You might read my articles and think I’m some kind of diehard Apple fanboy, but the truth is I use a PC just as much as I use my Mac. The amount of customization, raw power, and lower pricing you get from a PC is often enough to beat out the Macs. This is what I often tell people who are looking for a new computer.
However, with Apple’s latest offering of M3 Macs, I am seriously rethinking my thought process. The M3 MacBook Air and M2 Pro Mac mini specifically are extremely powerful now and, in my opinion, are 100% worth what they sell for.
I’ll touch on the topic of Mac versus PC in another article, but first, i’d like to discuss five reasons to buy a Mac instead of a PC at this point in time.
Reason #1: Resale value
It’s no secret that a secondhand Mac is an attractive option on the used computer market. Since 2011, I’ve sold every single one of my MacBooks when I upgraded, and without fail, I’ve been able to recover at an absolute minimum 50 to 60% of the original price of a now three-year-old Mac.
A PC is a completely different story. Unless the device is only a few months old and essentially brand new, you’re just not going to achieve the same results. There are a few exceptions to this, such as laptops like the Razer series and specific computer parts like graphics cards, but it can be very hit or miss, unlike the consistency of selling a used Mac. This is such an important factor for me, as I tend to upgrade my MacBook every two to three years, and being able to sell my old device really starts to add up over time, saving me thousands of dollars in the long run.
Reason #2: Connectivity and ecosystem
This is hands down something I just can’t live without now. Especially if you use a Mac for business, work, or study, features like Handoff, iMessage, and AirDrop are incredible and increase productivity dramatically. With a few taps of a button, I can wirelessly transmit anything to and from an iPhone or a Mac to my MacBook.
For my business, I can copy bank account details in an email on my Mac and paste them into the banking app on my phone to quickly pay invoices. If I’m sending a lot of SMS messages, I can seamlessly switch between my Mac and iPhone, or even just do all of my SMS messaging directly from my desktop Mac. These things are just the tip of the iceberg, so let me know in the comments down below if you’d like me to dedicate a full article to this topic.
Reason #3: Price
Up until the release of the M3 Macs, I never would have said this, but in my opinion, an entry-level M3 Mac is now one of the best bang-for-your-buck computers you can buy right now. It’s certainly not the cheapest—PC still wins in that category—but with the M2 Mac Mini specifically, for $599, you get an insanely powerful computer.
I have a $2,000 custom Windows PC I built with a Ryzen 3900X, 32 gigabytes of DDR4 RAM, and a GTX 1080 graphics card, and in everything but gaming and really hardcore sustained tasks, such as 8K rendering, the Mac Mini does a really good job at keeping up with the Windows PC. The same thing can be said for the M3 MacBook Air.
Reason #4: macOS
I’ve been using both macOS and Windows equally for about 10 years now, and I personally prefer macOS for several reasons. Firstly, it is a bit simpler when compared to Windows. Everything is in a location that just makes sense, and the system settings are done much better than in Windows.
Spotlight Search, Finder, and just everyday file organization are on par with Windows. And using gestures and a really nice trackpad on the MacBooks easily beats out any Windows laptop I’ve used. I will say, though, that power users will likely enjoy Windows more due to the increased customizability and control, but for 95% of people, they will never even bother with this.
I also find macOS to be much more stable and reliable. I’ve had far fewer crashes, frozen applications, or times when I needed to restart a machine running macOS. With Windows, I seem to be restarting it often to fix issues, no matter if I’ve recently reformatted, I’m using a new hard drive, or even using a completely new system. This is super important on laptops specifically because when you open that screen, you just want everything to be where you left it so you can continue on with no disruption.
Reason #5: Support
Now, this is probably going to be controversial because there’s always someone somewhere who’s had a horrible experience, but over the 10 years of owning Mac products, I’ve always had a decent experience. Online and phone support have been good enough on the rare occasion I’ve needed it, but the huge benefit, in my opinion, is the multiple Apple Stores and dedicated Genius Bars in almost every city in the world.
A few years ago, the logic board on my 2011 MacBook Pro died, and I was over three and a half years outside the warranty and wasn’t covered by any special replacement programs. Apple took pity on me and replaced it free of charge. Please note this is obviously a rare occurrence, so don’t expect the same to happen to you, but it just goes to show that Apple isn’t the big evil corporation that people make it out to be.
One thing I tell people is don’t underestimate the value of having the same company as both the software provider and the hardware provider. If you have an issue with either macOS or the actual hardware of your Mac, Apple is your go-to for absolutely everything. On the flip side, with a Windows PC, you’re going to have to deal with the manufacturer for any hardware issues, and that’s always been a massive letdown for me in my experience. And then again, if you have any issues with the actual software, you have to go to a different company for help, which is obviously Microsoft, and their support is pretty shocking, to say the least.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Again, this is just my opinion after 10 years of switching between PC and Mac. If you have any different experience, please tell me about them down below in the comments section.