Our household has both Macs and PCs. I work on the PCs and my flatmate works on Apple computers. Since 2004 I have noticed the issues that each OS encounters on a frequent basis. Neither platform is perfect but each has its individual personality that people should be aware of when purchasing a system.
The XP clock
Running Windows XP, I've not once managed to get the clock to update correctly. This may sound like an insignificant issue but in reality it has made me miss trains before now. XP's Clock will start to lose minutes in just a few weeks if it is not synced on a regular basis and for some unknown reason it can't find the timeserver. In contrast, Apple's operating system doesn't have any difficulty at all keeping the time synced and it even adjusts itself for daylight savings. Computer professionals often get into debates to try to get a definite answer to the question, "Which are better, Macs or PCs?" However, no one has anyone mentioned this issue in any of the arguments. It looks like the majority of people never have to fix both Apple and Windows machines, day in day out from long periods of time.
It's all about the CPU
Both systems were bought at the same time and for roughly the same amount , so they should by rights have the same amount of CPU speed. Then again, Macs are usually dearer than PCs. Testing them side by side, we launch the same photograph in Photoshop and then apply some filters. The Windows-based system can repeatedly outperform the Apple by two times. If you want to use your system for photo manipulation, video encoding, or other processor intensive jobs then you probably get more value for your money with a PC.
Hibernation and sleeping
A surprising number of PCs are left running overnight. If you've ever driven past a block of offices after dark you might have seen lots of screen savers from computers that have been left on. This might not be because of sheer laziness, it might be because Windows XP isn't well designed to hibernate. However, Apple computers will awake from sleeping in seconds and is then ready for use. Taking an energy saving stand point the Mac wins hands down - standby is available on Windows XP but in my experience it often fails to wake.
Aesthetics
There's no doubt that Windows XP was a massive step forward from Windows ME or 98, but it was never quite as pretty as Mac OS X. Every icon in OS 10 has been designed to create a first class aesthetic. This extra "eye-candy" sometimes does affect computer speed if you have a low spec Mac, but for most modern Intel Macs this should no longer be a hindrance.
Overclocking
This won't apply to the majority of people, but overclocking is a fun technique to enjoy huge speed boosts from a budget computer system. By running the components at a faster "overclocked" speed you can get the kind of speed that you might expect from a computer costing 3 times as much. I have seen Macs overclocked, but I would imagine that there is far less of a community on the web for this kind of hobby.
Overall
In 2004, I think my computer was without doubt the better computer to get in terms of getting bang for your buck. If you are an utterly non-technical consumer then the Mac would have been a better option. Recently, with the Intel processor Macs, I think that my next computer will probably be from Apple. The cost may be 10% more, but the OS is supposedly the best around, and every last program for the Mac is very impressive.
About the Author
ComputerGuruZach is the author of Speed-Up-Windows-XP.com, a site that can teach you
how to speed up computer . Instead of complaining, "
my computer is slow", you can breathe new life into
Windows XP slow PCs.
