Apple Better educated and make more money

Mac Users Smarter

According to this:

Those who surf the Web using a Mac tend to be better educated and make more money than their PC-using counterparts, according to a report from Nielsen/NetRatings.

27 Responses

  1. Dear Rands:

    Please stop being a gay mac user. If more people in the world would stop being gay mac users, and more people would stop being gay PC users. The world would be less full of gay computer users. To sum up: it’s a tool, you use it to accomplish work, you don’t use it to have the experience of using it.

    “HEY EVERYBODY, I’M USING A HAMMER… A HAMMER… HAHAHAH…EAT IT, SCREWDRIVER USERS!”

  2. Konrad 22 years ago

    Did that report also point out that a higher proportin of Mac-users are long-haired stoners, commie-vegetarians, burning man enthusiasts, attend women’s rights marches and anti-WTO demonstrations and generally have free Mumia screensavers or something equally sickening.

    It’s as if Macs attract those goddamned hippies even more strongly than the smell of failure.

    GOING TO MAKE W3C-FRIENDLY WEBPAGE NOW ABOUT HOW CEOS MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY AND I’LL USE PICTURES OF STARVING BABIES AND CRYING PUPPIES AND HORRIBLE MIDI MUSIC AND I’LL DO IT ALL ON MY MAC AND OH GOD STOP STABBING ME IN THE FACE

    But… ya know… sometimes when my roomate is gone I’ll download some videos of the OS X desktop and watch them with the curtains drawn. It might just be a usable alternative to Windows. Maybe.

  3. Konrad said:

    “Did that report also point out that a higher proportin of Mac-users are long-haired stoners, commie-vegetarians, burning man enthusiasts, attend women’s rights marches and anti-WTO demonstrations and generally have free Mumia screensavers or something equally sickening.”

    Damn, he got me on four out of eight.

    And Rands, any idea why I can’t select text on your blog? Had to view source to take that quote.

    Bald Mac user,

    b

  4. Macs have always tended to be more expensive and harder to come by than Windows machines. I suspect that more well-off and educated people use them (if that’s true) for the same reason more well-off and educated people buy Lexus cars–it says more about economic ability than informed choice or suitability or anything else. (I’m a mac user, by the way. I just like them better, and I find them better suited to th work I do.)

  5. rands 22 years ago

    Dear Mr. Shawn:

    While I’ll agree that the premise of MAC USERS SMARTER reads mostly like a media perversion, I totally disagree with your premise that a computer is a tool.

    A tool usually has a single purpose and it does not evolve. HI I’M A HAMMER AND I’VE BEEN A HAMMER FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER.

    A computer evolves. In the two decades I’ve been staring at them, they’ve evolved dramatically and I see no reason that they’re going to stop.

    As computers evolves, so do their operating systems and I’m endlessly fascinated with them primarly because I’m staring at them all day. This is what makes the OS X experience so damned intriguing.

  6. This is a tired comment, slashdot-esque if you will, but if Mac actually made OSX (oh ehs ecks) for x86 architecture then they’d clean up and give an alternative to Windows.

    Computers are tools. The only reason the hammer hasn’t changed is because it works and doesn’t need to change except if it’s made with a new ergonomic handle. Even with the new handle it’s still a hammer that’d be recognizable to someone two hundred years ago.

    You code on computers, you chat on computers, you play games on computers, you create on computers and lots of other things. What does a Mac give the user other than a different work environment (the ergonomic handle)?

  7. Do you guys seriously believe that this survey was conducted by a group of rational and inpartial independant surveyers? Who would pay a group of such people do conduct an unbiased report? Who would need to know which group of PC users was smarter? Nobody, that’s who.

    In our capitalist society, nobody does anything for free. These people were paid to come up with the results that they came up with. All you need to do is look at who was doing the paying.

  8. Well of course Mac users are more well off. They’d have to be by definition – you can’t build a (modern) Mac with $250 and junk laying around the house, or go down to your local electronics barn and buy a complete system for $599.

    Sheez, I found a complete P75 with motherboard in the trash several years ago, mated it with some freebie memory and put it in a case I found in the trash on another occasion and used the hard drive from the case. Add gemeric video card and $19 modem and bingo, I had another computer. Try THAT with a Mac – there is something to be said for generic architecture.

  9. Settle 22 years ago

    As a mac user myself, I have one thing to say about this survey: duh

  10. Oulo Kalo 22 years ago

    Are mac users smarter? Hehhe.. was there ever a question? .. Also.. If some virus that was PC only started floating around and crashed all the PCs.. We’d have no more hate sites.

  11. Ben Grimsbo 21 years ago

    Windows is endorsed by President Bush, that says as much about the operating system as it does about the users ๐Ÿ˜›

    “You’ve heard Al Gore say he invented the internet. Well, if he was so smart, why do all the addresses begin with ‘W’?” – George W. Bush

  12. TheNintenGenius 21 years ago

    My generic reaction to any Mac vs. Windows argument is FUCKING SHUT UP ALREADY YOU FAGS YOU’RE JUST MAKING YOURSELVES LOOK LIKE EVEN BIGGER FAGS BY ARGUING. Same thing with any “findings” showing that one group of computer users are smarter than another group. WHO CARES? Finding out that Mac users are smarter on average than Windows users is akin to finding out that, say, GameCube owners are smarter than X-Box owners because in the end NOBODY CARES.

    The only reason it makes sense that Mac users are smarter than Windows users is that Mac is pretty elitist. There’s a much much smaller userbase, so the smart people can skew the scale. In comparison, everybody and their brother uses Windows so there’s a much larger group to test, meaning a lot more STUPID COCKSUCKERS are to be found in the Windows camp, merely due to the size of the userbase.

    I guess I have to agree with the whole “computer as tool” thing, insomuch that I don’t care who does what with an OS, nor do I care about the supposed quality of one OS over another. Or in other words, stop acting like you’re sucking off Steve Jobs/Bill Gates/Linus Torvalds/whoever the hell and just admit that EVERYBODY’S PREFERENCES ARE DIFFERENT AND HEY YOU CAN LOOK AT PORN PRETTYMUCH THE SAME WAY ON ALL THOSE OS THINGIES SO THEY CAN’T ALL BE BAD.

  13. zipcodes 21 years ago

    Just curious, I see some weird layout when loading this blog using Mac OSX. Maybe it is only my problem.

  14. FourSuns 20 years ago

    Well no matter what your preference is, it seems like some of us are still stuck in middle school/high school homopohbia.

  15. Geminii 20 years ago

    This is not a rant – but I would like to know why people are still using the “insult” “GAY – computer user” if it wasnt for Alan Turing, (who was gay) we would not have computers.

    I am not gay (girlfriend can vouch ๐Ÿ™‚

    but I think it is about time they were not used as an insult, there are better ways to insult someone than calling them gay, I know a teenager that can wipe the floor with our leading programmer – and he is gay and only 18 (Prof:Andrews 39)

    sorry if this causes offence – but I thought I should mention this.

  16. I’m that much smarter just for reading this article! I mean, I am, aren’t I?

  17. Steven Tennant 20 years ago

    I love Tommy Draper and he uses Macs. Well actually he doesnt but I wish he would. That would turn me on so god damn much, Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

  18. Ginge 20 years ago

    “And Rands, any idea why I can’t select text on your blog? Had to view source to take that quote.

    Bald Mac user,”

    Err – that’ll be because you’re using a mac, will it?

    Select/Copy/Paste works fine on my PC

    ๐Ÿ˜‰

  19. I like Rands, but I hate Macintosh users.

  20. Stanford Griffith 19 years ago

    It does seem that those screaming the loudest–and with the foulest of intent and mindset–are proving the point about Mac users being smarter. Even the so-called “genius,” oh, I don’t even have to go there; calling yourself a that just proves my point.

    Anyway……

    While the homophobia on here is juvenile, offensive and non-germane at best, this seems to be more of a case of Macophobia.

    Has anyone ever heard a Mac user exclaim, “I hate Windows?” I haven’t. I’ve heard plenty of Mac fans state a preference for Macs, but I’ve never heard one actually hate Windows. On the other hand, I’ve had lots of Windows users tell me that they hate Mac but have never used one for more than a couple minutes 10 years ago–if that.

    Generally, I notice that Mac users know both Mac and Windows, but Windows users don’t know Mac at all. (Yes, I have some friends who are exceptions–mostly b/c I forced them to learn Mac at work.)

    As such, maybe Mac users–as a whole–are smarter since they almost always know both OSes. At the very least, they are generally more tolerant, except, perhaps, in the case of blatant stupidity. Tolerance levels are almost directly proportionately related to education levels and intelligent levels. Hence, a tolerance user is most likely very smart indeed.

    BTW, as to who does research for free, try graduate students.

  21. PCs SUCK! MACs RULE! End of discussion.

  22. Yes I HAVE heard Mac users rant (and rant) about how much they hate Windows. And of course, there is plenty of Windows vs. Mac to go around (although I think the Linux geeks are by far the worst. With their tired and decidely UNclever “WinDOZE” and Micro$oft/M$). Ultimately, my opinion is that Apple does build a really nice machine. Well designed and very capable and, frankly, pretty cool looking. Truth be told, I like Macs. It’s MAC USERS I can’t take.

  23. Ha, say what you want about the PC. So far from what I benchtest (software that is made to test out the computers max performance.) The PC wins each test. I tested the AMD processor and it beats the Intel Processor any day. As goes it even beats the Mac, Macintosh, Apple, ah whaterver. It just beats in in performance. And second thing is, Windows Users are smarter cause they just are. Why would I want something a three year old can do. Do I want to prove myself and grow. Get a PC and learn, and stop being such a baby with your stupid Macs. The only thing about a Mac is it is a overprice paper weight…

  24. I have used both for many years. I don’t hate Macs. I am just saying that Macs have less performance. One good thing about a Mac is that they do have good video editing capabilities. Yet the PC is best in video gaming. So they both have their ups and downs.

  25. I am so tired of people insulting macs and mac users!

    you are so steriotypical!

    i use a mac but I also like pcs, the both have their good features.

    Anyway, what is the point in fighting about it? its not like YOU have to use a mac!

    some people just prefer them!

    so just keep to your own F***ing buisness!

  26. OK, this is rediculous. I use a Mac. I’m gay. Macs are computers, just like PC’s. They are used to help people work. However, the only difference is the style in which they help, and it’s basically the same as any fucking PC! I have an iMac Core Duo, and guess what, Windows runs better on it! Oh, just in case you didn’t know, Macs are used for multimedia, not gaming. I really don’t care that my computer is only 2GHz. Specifications don’t mean all too much for me. The quality of the operating system and use is the part that I care about, and for me, Mac OS X is better. And I’ve had to listen to PC users ramble about how expandable their computers are. I can change the processor, hard drive, video card, RAM, basically anything I want on my Mac, so you’re wrong! I bet most anti-Mac people have never used a Mac. Stanford Griffith is right about this (look above). Try a Mac, you may like it.

    -Phil

  27. I really don’t get why we have so many arguments anymore, I’ve used both, I mainly use the PC because it has a better and more clear to understand interface than the mac. I have spent about 14 hrs editing a video on a mac. Now I do prefer the pc because it is unlimited. Now let me take PC out and define it more in depth to you all. PC does not mean windows. PC means Personal Computer. When Mac made the Intel macs they became PC’s, yes believe it or not they did. The only barrier between a pc and mac used to be the hardware, but now that it is no longer a difference. Its just in the runnings. I consider all three major OS’s equal (Windows, MAC, and the little LInux. So when a Mac user says a mac is better than pc. I need to say to the mac user to remember, its all in the OS that makes the computer what it is. Now in my opinion after that has been explained, The apple OSX is not very efficinet. Look at the specs that are put into these machines. They are some high end stuff. So remember when comparing computers please stick to comparing the OS’s when doing these flamer wars. The hardware can only do as good a job as the Operating system that controls it!!