Things You'll Need:
- an honest assessment of your needs
- an understaning of your budget and pricing of various options to consider
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Step 1
List all of the applications that you use on a regular basis and if those applications are available on both platforms. If any applications are not available for one platform it will not necessarily rule it out, but you will have to look for alternatives and be willing to learn how to use an entirely new software package for this purpose.
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Step 2
Assess if you need any particular hardware that may not be available on a Mac or will incur a substantial price premium. Graphics processing cards for games or visualization and rendering or design applications are a particular case where for PC's you will have a wider array of options and much less of a penalty when it comes to adding it on at the point of purchase.
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Step 3
Look into which is the most secure. The security angle is one where it is especially hard to make a choice between the two platforms. In the case of Windows a lot of vulnerabilities tend to be found, but they tend to be patched quickly and frequently while Mac OS X tends to have less exploits discovered but the tend to be patched much slower. Additionally running an anti-virus on Windows is practically a necessity while many Mac users see it as still optional though as Macs grow in popularity they are being targeted with malware at increasing frequency and Windows anti-viruses tend to be more mature.
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Step 4
Realize that the differences between the two platforms are slowly decreasing and in the end the decision mostly comes down to personal preference.
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Step 5
Try them both out at the store to see which one has the right feel and functionality for you.
