Are mac users left bran users or right brain users?

Most neuroscientists would contest the idea that people can be categorized as left-brain people or right-brain people. The left hemisphere is used for speech and spatial reasoning but very little else can be attributed specifically to one hemisphere.

Both, just like Windows users.

Even if the term isn’t technically correct, I think we can go by the generally accepted meaning of those terms. Personally, I think both “brain-types” can enjoy the Mac. The stereotypical artistic right-brained guy tends to be the model of what a mac user is—look at the “I’m a mac” commercials. Clearly iLife and other creative tools play a big part in shaping that perception.

On the other hand, there are many things that appeal to the more “uptight left-brained” stereotype. For one thing, Apple has consistent keyboard shortcuts for just about everything, and many of those types of users prefer to avoid the mouse whenever possible. Also, the ability to create applescripts and integrate them into your workflow with automator is another major feature that appeals to that type of person (and this really is an INCREDIBLY powerful tool that most Mac users never take advantage of). And if you’re a Unix geek then you can fire up the console and type out command-line Unix code.

Also the lack of viruses and malware is increasingly appealing to the hardcore business/executive type that wants to open his machine up and immediately be productive without having to babysit his operating system. I think the weakest link for the Mac right now in my opinion is Quickbooks. That app is the industry-standard for business accounting and the Mac version is an embarrassingly bad port. Other than that, it’s going pretty strong.

Mac’s are geared towards creativity. So that would the right brain. They enjoy toting windows as only being for “spread sheets” and the like.

@gorilla. Great points. Brings up a great Q. Where can I learn more about applescripts and how they work?

Why would we use a generally accepted meaning if it’s incorrect?

@nikipedia because that’s essentially what language is—generally accepted meanings. There are lots of examples in language where an inaccurate belief became the foundation for a word or phrase that remained even after it was discovered to be wrong—words based off of the 4 humors like “bilious” and “melancholy” would be examples.

@hollister0221, here’s the wiki link. Looks like there are some references at the bottom. I don’t personally know how to write apple scripts, but I’ve seen some video podcasts that show off some of the things you can do, and it’s pretty crazy. You could set up a script that would trigger when you send an email with a certain subject line to yourself when you’re away from the computer will cause your mac to go to a particular website, download the latest images/content/whatever and then e-mail that out to a predefined group of people all from your cellphone’s e-mail or texting or whatever.

wow! I have heard of things such as that. Are these tricks unique to mac’s?

I really don’t know what other operating systems are capable of in this regard. I’m sure it’s possible, just not sure if it can be done with the “ease of use” of applescript. Applescript is supposed to be the programming language that anybody can learn although I can’t see my grandma doing it lol. There are lots of other easy to use languages out there though so I’m pretty certain it could be done.

@gorillapaws: I don’t have a problem with language evolving, but I think when people say “left-brained” they actually believe that person is using his/her left brain predominantly. When someone describes something as “bilious”, I don’t think that person actually believes there’s some kind of liver secretion involved.

@nikipedia, but they did believe that at one point when the word came about, and after science disproved that, the word remained. There’s lots more examples of that kind of thing, I just can’t think of any at the moment lol.

So if science can already disprove something, why don’t we let it?

Like God?

I think that by definition, ‘God’ can’t be disproved. ‘God’, I think, is a way people explain the unexplainable, be it metaphysical, scientific, or otherwise.
I agree with gorillapaws about ‘L vs. R brained’ and Mac vs PC, but another thing to note is that Mac/Apple has been the industry standard for AV, graphic, and other similar industries while PC has a history with buisnesses and STEM fields.

Actually mac users dont use either side of their brain. If they were why would they be using a mac?

@uberbatman: Plenty of reasons. It’s not a good idea to generalize.