So often, people ask me if they should switch to a Mac. Being a user of Apple products for over 25 years, my first being an Apple IIe, it would be very easy for me to shout “YES!” but I don’t. I usually start just by asking a simple question: “Why?”. I’ll be the first to tell you that Macs are not for everyone. I was recently in a meeting with a couple of developers along with my fellow user experience team member and one of the developers stated that he hates Macs. He told me that they weren’t as configurable as he wants a computer to be. He liked to make modifications to his OS so he could have it function just the way he wanted. But he then said he would buy a Mac for his wife. I asked him why and he said because that he would have to spend little time customizing things and he wouldn’t worry about viruses as much. It was pretty much just plug and play.

I try to remind people that a computer is a tool, like a hammer or a pencil. However, the computer differs from these because a hammer and pencil have specific jobs. A computer has numerous jobs so it is important to think about what “jobs” or tasks you want your “tool” do. Do you want a computer to play video games? You’ll probably want a PC. Do you want to edit graphics and/or video. A Mac would probably be the best bet. Do you want a computer to surf the internet, check email and be connected through social media? Both a PC and a Mac would do a fine job at those jobs. It all depends on what type of tasks you’ll be doing most of the time. The lines are blurring more and more with newer technologies. The key differences lie in the experiences that he operating systems deliver.

In the end, if you decide to make the leap, here’s a great article with tips on switching to the Mac operating system.