Apple vs. PC for Students We’ve all seen the advertisements - “Hello, I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC.” The Mac advertisers anthropomorphize their products along with the competition in order to get across the message that their product is young and hip. As it is an advertisement it is to be taken with a grain of salt. But as a student one must wonder, is what they are saying really true and should I get a Mac? It may be a question of what came first, the chicken or the egg, but the Mac advertisements have proven to be true in one respect – the younger generations of Americans tend to lean towards Macs while the older generation does not. The main difference between the two systems is that PCs (or Personal Computers) runs Windows, while Apple products use its own system.
Visual Appeal Apple’s system is more visually pleasing, along with its actual products having a much sleeker design. This computer program has become industry standard for graphic designers, so for those pursuing that line of work, Apple is certainly recommended. There are certainly other lines of work that may push to use Windows program systems as well. In fact, before Mac came back on the map in a big way, Windows was practically the only option engineers could use. This is exactly why viruses have targeted Windows and PCs specifically and affect them so much worse.
Technology These day to day issues with PCs is the reason the younger generation of America is willing to pay a little extra for a Mac that does not have as many issues. Most Mac users agree though, that if a Mac ever has a problem it is normally much more severe than the easily fixable PC ones. This is probably why Mac has offered stellar customer service such as the Genius Bar in all Apple stores and Apple Care which is basically insurance for your Apple products. The problem is that those that are not willing to spend any more than a grand on a computer will not be able to afford a Mac. For some schools that do not plan on getting a job in an ad agency or becoming art directors this may not matter very much. For the students that just need something to run, they may opt for the PC as it makes little to no difference for them. Personally, I have owned and used both Mac and PC computers. In the five years that I have used my Mac notebook, I have not had any major problems with it. It cost a little extra at first, but I will never know exactly how much money I have saved on fixing my laptop or paying for a brand new one. My mother, who adamantly refused to pay the money for a Mac laptop went through a different PC brand every year for 3 years before she realized that it would be more efficient to use a Mac.
In the end, the Mac is not just for those looking to pursue visual design, but for anyone that wants to use a fast, advanced computer to get the job done.