POLL: PC or Mac

<p>Hi everyone,<br>

I'm curious what everyone uses at home, PC or Mac. <br>

I know this is slightly off topic, but I wanted to ask the question. Currently I use a dell pc but am considering going Mac. I've had my pc for 4 years, including a dual video card with TWO 19'' LCD monitors which has really worked well for me. If I got a Mac I'd need a mac pro, with two monitors, its about $5-8,000 with a few bells/whistles. <br>

What do you have at home a PC or Mac? How many gigs or is it 1 T? Just curious!<br>

Natalie</p>

<p>mac</p>

<p>Forgot to add, with 500G external hard drive</p>

<p>PC: one Dell desktop with 22" LCD and 2 external HD (500mB each) for photo related; one 12" Dell Lappy for travel and one Sony 15.4" Lappy for browsing PN. Total <$2000!</p>

<p>I have a PC and I started with that years ago basically to learn for and interface with work PCs. I no longer see a need for that and I am anxiously waiting for Apple to come out with a desktop as the Pro is expensive and overkill for me. Strong rumors that new Imacs will be released with upgraded hardware that can utilize more ram than current models. As much as I like the Imac being an all-in-one, that is also the downside.</p>

<p>I am sure a Mac is in my future mostly for photography. But, I am currently using a Dell, 19" crappy non-widescreen monitor with 4 Gigs of ram and will keep using that for other things. I inherited this one from my daughter after she got a Mac Book Pro for college. So it is not my first choice, but it works fine.</p>

<p>I want widescreen for photography. Too much cropping on either side to make it fit a monitor with a screen resolution of 1280x1024.</p>

<p>With your question, I hope others comment as to what type of monitor they use..."regular" or widescreen. My wishes are for a monitor to diplay 1900x1200, LED backlight, ultrasharp, and highly adjustable. I know a lot of people prefer CRT monitors, but I believe almost none are made anymore. I don't like their bulk, the heat they give off, or power consumption.</p>

 

<p>iMac-250GB with a LaCie 500GB external hard drive. cb</p>

<p>I have only one computer for my home and personal business, a 2006 Mac G5 with 4.5 Gbytes of memory and 23" Cinema monitor (and no MS software or applications). It does everything I want to do including 4x5 scans, but I'm not a full-time professional photographer generating a lot of images or need a lot of businees services. Personally I think you'll find the Mac easier to use and manage, but it's about becoming comfortable and familar with the computer to be productive.</p>

<p>IMac 24 with 2 GB ram. Files are off loaded to 500 external so I don`t let the main drive get overloaded. I have no complaints. Photoshop can utilize no more than 2 gb for psd and 4 with TIFF. More than than that is no advantage. If you do a lot of batch processing, I would get a Mac Pro or if I really needed 2 screens, a Mac pro. I think 20" cinema displays are $800 @ and a Mac Tower is $3/4000.<br>

I also have a portable Macbook for travel.</p>

<p>Mac has wonderful customer service. </p>

<p>Additionally a cheap refurb IBM I use for excell, surfing, e-mail and assorted junk jobs .</p>

<p>A new Dell will have Vista or whatever they sell now. So drivers for the screens you now use may not work and there may or may not be updated Vista compatable drivers. Vista has become very picky about what you can install.<br>

There will be some learning curve with a mac as things will be a bit different. Windows photoshop will not move to a Mac, so you need a platform swap which cost $25 and you MAY need to buy the current upgrade.</p>

<p>Microsoft has a lot of operating system glitches I no longer wish to deal with. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'm a Mac user who has worked for many years in a dual-platform environment. I have my reasons for preferring Mac, but in the interests of not going "there" I'll leave that out.</p>

<p>My current system is a 24" iMac with an external monitor. The built-in monitor is quite good for photographic work, and I use the external monitor to expand my workspace by placing various windows and palettes there while keeping the main screen free for the photograph itself.</p>

<p>With that in mind, it is quite possible that you do not need the larger and very much more expensive "mac pro" system with its separate monitor and so forth. While it used to be the case that you simply could not consider a system in the iMac line for serious photographic work I am now convinced that this is no longer the case. (I also do relatively high-end audio/music work on this machine. In fact, I teach in a 30 workstation lab full of such machines where students do this sort of work.)</p>

<p>Many Windows users (and some Mac users who haven't kept pace with recent developments) are very surprised to find how powerful the new iMacs or in functional terms. I urge you to look at them.</p>

<p>Dan</p>

<p>I don't have the kind of budget you are talking about so I stick with PCs. When I bought my laptop 18 months ago, I briefly considered an Apple, but I also don't have the budget for all new software.</p>

<p>There is also one more personal issue. I have used PCs since 1988 and I used Macs at work for 5 years. In cars I prefer manual transmissions over automatic transmissions, I prefer manual cameras over automatic cameras, and I prefer PC over Mac/Apple, and all for the same reason; I want control!</p>

<p>MacPro and a MacBook Pro for on the road.</p>

<p>I really don't understand the control comment. Just clicking on the program folder in Windows and it wants to know "are you sure" this stuff is best handled by me, Windows.</p>

<p>In any event, our primary workstation is a PowerMac Dual 2.7 w/7GB Ram. 3- MacGurus 5-bay Burly Towers for storage. At any given time I have at least 5TB loaded between various hard drives with a years worth of wedding distributed across 3- 1TB drives in Aperture Libraries. This main station uses one 23" ACD and a calibrated 19" NEC. The NEC was from our 2nd station after our LaCie just became to difficult to calibrate. Eizo later this year! 2nd workstation is a G5 dual 1.8 with 3GB Ram and my wife usually works from the laptop, MBP 2GB Ram. All computers on a home Gigabit network. To be fair, I run Windows on the laptop via Fusion as I actually teach a ComEd class on basic computers.</p>

<p>MAC!</p>

<p>Changed to an iMac last year and never looked back.</p>

<p>turns off and on in seconds, no virus issues.</p>

<p>Brill</p>

<blockquote>

<p>There is also one more personal issue. I have used PCs since 1988 and I used Macs at work for 5 years. In cars I prefer manual transmissions over automatic transmissions, I prefer manual cameras over automatic cameras, and I prefer PC over Mac/Apple, and all for the same reason; I want control!</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Unfortunately, many folks still think of Macs as they were prior to OS X. Macs are now Unix boxes with a really great GUI. There is nothing more controllable in the commercial computer world than a Mac. Really. Truly.</p>

<p>I use a 15" Macbook Pro stock in the last version before LED screen backlighting. It has 2GB Ram. I use a 2TB WD Hard Drive for storing images and a 500 GB WD Hard Drive for a running Time Machine backup and my music library. Both of those are over Airport Extreme which is fast enough to do this without pain. I usually keep a copy of the images I'm actually working on on my internal hard drive to speed things up.<br>

<br /></p>

<p>I've got a old G4 (dual 1ghz) mac running photoshop cs3 and an old sony CRT monitor (calibrated by I-one) that I use for photography still. You know, it's more than fast enough for files from my Canon 5d and I use a lot of layers on my photographs (mostly adjustment layers with masks).</p>

<p>I also use it to scan 6x9 film from my nikon ls8000 scanner, and these files can get quite large, sometimes over 2 gigs. It sometimes takes 20 minutes or more to save one of these files:( So for this, a newer, faster computer would be nice, but mostly just for the ability to use more than 2 gig of memory I would think.</p>

<p>I do have a modern MacBook Pro as well, but I don't really notice a lot of speed advantage when working with photographs with it. I think this is because data swapping to the macbook's hard drive is slower than the internal drives in my old G4 tower.</p>

<p>I have stayed with mac over the years because I know the system, don't worry about viruses, and I use Final Cut Pro movie editing software which is common with my colleagues. Other than that, I would think a PC is pretty much the same for photography, but I don't think it's really much less expensive for the equivalent set-up.</p>

<p>Intel iMac 20" with 2GB memory; also MacBook Pro for travel. Love both.</p>

<p>I believe with the same amount of money I can get a much better PC than a MAC. Not saying Mac is bad, Mac is good and I love Apple's design but it's too expensive for me now.</p>

<p>Nat, Go w/ a PC for the lower price competition brings and more software titles and hardware compatibility.<br>

Use the money saved to buy a nice lens.</p>

<p>I use a Dell w/ 500GB RAID ZERO hard drives for super speed.</p>

<p>Once you go Mac, you never go back.</p>

<p>I have both. At one time I was a partner in an Apple dealership but I have been working with both Macs and PC for the last 15 years.<br>

Mac has a slight advantage in colour management when you are using multiple monitors and certainly they look more stylish.<br>

I have a Macbook Pro laptop which is better than any other other laptop I have owned. I use a PC for my desktop as it is cheaper and easier to have one custom built for working with images. I have a 2TB RAID drive for my images, a 320GB drive © for applications and Windows and several drives of various sizes for backup. Any hard drive will fail sometime on a Friday afternoon when you have a major deadline.<br>

Spend money on a good and reliable storage system and backup, a good monitor, a built in card reader, the fastest processor you can afford and a decent video card for working with images. Anything else depends on personal interests ie games, music or video.<br>

Find a good local PC store that understands the needs for Photoshop as they can build a PC for you. Stay away from the Big Box stores as you will be sold something generates more commission for the sales rep.<br>

Good luck!</p>

<p>24" IMAC. 300Gig inside, 1TB outside for photos, 750G outside for photo backup. Use lightroom, CS4 with the Photomatix plugin and an HP B9180 printer. Fantastic screen. Converted about 6 months ago, after being a PC person since they first came out. I just got sick of all the crashes and on-going problems, PLUS NO SERVICE from Microsoft or Dell or HP. A few observations. </p>

<p><b>PRICES:</b> They are going down. Check out MAcMall on-line. And you can get in-store and telephone Apple support if you buy at the Apple store, from MacMall or direct on the Apple site. (see Below)<br>

<b>NEGATIVES</b>: First, if you "think" with PC logic, the file system on the MAC is confusing and often obtuse. Ditto for many other features. But as you find out how a MAC "thinks," you begin to understand their logic. Even then, it still does not make sense many times. MACs try to shield you from a lot of stuff that you take for granted on the PC. Second, MAC's have problems, just like PC's do. It's just a computer thing. <br>

<b>POSITIVES:</b> Fast shut down and start-up. Fantastic monitor on the IMAC and the notebooks. Customer service is actually unbelievable. I can call Apple and get a person on the line to talk to and work with me till an issue is solved. Usually within just a few minutes. ONE-To-ONE is an Apple service that will, for $99.00 a year, allow you to go to an appointment at the Apple store and get one-on-one help on any issue you have. One hour sessions, by appointment, as many times as you want on any subject for one full year. There is no better deal around. If you have Lightroom on your PC, adobe will let you switch platforms FREE. If you have Photoshop, they charge you $5.95 to switch platforms, and send you a new CD and Box, etc. Great deal. Their Time Machine, a part of OSX, is a built in backup that backs up every change you make on an hour by hour basis. And the files are NOT compressed, so you can go back day by day and retrieve most anything you had instantly, even when erased from your present drive. The UNIX based system is really fast and simple, and it amazes me that when you install a program, it just installs very fast in one fell swoop. No more registry issues. <br>

I guess I love my MAC.</p>

<p>DeLoyd - What about the file system on a Mac is confusing or obtuse?</p>

<p>PC.<br>

Macs are nice (great design and interface), but they are really overpriced. I also enjoy building my systems and tuning them out, something you can't really do with a Mac.</p>

<p>I also don't know why they changed the name to "Mac Pro" ... sounds so boring. Everyone on the internet wants to be a "Pro." POWER MAC sounded so much cooler! - and more ominous...</p>

<blockquote>

<p>If you have Photoshop, they charge you $5.95 to switch platforms, and send you a new CD and Box, etc.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Here's a caveat on this since I am going through the platform switch. If you did not register your copy with the PC originally, even if you have gone through four (!) registered upgrades since, and you don't have your original media even if you have the serial number, Adobe will make the platform switch virtually impossible. I have been trying to do it with an upgrade, and it's been a nightmare. Amazingly, Adobe told me that I could continue to upgrade on the PC but I could not upgrade with a platform switch. They have a customer prevention policy that is really unpleasant, and switching platforms can be very, very difficult. I'm still talking to them (I estimate they have now spent about $200 talking to me on the phone) but it's not a happy situation.</p>