Five reasons PCs are better than Macs

In the second of two parts, we asked a Mac head and a PC bod to give their five top reasons why one system beats the other.

PCs are better because:

When was the last time you heard that the latest bit of software isn't available for PC? It just doesn't happen. The latest Google apps always launch on PC first, the latest Adobe software, PC first, SlingBox, networking software all PC first. If you want the latest software and plenty of it, PC is the way to go.

PCs are great value for money. Don't see any £200 Apple Macs floating around do you? Go PC and you can save around double that you would pay for "Apple tax" - and still get a faster machine in most cases.

Like games? Then you'll be wanting a PC. When was the last time you saw someone playing games on the Mac? It's for getting artsy crafty isn’t it? Whether it's a first person shooter like Battlefield 1942, real time strategy like Command and Conquer or a massive multiplayer online role playing game like World of Warcraft you're going to need a machine that is powerful enough to cope now and easily upgradeable in the future. You can't even replace the battery on those MacBook Airs let alone the graphics card.

The PC is all about tinkering with your system to get the most out of it like a performance sports car. Want better graphics? No problem. Want more storage? Hey, you can do that too. With thousands of manufacturers making parts, there is so much choice, you can choose the best bit for you rather than get stuck with what Apple says you can have. When you get the right bits for your system you can then tune it to make it even better. Why not overclock your processor? If it can do it, you need to push it to the limit.

That MacBook Air might be thin but it's not a touch on the size of PC netbooks from Asus, MSI, Acer, Dell, HP, LG, and anyone else who's got one for sale. Small and light the netbook class of models are the most portable computers around. It's not just netbooks though, PC desktops come in lots of different sizes and guises as well rather than something that's just plain old silver.