Against Macs

Macs suck. They really do. This is a risky thing to say in a class where the professor uses a Mac, but I’m saying it anyway.

I guess the first order of business is validating this as something even worthy of arguing about. It is an important issue because Macs and other computers represent two very different models of computing, with very different values. By buying a Mac, you stand in support of those values, and vote with your wallet. If Macs are successful in overtaking Windows in terms of usership, not only will the Mac values be spread through Mac sales, but the market will shift to theses values, in order to take some of Apple’s business. Computers have such a prominent role in our society that a wide adoption of Mac values will be an actual cultural shift. A negative one, as far as I’m concerned.

And another thing before I get started: this is not an argument in the “Mac vs. PC” debate. There is no Mac vs. PC debate, because MACS ARE PCS. They used to be different. They had a different architecture, different hardware, and so on. But now, a mac contains an Intel processor and a Nvidia graphics card. The hard drive is formatted differently than a Windows machine, but the same can be said for a Linux computer. Macs are PCs. You can build a mac piece by piece yourself, and there will only be four differences between it and the equivalent Mac:

-It will cost half to two-thirds what the real thing would have

-It will be of the ATX form factor, meaning that parts will be replaceable and standardized. It won’t be as small as the real thing, and the screen will be seperate.

-The RAM will be standard DIMM, as opposed to Mac’s FBDIMM. It will be the exact same RAM (DDR2), but in a different shape.

-The graphics card will be designed for desktop computers, not notebooks.

PC stands for Personal Computer, and that’s what a Mac is. The title of the debate should be “Macs vs. other PCs.” Debating Macs vs. PCs is like debating apples vs. fruits. And if those Mac vs. PC commercials operated in the bounds of reality, they’d be more like, “Hi, I’m a Mac.” “Hi, I’m a PC.” “Oh, cool, me too.”

If you ask a Mac user why they use a Mac, the word “easy” is going to come up. People like Macs because all their programs are on this big shiny thing at the bottom of the screen, and that’s all you need to know. And that’s the big difference right there. Macs are essentially computers on training wheels. That’s a good analogy, so I’m going to run with it. Like, when you star learning to ride a bike, you use training wheels, which are great because then you don’t fall down. But the training wheels prevent you from riding anywhere except relatively flat surfaces, like your street or a playing field. So once you’re able to actually use the bike, you take the training wheels off, and then you can ride anywhere within your abilities. Problem is, if your bike is made by Apple, the training wheels are welded to the bike, and you can’t take them off without ruining the whole thing. I guess you could buy a new bike frame and put all the sprockets and wheels and handlebars and pedals of your old bike onto the new frame, but if you do that, you have to ask yourself why you even bothered with this bike in the first place.

This is why I don’t like Macs. This emphasis on leaving the training wheels on forever, well, it seems nice when a Mac user says it. They’re always like, “Oh, look at this! This is so easy. I can open any program with the click of a button. I can make my desktop appear by squeezing my mouse, which only has one button. I can make my most used programs appear by moving my mouse in a circle.” That’s all well and good. Then you ask them how the file system works. Real conversation between me and a Mac user who we’ll call A.

Me: So, how does the Mac file system work?

A: What do you mean?

Me: Is it DOS style or UNIX style?

A: Macs are based on UNIX.

Me: I know. So is the file system like that?

A: I don’t know what you mean.

Me: Is it based on C:\ or  / ?

A: What?

Me: What’s at the bottom of your file system? Your primary hard drive, or an imaginary root that contains all your hardware and software?

A: I don’t know.

A is a pretty smart guy, and he knows a lot about computers. But he can’t tell me what’s at the bottom of his own computer’s file system, because all you ever do with a Mac is click on icons, and the only directory you ever use is the place where you store all your documents.This is what I’m talking about. If you leave the training wheels on, there’s a lot of places you can’t go. So the scary part is that if Mac wins, people will just forget about these places.

I’m kind of hesitant to use the word “infantilization,” because it gets thrown around way too much. But this is a prime example of it. You don’t know how to use a computer? that’s okay. Just click the shiny buttons and everything will be fine. It’s dumbing everything down, and doing it unnecessarily. Because, really, if you can’t figure Windows out, you don’t deserve the power a computer will give you. There was a Mac ad before they came up with “I’m a Mac” “I’m a PC,” where a bunch of ex-Windows users talked about why they use Macs now. One of them said he couldn’t find the power button. I don’t even need to say any more.

The last thing I have to say about Macs is that their idea of hardware sucks. Currently, the best graphics card you can get in a Mac is not only two generations old, but it was the mid-range one back then. And you know what the worst part is? You can’t even get a new one, because as I mentioned earlier, almost all Macs (including the one I’m talking about) come with laptop graphics cards that are soldered to the motherboard. There’s no way to get that off, and even if there was, you’d never get the new one on. Or look at the hard drives. Sure, they’re SATA, but they’re practically impossible to get out on almost all Macs. Considering how often hard drives either malfunction or get full, it’s weird that you can’t take it out to put a new one in. When all is said and done, there are two ways to upgrade your Mac:

-Buy more RAM

-Get a new Mac

That’s pretty sad. And don’t get me started on the Mac Pros. Oh, lookit me! I’m a Mac Pro! I have two processors! Mac Pros are the only Macs that aren’t PCs. They’re servers. They have two Intel Xeon Processors. Xeon Processors are for servers. Having two processors is for servers. Mac Pros are servers, except the Mac OS is completely unsuited for servering.  And the price of Macs is ridiculous. Let’s take a look:

The competitors:

Macbook Pro 15″, Asus G71G-Q2

Processor:

Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad

RAM

2 GB, 6GB

Hard Drive:

250 GB 5400 RPM, 640GB 7200 RPM

Video Card:

Nvidia 9400 GT, Nvidia 9800 GT

Display:

15″ 1440×900, 17″ 1920×1200

Other advantages of the Asus laptop:

Blu-Ray drive, 8-in-1 Card Reader, eSATA port, HDMI and VGA

Advantages of the Mac:

The name for its wireless network card is a pun.

Price (Canadian):

$2999, $2799

There’s no excuse for that. When I was looking for a laptop to compare it to, I saw one that cost $2000, and it was still a fair bit better than the Mac. And don’t let people tell you that Macs are good for graphics-intensive applications, because that’s literally the worst card of two generations ago. Even the Mac OS is way overpriced. Like, Windows is overpriced, but the Mac OS is even more expensive than the “home” version of Windows. What they’re doing is ripping people off. Mac users don’t buy a mac because it has great hardware: they buy it because they can not only be completely and totally ignorant of how a computer works, but also never at risk of being forced to learn more. It all comes back to the whole voluntary stupidity thing. It’s not even better design. People say macs are better designed, but just because something is shiny and round and lets you do things with one click, that doesn’t mean it’s better designed. But it’s late, and I’m tired, so that’s all I have to say about macs for today.

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