Many people ask me for recommendations on a new computer and to me buying a new computer is similar to buying a car. There are so many different makes and models and price points that it can be confusing. The very first question that most people as is, "should I buy a Mac?" The short answer that I give is, "it depends."
Depends on what? It depends on what you want a computer for. It depends on how much you want to spend. It depends on what type of service you want after the sale. Let's start with the real differences between a Windows PC and a Mac.
For the most part in 2016 functionally there are very few real differences between a Windows PC and a Mac. Windows 10 and OS X El Capitan may look different and have different cores but from an end user perspective they do the same things. They both use Intel based processors and for the most part run the same types of software. Browsers, office suites, media editing, etc. The real difference is in the physical hardware and the form factors.
Obviously Apple is the only company to make Macs. That is both good and bad. The good is that all of the hardware is strictly controlled allowing for a limited ecosystem of configurations making the hardware work much better with the software than Windows. The bad is that Apple has a lock-in on the ecosystem making any like configurations much more expensive than Windows based PC. Windows obviously has many different vendors from HP to Dell and the foreign companies such as Lenovo, Acer, and Asus. They also now have their own "Microsoft" branded PC's where they are doing the design work and a third party is doing the manufacturing.
For the most part you are going to pay a 25 - 50% premium for having an Apple logo and OS X than a Windows box. The used market on Macs is completely insane with three year old Mac going for 50% of new price which in the computer world is unheard of. Most PC's are going to a recycle shop after five years and a 90% depreciation after three. I recently sold an old Mac Pro from 2006 that could not be upgraded beyond Snow Leopard (10.6) for $300. That's a 9 year old Mac that was four versions beyond current and couldn't run 64-bit software!
Why then would you want a Mac? First, there is definitely a "cool" factor that Macs have. Artists, musicians, hipsters, etc. all use Macs. I spend a lot of time in coffee shops since I work at home and I notice that these people are just running regular software, but ALL of them have Macs. I am currently writing this on a Dell laptop and everyone (~20) other people except one have Mac laptops. What are they doing? Why? The Apple logo is the reason. Windows is for corporate shills and losers! That is the marketing hype.
Let's get to the real reasons. Core: The Mac OS X is build on a Unix core while Windows has their own core. The Unix core does run better than the Windows one. Every release of Windows however narrows the gap. Microsoft made a switch a few years ago and moved their PC core software to the server core software which has better performance and reliability.
User Interface: Both were relatively consistent in their versions until Microsoft decided with Windows 8 to go to that crappy "Metro" interface. What a disaster! Calmer heads prevailed and Windows 10 (they skipped 9) turned out to be the best Windows yet. Windows seems to be more aggressive than Apple in changing UI elements. Basically the way you may have used a Mac ten years ago still applies.
Software: Windows shines here as just about every application is found for the PC. Most genres are on the Mac as well and there are specific examples of Mac only software, but for the most part they are equal. The one thing about a Mac is that with VMWare Fusion or Parallels you can run Windows under the Mac using virtualization. Yes you have to buy a license but you can do it. OS X will not work (unless you make a Hackintosh) under Windows so the reverse will not work.
Why pick one over the other? If want a good machine and use basic applications and don't want to spend a lot of money then buy a PC. If you want a rock solid experience and a great buying platform (Apple Store) and want to look cool then buy a Mac. I personally have both and use the Google platform to bridge the two. Five years ago Mac was the only way to go but now with the Microsoft Surface Pro platform and Windows 10 there is almost no gap.
One last thing. If you want an incredible browser experience only and love what Google is doing then a Chromebook might be for you. A Chromebook is basically a computer that only runs the Google Chrome OS. It boots in about 5 seconds and it is super fast for browser based apps. It cannot run anything else, period. If you are a little more adventurous then look at a Linux based system on an old PC or something like a Raspberry Pi. (Look it up a credit card sized $35 computer)
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