Mac or PC for Christian ministry?

At the end of last year there was on this site, a discussion over the way Christians treat one another other in their discussions about computers (Macs v PCs), and the way that this discussion (or opinion-airing) can result in people feeling hurt.

I’m not sure if the Mac/PC debate is dividing the Christian community (though it is certainly and sadly affecting some), and my intention today isn’t to continue the discussion about how these conversations should take place.

Instead, I’d like to get pragmatic about what we think are the best computing tools for ministry. We’ve chosen computers (or had them thrust on us!), and as stewards of time and money, we need to consider what tool is best for the jobs we need to get done. Generally speaking we are people who rely on computers on a daily basis, so the tool that we choose isn’t a trivial matter. If I drove a car for 5 hours every day, I’d think carefully about the car that I bought. The same approach applies to computers. So what is best?

‘Best’ is not an entirely objective term, but it takes the following into consideration:

cost of hardware.
availability of software.
cost of software.
availability of support (e.g. people at your church who can help when something goes wrong!)
compatibilityÂ with other computers (e.g. if your church has a network, or if you use one computer at work and one at home).
compatibility with your phone (e.g. if you sync contact details and calendar information between your computer and phone).

First off, a word about cost. Cost is a factor, but shouldn’t beÂ the factor. Let’s use some conservative figures - if we purchased a $3,000 computer and used it for four hours a day, for 250 days a year, over three years, the cost per day for that computer would be $1. The initial cost of the computer (hardware and software) should be neither here nor there.

Of course, ‘best’ can also be quite subjective and much of the passion that exists around the tools (PCs and Macs) is the result of the experiences we have had with these tools and the usefulness (or lack thereof) of those tools. For example, I’ve spoken with different people who have used the Mac-only Bible study tool,Â Accordance. I’m yet to find someone who has used this product who wouldn’t strongly recommend it to others. As it’s only available for Mac, these people also tend to become passionate in advocating the Mac platform. I’m sure there are similar products and advocates for PCs. Our experiences shape our view of what is best and what we would recommend to others.

The main consideration should be, of course, to find the tool that will most effectively help us get our jobs done. ‘Ministry’ is varied, but I can think of several generic ‘jobs’ that need to get done:

Bible study. If you’re interested in branching out from printed books and commentaries, there are some great tools available to help you study the Bible. PC users can make use of e-Sword,Â Logos and BibleWorks, and Mac users can make use of Logos and Accordance.
Sermon recording (and podcasting). Recording audio is a task that extends beyond sermon recording - to lectures, missionary updates and more. PC users can make use of Audacity, and Mac users can make use of Wiretap Studio and Garageband.
Writing sermons, and other word processing tasks. Microsoft Office is available for both PC and Mac, but there is also an increasing range of online word processing solutions, including as Google Docs and Zoho Docs. These are platform-independent - i.e. it doesn’t matter whether you use a Mac or PC, as long as you have an internet connection.
Sending and receiving email. This daily task can be managed withÂ Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, or web-based solutions such as Hotmail and Gmail.
Manage contact details. The address book that comes with your email client will be able to help you manage your contact details (and hopefully sync with your phone too), but if you’d like to use a church/ministry-wide database solution, my recommendation is that you use a web-based database (in which case the PC/Mac consideration again doesn’t come into play).
Calendars and scheduling. If you’re still using a paper diary, here are 10 reasons to replace it with anÂ electronicÂ diary. Again, the calendars that comes standard with most computers (Microsoft Outlook or iCal) are pretty good, and can be integrated well with some online scheduling tools (see ‘Find a time that suits everyone’).
Search the internet. While Internet Explorer and Safari are PC/Mac only applications, Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s new Chrome are two great browsers available on both PC and Mac.