Windows PC vs. Mac… Which platform to choose in 2023? A PC does not last forever and one day it will be time to upgrade it (if possible) or buy a new one in the search for better performance or autonomy, better connectivity, lower power consumption, new form factors, access to new technologies, ability to run the software we need and generally achieve a better experience of the main computing tool.
The user who needs/wants to buy a new personal computer in 2023 is in luck because great news for the two main platforms have just been presented. On the one hand, hundreds of new PCs from all manufacturers were presented at CES 2023, taking advantage of the launching of new processing platforms from Intel and AMDand also new graphics chips, especially those from NVIDIA.
Apple does not participate in these global fairs, but last week it has renewed catalog with new models and as those announced with Windows, with prominence for the. new hardware engines which in this case have come from the chips themselves designed by the Cupertino firm to complete its commitment to the ARM architecture.
There are other alternatives to the two big ones and here we can find. GNU/Linux or Chrome OS. Unfortunately, Linux still does not have the market share that its quality of development, free and open source code deserves, and this penalizes it in terms of getting more manufacturers to bet on the free system. As for Google’s system for PCs, it does have the support of the main manufacturers and has improved a lot in sales, but its impact is still limited.
It must be said that new computers with preinstalled system are the ones that add the most in PCs share and here Microsoft has a total control of the OEM channel preventing the launch of alternatives. Although you can find manufacturers specialized in Linux and also for Chrome OS, the options are tremendously reduced compared to what comes from Windows and macOS. But among them, Which platform should I choose when buying a new PC? In this article we will point out the main advantages that in our opinion each of them have.
Windows PC vs. Mac: advantages
Hardware choice capability
Windows is a hardware independent operating system. Microsoft designs it to run on as many systems as possible and the dominance of the OEM channel discussed above does the rest. It is the operating system of choice for the vast majority of end users, hardware OEMs and system integrators, so it enjoys a excellent support in all areas.
Its flexibility to choose what kind of computing experience each user wants is enormous, including the ability to create your own PC from scratch, with support for the main components (CPU, GPU, RAM, storage…), secondary (all kinds of peripherals and accessories) and always under industry-standardized standards.
The same can be said of its versatility in form factors. Windows supports from large professional work machines to mini-PCs, through special notebook designs such as convertibles that Apple does not have in its catalog and up to single-board formats such as Raspberry Pi or Internet of Things products that Windows also supports with a special version. If you are looking for versatility and flexibility, Windows beats Mac by a landslide.
Hardware upgrades and repairs.
Few manufacturers generally facilitate hardware upgrades as we users would like, but Apple, the least. The massive integration of components, soldered memory chips, integrated batteries … On the other hand, Apple leads the movement against the right to repair and if you have to take a Mac to the workshop out of warranty (quasi-mandatory official) you’re going to have to leave a pastizal.
As an example, cite the unified memory Apple uses which may improve performance, but rules out the upgrade path offered by other PCs. Connected to the greater choice of hardware, choosing a Windows PC will generally offer you a greater ability to upgrade components and greater choice. at third-party stores for maintenance or repairs.
When video games are a priority
If there is one task where Windows dominates over all other platforms, it is video games. video games. Of course, you can play on macOS (as well as Linux or Chrome OS) and Apple has improved in software support and performance in recent years, but it is incomparable with the possibilities of Windows, ubiquitous among gamers.
Part of the “blame” lies with DirectX, Microsoft’s proprietary application programming interface (API). Although there are other standardized specifications for creating multimedia content and games such as OpenGL and its promising Vulkan variant, the dominance of Windows on PCs makes DirectX the benchmark for PC gaming, and with it, one of the most obvious features where Windows outperforms other desktops such as macOS.
We see it directly in the number of games available for each platformThe same can be said of the major video game producers, the digital stores that work for one or the other or the technological capabilities achieved by each one of them. NVIDIA or AMD create their most advanced features and optimize their graphics cards with Windows in mind and the same can be said of the big video game producers, digital stores like Steam or Epic Games, and support for VR games with Oculus or HTC models that you will have to connect to a Windows PC.
In addition, Microsoft boosts the PC gaming section by connecting it to its Xbox consoles and its subscription services such as Game Pass. The nearly $70 billion that Microsoft is willing to pay for Activision Blizzard is a good sign of its ambition in games and of a dominance that far from shrinking is ever expanding.
Amount of software
The number of applications available for Windows is much higher than those for macOS and to all that comes from Microsoft itself must be added those of hundreds of developers who program for Windows and cover any type of task you need. The gap widens even more if we consider only the open source, free ones or those for specific markets such as the business market where programming for Windows is preferential.
To say that with the arrival of the new Macs with ARM architecture Apple has officially closed the tap to the native Windows installation that with Intel processors supported and that was a good way for a Mac user to also have access to the Windows applications they need and non-existent games for Mac. They can run under virtualization, but without the same performance.
It should be mentioned that Apple has managed to make the App Store a leading app store, but they are for mobile, and has failed to replicate the same success on the computer desktop. Maybe it hasn’t even tried… Here we are talking about the number of apps (their number). not the quality of the developments and that is why this is not a section where we can consider a Windows PC an absolute winner over a Mac.
Price
A Mac has its advantages as we will see below, but be clear that. you will have to pay a “premium” for the same hardware. which sometimes is not trivial. Apple has its followers and target markets and anyone who wants to enter its platform must pay for it. When Apple used Intel’s x86 architecture the comparison was direct and any component cost more expensive than its equivalent mounted on a Windows PC. Today, with ARM, despite the cost reduction, Cupertino has not lowered the price of any of its personal computers.
And if you want to increase the CPU level, mount a dedicated graphics or increase the memory capacity or storage over the base configuration, prepare the checkbook because the price will always be higher than any other PC manufacturer. The Apple “tax” existsAlthough to be fair it must be said that it is the brand that depreciates less over time (a sample we have is the high price of second hand) and that the arguments of build quality, user experience, official support and access to a system like macOS does not compensate as the millions of users who use them and do not change.
Mac vs. Windows PC: advantages
If you bet on ARM
Apple is surprising the industry with the high level that their in-house designed solutions under ARM architecture. The program silicon (replacement of Intel’s x86 processors in favor of proprietary designs under the RISC architecture licensed by ARM) is being a success and under this architecture the distance is sidereal with any other manufacturer, including the alliances of powerful players such as Microsoft and Qualcomm unable to respond to what is coming from Apple.
And it is not magic; it is the fruit of decades of work. It is known that Apple has been using this architecture in its mobility devices (mobiles, tablets, wearables…) since the launch of the first iPhone, even though Intel put a blank check on the table to use x86 architectures. The investment in engineering has been high since then and has facilitated its use in PCs as well. But Apple started with ARM much earlier.
It is worth remembering that the Cupertino guys got involved in the development of this architecture shortly after Acorn Computer started it in the early 1980s. In fact, an ARM6 was the engine of the Apple Newton PDA. And if Apple is not a co-founder of ARM today, it was because Acorn feared that its presence would deter other manufacturers from using its developments and therefore decided to create a new company called Advanced RISC Machines (ARM), which persists to this day. It will be difficult for another manufacturer to take away Apple’s privileged position in ARM.
If you use iPhone, iPad, iWatch…
Apple is working on a strategy of “complete ecosystem” which other manufacturers would like to have. In fact, some time ago it was rumored the development of a single operating system and a single application store to handle any Apple product. At the moment this is not the case, but the path seems to be marked and the reality beyond the fact that their names are different is that they have a lot of common parts.
If you use an iPhone mobile or an iPad tablet, in macOS you will feel at home with its enormous level of integration. And many of the tasks complement each other perfectly. You can reply to text messages on an iPhone using the Messages app on the Mac or use Handoff to answer or make calls and in general to continue any task on other devices other than where they were started with the ‘Continuity’ feature.
Many of the applications you use on your iPhone, such as Mail, Messages, Calendar, Notes and Reminders, have the counterpart on Mac and are immediately recognizable by any user. Another set of features that connect devices come from wireless technologies such as AirPlay and AirDrop, which allow you to use a Mac as a wireless display or send files to an iPhone with a single click.
Or you connect an iPhone to a Mac and use the Finder file explorer to create local backups and transfer files. Or you sync the Wi-Fi passwords of an iPad and a Mac simply linked to the same Apple ID. Or you unlock a Mac using an iWatch smartwatch. These functions, and others, are made possible by the iCloud cloud storage system featured throughout the ecosystem.
Microsoft is also working on this integration by adopting Android as its reference mobile system, but the level of integration is simply unmatched and if you use an Apple mobile device you’ll probably end up on Mac when you buy a personal computer.
macOS
Apple’s operating system is absolutely fundamental to the Mac experience and for many users reason enough to buy an Apple computer, Younger readers may not remember, but there was a time when Apple licensed its operating system to third-party integrators. That strategy has long since ended and today it can only be used on their hardware. Or by the four of us enthusiasts who still try out Hackintosh techniques, increasingly complicated by the change of architecture.
macOS is for a part of analysts the most refined desktop operating system in existence. It combines the reliability of its Darwin kernel (based on UNIX for which it is certified) with the ease of use of other systems such as Windows. It shares many of its frameworks with other Apple systems such as iOS, iPadOS, tvOS and watchOS, with which it is closely connected as we will see later.
Although the number of available applications is incomparable with that of Windows, it has the main ones that every user needs, from Apple itself or from third parties, including Microsoft itself with the Office for Mac office suite. Internally, the graphic system is the responsibility of Quartz and this of the fantastic Aqua interface, highly valued as well as its OS X Finder desktop environment.
The security approach has been highlighted by not needing antivirus software, the same as the system updates, without the bugs that recur endlessly in Windows. The latest version is macOS 13 “Ventura” (19th major version of macOS) and supports the two processing architectures still supported by Apple, x86-64 from Intel and the new ARM.
Certainly, a closed platform limited to a dozen or so machines is easier to develop for than something like Windows that has to support thousands of machines from thousands of different manufacturers and components, but macOS has a well-earned reputation among the desktop elite and a strong point in Mac.
Gaming is not a priority
Talk of “PC gaming” has traditionally been synonymous with “Windows gaming”. As mentioned above, Microsoft has taken advantage of Windows’ extremely high market share, its control over OEMs, components such as DirectX multimedia libraries and, in recent years, greater integration with its Xbox ecosystem, to capture the vast majority of the PC gaming segment.
Apple has not helped to change this reality and the hardware limitations for video game execution of Macs themselves are well known. Really, Apple does not have any dedicated gaming hardware in its portfolio.. Most computers have integrated graphics (formerly from Intel and now from ARM) that are insufficient for the level sought by the big gamers and although some models offer dedicated graphics as an option, they are not the best and also raise the price of the computers to unreasonable levels.
This does not mean that it cannot be played on a Mac.. The trend to develop multiplatform games has favored the arrival of great native games for Mac and the Apple Arcade service today offers about 200 titles. They are not the best, certainly, but for casual gaming they work and may be enough for users who do not have video games as a priority. And you can always buy a dedicated console separately, a strategy of many mackeros.
Price, value and brand image
Any Mac, compared to a Windows PC with identical components (memory, storage…) will cost more. Let alone if you build your own computer, something that is not possible with Apple except with the aforementioned Hackintosh which has remained more of an enthusiast’s game than something we can consider productive.
Having said the above, how do you value in price the performance of the fantastic macOS and the extended support that Apple provides? How do you value a generally above average build and finish quality? How do you value a top-notch computing experience in almost all of its sections?
The price of any product is very relative and in technology even more so. It is also influenced by the value for price and brand imageand in this last section there is little to debate: Apple is number 1. As with iPhone versus Android phones, a Mac retains its value much longer than a Windows PC and just look at the second-hand market.
You decide. In the comparison of a Windows PC versus Mac there are arguments in favor of one or the other. And alternatives to both coming from GNU/Linux and Chrome OS.
