6 Reasons to Buy a PC Instead of a Mac

No Joke; As much as we love Macs, we admit there really are reasons not to buy a Mac. Here are my top six reasons to buy a PC instead of a Mac.

1. You only have $300 to get a new computer. There is no disputing the fact that Apple doesn't compete in the market for cheap, POS computers. Today, a refurbished Mac Mini is going for $519 from Apple. It only goes up from there. Counterpoint: you can always buy a good used Mac for cheap on eBay.
2. You like to build your own computer. Some people like to tinker, and Windows or Linux PCs are the best way to do it. You can't just march into Fry's and start buying the parts to make a Mac yourself. Counterpoint: Unless your time is worth $3 an hour, don't fool yourself into thinking you are saving money.
3. You plan to pirate your software and all your sources use Windows. There is no denying software piracy is running rampant and by virtue of market share, there are far more sources of pirated Windows software than Mac software. Counterpoint: Macs come with most of the software you will need for free. Also, don't be a thieving asshat. You aren't entitled to steal someone else's work, even if it's Microsoft.
4. You live for the latest video games. You also don't mind dropping $500 for the latest video card to play them. Facts are facts: Computer games come out first for PCs and sometimes never even make it to the Mac. I've been waiting YEARS for Half-Life. Counterpoint: Go buy an Xbox.
5. You need a program that is only available for Windows and a Mac counterpart won't do. There may be tens of thousands of Mac programs available to you, but there still are gaps in very specific software categories. Counterpoint: Run Windows on your Mac via Parallels or Boot Camp to access that program.
6. You want an ultraportable laptop. At this point, the MacBook is Apple's smallest laptop computer, and it really doesn't compete in the ultraportable category where screens are small and optical drives and battery life are shed to save weight. Counterpoint: Get a job where you don't have to travel so much.

I'm sure I missed some items for the PC die-hards. What do you think? Use the Comments section below to take your best shot, but stick to reality. As much as you can.

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macs are beautiful... i wonder why if a mac is a great computer, it ended up using a pc processor?... anyway... in a perfect world you should be able to get OSX (the best OS ever) for free and be able to install it on every pc, but i guess steve won´t give away his moneymaker that easy.

 jeff
 08/09/2007  at  09:25 AM

jeff, don't get hung up on the "PC" thing. processors are platform agnostic. PC stands for Personal Computer and Apple Computers are Personal Computers as well! Yes, Mac is a PC!!

 Roger
 08/09/2007  at  09:32 AM

Counterpoint: Go buy an Xbox.


First and foremost, console gaming blows. A more suggestable counterpoint is to spend the money you would on your noob-making machine (Xbox), buy a copy of XP Pro and install boot camp to play the games that way. These days Macs are not that overpriced, so instead of buying a PC and an Xbox, just buy a Mac and a copy of XP. That way you can use the frightfully candy-like user interface of your Mac to do all your word processing and image editing, then switch to XP to play games, without even getting out of your seat!~

 cakes
 08/09/2007  at  11:32 PM

There will always be people who are "Windows" only, but you can't argue the fact that with some of the new offerings out there supporting Windows emulation, you can have the best of both worlds on a single, aesthetically pleasing, visually appealing and downright sexy computer.

 Donna
 08/11/2007  at  10:15 AM

I really don't understand people that say "you are forced to use OSX in a mac, you can only do what Apple lets you do". Well, first, that is not true, second, I have never seen anyone complaining about Sony letting you use only their own stuff in the Playstation, or about Nintendo letting you use only theirs.
When you buy a mac you are buyin a whole thing, you are buying a tool that works on a given OS and hardware.

Does anybody complain because they cannot install their own hacked version of Linux in the OS of their top-notch car? Well, yes.. I guess those "stylist" peole who like to put purple TVs on their SUV love to customize everything they have. But when you use a computer as a tool to do something else, instead of having it as the center of your universe, it just doesn't matter, as long as it "just works", which the mac does (most of the time..

 HR
 08/26/2007  at  02:06 PM

If you have an older mac with only one button and you cannot afford the $7 for a multi button mouse try this. There are several utilities that allow you to click and slightly hold the button to get the fly-out menu. This is not as strange as it sounds. After you get it adjusted ( a few minutes ) it is amazing how well this works. I have old Macs with this and never notice or miss the multi-button mice on my main macs.

 Roger
 08/27/2007  at  07:58 PM

my 2 cents .. I've used Macs and PCs quite extensively and prefer Macs. I'm not a software engineer, PC builder or such like as so many people who post are, I just do my work with my computer. I find it interesting how many people who work with PCs professionally have a Mac as their own machine at home. The phrase 'they just work' is an accurate one in my experience and people who would like to concentrate on what they doing, without worrying about how its being done, might prefer a Mac.

Another thing for me is how quickly a lovely fast PC became a slow old thing because of all the memory hogging security software that it needed and I'm no dunce in keeping a machine well maintained and protected. I've read so often that 'no Anti Virus software will catch every virus' and similar stuff when researching software to install. And then there's pop-up & phishing blockers, your firewall and so, and so on; to quote a famous advert. Its a lot to learn and get to grips with.
The other thing that I find strange is how hung up people are on the right-click button issue when a: - it's so easily resolved (any mouse will sort it out in a tick plus there are other ways of sorting it out) and b: - aren't PCs and Macs about getting them to work the way we want? For example I don't like clicking on the track-pad so I've disabled it, easy peasy.

Fact is I love my Mac and there are so many reasons why I could go on for ever.

 idlehippy
 08/28/2007  at  08:25 AM

i copy that, idlehippy. at work there's my stunning 6-months-old ibm x60s superlight 512mb laptop..., which crashes on average twice a day when i am working on our vpn and have word, excel, outlook and firefox open. at home my cute little 2-year-old 512mb Mac mini, where somebody has to unplug it every evening, because otherwise it just doesn't stop running when doing exactly the same work...! i am not a gamer at all, so Mac defintely does the job for me. counterpoint: most Mac stuff comes in white and metal...

 JB
 09/06/2007  at  11:23 PM

I am a PC user myself. This has been some of the same retarded arguments for me, but I have learned a lot here as well.

This machine I'm using know is a mix of parts I've thrown together myself. Mainly it's an AMD machine, 1.8Gz,1G ram,256M video card and 19" screen (freebies), mostly new parts otherwise and Windows XP PRO, NO ANTI VIRUS protection!!! and yes, it still works fine, I can't remember this ever crashing or having serious problems. It does everything I need it to do.

I'd like to see more fair arguments. I would consider buying a Macbook just by virtue of it being a superior product that CAN deliver performance worthy of it's price tag. I would be willing to bet Apple's laptops are way better than most of the commercial PC laptops out there today.

When I listen to the radio advertisements for the Macbook, it sounds like they target the people who plain just don't know how to use a PC in the first place.

I believe a powerful computer is only as good as it's weakest link and that includes the user.

 James
 09/17/2007  at  05:10 PM

By tabbing the trackpad with 2 fingers you get a right click !!

whats so hard about that ?!?

its MUCH more comfortable for me..than MS's phisical right click..

 Addy
 10/04/2007  at  07:25 AM

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