Ever since personal computers have been introduced there has been the need for an easy way to control them. Two companies quickly filled the bill and have made their way to the top. Apple and Microsoft have both introduced a variety of OSs each one claiming to be better than the last. Have these programs lived up to their programmers claims? That has been the basis of debate for years; it is finally time for a solid answer.

Within the last few years computers have broken many barriers that used to be considered unattainable. Our vocabulary has been enriched with terms like gigabyte, gigahertz and gigaflop. Most computers now have at least a one gigahertz processor and many carry at least a gigabyte of ram. Apple is the only computer company that advertises its computers as having over one gigaflop capability. A gigaflop is the capacity to perform over one billion FLoating OPerations a Second, or a FLOP, giga is a prefix for a billion. One or more gigaflops is the definition of a supercomputer, The 500 mhz Power Mac G4 was the first supercomputer on a chip, it had a sustainable rate of 3.7 gigaflops. Today's G4Õs can operate at 18.3 gigaflops. As of yet no ÒwintelÓ (Windows OS) computer manufacturer advertises its computers as having gigaflop capability. Ram and hertz are not a accurate measurement of a computers speed. A 300 MHz G3 PowerMac delivers better graphics performance than a 400 MHz Pentium II system (PC Week cited in Macintosh Facts and Statistics).

Apple also has a much more stable OS than Windows. Companies that use Macs need less tech support then Windows based networks. In the business world, the industry standard for Windows systems is one support technician for every 25 to 60 computers. ÊBy contrast, the standard for Macintosh support is one person for every 100 to 200 machines (Macintosh Facts and Statistics). Some Mac based networks have 1 technician for every 450 computers. When NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston switched from Mac to Windows, help desk calls grew consistently from 68,000 calls to 142,000 in two years (Macintosh facts and Statistics). This is also true of home based or single computer systems. ÒThe average Wintel home user spends between 50 and 60 hours each year troubleshooting their computer. ÊThe average Mac user spends less than 5 (Macintosh Facts and Statistics).Ó Support cost are also less, ÒThe higher percentage of Macintosh¨ computers, the lower the technical support costs (Gartner Group cited by Macintosh Facts and Statistics).Ó

In addition to being more stable Mac is also easier to operate, in Windows you have to go to the Start menu to shut the computer down or put it to sleep. Does that make any sense? On the new Macs you just press the power button briefly to put it to sleep or go to the Apple Menu to shut it down. Mac desktops have far less icons cluttering the space. The dock holds all the drives and any programs the user wants on it. The only icons that need to be on the desktop are the portable or mountable drives. Windows machines require 4-6 icons on the desktop and more to have shortcuts to oft used items. Its common for a windows machine to have 20, 30 or even 50 icons on the desktop. MACÕs keyboards also have an additional key that allows users to easily type characters like ÒŒ,¹,Â, or ¨Ó Windows requires user to press a series of buttons and a four digit code. In addition to a more stable environment Mac OS comes with free MP3 players, free Quicktime and free graphics editing as well as a variety of other useful programs. Despite having the same cost, MacÕs OS includes more features and is better designed than Windows.

MacintoshÕs standard hardware is also much better. All Macs include video. All Macs include Ethernet. All Macs include USB. And finally, most Macs now include Firewire. While many PCs come with those things these days, most of them are not "on the motherboard" and are not integrated into your hardware and software as seamlessly as they are on the Mac (Bob Levitus). In addition, almost any item you plug into a Mac is Òplug-and- playÓ capable of being used right away. Windows has far less support in this field. When Bill Gates was demoing Windows 98 the system crashed when a scanner was plugged into it! Lastly most Macs can be connected for file exchange. Many Windows machines still lack ethernet support, the primary connection for networks. Many people say that Apple machines are more expensive then Wintel machines with the same specifications. However specs alone do not make a better computer. As mentioned before true machine speed is not measured as ram or hertz but in gigaflops. After several hours of research on the internet I found no information on the gigaflop capacity of any wintel computer. We can logically assume that if Wintel companies do not want to share how many gigaflops their machines can run at that they are inferior to Apple. Also the construction of the computer itself must be taken into consideration Timestretch.com recently posted a survey taken on two comparable laptops.

Dell Inspiron 2500 (700 MHz Celeron, 64 MB, 5 GB)

54% thumbs up out of 30 Votes.

Common issues covered in the comments included:

* Flimsy build quality
* Large screen, but only 800x600
* Poor battery life
* No built in ethernet
* No Firewire
* Heavy
* Unstable
* Good keyboard

Apple iBook (Dual USB, 500 MHz G3, 64 MB, 10 GB)

96% thumbs up out of 528 Votes.

Common issues covered in the comments included: (CD-RW drive, $999)

* Great Price / Performance
* Rugged design
* Small LCD, but 1068x768 display is bright, sharp
* Nice portable video editing system
* Good battery life
* Flimsy keyboard
(Erik Wrenholt)

I will interject as an owner of an iBook that the keyboard is not flimsy, it feels lightweight and fragile, but is actually quite strong. Mine has been field tested by four younger brothers, the youngest was 4 when he managed to remove one key but it was replaced without undue effort.

Apple has also made marks with several other computers, CNN rated the Apple iBook "Best New Laptop" of 2001(CNNmoney Best of the New cited in Macintosh Facts and Statistics) and the Apple iMac is the best-selling computer in Comp USA's 13-year history (Macintosh Facts and Statistics).

Another major argument against Apple computers is the lack of software available. Firstly Windows is a test market for cheaper companies. If a program sells well then it is marketed for Mac. Many titles that are sitting on the aisle of your local computer store will be forgotten in a year except by those who bought them. Now more and more programmers are switching to hybrid coding for both Windows and Mac so that programs are available to both users right away.

Hardware support is another argument against Macs made by Windows users. Apple has decided to stop including floppy drives, serial ports and other devices choosing to emphasize USB and FireWire devices. However this can be argued the other way, why have Wintel manufacturers chosen to hold on to the outdated serial ports, PS/2 ports and floppy drives? Now most peripheral manufactures have USB attachments with adapters for older connection methods. Floppy drives have become outdated. USB disks holding ten to a hundred times more data per unit have become popular. USB disks are also smaller and more durable than floppy disks, ensuring that floppy disks are obsolete. Dell has annouced that some of its models will now be without floppy drives.