Say what you want about Microsoft, I’ve used Macs for 2o years along side PCs.  I’d never buy a Mac, it’s just my personal preference.  Sure, 20 years ago Macs had the edge in desktop publishing when QuarkXPress dominated the publishing and layout seen.  Adobe Photoshop had a few more features and was more convenient to use than the clunky Windows version.  Let’s not forget that Adobe entire video suite took a 5 year hiatus from Macs so being a video producer these past 15 years that could have also swayed my affinity towards PCs. But now, are you kidding me?  When you can get so much more CPU, memory and power under the hood on a PC compared to a Mac, why spend more?  Security?  Keep your virus protection up to date.  I spent $420 on my Samsung quad core laptop and it serves me well, I can’t complain — it’s installed with Windows 7 and is very reliable.  I edit videos with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, I render some pretty complex 3D animations in 3D Studio Max on it — it hooked up to the network in 5 minutes.  Can’t get much easier than that. By the way, when you hear “it’s easier on a Mac” do you Mac homers get a little tired of saying and hearing that?  Isn’t it a little insulting, it’s like saying “youuuu  havvvve  toooo speeeaaakkkkk slllooowwwerrrr sooo it’sssss eeeeeasssssierrrrr forrrrr themmmmm?!”  After all, we need to make it “easier” for Mac users, I guess. I hear “Macs are easier to use” a lot, too.  Really?  The mouse is easier to move?  Yes, some of the chassis designs are curvier and the different colors Macs come in are lovely.  However, I’ve opened up plenty of software programs and the buttons were in the same place on both a Mac and  PC.  Honestly, I think it tells me more that if someone is so stubborn about what computer they are going to require to do a job when the same software runs on either machine almost identically, they definitely don’t get any sympathy from me.

Conclusion

Personally, I can use either machine and OS, but I would never spend the extra money on a Mac.  A $500 savings on a computer that can do more comes in handy.  The worst part is when Apple upgrades their OS you have to upgrade all your software.  That’s not only a fun filled day you never quite put on your calendar in pen — and it can get very expensive very quickly.  For all you “only Mac” people, I won’t call you lazy, unadaptive or inflexible….  Okay, I just did.

Full disclosure:  This author personally owns stock in Adobe and Microsoft.