It’s a question and argument that has been going on for many years now. Mac or PC – which one is better? There really isn’t a clear cut answer unless you look for certain individual things and even then, in most cases, there is no clear cut winner.

If you are looking for a monitor screen that is second to none, there is a clear winner. If you are looking for additional software to download to make your computer more fun or to have it run more efficiently, there is also a clear cut winner.

Most of the other comparable items though, are pretty close in the race. Sure the proprietary status of most of Mac’s stuff gives them advantages, but it also has plenty of disadvantages for the consumer. When you take everything into consideration though, it’s like the old saying of “six of one, half dozen of the other.” What it all boils down to is what you want to use the computer for.

If you want to use it strictly for browsing the internet a Mac might be best for you. If you are a gamer though, you’ll want a PC for many reasons, including one very big one. Read on and see how close the race actually is nowadays!

20. Mac – Security

When it comes to the numbers of people who are inconvenienced when a new cyber-attack comes out, it is Mac that is the hands down winner. By far, the people who are affected using Macs are far less than those who use a PC. Mac users shouldn’t be so quick to jump on the celebration bandwagon though because times are a changin’.

The people who carry out these attacks are becoming more and more knowledgeable about what they do and they realize that Macs are safer. They want to change that to even the playing field for those they mess with. So while Mac is better right now, it will even out over time.

19. PC – Security

Security on PCs isn’t weak by any means. When you are what most of the world uses, you are bound to be the one primarily attacked. Those who create viruses and such normally structure them to go after PC users because those are in use around the world more than the Macs.

The attackers are getting smarter though and figuring out ways to include Macs in these attacks. PC users always have to download new stuff to protect themselves, so in that regard PC users tend to have the most up-to-date security features. They just seem to be the easiest to crack for those people who do that sort of thing.

18. PC – The OS

This is an argument that will never end. Who has the better operating system? Windows tends to have good operating systems but not until they are released, the customers figure out what’s wrong with them, and they report it back to Microsoft. It’s been a tried and true formula for them over the years and users are quite tired of it.

Once all of the kinks are worked out though, they actually run pretty good. There really isn’t a need to upgrade to a new one every year though, which is what Microsoft seems to be working toward. When there is a good one out they should just leave it be until the need comes for a new one.

17. Mac – The OS

Windows XP was a great operating system and there have been few like it since. Windows 8 was a disaster and Windows 10 seems to be a bit better now. With the Mac however, you never seem to hear these horror stories when the new OS comes out. OS X El Captain seems to have very little problems if any at all, other than the name.

The new Mac OS seems like it is what you would expect and want from using a computer. They seem to have finally got it right after several previous attempts, none of which were all that bad to begin with. The Mac’s OS’s have been far more stable than any Windows release.

16. Mac – OS Transitions

When you upgrade from a previous version of Windows to the new one, there is no telling what might happen. You may have a seamless transition but if you do you are definitely in the minority. It just doesn’t happen that often.

With a Mac however, they actually pay attention to what your new upgrade will do and what programs it will effect. Sure there are problems sometimes, there always will be when you play with software and electronics, but they are far less than the disasters that regularly happen with Windows upgrades.

Mac definitely wins the war of the operating system transition.

15. PC – Tech Support

If you need tech support for a Windows machine it is much easier to get and far cheaper as well. As far as calling tech support goes, it is always free for PC users and that’s a good thing because there are always plenty of issues.

If you need something to be fixed it’s usually pretty easy to find a place close by because most of the world uses PCs. Fixing them is a good business to be in. As often as they have issues, it’s a pretty lucrative business as well.

The bottom line here is PC tech support is cheaper and easier to get.

14. Mac – Tech Support

Mac doesn’t seem to have as many issues as the PCs do but that doesn’t mean they don’t come up. Mac is nice enough that whenever you buy a new computer with them, you get 90 days of tech support for absolutely free. After that however, they charge you every time you need help. Even phone calls are not free.

If you need a machine fixed it’s also not as easy to find a place that deals with Macs. Since they are in the minority, a lot of places won’t touch them. You can write it up as they don’t know how or just don’t want to bother with them, but either way it’s tougher to find a place to take it in than if you have a PC.

13. Mac – Building your own

Nothing says that you can’t build your own Mac. You probably just don’t want to after you looked up the prices for everything. It’s not easy to do and if you decide to take the plunge it will cost you a pretty penny. It actually could end up costing you more than if you just went out and bought a brand new one.

Mac parts are not cheap and there are plenty of people who like to build their own units. That’s the reason they stay away from Macs when they do. PCs are just easier and cheaper to build.

12. PC – Building your own

There are a ton of people who love to build their own computers. It’s the rarity that one of these people build a Mac though. They just cost too much to build.

PCs are easy to build and for the most part you can find cheaper options just by searching a little for the parts you want. PCs are fully customizable which makes for a great unit to use for whatever your favorite computer things are.

You can build a really powerful, quick PC machine for a very competitive price. That option just isn’t available for Mac users. Here’s to you, PC!

11. PC – Better For Gaming

The gaming industry is a multi-billion dollar world that has more than its fair share of PC gamers. Nine out of ten times when a person builds a new computer like we just talked about above, it’s so that they can have the best machine available for their gaming pleasures.

Macs don’t have the hardware you need inside of them to play any type of new game (and a lot of older ones as well). If you wanted to build one you could certainly do that but it would cost you dearly. A good gaming PC will run you about the same price as a Macbook would and it will play every game that you want.

Not only that, but most games aren’t built for the Mac systems so they wouldn’t work anyway. So saying that the gaming world has more than its fair share of PC users is actually the understatement of the week.

10. PC – More Cost Effective

As we have discussed in the previous couple of sections, PCs are just friendlier on your wallet than Macs are. It doesn’t really matter what your main reason for using the computer is, the bottom line is that PCs are just all around cheaper.

That’s what happens when there are plenty to go around. Not that Macs are running short, because they aren’t, they just aren’t the primary computer used in the world. That keeps their pricing pretty universal wherever you go. On the other hand you can always find great deals on PCs because they are carried at pretty much every store you will come across now.

9. Mac – Less Cost Effective

There are many companies that make PCs. Because of this there are several different versions that you can get, and as I just stated, there are always price wars going on. You’ll always be able to find a good deal on a PC. It’s just the opposite with Macs.

Apple makes Macs and they are the only ones. So you won’t find several different variations of machines and you will rarely find price wars going on to sell units. You will find consistency in the products though if that’s what you are looking for.

The lower number of machines however, means that you will always pay more money for a Mac than you will for a PC.

8. Mac – No Interchangeable Hardware

This works both ways for the consumer. On one hand it offers a great sized unit that should last for quite a long time and hardly ever run into any hardware issues. This is because they make the most of what they put into their machines. On the other hand though, if you want to upgrade your unit down the road, you’ll find that you’re out of luck.

The only way to upgrade your machine, say put in more RAM or a bigger hard drive, is to buy it as a build-to-order option, when you first buy the computer. Now who knows at that point if they will want to upgrade or not down the road? That’s just insane and a major drawback for Macs.

7. PC – Interchangeable Hardware

If you own a PC you can do whatever you want to it, whenever you decide to do it. If you think the machine is running a bit slow, all you have to do is pop some more RAM into it and speed it up. If you want a new, bigger hard drive, all you have to do is go buy one and pop it in. Sure, it’s a little bit more complicated than I make it sound there, but you get the point. It’s possible and it’s easy with a PC. It’s not even an option with a Mac.

6. PC – Needs Less RAM

Speaking of putting more RAM into your PC… the chances that you will need to do that now are pretty rare. They come with plenty to begin with now and the only real reason it needs to be upgraded is if you are a gamer looking for the top speeds possible out of your unit.

It’s easy to add more if you want to do so but here is another thing not a lot of people know about; if your PC is running low on free memory it will just run slow. If a Mac is running low on memory it will more than likely crash. There is a huge difference between running slow and not running at all.

5. Mac – Gives You The Good Stuff

One of the advantages that you get with a Mac is that they now come with pretty much everything you could want. Right out of the box you’ll find stuff like Photos, iMovie, Garageband, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, FaceTime, iTunes, Maps and plenty of others already on there ready to use.

Oh, and by the way, you CAN run Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook on Macs. You can’t run any Mac stuff on a PC.

When is the last time you opened up your new PC and found a fully installed version of the newest Microsoft Office on there? That’s right, you never have, and unfortunately you never will.

4. PC – Fully Customizable

We talked about what you can do to a PC already. Pretty much anything you want, anytime you want. This allows you to build a machine that is very specific for your computer needs. So it doesn’t matter if you want to build a machine to be used for gaming, video editing, architecture, designing or photo editing, because you can build exactly what you need.

The architect and the video gamer would have to use the exact same machine if they owned a Mac. Oh yeah, and a gamer would never own a Mac because the good games don’t work on their system.

3. Mac – User Loyalty Is High

Mac is a good computer, let’s not imply that it isn’t. There are a lot of purposes that it is absolutely great for and in a lot of businesses Macs are used exclusively. They are still in the minority though when you take into consideration the overall total numbers of PCs in the world compared to Macs.

One thing you’ll find when you encounter a person that is a long time Mac user… they will NEVER make the switch over to a PC. It would take a monumental collapse of something they love and can’t use anymore to get them to switch over.

A lot of Mac users though are former PC users who “saw the light” and made the move to the other machine. Personally, I have used both and can’t see why anyone would want to go from a PC to a Mac. I can see lots of reasons that a Mac user would want to jump over to a PC though, but it rarely happens.

2. Mac – Give You Better Screens

If you compare the screens that you will be looking at on your monitors you will find only one result, Mac kicks PC’s ass in that department. There is absolutely no comparison. That’s a shame when you consider most of the gaming done on computers is done on PCs. They should be allowed to use the awesome graphic displays for their gaming.

Now, I’m not saying that PC monitors are crap because they aren’t. There are actually some really nice ones out there. Unfortunately for PC users however, even the best PC monitor on the market can’t hold a candle to a Mac screen.

1. PC – The Freeware is Plentiful

Mac may have the PC beat in the monitor department, but as far as freeware goes, PC has as big of a lead over Mac as Mac does over PC in the monitor screen race. It’s not even close.

If you are looking for add-ons to have more fun or make your system run better, you can find more than 60,000 options that are compatible with Windows machines. Macs offer you less than 5,000 options.

The reasoning for this is obvious with Mac’s closed system that nobody else can access or know about. PC users have an open system allowing plenty of people to create some really awesome stuff to use. Mac doesn’t want people doing that.

Sources: macworld.co.uk