mac or pc for editing

mickyc

mickyc

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Hi folks looking to get a 2nd hand base station just for editing not used mac which a work college has recommended plus he has a spare photoshop cs for mac he also said go for the intel version rather than g5 or do I stay with a pc, also I take it the bigger the monitor the better and does the graphics card make much difference?
 
mickyc said:
Hi folks looking to get a 2nd hand base station just for editing not used mac which a work college has recommended plus he has a spare photoshop cs for mac he also said go for the intel version rather than g5 or do I stay with a pc, also I take it the bigger the monitor the better and does the graphics card make much difference?
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"Not used mac"? I assume you meant you have never used a Mac before, and you're more used to PC? Well, it is up to you, stay with PC becuase you are already familiar with it or switch to Mac but you got to spend some time getting used to Mac and its operating system first before you can try Photoshop. It's like you trained and passed in a car with manual gear, then you have been driving a manual for a long time, now you want a new car, you're faced with stay with manual which you are familiar with or go for automatic which you would need little bit of time to get used to it.

Of course, should you wish to go for Mac, your friend is right about going for Intel version rather than Apple's G-series. That is because you can use software more suited to Microsoft and PC on a Mac (as long as it is for Mac OS) so apart from taking a while to familiar yourself with different operating system, you could find the application software hardly different on Windows or Mac OS. (Unless I got it wrong, but what I am about to say is just an example, just to give you an idea...) Microsoft Word was written for an Intel/AMD system of processors, so you could actually buy a Mac OS version of Microsoft Word to install on the Intel-based Apple Mac, but the Mac OS version of Microsoft Word won't work on the G-series processor, so you get the idea?

Well, really, go with what you feel, be it stay with PC which you're familiar with or Mac which you would need to spend some bit of time getting used to it. Just go with how you feel.
 
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Entirely down to personal choice. Macs look prettier on the desk but peripherals seem to work better with PCs.
 
Makes no difference these days. If you're used to windows then stick with what you know. Virtually all the major software used in photographic workflows is available for both systems. The software that is only available on one system or the other is generally not so important.
 
What everyone else said really.


All of the hardware comes out of the same sort of factories and the latest versions of the Mac OS are as reliable as windows 7 (based on support experience).

Use whatever platform feels best for you.
 
bl0at3r said:
Either - photoshop is virtually identical on both.
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Yeah, if you are using the mouse, but when it comes to the shortcuts, it is different.

If the OP had never used Mac before, the OP would need to take some time getting used to Apple's way with the keyboard which is different to Windows' way. Such as the 'Ctrl', 'Alt', and 'Cmd' keys. For example, when using mouse, the menus should be "virtually identical" on screen, but when it comes to using shortcuts, there is a different between Windows' Ctrl+S and Mac's Cmd+S. So the OP would need to get out of the habit of Windows way and start getting used to Mac way.

I have a PC and Windows, I'm familar with Windows shortcuts, yet I have an Apple iPad and wireless keyboard, and I still sometimes get my cut and paste shortcuts wrong. On PC it is Ctrl+C for cut, but on Apple keyboard, it's actually supposed to be Cmd+C.
 
neil_g said:
Unless they're IDENTICAL spec that's a bit of a misleading comment :)
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Well, I'm running a hackingtosh and they are identical spec because it's the same innards. I just find the programs run that but sweeter on mac is is all. Ie, moving between ps and lightroom is faster, importing lots of raw files is too, just to name a couple, I'm not trying to mislead,. Just my observation.
 
neil_g said:
Unless they're IDENTICAL spec that's a bit of a misleading comment :)
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Vettahead said:
Well, I'm running a hackingtosh and they are identical spec because it's the same innards. I just find the programs run that but sweeter on mac is is all. Ie, moving between ps and lightroom is faster, importing lots of raw files is too, just to name a couple, I'm not trying to mislead,. Just my observation.
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Put simply OS overhead and library/API/driver efficiencies. Some things work a bit faster on the Mac as a result of having more efficient library/API/drivers for a particular task. Equally the same is true of Windows, some things will work faster in windows despite the hardware being equal.

A prime example is gaming - a game run on windows will often trounce the mac version in terms of framerate and general performance even though the hardware is identical. The reason is that normally that video card drivers for windows are more refined and optimised, plus gaming developers are generally more familiar with the wndows development environment, and thus are able to produce more efficient code,
 
Slaphead said:
Put simply OS overhead and library/API/driver efficiencies. Some things work a bit faster on the Mac as a result of having more efficient library/API/drivers for a particular task. Equally the same is true of Windows, some things will work faster in windows despite the hardware being equal.

A prime example is gaming - a game run on windows will often trounce the mac version in terms of framerate and general performance even though the hardware is identical. The reason is that normally that video card drivers for windows are more refined and optimised, plus gaming developers are generally more familiar with the wndows development environment, and thus are able to produce more efficient code,
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Yep! That's why I use the mac for photo work and the pc for gaming
 
Vettahead said:
Well, I'm running a hackingtosh and they are identical spec because it's the same innards. I just find the programs run that but sweeter on mac is is all. Ie, moving between ps and lightroom is faster, importing lots of raw files is too, just to name a couple, I'm not trying to mislead,. Just my observation.
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in that case i call placebo withouth any specific data on the speeds :)

Slaphead said:
Put simply OS overhead and library/API/driver efficiencies. Some things work a bit faster on the Mac as a result of having more efficient library/API/drivers for a particular task. Equally the same is true of Windows, some things will work faster in windows despite the hardware being equal.

A prime example is gaming - a game run on windows will often trounce the mac version in terms of framerate and general performance even though the hardware is identical. The reason is that normally that video card drivers for windows are more refined and optimised, plus gaming developers are generally more familiar with the wndows development environment, and thus are able to produce more efficient code,
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i knew someone would go there..

ive never really bought too much into that, theres only so many ways you can program to work with intel architecture. if it did make any difference we'd be talking fractions of a second, nothing overly noticable.

oh and gaming, that has nothing to do with apple mostly running old gen GPU.. :p

and for the record, im not being anti-apple. use whatever you like (i have a MBP in front of me now) but neither platform has a specific performance benefit over the other.
 
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if you could video it too thatd be great ;)

although its strictly not a relevant test as youre running the hacked mac OS on a system that it isn't meant to. if we're going to start with the one platform is faster than the other then comparison with an actual mac with the same spec CPU and memory etc would be far more relevant :)

in the real world any gains on one system over the other are negligible. and thats from running CS4 on both platforms.

(notice how im not favoring either platform? i get the impression people are thinking otherwise)
 
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I find the PC very easy to upgrade and sure enough as bigger more powerful cameras come out then the editing system will eventually have to follow. Not sure how easy macs are to upgrade?
 
gman said:
I find the PC very easy to upgrade and sure enough as bigger more powerful cameras come out then the editing system will eventually have to follow. Not sure how easy macs are to upgrade?
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they're not - beyond adding RAM. But I'd rather be taking photos then have the covers of my computer. At the end of the day its just horses of course nowdays for editing
 
gman said:
I find the PC very easy to upgrade and sure enough as bigger more powerful cameras come out then the editing system will eventually have to follow. Not sure how easy macs are to upgrade?
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Yeah, I agree, like that cartoon I found off the Internet....


Microsoft-VS-Apple.jpg


I like whoever drew that cartoon.
 
Other than the motherboard there's not much in there that would take more than 5 minutes to change, perhaps the CPU and PSU if you were taking your time. I value my time, but it's not that important that I can't afford to lose 5-10 minutes! lol

I guess there's also the knowledge/hassle factor, a bit like buying a new car every three years. Some people don't want to (or don't know how to) go under the bonnet - no problem, it's their choice. :)
 
gman said:
Other than the motherboard there's not much in there that would take more than 5 minutes to change, perhaps the CPU and PSU if you were taking your time. I value my time, but it's not that important that I can't afford to lose 5-10 minutes! lol

I guess there's also the knowledge/hassle factor, a bit like buying a new car every three years. Some people don't want to (or don't know how to) go under the bonnet - no problem, it's their choice. :)
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This isn't a fair analogy of changing parts in a pc. Sure ram is easy (as in a mac) but and cpu are a diffrent story. If your unfamiliar with socket types ect is really easy to ruin your chip and board

In terms of gfx, most off the shelf compares are small firm factor with poor power supplies so buying a new one and plugging it in is far from straightforward, it may be too long, may draw too much power ect you have to understand bios to n turn off inbuilt stuff with then this pushes us into to enthusiast territory. I'm not advocating mac tech at all. It's too expensive for my taste, It's the os I like, it's easy slick and fast. It's lighter weight than windows and is far better protected. For an end user these are massive plus points.
 
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If you only need one reason for buying a PC over Mac, it's because you'll have a shed load left over to spend on more camera equipment if you go with a PC!

20 years ago when I started in design, Mac v's PC wasnt a debate, it was a foregone conclusion with very, very good reason. I had one or two at all times till about 5 years ago. Some designers still swear by mac through some really weird consumer loyalty (like apple really care about them, rather than just their hard earned cash...) but all three of my current PC's combined (bought from Dell Outlet) cost less than one mac with half the spec.
 
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