Mac or PC?

[switch_cs]

PC here...

[Vovikus]

I have a PC but I fully confident that Mac is really the best for graphics.
I have had G4 & G5 Macs in the past. There are some differences when it comes to using Macs and PCs for graphic design work. Reason - Macs were so closely linked to the various technologies used in the design (graphics), prepress and printing industry. Moreover, as I know, color calibration is more reliable on the Macintosh platform.
But compared to Windows, Macs are pretty bloody bad for gaming. For work only )))

[BRAMPDESIGN]

you should def go w a mac. its just better for jumping threw programs and windows, when u get swamped with work and windows on a pc everything will just freeze you will lose everything. it is less common to freeze jumping threw programs on a mac and if u do u can force wit the aplication and keep the other ones running save your work and then restart your computer.

[Janana128]

I love my mac. I've never had anything go wrong with it. We use macs at my work and it's wonderful. I hated using PCs... all they ever did was freeze on me. I KNOW that if we had PCs at my work (we make the phonebook) that we wouldn't run nearly as smooth as we do now.

My transition from PC to mac was so smooth. Everything just clicked. But now when I use a PC I get so frustrated cause it's so slow and nothing ever looks good. It's rather sad. LoL

[monospaced]

Apple has grown side-by-side with the digital design and publication industry as we know it today. In fact, Apple and Adobe are neighbors! If it wasn't for their collaboration we wouldn't have postscript type or a true pdf workflow. Of course Adobe releases software for the PC side, but the industry relies on Macs, no questions about it.

I have used Adobe CS3 on a PC and I must say it is horrendous compared to the Mac version. The interface is not nearly as refined; Adobe incorporated the CS3 interface into OS X with palettes snapping to screen edges, fading in and out as you switch applications. Apple even puts video cards in the Macs that are better at two-dimensional rendering (as opposed to 3D, which is best for gaming) so that media professionals can work quickly on design and video. In the big agencies it's all Apple, except for some interactive and animation work which is handled by PCs, and which the creatives stay away from.

There is one more reason why it's best to design on a Mac: TYPE. I haven't used a PC much for design, but it seems they are lacking seriously in the type department. Most of the best designed typefaces I own (from Linotype, Adobe, Emigre and FontShop) will not work on a PC. This accounts for the fact that 99% of all print shops are Mac based, as they can handle any design file format and typeface, whereas the PC can't even manage fonts correctly. For anyone seriously considering a design career: get a Mac.

[_Redrum]

Adobe just recently implemented mere compatibility for Macs on certain apps. They are by no means in a symbiotic relationship. That's just the remnants of a long and forgotten connection they once held. Don't forget whom Adobe joined in creating OpenType.

The palettes snap on PC's as well. But no one would ever use that option on a PC because they have an entirely different approach to palette control, which works quite nicely for avid PC users.

That 2D GPU won't do you much good unless you're working on a really intense motion graphics project. Even then, you can purchase a decent 2D graphics controller for any PC. Most of the time, though, the programs will just use your regular CPU.

As for the type, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some compatibility issues on both ends. I'm quite sure that there are two totally different font technologies being used by Apple and Microsoft, which is why you can't just transfer your Mac font collection entirely over to a PC or vice versa. If you use OpenType fonts, you shouldn't have this problem because they are cross platform compatible; they should transfer just as easily as JPEG files.

Probably the strongest argument for owning a Mac is that it's very common in industry. This is somewhat expected due to the early relationship between Apple and Adobe, but it doesn't imply that Macs are better. Just like, for example, the Dvorak keyboard is not used by industry, but it's a better, more efficient keyboard than the QWERTY. Old habits die hard

[UberAnimator]

I use a Mac over a PC for design as it is harder to get distracted by games and such on a mac as they really don't have much in that light yet.

[codebirth]

PC here.

I never had a Mac but I admire the design of Apple products

[Vovikus]

PC here.

I never had a Mac but I admire the design of Apple products

Sure )))
simple, elegant design - it is important too )))

[El-Ree]

ah, never-ending mac VS pc battle
every design forum has one of these from time to time

[Erebus]

I used both mac and PC from when pc used dos and mac had a 9" display "SE" computer.
At those times, people said to me Mac was a "futile" thing because it costed more.
And when I was used to say to them: ehy, how is my mac is running on MILLIONS colors and your pc just does 256 colors? And I got usually answers like: ah ahah ah is not possibile, millions colors "never exists", or "u can see the photos with 256 colors, why in the Hell you NEED that thing? And then they started babbling me about "dos is techy, mac is for noobs!". Icons? Lol!!!
Then it came the time when people started to come to me saying: ehy, you see,now we have windows, we have icons, we have a visual OS! (after years). And still they sneered at macs.
And I can go on for eons...
Anyone must find HIS computer, like the brush of the artist, the right media, the right instrument...
There are people who like to loose hours configuring windows apps and wondering why the heck the last VISTA update locked theyr pc.
Then there are others like me who get annoyed and pissed VERY FAST at those things, that like to NEVER had 1 accident with macs, in over 17 years...God, I still have a pair of Mac around 15 years old and STILL running...and u guess, I've NEVER had to run a DEFRAG on them in years

So, as u can have understood, I like Macs more...but I work on PC too when I have too...mostly to start up IE to see bugs on my sites and get them out

[_Redrum]

To be fair, Vista is a poor representative of the PC. It's impossible to completely change the architecture of an OS and not have any problems when you're done.

Most PC users running XP don't have to do very much configuration; at least no more configuration that you would do on any other OS to set up your preferences.

Macs aren't completely void of problems either. When a new OS is released, there's always a scramble to fix bugs, regardless of whether you're working for Apple or Microsoft.

[Erebus]

Well, actually I've never had much problems at a change of a Mac OS, except for applications who will not run on the new system until updated, but I think is pretty normal,and for bugs, the only VERY BUGGED Mac OsX was OsX 10.1, because they followed a bad politics (inspired by wich competitor I can guess? ) of releasing the software not fully tested, and they were very biased by the community (Mac users communities are much more critical because they are not used by decades of "take what we give and shut up" software development politics :P )

Surely Vista is not representative of the PC world, XP is more solid system with years of development, but Vista problem is that the Microsoft engineering dep. busied themselves on "security problems" and "peeping in the pc of users" to control them to use "proper" software, and never on "what users need?". The man saying this is their former Chief development engineer, who left Microsoft because he don't likes this politic of never thinking about what users really need and thinking instead about what microsoft thinks is "better for the world of tecnology"...and usually this is a monopolistic market killer view, and if u look deeper (not too much) u will see it kills freedom too.
This is the main problem of Vista, wich has becomed a "commercial flop" even if they install it mandatory on new pc (just to speak of another "antifreedom" politc). Only the 8% of users are really satisfied by VIsta, and some business are waiting for Windows 10

This is the main reason because lately I try to stay as far away from microsoft in any form as I can.
Unless they change their politic and start to study ways to improve user experience, and marketing competitive software, microsoft is the "death" of the tecnology (despite their claims), because tecnology is alive only when is in a competitive market aiming for "better design", wich is not actually what microsoft HQ has in his plan.
And I say unfortunately for us, because Microsoft changed the world of PC, and imposed much standards, and if thrown in a very competitive market I have no doubt they will rewrite buggy programs like words from a new start, wich would be for the better of all of us.

[tomas.brolen]

Well I like my Vista(Business)-Pc... don't really know what peeps are whining about

[Erebus]

Well I like my Vista(Business)-Pc... don't really know what peeps are whining about

Everyone experience obviously is different, and I'm happy that your is positive!
But there are some "design parameters" that can or cannot influence your experience with the systme, but neverthless are considered problems by most users, like:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12...ying_problems/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Windows_Vista
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/...g-Vista_1.html

And u can read the overall analisys of Vista on wikipedia (a "neutral" site), and of economic analists like: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/11...l-must-happen/

Is not the subjective fact "I like or don't this OS", is the problem that the development team at microsoft is starting to loose control of the OS, because he added too many things to the code, wich are not needed by the final user.

For me, I hope Windows remain the top "selling" OS for centuries, because that means less viruses for other OS

[VonGizzle]

I'd have to say PC, as I love cracking it open now and again.

Edit: Still prefer XP

[_Redrum]

Microsoft has a very strict hiring policy; sometimes using up to 12 interviews for one person. This is not a characteristic of a bad development team. Any failures they may have are most likely a side effect of having a very difficult task infront of them.

[onesummer]

the funny thing is you never find a MAC owner who talks bad about owning a MAC, atleast I have yet to run into one. I always say it's because if I were to spend so much on a computer I would not be quick to complain about it either to those who own the computer's arch-nemesis, the PC!

I'm still a PC owner, however, I'm tempted to buy a MacBook Pro as my next computer for the fact that 1. I don't have any MAC experience to be honest, and 2. Status symbol, and 3. I'm betting it is in fact a little smoother using Adobe design software on a MAC, rather than a PC. 4. you can run some microsoft products on a MAC these days, but you can't do the latter unless it's specifically made to also run on windows. There's quite a few helper design tools out there, but they're mostly for MAC only.

my question is, if I do buy a MAC, would it be best to pay more and get a MacBook Pro, obviously for portability, or should I go with an iMac? will the MACBook Pro, say a middle range power one for the sake of the topic, be powerful enough to everything I need to do? or would an iMAC be more appropriate? For me, the macbook pro is what I'm leaning towards.

Also, I have a 20" widescreen dell monitor (i know, it's probably considered small these days) and a logitech keyboard and laser mouse combo. Pardon my lack of MAC Knowledge, but if I were to buy a MacBook Pro, would the screen as well as the keyboard/mouse combo work on the macBook pro? Well I know the screen will assuming the macbook pro has a dvi out port (which i'm thinking it will), but what about the logitech keyboard and mouse?

[tomas.brolen]

That's some really good questions there Paul. I have also been thinking about getting a mac for my personal use for quite some time now and have many questions like that myself.

For many years it wasn't an option or I felt they didn't keep up to the standards I required, but that has changed the last few years.

However the big thing for me right now that is keeping me from switching is that I just can't afford to get the whole adobe suite for mac.

Well someday maybe!?

Tomas

[Erebus]

Well, I usually use mac pros, because of expandibility and so on, and even if lately I use the "mighty mouse" (apple mouse) because I like the 360° mousewheel that let me scroll smootly horizontally on designs, I always used a logitech mouse with buttons, and of course u can plug any monitor with the same hardware port u use on a pc: just watch in the spec of the mac u are about to buy!
Almost any hardware wich is for pc is compatible with mac, with the only exception of those hardware specifically requiring a driver.
For example, any camera is recognized by mac, but some don't have the specific software, so u can't maybe use propietary photosoftware, but u can still download photos and use the memory stick like and external USB drive :P
HD are ATA and serial ATA, u got bluethoot and airport if u need, firewire connections, usb2, SCSI, PC and PCI slots.
My main machine for example is a Mac Pro Dual Core Intel Xeon 2.66, I have an external HD and 2 internal HD wich were ATA1 for pc and I mounted on mac, my graphic card is ATI RADEON X1900 XT, and even if my monitor is apple, u just have 2 different porst for monitor, a DVI and another port (I'm not much techy :P ).

A Mac Book Pro for example, atm has the following tecnical specs:
FireWire 400 port, a FireWire 800 port, a DVI port, optical audio in and out ports, and an ExpressCard slot. There are three USB 2.0 ports, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor with dual-link DVI support and 512MB of GDDR3 memory

Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors, DVI output port, VGA output using included DVI to VGA adapter

Actually macintosh were Hardware compatible much before going on intel processors.
The old idea because mac was only "one button" for example, was wrong from years, because most users just sticked with apple mouses, but other (like me, who liked to play FPS :P ) preferred more ergonomical logitech mouses.

So, if u plan on buying, just watch if you harware has the same port (usually has), and if it needs some special driver to function. But I'm talking only about using Apple OSX, if u plan on installing windows on the mac...then I think u will not have any trouble :P

New macs are thinked to be cross compatible with all you can think about, in a way or another.

And about "raw power", is not true old macs were slower than pc: it has been always on par, except for video cards wich have lacked behind for quite a while in the 80', but that was a worry for GAMES not WORK. Then came the RISC processors era, and the mac started to have SLOWER MHz than PC, but dual processors when PC never known what that tech was, except for workstations. But people read slower MHz, and thinked they were slow, when actually most of the time was not so. Now we are in the dual cores era, and Intel processors are becoming again the diamond point of the market, so for mac pro u get for example:

15-inch MacBook Pro
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed; or 2.5GHz or 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB L2 cache
(core 2 duo means quadriprocessor)

17-inch MacBook Pro
2.5GHz or 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed

Think u will get enough speed from a quadriprocessor with 6MB of L2 shared cache running on par with the processor :P
They are thinked for VIDEO in real time, think they can support Adobe products with no sweat


And one last thing about old mac users never whining about macs because they have spent much on them: this is not true at all, else the users like me who use both PC and Mac for production would stick to the PC if the "lower cost" equated an even higher performance.
I NEVER had ANY hardware failure on my macs in years, and I have some machines wich are VERY old and still run Adobe CS1 or CS2 :O
Only ONE HD failed to me, and I have some Mac wich are 10 to 15 years old, and stil lrun like a breeze, without need of ANY DEFRAG. Try to use a 10 years PC wich has not seen any defrag: when u open ANY applications it's almost freezed! :O

But just try to work with both wordls for a year, get accustomed to a mac running mac osx (u come from a different world, so u have to get accustomed to the different way things are made on mac), and then u can take your own conclusions