Mac vs PC: User differences fit stereotypes, study shows

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:

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