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PC stands for Personal Computer and refers to any IBM compatible computer, the first personal computer was made by IBM. Several operating systems are compatible with PCs, the most popular of which is Microsoft Windows. Others are UNIX based systems such as Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris.

Mac is short for Macintosh and refers to any computer produced by Apple Computer. Macs are classified separately from PCs because they are based on architecture from Apple/IBM/Motorola instead of the traditional Intel based microprocessors that have powered PCs for decades.

Apple redesigned their operating system based on UNIX in 2000, so more software packages and file formats have become interoperable between PCs and Macs every day. In early 2006, Apple switched to an Intel architecture which now makes it possible to run Microsoft Windows on Mac hardware. Prior to this, Apple hardware would only support the Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS), and Mac OS itself was not compatible with any other hardware besides Apple’s.

PCs and Macs are still not 100% compatible, despite their now similar architectures. While many software vendors release their products for both platforms, not all do. Particularly, most of the popular computer games are PC-only.

For further information read our Product Review comparison guide PC vs MAC