Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

dmcantrell · **the Mac advantage -** 01-03-2010, 08:12 PM

It's been about 2 years since I built my last graphics computer. I've always been a Windows guy, but I also am very familiar with UNIX/Linux through my job.

My current home PC is based on Win XP, and is limited to 2GB of system RAM. This is starting to become a bottleneck in Photoshop when editing the D300 NEF files. The next logical step would be to replace the CPU / motherboard / operating system to accommodate a 64-bit operating system.

However, this would be a non-trivial investment, so I want to make sure that I'm not passing something up. I notice that Macs are very popular in the photo / video-editing world, even when it's the same software being used.

Why? What is the Mac advantage? Why do Macs have such a dominant presence in the graphic arts genre? I just ant to make sure I'm evaluating all the options properly.

Thanks,

Dave

texkam · 01-03-2010, 08:21 PM

Well, there's the cool factor. Most of us professionals rule that out. :)

Some Idiot · 01-03-2010, 08:30 PM

No advantage over 64 Bit PC, in fact, a Mac is more like a PC on the inside then it's ever been..... In early 2006, Apple switched to an Intel architecture for their computer systems

edit: Of course some will say the OS, But I think that is a personal thing

billbunton · 01-03-2010, 09:11 PM

Macs have a dominant presence because, many many years ago, they were pretty much the only game in town. These days, it's purely personal preference.

dliveleyphotography · 01-03-2010, 09:53 PM

I love my I7 self built PC for editing just for raw power. The price to performance ratio is alot higher with PC. For alittle over $1500 I ended up an extremely powerful processing unit that suffers 0 lag in lightroom and CS3 and has tons of storage and back up storage.

That being said I am in love with my new Macbook for everyday B.S./internet browsing. I just got it a few days ago after weeks of debating, I could never justify the extra cost but have to say with $200 rebate from micro center it was a no brainer.

DigitalDiva · 01-05-2010, 12:35 AM

I've never worked with pc 64 bit but I had a fairly beefed up pc and can tell you it doesn't hold a candle to my macbook pro. From when I turn it on only seconds till it's ready to go. I work with 200 mg or more files and it doesn't even stutter or hiccup when I have 4 or more files open at once.

dmcantrell · 01-05-2010, 11:12 AM

Interesting. I've been on the Apple site this morning, and I see that a 15" Macbook Pro starts at $1699 -- add in the 24" monitor for $899 and that's $2600!

Is it really that much better? I could build a beast of a PC with dual 24" monitors for $2600...

prncfarquad · 01-05-2010, 11:46 AM

As was said in an earlier post it is personal preference. I love my mac but have a PC as well for other uses. I can say I am disappointed in the mac version of acrobat and do have some issues with office as far as receiving files from PC versions of excel.

That being said I have had very good luck with my mac as far as stability. That also has to do with the way I treat my equipment. I have a 4 yo Sony VAIO laptop that still runs great but just doesn't have the power I needed for processing large images and graphic files.

d2creative · 01-05-2010, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmcantrell

Interesting. I've been on the Apple site this morning, and I see that a 15" Macbook Pro starts at $1699 -- add in the 24" monitor for $899 and that's $2600!

Is it really that much better? I could build a beast of a PC with dual 24" monitors for $2600...

Unless you are building your own, you won't find a quality commercially built all in one PC system with THE SAME SPECS for considerably cheaper than a Mac. The iMacs are a fantastic deal actually. Apple screens are GORGEOUS. You can save a few bucks by buying refurbished direct from apple. Most refurbs never left the factory.

dmcantrell · 01-05-2010, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2creative

Unless you are building your own, you won't find a quality commercially built all in one PC system with THE SAME SPECS for considerably cheaper than a Mac. The iMacs are a fantastic deal actually. Apple screens are GORGEOUS. You can save a few bucks by buying refurbished direct from apple. Most refurbs never left the factory.

Awesome info, thanks!

Tom · 01-05-2010, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmcantrell

Interesting. I've been on the Apple site this morning, and I see that a 15" Macbook Pro starts at $1699 -- add in the 24" monitor for $899 and that's $2600!

Is it really that much better? I could build a beast of a PC with dual 24" monitors for $2600...

Are you really comparing a desktop price to a laptop price?

When I bought my newest MacBook Pro, it was over $100 cheaper than the equivalent Dell, although the Dell did not have a battery life anywhere near as good as the new MBP. The MBP also came with a free iPod Touch, which I could have immediately sold on ebay for ~$200.

dmcantrell · 01-05-2010, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas Campbell

Are you really comparing a desktop price to a laptop price?

When I bought my newest MacBook Pro, it was over $100 cheaper than the equivalent Dell, although the Dell did not have a battery life anywhere near as good as the new MBP. The MBP also came with a free iPod Touch, which I could have immediately sold on ebay for ~$200.

Well I hadn't thought about it but I guess I am. That definitely makes more sense. Looks like a 27" iMac starts at $1699. That's actually not too bad.

The Mac Pro quad-core is quite a beast. Wow.

Tom · 01-05-2010, 12:28 PM

Plus, it is hard NOT to qualify for an Apple educational discount.

Students, faculty, staff and parents of students of anyone from Kindergarden through PhD all qualify for an educational discount. That's $100 off the iMac. They used to give you a free iPod Touch and printer with it, but I dont know if that is still happening.

Wil_Bloodworth · 01-05-2010, 12:55 PM

I think the *NEW* Macs as of late seem to be great. You're seeing a lot of people move over to the Mac side now because you can run both Windows and the Mac O/S (Unix derivative) on the same box... and get great performance... and excellent battery life... in a well-thought-out and user-friendly package.

PC people are PC people because Windows was basically first on the scene and that's what people know. Also, you have a lot of people who's "day jobs" require them to work with some sort of variant of Windows. That's just business. Microsoft has a lot of the business world sewed up and Apple isn't competing for that market. They're targeting "people"... which is very smart.

I was burned by Apple several times in the 80's and early 90's so I've still got that bad taste in my mouth. But now, for reasons stated above, I may consider giving them another shot.

Those Apple Cinema displays are simply amazing. I don't suggest working on the 30" monitor of theirs unless you've got $2000 to drop... otherwise, you'll just be disappointed when you get back to your normal monitor(s) at home.

- Wil

Brains · 01-05-2010, 02:45 PM

A lot of it is preference, really. But the biggest selling points for me were:

- VERY little time wasted vs. Windows in the area of maintenance. You get hours and hours of your precious time back by not having to keep up with spyware, adware, virus scanning, hard disk defragging, etc.
- Reliability. Yes, Windows is MUCH better than it was a decade ago, but still has its many quirks we've all learned to blindly deal with over that same time period. You really don't even notice 'em -- until you switch.
- Consistency. Every time Microsoft updates to a new release, everything moves around. The Control Panel is never the same release to release. On a Mac, things tend to stay put. I like that.
- Simplicity. OSX is (IMHO) much more elegantly laid out than Windows. It is designed to not get in your way, and let you focus on getting your work done. This could easily be considered a preference though.
- Hardware quality. Although I can build a PC every bit as reliable, and quite possibly cheaper, Apple does a GREAT job with the whole package. Just open the lid on a Dell laptop vs. an Apple laptop and you can feel the difference.
- Speed. By using high quality, well matched gear with solid drivers included with the package, the system runs quickly from day one through day nnnn. I don't have to spend days tweaking it either, I just open the lid and go.
- Lack of futzing around with things. OSX works so smoothly its refreshing. Simple things like plugging in an external monitor to my laptop - there's no need to hit Fn+F3 or go mucking around in the display settings to get the external monitor to "turn on." On the Mac you just plug it in, and drag your windows to the screen you want them on.
- Uncluttered, unobtrusive. Again, its one of the things we've gotten so used to over the years with Windows that gets annoying after you switch away. You'll never miss all those popups, tool tip windows, system tray notification popups, etc. that Windows commonly uses to notify you of various trivial things.
- Intuitive. Apple has done a great job of surfacing things you need to see, and hiding other things just out of the way. Its like picking up the phone and calling someone, versus having to wire up the buttons yourself, figure out which button is which number, which end you talk into, and then finally making the call. Tough to clarify until you get used to OSX, but there's a genuine "aha!" moment when you realize how much nicer things can be.
- Resale value. Nobody can deny that a Mac holds its value significantly better than a PC. That's nice come upgrade time, you can sell your old unit and recover a decent amount of money.

I struggled with the decision to give a Mac a try back in early 2008, after being strictly a PC guy since 1982. I finally just said the heck with it, and figured I'd sell the Mac if I didn't like it. Here we are in 2010, and I still love my Macbook Pro.