It's not the brand name, but rather, the type of polisher that you are concerned about. PC and Makita both make random orbital buffers, and also rotary buffers. The one which beginners want to use are random orbital buffers (or as PC calls it, Dual Action polisher), which does not generate much heat on the paint. You want to stay away from rotaries, which will generate heat in a hurry and burn the paint if you're not careful.