IBM saves $273 to $543 per Mac over a PC: IBM executive

Depending on the model, IBM saves anywhere from $273 - $543 per Mac as against a PC, over a four-year lifespan.

Spaeking at the Jamf Nation User Conference designed for IT management professionals, IBM's VP of Workplace as a Service, Fletcher Previn said on 19 October," Every Mac we buy is in fact continuing to make and save IBM money."

Jamf's software helps companies manage fleets of Macs and iOS devices.

The observation echoes a similar sentiment from his last year's presentation in which he said Macs were less expensive to support than  PCs.

Only 5 per cent of IBM's Mac employees need help desk support as against 40 per cent of PC users.

At the time, IBM employees using Macs numbered 30,000 while currently 90,000 of them were Mac users, he said. Also IBM ultimately planned to distribute 150,000 to 200,000 Macs to workers, meaning about half of IBM's approximately 370,000 employees would have Macs.

Previn's team was responsible for Macs as well as PCs and the IBM IT department supported about 604,000 laptops between employees and its 100,000+ contractors. Most of them were Windows machines – 442,000 –  while 90,000 were Macs and Linux PCs numbered 72,000. Previn added, IBM was adding about 1,300 Macs a week, Previn said.

Previn reiterated at the event this year that Mac users needed less help. Although Macs make up about 15 per cent of the PCs in use, only 5 per cent of the help desk was dedicated to supporting them.

IBM had earlier assumed that Macs would be  PCs, but over the last year, IBM had found that PCs were actually more expensive and over a four-year lifespan, according to Previn IBM saved up to $543 per Mac compared to a PC.

IBM further found that not only did PCs drive twice the amount of support calls, they were also three times more expensive.