers simply don’t have that choice.

3 - Thousands of decent games
“I was designed for the home,” scream the Mac ads. You were? Then how come you’ve got such a poor bunch of games? At the time of writing, the top-selling Mac games on Amazon.com were World of Warcraft (yawn), Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game (What the?!) and The Sims II – a two-year-old title designed for loners who need imaginary friends to compensate for the lack of actual people in their pitiful lives. Want the adrenaline-filled 3D action and spectacular graphics of Rainbow Six: Vegas? Or, a spin round the track at high-velocity in a beautifully rendered Porsche in Test Drive Unlimited? Want to revisit a seminal classic such as Half-Life 2? Sorry, you can’t. Computer says no. That’s not to mention the fact that the PC has a near-monopoly on all the decent graphics hardware. And even if you did want to upgrade your Mac’s graphics, you probably couldn’t anyway. “Nvidia graphics options for Apple desktops and notebooks can only be purchased through Apple or as Apple update kits,” warns Nvidia’s website. If you’re even halfway serious about gaming, you need a PC.

4 - Two mouse buttons
Yes, we know Macs are meant to be so simple your Grandma could partition the hard disk while solving the Countdown conundrum, but do they really need to be dumbed down to use only one mouse button? A monkey with Attention Deficit Disorder could master two buttons, but Apple’s (seemingly not ironically named) Mighty Mouse resorts to a single mouse click by default. Yes, you can easily tweak the driver for two buttons or simply plug in a normal mouse, but a firing squad is too lenient for the imbecile who decided that pressing Ctrl and left-click was a better out-of-the-box solution than a single press of the right button.

5 - Broadband just works
It’s hardly their fault, but our poor Mac friends aren’t always well served by the ISPs. Broadband modems can fail to work properly on Macs (especially with Bigpond cable), and when customers attempt to phone the tech-support lines for assistance, they’re none too amused when the script-reading person at the other end tells them to “click on the Start button and select Control Panel”. Finding a reliable ISP is hard enough; finding one that also supports Macs is a headache you really don’t need.

6 - Custom-made systems
Gaming PCs, video workstations, media centres, digital photo PCs, build-your-own, mini-chassis, midi-towers, business PCs… need we go on? There are dozens of different desktop PC configurations that can be fine-tailored with thousands of specialist components to meet a buyer’s requirements. How many flavours do Mac desktops come in? Three. Mac mini, iMac and Mac Pro. If none of those meets your needs, take a hike.

The open architecture of the PC platform, on the other hand, gives you access to an immense range of configurations, enabling you to tailor a PC to your needs without wasting money on capabilities you won’t use. It also means you can make modular upgrades, such as fitting a new CPU and motherboard without having to replace your existing graphics card and hard drives. Try that with an iMac.

7 - Macs are months behind
If you want cutting-edge hardware, you need a PC. Remember when the Intel Core CPU was released? Apple finally jumped ship from IBM processors, even though PC processors had been outstripping the PowerPC G5 CPU for years. But even though the agreement was trumpeted from the rooftops by Intel and Apple, it still took months for the complete Mac range to go fully Intel. Core 2 was even worse, with almost the whole PC market having them before Apple shipped a single Core 2 Mac. The same is true of almost all new technology. Not only is there no option to buy a desktop or laptop Mac with an internal HD DVD or Blu-ray drive, you can’t buy an internal Mac-compatible one at all. The same is again true of graphics: while the PC has up-to-the-minute 3D video hardware, Macs are an entire generation behind. And while PC users have had super-fast draft 802.11n wireless for nearly two years, Apple users have only just acquired it.

8 - Life beyond 1st January
It isn’t only children’s sticky fingers that will take the gloss off the shiny new MacBook you got for Christmas – the new line-up of laptops announced at the annual MacWorld show every January will leave your cutting-edge gift looking so last year, almost immediately. Yes, consumer-friendly, cuddly-wuddly Apple decides to spring new products onto its customers just days after the peak buying period every single year, and there’s little point in trying to second-guess what the company is about to launch, because it cloaks its announcements with an iron curtain the USSR would have been proud of. Thankfully, there’s no such post-Christmas Microsoft jamboree.

9 - Superior search facilities
Our counterparts over at MacUser swear blind that the Macintosh Finder is just as good as Windows Explorer. Yet even after five major releases of Mac OS X, it lacks many features that Windows power users take for granted, such as resizing windows from any corner or edge, using cut and paste to move files around, and renaming files from within a file requester. It doesn’t even offer a working “maximise window” button. If you just want a computer that looks pretty then the Finder might suit you, but if you actually want to manipulate files then Windows Explorer wins hands down.

10 - Safety in numbers
While having one company controlling both the hardware and operating system undoubtedly has its advantages, it also leaves Mac fans with all their eggs in one titanium-clad basket. Apple could, for example, decide to drop Mac OS X at any time – not entirely out of the question now that Intel-based Macs are perfectly capable of running Windows. What would happen to Mac OS devotees and developers then? It also leaves Apple remarkably vulnerable when innovations go wrong – the ill-fated Cube placed the company in deep trouble, for example, whereas international giants such as HP and Sony can tinker with experimental form factors such as smart displays and UMPCs, without worrying that commercial failure could potentially cripple the company.

11 - Sensible support costs
Macs never crash or go wrong, obviously. Which is just as well, because the standard Apple technical support offering is nothing short of scandalous. You could pay $25,664 for an absolute top-of-the-range Mac Pro or $949 for a Mac mini, and you’re still lumbered with Apple’s standard warranty, which comprises a pitiful 90-days, telephone support and just one year’s return-to-base hardware warranty. You can, naturally, pay extra for Apple’s three-year protection plan, which costs $229 for Mac minis, right through to a ridiculous $419 for the MacBook Pro. By comparison, our A-Listed Dell Latitude ultraportable laptop and Dell Optiplex desktop PC both include three-year, on-site warranties as standard.

It isn’t only manufacturer repairs you have to worry about. Take your PC down to your local computer shop and, chances are, they could replace the hard disk or slot in extra RAM without batting an eyelid, with little in the way of labour costs. That same repair shop may well blanche at the prospect of prizing open the sealed iMac casing, however.

12 - Microsoft’s on your team
Microsoft may be the company everyone loves to hate, and it doesn’t always play by the Queensbury Rules, but if there’s going to be a domineering, cash-rich mega-corporation in the industry, you definitely want it to be on your team. The PC is, of course, Microsoft’s platform of choice, and so the Windows market is the first to benefit from ground-breaking new products such as Office 2007. Mac owners will have to wait until later this year for a new version of Office, and even then it will be largely devoid of the well-received Ribbon interface that Microsoft first introduced into the PC version in January.

Similarly, PC owners with an Xbox 360 nestled under their television can turn their console into a Media Center Extender, allowing them to play music, video or photos stored on their computer through their television – all because Microsoft has its fat fingers in so many pies.

This article appeared in the October 2007 issue of PC Authority.

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Comments: 18

linuxonmac Apr 5, 2008 10:50 PM	32 reasons for those who don't know better. I don't know about adds but I use both, PC and Mac and comparing them is just not fair - PC is soooo inferior. The only advantage PC has over Mac is number of programs available for it. About G5 being inferior to Intel for years - how did you test it? And what about Cell chip from IBM? Intel will get there in 4-5 years. Maybe. It would be interesting if author of this article try to spec PC similar to the biggest 24" iMac (including monitor). And by the way - how many monitors (any size) can compare in quality to iMac? Not many. I doubt he would be able to beat the price. Let's forget about look as that would be too much to ask from gray box manufacturers. Oh yes I said I use PC as well - XP is fired up from time to time but Linux Mint is main resident on that machine. 3D desktop included and multiple workspaces of course - Windows will get there in next decade hopefully. Comment made about the PC Authority article: 32 Reasons why PCs are Better than Macs? Apple’s ads may be funny, but they’re woefully inaccurate. Here we reveal dozens of reasons why the PC outclasses the Mac. What do you think? Join the discussion.
blockcentre Apr 5, 2008 11:44 PM	Sounds about right to me ;)
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Apr 6, 2008 12:13 PM	I agree 99%. That's why I stopped using Macs, they're a pain in the arse, and they (in my experience) crash much more than Vista (actually, Vista has never crashed on me, and I've had it for close to 2 years inc. betas). I agree that Macs have their niche market, but I'd say they're unsuitable for most. I also find it hilarious that not even 10 points could be made to defend the Macs, the last one doesn't count, because it has nothing to do with the actual Mac as a computer. I've used both platforms, and I find the PC to be better for ME. I don't deny that the Mac has it's uses for some people.
kevin_watters May 19, 2008 1:48 PM	LOL !!! Quote "12 - Microsoft’s on your team" endquote Thats like saying you are affiliated with the Gambino crime family when the feds come knocking on your door... PCs WERE better than Macs... until Vista came along :) I've gone to Mac and will NEVER go back... they just WORK ! No viruses, no spyware... no BS from Microsoft.
totoaus Jul 16, 2008 9:48 PM	I have always said that my first computer would have to be a PC, but the second would be a Mac. This was always a career necessity, but I'd still love to have the guts to toss the PC and work solely with Macs. My first job was in a Computerland store with both machines and many others. The best argument I saw for a Mac was a salesman with no prior computer expereince: he struggled to do anything on a PC, but give him an early Mac with MacWrite and he could turn out amazing documents. Logic, rationality and reason can take you places, but the emotional responses that Macs cause are like your first love, and no attempt at reason can beat that level of passion. Far more PC users love to hate their machines, Mac users LOVE their machines
Slatts Jul 16, 2008 10:09 PM	kevin_watters wrote: LOL !!! Quote "12 - Microsoft’s on your team" endquote Thats like saying you are affiliated with the Gambino crime family when the feds come knocking on your door... PCs WERE better than Macs... until Vista came along :) I've gone to Mac and will NEVER go back... they just WORK ! No viruses, no spyware... no BS from Microsoft. Over priced no games.. Limited software no interest linuxonmac wrote: And what about Cell chip from IBM? Intel will get there in 4-5 years. Maybe. If the Cell CPU is so great why did Apple go to Intel? Edited by Slatts: 16/7/2008 10:15:19 PM
vjay Aug 15, 2008 7:32 PM	The biggest turn off with Macs are the users who are members of the Apple cult brandishing the "Macs don't catch viruses" claims along with everything else they gloat about. Lets face it, when a majority of computer users are using a Windows base who do you think a virus/trojan writer is going to target? Wait and see, the more people take up with a Mac... the more attractive a target they will be. It's just a matter of time and there are already instances of trojans being written for the Mac platform so that argument that a Mac is secure doesn't exactly ring true anymore.
OZSlayer Aug 16, 2008 12:04 PM	Macs are designed to appeal to the yuppies and girls (they usually drive a Smart car eg my bro the Mac fan) who are more concerned about how it looks and not how it performs. Mac can be fast but are very limited as to what software you can use and how they can be upgraded. Intel purchased Apple, if they hadn't this conversation would be void as they would be bankrupt by now. The print industry was really the only sector that show any interest in Mac's Yes Mac owners are a breed apart from PC users and can never be told diff. Yes I have used both but I prefer PC by a mile due to the huge array of features and software, Ok you can emulate windows on a Mac but that makes it slow, so why bother.
Slatts Aug 16, 2008 1:24 PM	Ha Ha Apple tarts Ha Ha=p~
bishopdante Aug 18, 2008 8:13 PM	OMFG what a load of noobed out riducule. Umm yeah there's valid points when comparing the platforms, but these are a joke. The apple architecture switch from PPC to X86 was a commendable work of engineering! That's supposed to be impossible. Try running Vista on your XBox 360. Aaah. Big endian little endian. AltiVec or SSE? Oh they really aren't the same at all. Apple's platform switch is totally unprecedented. The type of move that kills platforms. But now apple's laptops are the best in the business. How on earth did they make that work?! Actually, the apple environment has some quite fascinating plus points, and its approach is quite distinct from the windows environment. It's all about the core services, it's all about the cloud, and it's all about the iphone (jailbroken of course). OSX is NOTHING like the old classic OS. It's actually NeXT, which is totally different, and really cool if you are a developer. You can write python, ruby, whatever you want, and it'll run. mix 'em up in the project. UNIX. Where it comes to Vista, it's all about DirectX10, O'C modding, the warez scene, lower costs, aggressive hardware development. But I have to say that Vista has not been so good to me. Not a work OS, still requires constant maintenance and hand holding, and that's as a media center. My work machine is OSX running VMware for those windows apps. It's fine, really. I mean, I wouldn't run Maya in that, but it's plenty fast.
bishopdante Aug 18, 2008 8:20 PM	broadband just works??! Who on earth uses a USB modem? Are we talking 3rd party hardware drivers? I mean, I've seen windows being advertised as supported on the software box, but often in reality it's a bit different. It's a moot point though, most hardware doesn't need drivers these days, and that's modems included. Now there's one BIGGIE. Syncing phones, you can forget about having those apps for OSX.
timinator Aug 23, 2008 10:55 PM	I don't know why everyone hates Apple so much 12 months ago, I would have said 'long live the Windows PC- death to Mac OS X'. But since then, Apple have come a long way. With the release of Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), Support for both Windows XP and Vista is now built in. All you need are the Leopard disks and a Windows licence key, and you can have Mac OS X and Windows running smoothly on Mac hardware. All these arguments about why Windows is better than Mac become null and void when you can have both Windows and OS X running natively on your Mac. If someone asks me which OS I prefer- I still say Windows. But I also think that it is much better to have Windows running on the Mac than having Windows on a normal PC.
Slatts Aug 24, 2008 10:58 AM	I think this says it all really [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-JdC04vBik[/youtube]
Jim.Dude Aug 24, 2008 2:03 PM	Slatts wrote: I think this says it all really [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-JdC04vBik[/youtube] I'll play devil's advocate, since everyone seems to hate Apple... :p Movie maker isn't exactly free. Sure, you can download it for free from Microsoft or through automatic update, but you have to validate your copy of XP at some stage, meaning you had to pay for windows anyway. Let's face it, they've probably bundled the costs in there... Moreover, while it's true that movie maker does most things that iMovie does, iLife is more than just iMovie! You get iDvd, iPhoto, iWeb and Garageband... iDVD and iPhoto aren't exactly revolutionary and in all fairness Apple's own iTunes can play DVD's and show photos...so it's a tough call on their value...although Media Player 11 can't play a DVD anyways, so it's really still APPLE > MS The direct competitor of iWeb in MS would be FrontPage, which isn't free and has to be bought with Office also (ack, more costs)...and there is NO offering compared to Garangeband. (For those of you who haven't used it, Garageband is an incredible program that allows you to choose from thousands of prerecorded instruments and beats and things to make and edit your own music.) Movie maker is as good as iMovie, but MS has nothing 'free' on the rest and since iLife costs only $79, it really is a bargain... And yes, I'm sure there's some dodgy knock-off open source thing that can do 85% of the things that iLife can for a fraction of the price...but, that means multiple installs, muptiple copes of things and just extra effort. For a sum of less than $100, I like the idea of it all coming on one CD. Edited by Jim.Dude: 24/8/2008 02:05:39 PM
vjay Aug 25, 2008 9:36 PM