The Mac vs PC argument has been raging for decades. You might have also seen an article I made previously about why you should buy a Mac instead of a PC. Well, to prove that I’m not just an Apple fanboy, in this article I’m going to talk about why you should go PC instead of Mac.
I’ve been using Windows and PCs since my parents bought me my first ever computer, which was a Dell latitude d620 in 2007 when I was in 8th grade.
A few years later in my senior year of high school, I saved up and built my first custom desktop PC. Since then I’ve always owned both a Mac and a PC at the same time, and I think it’s time I gave my personal opinion on this topic.
Price
Starting off with probably the main difference between Mac vs PC, and that is the price. I’m a firm believer that cheap Windows laptops are almost never worth it. They are almost immediately outdated, and always seem to stop working within 2 years.
That being said, some of the higher end laptops and those from reputable brands such as Dell or HP can be a very good choice.
Especially as there are often sales on, something that Apple almost never does. You’re paying the full RRP on those bad boys up until the day they are discontinued.
The true power of PC though is in it’s ability to scale price wise to absolutely anything you want or need. I’m mainly talking about custom-built PCs here, but it also applies to pre-built systems to a lesser extent, and also laptops simply because there’s such a huge range to choose from.
You can allocate your budget to exact components, down to the quality of the case or choosing to focus on CPU or GPU power.
You just can’t do this on Apple systems, and if you do want to upgrade for more storage or power, the price is so high it’s almost never worth it. There’s a reason why people call it the “Apple Tax”.
Selling Individual PC Parts
Now I did mention in my previous Mac vs PC video that the resale value of Macs was a huge benefit of that ecosystem. However the sheer customisability of PCs shouldn’t be taken for granted and may actually rival the Mac’s resale advantage.
I still have parts from my original 2011 gaming rig floating around in my own setup.
The beauty of a PC is that if a new upgraded part comes out, or a part dies, you can simply buy a replacement. Then, swap it out with the old part, and sell the old part on Ebay or Craigslist.
For the last few years almost everything on a Mac computer is soldered onto the motherboard, so that’s just not possible. It seems like Apple is pushing hard in this direction, as almost all of their latest releases follow the same practices.
Gaming
Moving on to the next most obvious reason in the Mac vs PC debate – and that is of course gaming. You’re certainly not going to be buying a Mac just for gaming, but even after 10 years, the gaming experience on Macs still hasn’t changed much.
Most games don’t work, and even if they were compatible they probably wouldn’t run well. Although, we have seem some noticeable improvement even while running a virtual machine via Parallels.
I’m a casual gamer, mainly shooter games like Call of Duty, Escape from Tarkov, and Battlefield. There’s no way I can do this on anything other than a PC, nor would I want to. For this simple reason, if I was forced to only use one device, I would have to choose a PC.
Raw Power
This is a topic made very interesting by the recent M1 Macs, and also now the rumors about the upcoming M1X release later this year.
Currently, if you’re looking to build a system to absolutely rip through 3D modelling or animation, editing, intense coding, or even bitcoin mining, PC is your best choice.
I’m talking Ryzen 5950x and RTX 3090s with 64GB of DDR4 RAM for example. A seriously powerful device.
What about the Mac Pro?
Yes, Apple has the ridiculously expensive Mac Pro, but you can build a PC that will outperform it for less cost. Traditionally this has also been the case for the MacBook, Mac mini, and iMac lines as well.
A similarly priced desktop PC will outperform them in almost every way (although quick disclaimer, the M1 Mac lineup is seriously disrupting this, more on that in a future video).
Compatibility
Moving on to compatibility and customizability, and I’m not just talking about Windows being the most popular operating system on the planet.
Customising Windows PCs
You can customise Windows and the hardware of your PC to be compatible with almost anything. Just recently I upgraded my studio with a 72 terabyte NAS from Synology. I wanted 10 gigabit ethernet connectivity.
All I needed to do was buy a PCIE network card from Ebay, download some drivers, and boom – my PC was now fully 10 gigabit ethernet compatible.
Some Macs do come with 10gbe compatibility out of the box, but for 99% of people, they will never ever need this, but they’re paying the premium for it anyway.
The point I’m trying to make is PC gives you the opportunity to mix and match parts to suit your needs, and especially for people like me, those needs can change as often as every few months.
A Mac device has essentially zero customisability once it’s shipped from the warehouse. This gives the PC a serious edge in the Mac vs PC war.
Windows OS
Finally we have the operating system, which is obviously Windows (I won’t touch on Linux in this article). I wanted to provide a unique opinion on this particular topic, so decided to focus on the biggest difference between Windows and macOS in my opinion, which is just simple muscle memory and familiarity.
If you’re like me and you were born in the mid 90s, or if you’re older, you would have grown up using Windows and you’re probably very familiar with it by now.
In my last article I talked about how I think macOS is a more stable and user friendly operating system, and I still agree with this.
However, even now after using macOS for 10 years and even working as an Apple tech for a few of those, I still feel like I understand Windows better and can use it more in-depth than I can when using macOS.
You have more finite control over your programs and settings, never really run into compatibility issues, and for most of us, we’ve literally grown up using Windows so it’s embedded into muscle memory for life.
This might not exactly be a unique pro of Windows over macOS, but it is the reality. Many macOS users I’ve spoken to take a very long time to familiarise themselves with it, and this involves a lot of concentrated effort and practice that a lot of people just can’t or won’t do, and that’s ok.
Think of it this way, you’ve been tying your shoelaces the same way your entire life. How would you go if you suddenly had to learn a completely new way of doing it?
It would take some time to learn the new way, and an even longer time to be able to tie them as quick as you used to.
Final Thoughts on Mac vs PC
This topic is one that’s been debated for over a decade now, and with the recent updates to macOS and the release of the M1 chip, the lines between Mac and PC are more blurred than ever these days.
