What type of Mac-Head are you?

We have quite a few registered users on this site, many of whom post regularly. Thus, I can only assume that they own a Mac, enjoy using their Mac and have some desire to learn more about the platform as a whole.

And yet, if you look at the wide variety of comments we get, you will see that there are several themes that seem to prevail. The reason for this is due to the simple fact that not everyone uses a Mac in the same way or for the same reasons. So, let us try and determine what the various types of the Mac user are. This is a three part series, by the way, with Windows users coming next Friday and Linux users rounding out the set two Fridays from now.

The various types of Mac Users:

The Zealot People overly enthusiastic about all things Mac. I probably fall into this category. This type of user, more than likely, used a Mac as his first computer and just never got over it. Often owning multiple Macs spanning many years (I still have a 33 MHz Performa 630 CD) this group is the core of the Mac community driving sales, software development and sites like this.

The Supercilious Mac User - I was going to say arrogant but that word just doesn’t do “us” justice. Think of the SMU as a zealot with an attitude problem.. They tend to look down on Windows users (for obvious reasons) and is often accused of being exceedingly arrogant. Which we counter by saying “it’s not that we are arrogant its just we know we are right.” We aren’t mean out of spite, we just realize that the choice others have made, well, sucks. Sorry, but there you go. Life’s tough and then you die, no sense in making the experience any worse then you have to.

The Power User I could have named this one “Professional Media Creator” but I didn’t think it had the same ring to it. Regardless of the title this type of user is the one who sits in front of the latest G5 churning out movies, songs, artwork, games, animation and the like. You will find many PowerBook carrying artist in this, Apple’s strongest commercial sector.

The MAHWAW No, this isn’t a traditional Hawaiian dish, it is the “Mac at home, Windows at work” crowd. People who have two different computers for there two different lives. This crowd likes Macs but not nearly as much as the Zealots preferring to use the Mac for its iLife suite and leaving the “office work” to the PC.

The Gamer This is a very common type of user as they use Macs for most tasks but keep a PC around just for the games. Think of these users as being married to OS X but keeping XP around as a booty call for when they want to have a little fun on the side. They justify this behavior by saying things like “games are better on a PC than a Playstation” or “Macs don’t have the games I want”.

The N00B This would be your aging Aunt whom you managed to talk into getting an iMac. You were too tired of cleaning off spyware and the like so you just told her to give up and join the fruity side. This type of user surfs the web, checks their email, writes letters and that’s it. Aside from the different icons and background they can tell no difference between a Mac and a PC.

The Switcher Ah, this type of user is becoming more prevalent thanks to the halo effect Many of the people who fall into this category are often veteran computer users, bitter (to varying extents) about their Windows experience. They crave the simplicity of that the Mac offers and often find themselves enjoying their new computer.

The Ignorant Columnist One of my personal favorites this would be the type of people who know nothing about Mac but still feel the need to write about them.. Often getting important details wrong (like the iTunes thing) or trivializing key differences (i.e. Spotlight is the same as Google’s desktop search utility) these analysis are desperately seeking a clue but none can be found.

So, that is my little list of your average Mac users, additions, comments, gripes and flames are all welcome.