Mac Versus PC’s in the Office

 

Steve Jobs and Apple marketed the first mouse driven personal computer with a graphical user interface in January 1984. The Mackintosh 128K was its first commercial product. Unfortunately, it was unable to compete well in the market because of its expense.

Wintel, Microsoft’s Windows and Intel amalgamated, were as keen as Apple to invest, invent and revolutionise their products with new software and hardware innovations, Apple was placed second in the race, Windows were number one.

As Windows has updated the world of personal computing, Mac’s, as they are normally referred to these days, are still desired for creative industries and upmarket office environments, but what are the differences between them?

• The Mac and P.C. look at operations differently, using routes that the other doesn’t to achieve the same result.
• There are several formats for P.C.’s that have no Mac equivalent. For instance, the 2 in 1 devices like laptop and tablet combined, high resolution touch screen PC’s with stylus and custom made devices. This means that there’s a greater range of choice with Windows based products and a greater range of compatible accessories can be purchased.
• Most people are familiar with P.C.’s for home and office use whilst, generally speaking, training is required for those that are unfamiliar with the apple OS.
• The Mac is considered to be higher quality, more stylish and, arguably, it has greater stability. Apple are experts at building hype and marketing the Mac as a superior product rather than “run of the mill”, which P.C.’s are perceived to be.
• Apple are the sole manufacturers of the iMac, while there are several high profile, respected P.C. manufacturers that offer not only economically priced P.C.’s but the full range of ancillary products. The price tag attached to the Mac is higher because of its unique one builder/manufacturer position.
• Macs use the Mac OS X software while the P.C. uses Windows. That said, the Mac OS X can be used on a P.C. and vice versa, if you know what you’re doing.
• In an office, the investment in Macs is not cost effective unless the tasks it’s required to complete lend themselves to Mac technology, i.e. for graphic design or video editing.
• Most people just need e-mail, internet and word processing facilities and all of these can be carried out with a less powerful machine, namely the P.C.
• Fewer viruses attack the Mac than the P.C, malware is less common on devices running OSX  which can add to the feeling of security, cost and time effectiveness.
• P.C.’s require more maintenance.
• Upgrades are easier on Mac’s although with the advent of Windows 10 this advantage is lost thanks to the new Continuous Updates service.

In summary, the P.C. is considered to be the complete product while the Mac isn’t. Future investment for Apple will lie in their hardware and their devices evolving in line with the iOS. Hardware is where most of their revenue comes from.

Windows are software driven, they seek to make their range of products merge in to a single operating system and to offer universal apps. They want their software on all P.C.’s, phones, the Xbox and the Apple produced iphones and ipads to allow maximum market share.