Articles tout Macs over Wintel systems

Two new online articles are asking what we Mac users have wondered for a long time: why use Windows when Macs are around and getting better all the time? Interestingly, one of the magazines asking the question is PC World.

In a recent article, PC World notes that PC users are already using lots of Apple’s pioneering concepts: a graphical user interface, 3.5-inch floppy disk, wireless networking, built-in Ethernet and more. Although these technologies weren’t invented at Apple, it committed to them long before they trickled down to Windows, writes Contributing Editor Stephen Manes, a co-host of the public television series Digital Duo, and a guy who’s written about PCs for nearly two decades.

“Some things were invented at Apple, including one advance now in every Mac: FireWire,” he adds. “Too bad the high-speed port has been slow to catch on in PCs, in part because of the even slower-to-arrive copycat USB 2.0 standard. And the Mac is often far more elegant: Thanks to Apple software, editing digital video or burning a DVD on a Mac is almost a pleasure. On PCs, it’s almost always a pain.”

Though he continues to prefer the PC’s windowing interface, its lack of proprietary connectors and its freedom of hardware choice, Manes does seem impressed with Mac OS X. And he isn’t impressed with Windows’ instability.

“But every day that brings a Blue Screen of Death, a networking disaster, or a collection of security warnings from Microsoft is a day that more Windows users will consider making the Big Switch,” he writes. “And while there’s no hard evidence that Apple is developing an Intel version, consider this: If OS X were available for the machine you have now, wouldn’t you be frustrated enough with Windows to give it a try?”

Meanwhile, a Spokesman-Review article by David Saraceno takes it even further. He says that “simply, the Macintosh is the best computer built today — bar none.”

“I’ve used them both, and based upon personal experience, PCs running Windows XP can’t hold a candle to the elegant user experience provided by a Macintosh running Mac OS 9 or OSX,” he said. “PCs are all boring ‘me-too’ designs. Some of you will claim that appearance means nothing. Computers are just intended to compute, and nothing more. And the same logic applies to the clothing and automobile industries. Right. All cars should be black like the original Model T’s. After all, cars are intended to get you to the grocery store and back.”

Saraceno — who provides Macintosh-based consulting and runs a digital video and DVD production studio — says that Apple brought style, design and innovation to the computer industry with such products as the flat screen iMac, Titanium PowerBook and iBook. The company’s “systemic control over hardware design and operating system” makes the Mac the easiest computer to configure with peripherals, he adds.

The writer admits that Wintel systems are less expensive and even faster. But he adds that, for most people, Macs are more than fast enough. And they have far less viruses plaguing them, Saraceno notes. The writer also adds that there are no Windows applications that match the ease and elegance of such i-apps as iMovie, iTunes, iDVD and iPhoto, which all come free with a Mac system.

“There’s no argument that PCs are cheaper than Macs,” Saraceno writes. “And that’s exactly what you’ll get — a cheap PC. Macs cost more, but they last longer, are cheaper to maintain, troubleshoot and set up.”