by Alexa Schmidt, Asst. A&E Editor
From my experience with people and technology, you’re either an Apple person, or you’re not. PC’s and everything else in between remain the outliers to Apple consumers, and this debate remains prevalent ever since both technologies have been created. There are pros and cons to each, which is what these MC students have a conversation about.
Mac vs PC
Alex Nieves vs Christopher Dubois (top picture)
Alex Nieves: I think it’s really great when you go into a productive environment like school, and I really like the connectivity my Macbook has with my iPhone; it allows me to be really productive on the go. I like the processing power with it’s SSD, which is basically like a faster hard drive, but I just find paired with Apple’s operating system, it just works really well. It’s intuitive, and I’m also just a big fan of the aesthetic. I think it’s smooth and a great experience overall.
Christopher Dubois: Well for me, I feel like the Apple system is just way too expensive to invest in if you’re not all the way in. you say that you have the iPhone, the Macbook, you have an Apple watch. You’re totally invested in it. I figure to get the full value out of the Apple products, you have to fully invest. I don’t have an iPhone, so I don’t have a Macbook, I don’t have an iPad, I don’t have the watch. I figured for Windows, it’s just easier to pick and choose what you want. And there’s a lot more options. I fell like the software definitely works on more Windows than they do on Macbooks, because on Macbooks, in a lot of cases, you have to have specific software that works for the Mac. i figure it’s a little harder to maneuver around that. Especially for an engineering student because there’s a lot of specific software that you have to have that only runs on those.
AN: That could be beg determining factors for what you’re actually doing. For my business classes, I’m not going to need the same things you’re using, like the weird programming language that you use. You use VBA which isn’t compatible with Macs, and I know Mathlab doesn’t work with Macs, which are very widely used. But when you pay a luxury price, you get those extra features, and I find that really valuable, and others don’t.
CB: What we’re coming down to here is that it depends on what’s valuable to you. I don’t really care if I have to use workarounds, I just prefer Windows that much more. But that’s because I’m a person who has experience with technology. If you want something simpler, or easier to use, a Mac just makes more sense. I would say Apple is the way to go. If you want more features that are tailored towards power, Windows would be the better option.
iPhone X vs Google Pixel XL
Mattie Milkowski and Aidan Gormley (bottom picture)
Mattie Milkowski: I had two iPhones before this, but there was never any storage on the phone, and I was sick of constant updates because it would always make the phone slower. I just had a very awful problem with it the last year. It was always bad with the iPhone.
Aidan Gormley: Personally, I’ve never had an issue with the storage. I keep my photos on Google photos, which is what your phone is made up of.
MM: My phone is only Google photos. Even when I put all of my photos in Google photos on my old phone, I always had a problem because my parents didn’t want to pay for more storage. And this phone is a lot cheaper than the iPhone X.
AG: But the facial unlock feature is crazy.
MM: But the back of my phone is a fingerprint scanner.
AG: The fingerprint scanner on any phone has never worked for me. But the face thing is like magic.
MM: The only thing I miss about the iPhone is iMessages. That’s it.
AG: Yeah, groups chats and Facetime is super easy. Do you have…
MM: I have Duo. the other person has to have Duo, but it’s just a downloadable app, like Google docs. I have to say for Androids, the phones suck. They’re just awful phones. My boyfriend has one and it just doesn’t work at all. He never gets calls and his messages barely go through.
AG: I think the iPhone interface is super easy to use, like how it’s set up with the IOS.
MM: This phone has a really good battery life, I charged this last night and it’s at 41%.
AG: I’m at 61% and I charged it at six this morning. So twelve hours.
MM: The camera quality is amazing on this phone. I took a picture of my dog and it’s the background on my laptop and it doesn’t look pixelated at all.
AG: I’ve heard they worry more about the software of the camera than the hardware. So my phone has two front-facing cameras, and yours has one, but they have a lot more software behind it for AI to fill in the blanks so it picks up where the camera is lacking.
MM: Yeah, my camera is better. I have a type C charger, so that’s what people charge their Macbooks with.
AG: My laptop charger is her phone charger, so that would be super useful if my phone could charge through my laptop but it can’t.