Why Buy a Mac – What’s the difference, really? :: My First Mac - Help Buying and Getting Started with Your New Mac

Why Buy a Mac – What’s the difference, really?

Quick Scan

7 Reasons to switch to a Mac:

Get more from your personal media.
Amazing hardware design.
Surprises in the Software.
No Security Worries.
The Apple Ecosystem.
Support from Apple Stores.
Tons of Mac People Love Their Macs.

Pulling the trigger – Where to buy a Mac

Can I Do Everything on a Mac?

6 Reasons to Buy a PC Instead of a Mac

Top 10 Little Known Cool Mac Tricks

Why Buy a Mac - What’s the difference, really?

By: Chris Kerins
Categories: Before You Buy, Switching from Windows

OK, people hold some very strong opinions in the Mac vs. Windows debate and the commentary out there can seem a little over the top. The fact is, Windows and the Mac OS have been closing the once substantial gap over the 22 years this rivalry has been going and becoming more and more alike. And most commentators’ opinions are colored by that long history.

Today, the differences are smaller, but still important. In fact, you can do everything on a PC that you can do on a Mac and vice versa. It’s more a matter of how much hassle is involved.

I like to say that a task might take five steps in Windows versus three on a Mac, but if you can only handle two, it still won’t get done. And the same goes for if you can handle more than five steps. In that case either will work just fine for you.

Here are my top seven reasons to buy a Mac.

Get more from your personal media. My top reason for getting a Mac is the iLife suite of programs that come free with your new Mac. These help you take your home photos and movies, and create books, slideshows, calendars, web sites, edited movies, and DVDs. Key point: if you desire to create any of these things, the software will help you along, not hinder you.
Amazing hardware design. The high quality of the design and fit and finish of the actual computer never stops delighting me. This why I think Macs appeal strongly to designers and artists, not because they are easier to design with (PCs have been comparable to Macs in design for ten years or more), but because artists and designer appreciate good product design and are willing to pay for it. Furthermore, because the Apple aesthetic imbues the hardware with a Zen-like simplicity, the Mac recedes and your task comes forward.
Surprises in the Software. The Mac OS is designed to reward experimentation. You will find there is usually three or more ways to do something, such as start a slideshow from a group of files. By providing for multiple approaches, the Mac OS rewards those who try what seems intuitive to them. In particular, you will notice lots of pleasant surprises when you just try to drag and drop one thing onto another.
No Security Worries. I have never received a Mac virus or spyware on any of my nine Macs. Ever. Nor has anyone I know or have read about. It has been demonstrated that they are possible, but there just aren’t any existing in the “wild”. And the best part is I haven’t even had to spend time worrying about or preventing them. Of course bad things can still happen to your data, but it will most likely be by maliciously exploiting you, not your Mac.
The Apple Ecosystem. It may cost a little more, but Apple provides a way to do most every general computing task from writing a document to listening to music to creating an Internet group with an Apple product. You aren’t required to use any other Apple products with your new Mac, but the option is there. And if you take that option, you will find a more seamless experience.
Support from Apple Stores. Regardless of where you buy your Mac, you can walk into your nearest Apple store with it and get help for free. Not only that, but you can participate in free classes that help you get more out of your new Mac.

And starting recently, Apple stores are putting in Studios, where someone from their team of Creatives can advise you on your project. What other company offers this level of free service? Of course, this only helps those that are in the vicinity of an Apple Store, but take heart in that dozens of stores continue to open each year. Maybe one will be opening near you.
Tons of Mac People Love Their Macs. You never hear that from PC owners. There is something in that. Hopefully, you'll love your new Mac too.

So there you have seven differentiating reasons to buy a Mac. Of course there are many more, some of which you can find in the Dig Deeper links below. Also, don’t forget to also check out our 6 Reasons to buy a PC instead of a Mac for a more complete view.

DIG DEEPER

Bill Westerman’s The Truth About Switching. 22 notes on the effects of switching to a Mac.
Apple’s Why You’ll Love a Mac Site.
Eight Financial Reasons Why You Should Use Mac OS from CIO
Walt Mossberg’s While Switching to Mac Will Improve Security, It Isn't for Everybody


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Your Comments:

"By providing for multiple approaches, the Mac OS rewards those who try what seems intuitive to them."

I think this is the real reason why Macs have been more appealing to creative types for a long time. Creatives, by nature, solve problems that don't really have a single correct or incorrect answer... so they work well in an environment that welcomes experimentations with different ways to get to similar (or not) results.

I recently described a graphics staff compared to a customer service/data entry staff as being more click-and-drag rather than tab-and-type, respectively. Not that you can't do one type of task on one platform or the other, but the intuitive nature of the Mac is more approachable than Windows (you don't click on "Start" to turn the computer off.)

Shoaf
07/12/2007 at 03:41 PM

" You never hear that from PC owners. There is something in that. Hopefully, you'll love your new Mac too."

You don't? You don't go to enough LAN partys. Well let me tell you I love my PC, it's my baby. I built her myself. It sucks a lot of PC makers make such ###### looking PCs, the only good looking ones are the ones people build. I would love to see that change.

BlackCow
07/14/2007 at 03:30 AM

So you're telling us the the reasons you should get a Mac are:
1)'It comes with iLife.' Hmm, ok, fine iLife is nifty and fun. One point.
2)'It looks pretty.' Nope. No points on this one.
3)'It will surprise you!' Is that really a feature people want? Half a point.
4)'No security problems.' True, though just because Macs have low market share, not because they're inherently safer. Full point anyway.
5)'Apple can sell you all the software you need.' Again, not a perk. No points.
6)'Apple stores are good.' Point, though grudgingly. Apple stores are a good concept, though not always great in person.
7)'Everyone else likes them!' And the mob knows best. No points.

In my book, that's a three-and-a-half out of seven. I would have been happy with just "Three Reasons to get a Mac" instead of padding it out to seven with junk; bigger numbers don't make it look better by default.

73

Joshua Rosenthall
07/14/2007 at 03:41 AM

Games, games, games! But I love design of OS X!

pock
07/14/2007 at 03:51 AM

I know you're trying to have a balanced site for new Mac users, but I hope you'll draw the line somewhere. It's a shame that so much Apple/Mac hate is out there. New Mac users will soon find that we actually love (yes, Love!) our Macs and enjoy computing. This attachment to our computers tends to push aside the desire to trash other computers and spread hate. While the haters simply show their ignorance, it's still annoying and detracts from the learning and the fun we all want to have.

James
07/14/2007 at 06:09 AM

REVERENCE is THE difference. How do I express my love for my Grandmother on her 80th birthday... do I open up windows MovieMaker? No. I make an iMovie to play on a projector in front of all our loved ones with all of our home video and photos set to music using my computers' pre-set templates. How would I trust that special moment to PowerPoint?!?! That's what the Apple does well, translates your best moments into a tear-jerking, spellbinding tribute. Try putting that into an email or an excel spreadsheet.

However, if that's your style, just install and run Windows XP or one of the many versions of Vista on your rugged Apple hardware.

Here is a question as an Apple user, that I get asked weekly:
Is Garageband available for Windows?, Is iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD and PhotoBooth available for my PC?

My answer is, "YES, just buy a Mac, download Boot Camp, install the Windows operating system, and when you want a true, easy and innovative user experience, reboot into Tiger".

So, in my experience, "reverence" is a word I attribute to a machine created to help me show my loved ones, how much I love them.

That's MY Apple story. Thanks Apple, for making products that I can use and help to illustrate my love for those close to me.

Steve
07/15/2007 at 01:33 AM

I'd add one thing to this list: it really and truly is easier to connect peripheral devices to a Mac, and networking is easier too. I work on Windows, Mac, Unix, whatever--I can generally figure out how to do what I need to no matter what I'm working on. But for people with limited computer experience, Macs are easier.

My father is pretty clueless when it comes to computers. I once tried to show him how to download photos from a digital camera to his PC, and he said, "Yeah, I might try that again some time." Not long after I set him up with an iMac and showed him the same thing--within minutes he'd figured out how to resize them and e-mail them to his sister overseas. Not a big deal to experienced users, but a triumph for him and something he'd probably not have attempted on his PC.

As for networking, I was once travelling by train with some colleagues; I had my wife's iBook, and one of my colleagues, a fellow Mac-user, wanted to have a look at an .avi file I had. One of the group, a Windows user, said, "Too bad those Macs don't have floppy drives." In a few seconds I created a network, and my colleague connected to my machine by Airport and grabbed a copy of my file. Our Windows-using colleagues were gob-smacked: of course you can do the same thing on a PC, but they didn't have the faintest idea how. For me, this points to a crucial difference between the two platforms.

Scott Straker
07/15/2007 at 07:43 PM

The Mac Experience:

Look, click, boom!

Many of my friends recently switched from Windows to Macs. And I am really suprised how they enjoy "exploring" their Mac. In the beginning they asked me many trivial things like "how do I send a photo by email?" - "just drag it onto mail!". But after some they stopped asking and did things they would have never done on their pc. Of course Windows can, but it does not motivate you do try.

Tobias
07/16/2007 at 10:38 AM

link of "6 Reasons to buy a PC instead of a Mac" is broken.

George
07/18/2007 at 02:10 PM

George: You are correct, sir! Fixed and updated. Thanks!

Chris K
07/18/2007 at 02:47 PM