War of Words

This Week's Topic- Macs

Macs seem to be everywhere these days, from iPods in your ears, to iBooks at Starbucks, to quirky ads on TV. Heavily marketed to the younger generation, the company’s brand revels in the image of

cool.

But are the computers themselves actually worth the hype, or are they all style and no substance? Our panel debates.

Against, by Aimee Ouelette

H. my name is Aimee and I’m a PC. You might é surprised to . 4 learn that—after all, I’m in a nerdy -¢@> publishing program, I wear thick- rimmed hipster glasses, and I own at least one pair of skinny jeans (they look awful on me). So why don’t I have those telltale white earbud cords creeping out of my hoodie? Why, when I received a Macbook as a present after graduation, did I install “Bootcamp” right away, so that I could run Windows on it?

It’s because, first and foremost, I’m a fan of functionality, and the fact is PCs are cheaper, easier to customize, and more universal than Macs. Sure, Apple products are stylish. They are glossy, and come in cool colours, and their commercials have catchy songs in them. But my Samsung P2 has the same functionality as an iPod Touch, but with

For, by Luke Simcoe

i... I know all those Mac ads have overstayed their welcome, but there’s a lot more to Apple Computers than Justin Long’s witty quips, Vans slip-ons, and hipster sweaters.

Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, the company has been at the leading edge of the computer world for over 30 years. Only Jobs remains, but his innovative business philosophy and _ penchant for unique aesthetics has resulted in a customer base that has an unusual degree of loyalty to the Apple brand.

It’s easy to see why. Apple is a company of firsts: the first personal computer, the first laptop, the first portable digital music player, the first online music store (which was also the first digital reseller to eliminate intrusive Digital Rights Management technology), and the list goes on. In fact, the new MacBook Air is the first full-size notebook to come without a CD drive, effectively sounding the

no irritating proprietary software—and costs hundreds of dollars less.

And don’t even get me started on virus protection—the only reason PCs are more likely to get viruses is that the people who make viruses don’t care about Mac users because Mac users are such a small demographic. Creating a virus for Macs would be like pulling off a large-scale terrorist attack on the post office of a small town. Sure, you could do it, but why?

The number one reason I like my PC is that it’s completely utilitarian and unpretentious. Sure, it’s ugly—that’s why it’s in the computer room, and not on display in my china cabinet. My vacuum is ugly too, but it works. The best part is that my PC doesn’t have to be ugly. I just haven’t chosen to make it pretty. If I want to spend some money to buy a flat monitor or blinky lights for my PC tower, I am perfectly free to do

Macs are where It’s at

beginning of the end for the compact disc.

In contrast, Microsoft, Apple’s nemesis, is possessed of a completely different business philosophy. Bill Gates plays Xbox games in his office while waiting for Steve Jobs to revolutionize the industry, and then he just follows along once a trend is established. Remember the Zune?

And let’s not forget that Apple productslookdamngood.Thecompany’s minimalist approach to the design of their products perfectly matches our generation’s aesthetic preferences. Sure, it’s shallow, but Apple’s product line is the digital equivalent of a well-tailored, well-matching suit.

Looks and philosophy aside, there’s plenty of practical reasons to side with Apple. While the Mac operating system does resemble Windows (truthfully, Windows actually resembles the Mac OS, as Bill Gates simply ripped off Apple’s program code and modified it to run on a diversity of hardware),

Computers don’t need to be hip

so. Want to customize the look of your Apple product? Ha! Good luck. My Macbook is already very pretty, yes, but if I want to change the look of it in any way, I’m pretty much relegated to slapping on some Hello Kitty stickers and calling it a day.

Macs don’t come with many options. Apple (and Apple users) are so smug and self-satisfied with their “superior product” that they don’t feel the need to customize in any way. I think this is a bit fascist. If I’m paying obscene amounts of money for a computer that I could get cheaper someone else, I should at least be able to do what I want with it. Mac products, however, are all about the proprietary software, the restricting of options, and the dumbing down of user interfaces, all to make sure their products are super easy to use for the lowest common denominator. Sorry, the laziest common denominator. Or should

the interface is far more intuitive, and the company’s attention to detail is incredible. It takes a bit of time, but once you’re familiar with the various shortcuts and periphery programs, working in the Mac environment is faster and more fun. Macs are also less prone to glitches, spyware and viruses. My own MacBook is over a year old, and I seldom get the error messages and frozen programs that I associate with Windows, and I don’t even use an anti- virus program.

The Mac OS is also Unix-based, and while that may mean absolutely nothing to you, it’s a fact that Unix operating systems are less taxing on computer hardware than other OS types. In plain English, this means that most Macs have a longer life expectancy than PCs.

Years ago, Apple computers did suffer from software compatibility problems, but nowadays such issues are a thing of the past. More and more software companies are clueing in to the fact that Apple’s stock is on the rise (literally and figuratively), and some, most notably Adobe, actually design their software with the Mac OS in

I say richest?

In the (admittedly hilarious) Mac vs PC commercials, PC is always portrayed as the boring lame dude who dreams about spreadsheets. The irony here is that in real life, the guy who plays the PC, John Hodgman, is a hilarious, intelligent, and quirky comedian and author. ‘You may have seen him on The Daily. Show. The guy who plays the Mac is some hipster nobody who knows zilch about computers. You may have seen him in... Mac commercials.

When I use my PC, I don’t have to worry about what statement I’m making, or whether I’m conforming to some kind of irritating cookie- cutter “individualism,” because the PC doesn’t say anything. It’s not a computer masquerading as a lamp, or as fine art, or as a “lifestyle” choice. It’s whatever I want it to be, which means it’s a highly functional box that lets me do lots of stuff quickly, cheaply, and without hassle.

mind.

Once considered prohibitively expensive, Apple’s prices have also been getting steadily better. The consumer line of MacBook laptops are actually cheaper than comparable PCs, and the new Apple Time Capsule, a combination of a 500 GB external hard- drive and a state of the art Wireless base station, is a steal for $329.

Computers, and the trend towards manufactured obsolescence, are an environmental catastrophe, and the only place where Apple doesn’t exceed their competition is in their environmental policies. Truthfully, Apple’s environmental stance is comparable to other companies, but you’d expect that such an innovative company would also be a leader in green issues as well.

So sure, maybe they’re aimed at pretentious hipsters, but Apple computers are still a superior product. And when you think about it, defining yourself by the kind of computer you use is no more or less ridiculous than wearing overpriced designer jeans, driving a tricked-out car or having an unnecessarily obscure taste in music.

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