mac-vs-pc

A new study from market research firm community Hunch shows that the differences between Mac users and PC users are, essentially, exactly what we'd expect.

In the tech world, no dichotomy has lasted longer, or rang more true, than Mac vs PC. Now, a comprehensive study from market research service Hunch has given us a clear view of what makes the creatures who use these computers so different, and so much alike.

To start, the study, which combines answers from a variety of different surveys that ranged in sample size, from 2,000 participants up to 388,315, shows that PC users are far more numerous than Mac users, with 52 percent of respondents saying they fit in the PC camp, while only one fourth uses Macs. Nearly the same amount (23 percent) ascribe to neither PC nor Mac.

Mac users are generally younger than PC people, the study shows, better educated and more likely to live in urban areas. They throw more parties, and more often describe their fashion style as “chic” or “upscale.” More than 70 percent of PC users called their style “casual and trending toward jeans,” Hunch reports.

When it comes to technology, 43 percent of Mac people consider themselves “early adopters,” while only 36 percent of PC users get in early on new gadgets. PC users more often enjoy websites like I Can Haz Cheezburger and Go Fug Yourself; MaC users opt for sites like Apartment Therapy and Boing Boing.

The Hunch study even gets down to nitty-gritty details like which beverages the two groups enjoy most — Pepsi, Orange Crush and Jolt Cola for PCers, San Pellegrino Limonata and Boylan’s Root Beer for Mac people — and what kinds of foods the two groups like to snack on (sweet for PCs, salty for Macs).

As Hunch points out, even PC people are Mac people — at least a little bit. Everyone, for instance, owns an iPod, and out of 95,562 Hunch users, 48 percent owned an iPhone.

So, how do your personal tastes line up with other computer users in your group? Check this handy infographic below:

Mac-vs-PC-Infographic-hunch

Showing 6 comments

  1. err at 11:18pm 22nd April 2011 This study does not appear to accurately weight the data to make the scale equal. I use windows on my desktop an laptop, I use Mac OS for Audio and Video work, and I sue Linux on server platforms as well mobile devices.
    1. Exiled in Outer Space at 1:49am 9th June 2011 I don't think the survey cared at all about how users use their available gadgets, really. It is more like "what type of people use PC and what type of people use Mac" rather than "how people prefer use their gadgets/computers".
  2. Srinivasan Annamalai at 7:30pm 22nd April 2011 I'm also a person of both. For work, I definitely need and use a powerful Desktop PC and for my personal stuff, I would rather prefer my MacBook Pro. ;)
    1. Ian Bell at 8:46pm 22nd April 2011 Ditto. I use an iMac at the office with both OSX and Windows installed, a MacBook air for traveling and a Maingear gaming system (windows) at home. Nothing wrong with mixing it up a lil!
  3. Nicholas Eix at 10:22am 22nd April 2011 I don't fit in... I'm a little bit of everything...
    1. NP27 at 6:32am 23rd April 2011 Me to ;) Own a pc, and an ipod. Run windows 7, run Ubuntu. I like Crush, don't fit in the age group for a pc :P this is a fun article.
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