Macs
By Danielle Ryan

Admit it, Macs are beautiful. If this was a popularity contest, they’d win hands down. Their design is sleek, the multi-touch pad is ingenious and easy to use, and they come preloaded with fun creative software like Photo Booth, iTunes and iMovie. But not only are they electronic eye-candy, they are also innovative, reliable and powerful alternatives to PCs.

The most common misunderstanding I’ve heard regarding Macs is that they are not very compatible with the rest of the world. I will confess that I was slightly apprehensive when I purchased my own Macbook four years ago. I had this strange notion that all Mac users were somehow working in their own little bubble because their computers were incompatible with PC-dominated world. Much to my relief, my experience has been the complete reverse. Not only do all of my Mac programs open and export to Microsoft file formats, they also occasionally open Microsoft files better than Microsoft programs do. For example, when Microsoft Office upgraded to Office 2007 (remember back to the .doc versus .docx fiasco), older versions of Office couldn’t open the new 2007 file formats. However, my Apple equivalent, Pages, opened both formats without a hitch.

Also, if I want to purchase Office for my Mac, I have the option; however, if I owned a PC and wanted to buy Apple’s Pages or Keynote programs, a Windows version just doesn’t exist. Along the same lines, owning a Mac gives me choices when it comes to operating systems. Although I prefer the Mac OS, I could install Windows or Linux operating systems on my Mac. You simply don’t have that many options with a PC.

Bottom line – I have owned my beloved Macbook for almost four years, and I have never had a major problem. Sure, the battery is nearing the end of its life, but that’s going to be an issue no matter what laptop you buy. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to restart a PC or go to Task Manager to angrily close a program, but I can count the number of times I’ve had to force my Mac to restart on one hand.

PCs
By Sara Nemec

For me, the choice is simple: given the opportunity to work on a Mac or a PC, I choose the PC every time. The PC is a no-fuss, hassle-free machine that allows me to get my work done quickly. Unlike the Mac, one doesn’t have to remember a barrage of shortcuts and codes to accomplish simple tasks. For someone who doesn’t have the time or interest to remember these shortcuts, a Mac becomes unknown and unfriendly terrain. Instead, I prefer the PC, in which programs are laid out before the user in an uncomplicated manner.

Other than the actual machines themselves, there are also the stereotypes that go along with both brands. Most everyone can remember the Mac commercials that paint the PC as a starchy business-suited and rather nerdy-looking man who can’t compete with the hip, artsy younger guy who is portraying a Mac. These commercials would have you believe that individuals who prefer PCs could never enjoy or understand artistic pursuits as a Mac user does. Sadly this campaign falls flat when one realizes that everything a Mac can do, a PC can accomplish in a more user-friendly manner.

So if you honestly want to be viewed as the uber-artsy hipster, go for a Mac. However, for simple, straightforward computing, the PC is the right choice.