Mac vs. PC 2011: Elegance vs. Efficiency
JoeUser Forums
Hello. I’m a Mac and a PC. That is, I’m the happy owner of a very new MacBook Pro. Core I7, Solid State Drive, 8 GB memory. And a ThinkPad T400 (Core Duo, Solid State Drive, 8 GB memory).
Some people get attached to pets. Some get attached to their cars. Me, I get attached to my computers. I’m a zealot. A fanatic. A fanboy. And both these machines rock but for very different reasons and they both suck in very different ways.
My degree is in Computer Engineering. My day job is software design. I love hardware and software. I know how it works and truth be told, I’m pretty good at it. And as I use these machines, I recognize bits of genius far beyond my capability and a lot of half-assery that is disappointing and surprising.
Generalizations
Let me summarize the key difference between a Mac and a PC in my opinion: Mac hardware is sublime, designed by the best and brightest. PC hardware is dumb, spec’d by suits and engineered without passion. On the other hand, Mac software is flash over substance. Elegance at the expense of productivity. And, frankly, surprisingly inconsistent even as it’s slick while being inconsistent. PC software, by contrast, tends to be ugly but designed for maximum productivity.
Specifics: Hardware
The Mac hardware is a joy to use. Its multi-touch touchpad is a joy to use. As a Trackpoint fan, I am surprised with how much more enjoyable and useful a well designed touchpad can be. I say well designed because I’ve found no touchpad on the PC to be remotely as useful.
The MacBook’s touchpad works like this. One finger to move the cursor. Two fingers will scroll a page (and do so incredibly smoothly and instantly). Three will let you go back and forth on a browser or other app. Four will let you quickly go between windows and programs. On the PC, the touchpad experience could be considered, well crap. I’ve got a lot of different laptops here and nothing comes close in this area. The ThinkPads, however, at least have a Trackpoint which serves as a good alternative. But PC users who love their TouchPads would likely return from using a MacBook rather pissed off at how clunky and half-assed their PC laptop’s touchpad was implemented. This is mostly (but not completely) a hardware issue.
PC laptops, in general, are just awful in comparison to a MacBook. Even the Lenovo ThinkPads are starting to fall behind. I open up a PC laptop (any brand) and maybe it’ll come out of sleep. Maybe I’ll need to hit a few keys to jolt it. Maybe I’ll have to hit the power button quickly to jolt it awake or maybe I’ll end up rebooting. Depends on the maker and the circumstances. When it does come out of sleep, maybe I’ll get my WiFi connection back within 10 seconds or…maybe I’ll have to rejoin the network or maybe I’ll have to reboot it to recognize something. Oh wait, the forums say I just need to turn off the blue tooth. Or maybe I just need the new drivers..etc. PC experts know what I’m talking about. Every version of Windows promises to fix this but nothing will fix hardware makers who just don’t seem to give a crap.
MacBooks, by comparison, are wonderful. You open the lid, it’s on and it’s connected. Every time. Always. Perfect. They are well made, well thought out, and clearly made by people who care about what they’re making. Talk to an engineer at a PC manufacturer and you’ll often hear frustration in how the designed by committee of people who barely use computers decided X or Y was going to be made. The hardware capabilities versus the software realities are rarely considered by PC manufacturers. It’s depressing.
Specifics: Software
On the other hand, there is no equivalent on the Mac for Windows Live. iMovie is more powerful but a much bigger pain to use for “simple stuff” than Windows Live Move Maker 2011 (note the version since it took Microsoft awhile to get this right). I was surprised at how many steps it took to make a simple movie via iMovie versus Live Movie Maker (especially since the source material was on my iPhone). This sort of behavior is exhibited throughout the Mac versus Windows 7 (note the version). Simply put, when it comes to getting things done quickly and effectively, Windows 7 is better in my opinion. And it’s better by enough of a gulf that I have a hard time seeing how anyone could come to any other conclusion (then again, I see Android fans clinging to the belief that Gingerbread is remotely as nice as iOS 4.2). See, I’m an equal opportunity offender. 
Now, the versions matter here because Snow Leopard is so much better in every way than say Windows XP to use on a daily basis and MacOS X was better than Window for so long that it’s no wonder there are so many Mac zealots out there.
Historically, the Mac’s elegant OS and software were its biggest advantage. It’s amazing how long it took Microsoft to get their act together on software and now that they have, it’s under appreciated (though the IE team UI designers should be flogged – the MS engine team do this wonderful job only to have the experience part of it made by people who clearly should not be making computer software). But Chrome on Windows and Chrome on the Mac are both wonderful so it matters not.
Compared to Windows 7, Snow Leopard makes me feel like I’m jumping through hoops. It’s still really good (especially if you’re coming from Windows XP or to a lesser extent Windows Vista) but it’s definitely not as efficient overall as Windows 7.
It. Just. Works.
The MacBook still has a big advantage in the “It just works” camp over Windows 7. As soon as Windows has to reach out to hardware…well, bad things happen. My favorite home printer is a Canon Pixia wireless printer. On the PC, getting it set up is a bit (but not much) of a pain. On the Mac, I just pressed a button, it saw the printer and I chose it. The drivers, scanner, and other goodies “just worked”. No CDs, no going to a website, nothing. It just worked.
Final Thoughts
Now obviously the Mac has the advantage that the hardware and OS are made by the same company. But consumers don’t really care. The good news is that, really, they’re both so good at this point that you really can’t go wrong. It’s just so disappointing at how poor PC hardware is by comparison when it comes to usability. What’s worse is that the bad hardware designs from the PC side of things comes from depressingly dumb decision making. It’s not even an engineering issue as much as just dumb decisions at the corporate level – where the specifications are made. If the PC makers could just make it a qualification that you have to have a genuine passion for technology before getting to make decisions, the PC guys would catch up overnight. Because it’s obvious that the Mac designers love what they’re doing.
At the end of the day, I’m using both my ThinkPad and MacBook depending on what I’m doing. If I need to do “serious work” I gravitate to the PC unless it involves “serious” video editing and then it’s Final Cut Pro (sorry Premiere, you’re too flaky these days) on the Mac. It’s a lot easier for me to gather my “stuff” on the PC than the Mac but the Mac is more fun to use.
So that’s just one guy’s opinion as a fan of both Macs and PCs. In 2011, it’s nice to be able to say that overall, they’re both really excellent.
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