Resolved: PCs are better than Macs

In today's day and age, you tell a Mac user a PC is better (or vis versa) you're bound to start a verbal argument. In this debate, my opponent and I shall once and for all put to rest what is better, the Mac or the PC. C1. Affordability of a PC over a Mac When it comes down to it, the upfront cost of a PC is much cheaper than that of a Mac. According to a Popular Mechanics article in 2011, a PC laptop starts at 250 dollars while its counterpart in the Mac starts at 1000 dollars. A PC desktop starts at 200 dollars its counterpart in the Mac, 600 dollars (1). As you can see the affordability of a PC beats the affordability of a Mac by a mile. This means more people can have access to a computer to do whatever it is they need to do. In this day and age, PC allows almost everybody to have access to a computer. The price of an Apple computer only allows a small group to use their products. I mean windows controls 91.9% of the market for a reason while Mac OS controls a little over 5%. (8) The affordability of a PC, with windows, combined with the below items allowed windows to dominate the competition. If Mac is better than a PC why is it that they do not control more of the market? Simply because, most people either 1) think windows is better, 2) they cannot afford a Mac, or 3) a combination of 1) and 2). Either way, windows rules. C2. Selection a)Name brand built Once again this is a no brainer; there are thousands of different varieties of PCs a person can buy. As one author puts it "the best thing by far about Windows PCs is the sheer unending variety of choices. They come in every size from teeny-tiny to extra-large. There are boxes with touchscreens, Blu-Ray players for high-definition movies, and TV tuners that let you watch and record cable and satellite TV. You can buy a PC that's pink, or transparent, or designed to be as close to indestructible as possible. " (3) Apple, on the other hand, only produces 9 different models. There is more of a selection of PCs. More selection means you can pick and choose exactly what you want to use the computer for. This ties back to price, if all I am going to use the computer for is email, browsing the web, and typing up documents, I do not need a thousand dollar Mac. I can just as easily do the exact same thing on the 500 dollar PC. Why spend the extra money? I mean why would an 8 year old who needs to write a book-report need a 1000 dollar computer when a 400 dollar one can do the exact same thing? b)Building your own computer You can build your own PC. You cannot build your own Mac. The ability to build your own computer allows you to customize it to suit your own needs. Every single component you need to run a computer can be bought. This gives you options. C2. Hardware Popular Mechanics decided to see which was better, Mac or PC. They took two laptops with almost identical specs (a Macbook Pro and a HP Pavilion DM4). Here is what they concluded: "While our Mac felt faster by a hair, our PC was cheaper by a mile. Our PC came with a bundle of free software, but our Mac was impervious to viruses. The point is, as tools, these machines are both hugely—and equally—capable. " (2) The reality is, when you take the two computers with comparable specs, one Mac and one PC, they are basically equal when it comes to hardware. That "huge" advantage Mac user's claim they have is just not there. When it comes to hardware a Mac and a PC are basically equal. C3. Hardware upgrades, in other words Apple is Fascist In the technological world, Moore's Law states "the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. " (4) Every 2 years, the processing speed of computers can potentially double. A PC it is quite easy to upgrade to the best hardware. It works something like this, open the lid of the computer, take the piece of hardware you don't want any more out, and put the new piece of hardware into the computer. To someone with any technological knowhow, this is quite simple. To put it another way "with a trip to Fry's Electronics and a little lunch money in the PC world you can basically soup up your own Windows roadster. " (5) In the technological world, computers become obsolete in a few short years, with a PC you can continue modifying and modifying it. With a Mac you cannot, it is simply impossible to do so without violating the warranty. And guess what? PCs are cheaper. C4. Software There are thousands of games available for PC. You just have to find them. Look at one of the world's most popular games, Counter-Strike. It has one main requirement in today's world, that you have windows. (6) Mac does not have the same selection of software when compared to windows. From file sharing with the millions of PC users around the world to playing Counter-Strike, the PC can do it all. A Mac…not so much. C5. Security Every day we hear a lot of stuff saying "ohh, Mac is more secure than Windows". But, the truth is, this is entirely false. Robert G. Ferrell, information systems security specialist at the U. S. Dept. of Defense states "I just don't think this question (Mac or PC) has any real meaning today. Far more relevant to me are the browser and e-mail clients a consumer is using, irrespective of the operating system or hardware platform. Even more critical from a safety standpoint is the level of security awareness exhibited by that consumer. If you haphazardly visit every link and download every file sent to you in e-mail or posted to your social-networking pages, sooner or later you're going to get nailed. Period. Platforms are passe. " (7). It does not matter what OS you are using, it matters how safely you utilize the OS. Carole Fennelly, director of content and documentation at Tenable Network Security states "I will give you a frustrating answer: the most secure system is the one that you know how to secure Meaning if you're pretty knowledgeable in Windows, or even just disciplined enough to keep up with Windows updates and keep your antivirus up to date, there's no reason you can't run a Windows box relatively securely. " (7) You see it's not about the number of people attempting to hack windows, its about the person using the computer, if they decide to get lazy and click on random links they will get "hacked" the same goes for Mac. The operator of the computer matters more than the OS. R. Adrian Lamo, threat analyst states ""I'm not sure this question is really as relevant as it would have been just a few years ago. The security posture of the average Internet user depends less on their computing platform and more on their browser choice and configuration. […]There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. A PC, common sense, and NoScript . http://noscript.net... [Firefox plug-in] will help a user reduce their exposure profile more than a Mac and no common sense + clicking on anything that flashes. But the former isn't because it's a PC, and the latter isn't because it's a Mac. " (7) Once again, I reiterate, it's not about the OS rather the user of the computer which makes something more vulnerable. A PC is no easier to "break into" than a Mac. Source: 1. . http://www.popularmechanics.com... 2. . http://www.popularmechanics.com... 3. . http://technologizer.com... 4. . http://en.wikipedia.org...'s_law 5. . http://www.esquire.com... 6. . http://en.wikipedia.org... 7. . http://news.cnet.com... 8. . http://marketshare.hitslink.com...