How Do People Use Macs?

Last week, we looked at the mix of Mac computers that Apple sells. We found that while laptops dominate sales, a decent share of consumers still buy desktops. We wondered why, so we dug into our dataset to see how they are using these computers.

We ask Mac buyers what they use their computer for most often - business, education, or personal - and we allow multiple answers. About 80% of buyers said they used their computers at least in part for personal activities. Around half included business use, and almost 40% said they use their Mac for education.

With that distribution, we wanted to see if buyers of laptops or desktops, and of specific models, tended to be more likely for any of those usage categories. Overall, with their devices’ greater versatility, laptop users are more likely to say they use their Macs for multiple purposes. While laptops only account for 60% of unit sales, they account for about 80% of use cases (Chart 1).