I love using Macs, but I've never found a "Top 10 Reasons" that
didn't have at least a few bogus arguments. It may not be their fault
if they haven't used a PC in awhile (ever?). They could be out of touch
and using old excuses that no longer apply.
I've compiled 11 up-to-date reasons why Macs are better that gives
up the old song and starts a new one.
11. Macs have less software choices.
Wait a minute, don't you want more choices.
Wrong, you don't want more choices, you want one choice - and you
want it to be the right one. It is not even a price issue (price
doesn't matter if there is only one choice). Take a look at the Linux
world with all of its freeware choices. Talk about craptastic,
confusing, and "as a matter of fact I don't want to fix it myself".
Linux isn't taking over the desktop no matter how many "free" crappy
programs there are with tons of features.
Let's face it: If a Mac user had a hundred office productivity
programs, or a PC user a thousand office productivity programs, they
are both going to pick Microsoft Office. (Don't send me any emails
telling me how you personally don't use MS Office. One opinion doesn't
matter.)
The world currently uses MS Office. Good or bad, it is the right
choice, and having other choices is nice but not required.
10. Macs have less software installed.
Didn't I just say that? Yes, sort of, but now the reason has
changed. I recently visited a family who had bought HP laptops. They
had three or four choices of software to burn a CD, listen to music, or
do whatever. They asked me which to use - like I would know.
This brings up the IT nightmare of shareware, screen savers, home
programs, and other junk that gums up a computer. A good IT department
will not let you install software, and they are a pain about giving you
anything new. Why? Because of support. More software means more
problems, and therefore more support. Follow these same rules for
yourself if you want fewer computer problems: Use only the software you
need and install no extras.
Here Apple helps by installing only a few extra programs on new
computers. You get iLife programs, a trial game, and a trial version of
MS Office, but that is about it. At least with what Apple does give
there are not three different ones that all do the same thing that
someone has to decide about.
9. Mac OS X is not out to punish people who install an extra
copy.
Windows XP is bad enough to register, and Vista take every step
possible to make it difficult to activate and stay activated. They will
disable your copy if they think you are a pirate. And they are
constantly inventing new ways to snoop on their own customers. They
will even punish OEMs who try to sell a PC without an OS
preinstalled.
Mac OS X doesn't even require that you register after upgrading, and
they don't snoop on my computer looking for pirated copies. If you feel
guilty they sell a reduced price Family Pack to make installing
multiple copies legal.
Windows has its multiple pricing plans of Home, Media, Pro, etc. -
nowhere in that mix is a plan to help you upgrade more than one
machine. Basically they punish you if you pirate a copy and don't give
a break to the honest person or business who needs more than one
copy.
8. Macs are better at pushing new standards.
If you consider the low point of Apple's market share, this is
impressive. When Apple decided to drop serial and SCSI support, and
instead support USB and FireWire (IEEE-1394 for the PC reader out
there), Apple had one transition product line, and by the next revision
the old serial and SCSI ports were gone. Apple says screw legacy crap,
get with the program or be left behind.
Compare this to Dell: It took them until last year to finally drop
computers with serial and parallel ports. Who cares, make it an added
expense or adapter and clean up your design, but no they are stuck
supporting long out-of-date standards. (For those who care, I
apologize, but maybe that old dot-matrix printer needs to be put in a
museum.)
Apple does this not just as it relates to
hardware but also with design. After the fruit colored iMacs were a
success, a whole world of products from alarm clocks to toilet seats
come out in colors to match. Then Apple made these products look
out-of-date by switching to all white or all black, and the world is
left following Apple's lead again - and again.
Remember, this was a company with 3-4% of the PC market getting
alarm clock manufactures to follow their lead. If I want peripherals to
match my new Mac, you can bet someone will update their product to go
with Apple's latest designs.
7. Macs can run Windows, but PCs cannot (legitimately) run Mac OS
X.
This is called getting the best of both worlds. Eat your heart out,
Michael Dell, Steve Jobs is starting to eat your lunch. Mac market
share is up, and this has got to be part of why.
If you have a Mac, why would you want to run PC software (remember,
I said more choices was bad)? You don't want to, but sometimes you have
to, like when Adobe Photoshop Elements stopped working after you
upgraded to Leopard and the new version won't be out until spring. And
what are you supposed to do when the "right choice" isn't available for
OS X? Using a PC version sucks, but it is nice that you can if you
must.
6. Steve Jobs is cool and Bill Gates is a dork.
Most of the PC world CEOs are lacking in cool. Why? Because they're
"suits", and they lack vision.
If the computer price was the same (and sometimes they are, however
briefly), who would you rather buy from, the dork or the guy in jeans?
They may both be hard to get along with, but as a salesman for his
company, Steve gives a hell of a keynote regardless of what the
engineers have cooked up for him to display.
5. Apple seems to have a plan with their product development.
Let's do a comparison:
HP executive: What the biggest capacity hard drive, fastest
processor, and best graphics card we can put into a machine? Let take
all that crap, whatever it is, and that will be our next high-end
machine. Then let's take low spec crap and make a low cost model.
Apple
executive: We've got this iMac thing. Yes, the consumers like it, but
we need to update the function to go along with new computer equipment.
Why don't we ditch the CRT display and put an LCD on a lamp post. Then
shrink the whole computer to fit inside the lamp base. Then after
everyone adjusts to that new look, we'll simplify it some more now that
larger LCD screens are cheaper. We'll get rid of the base and hide
everything behind the screen. Next we'll take those parts and....
This is not to say everything in a Mac is cutting edge. No, they do
pull back in ways that could politely be described as "controlling the
user experience" - or negatively viewed as "last month's design". They
can take these kinds of product risks, because they are not selling
just a collection of hardware.
They are trying to innovate new things about the device and not
stuff it full of as much new crap as possible. Some innovations are
just cosmetic, but others are more about function, like new trackpads,
backlighting in keyboards, LED lights for the LCD screen, etc.
Apple isn't just reacting to how to cram the latest processor and
video card into a box. They have a product; they chose what to include
and what to leave out. They chose to get the parts they want to work
the best possible (at least I hope that's why). Then next time they add
in a few things that make the most sense. Eventually the design gets
stale, and then they leap ahead with something new.
Someone else can catch up with them on hardware specifications, but
give thought to design and what Apple will do next they all miss the
mark completely.
4. In general, Apple has better customers.
Simply because it costs more, you are going to weed out the people
who can't afford it. This is important, because Apple isn't shooting
for the lowest common denominator. It's not that Apple cares who buys -
they are a business not a bigot - but they have better focus the
smaller their market is. It will be a sad day when everyone wants to
have a Mac.
3. Macs are both easy and hard to get rid of.
Macs sell great on
eBay. I've had luck both buying and selling.
Right now old stuff is selling for more than I would want to pay, but
the person selling is happier.
I have three desktop computers at home, and I used to have five. All
of them worked fine. I could connect them all to a network, surf the
Web, write reports, etc. They just took up too much space. I finally
gave away two and wanted to sell a third. My wife wouldn't let me. She
wanted one moved to her crafting room so she could go on the Internet.
It's an old G4 computer, and between my wife and daughter it is used
almost every day.
Macs go on working and being useful for so long that you have a hard
time getting rid of them. (I did have an iBook laptop die because of
faulty circuit board design. Curse you, Apple, for screwing that one
up.)
2. You buy a new Mac out of lust and a new PC because your old one
is crap.
I seldom hear a Mac person complain that their Mac is slow (maybe
because there are few around), unless they have installed too much junk
software on it or changed what they are doing - or they've had it for
eight years. When I started editing video, I finally wanted a faster
machine. Before that I was okay with what I had, but I did lust after
the new models that kept coming out.
Like the new
MacBook Air, I really like
the look of that model. I would willingly give up the internal DVD - if
I could afford the computer. I'll probably settle on buying a MacBook because it is
cheaper. This shows how well Apple can design a product that people
will want regardless of the specification of equipment built into
it.
In contrast, my PC friends and my company's IT department buy new
stuff to constantly replace old stuff that doesn't run Windows or
Office fast enough. They don't talk about the new look of HP's latest
laptop; they only care about hard drive size and maybe how much RAM is
included. They get their new box because the old one was too slow for
running the same software it was running a year ago.
Worse, in my opinion, are those PC gamers who'll spend thousands on
the fastest PC just to play the latest game. To these people I say,
Sony PlayStation - have you heard of it. It doesn't even cost one
grand, and you can play tons of new games on your 61" HD TV. Get a clue
and save your money for taking a girl on a date.
1. Macs rule.
Now that Apple has switched to Intel and you can run Windows on
Macs, the comparison is real. Macs are fast, have great design, and
compare well with other top-end equipment. When compared on performance
- even running Windows Vista -, the Macs are awesome machines.
If you want to be cheap, there are other products to buy, but if
you've got the cash, Macs are top notch. Give this same level of
performance to running Mac OS X, and you have a machine to be proud
of.
There you have it: The real reason why Macs are better. No bullshit
about security or stability that depend on what the person running the
machine does with software.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
