Vol. 34, No. 2, 54. Information Connection.

• Author: by Kathleen B. Carlson, J.D., M.L.I.S.State Law Librarian Wyoming State Law Librarian

Wyoming Bar Journal

2011.

Vol. 34, No. 2, 54.

Information Connection

Wyoming Bar JournalIssue: April, 2011Information Connectionby Kathleen B. Carlson, J.D., M.L.I.S.State Law Librarian Wyoming State Law LibrarianThings to Consider When Purchasing a Computer for Your Practice

Mac or PC? This seems to be an eternal question. There seem to be camps of advocates for each product and there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Operating Systems

This is where the battle of opinions seems to be the fiercest. There are folks who will defend to the death what they feel to be the superiority of the Mac's OS X operating system. They argue that it is easy to use, efficient, and has a very user-friendly interface. Moreover, they point out that, if needed, you can legally install Windows on a Mac whereas you cannot legally install OS X on a PC. On the other hand, there are die hard PC users who like the fact that with Windows there is freedom to choose from a wide range of system components, peripherals, and applications. Since the PC has historically had the higher market share, software developers have tended to produce more new products for the Windows environment. However, since the long-term trend in computing is toward "cloud computing," where access to applications is made through the Internet from the hosting company's website rather than using software loaded on the computer itself, the operating system distinction between a Mac and a PC is diminishing.

Security

Historically it has been argued that Mac's are more secure than PC's. However, in a recent survey comparing the security of Mac's and PC's, many of the experts contacted stated that they believed that this is no longer necessarily true. Security on both systems primarily depends on the level of antivirus protection the user places on the machine and the care taken in what is accessed from web sources.

Cost

It has often been argued that the Mac is higher priced than the PC. True, a Mac may be higher priced than many of the bargain PC's, but when features are compared, Mac's tend to be about the same price as the higher end PC models. So don't let price be the only reason to deter you from considering a Mac.

The bottom line is if you are not already a die hard partisan who has joined one of the camps and just want to purchase the system that suits you...