Pc versus Mac1
- 1. PC VERSUS MAC 1 The Debate Over PC Versus Mac By: Linda M Coologeorgen Concordia University May 2012
- 2. PC VERSUS MAC 2 Introduction to the Debate Over PC Versus Mac The debate between PCs and Macs has been going on since Darwin 0.1 Mac OS X beta was released on September 13, 2000 (Singh, 2003). PCs found a foothold in personal computers throughout the 1990s. If you discuss the type of computer you have at home, at work, or at school, then you’ll quickly find out that you’re part of this very emotional debate. In most debates there are two sides, but in the PC versus Mac debate there are actually four sides. The four sides of the debate are: the ardent PC user, the ardent Mac user, the computer user that’s comfortable with whatever system they’ve learned on and have always been using, and the computer user who is comfortable and likes using both platforms. The ardent PC user will defend their purchase of a PC by starting with the cost. You can find a PC for approximate one third of the cost of a Mac, but if you compare the cost of a Mac with the cost of a similar Windows machine, then they’re almost the same price an ardent Mac user will point out. Next, the ardent PC user
- 3. PC VERSUS MAC 3 will state that they’re able to choose from a wide range of Windows PCs, whereas Mac users have a limited number of choices. They’ll go on to praise Windows newest operations system Windows 7. In October of 2009, Microsoft shipped Windows 7 as a solid upgrade to Windows XP. Most PC users would rather not debate security issues with a Mac user because Macs don’t really have the same issues with viruses, trojan horses, and malicious application attacks. There’s another small debate on the reason why Macs don’t have the same security problems PCs have. Most people believe the reason has to do with the psyche of the world’s computer hackers. If their going to spent time and effort creating trouble, then they’re going to affect the greatest number of computer users they can. Since PC users own ninety percent of the computer market that’s who hackers target with their malevolence. When the ardent Mac user is attacked about the price of a Mac they many times use the analogy of purchasing a Jaguar (Mac user) and a Camry (PC user). Yes, they could spend much less money purchasing a Camry (PC user), but why would they want to do that. In their way of thinking, there really is no comparison even with the Camry (PC user) being approximately one third of the price of the Jaguar (Mac user). Then, they’ll go on to brag about Apple’s iLife suite. The suite comes with editing, organizing, and sharing photos, video, and music. They’ll also beam about the AppleCare Protection Plan that they received when purchasing their computer. This protection plan lasts for up to three years from the computer’s original purchase date. Finally, the ardent Mac user will quickly remind everyone that Macs don’t have the same security issues that PC users have, but with the
- 4. PC VERSUS MAC 4 growing number of threats that target social networks and other online venues they’ll have to be just as concerned as the PC user. The computer user that’s comfortable with whatever system they’ve learned on and have always been using is the third party to this debate. They don’t really have a good reason for why they like the computer and platform they’re using. The reason they’re defending the computer that they’re using is because they know the quirks of their operating system, and they don’t really want to learn a new system or change. The final party to this debate is the computer user that likes each platform equally or almost equally. This computer user is comfortable with both Macs and PCs. Usually, it’s a person who has equal access to both platforms on a regular basis without any allegiance to either a Mac or a PC. If they’re purchasing the computers they’re using, then it’s probably with institutional funds, and most of the time they’re described as a techie. There are some exceptions to this description, but most agnostic computer users fit it. Setting The setting for the computer lab being described in this paragraph is an elementary school with approximately eight hundred students. The school is a pre- K through sixth grade facility, but the computer lab with thirty-five Dell (Window 7) desktop computers only services each of the kindergarten through six grade students one period a week. Prior to the computer lab, we were definitely a Mac school. In 1999, we had iBook laptop computers in our first traveling computer lab,
- 5. PC VERSUS MAC 5 and at least two to three iMac 400 DV Blueberry desktop computers in each classroom. Today, we still have a few working Blueberry’s around our elementary school. In addition to the computer lab, our elementary school has two laptop carts with twenty-nine MacBooks (Mac OS X, Version 10.6.8) for classrooms to share. There also are one hundred seven iPads that the fifth and six graders use, sixteen Hitachi StarBoards (interactive whiteboards) with Dell laptops attached to all of the interactive whiteboard, but two. Two of the whiteboards are utilizing MacBooks in order to make them interactive. When we first purchased the Hitachi StarBoards we thought that we were going to be able to use old laptops that weren’t part of the moving laptop carts, but the interactive whiteboards needed to have laptops that had an Intel Core Processor running them. At that time, we only had two MacBooks that could be used. With each of these MacBooks costing sixteen hundred dollars, we decided to purchase Dell Intel Core Processing laptops at a cost of nine hundred dollars per laptop instead. As described above, our elementary school could be labeled a dual platform Windows 7/OS X school. We also have a media/library center. Our media/library center has fifteen iMacs (OS X Lion). These computers were purchased through a Double Matching Library Grant at the end of the 2010-2011 school year. In addition, currently most classrooms have between one and three iMacs (OS X Snow Leopard) desktops for teachers and students both to use when they’re not in the lab, the media/library center, or they can’t get the traveling laptop carts. We still have many computer needs, but we also know that we’re very fortunate to have the Dell desktops/laptops and the Mac desktops/laptops that we already have throughout
- 6. PC VERSUS MAC 6 our school. Software When purchasing computers for a business, a school, or for home you should mainly consider the type of software needed. Businesses typically pick PCs with Windows 7 because their needs dictate that the platform purchased has to be compatible with today’s enterprise applications. “Windows 7 is compatible with the majority of existing enterprise applications” (Reisinger, 2011). Then, if they need word processing applications they’ll purchase, for an additional cost, the Microsoft Office Suite. This suite consists of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and technical support for different lengths of time. How long a business receives technical support will be dictated by the price paid. In order to do an adequate job of purchasing computers for a school, the technology coordinator and the administration must also consider all the schools needs. Word processing applications are a must in order to type research papers, but teachers and students must also have spreadsheet software that allows them to record and graph data. They’ll also want software that facilitates the presentation of their work. At the elementary school described above, the PCs (Dells with a Windows 7 platform) in the computer lab came with Microsoft Office 2010 installed and ready to use. Microsoft Office 2010 has Microsoft Word for word processing, Microsoft Excel (spreadsheet software) for recording and graphing data, and it also has Microsoft PowerPoint in order create slides needed to present the work that has been created. So, these computers fit the majority of our needs, and since we have
- 7. PC VERSUS MAC 7 the latest version of Microsoft Word we never have a compatibility problem when opening a Microsoft Word document from other PCs even if they have a different version of Microsoft Word. The iMacs and MacBooks that are throughout the school and in the laptop carts include an iWorks Suite. This suite consists of Pages ’09, Keynote ’09, and Numbers ’09. Pages ’09 is Apples’ word processing software. Keynote ’09 is Apples’ software used for creating slides used in power point presentations. Numbers ’09 is Apples’ spreadsheet software. This iWorks Suite usually fits our needs, but we have found that as versions of Mac OSX are upgraded we sometimes have compatibility issues. This means that we’re not be able to open documents that were created prior to the software being upgraded. Some versions of Mac OS X are not compatible with other versions “running the risk of “entombing” data in formats that can no longer be accessed on that computer” (EveryMac.com, 2011). Hardware PCs with a Windows 7 platform have a high degree of hardware compatibility. “Hardware compatibility is quite high. Current products will work with Windows 7. Legacy peripherals and other hardware products will work with the operating system, thanks to the virtual version of Windows XP running inside the platform” (Reisinger, 2011). Macs do not have as high a degree of hardware compatibility because until recently Apple Inc. has been producing its own hardware for its exclusive usage. “Hardware compatibility with most new products is approximately equal to that of Windows 7. However, older, enterprise-
- 8. PC VERSUS MAC 8 focused legacy products might not work with Mac OS X. In general, more products work with Windows than with Mac OS X” (Reisinger, 2011). Networking When you have both Macs and PCs at a school, a business, and/or at home placing them on the same network can be done, but the work needed in order for it to become a reality is more involved than networking the same type of computers with the same platform. (In order to set up Windows file sharing: first, you would go to the Apple menu; second, you would move your cursor down to System Preferences and click Sharing, and once Sharing opens you need to select File Sharing in order to turn it on so that you can then click different options; third, you need to select “Share files and folders using SMB,” and then select the checkbox next to the user account that will be used to share files with Windows users; forth, enter the password for that user and click OK; and finally, to help keep your computer secure, you’ll need to create a special account for Windows users in Accounts Preferences. You’ll want to give your Windows users your computer’s address, the name and password they should use in order to share files with your computer. Your computer’s address is visible in the Sharing pane.) At the elementary school described in the Setting’s section above, the Macs and PCs don’t intercommunicate. One reason this came about is because the Macs were installed and networked together using the school funds, whereas CPS (Chicago Public Schools) networked all the PCs installed in the lab and around the school to their own centralized network. This is not the most ideal situation
- 9. PC VERSUS MAC 9 because Central Office scans all the PCs (laptops and desktops) around the school every Thursday evening. This will only take place if they our left on, laptops need to be left opened, and both laptops and desktops need to be logged off. If all these conditions are met, then this is the only time that any software updates and maintenance occurs. This also means that the Macs at our school are the only computers that we’re able to maintain, control, and manipulate. Summation In summation, when really analyzing both computers (Macs with an OS X platform and PCs with a Windows platform) you find more similarities than differences. As new generations of Macs and PCs are produced distinguishing their differences from their similarities will even be a harder job then it is today. Reference EveryMac.com. (2011) Mac OS X10.7 “lion” q&a- published July 19, 2011. Retrieved on April 29, 2012 from http://www.everymac.com/mac-answers/os-x-lion-faq/os-x- lion-compatible-incompatible-applications-quicken-office-eudora.html Reisinger, D. (2011). SideXside: windows 7 vs. mac osx. Desktops & Notebooks-CIO Insight. Retrieved on April 29, 2012 from file:///Users/laurasorce/Desktop/SideXSide: %20Windows%207%20Vs.%20Mac%20OS%20X%20-%20Desktops%20and %20Notebooks.webarchive Singh, A. (2003). What is mac OS x? Retrieved on May 1, 2012 from http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/history.html
- 10. PC VERSUS MAC 10 Weinberg, D. (2012). What is better for gaming: mac or pc? Salon Media Group, Inc. Retrieved on April 30, 2012 from http://techtips.salon.com/better-gaming-mac- pc-2635.html Appendix Attributes Mac PC Operating System Mac OS X that is up-dated frequently. Mac Migrating from Windows XP through Vista OS X 10.7 Lion is the newest version. to Windows 7. Price Range from as little as $700.00 (Mac Mini) Range from as little as $200.00 to to thousands of dollars depending on the thousands of dollars depending on the needs of the purchaser. needs of the purchaser. Multitasking Performs very nicely when multitasking. Performs very nicely when multitasking.
- 11. PC VERSUS MAC 11 Software Compatibility Newer versions of Mac OS X are not always Windows 7 is compatible with the compatible with other older versions majority of existing enterprise creating a situation where data that could applications. be accessed at one time no longer can be accessed. Hardware Compatibility New products have good hardware Hardware compatibility very good compatibility. Older, enterprise-focused because they accept many component legacy products don’t work with Mac OS X. parts. Gaming Good for gaming. “Apple typically builds Great for gaming. “PCs are compatible their Mac computers with Intel with more games, have more options for processors, capable graphics cards and upgrading and customization” (Weinberg. high-quality displays, making them a solid 2012). option for games” (Weinberg. 2012). Graphics Great computer graphics. Good to very good computer graphics. Customizable Have a limited ability to be customized. Very customizable. Have many Apple creates and provides all its own components that are compatible. components. To determine if you are a Mac person or a PC person click on this link, and then take the test: http://www.pc-vs-mac-test.com/