Windows vs. Mac: The Epic Battle - Research Paper

Introduction

The battle between the windows fans (PC) and apple supporters (Macintosh) has spread on college campuses, Internet message boards, and social networks. It's an argument that brings up fired wars and debates. The article will compare computers operating with the Windows OS (Operating System) and Apple computers, which run Mac OS X.

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As the term PC means the personal computer and can be used windows machines, macs, and other machines using different operating systems, we will use the term PC to refer to the Windows devices. Given the love commonly shown by owners of the two brands, it might surprise someone to know how Apple controls a small shares percentage of the world's computer market. While its sale of iPods, iPhones, and iPads gives a massive boost to the overall earnings of Apple. Less than five percent is what Macs (Macintosh) accounts for in computers across the world (Robert Cyran and Wei Gu). Mac, however, shows off an excellent improvement rate.

The question remains, what is the difference between Macintosh and PC? Here are some differences;

Design

For those who lived in the 80s, the design might not be an essential thing they check when dealing with computers, but it is one of the differences between Macs and Pcs. Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) has spent about three decades to work on the design to make Macs look better than the competitors. This has made his unique design to be enjoyed today (Nevid and Pastva, 35). The design focus began in 1984 from the first Macintosh. Just as Apple's current line, their monitor and CPU were put in one single unit, which helped to reduce the cables used to run the machine.

One of the most significant successes for Apple's CEO and his designer (Jonathan Ive) was in 1998 when they designed the iMac. The machine had the color of candy on its shell and was translucent, the design made the device transform to its modern style and gain popularity. Some of the PC manufacturers in the modern day are trying to make design motivated products but have not achieved the popularity that Mac items are holding.

On the different side, PCs are not produced by one manufacturer. Some very many people design the PCs in the industry, scaling from the functional motif of many organizational PCs. It easy to find that some of the makes are better looking than that Apple makes, nevertheless, there does not exist any imagination showing aesthetic selections at the point it is about the PCs design. It is not at all a bad thing, if one does not enjoy a particular design, the person can search for another producer to choose from other options. Unlike the case of Apple's design where you cannot have any other option if you have to possess the Mac product.

Customer Satisfaction

Among the biggest difference for PCs and Macs is the way a buyer feels about the item he or she buys. Surveys were done over some years show that many customers choose Mac over the PCs. Apple computers score more points on areas like experience with the service, reliability, and also the hold time of the phone. The side that Mac performed poorly was the percentage of their laptops that needed to be repaired.

The high positioning is likely because of the way Apple gives its services. When the PC producers are providing their service centers from the outside nations, Apple is providing its services in direct contact to its clients using assistants at their help desks in all the Apple Stores. Apple is also assisted by the fact that it has a centralized identity. A time when one has an issue with a computer from Apple, whether the operating system or hardware has an issue, one can be assisted in the help desks in the store. But in the case of the PC, one needs to try and speak to multiple companies to try and understand the issue with the machine.

Security

PCs and Mac have a large difference in the way the two are built to deal with security threats like unwanted intrusions and viruses. The fact that the largest number of a computer operates using Microsoft Windows in the world, PCs are the most prone to the attacks. Trojans as examples of common malware, confuse someone while using the PC into installing them as they fake to be some required software like antivirus (Benoit and Delbert, 7). They silently enlist PCs to be infected by dangerous viruses that are made to advertise fraud or spread spam, this is the regular issue with the PCs but they are not common threats to Macs.

It does not mean that Mac owners to disregard security completely. Trojan has also in recent times been observed in the Apple machine and fake as Mac Defender. They pop up in the window faking to be the Mac security and pretend that they have discovered some treats on the computer.

The notification suggests that the user requires to download an antivirus, it is through the method that one is tricked through the software that they get the pin to the credit and steal cash (McCracken). The more the company is acquiring a bigger share of the market, the more the threat will increase. But it is true to say that, a Mac user who refuses to update his or her security software, he or she is less likely to be scammed than a user of Windows who is armed to the tooth.

Price

Price is among the biggest known difference between PCs and Macs. Only a small number of Mac computers go for a price lower than $1,000. At the same time, few numbers of PC designs go for that amount of money. This does not support the saying that Macs have a larger price than PCs which have the same specification. The company of Apple has decided to design their Mac label with more expensive and better components (Podani, 150).

The issue with the contrasting cost of both the PC and the Mac is that the machines are hardly ever equivalent. Even though one can get the two machines with similar RAM, graphics, processor speed, hard drive capacity and other more, each of the computers might have different software packages installed in them before buying.

The buyer might also need to add some more software for whichever device they select. This means that the common price of the two different machines varies according to the buyers' requirements. If a client requires a gadget that can operate similar functions in both Mac and PCs, they should buy a PC instead of a Mac because there is a wide range of PCs and they are cheaper.

Technical Specifications

PCs and Macs may offer technical specifications that might be the same or different, according to the brand one is contrasting with. Even though the two have internal parts like the hard disk and processor, the ability and speed of the two are very different.

Macs will overshadow the cheap PCs, the reason behind this is that the Apple Company produces expensive machines that have a high quality of its parts that make the machine (Bhatnagar, Gupta, and Chauhan, 82). Considering the quality of Macs, many PCs cannot cope with the competition. In general, Mac's processor is quicker than that Windows but seem to stint on a little when the hard disk, RAM, and USB portals are concerned.

The type of optical drives and links seen on PCs and Macs can vary in some ways. Apple gives quite a quality pick of the kind of attributes, adding an in and out audio, a SuperDrive, FireWire, USB, magazine power port, Ethernet, and a Thunderbolt. The PCs provide the same features and some more like HDMI ports, TV tuners, Blu-ray players, and touch screens.

Choice

Maybe the common contrast that a PC and a Mac have is the configuration numbers found in every item. At the moment, Apple has a small number of computer lines, unlike the PCs world where they are uncountable. Even when the configuration of every model is calculated alone, like the writing Apple gives less than thirty different computers. The confined picking is not an indication of weakness, rather it is a way the organization approaches its target group (Nevid and Pastva, 35).

PCs are different from the Mac as they come in many sizes and shapes. Reports from the buyers' different brands of Windows giving various and wide range of configurations on the laptops and the desktops. Many of the buyers think that the wind range of selection is an advantage since they are most probable to get the device that serves their specific requirements.

Software

Among the reasons why Mac has not taken a bigger part of the computer, the marketplace is due to the failure of having writings of software for its operating system. The deficiency is seen in the computing of a business, many of the applications were systematized on PCs that run the Windows in the past years (Podani, 150).

Even when an organization may say that Mac gave advanced products, a bigger time flame and a large amount of money would be needed to build the reverse (Steam). Mac has done inroads by uniting with Microsoft on the well-known Office Suite, nevertheless, the lack of quality software for the business is still a worry for most of the companies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when one is choosing between Mac and Pc, it depends on the many factors he or she is having. Saying one is greater than the other comes down to the taste and preference. It is all like dating, all opposite genders can never be the same. The Mac and PC can serve the same purpose but every person has to try and brag that they have the best computer at all times. The reason why all those companies are making money is that they all have customers and as long as the customers are willing to buy, more and more advancements will be obtained.

Works Cited

Benoit, William L., and Jeffrey Delbert. "'Get a Mac': Mac versus PC TV Spots." Relevant Rhetoric: A New Journal of Rhetorical Studies 1 (2010).

Bhatnagar, Nandita Goyal, Vishal Gupta, and Anubha Chauhan. "A Comparative Study of Differentiation Between Macintosh and Windows Operating System." 77-85.

McCracken, Harry. "Mac Security Threats: How Vulnerable is Apple?" Time Business. June 2, 2011. (Aug. 19, 2011) http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2075218,00.html

Nevid, Jeffrey S., and Amy Pastva. ""I'm a Mac" versus "I'm a PC": Personality Differences between Mac and PC Users in a College Sample." Psychology & Marketing 31.1 (2014): 31-37.

Podani, J. "SYN-TAX 5.1: A new version for PC and Macintosh computers." Coenoses (1997): 149-152.

Robert Cyran and Wei Gu. "Apple Will Shine in 2011, if Not As Blindingly." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, 2 Jan. 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/business/03views.html.

Steam. "Store." 2011. (August 19, 2011) http://store.steampowered.com/