Pc vs Mac Essay Example for Free

Pc vs Mac Essay Which do you prefer? Many people are quick to choose a mac over a pc. But few take these variables into consideration. Pc’s run off a better, more reliant operating system, cheaper and better quality parts, and is compatible with a wide variety of software and games that the mac’s operating system cannot read. Before you chose read the essay, you might have a change of heart. Why might a person chose a pc over a mac and what kind of person does that make him? The Windows 7 operating system blows the mac’s operating system â€Å"Mountain Lion† out of the water. For starters the mac’s operating system is not as user friendly as its competitor Windows 7. Many people grew up with Windows and were taught how to work under that operating system. So the interface of Mountain Lion might seem counterintuitive. For example, the mac’s tricolor windows management buttons (red, yellow, and green) don’t work how you’d expect them to. When hitting the red button to close an application the application doesn’t actually close. It closes the window but the application is still running in the background taking up valuable space on your RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory and is one of the most important parts of your computer. The RAM’s main purpose is multitasking, the ability to run several programs and applications at a given time. So a user that is not familiar with the mac’s operating system would never know that their ability to multitask is hindered due to the unknowingly running application. Taking a look at another key component of the Windows 7 and Mountain Lion’s operating system is the dock and taskbar. The dock and taskbar is found at the bottom of the screen on both operating systems. Even the most ill-informed user knows what purpose the dock and task bar serves. The purpose is to launch applications easily and quickly. Both the dock and taskbar are customizable so the user can put whatever application or software that he/she uses most often. The Windows 7 taskbar and the mac’s dock are almost identical in appearances except for the size and positioning of the thumb nail shortcuts. In my opinion the mac’s dock is too cluttered and is hard to see what applications you currently have running on your computer. The Windows 7 taskbar is much more user friendly, clean and well organized; I have no problem seeing what I have running. The ability to multitask is very beneficial. Like I mentioned earlier RAM is a key component in what allows you to multitask. The more RAM you have and the better quality or speed of the RAM will determine how fast you can run application and how easily you can navigate them. RAM is very important in the ability to multitask but without the tools to do so RAM is pretty much useless. Think of it this way, the operating system is an outlet and the RAM is one of the many plugs. Each operating system comes with its own built in hot keys to activate shortcuts. A hot key is a combination of keys that provides quick access to a particular function. For example, Windows 7 Alt + Tab show you every application that is currently opened and gives you the option to switch between them. This allows for a very easy way to navigate between applications. Mac has a similar tool called mission control. Which with a hot key of your choosing let’s you view all of the applications that is currently opened. Windows 7 also has a feature that is extremely user friendly. It’s a feature that anybody that has used a pc or laptop running Windows 7 is familiar with. It’s called the snap feature. If the user wanted to view two applications or webpages at the same time he/she could just slap the application against the left or right side of the screen to resize it to fit exactly the left or right portion of your monitor. I personally use this feature all of the time when writing a paper that requires research. I have the application word taking up the right half of my monitor and whatever source I’m using for my research taking up the left half. This eliminates constantly having to switch between the two. The mac’s operating system does not have a feature like this. So in my opinion multitasking is much easier on Windows 7 rather than the mac’s Mountain Lion. As humans the number one contributing factor in what we buy is price and quality, â€Å"getting the most bang for your buck†. This is where pc’s shines. Mac’s are notorious for being extremely overpriced. The cost to quality of the product ratio is skewed in favor of the cost. But don’t take my word for it; let me give you an example. I looked up the cost of an iMac desktop computer and the specs of the computer off of Apple. com. I also looked up a random desktop computer running Windows 7 off of Dell. com and compared the two. The cost of the iMac is $1,300 and the specs are as follows; a 2. 7GHz quad core Intel core i5 processor, 8GB of 1600MHz RAM, and a 1 TB hard drive. The cost of the desktop off of Dell is $499. 99 and the specs are as follows; a 3. 2GHz quad core Intel core i5 processor, 8GB of 1600MHz RAM, and a 1 TB hard drive. Before I talk about the comparison ill briefly explain what the specs mean. The Intel i5 core is the processor that is on each computer and the GHz is how the speed of the processor is measured. The 1600MHz is the speed of the RAM that is on each computer. TB stands for Terabyte which is 1,000 GB or Gigabytes. So first let’s look at the similarities, both the iMac and desktop each have 8 gigs of 1600MHz RAM, a 1 TB hard drive, and they both have 4 cores. Now let’s look at where they differ. They both have the same brand of processor (Intel) and both are i5’s but the speeds are different. The iMac’s speed is 2. 7GHz compared to the desktops speed of 3. 2GHz, a difference of . 5 GHz. So after looking at the comparison as a whole both the iMac and Dell desktop are pretty similar except for the difference of the . 5GHz in favor of the desktop. So if both computers are pretty similar with the desktop being slightly better then why does the iMac cost $1,300 and the desktop cost $499. 99? It’s simple, because of the brand name. Apple can charge outrageous prices for an inferior product just because it has an apple on it and people will buy it, yet another reason why pc’s are better than mac’s. Also pc’s are cheaper because you can build your own! Unlike a mac you can build your own pc from scratch. You can buy every individual part including the tower and assemble it yourself. I’m sure you’re asking yourself, â€Å"Why would I want to build my computer when I could just buy it in one piece off the bat†? When buying the computer not assembled it’s much cheaper than buying it in one piece. When buying a computer fully assembled you’re paying for that luxury in labor costs. I myself have built my pc. I spend in total around $2500 on my pc and I bought each part individually. If I were to buy my computer fully assembled with the same parts and specs it would of cost me around $4500. So by spending a couple hours assembling the parts I saved $2000. There is no option in buying a mac in individual parts as it is too complex to build yourself without the assistance of machinery, yet another example on how pc’s are more user friendly than mac’s. Another reason to buy a pc over a mac is compatibility. For all those gamers out there a pc is for you! If you are a gamer than you probably know about steam if not let me explain. Steam is the biggest online retailer of pc games. They’re tens of thousands of games that are just a click away from being able to download and play. All of these games are only compatible for the Windows operating system. I’m sure there is similar websites for mac users but I guarantee that it won’t have even close to the selection that steam has. So if you’re a serious gamer there is no question, buy a pc. The result is the same if your look at the available apps you can download for each operating system. There are a decent number of apps available for Mountain Lion but there are thousands more on Windows. If you’re wondering why there is a much larger selection for Windows the answers simple, demand. The number of pc users far outweighs the number of mac users so this creates more demand to make games, software, and apps formatted for the Windows operating system. Sony Vegas is an example of a major piece of software that is only available Windows users and cannot be run on a mac. Now there are some downsides to having such a large amount of software, apps, games, and other downloadable content available to you. The downside is Windows users are much more susceptible to downloading a virus. It’s a good thing that Windows has advanced malware and virus protection such as Norton, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and my personal favorite Avast. Those are just a few examples there are many more that will suite your needs. These virus protection programs will protect your computer from most if not all viruses. Throughout this essay I have expressed my opinion on whether to buy a pc or mac. I believe that the Windows operating system and pc is and forever will be superior to Mountain Lion and mac. I hope this essay will help people that are on the fence about buying a mac or pc. I hope this essay pushes you onto the correct side, the pc side! But that’s just my opinion, and many others. So which do you prefer?