Why do YOU prefer Mac or PC or Other

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

02/20/2009 08:05:23 PM · #26

I'm not sure I can add anything that hasn't been said already, but I was also a Windows user (I'm actually an IT pro working with Windows servers) for years until I got my first Mac about 3 years ago.

I love my Mac and wouldn't switch back to Windows at home, and if you got one for photo editing / any non game related reason, I guarantee you would love it too, but, here's some stuff worth mentioning:

When I first switched, for about 3 months I thought I would ultimately switch back because it just felt difficult getting used to the OS when I knew where everything was in Windows. Once I got used to it though I find it a far better OS to use with just a few minor exceptions.

If you want to play games, don't get a Mac as your only machine. I know there are a lot of games out there for the Mac, but not all of them, and often they released later and rely on third party developers to do ports. I'm not a gamer so I've never tried booting Windows on my Mac, but that could be your solution if want the best of both worlds.

I do find the Mac better for things like Photoshop etc, I ran CS3 on both platforms and the Mac seemed noticeably quicker, not sure why. Mac seems much better at handling multiple applications at once, pretty much all the time I have Aperture, Photoshop, Safari, Mail, iTunes open and there's no slow downs.

Do what Yo_Spiff said if you get a Mac and get a good mouse, Apple are stuck in their form over function when it comes to mice and they are just downright bad. I replaced mine with a wonderful logitech. Having said that, on my Macbook pro I never use a mouse, the trackpad is great and large enough to not be annoying.

There is more spyware / viruses appearing on the Mac, but so far it's a LONG way from being like Windows. Take a few simple common sense precautions like don't download and install pirated software, don't authenticate anything you don't know and you'll be fine.

If you go Mac put loads of RAM in it, not because it requires it to run, but because it runs like a dream if you do. Don't get Apple or your reseller to do it they'll probably charge you a fortune, but I just picked up 4G Kingston for my Macbook Pro for $150AU.

PC's are cheaper initially but you will probably get a longer life out of your Mac and a better resell value as well. If you ever upgrade to the next OS it's usually considerably cheaper to go to the next version of OSX than the next version of Windows.

Good luck whatever choice you make, it's always fun getting new sutff!

Message edited by author 2009-02-21 01:05:56.

zeuszen

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II

02/20/2009 08:21:15 PM · #27

I'm a Mac user and have been for twenty years. There are six Macs in the house now. There were more but Jack inherited one and Jill the other. Most of our friends and all of my extended family have Macs now, and I don't, at this point, know any photographers here who work on Windows boxes, although I'm sure they exist.

I usually travel with my laptop which is synced to my desktop at home, but every now and then I'm forced to use whatever computer may be available to get online. And that computer is usually a PC. It's likely beige, grey or black, bulky and boxy, with a yellowing keyboard and remnants of gum or glue from post-it notes near the screen. But, hey, we do what we have to do.

Then there is the Start Menu. Wonderful. I have no idea why we have to "start" something first. I'd rather just get to it and move on, but ok, I'm in Rome and play along. When I was a kid, a long time ago, we had an old tractor that needed to be "cranked" too before she'd wake and made any noise.

All I need to do here today is, say, create a file, save it and get it home. And no, I don't want to install anything, any ommitted app or a missing driver, no, I just want to get my file home, please. But no...

I'm navigating boldly outlined retro windows with large Xs in the corners while cryptic dialog boxes attempt to inform me of the ambivalence of language and the cyclical nature of arguments. But to be fair... I'm not at all used to a two-button mouse. Who knows, one of my fingers may have strayed right-for-left-click into out-of-bounds.

Needless to say, I usually get preciously little done in a hostile environment. Whatever I'm attempting to do appears to get intercepted and held up by an OS that looks like it was conceived in East Germany while the wall was still up, and when my file, finally, materializes, I realize that both it and I have successfully and inconspicuously conformed to an alien convention, a feeling not quite satisfying and somewhat akin, I imagine, to drinking and driving or crossing a border illegally.

The next time I'm online I wake up my Desktop Mac at home and there it is: the ugly duckling file has been transformed into a living image (with a beautiful icon) moving in cover-flow across glass. There are no finger prints. There is no clutter, no pop cans or sticky notes. There are no redundant dialogs, no agents, wizards or border patrols. It's just us, Mac 'n I, although I think he's a she. And she's got form and clean finger nails.

02/20/2009 10:04:56 PM · #28

I'll try to keep this short. Things I like better about the Mac:

One of the best things about the Mac for us photogs is that the Finder gives you thumbnail & scrolling views of PSD files, Illustrator files and .CR2 files without having to use special software. So, you can open an entire folder of photos and see EVERYTHING in there using the Finder, not just JPEGs like in Vista or XP. The Cover view is awesome, it makes looking for a particular photo or photos so much easier than just looking at thumbnails.

Plug and play functionality is a lot better than Windows, for example, I bought a Microsoft mouse, plugged it into my Mac and it worked great, no need to load drivers. I bought a new printer. Mac, plug it in and it works. I still can't get the printer to work on Windows.

Networking is MUCH better. I used to manage an office that had about 8 PCs in it. The network was a nightmare. I spent entire days trying to get the Windows machines to see each other. My Mac? I plugged it in and it worked perfectly on the network right away. I've never had any networking issues with my Macs at all.

The Dashboard totally rocks. Just hit F4 and you can bring up a bevy of Widgets that are small apps that have a wide variety of functions. Right now, on my Dashboard I have the local weather, a webcam viewer that features cams all across Colorado, Sticky notes, an iTunes controller, ESPN sports news, a clock that you can set any timezone and movie times. It's like being able to view 8 web pages at the same time without having to go to each site individually. I like the way Widgets work much better than Microsoft's copy of them, Gadgets.

Time Machine is a better back-up program than anything I've ever found for the PC and it comes with the OS, so you don't have to purchase aftermarket software to do backups.

GARAGE BAND!!! GARAGE BAND!!! GARAGE BAND!!! It's like Photoshop for music. I play electric guitar and I can record the guitar, record a bass, add drum loops and create my own songs or just basic tracks that I can jam over. Again, this came WITH the OS.

Spaces: it allows you to put your program windows in any of four different entire screens that you can display at the same time and easily choose the screen you want to go to. It's really cool on my 13" Macbook.

"You can put a few common apps in the dock, but if you have a lot of them, then you have to go into the applications folder." Just drag your Applications folder to the "Stacks" area of the Dock and you instantly have two-click access to all of your programs.

By the way, if I missed anything similar apps that Vista comes with, it's not because I don't have it, it's because I don't use it :) I loaded it on the Mac for work and only use it when I have to.

Guess I wasn't able to keep it short :)

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

02/20/2009 10:11:21 PM · #29

Originally posted by Niten:

Plus you just can't buy a fast machine.

Are you just comparing clock speeds? I don't know how Apple does it but my 2.2 GHz Macbook outperforms my 3.0 GHz work machine. They both have the same amount of memory and the PC even has a faster hard-drive.

Paul

Leica SL

02/21/2009 12:02:45 AM · #30

It's probably all been said but I can't resist.

I bought my first PC about 1995, I've moved through Windows 3.1; 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista. I currently have 3 PC notebooks and one water cooled SLI desktop (I didn't build that one but I've built about 10 machines previously) - I loved the way in which I could upgrade my machines and customise pretty much everything.

The high end water cooled machine is actually pretty noisy and had broken two high end graphics cards (I'm putting a new one today - my wife uses the machine); my 17" high end laptop has never really worked - it overheats ridiculously and wipes key startup files for Windows (It's been back to Rock 3 times, but I'm just bored with it now); my tablet PC was great before I lost the stylus; the shining light of my collection is my little Sony TX- it is wonderfully light, has a fantastic 7+ hours battery life and is by far the most versatile PC I have.

Frustrations with Windows - the way it slows down as you use it; you really need to clean up the environment all the time; it just takes too much time to maintain. As for networking - complete nightmare; I've got through 3 wireless routers trying to get the network to work with all devices (PCs, iPhone, Wii, PS3, Slingbox, Macs) - it never really happened.

I quite like Vista for the handling of media but the way you have to say 'yes' twice before it does anything is ridiculous - this feature can be disabled but the setting is a little buried for something so horrendously annoying.

Pluses - the availability of some very fast gaming cards and the ability to use multiple cards is a real bonus BUT you are talking a lot of money for quad SLI with high end cards (and they'll probably break); for that money you could buy a PS3, a large 1080p screen and some games.

Now for my Macs - last year, I played with Final Cut Studio in the Apple Store; I managed to learn to do more with FCP in an hour than I had managed with Adobe Premiere 6 in months; just because the interface was so much friendlier. I was sold. I bought an 8 core Mac and a 17 inch Macbook Pro (the wonderful iPhone did help this decision along a little); since then I've added a Time Capsule to my kit.

The Time Capsule now handles my network with such ease that I am at a loss to know why the other routers struggled; the Mac Pro runs virtually silently (far quieter than the water cooled PC); the 17" Macbook Pro just works and last for 4 hours (the 17" Rock only ever lasted 45 minutes even when it it did work).

I do have Vista installed on the Mac Pro and boot natively to it via boot camp when I want to use some of my PC back catalogue of games - it works perfectly and is about as fast as my watercooled SLI machine for games and is much quicker for other work; though there are now far faster PCs available - the 8800GT in the Mac is probably a bit of a bottleneck.

I would echo everything people said about OSX as an OS - takes a bit of getting used to but once you do, Windows seems truly cumbersome.

For photography on the Mac, I use both PS4 and Aperture 2, which is similar in feel to a combination of Bridge and Camera Raw; Aperture 2 is my choice for colour control, cropping, straightening and organising - Photoshop CS4 is really powerful (I'm still getting to grips with it) and is probably a bit overkill for me, but I use it for spot editing, selections and layers work (just started using things other than adjustment layers) - the thing I really like is the way the round-tripping to PS4 works with Aperture2; right click an image in Aperture and select 'edit with PS' and a duplicate is made, shown side by side, PS4 opens and when I save changes, it updates the new image directly in Aperture - with two screens, the workflow is a doddle.

Overall, there is no doubt in my mind that the Macs are superior in almost every way and though they may seem more expensive, my high end PC desktop and laptop were significantly more expensive that my top end Macs. The only PC I touch (other than at work) is my Sony TX - the carbon fibre design is really great and for something to carry on a journey, I think its optical drive for DVDs gives it edge over the Macbook Air; though if you did the whole iTunes video rental thing that might be different.

I would like to see some higher end gaming cards for the Mac, but given how many have broken in my systems (and those of relatives), perhaps Apple's approach is sensible.

I've gone on a bit - apologies, but as a long term PC user who has switched to Mac, I feel a bit evangelical about Apple's products.

Paul

Paul

Leica SL

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

02/21/2009 12:04:57 AM · #31

Duplicate post deleted - I was a victim of some lagginess!

Message edited by author 2009-02-21 09:35:14.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

02/21/2009 08:26:03 AM · #32

I think the overall opinion seems to be that the Mac experience is superior in *most* of the important ways. (there are still some things I like better in Windows, however) If Apple would allow OSX to be installed on non-Apple hardware without a fuss, I think it would kick Window's butt in a short time. It would also open OSX up to a lot of the problems that result from having to work with a wider variety of hardware and drivers.

I still like building my own though. I do find it a little ironic that Apple positions the Mac as the computing platform of the genius and free thinker, but it is more of a closed ecosystem than Windows is. (There I go, sitting on the fence again!)

Added: Also, I am not a lover of eye candy on my computer's interface. I have had both XP and Vista configured with the simpler theme used in Windows 9x and 2K. I tried Areo galss for a couple of days after I got my new system together. It drove me nuts. If I could turn off all the transparency in the OSX interface, that would be good as well. I will take snappy and responsive over the resource draining eye candy any day. It does not slow down a newer system with a fast graphics card, but would probably help a lot on my 350Mhz G4 tower and the 1Ghz Imac at work.

Message edited by author 2009-02-21 13:31:11.

violinist123

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

02/21/2009 08:32:23 AM · #33

I like my Mac because I paid more than most of my friends did for their computers, and it looks a lot sexier. Plus it matches my iPod and iPhone, which is cooler yet.

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

02/21/2009 08:32:47 AM · #34

Mac is no-fuss, stress free goodness...

PC is powerful and better file management (and good for video games :P)

I have both!

K3Master

Pentax K-3

Pentax D-FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW

02/21/2009 09:08:15 AM · #35

I don't prefer one or the other. I use PCs, but only because they're cheaper to purchase and maintain. I'd love to have a macbook pro, but cost is prohibitive. Both systems have pros and cons, just like anything, and neither is inherently better. It all depends on personal preferences and uses.

Any statements otherwise are purely individual preference, and utterly self-serving. heh.

The computer you use doesn't make you a better person.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

02/21/2009 09:48:45 AM · #36

Originally posted by K10DGuy:

The computer you use doesn't make you a better person.

So, there!!

chromeydome

Nikon D7000

Pentax D-FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW

02/21/2009 09:53:11 AM · #37

Originally posted by K10DGuy:

The computer you use doesn't make you a better person.

hmmmmm.....

When I switched to mac at home, I found it so wonderful to not have any hassles: things plug and play, the user experience is so much more fun and friendly--using the computer had no inherent level of work associated with it. I spent time doing what I want to do, using the computer as a tool to help me do it, rather than spending time finding drivers online, brute-forcing things to happen, etc. So, while it didn't make me a better person, I am more stress-free and creative.

There continues to be one huge downside to getting a mac, and it is not insignificant: when at work, forced to use a windows/dell pos model, the urge to swear, drop the f-bomb is almost constant and nearly irresistible. I must execute an Expletive Suppression Mode in my brain, and reboot it frequently :-)

Message edited by author 2009-02-21 14:54:44.

robs

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

02/21/2009 11:03:50 AM · #38

I PREFER the interface of a mac but just plopped $ down for yet another windoze machine..... If apple want to be serious mainstream they need to get some prices down... Just crazy how they think the large premium is worth.

I would pay double for the apple interface over windoze (god I had to take vista 64bit even) but not prepared to pay almost double for an equal machine and then deal with the cost of switching software.

K3Master

Pentax K-3

02/21/2009 11:40:28 AM · #39

Originally posted by chromeydome:

Originally posted by K10DGuy:

The computer you use doesn't make you a better person.

hmmmmm.....

When I switched to mac at home, I found it so wonderful to not have any hassles: things plug and play, the user experience is so much more fun and friendly--using the computer had no inherent level of work associated with it. I spent time doing what I want to do, using the computer as a tool to help me do it, rather than spending time finding drivers online, brute-forcing things to happen, etc. So, while it didn't make me a better person, I am more stress-free and creative.

There continues to be one huge downside to getting a mac, and it is not insignificant: when at work, forced to use a windows/dell pos model, the urge to swear, drop the f-bomb is almost constant and nearly irresistible. I must execute an Expletive Suppression Mode in my brain, and reboot it frequently :-)

It's interesting that in all my years running windows computers, I never had any real hassles. Like I said, it's personal preference. My PC works as a tool to help me, I've never had to find a driver online, and I've never had to brute force anything.

I know plenty of Mac users, however, that have had the same experience you had with PCs. Nothing but headaches and issues.

Pros and Cons, and it depends a lot on what you do, how you do it, and sometimes just plain getting lucky.

As for the work environment, well, I chalk 50% of that up to incompetent network people. I've been a part of flawlessly working windows networks.

I think what I was really trying to get across is just be happy with what you have. This 'debate' far too often turns into a battle of ego and elitism, and that's just sad.

Neil

Fujifilm X-T20

02/21/2009 12:08:08 PM · #40

I switched to the Mac for a year and had loads of software problems with Leopard, and found the environment very limiting. I spent a ton of money and time trying to make it work. I'm a software engineer, and I used a Lisa way back when I worked at GE R&D, and when the Mac first came out, I concluded the very same thing. But I was impressed with the way Apple transitioned to Intel and built upon Unix. So I gave it a try, also because I was tired of all the wasted cycles on antivirus scans in Windows. I tend to have a lot of files for work and for photography, and it takes a long time to scan terabytes of data.

I've always wanted to write up my experiences, but even as I started here in this message, it just takes too much time. I still hope to do it before it becomes too distant a memory.

I still have the Mac here (Mac Pro), but I've been very happy since I bought a Vista 64 machine (and started using Norton again instead of AVG). So far no problems, and Norton scans much faster. The new machine has been great; it's fast, and I've had no problems. I configured the Mac and the new PC similarly (well, the PC got 6 GB memory rather than 5, but the machine cost me under $1200 rather than $2200 for the Mac Pro.)

A few little things surprised me about the Mac's performance too. For one thing, I always have music playing in the background and sometimes iTunes would get a little "choppy" when it was playing. I used XMPlay under Windows (have for a long time) and I've never had that problem.

A couple of quick things I didnt like: I didn't like that there was no way to use the numeric keypad on the Mac as a cursor pad--the way I've always used one. I didn't like that Mac Mail (which I liked better than Thunderbird because it has really fast search) ALWAYS called up Safari for links, even though my default browser was Firefox (can you spell antitrust). And with a dual monitor setup, I didn't like having menus at the top of THE OTHER MONITOR when I was using the second.

And we definitely started wrong. From November until January, I was plagued by a bug in Leopard which was causing Finder and other programs to crash when you accessed JPG files with Adobe Lightroom Metadata in them. Metadata which was legal, and worked fine under Windows. That was finally fixed in February I think. I also definitely had more system crashes in the year I had the Mac than in the last 5 years of using a PC. It's ironic that Apple makes fun of PC Blue screens, even in the network icon. I sure saw alot of Apple "Black" screens, with multilingual text (how many different languages can you say "you're screwed").

My Mac is still sitting here. I am not sure whether to sell it, or keep it as a testing machine, as I do with the last couple generations of all my old machines. (Actually, right now I am using it as a scanning machine--it took me a night or so to get it to work with my Fujitsu Scansnap scanner--and at least that works really well now, and I don't have a window popping up with the scan process while I'm working on the PC. (That's a real limitation on all platforms: many programs pop up their windows and thus steal the input focus right from under you while you're typing.) I thought I might also keep it to use iMovie 6 (I didn't like 7), but the HP I bought came with Cyberlinks movie software, which I like just as much.

Some things I liked about the Mac: Spotlight indexing works well (though I found the search interface limiting and had to buy a third party utility to make it more flexible). And Preview. I was very happy not to have to have Acrobat on my Mac. Preview worked much better than it, without being a resource hog. But that wasn't enough to save the Mac for me. So now I have replaced them with (gasp) Acrobat, and Copernic Search.

In general, hardware and OS problems aside, I'll just say that I didn't find the Mac flexible enough for me.

02/21/2009 04:00:32 PM · #41

"As for the work environment, well, I chalk 50% of that up to incompetent network people. I've been a part of flawlessly working windows networks."

Why should you have to be an IT expert to get your network up and running and do simple things like seeing another computer? It should be super-easy. With my Mac and Airport, it is. :)

chromeydome

Nikon D7000

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

02/21/2009 04:22:38 PM · #42

Originally posted by K10DGuy:

I think what I was really trying to get across is just be happy with what you have. This 'debate' far too often turns into a battle of ego and elitism, and that's just sad.

I agree. It doesn't need to be evangelical, conversion oriented, and no need for justification, either. Sharing experiences for those who might be considering one over the other can be useful.

In the end, it is more a taste thing, like Coke or Pepsi. Either will do.

even though Pepsi is indisputably better than Coke........

zeuszen

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II

02/21/2009 04:44:06 PM · #43

Originally posted by chromeydome:

...In the end, it is more a taste thing, like Coke or Pepsi...

or vinegar and wine.

MAK

Leica M Monochrom

Voigtlander Ultron 21mm f1.8

02/21/2009 04:47:39 PM · #44

I use a Mac

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

02/21/2009 04:53:39 PM · #45

Originally posted by chromeydome:

even though Pepsi is indisputably better than Coke........

I prefer RC.

chromeydome

Nikon D7000

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

02/21/2009 05:07:38 PM · #46

Well, actually, Dr. Pepper is the only soft drink the world really needs. All the others are pretending wannabe also-rans.

I Drink Dr. Pepper and I Am A Better Person!

CEJ

Canon EOS-40D

02/21/2009 05:17:15 PM · #47

For the last 30 years I have used PC's. This past week I purchased a Mac and the first thing I said to myself after I got over the shock was "Why didn't I do this 30 years ago!" It ultimately comes down to user preference, but if you are used to Mac's, stay with them. If you are used to PC's (windows based machines) then, well, it takes the ability to tell yourself you do not have to put up with the bull anymore and switch.