Choosing between PCs and Macs for business: Five debates
There are many factors to bear in mind when choosing between PCs and Macs for business.
Debate over which is better has ranged since the first Apple Macintosh was unveiled in 1984 and Microsoft Windows was released in 1985.
When choosing between PCs and Macs for business, we like to compare the two in five core areas – price, reliability, compatibility with other devices, familiarity and security.
1. Price
The cheapest Macs are more expensive than the cheapest PCs, which is one of the main reasons why most businesses use the latter.
On the other hand, you could argue that the cheapest PCs are very basic and may be more likely to require repairs.
Plus, you could also argue that tablets offer better value for money than the cheapest PCs.
Then again, many businesses whose work involves lots of typing would struggle with tablets.
2. Reliability
According to Consumer Reports’ annual Product Reliability Survey, Macs are more reliable than PCs.
In this piece of research, Apple achieves a 78% score for consumer satisfaction compared to 59% for Dell and Lenovo.
We wouldn’t say either are unreliable to be honest, but it’s worth bearing in mind that Apple designs its own operating system and hardware.
This means that the software is designed with the hardware in mind and vice versa.
For PCs, Microsoft designs Windows but PC manufacturers build their own computer and install Windows.
Therefore in some cases, it may be that the PC will not make the most out of all of Windows’ features – and again, vice versa.
For example, Windows 8 has touchscreen capabilities which not all users can benefit from, because it may be that they don’t actually have a touchscreen in the first place.
However if you buy an Apple, you will get what Apple intends for you to have.
3. Compatibility with other devices
In the UK, 42.5% of smartphone users have Apple iPhones and naturally, Macs work seamlessly with iPhones and iPads.
Therefore if a business uses Macs, odds are that nearly half of the staff would have the ideal remote devices to make the most out of features such as iCloud.
This makes continuing to work when out of the office much easier as the apps and programs are similar across all devices.
However it’s also worth remembering that with cloud storage and cloud-based applications being used more and more frequently, this is less important now than it may have been in the past.
For example, it’s very easy to access Google’s cloud system Drive online from any web browser on any computer.
4. Familiarity
PC users often complain how hard it is to adjust to using a Mac and vice versa.
For many, it may just simply come down to personal preference.
Objectively, it comes back to the issue of reliability again – Apple software is designed for Apple computers.
Therefore there are some aspects of using a Mac which are arguably simpler and more intuitive.
For example, to delete a program on a Mac, just hit delete, but on a PC, you’ll need to go through a more complex uninstall procedure.
However, again, we wouldn’t exactly say that either PCs or Macs are particularly hard to use.
5. Security
Viruses are much less common on Macs than PCs.
As PCs have greater market share than Macs, hackers prioritise developing viruses for PCs, so that they can target a greater number of users.
However this does not mean that they do not exist at all on Macs.
It is still advised to use antivirus software on Macs and there are online security threats, such as phishing attacks, which can affect users no matter what kind of computer they are using.
Choosing between PCs and Macs for business: in conclusion
The good news is that choosing between PCs and Macs for business is not going to lead to a bad decision one way or the other.
They are both well suited for business in their own ways and as time goes by, the differences between the two are decreasing.
It’s a close one but given the lower likelihood of viruses, ease of use, reliability and compatibility with other devices, Macs arguably have the edge – but this edge does come at a higher cost which not all businesses are able to afford.
If you’re interested in knowing more about what to consider when choosing between PCs and Macs for business, just let us know and we’ll be happy to talk.