Macs vs PC

[onemessiah]

Yes, Macs are less troublesome to work with (for the most part) than Windows. Stability....well, it depends.....In theory, since the Mac is built off of BSD/Unix, the system itself should be sturdier than Windows, and when you do run in to problems, there is a better chance at recovery rather than the entire system crashing. However, Windows has come a long way in terms of stability, and for home use the difference is negligible.
Macs are infinitely more secure than Windows.

On the flip side, Windows computers can run incredibly powerful hardware, and at much less cost than a Mac. What IS a myth is that Macs are more durable or reliable than Windows. If anything, it is the other way around. Windows has other benefits as well, which doesn't really pertain to the thread so I'll leave that out.

For myself, I've found Linux to be a nearly perfect compromise. I get the security and stability of a Unix system, and can run it on a killer desktop that I put together, and there are no limitations or restrictions at all to both my hardware and software.

 

[gotorightway123]

I have heard someone claim that macs are safer mainly because there are fewer of them , and hackers etc. design viruses etc. to attack microsoft sys. mostly because there's a lot more of them out there to target

 

[Qyöt27]

I have heard someone claim that macs are safer mainly because there are fewer of them , and hackers etc. design viruses etc. to attack microsoft sys. mostly because there's a lot more of them out there to target

Not really true. Market share is only a good indicator of how much an attempt to exploit a system can be made - it's not a measure of actual success, which is what matters. It would be like trying to demolish a brick wall by throwing tennis balls at it. More market share just means more tennis balls. By contrast, the default Windows security scheme looks a lot more like a cardboard box, which wouldn't stand a chance against all those tennis balls (also notice I said default - Windows' security can be like that brick wall if the user knows what he's doing, but most of the Windows consumer base doesn't).

That's not to say OS X (or Linux, for that matter) is completely invincible, but it's rather close. I remember seeing a list that enumerated all the viruses known to exploit Linux, and it was a list of only about 20-25 - and they included all the ones ever known, all the way back to 1991, not just the ones that modern systems would need to worry about (as security updates and what all would have already neutered most of those). OS X's statistics would be very similar, I'm sure.

One of the primary reasons OS X and Linux are more secure is the user model they use - they don't give the user root access automatically and at all times, so if a virus that works on them does get in and messes around, it only affects that user's files, not the entire system. Windows, on the other hand, would give users Administrator access from the get-go (at least pre-Vista; User Access Control - Cancel or Allow - was part of the way the default security model in Windows started to change, even if it was annoying as all get-out). If you wanted to restrict permissions, it was a secondary process, and most users never bothered.

 

[MattLangley]

The answer to the original question is highly dependent on what you plan to use your computer for.

I develop game technology and tools for both PC and Mac. I develop and work on both. I very much prefer Windows. Now this comes down to my needs:

1) As far as gaming goes PC is a no brainer... there are those that will argue emulation on mac (or Linux) of Windows, but this loses any argument of mac "ease of use" that might be won.

2) I've used Macs for a long time though I've used PCs more. What you are used to will dictate how easy it is to use in 99% of the cases. If you take a PC user and throw them on the mac they'll typically have issues, vice verse. I've seen this many many times. The argument of which one is "easier" is typically a farce put forward by those who have a bias and don't recognize it as such.

3) As a software developer, specifically game software, Windows wins out hands down. The developer tools on a mac simply can't compare. I do in fact use the developer tools on a Mac since the products I work on are typically cross-platform, so unfortunately I have to know the developer tools on both. Hands down Windows wins here (Visual studios triumphs over Xcode basically, but it comes down to many more things than that as well).

4) Ease of use... like I said this primarily comes down to bias. You can get used to either and work well in either. Web browsing, document creation, e-mailing, and web games are more or less equal on both. There are very few things I can point to that a mac can do that a PC can't do, while I can point to gaming on a PC while many games are not put out for the mac... Outside of that I'd say they both are more or less equal. Using both I still prefer windows any day, I find the mac interface confusing and clunky compared, while Windows I find tries to do more for you but sometimes fails because of that *shrug*. This is a very opinionated topic so you'll hear different things from different people.

5) Price... this is the biggest deterrent in my book. PCs can be bought with equal or greater power considerably cheaper.

6) Irony... ironically one of the biggest current features of modern macs is you can dual boot windows on them. A lot of gamers do this. This is ironic in the extreme and it always gives me a laugh. It was a smart choice by Apple and I know many people who own macbooks and do this.

7) Stability... you will hear something different from just about every single person. gotorightway123's statement is definitely true. There are many more PCs out there hence it's a bigger target. This is simply the truth of the matter, hackers will simply target the larger mass media base, a pretty duh thing. You can use this to your benefit and have a Mac, but understand that this is indeed one factor of it. It is not the only factor.

I would agree with the above post to a point. This security comes at a cost. The biggest annoyance of Vista... UAC which is a pretty strict security feature. This is an issue mac and linux users will always face. Security nearly always comes at the cost of usability. Windows Vista realizes this with UAC (fortunately a single setting to disable). Most typical users will trade security for usability, though there's a balance to be had.

On Windows, if you are careful (avoid porn sites and the other common sense things), and run some free security programs you should be fine. It's not that big of an issue these days.

8) Hardware options... you simply have an abundance of hardware options on a PC, partially why it's cheaper, so if your into getting hardware specifics you may be very unsatisfied picking from the limited mac options.


Keep in mind everyone has their own opinion, both Operating Systems have their pros and cons and both do things good and bad. They are equal on quite a few levels as well.

 

[Qyöt27]

This security comes at a cost. The biggest annoyance of Vista... UAC which is a pretty strict security feature. This is an issue mac and linux users will always face. Security nearly always comes at the cost of usability.

Of course, one of the things about the security model on Mac and Linux vs. UAC on Windows is a matter of what application developers took for granted on each when designing how they'd interact with the system (also, this part of the way one uses OS X or Linux is usually publicized well upfront and doesn't sneak up on users the way that it often would/will on Windows). The times you'll be prompted for a password on OS X or Linux is fairly intuitive with the process you're attempting to execute, and unless you're using system updates or really messing around with the Terminal, being prompted for a password is a rarity - most user apps are designed without a need for root privileges.

Windows, due to the long history of default Admin access, has many programs that just won't work correctly if they don't have Admin rights, which is probably one of the reasons UAC had so many complaints. It was rightly executed (although it probably could still serve from some heavy streamlining), but the apps were designed in the worst possible way to work with it.