Mac vs PC - Which is the Best for You?
What is Mac? Is it another kind of PC? No, PC means a Personal computer and Mac is also a PC though it differs in the sense that whenever we mention PC we mean something that is IBM compatible with Microsoft Windows as its only operating system, which is not the case with Mac PCs. An Apple machine is much simpler to set up and maintain and it is all because of the large Mac OS X's outstanding record of security. It includes Web, e-mail, photo and music software far superior to the junk on most of the PCs. A Mac can read and write almost all PC files, which includes Microsoft Office documents as well. Apple's sudden usage of Intel chips even makes a Mac look like a PC since it runs Windows with the help of such software as Apple's free Boot Camp. The obvious question is then why should one at all opt for Windows and the answer is because Microsoft's operating system is the unparalleled variety of software and hardware that can be run on it. The diversity can be seen prominently in games and business-productivity applications and if you really want to take advantage of the whole selection or if the programs you use do not have Mac equivalents then it is better to deal with Windows. Windows PCs also come in a wide range of sizes and shapes absent from Apple's lineup, such as cheap, big "desktop replacement" laptops but then most PCs have little to distinguish themselves from one another. A test of three new desktop PCs -- Dell's Dimension E521; Gateway's eMachines T5048; and Hewlett-Packard's Pavilion Slimline s7600e- brought to the fore how Windows computers have become a commodity. Apart from HP's size, its encyclopedia-size box fit easily on a desk, unlike Dell and Gateway's bulky "tower case" enclosures; these computers differed only marginally in their hardware structure. PCs are shipped with a loud cooling fan and a cheap, roller-ball mouse whose innards require cleaning every few months. The Dell featured backup system called "DataSafe" is built around a second hard drive, and a convenient keyboard, which has helpful shortcut buttons and two extra USB ports as well. HP personal computers include a wireless-networking receiver and a CD/DVD-burner called "LightScribe" which can (slowly) print a grayscale label on special blank discs. The most important difference between the PC and the other two didn't show up until, a Microsoft testing utility was run. Like most of the low-end models, the T5048 had very little memory for Windows Vista, which is the resource-intensive XP successor.
The computer can be any other PC or a Mac PC; there are few hardware requirements that have to be kept in mind and they are as follows:
- It is better if you get a gigabyte of Random Access Memory or RAM.
- Buy a configuration that gives you a lot of hard drive space, a minimum of sixty to hundred gigabytes.
- If it is a laptop and it has to be carried around for most of the time, get one that would be less than six pounds in weight.
- In case of USB ports, it is better to have more of it since that is the only way to attach peripherals like printers and flash drives.
- You can opt for a DVD burner drive since it can be useful though not necessarily in home movie-making but to back up your data.
- If you still have movie-making in mind you can get a FireWire.
- If you intend to use the PC to play fast-paced computer games, you should get a machine with a separate graphics card that has 256 megabytes of its own memory.
