Tania Piper is a small-business owner who operates The Computer Girl, a company that trains, sets up and advises people on computers. She is a PC user.

Nick Prouty is a service technician with Connecting Point Computer Centers in Bend. He is a Mac user.

These two computer gurus represent a debate that has exploded in popular culture in recent years: Mac vs. PC. To the technologically illiterate, however, it can be difficult to decipher what the debate is actually about, and what the real difference is between two schools of computer-based thought.

If you have cable TV, or access to YouTube even, it’s likely you’ve caught the Mac commercials that tout the system’s capabilities, while amusingly belittling PCs. You’ve also probably seen the response by Microsoft, the company behind Windows, the most common operating system for PCs. Microsoft made commercials that emphasize, among other things, the price disparity between PCs and the sometimes costlier Macs.

Although the advertising campaigns are catchy, they don’t necessarily give you all of the answers.

To help holiday shoppers better understand the products, and the reasons they might want to buy one over the other, The Bulletin talked to Piper and Prouty about the pros and cons of each operating system.

Piper praises PCs because more software products are compatible with the system, and they tend to cost less. With the right know-how, a PC can be built using components from various manufacturers for a relatively low price.

Prouty said he stays loyal to Macs because of their reliability, quality, speed and convenience. Unlike PCs, which can be constructed from products made by a variety of companies, Macs are manufactured by Apple, a company that pays its engineers to “build a higher-quality product,” Prouty said.

Both Piper and Prouty concede some advantages to the opposing system. Most importantly, both Piper and Prouty said a computer buyer should become educated on each system to find out which will operate more effectively based on the user’s preferences.

If you’re in the market for the computer but don’t know which one to pick, take a look at Piper’s and Prouty’s reasons for buying a PC or a Mac.

PC

Price

There are the core PC retailers, such as Gateway, Dell and HP, which often have deals for desktops and laptops for a few hundred dollars apiece. Compared with the least expensive Mac, a $599 Mac mini desktop, those PCs are cheaper.

Plus, you can build — or have built — your own PC using components such as hard drives, memory chips and video cards from the thousands of manufacturers who develop the products, Piper said. Depending on the quality and type of products used, it could make the PC more or less expensive than a Mac.

There can be some additional costs associated with PCs. Macs come with most of the software people need, whereas you sometimes must buy additional software, such as a word processor, for PCs, Piper said.

That can be resolved by finding free applications, such as substituting Microsoft Word with Open Office, or by finding retailers who will include software as a part of an incentive to buy their computers, she said.

If you’re a family on a budget, Piper said, it’s likely going to be just as cheap or less expensive to buy a couple of lower-end yet functional PCs versus one Mac.

What the other lacks

If you’re a gamer, you’re going to lean toward PCs, Piper said. Microsoft Windows operating systems control most of the market share in terms of computer operating systems — about 85 percent, compared with about 8 percent by Mac, according to W3Counter.com, a company that analyzes Web site and computer uses.

Because the market is controlled so largely by Microsoft, game and other software developers often focus on developing their products for computers with Windows operating systems. That means many games don’t work on the Mac operating system, Piper said.

Many businesses in the U.S. use PC products and have for decades, she said. There are certain programs, such as many types of point-of-sale software, that will only work for PCs.

Vendors who create peripheral devices, such as printers or fingerprint readers, often gear their devices toward PC owners, Piper said, frequently making life easier for PC owners. But the number of peripherals that work for both types of systems has expanded, she said.

Selection

The kind of PC that can be made is dependent on the kind of products available, from video cards to hard drives — and there are plenty of PC products, Piper said.

People can either buy a pre-made machine from a manufacturer, such as HP or Dell, or they can also make their own or have it made for them.

That means people can build a computer to their needs, rather than remaining dependent on Apple, the Mac manufacturer, to set the standards of a computer. It allows a gamer to build a souped-up gaming computer, or a family on a budget to build a lower-key device for browsing the Internet or for writing.

While the smallest portable Mac is a MacBook Air, the PC world has developed Netbooks. They are ultra-small laptops that don’t have all the functions of a larger computer but are a good alternative to carrying around something bulkier, Piper said. They also cost about one-third the price of Macs.

Operating system

Most PCs operate on a version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, although other systems do exist.

Windows 7 was released in October. It is a system touted as being a better alternative to Windows Vista, which received flak for having multiple features that slowed down computer operations.

Piper said she thinks Vista got a bad rap. But she said Windows 7 resolved the problems that Vista had, and is fast and operates similarly to any other Windows system. It’s an easy transition for those who have used a Windows system before, Piper said, adding that it doesn’t have a large learning curve for new users.

Mac

Price

You get what you pay for, Prouty said, admitting that people can buy PCs for less cash.

Macs are built as a higher-quality product, he said, adding that Apple employees are detailed about every Mac’s exterior and interior engineering. A MacBook is even easier to open than a comparable PC laptop, Prouty said, thanks to the design. Everything in a Mac has been engineered for a purpose, he said.

More programs are included with new Mac systems than with Windows systems, Prouty said, including a photo-editing tool, a program that allows you to record or create music called GarageBand, and a built-in movie-editing device, among others. Windows systems also include photo- and movie-editing programs.

If someone is on a budget and can afford a $300 computer but can’t pay for a pricier Mac, Prouty said, he wouldn’t tell them to break their budget. But the value of a Mac is worth the extra money, he said.

What the other lacks

Mac is a better platform for Adobe products, such as InDesign and Photoshop, making the system the choice of artistic types more often than not, Prouty said.

He said Apple also is often known for being a customer service-oriented company, often taking care of defects with the computers even after warranties expire.

Apple also integrates various tools in its Macs, such as a calendar, e-mail, address books and photo programs, allowing people to easily sync the different programs, Prouty said.

And even though most gamers will turn to a PC for gaming, Prouty said Mac has a solution. There are two programs that allow Mac users to run Windows operating systems on their Macs: Boot Camp and Parallels.

The programs do the same thing differently: allow the user to run the Mac and Windows operating systems on the same computer. Boot Camp is included with new Macs, although the user’s Windows operating system of choice must be purchased separately.

Parallels costs about $80.

Boot Camp runs the computer on Windows or Mac operating system, OSX, separately, while Parallels runs them simultaneously. Prouty said games will run exactly as they do on a PC when using Boot Camp, but probably slower on Parallels.

Selection

Starter Mac laptops range from $999 for the MacBook to $1,499 for a MacBook Air to $2,400 for the MacBook Pro, with a 17-inch screen.

Mac desktops include iMacs and Mac Pros. Prices for iMacs start at $1,199, while Mac Pros begin at $2,499.

For both laptops and desktops, additional features, such as memory or processing speed, can be added for additional cost.

Apple also is known for creating other devices, such as the iPhone and iPod.

Operating system

Much of Apple’s engineering work goes into creating top-notch operating systems, Prouty said. The most current system is Snow Leopard.

Apple upgraded to Snow Leopard from Leopard, making the computers run faster and more efficiently, Prouty said. Both he and Tania Piper, the PC user, said Mac operating systems crash less frequently than systems for PCs.

Macs also get fewer viruses than PCs, Prouty said. That is in part because there are many more PC users than Mac users, so people who create viruses focus on the system that operates on the largest number of computers, Piper said.

Macs are incredibly user-friendly, said Prouty, a former PC user who said he was “converted” to Mac. The system was originally developed for college students who needed an accessible operating system for school projects, he said.

Now it has become a leading system for people who work in fields of design, and for people who shoot and edit a lot of photos, Prouty said. Macs’ organization abilities are very family-oriented, he said.

Snow Leopard also was specifically built to utilize the faster processing capabilities of new Intel chips, Prouty said.