In the ever enjoyable debate over Mac vs PC, can there be an official winner? I love the Mac commercials and personally think Mac’s marketing department has done a great job. I usually laugh every time I see a Mac commercial; they’re very memorable.

As so many have been discussing the Mac vs. PC comparison I thought I’d add some more information to the debate.
     • Legally, you can install Windows or Linux on a Mac computer however, you can’t install OS X (Mac OS 10
       or Snow Leopard – all names for Mac’s operating system) on a PC legally —- Mac won’t let you do this.
     • Both Macs and PCs buy Intel® processors. Memory, hard drives and graphics cards are also from the
       same small pool of suppliers.
     • Mac has unchangeable OS programming (keep reading for what this means).
     • Snow Leopard updates are much like Windows updates however Mac charges $29 for the updates. Mac
       sells the update as a new OS. Windows updates are no charge.
     • Your range of choices with a PC is much wider than with Mac, as one example you can’t get any of the
       new Intel processors (I3, I5, I7) from Mac and you can from PC. OS X 10 Snow Leopard doesn’t boot into
       64-bit by default and switching between 32-bit and 64-bit causes a big performance hit.
     • Mac has an optional aluminum case for laptops. This case doesn’t protect the internal components any
       better than other cases, it’s just an aesthetic.
     • PC offers more raw power than the Mac lineup for state of the art gaming and entertainment machines.
     • Matchup on components and cost: 15” Laptop, 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB Ram, 320GB
       SATA Hard Drive at 7200 rpm and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics cards; Mac sells their laptop for
       $1,799, PC ranged from $900 – $1400. There is safely a 25% and higher cost difference in favor of PC
       with the only difference being the Mac and PC Operating system. This example is also the most accurate
       matchup of components since much of PC has changed to the new I3, I5 and I7 processors.
     • You may have heard that the Mac’s OS is flawless and Microsoft’s is hopeless. Neither is true. All OSs
       have their advantages and weaknesses.

The list goes on. I know you Mac lovers are thinking I haven’t been very fair to Macs because I didn’t mention the virus protection, stability and the other common perceived benefits. Macs unchangeable OS programming is the reason behind the previously mentioned ‘perceived benefits’. Virus protection is a perceived benefit because Macs can still be hacked. At the annual hackers conference in 2006 a Mac was hacked in under 30 minutes. In 2009 it only took 5 seconds to hijack the Mac OS because an existing vulnerability hadn’t been addressed from the previous year. This link contains a good article explaining the security debate between the operating systems. Something else to consider once you’ve read the article, Safari is the default browser on the Mac OS and the breach in the Mac OS was achieved through Safari. However, if you install Safari onto a Windows OS, the same hack can’t be utilized because the issue is with the OS and the browser is utilized as a gateway for the breach.

Removing user variables such as; technology competency, skill, knowledge, personal use patterns and more is the only means of being able to determine an unbiased winner.

If you like a controlled integration between hardware and software, you’re probably a Mac. But if you want the freedom to choose from a wide range of system components, peripherals, and applications, you’re most likely a PC.

Both operating systems have their pros and cons but at the end of the day PC is the winner because it has the ability to be personalized to you and to fit your exact needs.