by Thomas Walters

Created on: July 22, 2009   Last Updated: July 25, 2009

Although I disagree that the computer of choice will affect the creative flow of any writer, it is my own opinion that a Mac would do the job better. I would usually side with the PC, however the reason I do not in this case is because of screen real estate. What do I mean by this? Basically when you are writing you want the primary focus to be on the piece of writing and for that reason the Mac is the best choice. Although this matter seems trivial in itself it is an important part of writing, especially if there are many distractions around the writer.

Many writers such as those that write for TV shows such as Hustle and Lost write on a Mac, however J.K. Rowling writes on a PC! So what differentiates the two in terms of writing? Well the Mac is less likely to prompt you for security updates and anti-virus software notifications, therefore is less likely to disrupt a writer's flow. Another important aspect of writing is the keyboard. The new Mac and Mac Laptop keyboards have wonderful keyboards whereby each key is spaced apart and raised only slightly. Channel Five's Gadget Show conducted a typing test, Mac Verses PC. In the test a man was placed inside of a giant gyroscope and spun round, while instructed to type a long string of words. Because of the placement of the keys on the Macbook he was able to type with ease and made few mistakes. Once again this backs up the idea that your fingers simply dance across the keys of any Mac, making sure you spend less time error-formatting and more time writing!

Lastly Macs come with no native text editor; surely a bad thing? Not at all - quite the opposite in fact. The fact that the Mac lacks a text editor means that any aspiring writer must buy a text editor with a spell-checker and basic formatting tools. Such a restriction forces writers to make sure that their writing is polished and well set out. Furthermore such a text editor allows simple print formatting - something needed if you are going to send your work to any publisher.

In conclusion although the choice of platform is rather trivial, in my opinion the Mac will catalyse a writer's work-flow and aid them because of its simplicity and ease of use - after all any world-renowned writer shouldn't need to bother with installing drivers - should they?

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