At least according to a survey of 7,500 attendees of MacWorld which was done by Mindset Media.
First of all, I AM a Mac user. Been using a Mac Pro for the past 3 months and, yes, I like it. But, I’m sorry, this story is simply TOO good to pass up. Before I ever even bought a Mac, my list of qualities for a Mac user would be summed up with:
- Arrogant
- Superiority Complex
- More likely to be politically left-leaning liberal
And I swear, most of the Mac users I know ARE LIKE THIS. Good people, don’t get me wrong. But, they are usually more liberal-minded and, yes, think they are hot sh*t because of their toys with a piece of fruit on them.
So, when I see a survey that concludes the following:
Mac enthusiasts descending on San Francisco in droves this week to see the latest Apple innovations are apt to have a lot in common with the open-minded, liberal population they will find there. The study, with a robust sample of 7,500 respondents, revealed that people who are highly open-minded or, in Mindset Media parlance, "Openness 5’s", are 60 percent more likely than people in the general population to have purchased a Mac. These purchasers are also more liberal, less modest, and more assured of their own superiority than the population at large.
I couldn’t help myself but post this to PCMech in a fit of glee. And the ironic part is that this is based on a survey of Mac users at Macworld.
I think the Geeks Are Sexy blog put it quite well:
Macs are cool computers. They’re technologically advanced and awesome looking to boot. They’ve even got a bunch of dandy features like multi-touch, back lit keyboards, and innovative graphical user interfaces. Great.
Owning one however, shouldn’t evoke a self-important smugness and sense of superiority any more than a pair of socks would. Normally this would be regarded as a general rule of thumb: buy a computer for its features and performance. Not to become better than everyone else while enjoying the smell of your own bowel movements.
I’ll also refer you over to the above site to see a graphical representation of the survey results.
Mac users make up an interesting culture. I can’t think of any other piece of equipment in the tech world that I could actually draw up a personality profile for the typical user.
But, I love you guys. You guys are tech lovers, as am I. And, as of recent, I count myself in your ranks. But, that said, don’t ever expect me to get a superiority complex over my Mac. Its a great box, but I managed to work quite well on the Windows platform over the years. Perhaps it takes using a PC for awhile to have a realistic mindset for switching to the Mac platform.
Enjoy my weekend post. I thought it was entertaining.
David Risley is the founder of PCMech.com. He is the brains, the thinker, the writer, the nerd.
There is no correlation between being a liberal and being a mac fanboy. I know a few conservatives who are mac owners, and they all take the same tone with me when we discuss computers–as if to say “you poor ignorant philistine, hopefully someday you’ll become less stupid and get a mac so that your life will be perfect like mine”.
It goes to show, love is blind.
wow! some one had the guts to write the truth for once.
Ha, aha, aha… I’ve thought this same thing since… the days of yore.
There is nothing wrong with Macs. They ARE fine machines. It’s the users who SUCK. I have seen this over and over again, year after year and I’ve always wanted to stick really sharp pencils between their eyes. I COULD name names but I won’t.
I’ve always been the kind of computer user who would scrape the money together to buy the PC parts necessary to play whatever the latest games are. Been doing this since the mid-eighties, when I used to copy and sell disks of pirated Atari games with my Russian friend who tought me the ropes so we could buy more computer crap and more games. I don’t do this anymore (sell pirated crap), but I always picture this guy either in a Federal f**k me in the ass prison or running the Pirate Bay or filming porn or whatever…
Anyway, in college (early nineties) I used Macs in the “Mac Lab” at school to write my papers with the nifty WYSIWYG MAC UI, and I WANTED one after that. However, shortly thereafter Macs started getting much more powerful, and being used in movies, music and design work, I kept running into “Industry” and “artsy” hipsters from my school (you ARE NOT a real artist… douche!) who would lecture me on the greatness of their Macs and look down their noses at my home-built, fugly cased, overclocked PC’s (my 486DX2-66 was overclocked-hahahah) I put together from parts picked up at “computer shows” (no Newegg or Ebay back in ‘93). Granted, my PC’s sometimes took a LOT of coaxing to get to run the newest games (cough… Wing Commander 3), while my former school-mates Macs would “snore” and run video editing software, but hey, I was having fun and learned stuff at the same time, but I digress.
At any rate, this scenario has repeated itself more times than I care to remember in various guises… but damn, I really like the way that new Macbook Air looks (oooh backlit keyboard)
And to all you Mac users: DON’T BE JERK. PEACE
Fascinating post by David R, and responses, thanks. “Liberal” is not the same as left-leaning. A real liberal will reject extreme doctrinaire positions on either left or right. Here in South Africa, “liberal” is a term of abuse amongst some on the left. And “neo-liberal” is seen as akin to “conservative”.
I’m liberal and have no interest in a Mac, because I can more easily get software for a PC, and components, ie can myself build and maintain a PC.
The idea that there is a link between being a Mac user and being liberally minded is absurd.
I’ve known Mac users from all areas of the political spectrum from Communist to Fascist and everything in between, and they all have the same arrogant “*chuckle* Oh you poor dear you actually believe that there could be anything superior to a Mac. Awwww, you’re so precious sometimes.” attitude.
That being said everything else said about Mac users in general is spot on.