The Writers Coin

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I’ve been a PC guy my whole life. I’ve learned all the tricks to make them run faster and get things done more efficiently. And for the most part, I’m happy being a PC guy.

But Macs have something PCs don’t have: they’re sexy. They’re alluring. They’re magical. They call out to you and beg to come home with you.

The temptation is hard to resist—until you see the price tag.

And that’s why I’m still a PC guy—I have trouble rationalizing the extra money spent on a Mac when you can get the same specs for cheaper. Remember, I’m the guy who has eaten the same boring lunch for five years.

But lately I’ve been feeling the pull to switch becoming stronger and stronger.

I think it’s because I’ve been using an iPod Touch since A was born (we use it to track her sleeping, eating, etc.) and it’s so intuitive and feels so different from every other device out there that you just want to always have that feeling.

Why Macs are Better:

• Sexier: No contest here. Even if you compare them to top-of the line machines like Dell’s Adamo XPS—Macs still have the upper hand. Look at the pictures on Apple’s site: it’s like gadget porn. No other company can say the same about their products.
• More user friendly: This is true, but it doesn’t matter much to me because I’m a power user. I know how to do all the complex stuff on a PC. Sure, it’ll make the transition smoother for me, but it’s not a big plus for a user like myself.
• More stable: This may or may not be true. In my limited usage of Macs (at work), they have issues just as much as PCs have issues. I’d have to actually own one and use it every day to know for sure, but I do get the sense that when a problem arises, it’s more easily solved on a Mac.
• Je ne sais quoi: Macs have that something. It’s special and it’s hard to quantify or even name, but they have it. JJ Abrams put it best in this TED talk when he says that sitting down at his Mac, he feels he has to write something worthy of the machine. You don’t hear anyone talking about their Dell Inspiron like that.

Why PCs are Better:

• Cheaper: This is the big one for me. Why pay more for something so hard to quantify? When you see the price tags side by side, it makes it really hard for someone like me to go above and beyond to get a “cooler” machine. I’d rather have the plain, black box with the faster processor. It’s what’s on the inside that counts…right?
• Familiarity: I know PCs very well. I can fix pretty much any issue that comes up without having to call tech support. I like being an advanced user.
• Compatibility: I’m told this isn’t a big deal because Macs can run Windows emulators, so you can run any program you can on a PC.
• Choice: There are thousands of options here, versus the limited amount available on the Mac side. But then again, don’t too many choices make us unhappy?

I’m curious to hear from people out there that have made the switch, have to interest in switching, have switched and then switched back (never met anyone that did this, by the way), etc.