Over the years, I’ve used many different personal computers and their related operating systems. The long-running debate between Microsoft Windows in it’s various versions, and Apple’s Mac OSX is no longer meaningful to the everyman. For a sample of the debate, see Olivier Prud’homme’s Windows vs Mac commentary on Chris Pirillo’s blog.
When choosing a personal computer you only need to focus on what you want to accomplish with it. You can do the most common functions with either, Windows or Mac OSX.
There are four primary uses of personal computers:
- Web Browsing
- Word Processing
- Spreadsheets
There are good applications on both platforms (Windows or Mac) that do more than the average user could ever require. So, if the only thing you ever expect to do is in this list, what type computer you choose is unimportant.
If you expect or know you have a special need, now or will have in the near future, focus on finding the software application you need first. While a version of it is likely available for either platform, it might not be. Or, you might like how one works on Windows versus on the Mac. Your software choice must come first.
Today, you can actually eliminate choosing based on the top four applications listed above and choose based on the top one–the web browser you like most. Email, word processing and spreadsheets are available as web-based applications. But, again it comes down to what you like. You may not like the web-based applications or they may not provide the functionality that you need!
Do your research on applications first. Once you find what you like and works for you, look at computers to support it.