Battle of the Titans: Apple vs. Android

There are many age-old questions out there: “To be or not to be?”, “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” and many more. One that has baffled many a scientist, engineer, developer, etc is of course “Mac or PC?”.

And that is exactly the question we asked our software engineers. Not just by curiosity. We are sure you really want to know their thoughts on this ultimate battle of the Titans! Are you ready? Let’s go!

Q: As a professional, which 1 do you prefer and why?

A:

Mac was definitely a winner here, with 70% of our professionals citing reasons such as:

Chrysostomos: “It is more lightweight and friendly. Also easier to use.”

Ioannis: “Design, performance, stability, support.”

Andreas: “Mac because it makes me more productive.”

Panagiotis: “User experience is clearly the focus of those machines.”

George: “Quality and simplicity.”

Chris: “Gets out of the way and lets you just do your work. Also great monitors, touch pad and battery life on MacBooks.”

Kostas: “Macs are easier to work with and more reliable. Huge + is the battery! No windows laptop comes close.”

Manolis: “Mac because it’s a Unix based system out of the box with better productivity for development work (unless working on windows applications). Mac is generally faster (e.g. compilation times) which mainly stems from Windows using anti-malware. PC with Linux is a very good choice but unlike Macs, tinkering may be required.”

Giannis: “Mac. Because a MacBook is a premium laptop, it signifies that the organization respects its employees and strives for their well-being. Moreover, MacOS is closer to the Linux OS, making it faster and smoother most of the time. These laptops come with very nice monitors with calibrated colors, making the workday easier and more enjoyable.”

However, there are still those that are die hard PC fans!

Menelaos: “PC. Has no limitations on what OS you run. That way, I can dual boot Linux for coding and have Windows for gaming and personal use!”

Kyriakos: “PC. Vast hardware/software options, compatibility, peripherals, multiple OS, open system.”

Alexandros: “PC. Not an Apple fan at all.”

Q: Are they really that different?

A:

Here the answers weren’t as clear, with some of our professionals replying just a Yes or a No, whilst others felt the need to elaborate.

Kyriakos: “Hardware wise after the power pc processors not that much. OS wise Macs are unix based but very modified.”

Kostas: “It’s not like comparing apples to oranges, but there are differences. Especially if you are in the ‘ecosystem’.”

Giannis: “Yes, it is. Most laptops with Windows OS are heavy, have uncalibrated monitors, and the apps and browser consume a lot of memory. Moreover, trackpad/and shortcuts in windows are a mess.”

But what do our professionals actually use??

Q: Do you own a Mac or a PC?

A:

Funnily enough it’s 50–50 here!

Q: Some say “Mac for work and PC for games”? Do you agree and why?

Chrysostomos: “I agree. Game development to support Mac is a nightmare.”

Andreas: “100%. It’s what they are built for.”

Menelaos: “Yeah, games supported by MacOS are limited! Plus, PCs are more customizable and cheap to build for gaming and having Windows gives an endless source of games and support for them. Mac for work, could be ok for me, if it was free(I am not talking about the price only, but the value for money!). I would prefer a PC to customize my whole setup and peripherals without limitations plus I can dual boot Linux for work.”

Alexandros: “No. Windows for gaming and Ubuntu or Debian for work.”

Vasilis: “Gaming on Macs is getting better and better.”

Kryiakos: “It depends on the work you do and games you play. PC and Windows were always the main target platform for gaming releases.”

Kostas: “I agree with Mac for work (with M chipsets). I also play games on my mac. Not as good for gaming as PCs, but they get the job done at a fraction of the price.”

Manolis: “Yes, PC and specifically Windows have vastly better support for gaming. Whereas work (development work) is smoother/faster on Mac.”

Stefanos: “I don’t play games, so it’s all Mac for me! (Given that there is no Linux choice.)”

Giannis: “ABSOLUTELY! Games are optimized for Windows OS, and an expensive workstation has better performance than a MacBook.”

Now what’s a more appealing environment for tech professionals …

Q: If you had the chance, would you work for Apple or Microsoft and why?

A:

Menelaos: “Microsoft, and I would try to introduce some MacOS features that stand out and provide more support on building the Linux Kernel they try to base them on so they can become WinNux (windows — linux. Or LinDows :D )”

Kyriakos: “As a .NET developer I would say Microsoft but apart from that I never liked Apple’s public image.”

Manolis: “Probably Microsoft because of the breadth of different projects (not just OS related).”

Stefanos: “As a software developer I’d probably choose Apple over Microsoft because the quality of their software implies clean code. (That’s not necessarily true though).”

Giannis: “Apple. Better trackpad and shortcuts. Better application performance on memory and cpu usages. Better monitor and colors. Premium laptops and not cheap plastic that make strange noise after few years.”

But many were also happy to not even consider!

Kostas: “I would stick with Agile Actors #simplyTheBest.”

Alexandros: “Only for Agile Actors XD.”

Q: Software-wise, MacOS or Windows? Can you specify 2–3 reasons?

A:

Chrysostomos: “MacOS, lightweight, user friendly, secure. Windows exhausts RAM.”

Andreas: “Depends on the use. MacOS for work related stuff as I find it way more ergonomic than Windows. Everyday use and/or gaming I would go for Windows because you can build it as you like(hardware) and many more options for gaming. Also easier to use for every day compared to MacOS.”

Panagiotis: “MacOS, it makes things easier for the user, it really focuses on the user experience.”

George: “MacOS. 1. UI and 2. Easiness.”

Kostas: “1) I believe Windows has a better variety in (free) software. You get to pay for most apps in MacOS. 2) MacOS is not bug free and is missing some windows features that you take for granted (like cut for files) are not available in MacOS. 3) MacOS has cool integration with Apple products.”

Giannis: “macOS is based on the Unix-like Linux operating system, and this is one of the biggest reasons. Windows is based on similar principles, but it is not as closely related to Linux as macOS, which is why programming on Windows is not as seamless.”

Q: Apple is a love brand while PCs and Microsoft ismore “for the people”. Do you think this is about the products or the marketing behind them?

A:

Andreas: “I’d say it’s about the products. It’s people who use them that made this “clarification”. If it was also described while advertising the products, then this is very good advertising! Because in the end, it’s the users who decide what they are going to associate with their device(s).”

Panagiotis: “Definitely about the marketing behind them. Apple made ‘marketing’ a science that no one could compete with and Microsoft made its product more accessible to everyone.”

Menelaos: “Marketing! My opinion is that because Apple is a love brand, it does all these monopoly things that divides the community, so if you go with Apple, you have to follow it for any kind of peripheral device or won’t have good connectivity. Microsoft has an OS, they do not care if it runs on a toaster! But the victory in the marketing is for Apple cause it has created a status around the products. I can show off my MacBook, iPhone etc but not my PC! So Apple is more about devices than OS.”

Giannis: “Actually, I don’t think Windows creates any Windows PC. On the other hand, Apple creates PCs based on its own OS, and this is a very big advantage because they have to optimize everything based on a specific laptop. Windows laptops are a mess. I cannot describe anything there. Laptops are often a waste of money.”

Most agreed that it’s about marketing!

And that was it! What do you think? Are you a Mac person or a PC fan? We won’t judge! You have every right to prefer one over the other, as long as you are a tech fan! Speaking about technology, from 1 to 10 how much do you love it? If you just said “10” let’s have a talk. Check out our openings.