Hey everyone ... i have always worked with a PC based computer ... and now that i'm getting more and more involved with photos and graphics software ... what is really better if any ... a PC computer? or a MAC? I'm thinking of getting a MAC laptop - so i had both platforms ... any suggestions? thanks!
Photoshop is available for both Windows and MacOS, so if you're happy using that (and a lot of graphic designers are) you'll be pretty ok with either platform.
Being a PC user myself, I'd say there's possibly more software available for the PC.
the mac laptop is great.... get it and get a wireless basestation for your house.... (I think the Apple laptops are leaps and bounds beyond the PC laptops... heck one lady even BAKED her powerbook and it still works!)
Well, there may be more software available for PC, but Macs do have an edge when it comes to handling graphics. If you're getting a laptop, I would definately go with a mac, as the screen will almost assuredly have better color. I use both platforms regularly, and always use the Mac for graphics work, even though the PCs I deal with usually handle other things better.
... i forgot to mention .. i do use Photoshop 7.0 now for PC and CorelDraw occasionally ... I've used MACs before ... i would just like something i can tinker with and make sure i'm familiar with all platforms for potential and upcoming job ops :)
I have to disagree with MAC being leaps and bounds over PC's. I was a die hard MAC guy in my graphic design (print) days. Now that I'm a web designer by trade I would'nt touch a MAC. So I think I can speak about both platforms.
The pros about MAC.
- Great components (DVD Authoring, USB, Firewaire). MAC pushes the envelope with hard ware. Not that PC's don't have these capabilities It just Apple are innovators when it come to that sort of thing.
- Design. They look great.
- For print design...........go MAC. Period. It's an industry standard in the Graphic design feild. Don't even consider PC.
-User - Friendly OS.
The Cons about MAC.
-Expensive.
-Upgrading is getting better but way more pricey than a PC. They might be innovators at Apple but your wallet will feel it.
- MAC has less than 5% of the computer market meaning less software and hardware to choose from.
- 97% of the world surfs the web on a non - MAC platform. Less than 3% of web sites are either designed for MAC or a even tested to see if they would work on a MAC.
- The operating system is heavy (OSX). You'll need extra RAM just to run it. MAC memory is expensive compared to PC.
- Software developed in 2003 for MAC will only support OSX and beyond so if you have OS 9 and below your screwed for updates. And vice versa. If you upgrade to X this year (No more dual modes in the 2003 version of OSX)your previous software is useless. Go get the OSX version of the software.
- multimedia runs better on a PC. Don't believe me? Goto a FLASH web site on a top of the line or a midrange MAC. Then Look at the same site on a mid range, not a high end PC. You'll see a huge performace difference.
As for Graphics? Both platforms are capable of doing the exact same thing. I've done it. Like I said previously if your a Graphic Designer (PRINT DESIGN)or plan on becoming one use a MAC.
For anything else go PC. Especially for Web Design and 3D applications.
Sorry MAC people, but as a Web Desinger Mac is a joke when it comes to serious coding.
I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you Mac fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of a Mac (a 8600/300 w/64 Megs of RAM) for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one folder on the hard drive to another folder. 20 minutes. At home, on my Pentium Pro 200 running NT 4, which by all standards should be a lot slower than this Mac, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.
In addition, during this file transfer, Netscape will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even BBEdit Lite is straining to keep up as I type this.
I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various Macs, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a Mac that has run faster than its Wintel counterpart, despite the Macs' faster chip architecture. My 486/66 with 8 megs of ram runs faster than this 300 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the Macintosh is a superior machine.
Mac addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Mac over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.
whoa! i really didnt meant to start a war ... but it's nice to know that it is kinda 50/50 and if i'm really comfortable with PC ... just kinda go with that ... a close friend of mine has MAC ... so i'll just play on his ... he's looking to get into graphics .. so we can play on his computer and i'll get the experience there :)
I designed a large 1.9 metre * 1.2 metre banner, which spanned a 313 MB PSD file. It opened in about 30 secs on my Celeron 900 with 512 meg. I took it to the graphic designers who were using a Mac (looked like a G3/G4 to me).
After waiting about 5 minutes for it to open (stuck at about 20%) the designer asked me to go back to the office and he'd call me later. I don't know how long it took, but I didn't hear from him for hours. :-)
Assuming the company had good equipment (it looked good, the CRT monitor was large) why couldn't it compete with my 2 year old Celeron 900?
Frank,
As a production worker in prepress for over 20 years (I've used Mac, Windows, UNIX, and proprietary trypesetting systems), I'll give you one good reason for not using Windows in the print graphics envirenment.
When I go to print the customers file I usually get the message:
Printer [Customer's printer] could not be found -- default printer will be used. Text will be reflowed(emplasis added).
This is not so much of a problem for a business card layout, but when Windows rearranges a 24 page magazine it is quite a headache.
Additionally, any kind of troubleshooting or configuration is far easier on a Mac. If you're a pro, it matters little. If you just want to get stuff done, it's still easier on a Mac.
You Mac there is sick. If you go to the Apple Menu and run the Apple System Profiler utility, and save email me the report, I'll be happy to try and diagnose it. However, one thing Macs and PCs have in common: restarting once or twice will solve 90% of problems...
And as for the question of programs available, you only need one good one of each kind. Games is the major difference in favor of PCs.
I designed a large 1.9 metre * 1.2 metre banner, which spanned a 313 MB PSD file. It opened in about 30 secs on my Celeron 900 with 512 meg. I took it to the graphic designers who were using a Mac (looked like a G3/G4 to me).
After waiting about 5 minutes for it to open (stuck at about 20%) the designer asked me to go back to the office and he'd call me later. I don't know how long it took, but I didn't hear from him for hours. :-)
Assuming the company had good equipment (it looked good, the CRT monitor was large) why couldn't it compete with my 2 year old Celeron 900?
They may not have had quite so much RAM assigned to Photoshop, or been running other programs at the same time, or been short of scratch disk space. Maybe it was shared and someone else on the network was opening another big file at the same time. Sometimes I make the mistake of trying to open a file before noticing how big it is. For your 313mb file Photoshop requires about 1.5GB of RAM and free disk space. Your PC may also use some previewing method...the key test would be to run a filter (like Unsharp Mask) on the two machines and compare.
In general, benchmark tests show small differences between Macs and PCs, but real-world performance is affected by so many factors that it is almost always a case of comparing "apples and oranges." Anecdotal experiences are frequently entertaining or tragic, but rarely a predictor of someone else's experience.
Check this pagewhere PCs and Macs are compared in a totally unemotional way.
Unemotional? Maybe. But not very completely. When you compare two different PCs speed is enough, thats not the case when comparing PCs and Macs. Who cares if a mac is a little slower than a PC? MacOSX is infinitely superior to Windows
PhotosByAyme, I doubt you're going to get many helpful responses out of a thread like this, mostly baseless claims about how whichever computer the user happens to own is totally the best or how one specific system didn't match up to another, even though they had completely different specifications.
Just pick the platform you're most comfortable with and go with that. Or if you want to learn a new one, do that. But don't expect to come up with any concrete answer about which one is better...especially based on people's own opinions.
Check this pagewhere PCs and Macs are compared in a totally unemotional way.
The problem with this comparision is that the majority of the tests are heavily
biased towards disk performance, and in the mac case can be hugely improved
by a cheap disk adaptor. After that the mac outperforms the PC in all the
examples.
The point just being, that it is the system that matters and you are only as
fast as the slowest part
I started a class at the local college in January, and for the first time ever in my life, used a MAC. I was looking forward to a very enlightening experience since I have heard so much about how great Macs are, and I have been tremendously disappointed. The ones they have in the art department at this school are the s-l-o-w-e-s-t machines that I have ever used. They're slower than my antique PC notebook! And, perhaps because I have 3 PCs at home, the Macs seem very counter-intuitive. So far a disappointing experience, but I have the rest of the semester to revise my opinion. Right now, I'll stick with my trusty PCs.
I always look at it like a cars. You have your new Chevy(PC) or your new VW beetle (MAC). The Beetle looks great and also preforms but if you want to work on it, it's gonna cost you and you have a limited selection. The Chevy has cheap parts and there everywhere and if you want you can crack the hood and work ot it you self and they'll take a beating. However, they do break down from time to time.
