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Post-Holiday Shopping Advice: Coke vs. Pepsi
Hi, I’m Coke. And I’m Pepsi.
Which do you prefer? Me? I like root beer; any kind will do. I am sure that someone can give you reasons why Coke is objectively better than Pepsi, but they won’t actual be objective. They will be observations the person uses to convince you that their choice is based in objective fact, but will actually be based in their own preferences and biases.
So it is with the Apple vs. Microsoft debate. Now, before I go in to this, let me lay out two groups of facts, and one opinion, so you will know where I’m coming from.
Fact Group A: I’ve worked in IT for 25 years and have done almost everything within it. I’ve done programming. I’ve been a database analyst. I “operated” a mini computer at a hospital. I’ve managed networks, big and small. I’ve also spent a lot of time evaluating computers for myself, my friends, and the companies I’ve worked for. I’ve built computers from scratch, and rebuilt ones from spare parts. I’ve worked with every version of Windows since dirt was new, and I’ve worked with Mac OS for a while, too. Bottom line: I know computers, not from a ones and zeroes perspective (though somewhat) but from the perspective of a knowledgeable, professional end-user. My biggest concern is that a computer do what it is supposed to do.
Fact Group B: As an end user, I use an iMac and a MacBook at home; at work, my primary computer is a Surface Pro 3 running Windows 10, but I’ve also got an older MacBook that I do MacBook stuff on. I use an iPhone as my primary mobile device. I’ve tried Windows Phone and Android, and don’t really care for either.
Opinion: My advice on whether you should buy a Mac or a PC is the best advice you’ll ever get. Some fans of Microsoft will tell you with great fervor that Apple is from the devil; Apple fans will tell you the same about Microsoft; some really nerdy people will tell you to dump both and go Linux. Their opinions are all junk. Mine is right, and you should listen to me. I’ll tell you why in a moment.
Now, I am not interested in engaging in the debate. I’ve had it, a million times and have argued both sides until I was blue in the face. It is pointless. As pointless as trying to tell you that Coke is better than Pepsi (it is). The fans of all sides will tell me that there are objective reasons why their choice is the right one. There aren’t. There are reasons why Mac is better than PC. There are reasons why PC is better than Mac. There are reasons you should buy an Android tablet instead of an iPad. There is no point in getting in to any of those — because in the end — it comes down to your individual preference. Neither is objectively better in some cosmic sense, though either may be objectively better to a particular person for a particular purpose.
I get asked a lot (and I do mean a lot): “Spin, what kind of computer should I get?” Often they add little bullet points for me like “I don’t like Dell,” or “My son-in-law says to get a Mac,” or “I don’t need anything fancy.” I don’t care who they are, nor what they say, I always begin by asking the question that drives the answer more than any other factor: how much money do you want to spend?
If they say “A few hundred dollars,” then the answer is “Go down to Best Buy, Office Depot, or Costco and find whatever suits your fancy and buy that. In the $300 range, all of the computers are more or less the same.” Often I get an incredulous look, as if too say “That doesn’t help!” It should: if $300 is your budget, you can feel safe in the knowledge that whatever you buy is going to be just as good as whatever you didn’t buy. And when I say “just as good,” I really mean “just as bad.”
And when I explain that, they ask “Well, what should I do?” At which point I say “You should spend between $1,200 and $1,500 on a computer that will last you several years.” They will then give me that look again “I can’t afford that!” But if you think about it, an expensive computer that lasts you last years costs you $300 to $375 per year. A $300 laptop from Costco has a life of 12-18 months if it is used regularly (cue the guy who tells me his bargain basement special lasted since Spock kissed Uhura). So, as a matter of annual cost, we’re likely arguing over chump change.
Notice, I have yet to discuss Mac versus PC. That is because it doesn’t matter! It really doesn’t. Some will say that Mac’s operating system is better because it runs on Unix. Some will say Windows is more widely used. Neither of these facts — nor the myriad others people use to convince you of rightness of their decision — mean anything, not in any real sense. Can I browse the web in Windows? Yep. Can I run Excel on a Mac? Yep. Can I edit a video on a Mac? Yep. PC? Yep. There is nothing the average person wants to do that you cannot do on each platform.
So the question remains: PC or Mac? Well, what do you like? What are you comfortable with? If you have used a PC for years and like it, get a PC. The Mac fanatics will tell you that if you buy a Mac, the instant you lay finger to keyboard your whole life will change. Nonsense. The Windows people will tell you that if you get a Mac, there are a ton of things you won’t be able to do. Also nonsense. Get what you are comfortable with. You won’t go wrong with either choice.
Published in Culture
I’ve come to appreciate Sprite and 7-Up more and more as I age.
Heathens. There is only Code Red Mt. Dew.
When it comes to soda, I buy whatever’s cheapest. I’ve got both Coke and Pepsi in or near my fridge at the moment.
Finally someone says something sensible.
At some Burger King and Qdoba restaurants (maybe others, too) they have Coca-Cola Freestyle machines where you can have it mix the pop of your choice with a number of different fruit flavors. So you can get Coke, Diet Coke, or Coke Zero with lime, as well as many other combinations. I think Coke Zero with lime or raspberry is very good.
My typical experience with advising somebody on a computer is this:
Randy, I want to get a new computer. What do you think of this one from Dell, Best Buy, wherever?
That looks OK, but here’s a different one from a different store that has the same basic specs but is about a hundred bucks less.
Oh. Well, I already bought this one. I just wanted you to tell me it was a good choice.
I also like Brio.
Apparently it’s only in Canada. I had no idea until I just looked it up on Wikipedia.
If you go for what’s cheapest, shouldn’t you have store brand cola in your fridge?
Spin’s context said the ’60s, but I was trying to find a way to make it work. I think Uhura kissed Spock before he left to beat-up Sherlock, all full of rage. Had a tough time enjoying the second one.
And here I thought you were older than 16.
I intend to make this a regular parting remark:
Until we drink of the juice of the fruit of the myrtle-leaved orange tree…
The only thing worse than fruit flavor in soda (what is this “pop” you speak of?) is fruit flavor in beer. DON’T get me started on Corona.
Depends on what stores you frequent. I generally buy it when it’s on sale, and there’s very little difference in those cases. I think the Wal-Mart store brand is about $3.00 a 12-pack around here, or it was the last time I got soda there. The last time I bought Coke (or Pepsi, don’t remember) it was $2.88 a 12-pack.
How about writing terms? Pepsi is way better than Coke, which is too sweet. BUT I will admit Diet Coke is infinitely better than Diet Pepsi.
Only drink the diet stuff anyway. I prefer to eat my calories.
Additional edit: Sugar is also very bad for French horns.
You got that right. Just a few days ago I turned off the auto-correct. I’m not sure that my poor typing is any less frustrating, but at least it’s me doing it.
Well I don’t mind drinking my calories, just as long as some yeast has had a go at the sugar first.
I once tried to imitate a robot.
You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever.
I have a friend who is a bit crazy about food (irrationally so, in my opinion). We went out to eat and he ordered a coke. Waiter said “Pepsi ok?” and he said “no, nevermind.” At which point I suggested that if the waiter had simply brought him a Pepsi he wouldn’t have known or cared. He argued vehemently with me, so we set up a test using Coke, Pepsi, RC, and Shasta. He had to tell them all apart and at least differentiate between Coke and Pepsi. He correctly identified zero of the samples and then claimed taste-bud ruin by having too many samples.
My point: all of you who prefer coke or pepsi are idiots. It’s cola. Drink it and shut up. Better yet, grab a beer and stop being a sissy.
Life isn’t about being rational. It’s about being right.
Well, unless you count the Abrams movies.
oh, sure, but this friend was wrong, and that’s my point. Much of what we consider to be preferences are actually just engrained habits that have very little basis in anything solid. This particular friend is like that with food. Refuses to eat all sorts of things, even though he’d never know if I handed it to him and didn’t say anything. That is because at one point he got it in his head that A was disgusting or B was delicious or C was better than D, and we crave predictability, comfort, and safety. So, we eat at the same restaurants, only talk to the same friends, always drink coke over pepsi… interestingly enough, that is the caricature of conservatives – to make a serious point out of a fundamentally unserious topic, just to be that guy – which is something conservatives should especially seek to avoid. If we refuse to do anything new, then we can be skewered for believing that all change is bad… which makes it harder for us to argue that large societal changes are, in the very least, to be viewed with skepticism; we’d have so much more credibility if we were open to relatively small interruptions in our routines.
Walmart is $2.68 for 12., $4.99 for 24.
But beer tastes like deer urine to me. Soda pop all the way, skim milk in some circumstances.
Right. It’s like football. Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, what’s the difference? It’s all the same, just guys running around in differently colored helmets.
haha – if you can show me a coke and a pepsi fighting over a ball, I’ll take it all back. ;)
Another reason why beer is superior:
I can’t believe that made it 45 posts before correction.
Here’s the deal: If you want to do the really geeky stuff and get your “hands” dirty with what a computer can do in the info tech world, then you want a PC. If you simply want to serf the net, store a lot of stuff, and not have to spend 2, 3, 4 hundred dollars every few years to replace a PC, then get a Mac.
I went through two laptops in the course of about six years. I bought an iMac and haven’t had one problem and probably will be good to go for another ten.
I prefer coke because I find it to be less sweet. When they had the “new” Coke, it tasted more like Pepsi to me. Then they had “Coke Classic” which was the old Coke, then they eliminated the new Coke and went back to the old Coke. But I still like Root Beer better because I prefer the flavor. And I like Dr. Pepper, too.
I used to work with a guy who loved Macs. Literally told me that they were “ten times more reliable than PCs because of the superior hardware Apple uses.” This was as I was giving him a ride back from picking up his Macbook from the Apple store, where they had just replaced his failed hard drive for the 4th time that year. A short while later, he had a RAM module fail, yet he remained a true believer
They were all Seagate drives, same models as the Dells and HPs everyone else had. The RAM was Hynix, same stuff you can find in a $250 Eee PC.