It seems that the better Apple does the more this topic comes about. I think people for the first time are getting a peek at Apple and their business model through iPones, iPods and other popular Apple products. By business model I mean this for example… when is the last time you saw a company announce a new product like the 3GS and they immediately drop 3G down by 50%? That’s smart business in my book, now people of a different income bracket can get a chance to see what the iPhone is all about and become a “Apple Fanboy” or “Apple Elitist Snob” like myself.

Quality vs Quantity

Hands down Apple makes a better designed computer, components and operating system. I remember how impressed I was when I first got “my” 24″ iMac at work. Just by the way they package their products you get a feeling that they put some thought into it. Nice small manual, terry cloth for the screen and really a modest amount of packaging materials. PCs come in a variety of different levels of craftsmanship and materials. For instance I use a Dell Desktop at home and while it’s not an ugly system it definitely doesn’t scream quality like I feel with the Mac. PC cases are made by every Tom, Dick and Harry out there and in most cases it’s “Cheaper the Better” materials mixed with a modest design. These same “Tom, Dick and Harries” are also pumping out plenty of low quality drives, boards and cards. I’ve had pretty good luck with these “low quality” parts in the past with only a couple failed hard drives and cards. Wait-what? Who cares what it looks like, you say? I see you rolling your eyes. Not everyone cares! But being a person of detail I take notice of these things, just as when you buy a car some people like to look at the engine and other components so it’s no different. Now lets go inside of a Mac and a PC. Since I referenced an iMac earlier let’s take a look at the inside of one.

That! Is a very nicely designed system. I have been inside many PCs cases and never have I seen such a well designed inside. Apple unlike most PC carriers does not neglect the inside of the case assuming that most users will not ever be opening their cases.

This is a tower from a dell and to me it looks very similar to mine… spaghetti. Now maybe it’s “wrong” of me to compare an All-In-One system like the iMac and compared it to a tower. So here we go…

Same nice injection molded parts, branding and cleanliness. I rest my “case” bwahahaha.

What changed me?

I like many people my age grew up using a Windows PC in schools, libraries and eventually in my own home since I was 11 years old. It was all I knew existed and had a pretty good relationship with the components and software besides from all the normal frustrations that we learned to write off as the nature of computers or what ever you call it. Macs were pretty taboo to me, I didn’t take anyone serious who used them. I again like many others were given the impression that Macs were for video production and artists. Almost like an idiot savant of the computer world. In college we have two rooms out of maybe a dozen that had Macs in them. Sometimes when the PC labs were full I would be forced to use these very foreign computers. I was so stuck in my ways (normal for those who know me) that I never gave it the chance it deserved and would get frustrated and leave.

This “frustration” was really my years and years of conditioning to PCs. I got my first real opportunity to learn a Mac when I started my job with Bunting Graphics. Their marketing guy was well educated about Apple and when I started working with him he set me up on his old G4. I remember the first few weeks I would get so frustrated at how I couldn’t figure out how to shut it down on my own or how to use finder to find network drives or how to close a program and have it not just minimize into itself. After a few weeks I realized that I was simply over thinking everything.

Now after a year I have used Tiger, Leopard and now Snow Leopard and I absolutely LOVE this operating system. When I turn that machine on from a cold boot I am up and running in less than 30 seconds. Maybe my favorite thing about this OS is the consistency and stability of how it runs, I get the same performance out of this machine every day I use it. Out of any computer I have ever used I have to say that I have never had such a love for a computer system like I do “my” iMac.

In Summary

I am pretty sure it’s going to take another post to cover the rest of why I think Macs are better than PCs. I have barely skimmed the surface. Earlier today on Twitter I wrote something that basically sums up this Mac Vs. PC feud.

“Mac is to Corvette as PC is to Camaro”

Being a car guy I have heard many guys say “Why would I pay X amount of dollars for a Corvette when I could buy a Camaro and put X amount of dollars into it and have the same thing” and just like in that situation you will never get a Camaro to out perform a Corvette (of similair years) without heavy modification. There will always be those “Camaro” PC guys out there with their proverbial mullets thinking they’re better than a Corvette. Right now I have a PC at home only because when I made the investment I wasn’t into Macs at the time. When the time rolls around for me to drop this system you can bet that I am going to spend the money on a Mac.

Also I’d like to note this… people who go around bad mouthing Macs because of their price are dumb because they aren’t seeing the big picture. PCs are less expensive because their components are made by many manufacturers (Samsung, Western Digital, Hitachi etc) therefore creating a competitive market for pricing whereas Apple chooses to control the quality by being the only manufacturer. I’d rather pay extra for quality than spend my time researching to see if X companies ram is going to burn up in week or if X companies hard drive is going to take a dump in a couple months because of poor design or craftsmanship. “I’m a Graphic Designer and I’m a PC” …. spare me, PLEASE lol

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