What do you use... PC or MAC?
Discussion
One of my desktops bit teh dust at the weekend and it's happened at an almost perfect time.
I'm trying to get into some photography and video stuff and was initially thinking that I'd go and get a MAC Book, however... looking at the price and spec of them I'm starting to think that I could easyly outspec a MAC with a PC for a shed load less money.
I guess the real question is: Do current PC's have an advantage over a MAC in the image and video editing world?
I'm trying to get into some photography and video stuff and was initially thinking that I'd go and get a MAC Book, however... looking at the price and spec of them I'm starting to think that I could easyly outspec a MAC with a PC for a shed load less money.
I guess the real question is: Do current PC's have an advantage over a MAC in the image and video editing world?
I use both and have done since 1983.
Macs are sexy (inside and out) and crash less, but when they crash they CRASH. PC's are a heap of s
t, endlessly stall when doing high end calculations, but are cheap as chips and you can mix and match the bits.
The end image/doc/pdf/mp3/tif (etc.) will be virtually identical from both machines. The same software run on both (Mostly).
Depends what O/S you want to use and if you have the cash.
HTH
ETA "Mostly"
Macs are sexy (inside and out) and crash less, but when they crash they CRASH. PC's are a heap of s
t, endlessly stall when doing high end calculations, but are cheap as chips and you can mix and match the bits.The end image/doc/pdf/mp3/tif (etc.) will be virtually identical from both machines. The same software run on both (Mostly).
Depends what O/S you want to use and if you have the cash.
HTH
ETA "Mostly"
Edited by GetCarter on Tuesday 7th October 13:11
Both, but they are completely different machines.
I have a high-end gaming PC that I built (which due to it's speak is fantastic for encoding/transcoding and Photoshop etc.) and an old PowerBook G4 12" laptop taht I bought 2nd hand.
The PowerBook is great for Photoshop, but anything complex and the CPU and RAM aren't really upto it. The Mac is fantastic though and the OS is a joy to use (and look at) in comparison to XP Pro that I use on my PC, which I attend to frequently to keep it running at it's best. That to me, is the kicker between the OSes. Windows needs looking after and OS X (most of the time!
) doesn't!
I have a high-end gaming PC that I built (which due to it's speak is fantastic for encoding/transcoding and Photoshop etc.) and an old PowerBook G4 12" laptop taht I bought 2nd hand.
The PowerBook is great for Photoshop, but anything complex and the CPU and RAM aren't really upto it. The Mac is fantastic though and the OS is a joy to use (and look at) in comparison to XP Pro that I use on my PC, which I attend to frequently to keep it running at it's best. That to me, is the kicker between the OSes. Windows needs looking after and OS X (most of the time!
) doesn't! 
GetCarter said:
I use both and have done since 1983.
Macs are sexy (inside and out) and crash less, but when they crash they CRASH. PC's are a heap of st, endlessly stall when doing high end calculations, but are cheap as chips and you can mix and match the bits.
couldnt have put it better myselfMacs are sexy (inside and out) and crash less, but when they crash they CRASH. PC's are a heap of s
t, endlessly stall when doing high end calculations, but are cheap as chips and you can mix and match the bits.I used PCs since I was knee high to a grass hopper, and now i generally use macs- i do a lot of grpahics and video work and personally, I find the OS much nicer and quicker to use, which makes me more productive.
Photoshop isnt specialized for the mac- in fact, the latest version runs like a bit of a dog on the older machines.
I like using my mac for all my photography stuff too- aperture is a great for storing and tweaking photos, and i use photoshop for any heavy editing or compositing.
I too use a MAC at home (24" iMac)and wouldn't go back to PC. When the time comes I will upgrade to MacPro for the upgradability factor. I use PC's at work (and have done for years) for doing the same kind of work (image editing, artwork creation, video editing, web dev etc) and whilst they both get the job done the Mac does it faster, with less fuss and in more style!
The Mac took me a little while to get used to and there are still a few things that I find annoying but I guess that's because I was bought up on a PC. Slightly different keyboard shortcuts drive me mad
!!!
Go along to your local Apple store and have a play... you won't regret it
The Mac took me a little while to get used to and there are still a few things that I find annoying but I guess that's because I was bought up on a PC. Slightly different keyboard shortcuts drive me mad
!!!Go along to your local Apple store and have a play... you won't regret it
Getting the spec right helps - add a dedicated scratch disk and as much memory as you can afford (It's easy to fit yourself). Don't buy it from Apple though - they're ridiculously expensive.
Running software designed for new machines on an older one won't be ideal - as LukeBird and Fordo have discovered.
Running software designed for new machines on an older one won't be ideal - as LukeBird and Fordo have discovered.
Photoshop is now 64bit on PC and not on Mac so for machines with a lot of RAM windows is the way to go for image editting, lightroom 2 is also native 64 bit on Windows, not sure about OSX for that though.
Am running windows 2008 on my laptop and it is a great OS, more stable than OSX IME, faster than Vista too. I found Vista was still great though, prefered it to OSX.
Am running windows 2008 on my laptop and it is a great OS, more stable than OSX IME, faster than Vista too. I found Vista was still great though, prefered it to OSX.
bucking the trend here, but....GF has a macbook which is rubbish, crashes all the time, been back to the 'genius bar' at apple (yes, they really do call themselves that - cocks) to be 'fixed' several times. i'm no pc expert yet mine runs fine, rarely crashes etc. If you run out of hard disk space buy a new one, if it's running slow upgrade the graphics/processor/ram/whatever - at a fraction of the cost and effort of doing anything to a mac.
Maybe some of the software is really good, but some of it is awful, iphoto for example is horrible to use and apple is not always the holy grail of user interface it's made out to be.
and WTF is with a single button mouse?! it's not simplifying things when you have to press a combo of keys when you could just click with another finger!
IMHO the only use for macs is for die-hard 2d graphics users, techno fashionistas and those who can't be bothered/too scared to learn some (very) basic IT skills. In fact, think of it as a modern car - it may be a polished product but nothing is user serviceable, you can spec it up at purchase (for a price) but are then stuck with it, compared to an old banger (pc) which is not as cool but you can drop a better engine in and go much faster for considerably less!
Maybe some of the software is really good, but some of it is awful, iphoto for example is horrible to use and apple is not always the holy grail of user interface it's made out to be.
and WTF is with a single button mouse?! it's not simplifying things when you have to press a combo of keys when you could just click with another finger!
IMHO the only use for macs is for die-hard 2d graphics users, techno fashionistas and those who can't be bothered/too scared to learn some (very) basic IT skills. In fact, think of it as a modern car - it may be a polished product but nothing is user serviceable, you can spec it up at purchase (for a price) but are then stuck with it, compared to an old banger (pc) which is not as cool but you can drop a better engine in and go much faster for considerably less!
I have to say that when i went to teh apple store in birmingham i had a look at the macbook and the mac book pro and i really cant see where all of this "fantastic design" is... the big macbook pro looked all out of sorts and the 'tiny' keybourd on that massive empty paving slab of a laptop just looked plain to$$.
I didnt have much time to play today but I will go back and give them a fairer shot and actually try and use it but at the moment.. I'm not convinced.
Then lets have a look at the prices... OMG!! How expensive? £1K doesnt buy you a lot of MAC... For that much I'm pretty sure I could get a very competent PC AND a webbook...
Also can someone confirm that I really dont need a top end graphics card unless I'm going to be doing some 3d gameing? ( I'm not. thats what consols are for!) So any decent 512MB graphics card will be enough to deal with some phoshopping
I didnt have much time to play today but I will go back and give them a fairer shot and actually try and use it but at the moment.. I'm not convinced.
Then lets have a look at the prices... OMG!! How expensive? £1K doesnt buy you a lot of MAC... For that much I'm pretty sure I could get a very competent PC AND a webbook...
Also can someone confirm that I really dont need a top end graphics card unless I'm going to be doing some 3d gameing? ( I'm not. thats what consols are for!) So any decent 512MB graphics card will be enough to deal with some phoshopping
Id say ram is more important than a graphics card when it comes to photo editing.
(correct me if im wrong anyone but, I dont think photoshop at the moment is gpu accelerated)
Upgrading macs also isnt that tricky- ive upgraded the ram on my macbook myself- ram and hard drive are user servicebale. Weirdly, on the macbook pros, the HD isnt user serviceable, and considering pro users are more likey to cain the HD, I find that kind of weird.
You'll definatly get better value for money going for a pc though - worth checking out some pc review sites and seeing whats in favour at the moment
(correct me if im wrong anyone but, I dont think photoshop at the moment is gpu accelerated)
Upgrading macs also isnt that tricky- ive upgraded the ram on my macbook myself- ram and hard drive are user servicebale. Weirdly, on the macbook pros, the HD isnt user serviceable, and considering pro users are more likey to cain the HD, I find that kind of weird.
You'll definatly get better value for money going for a pc though - worth checking out some pc review sites and seeing whats in favour at the moment
Edited by Fordo on Tuesday 7th October 19:45
I've used windows day in day put at work for some prety heavy st since windows 95. I've had no issus since windows 2000, no crashes, no trouble. Millions use it day in day out to work on, same as me, yes it has its flaws but its solid. Vista more so.
As for phote processing, its more the app than the OS I think, Photoshop is photoshop isnt it...
And they all use the same hardware thesedays too.
t since windows 95. I've had no issus since windows 2000, no crashes, no trouble. Millions use it day in day out to work on, same as me, yes it has its flaws but its solid. Vista more so.As for phote processing, its more the app than the OS I think, Photoshop is photoshop isnt it...
And they all use the same hardware thesedays too.
RobDickinson said:
no crashes, no trouble. Vista more so.
(Soapbox moment)A mate runs a computer firm and he spends his life uninstalling Vista and installing XP.
I have the utter mispleasure to use Vista on two of my four PCs (a million years already spent on the phone trying to sort 'issues') and have recentnly installed the latest service pack to try and sort out the mess.
I just can't believe they would release such a pile of ****, even as a beta test.
If the latest update doesn't sort the problems (Windoze mail is a joke), I will go back to XP - or just give up on Windoze entirely.
If I ever meet Bill Gates, I'll have words
[/soapbox]
Edited by GetCarter on Tuesday 7th October 21:10
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