Trust me, I’m a professional.
I spent five years as a network technician in a Windows only school district. I left for a job closer to home which is in a Mac-only school district. I have been there for about one-and-a-half years. My experience with Apple goes back to the early days of our marriage when I convinced my wife we needed to upgrade our computer to a first generation Macbook. Actually, I did work at a church where I was given a powerbook a few years before we were married. Since then, we have owned several iPods (two nanos, mini, shuffle, and a touch) and an iPad. I think I can objectively look at the Apple vs. PC war through the eyes of a technician and a casual user.
For full disclosure, my family has also owned a Windows 7 laptop and several Linux laptops along the way. My wife currently has an Android phone and I have a Windows Phone 7.5 made by Dell. We also own two Kindles, so, as you can see, we like our technology.
Let’s begin with Apple. Here are my general pros and cons (this list only looks at the OSX operating system, not the iOS system found on their mobile devices) Please note, this list is not comprehensive:
Pros:
1. Looks. OSX has beautiful aesthetics. While Windows has made massive strides in this department, OSX wins hands down for how pretty it makes things look.
2. Innovation. Multi-gesture mice, mission control, bonjour printing, the doc, the way all apps seem to work together for the user, the list can go on and on. Apple has surely been an innovator of many great technologies for years.
3. Spotlight. I use the search feature in Apple to find just about anything. Long before Windows started a more dependable and fast search, Apple had it nailed. I launch many apps and utilities from the search bar as well as look for files and folders.
4. Airport Utility. I wish this utility existed for all routers. Most routers you wither need to load a clunky third-party software, or go through an equally clunky web interface. Airport utility is built right into OSX and makes it easy to use.
5. Top-notch hardware. Apple does not skimp. They do not mess with low end processors or cheap plastics. Their hardware specs are always top of the line and their build quality is superior.
6. Ram and processor handling. Apple does a great job of handling resources as you switch between programs. Once again, Windows has caught up in this category, but you have to give credit to Apple for having done this for a long time.
7. Virtualization. Programs like VMWare fusion allow you to use Windows machines on your Mac. They handle it very well and this allows you to open up your computer to be highly useful.
8. The App store. This was one of the best ideas Apple has had. Software distribution through an online store that is built into your OS. Genius.
Cons
1. Shortcut Keys. Sure, you can copy and paste and even quit programs using keystrokes. BUT, you cannot exit out of all windows as you can with Windows. the Command+Q command will not close all windows, such as some preference windows with a single press.
2. Closing a window does not “quit” a program. If you close a window, the program itself continues running. While newer systems have a lot more RAM to spare, leaving too many open programs causes slow-downs. As someone who has to work with people who do not know this, it is a pain. Sometimes, a simple reboot or properly quitting programs solves a lot of issues.
3. Networking. Sure, the Airport interface works great. But adding and removing wireless networks adds a lot of unnecessary steps. For example, to remove a wireless network you previously set up, you need to turn the airport off, delete the network out of the favorites list and possible out of the user / system profiles, go back to the Airpot options screen, hit apply. If you do not make sure the airport is off and try and do this, things might get jumbled later when you try and either re-add the network, or a different one. If you are in an enterprise (business setting) and you do not add the wireless network credentials in properly (in a system profile instead of user) don’t count on your user being able to authenticate easily if they exist on WiFi only. I know, this step was a little geeky. but trust me, it might be my biggest peeve with OSX.
4. Lack of group policy. Windows has been in the server department longer, so adding group policies has been around a lot longer. While Apple can support some basic policies, they are not nearly as robust as Microsoft’s.
5. Safari. I know, this one is a point many might fight me on, but, lets face it, Safari is horrible. I know many Mac users who use either Google Chrome or Firefox because of how horrible Safari is. It has been highly crash-prone in my experience.
6. iTunes. Sadly, it is the best at what it does, but that is not saying much. iTunes is a mess. It is a resource hog, it is slow and cumbersome. I want to know why I cannot just simply add content to my iPod without having to go through iTunes.
Other
Honestly, this is a bit of a rant. Apple Fanboys are a huge con. I will say this, they are not as bad as Android users, but they can be pretty bad. They tend to get highly defensive about their product, and many will not even give technology NOT invented by Apple a chance. They fail to see that Apple is not the answer for all things. I believe all users should use whatever technology best fits their needs. Sometimes, that is not Apple.
PC
Windows does not get a free pass here. They have been making computers for years, and I know first hand many of the pros and cons. However, due to the length of this blog, I will type up a second post later this week discussing the Windows pros and cons. That is, unless my wife goes into labor. If so, the article might be a tad delayed.
-Don-
