What can you do on a Mac that you can't do on a PC
 

Here's one for ya! My husband and I were arguing about what you can do on a Mac that you can't do on a PC. Right now I can only think of what I can do on MY Mac that HE can't do on his PC, like record my voice to send in an e-mail, get pics off our camera, and other basic stuff. Now I'm asking the experts:

What can you do on a Mac that you can't do on a PC?

Hmm...that's a tough question. You can pretty much to everything on a PC that you can do on a Mac. The only things you cannot do are:

1) run Apple-only software
2) surf the web care free (well, almost care free)

A PC can actually run more applications, albeit many of them are poorly written and not of much use. There are more games and more virii for the Wintel platform.

If you two are compiling a laundry list...his will be longer, but yours will have better content :D.

The difference isn't what you can do. Anything you can do on one system, you can do on another, at least in theory. The difference is in how easily you can accomplish the task. Even the things you mentioned can be done on a PC, if you know how, and usually with more steps involved. For example, the iLife suite that comes with new Macs is said to have no peer on the PC, but everything it does can be done by using combinations of different software. Knowing what combinations to use and in what order isn't easy, and then accomplishing the task is another problem.

In my opinion, Windows still only gives lip service to ease of use, and that's one area where the Mac OS still far exceeds it. That's because to me, ease of use is more than the sum of its parts. It isn't enough for some programs to be easy or your printer to work well with the system. The Mac OS is easier in part because when I add new software or hardware I expect the process to go smoothly and quickly. When I surf the web, I expect to be reasonably secure. No more secure than Fort Knox, but much more secure than Windows.

Administer Unix and Linux systems using a native command line and tools such as SSH.

Install *nix applications/servers in order to test them or learn about them before deploying into production systems.

Connect to any network anywhere without any fear of attack (on a fully updated system) or viruses.

Know that when I flip open the lid on my laptop, it WILL be running and ready, and not crashed (I'd say that my users complain that Windows will be dead about 1 out of 10 or 20 times they try to restart from standby).

Let it run for months without a reboot, especially notebooks.

I'm gonna have to agree with the ease of use, and the improved workflow.

iLife '06 is a great example. You can export and import files between all the programs fairly seamlessly. And the programs are simple to use.

One program that always came up was the Studio suite Apple has. You can use Premiere on PC, but I'm told it's not as good (though I don't know, I've never used either ;) .)

There are a bunch of small apps that run only on Mac, go to versiontracker or macupdate and snoop around for a while, you'll find some stuff. But understand, the same thing can be done on a PC.

Well try saving a picture from the web with a simple drag 'n drop on a PC if you want, and then drop the picture you saved on the email program you use.

View ten open files with one single keystroke? Hide them all with another?

Search you entire HD plus external drives at light speed?

Invoke a translucent set of additional applications always there when you need them?

The services menu (minus the chinese converter which unless you are a Chinese or a Converter is not REALLY useful)?

View a movie WHILE you organize pictures without crashing?

Open a silly amount of program/files just because you can without crashing?

Work for months without crashing?

Debate internally and on this forum for EVER which is the best browser for Mac and have a nervous breakdown when they only allow you one vote when everybody knows that you need at least 3 but 5 better?

Not even thinking about Exploder in the previous internal debate?

Uninstall Microsoft Office with a drag 'n drop just because you want to see again that it's possible now and then?

Wonder what is that terminal thingy anyway? :eek:

Beautiful, I forgot all about that.

I really like the 'drag anywhere' feature that OSX has. Dragin' and droppin'. And of course, while we are on system features, don't forget the expose settings on a Macintosh, I usually have mine coupled with hot corners so I can see my whole screen if I go into the upper left corner... And let's not forget Dashboard, it was taking from Konfabulator, but honestly, Mac's Dashboard is much more functional...

Also, spotlight. Search for a word inside of a .pdf file or a word document...you can find them most of the time (I found a book report by putting Ivanits in my spotlight this morning, that was great.) Or maybe just some random Email...

There's no argument to be had. A PC can do just about anything a Mac can do. The difference is that on the PC, a lot of those tasks are a pain in the behind, or riskier, or both. It's like choosing between a basic car and a better car. They'll both go the same speed cruising on the highway, or when stuck in traffic, but which one handles better, is safer, and is more fun to drive? For some people, that difference is worth a higher price. For other people, the lowest possible price is worth any inconvenience. You can add stuff to a PC to emulate Spotlight, Dashboard, etc. but you'll end up with a patchwork instead of an integrated solution.

Where a PC has a program or a hardware driver that the Mac doesn't have, the PC wins. But only if there is no reasonable Mac alternative.

You can legitmately ridicule PC users.. :D

This is a bit dated (and no longer applies) , but back in the dark ages (1993) I was having a similar argument with a PC Droid. The show-stopper:
"Name ONE thing you can do on a Mac that I cant do on a PC."
"Use 12 characters in a file name"

He didn't switch, but the topic never came up again.

Excellent analogy!

you can run itunes the best music player in the business......wait a minute hell did freeze over :)

no seriously everything is so much less of a hastle to do a mac. very user friendly. like others said uptime galore, not that often if ever having to reinstall the os, going on the intarweb without many fears, ILIFE ya gotta love that suite. gets better every year. we just need a MS Word killer then we'll be set.

edit: just talking to a friend today said they're pc was great/works great they love it... just dad needs to fix it all the time....hmm. everytime i have a problem(software/os related) its my fault usually and i can fix it whereas pcs get your xp discs out :)

One word - kids. I have three, ages 7-13. They're all pretty avid internet users. We do our best to exercise parental control and educate them as to the perils of the web, but you can't be holding their hand every minute of the day. Kids being kids, they'll always want to try out the latest cool online game or cute screensaver. I sleep a lot easier at night secure in the knowledge that there is so little malware targeting OS X and the odds of one of them trashing the family computer are pretty low. For now, at least.

I sent my neice and nephew a Mac as their parents are weary of the internet's more dubios uses, and rightly so. The parental controls on OSX Tiger is so incredible compared even to Panther. If not for Tiger's exceptional controls i would not have sent them the machine.

Well, you can't do this on a Windows PC.

And this is why

Oh wait, I thought of something.

On a PowerPC Mac, you can run applications made for Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, Windows (via Virtual PC), and Unix, simultaneously. And you can easily move data between any and all. You are compatible with more software than anyone else.

AHunter3, could you explain the use of the OSX setup in your pic. i'm intrigued by the setup but don't understand the usefulness of it.

I very often find it useful to have multiple applications not merely open but with their windows in front of me on-screen, and, moreover, to position and shape those windows so as to most effectively accomodate what I'm trying to do at the time. I may have two different emails open and position them above and below my first FileMaker window and also have another FileMaker window open off to the side (or on my second monitor). On a PC, you just can't do that because so many applications still have their own window, within which each document has its window, and that means that even if you un-maximize the PC application window (PC apps seem to launch maximized by default; they sure aren't optimized for usefulness when de-maximized!; but you can do it), de-maximize also the individual document windows, and try to drag them to where you want them to be, OOPS, there's that opaque application window. You can only position those windows and still see the windows of some other app in-between them if you leave the first app in the background. First time you click on a window to scroll down in it, the whole application window comes to the foreground and blanks out the windows of any other application.

Thank you for the quick reply.

I just copied the /applications directory and my prefs & keychain files onto my new MacBook, fired up the apps, and was up and running. You can't do that in Windows, no way at all.

That is doubley impressive as I'm sure you moved from a PPC to CoreDuo.

Mount the HD of a Mac workstation or server from down the hall on your Desktop. Find various applications on it that you don't have installed on your local machine. Run them.

Yes, you can do that with a small handful of Windows apps, and, true, there are definitely some Mac apps that won't function properly until you install them. But it's still pretty impressive to lots of PC users who just don't even think in those terms.

.
I can look at the GUI of OSX, and in fact any Apple software, and feel like I’m living in the 21st century -- as opposed to getting a 1980s déjà vu from Windows.

To me that’s the difference between satisfaction and a real downer.


-- ArcticStones

Many many thanks for the input. I think I just won this arguement, FINALLY!!!

Does Windows do IP over FireWire, or FireWire Target Disk Mode? I just used IP over FireWire the other day between my PowerBook and a friend's machine that doesn't have Gigabit Ethernet. We needed to transfer some very large files but didn't want to have to shut down either machine. IP over FireWire worked like a dream, transferring gigabytes of data very quickly while both of us continued to work.

IP over FireWire is one of those things where every time I am using it I look at the Apple logo, nod my head slowly saying "Yeah, baby."

Oh yeah, didn't even think about that part.

Another great point. As an admin, I really appreciate being able to clone machines in FW target mode. A lot easier than dealing with Norton Ghost to clone a Windows box. Today I installed software onto an old machine with a broken CD drive by putting my machine into FW target and mounting the CD there.

Windows does do IP over FW, and I think USB also (with a USB crossover cable). Target mode is a hardware function, and I don't know of any non-Mac hardware that can do this.

networking is better in mac.

updates do not get under your skin (IE having to install a new version of the windows
genuine advantage tool , just to get a security update).

More stable operating system.

cons:

the red button does not close programs, annoying

there is not equivalent of notepad, inherent where you can edit code, the mac equivalent hexedit is more annoying.

Front page from Microsoft is a breeze to use with its GUI, you cannot even hand edit code in bloody iweb.

Retain your sanity.

Use a wonderful trackpad to save the day..

Have many keyboard layouts switchable at the press of Control and Space..

Yes, Windows supports Firewire networking. Hardly ever used though.

Target disk mode would not be a Windows thing, it would have to be implemented by the hardware mfg at the BIOS level. And I don't know of anyone that does it besides Apple. Bloody excellent idea too.

With the new mac laptops, you can trip over the power adapter cord and not worry about it breaking inside the machine since it's magnetic. -Simply genius.

I'm on vacation and I tried to make a short movie of it so far so I can maybe post it on facebook or on my tumblr or whatever..I only brought my PC laptop with me on vacation, since my Mac is a desktop and all; my laptop runs Windows 7 Ultimate, which is supposedly the best version of Windows out there..and I tried using Windows Live Movie Maker..I just thought I was gonna strangle a kitty.........
<rant>My 2004 PowerPC Mac (obviously not the newest) running Leopard (not the newest) and iLife 06 (not the newest again) makes better movies, faster..! I don't get how Microsoft can even release that program to the public!..it looks like the baby of Microsoft Office 2007 and a big black box, where MS Office drank and sniffed coke while it was pregnant.....</rant>
there's a huge difference between the quality of software Apple provides and that of Microsoft's..
need to get me a macbook..

I'm disappointed that nobody has mentioned Spring Loaded Folders.
That's the one I always show Windows users.
Neither do the yellow or green ones.

In Windows, the close button does not quit the program if the program has multiple windows open.

Some Mac programs that only ever have one window DO quit when the red button is clicked.

Consistency of keyboard shortcuts also. I can hit Cmd-, knowing it'll open the preferences dialog box. I can hit a lot of keys with confidence. How about that?

It's already been mentioned, but I was surprised when I dragged the PS CS and acrobat Pro 8.0 apps over my wireless network from a MacBook to my iMac, and they run great! Same for Toast 8, OO, etc.

MacBook was running 10.4.11.

Macs don't have a Registry. 'nuf said.

or DLLs (usually - I found a video adapter once whose open source driver was full of files ending in .dll).

Now, dll's in and of themselves aren't a bad idea. A single shared file that contains functionality that can be accessed by many programs, avoiding the need for each of those programs to duplicate this code or functionality internally. OS X does this too with it's own library files (as does about every *nix based OS). The problem was Window's implementation of this, and vendors overwriting system dll's with their own versions, creating that special place we like to call dll hell--where we no longer know what version of each dll we have, or which one our application expects us to have.

Agreed. It may be convenient in some ways to have all your system settings stored in a single spot, but it's also a recipe for disaster if that one file gets corrupted. I've long wished that MS would dump the registry concept and move towards more individual conf files for each service or application, but stored in a single place, like the *nix /etc folder.

The problems with Windows (or at least XP which is the version I have) all derive from the same basic flaw: application installers can alter basic system files.

Part of that comes from the fact that most everyone who uses Windows runs under an administrator-privileged account all the time (I'm guilty too). The other part comes from bad developers who think it's ok to replace system files with their own, and require admin access just to install (or worse, to run). This is one of the biggest reasons MS introduced the "Windows File Protection" thing--to stop stupid devs from overwriting system files.

This is one of the good things about the .NET framework now. Shared functionality has been moved there, and all .NET apps use the same framework assemblies. Developers can't replace them with their own versions. They can still create their own shared assemblies if they want as well, and any other application can easily take advantage of them, if it knows how to, but they won't break any other apps.
The new assemblies still have the "dll" extension, but they are not the same as the old COM-based dlls of the past.

What can you do on a Mac that you can't do on a PC
 

I'd like to address he subject exactly as you've defined the question. A well known TV personality and intellectual compares one with the other as living on a sink estate compared with a lovely mansion. Many of us know that to be roughly true. Good enough

If you can run Fluxbox and X Window system apps, Linux, Windows, OS X, and OS 9 on a computer at the same time, without bogging it down to a halt, I would definitely say that beats Windows--

Because it does. Macs are flat better. :)

Use a multitouch trackpad - never liked trackpads until i got my first Mac - the unibody MacBook. Have to say its increased productivity by at least 10% over a normal mouse!

Now if only you could get the a genuine multitouch trackpad for the iMac....

I fully agree with you Paul. the MBP trackpad is wonderful!

No one has said my favorite thing: "Try and boot your Windows PC from an external disk." They always have no answer.

AppleScript and Automator. There is no Windows equivalent that I know of.

I mean, if we're going to go application specific: Logic, Final Cut and the iLife suite are all great tools.

It's not like theres anything you can do on a Mac that you simple can't do on a PC. It's just often easier on a Mac, that's all...

Nothing as simple as Automator: drag/drop, clickety click, your day is done. At 9:03. :D

I disagree, but I'm definitely open to correction. I use Windows at work and I have yet to find any Windows equivalent to AppleScript and Automator. The closest thing I've found is VBA, but that is application-specific, in that it works with Office, not with most Windows applications. AppleScript and Automator work with most Mac applications, even "unscriptable" applications (via GUI scripting). I'm even using AppleScript to automate Windows (using GUI scripting and a remote desktop application).

As far as I know, I can't control a Mac application using Windows.

I suppose more what I meant is that you can write an implementation of anything you want, if you want to take the time. If I wanted to take the time to write an AppleScript like language for Windows, I could do it. It's technically possible. Though why I'd take the time...

And that's what I mean when I say Apple can be easier. A lot of the stuff is just there for you. You don't have to go out and write an app for it, or even buy an app for it often enough. It just makes things simpler.

Let's see, to add to this topic:

Not have the OS get in my way? Windows tells you EVERYTHING, even if something was successful, or if something failed. Windows will tell you about every little thing that happens.

OS X only tells you when something's gone wrong.

On top of that, OS X can run for years on end with no crashing. Stability for the win, though Windows has come a long way in this regard (anyone remember Windows 98? Yeah.)

Hey Anti: are those literal years? Like if you execute uptime it'll say a year? ;-)

One thing I'd also like to see on the OS is built-in sync support.

@renaultsoftware -- I think the record I saw was somewhere around 7 years (and that was a couple years ago.) It was for a computer that ran a companies hold music, and it's just run and run in that configuration.

And yeah, they posted the output of the "uptime" command in terminal...

Meh. I don't think a PC can do that. :)

Now if you'd heard of Magic Trackpad.... ;)

Is it technically possible? From my understanding of how Windows works, there isn't a basic, standard way of operation that an application has to (or does) follow. My understanding is that Windows lets developers tinker "under the hood," building their apps as they like. I think that's why VBA works with MS Office -- Office follows a standard -- but couldn't possibly work with other Windows applications.

Something as simple as opening multiple files is not so simple Windows. I've noticed some Windows applications can do this, and others can't (or don't). I think Windows is missing the basic structure to even allow something like AppleScript to work.

Remember that AppleScript works by interacting with Applications that support it. You might write a tool that managed GUI scripting, but like Sojourner, I doubt you could get much further.

*sigh* All I'm saying is that technically the hardware can run what ever you want it to run. Trust me, if you had a flawless understanding of Windows, had some hacking skills, and a lot of patience, you could get it to do whatever you want. Technically it is possible.

This is important to remember because often times you'll point out how OSX can do this or that to a Windows user and they'll say "well, Windows can do that too." To which my response is "yes, it can, but it's an utter pain. And quite honestly, the fact that it's an utter pain makes it take longer to do, which wastes precious time and mental stability."

As for an Applescript replacement, sure it could be done. You'd just have to have to write the script language and then write a specific implementation for every program on the market. Would you want to do that? I very highly doubt it. It would be a colossal pain. But yes, you could do it.

Again, the point I'm trying to make is that OSX makes things easier. Even though Windows tends to do a lot of the same things, OSX makes them easier.

Fully agree with you on that one! There's no simple solution included with your system to organize your calendar, organize your email, photos, music (well WAP isn't quite what I want). No, you have to buy or download it all.

Here is my take on it....being both a PC and Mac user.

A PC is a tool. A Mac is a tool. We use tools to get jobs done and accomplish our goals with technology. Different tools for different jobs. Different people prefer different tools. Also Mac and PC follow different business models. However, at the same time share some business models at certain aspects.

For me personally, it is all the small things OS X does. The fact I can scroll up and down in a non active window, or that I can cancel data transfers in Finder one at a time. Those are two features that are not in Windows and drive me insane when I cannot perform them because they are two of the many little things I have acclimated to as a computer user using a Mac.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this. Maybe this is not something users like but what about filevault.

That's actually a disadvantage when using Time Machine (anyone mentioned H.G. Wells' device?).

Yep, files have to be unencrypted before being backed up. Maybe they should just move filevault to external drives and leave normal drives unencrypted.

Encrypted disk images are everybody's friend. ;)

I'm gonna write an app with that functionality one day. "the files are secure AND small!!! buy my product!!"

How about watching bluray movies?
 

Just ordered an imac today. But how about some explaining why I can't watch bluray movies on mac natively on the osx. I assume that the mac is the best option for encoding movies right? Sure you can buy a bluray drive and run 3rd party apps to get movies working. A pc does it right out of the box.

Macs do not have built-in BluRay, probably because of disagreements between Sony (I think they own BluRay) and Apple.

Something else I can't do on Windows that I can do on a Mac is rename a blanking file while it's open. Hallelujah for Mac that I can open a scanned file, and rename it before closing it.

I hate that! "The document xxx was sent to the printer." No kidding? Really? I always kind of expect that when I choose the print command.

There was an error generating your error report?

Add:

1) Move a file while it's open.
2) Move a file without breaking all of the shortcuts that point to it.
3) Scroll a background window without bringing it to the front.
4) Drag and drop into a file open or save dialog.
5) Print to PDF without third-party software.

Oh, yes, a-men.

You can run Windows on a Mac machine (Intel), while you cannot run Mac on a Windows machine. Right? ;)