The debate as to which is a superior machine, the Mac or the PC, has been raging for as long as Apple has been making computers. But perhaps a better way to phrase this particular debate is which machine, the PC or Mac, is the most likely to be the future for computers as we know them? I compared both Mac’s and PC’s in a variety of areas to try and answer this question, rating each machine on a scale from 1 to 5 possible points for each category.
BENCHMARKS
As with any discussion of this nature the best place to start is to look at the strengths and weaknesses of each system to determine how they compare to one another. In doing so it is only natural to start with the processors used by each, how do they compare in speed?
The chart below contains a variety of newer Mac and PC’s that are currently on the market today, and a benchmark comparison of their processors:
As you can see on similarly rated machines the performance of the Mac and the PC are virtually identical. While end users often report that Mac seems to have a slight speed advantage while processing graphics applications and PC’s seem to maintain a slight edge in the area of spreadsheets and database applications, testing indicates that these speed differences are so slight for most average applications that the end user probably won’t even notice the difference. So in the area of processor speed in the great Mac vs PC war the end result is a tie.
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Benchmark Ratings
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Mac
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PC
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5
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5
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OPERATING SYSTEM FEATURES
The next step was to evaluate the features available in both Mac’s OS X and Windows XP, the most commonly used operating system for each platform. When comparing a list of features available from just the OS neither operating system can claim a clear advantage. Both have a laundry list of features that are nearly identical, and while some features are clearly easier to use/access on a Mac the same can be said of certain features on Windows XP.
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OS Features Rating
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Mac
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PC
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5
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5
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STABILITY & SECURITY
Naturally the new television commercials for Mac tout the stability and security of OS X over Windows XP, but a true side by side comparison on equivalent hardware tells a slightly different story. While Mac’s OS X certainly has an advantage in this area it is not immune to lockups or problems. In fact the biggest advantage OS X really has in the area of stability is not due so much to the quality of the code, but rather the fact that systems running OS X are by and large only a very small percentage of the total number of systems world wide.
The nasty little script kiddies who spend much of their wasted youth writing and updating viral code do so for the primary purpose of doing as much wide spread damage as they can, and as a result it is only natural that they would write viruses for Windows XP because there are far more computers running Windows XP. There are some viruses out there for OS X, but they are far less prevalent only because the OS itself is far less prevalent than Windows XP. However even taking this into account in the area of stability and security the advantage has to be given to Mac, but for the reasons listed above I rated this as a slight to moderate advantage at best. If Apple were to significantly increase its market share there is little doubt that a viruses and spy-ware for the Mac would become much more prevalent than it is today.
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Stability Rating
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Mac
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PC
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5
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4
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GRAPHICS & VIDEO
The one area in which Apple actually has a clear advantage over the PC is in video and graphics. The Mac is certainly the favored choice of many graphics shops for just these reason, it integrates quickly to most graphics and video hardware and has excellent support for these types of applications. While it is possible to mimic these capabilities with a PC by purchasing external hardware, the advantage here clearly goes to the Mac as it does this right out of the box.
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Graphics Rating
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Mac
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PC
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5
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3
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COST
This particular area is one that perhaps engenders the most debate in any comparison of Mac’s to PC’s. PC advocates are quick to point out that the cost of a base PC is much less than that of a Mac, however Mac advocates are just as quick to point out that the average useful life span of a Mac is longer than that of a PC, thus making the Mac more cost effective in the long run. When taking all of these factors into account the data shows that when simply evaluating the hardware purchase in the area of cost the Mac and PC are almost dead even, while the Mac has a higher initial cost in most cases it is also true that it also has a higher useful lifespan. As a result in the area of initial cost again results in a tie.
AVAILABILITY
In the area of availability the PC has a clear advantage over the Mac. Take a trip down to your local Best Buy or CompUSA sometime and you can see for yourself that the amount of hardware/software available off the shelf for the PC greatly exceeds the selection available for the Macintosh. Certainly one can obtain more selection by shopping online, but even so the number of vendors and options available for the PC even in online shopping far exceed the options available for a Mac. The PC certainly has a decided advantage in this area, however since this is due to the popularity of the PC this is a factor that could change should the demand for Mac accessories suddenly go on the rise. Due to this consideration I gave the PC a moderate advantage in this area.
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OS Features Rating
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Mac
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PC
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3
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5
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MAC vs. PC
So when taking all of these factors into account the Mac, at least out of the box with no additional hardware, as you can see from the total ratings below Macwould have to be considered the superior machine. Does this mean that Mac’s will be the future of computing as we know it? In a word, no. I know this answer might come as a surprise to some after looking at a side by side comparison of the two machines, but there is one factor that I haven’t yet discussed that makes all the difference in the world, market share.
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Total of All Ratings
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Mac
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PC
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31
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27
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MARKET SHARE
While many consider the Mac and the PC to be in a “race” of sorts to see which machine will come out on top, the truth is that the race in question was run quite some time ago and Mac lost.
While I realize this will most likely upset many of the die hard Mac aficionados out there, one simply can’t argue with the numbers when it comes to market share. Apples all time high in market share was just a little over 12%, and this was back in 1992. As you can see from the graph below, since that time Apple’s market share has fallen to around 4% and has remained at roughly that level ever since.
Total Market Share, Apple vs PC
WHY MARKET SHARE IS IMPORTANT
Of all the computers being purchased today roughly 96% are PC’s, and only 4% are Mac’s. So how does this impact the future of computing? Shouldn’t Mac, the slightly superior machine in most respects, eventually gain ground and replace its PC counterpart? Again, in a word, no.
Imagine for a moment that you are the MIS Director for a good sized firm that employees roughly 2,000 people who use PC’s. Like most businesses you’re particular business standardized on PC’s years ago and that is what all of your employees are accustomed to using. Now, the time has come for you to upgrade your workstations. You are presented with the option of sticking with the PC’s or changing over to Mac’s. The initial cost of the hardware, as discussed earlier, is similar enough that either is a valid choice.
That is, of course, until you start calculating the incidental costs and issues involved in such a changeover. By and large your employees are going to be totally unfamiliar with Macintosh and OS X. This means they are going to require additional training to familiarize themselves with the new operating system.
To be exceedingly generous, say that all of your employees are top notch people who could all be trained in a single week’s time at a cost of $300 per employee. This would mean an additional $600,000 cost for the training, plus you’d be loosing 1 week of productivity from each employee, at a total loss in productivity of 38.5 years for the 2000 employees you currently employ. If each employee makes on average $25,000 per year, that total loss in productivity will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $962,500. After all, you have to pay them to go to training for the new operating system rather than paying them to perform their normal work functions for that week.
Now the cost of the changeover strictly in hardware will be approximately the same, let’s say that your buying 2,000 new units at a cost of $300 per unit, for a total upgrade cost of $600,000.
If you stick with the PC’s, you’ll pay that $600,000 and be done with it. If you decide to switch to Mac, you’ll need to be able to justify over $2,525,000 in costs and lost productivity for the exact same upgrade, simply so you can go with a machine that is slightly better in certain categories than what you’re already using.
This of course is just the tip of the iceberg. The end users don’t take kindly to big changes, and they certainly don’t want to learn a new operating system. They were happy with the system they were using and the one they were familiar with, and they certainly are not going to be happy with you for switching over to Mac’s. This will result in a lot of complaints and a huge workload for your IT department as they try to adjust to using the new format that is unfamiliar to them.
And what about you’re IT department? With luck you might have as many as 4% of them with at least a modicum of Mac experience, but odds are pretty good that the vast majority of them will be unfamiliar with Mac’s. They are going to need a lot more training than just a week to be able to perform their jobs. So you’re looking at either retraining them, which would be a huge expense, or replacing them with people already qualified in Mac. This means a lot of additional recruiting expenses and hassles, again simply so you can switch over to a format that gives you only a slight advantage to its predecessor in some areas.
Now, if you’re the MIS manager, even if you really prefer Mac’s to PC’s, how long do you think you’d keep your job if the next workstation upgrade you did not only went over budget by almost 2 million dollars when the company was only expecting a 600,000 expense? Especially after the higher ups start getting flooded with calls and nasty emails from people who are now being forced to work on a new system that they are unfamiliar with after the old system which suited their needs just fine for years was replaced?
I’m not sure about you, but if I’m the MIS manager I’m certainly not going to pitch a Mac changeover anytime soon. I think you’ll find most MIS manager’s are of a similar mind on this issue. It simply isn’t practical for any business of medium size or larger to replace all of the workstations they currently have with Mac’s, even if Mac’s do have some inherent advantages over PC’s.
THE END RESULT
While Mac certainly has a respectable niche market and has held steady with their sales over the past few years, the Mac simply will never replace the PC in the business community, and it is the business community that drives computer sales.
While certainly Mac’s also have features that can be attractive to most home users, most home users base their purchase decision on what type of computer they have at work, and unless they are working in one of the few shops out their that are Mac based, odds are the vast majority of them will continue to buy PC’s.
In addition, new users who do not use computers at work are often driven to purchase a PC over a Mac simply based on what they see at retailers like CompUSA and Best Buy. When you walk into a CompUSA and see that 80% or more of their floor space is dedicated to PC’s, accessories and software. That’s a pretty compelling reason to purchase a PC. The Mac section is generally only a tiny corner somewhere in the back of the store and you’re lucky to find more than a single shelf worth of available software. But this isn’t a conspiracy by any means, again it is directly tied to market share.
FINAL ANALYSIS
In the final analysis while Apple certainly produces and excellent machine, the PC is truly the future of computers. While Mac may make some inroads into this arena with the newer systems that are powered by Intel processors, it is still very unlikely that this will dramatically increase their market share.
But for those of you who won’t give up your Mac’s till we pry them from your cold dead fingers, take heart. Apple has a very strong market niche and will likely maintain it for many years to come, and now that they have switched over to Intel based processors it is very like that someday soon if the sales of Apple hardware start to decline they will counter by making the emulation software they are using available for the PC. It will likely be decades before advancements in technology truly make the Mac obsolete.
