Why are most pre-meds and med students MAC fans? Why not PC?

[Alaxandra]

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On this forum, and in real life. Like, in my biology class of 150 people, when I look around the room, I see people with their mac laptops. Maybe a few PC laptops, but mostly it's filled with macs! (I myself take notes in my journal with a pencil lol, but I do have a PC laptop at home).

And on here too lol. Mac mac mac. Do pre-meds ever game on their computers?

What is it with pre-meds and med students loving macs? Maybe it's the fact that they think of food when on their mac, like Big Mac. Because all pre-meds are malnutritioned since they don't have time to sleep 3 hours a night, much less eat each day. So their mac reminds them of the Big Mac, and it's a psychological meal.

Lol. But in all seriousness, why pre-med=mac?

 

[mhuntergi]

It's because we are all vain and Macs are pretty.

 

[Womb Raider]

Lol macs are the computers for "soccer moms." Easy to use and friendly to computer-illiterate people. If you have any idea of what you're doing on a computer PC is better.

I've found that being female adds a 99% chance to owning a mac. Surprise surprise... If only they made cars.

 

[phunky]

A) If you say Macs suck you're an idiot. Walk into your school's Computer Science department and see what everyone's using.

B) All college majors favor Macs, not just premeds

C) This thread is ******ed

 

[Alaxandra]

Lol macs are the computers for "soccer moms." Easy to use and friendly to computer-illiterate people. If you have any idea of what you're doing on a computer PC is better.

I've found that being female adds a 99% chance to owning a mac. Surprise surprise... If only they made cars.

I am a female and I own a PC.

 

[Alaxandra]

A) If you say Macs suck you're an idiot. Walk into your school's Computer Science department and see what everyone's using.

B) All college students favor Macs, not just premeds

C) This thread is ******ed

A) If you say Macs suck you're an idiot. Walk into your school's Computer Science department and see what everyone's using.

B) All college students favor Macs, not just premeds

C) This thread is ******ed

I am a college student and I don't favor macs. Your statement B=incorrect.

 

[Womb Raider]

I am a female and I own a PC.

I worship you.

 

[Alaxandra]

I worship you.

Thank you.

 

[listener23]

Because pre meds and med students are average people and average people want to buy a computer thats will maintain the same speed longer than 6 month after purchase.

 

[listener23]

Lol macs are the computers for "soccer moms." Easy to use and friendly to computer-illiterate people. If you have any idea of what you're doing on a computer PC is better.

I've found that being female adds a 99% chance to owning a mac. Surprise surprise... If only they made cars.

I shouldn't have to get a bachelor in computer science just to operate my computer.If i buy a pc in 6-9 months the operating system goes to hell and slows down. Apple makes it easy by selling a useable machine.

 

[goft20]

Because pre meds and med students are average people and average people want to buy a computer thats will maintain the same speed longer than 6 month after purchase.

Its not like the hardware in the pc degrades over time...PC's can maintain their speed way longer than 6 months if one takes care of his or her laptop by defragmenting the hard drive, cleaning registry, and having a good antivirus program. CCleaner and advanced system care gets the job done.Also keeping the laptop dust free increases its life.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[Status Sciaticus]

Macs are better for different reasons.
-They last longer on average.
-Their replacement policies/customer service is much better
- apple integration with other products is a huge plus (apple TV, iPhone, etc...)
- their operating system is better at protecting itself from viruses.

PCs are better for some reasons.
-cheaper on average for the same specs
-you can use it for gaming

I own a Macbook and a Gaming desktop rig.

 

[listener23]

Its not like the hardware in the pc degrades over time...PC's can maintain their speed way longer than 6 months if one takes care of his or her laptop by defragmenting the hard drive, cleaning registry, and having a good antivirus program. CCleaner and advanced system care gets the job done.Also keeping the laptop dust free increases its life.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

With that point I rest my case. Im of reasonable intelligence and I only know how to do one of those things you named. I have no interest in pursuing higher PC knowledge i just want to go to medical school, and macs just work!

 

[nemo123]

Everyone at my college had Macs (except for me lol). Even the non-premeds. I think most people like to put Apple on a pedestal and worship them, and on the flip side, there are hardcore Apple haters and refuse to buy anything Apple related.

 

[goft20]

With that point I rest my case. Im of reasonable intelligence and I only know how to do one of those things you named. I have no interest in pursuing higher PC knowledge i just want to go to medical school, and macs just work!

I am not a programmer or anything, but there is software that does everything for you...avast and advanced systemcare to name a few....it really isn't hard...people are into macs because of their ease of use and interface which I respect because I had an iPhone before I jumped ship to android! BTW, apple does make some outrageously expensive and extremely reliable products.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[GopherMD]

Everyone at my college had Macs (except for me lol). Even the non-premeds. I think most people like to put Apple on a pedestal and worship them, and on the flip side, there are hardcore Apple haters and refuse to buy anything Apple related.

This, to some extent. There's nothing wrong with either platform, I just prefer the Apple ecosystem and their products have not disappointed yet. I think PCs are perfectly fine machines.

 

[GopherMD]

Question for the OP, why the hate for Macs?

 

[Fedxup]

Macs are better for different reasons.
-They last longer on average.
-Their replacement policies/customer service is much better
- apple integration with other products is a huge plus (apple TV, iPhone, etc...)
- their operating system is better at protecting itself from viruses.

PCs are better for some reasons.
-cheaper on average for the same specs
-you can use it for gaming

I own a Macbook and a Gaming desktop rig.

I don't think, IMO, that apple's operating system is better at protecting itself from viruses. It is just that hacker or people creating the malware are smart. They create malware to infect PCs because the PC population is larger than MAC so they have a better chance of nailing someone. Just a thought. Yes apple requires a password every time you install something. But who knows which is actually better (in the sense of virus infection/protection).

I own a mac and I love it.

 

[ZtetNb]

Question for the OP, why the hate for Macs?

Where did OP say she hates Macs?

 

[rain4venus]

I have no interest in pursuing higher PC knowledge i just want to go to medical school, and macs just work!

Based on my mom's experience, this attitude may well get you in trouble. Or at least give you a lot of extra work to do over your coworkers who do know computers... Once upon a time this would've been fine, but it's not like medicine is a PC-free world these days.

Then again, by the time today's pre-meds are practicing, maybe everything will be done on iOS. I doubt it, but I'm not a futurist.

 

[Longshot6]

There is no evidence that either computer is better. Bassically Apple's attempts at branding>PC's attempts at branding.

 

[Jennyfishy]

People like what's trending and "looks cool" 😀? Supposedly the user friendliness and durability investment is nifty too. I mean, it's not like Apple is the ONLY brand who produce phones, MP3 players, computers, etc..

BUT they know how to market their stuff to make people feel like they need one to be part of the cool kids club 😛

 

[GopherMD]

Where did OP say she hates Macs?

Macs suck. Go for windows. Windows are also excellent in gaming, as long as you get laptop with the right video cards and processor and RAM. Macs are so confusing, I'm a windows user. Why is it that so many pre-meds are mac fans? Doesn't make sense at all to me, as PCs are the more intelligent choice.

From another thread.

 

[Reckoner]

I buy a pc in 6-9 months the operating system goes to hell and slows down

Stop downloading so much porn

 

[La Presse]

I only fux with PC. I do own several apple products though.

 

[The Buff OP]

If I use a PC it's not hipster.

 

[The Buff OP]

I only fux with PC. I do own several apple products though.

Apple pie, apple juice, and candy apples.

 

[Narmerguy]

Its not like the hardware in the pc degrades over time...PC's can maintain their speed way longer than 6 months if one takes care of his or her laptop by defragmenting the hard drive, cleaning registry, and having a good antivirus program. CCleaner and advanced system care gets the job done.Also keeping the laptop dust free increases its life.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

You don't even need to do all this stuff. Just have some antivirus and don't go to doubleporn.com and you will be fine. For people complaining about quality, I find that if people spent as much on a PC as they do on a mac they would have fewer problems. There are plenty of well-designed windows machines but if you pay $300 for a laptop you'll never see it.

 

[goft20]

You don't even need to do all this stuff. Just have some antivirus and don't go to doubleporn.com and you will be fine. For people complaining about quality, I find that if people spent as much on a PC as they do on a mac they would have fewer problems. There are plenty of well-designed windows machines but if you pay $300 for a laptop you'll never see it.

Well for the times you do go to doubleporn.com then you go to take care of your laptop 😉

 

[darkjedi]

I own both a MacBook Pro as well as a PC gaming rig I built myself. I actually still prefer the Macs over PC most of the time and will never go back to a PC laptop. Windows is more or less awful for most simple things. Macs are great at doing the simple things exceedingly well, and since most people only need computers for simple tasks, it makes sense that people would prefer macs.

 

[vadeem]

 

[bambam92]

The best thing is when you see someone with a PC and they throw an apple sticker on it.. lmao STRUGGLE IS ALIVE

 

[NickNaylor]

The best thing is when you see someone with a PC and they throw an apple sticker on it.. lmao STRUGGLE IS ALIVE

Dat struggle

I bought my first Mac a month or two ago after my laptop was stolen. In the end I'd say it's very bad value, but it's an absolutely beautiful device that is a joy to use. Don't get a Mac if you're wanting to get the best deal possible. Get a Mac if you have some extra money to spend and want an extremely well-built device that just works. I used to find that phrase irritating when I read it as a PC user, but there are so many things Windows does absolutely terribly that it's tough to appreciate until you use OSX. That's not to say that native OSX doesn't have its quirks, but there are apps you can buy if you're more of a power user to make everything work just that much more fluently.

It's also got powerful hardware (again, not what you can get building your own PC, but still solid for a laptop). I'm able to run modern games at 1920x1080, high to ultra settings at 60+ FPS. Since I'm not the kind of person that actually cares about running games at max settings, I'm thinking that I'll be able to game for as long as this darn thing works.

Add to that the incredible battery life - I can easily get 4-5+ of HD video full-screened with ~50% brightness - and I'm sold. Definitely happy with the purchase, but not everyone cares about paying a ton of money for something when they could get something similar/better/worse in various regards for cheaper.

 

[Pacna]

I'm a PC user, but I think it's because of this: Macs are just easy to use. That's important when you have a lot of time constraints. PCs often take knowledge to use and repair.

 

[Mr Avante]

GLORIOUSPCGAMINGMASTERRACE

 

[KnuxNole]

I don't have as much money to drop down on expensive computers....PCs at least make it easy for regular people to use a computer :O

However, I don't buy anything extra or know anything about defragging or whatever. Lol...

Maybe an antivirus program at the max is all I do :/

 

[kyamh]

As a female who codes quite well and knows her way around a computer, I will never give up on PCs. If you want a machine that compares to a Mac, spend a similar amount of money. As is, my $400 8 year old PC laptop can still kick a Mac around the block when it comes to working with and analyzing large data sets.

 

[Mr Avante]

As a female who codes quite well and knows her way around a computer, I will never give up on PCs. If you want a machine that compares to a Mac, spend a similar amount of money. As is, my $400 8 year old PC laptop can still kick a Mac around the block when it comes to working with and analyzing large data sets.

😵

 

[darkjedi]

As a female who codes quite well and knows her way around a computer, I will never give up on PCs. If you want a machine that compares to a Mac, spend a similar amount of money. As is, my $400 8 year old PC laptop can still kick a Mac around the block when it comes to working with and analyzing large data sets.

While mostly true, I am skeptical about your latter statement. Even a current modern $400 laptop would be hard pressed to beat many macs available. Most macs now are all i5 or i7 chipsets, which completely decimate most processors available 8 years ago, PC or mac.

 

[Pacna]

While mostly true, I am skeptical about your latter statement. Even a current modern $400 laptop would be hard pressed to beat many macs available. Most macs now are all i5 or i7 chipsets, which completely decimate most processors available 8 years ago, PC or mac.

I'm using a 4 year old $1,200 laptop and I know for a fact that the new Macs beat it in just about every way.

 

[kyamh]

While mostly true, I am skeptical about your latter statement. Even a current modern $400 laptop would be hard pressed to beat many macs available. Most macs now are all i5 or i7 chipsets, which completely decimate most processors available 8 years ago, PC or mac.

Not everything is about the processor. I've upgraded the RAM, I now have a SSD. So no, the computer is not 100% what is was 8 years ago (though up until a few months ago it had a 50GB hardrive 🙂 ). What I mean to say is that, with proper care, a computer can do all the things you need it to do. Personally, I find the organization of a PC and its interface to be more conducive to analyzing data. Do my programs run slower? Yes. Can I run Matlab, Photoshop, and stream video simultaneously? No way. That said, do I notice the slight decrease in processing speed? Not really, not practically. Do I need to be analyzing, watching netflix and photoshopping at the same time? Probably not.

 

[nemo123]

I use a PC laptop at home, and I use a Mac computer in the lab. To be honest, both systems have their pros and cons. When I use a Mac, there are times I want to and when I use a PC, there are times I want to also. One system is not necessarily better than the other. It depends on what you're doing with it at the moment.

 

[darkjedi]

Not everything is about the processor. I've upgraded the RAM, I now have a SSD. So no, the computer is not 100% what is was 8 years ago (though up until a few months ago it had a 50GB hardrive 🙂 ). What I mean to say is that, with proper care, a computer can do all the things you need it to do. Personally, I find the organization of a PC and its interface to be more conducive to analyzing data. Do my programs run slower? Yes. Can I run Matlab, Photoshop, and stream video simultaneously? No way. That said, do I notice the slight decrease in processing speed? Not really, not practically. Do I need to be analyzing, watching netflix and photoshopping at the same time? Probably not.

Bootcamp is always available on macs as well, allowing you to run Windows if you really wanted to. I also believe that most new MacBooks all come standard with SSDs as well, and have 4gb of RAM minimum, which is the upper limit of x86 processors, which were the most popular computing processors at the time 8 years ago.

I think there is a lot of hyperbole in anti-mac arguments, and that people falsely believe that macs are extremely overpriced for their computing power. In reality, macs may not beat many PCs $ for $, but there is a lot of added value in places other than hardware, most notably in general design, OS, and probably most visibly, their customer service. I once came in to Apple needing to replace an SD card slot that was not reading cards very well, and they replaced it with a faulty motherboard. When I brought it back, they apologized and just replaced the entire computer for me, upgrading a 2009 macbook to the newest 2012 model at the time, all under applecare.

I like both my PC and my macbook and use them both for different purposes. I don't think macs are deserving of the blind hate that many people subject them too, or that only un-techsavvy people like macs.

 

[kyamh]

Well, I prefer the ability to switch our components myself and I prefer the Windows OS. To each their own 🙂 What the "new, powerful" laptops have to offer these days (both Macs and PCs) is not really necessary to most users if they don't want to use their computer for gaming. If you believe what I just said is true, then there isn't a practical difference between various models of laptops out there.

 

[Escape_Goat]

My wife loves Macs and dislikes Windows OS. I greatly prefer Windows systems for a number of reasons.

I'm amazed our marriage has lasted this long. 😛

Macs are okay, but I certainly don't think they're worth the price premium. I also don't like how the OS walls off so many settings. At least with PCs, I can tweak settings and upgrade components more easily. Macs sort of feel like they're in kiddie mode, where I just don't access to all that stuff.

 

[nOchemallday]

The following includes several sweeping generalizations:

As you have astutely pointed out, many biologists are Mac fanboys, and as of 2012 >50% of medical school matriculants are biology majors. Ergo lots of Macs (over-represented minority) at both the premed and medical student level. This is likely because of the "ease-of-use" associated with Macs and the, for lack of a better term, "simple-mindedness" of biologists. Those same biologists who don't have to take calculus or calculus-based physics or even know what Matlab is or the basics of logic/programming. You'll find that most engineers use windows (whether they own a Mac or a PC) because Mac doesn't support a lot of the necessary software. (Case in point: Excel data analysis pack - good luck Mac2013 and beyond users; that'll cost an extra $50). You'll also find that nearly everyone in the medical field uses PCs. They're cheaper, can do everything you need them to do, and easily supports additional software.

As for the original question, I think it is mostly attributed with all the pre-meds drinking the Kool-aid. They want to have the shiny, sleek new gadget that all their friends have.

The concept of "apple-integration" is pretty flawed when you consider they make you buy a million different adapters to work with all the rest of the technology on the planet (do you really need 2 Thunderbolt 2.0 ports?). The fact that Mac is overwhelmingly integrating PC components so that it can fit in should be evidence enough that you are paying a lot more for the same product. Chief similarity: intel processor. Especially with the new age processors, you don't even need the processing power they have, yet PCs and Macs both come with the i5 or i7 chipsets. Also, the recent switch to mini-USB for iPhone, etc. They like Mac because they are paying for the brand. Not the components. Not the "ease-of-use." Not to weigh the pros/cons of each system. The brand alone.

tl;dr. PC and Mac are the same, but people like to spend a lot of $ to believe there is a difference.

 

[BlackBox]

On this forum, and in real life. Like, in my biology class of 150 people, when I look around the room, I see people with their mac laptops. Maybe a few PC laptops, but mostly it's filled with macs! (I myself take notes in my journal with a pencil lol, but I do have a PC laptop at home).

And on here too lol. Mac mac mac. Do pre-meds ever game on their computers?

What is it with pre-meds and med students loving macs? Maybe it's the fact that they think of food when on their mac, like Big Mac. Because all pre-meds are malnutritioned since they don't have time to sleep 3 hours a night, much less eat each day. So their mac reminds them of the Big Mac, and it's a psychological meal.

Lol. But in all seriousness, why pre-med=mac?

Status

 

[rodmichael82]

Please stop starting rubbish, pointless threads.

Windows4life

On this forum, and in real life. Like, in my biology class of 150 people, when I look around the room, I see people with their mac laptops. Maybe a few PC laptops, but mostly it's filled with macs! (I myself take notes in my journal with a pencil lol, but I do have a PC laptop at home).

And on here too lol. Mac mac mac. Do pre-meds ever game on their computers?

What is it with pre-meds and med students loving macs? Maybe it's the fact that they think of food when on their mac, like Big Mac. Because all pre-meds are malnutritioned since they don't have time to sleep 3 hours a night, much less eat each day. So their mac reminds them of the Big Mac, and it's a psychological meal.

Lol. But in all seriousness, why pre-med=mac?

 

[Temerit]

Because OSX is great and Apple products hold up very well in the long run, not to mention the tremendous re-sale value that macbooks have.

 

[darkjedi]

The following includes several sweeping generalizations:

As you have astutely pointed out, many biologists are Mac fanboys, and as of 2012 >50% of medical school matriculants are biology majors. Ergo lots of Macs (over-represented minority) at both the premed and medical student level. This is likely because of the "ease-of-use" associated with Macs and the, for lack of a better term, "simple-mindedness" of biologists. Those same biologists who don't have to take calculus or calculus-based physics or even know what Matlab is or the basics of logic/programming. You'll find that most engineers use windows (whether they own a Mac or a PC) because Mac doesn't support a lot of the necessary software. (Case in point: Excel data analysis pack - good luck Mac2013 and beyond users; that'll cost an extra $50). You'll also find that nearly everyone in the medical field uses PCs. They're cheaper, can do everything you need them to do, and easily supports additional software.

As for the original question, I think it is mostly attributed with all the pre-meds drinking the Kool-aid. They want to have the shiny, sleek new gadget that all their friends have.

The concept of "apple-integration" is pretty flawed when you consider they make you buy a million different adapters to work with all the rest of the technology on the planet (do you really need 2 Thunderbolt 2.0 ports?). The fact that Mac is overwhelmingly integrating PC components so that it can fit in should be evidence enough that you are paying a lot more for the same product. Chief similarity: intel processor. Especially with the new age processors, you don't even need the processing power they have, yet PCs and Macs both come with the i5 or i7 chipsets. Also, the recent switch to mini-USB for iPhone, etc. They like Mac because they are paying for the brand. Not the components. Not the "ease-of-use." Not to weigh the pros/cons of each system. The brand alone.

tl;dr. PC and Mac are the same, but people like to spend a lot of $ to believe there is a difference.

I'm not even sure how to make sense of this post. iphone isn't even microusb. Intel processors have nothing to do with OS so I'm not sure what your point is. Are you referring to x86-64? Ease of use has less to do with hardware than software, which apple is known for.

As far as laptops go, theres a reason macs are so popular. There is a marginal price premium for the equivalent components, but when taking into account superior battery life per watthour, and build quality, the price difference is clearly more than worth it for many people. It's not simply a matter of brand recognition. Apple in many ways delivers a superior product to most consumers.

Desktop PCs are a different story and not what people are talking about here. Mac Pros/desktops still have pretty limited market penetrance and relatively rare in the college student community compared to desktop PCs.