Macs are a lot more expensive and that's the part I hate about it.
However, there are many reasons Mac is better. Windows is still great too though.
1) There's more useful apps out of the box, for example:
- iPhoto
- iCal
- Time Machine
- iMovie (which kills Windows Movie Maker)
- MissionControl
2) Mac OS X Spaces, Expose, and Launchpad are 3 other useful features.
3) Security and more stable (built on Unix).
4) There's less blinking lights on Macs. Apple doesn't festoon its hardware with blinking lights and inconveniently placed wireless on/off buttons, headphone jacks, etc.
It is really just a matter of opinion and what you need. Most users choose Windows (obviously not in your class, but out of the computer market) because they're just used to it, they aren't as expensive as Macs or because they like the Windows operating system better. I don't like the prices of Macs either.
Edit: Why don't you just ask the people in your college class why they have Macs instead of PCs? And I didn't say anything about USB ports.
If you have a PC, that's good, if you have a Mac, that's good. No one said you have to get a Mac. No one said you have to get a PC. If you don't like Mac, use Windows. If you don't like Windows, use Mac (a plus is you can run Windows on Mac too). End of argument.
@DrDave: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see your questions.
First of all, you can't run Mac on Windows which is why people don't do it, unless you want to make a Hackintosh, which is illegal anyway.
Second, a lot of work places are outdated and use Windows XP and Microsoft Word 2000, which is a big reason why users that have Macs have to run Windows on it. Windows on Mac doesn't add much more features, as there are already tons of features on Mac. Does Windows have Spaces (mutliple desktops), Expose (quick and easy window-switching)? Nope. Does Windows have Launchpad? Nope. Does Windows have viruses? Yup. Does Mac get viruses much? Nope. Does Mac have a bunch of error messages and pre-installed trial software? Nope. Blue screen of death on Mac? Nope. Also it is a lot easier to troubleshoot Macs because of Console (which shows all system logs in one place), Activity Monitor (a more powerful version of Windows Task Manager), and Disk Utility. And there is more useful apps out-of-the-box:
- iPhoto
- iCal
- Time Machine
- iMovie (Windows Movie Maker sucks compared to this)
- MissionControl
I'm a web developer (experienced in PHP, MySQL, jQuery, CSS, HTML) and I know a lot as well about computers, don't think I'm some clueless idiot that knows nothing because I know quite a lot actually.
Edit: actually I did answer that (read above). PC and Mac are both great. I really dgaf about Mac VS PC because you can program on Mac just as well as PC (actually there are more programming tools on Mac, but anyway). Btw, I use PC and Mac (I'm on a PC right now actually lol) so actually I know about both. I just happen to like Mac's design better than Windows.
And the reason why factories still upgrade to newer versions of Windows is because they've used Windows and they haven't used Mac so it would be pointless to switch to Mac if you're used to Windows (that'd be a lot of work to switch to Mac if all your systems have Windows anyway).
I don't think they'll be upgrading to Windows 8 though.. well most companies anyway. Windows 8 is more for tablets, which I find stupid. Apple did it great by making a smaller version of OS X for their portable products instead of turning their computer OS into a tablet OS.
And that stuff about better apps on Mac, I was quoting that from someone else.
Edit: Don't you get it? This is a matter of preference. If you really had "40 years" of experience, you would know that it is just what you want to use. If one person uses a Mac, you can't think they don't have any experience because they use it. I'm sure there are much more experienced people than you that use Mac. You can't generalize people like that. And if you really had this 40 years of experience in computers, you would know how to shut up and not keep going on about a stupid debate over 2 different OSes. I could care less if you have more experience on computers than me. It doesn't matter to me. I need to get back to my PHP project. I hope you don't start with iPods vs MP3 players LOL. We all know what is better between those two. Have a good day, sir. This conversation is done.
EDIT: There's no 'truth' to these type of questions. PCs are not the best, nor are Macs. These types of questions are not answerable, because 1) we don't know these people in his college class and 2)it is an OPINION. Mac isn't the top computer... who cares. They definitely have much better design and more designers have Macs than PCs. http://www.elated.com/articles/why-do-designers-use-macs/