We issued a new Hunch report today about the differences in personality + aesthetic & media choices among self-described “Mac People” and “PC People”. The executive summary:
- Mac People are more likely to see the existing world in a light of “sameness” and thus express a need to be perceived as different and unique. This is consistently reflected in their aesthetic choices such as bold colors, “retro” designs, one-of-a-kind clothing and highly stylized art.
- PC People are more likely to see the world as “different enough already” and appreciate “being in tune with those around them.” This is reflected in their more subtle, “mainstream modern” (neither retro nor extremely contemporary) design choices and their practical choices in clothing, footwear, and cars that favor getting the job done rather than making an overt design statement.
- Media choices and preferences vary greatly between the two groups, with Mac People trending toward more independent films, specialized comedians and design-centric magazines, and PC People trending toward more mainstream alternatives as well as sports.
- From a personality perspective, Mac People are more likely to describe themselves as “verbal”, “conceptual”, and “risk takers”, with PC People countering that they are “numbers oriented”, “factual” and “steady, hard workers”.
There are a lot of fun details and images in the full 13 page report, which is also available in a downloadable pdf version. And once again, we had an illustrator distill all this down to make the following 2 pictures roughly worth the report’s 3,000 words.
PC users are down-to-earth team players who enjoy sports, practical design, and mainstream media
Mac users trend towards retro design, bold colors, an appreciation for objects which express their individual identity, and "media with a message"
See the full report here.
Kelly Ford writes random morsels about online marketing, business, and general life in NYC and Berlin.
Bits of Kelly 
I would like all the “Mac” & “PC” personalities to ponder on one “trait” that seems to have been ignored, “Capitalism vs. Philanthropy.” BOTH Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are Capitalist icons. Sorry to break it to Apple fans, but the business practices of Mac is just as anti free market, anti art, anti free thinking as Windows. As a matter of fact, Mac is most concerned with their product propriety, DRM, licensing contracts, and a host of other aggressive “capitalist” values… Mac as the free thinkers’ “media with a message”? What is this message? Think again… Bill Gates CONSISTENTLY donates tremendous amount of his income to all sorts of humane and philanthropic causes, yet you cannot say the same about Steve Job, or even his wife, despite that Steve Job’s current holding is now worth over 7 billion US dollars after the acquisition of Pixar by Disney (Job owns holdings of Pixar). Steve Job is just too busy making sure Mac is as aggressive with licensing contracts and proprietary as possible… Now the next time a Mac fan who prides him or herself as the artist, free thinker personality with individual style and refuses to comply and surrender to main stream culture, please take a second and ponder on how a business that operates on the principal of unrelenting capitalism without any give back to society represents such a “media with a message”…
@c: passionately stated, to say the least!
It would be interesting at some point to look at rates of charity donation, volunteering, etc. among Mac vs PC users in order to see if there is a significant difference.
Taken verbatim from: http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/01/70072
“Giving USA Foundation, a philanthropy research group which publishes an annual charity survey, said Jobs does not appear on lists of gifts of $5 million or more over the last four years. Nor is his name on a list of gifts of $1 million or more compiled by Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy.
Jobs’ wife is also absent from these philanthropic lists, although she has made dozens of political donations totaling tens of thousands of dollars to the Democrats, according to the Open Secrets database.”
Hi Kelly–
I loved the research you did on the whole Mac v. PC personality thing, although it wasn’t strictly scientific. But I don’t think you CAN be strictly scientific with this kind of poll/survey/research. The variables are way too human! ha ha
I work at an aftermarket truck accessories online retailer and am pondering writing some content on this same subject. (I.e., if you’re a Mac person, you drive Truck A and use these accessories…if you’re a PC person, you drive Truck B and use these kinds of accessories.) I’d like your permission to use your research in my copy. I want to give credit where credit is due! I’d also like to pick your brain a bit, if you don’t mind. Thanks, and I hope to hear from you soon!
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