Do You Know What You Are Getting?

By Elliot Vos

A bit over a month ago now, I read an article in my school’s weekly magazine which questioned how Apple, Inc. could be rapidly increasing its market share in computers in the college sector. The author cited how many Macs he saw on campus, and then pondered whether these students and faculty “really understand the implications of switching to a Mac.”

I read on to see what the author thought these “implications” were. I was slightly ashamed of my school’s publication when I discovered that the author had researched the situation rather shallowly. Instead of gathering opinions from Mac users about why they chose to purchase their machines, he simply stated a few of the prevalent gripes from Windows users that had not spent much time (if any) in front of a Mac –there is not much software available for Mac, you are not allowed to install OS X on a non-Apple computer, and a PC with an equivalent configuration is much cheaper. Benefits mentioned were limited to OS X’s UNIX foundation, fewer viruses, and the ability to run Windows if so desired.

I could write an entire article rebutting every point, but I won’t belabor a topic that has been discussed ad nauseam on the Internet already. There were a couple of other things which bothered me, though, which I will discuss.

First, why is the emphasis put on switching to Mac rather than choosing Mac? When you buy a car, or even when you buy a PC, you choose which one is best for you. Why, then, is Mac so different that you are switching to Mac rather than just choosing it from among all the options? This prejudice shows the OSism (think sexism or racism) that much of the tech world suffers from.

Second, why wouldn’t a student or faculty member at a tech-savvy school like Rochester Institute of Technology know something about the “implications” of their choice in computers? I know there are exceptions, but a good lot of people depend on those computers for their livelihood.

In the matter of full disclosure, I was until very recently a student at RIT, I purchased a Mac during my tenure therein, and I very much knew what I was getting. I understood that Apple strove to make the most elegant machines from the hardware to the software, and that I was paying a little bit for the design. I knew that things would be different from what I was used to on my PC, but for the most part I heartily welcomed those changes. I am very pleased with my decision as I am generally much happier with my computer experience behind a Mac than behind a PC. Aside from the design and user experience, there are the practical questions to answer when purchasing a computer. What will you be using it for? What would you like to be able to do with it all the time, sometimes, or just occasionally? What do these priorities dictate in terms of the hardware requirements to fulfill them?

Being immersed in the computer word as a Software Engineer, it was hard for me to imagine not attempting to acquire at least a basic understanding of what the “implications” might be in choosing a particular computer system. Now that I step outside of my tech-savvy bubble, however, I realize that many people just buy what they see.

How about you? Have you or someone you know ever purchased a computer without really thinking through everything, realizing later that it was not what was wanted and/or needed? Was it a matter of choosing the wrong operating system or merely an inappropriate hardware configuration? Is there something you wish you would have known or thought about?

Not to sound high-on-a-cloud, I’ve made mistakes with my computer purchases. I picked some features for my Dell laptop (which I bought four years ago now) that I did not need. I do not really regret much about my Mac purchase yet, but I may in the future.

The key is evaluating how a system matches up with your needs. Oh, and making sure you actually know what a system’s weak and strong points are instead of merely believing the FUD somebody spreads about a system.