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[Burger]

I work at a business that deals with the production of signs and wide format printing. My role is the cheif designer (out of 4) and I mostly deal with design & printing. We are shifting to new offices soon, and part of the budget allows for new computers for both my self and one of my co-workers.

At present everyone is using PC's, 10 of them in total, 4 of which are involved in design. I put forward to my boss that my next PC should possibly be a Macintosh. We deal with alot of advertising agencies who work on macs, and supply mac files/fonts. I only really work with Photoshop/Illustrator, and to a lesser extent, Freehand.

Here is where I am stuck. From the specs I can find, it doesn't look as if I'm going to get the same value for my dollar by going Apple. Currently I am looking at:

- Apple iMac G5 20" 1.8ghz version, with ram upgraded to the 2gig max.

Is this going to short change me down the line ? The limited ram concerns me. I consider 2gig to be a comfortable amount, but would PREFER the option for more. As far as intergrating into our windows workgroup (DHCP) network, I don't see a problem. There is some proprietary windows based software that I use, but I will have a spare PC to use if I need.

My workmates PC will be a A64 3000+, 2g ram with a 19" Viewsonic LCD. This will be just under half the price of the Apple iMac.

Another option would be:

Bottom of the line Powermac G5 1.8ghz. This will cost me slightly less than the iMac once the ram has been upgraded, and has almost the same specs in other areas, but has no screen. Add a bottom of the line Cinema Display (20") and I'm almost double the price of the iMac, which seems unfair, as the specs are the same.

I could tack on the same 19" LCD as my workmate as a different option. Here is everything price wise. All prices are in New Zealand dollars keep in mind. (Ram price is for x2 Transcend 1gig DDR400 sticks)

iMac 20" 1.8ghz -$3195 (+$754 2gig ram) = $3949
Powermac 1.8ghz - $2555 (+$754 ram) (+$1705 20" Cinema Display) = $5014
Powermac 1.8ghz - $2555 (+754 ram) (+$696 19" Viewsonic LCD) = $4005

I really would like to get a Mac, but I'm really not sure what option to choose. If anyone would like to comment, or make a different suggestion, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Shogmaster]

I'M NOT FALLING FOR THIS OBVIOUS TRAP!!!! NOSIREEBOB!

 

[thom]

I think you've already made your decision.

Mac all the way.

 

[fart]

i think the imacs are a mistake for home purchases (ironically what they were made for) but in a business enviro where supporting old hardware is usually a waste of time and hardware is often leased anyways, the imac might not be so bad a deal. pay some kid 20$ to pop some sticks of DRAM into them when you get them though.

otherwise the g5 should work out well.

in a design environment, there is unmistakably added value in going with the macintosh platform given how standard it is.

 

[Burger]

Maybe the PC vs Mac title is misleading. It should be What Mac to Get ?

I can list pro's & cons if you like (to getting a mac):

+Business would be able to accept all font & disc formats
+Better desktop environment
+Some graphs indicate Photoshop runs better on a mac

-Would not be able to use 2 pieces of windows based software that I rarely use
-Possible workmate confusion when my files have no extension
-Would people be able to use my PC if I am away ? Unknown

 

[xsarien]

Get the tower, they have more flexibility and future-proofing (in terms of open PCI and memory slots) than the iMac.

Also, the Mac won't care if you put file extensions in the file names. To the Mac file system, they're just part of the name. And, like XP, OS X can have muliple users.

 

[Shogmaster]

Maybe the PC vs Mac title is misleading. It should be What Mac to Get ?

I can list pro's & cons if you like (to getting a mac):

+Business would be able to accept all font & disc formats
+Better desktop environment
+Some graphs indicate Photoshop runs better on a mac

-Would not be able to use 2 pieces of windows based software that I rarely use
-Possible workmate confusion when my files have no extension
-Would people be able to use my PC if I am away ? Unknown

OK, so fell for the trap once again....

The fact that all of the place is using PCs should clue you in on what you should get for the place with their money. What if you leave the place? Do they have to deal with your personal preference long after you have left?

That's even before the fact that the faster A64 machine (creams G5 in overall Photoshop performance where multithreaded ops are the minority) is half the money.

 

[bionic77]

Jesus, that is a lot of money for a computer. What kind of PC could you build for 3000+?

I love the laptops Apple makes, but I don't think I could drop that kind of change on a computer. Not a problem for you though, since your job is paying for it.

 

[Burger]

Shog does raise valid points...

 

[xsarien]

Jesus, that is a lot of money for a computer. What kind of PC could you build for 3000+?

One thing should be made very clear:
A lot of businesses do not (and really, for the sake of productivity in the event of something breaking, shouldn't) build their own machines. From the smallest places I've worked, to my current gig which is (relatively) big, we're all on pre-fab computers. Something craps out, we get a replacement part ASAP, no questions asked, free of charge.

And just to address this:

The fact that all of the place is using PCs should clue you in on what you should get for the place with their money. What if you leave the place? Do they have to deal with your personal preference long after you have left?

They wouldn't have to deal with jack and/or shit. An OS X box can talk to a Windows network just fine with little effort. Everything else should be - and probably is - completely transparent.

 

[Burger]

One thing should be made very clear:
A lot of businesses do not (and really, for the sake of productivity in the event of something breaking, shouldn't) build their own machines. From the smallest places I've worked, to my current gig which is (relatively) big, we're all on Dells and HPs. Something craps out, we get a replacement part ASAP, no questions asked, free of charge.

I've built 3 of the PC's where I work, and for the money spent, they are the best performers. If I can save $600 doing it that way, I can spend that much more on the nicer things, such as displays etc.

Granted, if a tech-minded person like me left, it wouldn't be good, as there wouldn't be one company per se to fall back on for support needs. Pro's and Con's to each.

 

[Shogmaster]

They wouldn't have to deal with jack and/or shit. An OS X box can talk to a Windows network just fine.

If he leaves (I thought I typed that clearly in the first place), it may be likely that someone under him might take over his job. They all seem to be PC users from his descriptions.

 

[Burger]

They wouldn't have to deal with jack and/or shit. An OS X box can talk to a Windows network just fine with little effort. Everything else should be - and probably is - completely transparent.

Thats true. My co-worker hates macs (biased loathing based on ghz ratings & graphs) , so he would never use it. My replacement however would need a design/print background, so would probably be expecting to work on a Mac anyway.

 

[Shogmaster]

My replacement however would need a design/print background, so would probably be expecting to work on a Mac anyway.

New grads out of design schools are increasingly less Mac only. When I was in school (pre-win 95), doing graphic design on PCs was a joke. But this is no longer the early 90's, is it?

I'd say the split is now well past 50/50, and tilted more towards the PC side.

 

[God's Hand]

The company I work for (very large outfit) just switched us from 400MHz G4s on OS9 to Dual 2GHz G5s on OSX with Creative Suite.

While the interface of OSX is smooth and animated, it's limited in functionality. This Dual G5 does not run faster than the fastest PC, and is much more expensive. There are no benefits to a Apple over a PC, except if you care about looks. Everything possible on a Mac is possible on a PC, and MUCH more.

One thing I can't stand already is that you can't activate a lot of fonts in OSX. We have to use Suitcase X1 to manage our fonts, and it's just ridiculous. On Windows XP, you can have almost as many fonts as you want located in the windows/fonts folder with no hit on resources. Windows font handing is superior. I constantly run into problems with duplicates because of auto-activation in Suitcase. If we were using Windows, that problem wouldn't exist.

Another thing I detest is how OSX handles files. We have a bunch of EPS files from OS9 built in Illustrator 7 transferred to OSX. If you double click these files, it opens some wonky Apple Graphics Converter. If you CTRL+CLICK (another setback is only one mouse button) and go OPEN WITH, you can open it with Illustrator. But the thing is... why doesn't the OS know it's an EPS file and why isn't it associated to Illustrator CS? Windows looks at the file extension, and that's it. If it's an .eps, Windows knows it opens with Illustrator CS, no matter what original software made the file. That is the superior setup.

PCs are just faster as well. InDesign, I've noticed, is incredibly smoother and opens faster on my PC, which costs a third of the Mac. I must admit I was expecting great things from our brand new G5s, but maybe I'm just not that easily impressed.

I guess I can't be entirely negative, so I will mention what I find positive:

The Dock is really cool. I know most Mac-heads hate it, but I find it extremely useful to be able to drag an app into the dock and then drag files over it to open quickly. The magnification is nifty eyecandy as well.

Searching is just awesome. I can select two drives on the network in a Finder window, and set search to SELECTION and start typing away for an image number and it will find it within seconds. It's live search, so as you type, results appear. I find this to be incredibly useful.

Finder's column view is fantastic, and makes for browsing and managing files less of a chore.

That's all I can think of offhand. But the negatives in terms of a creative environment far outweigh the positives of the OS. You may enjoy looking at the beautifully crafted G5 for a week, but you will soon discover the weaknesses of the Apple product and start to wish you had a PC. That's if you don't let your head get clouded with the colorful, animated GUI.

 

[God's Hand]

Also, we subscribe to many trade papers that have to do with design and printing. Windows has already overtaken Apple as the defacto standard in creative environments. Sure, there are a few well known studios that use Apple, but don't be fooled. The industry is shifting. Ask Adobe. Sales for their products on PCs have been surging for years, while Mac sales drop.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Shog dunno what design schools you speak of but they sure do love Macs at most of the NYC ones I've visited last year

 

[God's Hand]

dunno what design schools you speak of but they sure do love Macs at most of the NYC ones I've visited last year

All design schools have Macs. In any designer's career, they will have to use a Mac at some point. Just the way things work. The whole industry is going through major changes, though. Mac to PC. Quark to InDesign. Brand new printing processes. Everyone's also trying to save money as well.

Apple must be credited with starting the DTP revolution. But their overpriced hardware and proprietary ways are already working against them.

You can thank Adobe for making multiplatform software. If there was no Adobe software to PC, Mac will still have a monopoly.

 

[Freestyler]

Every major design agency uses Macs solely, so if you want your company to compete you're gonna have to get some Macs in there.

I work at a large design/print agency as a designer. Most of us have G5s, and they just tear Photoshop apart (in a good way that is). It's such a breeze sending/receiving files from other companies all over the world, as they generally all use Macs too (other agencies).

The workflows you can get going on once you're familiar with OS X (Panther is needed) are unbelievable. Thinks like having Expose set to hot corners, so with about two moves of the mouse and one click, you can throw a PDF into Illustrator or an Illustrator file into Photoshop.

One thing I can't stand already is that you can't activate a lot of fonts in OSX. We have to use Suitcase X1 to manage our fonts, and it's just ridiculous. On Windows XP, you can have almost as many fonts as you want located in the windows/fonts folder with no hit on resources. Windows font handing is superior. I constantly run into problems with duplicates because of auto-activation in Suitcase. If we were using Windows, that problem wouldn't exist.

You can turn off auto-activation you know. I find Suitcase extremely handy, especially when you have 2,000 fonts on your Mac and don't want 2,000 all activated at once. And to say that you can have unlimited fonts in Windows and not have programs take a hit? That's crap, try opening Photoshop with 2,000 fonts activated. The system will probably freak out and die.

 

[Shogmaster]

Shog dunno what design schools you speak of but they sure do love Macs at most of the NYC ones I've visited last year

If you've read what I've said, the idea is that less and less people coming out of schools are only familar with Mac environments. Sure, the schools may be chock full of Macs, but practicality forces many of them to be familiar with PC environment as well.

BTW, this is moot for programs like Photohsop, Painter and Illustrator etc that works exactly the same way in both sides. Only thing you have to know is the differences in CTRL, ALT, SHIFT vs CTRL, OPTION, SHIFT, etc..

 

[Shogmaster]

I work at a large design/print agency as a designer. Most of us have G5s, and they just tear Photoshop apart (in a good way that is). It's such a breeze sending/receiving files from other companies all over the world, as they generally all use Macs too (other agencies).

You send a PSD file created on your Mac to me, and I will have zero problems opening that puppy up and working on it on my PC.

 

[fart]

Also, we subscribe to many trade papers that have to do with design and printing. Windows has already overtaken Apple as the defacto standard in creative environments. Sure, there are a few well known studios that use Apple, but don't be fooled. The industry is shifting. Ask Adobe. Sales for their products on PCs have been surging for years, while Mac sales drop.

this market has been in the middle of the same struggle for going on ten years+

i think apple still has a larger market share, but don't quote me on that. i'm not 100% sure that's the situation right now.

jesus shog, don't try to argue the technology. you're like a blind man.

what matters is compatibility in the market. the differences in pc prices are minor compared to possible productivity gains/losses. and no, 15ms on a gaussian blur is not a significant productivity gain.

if you're finding that others are using the mac platform and your choice of wintel machines is costing you serious time, don't buy more wintel machines.

one note on font handling though - i don't agree that font handling in xp is any better than os x. that said, font handling is os x definitely leaves something to be desired (the panther font manager is worthless, and suitcase is a buggy piece of crap god don't even start me on blue box). fonts are just generally a nightmare.

for those who aren't shog, how is the win32 quark?

 

[Shogmaster]

jesus shog, don't try to argue the technology. you're like a blind man.

what matters is compatibility in the market. the differences in pc prices are minor compared to possible productivity gains/losses. and no, 15ms on a gaussian blur is not a significant productivity gain.

if you're finding that others are using the mac platform and your choice of wintel machines is costing you serious time, don't buy more wintel machines.

I share Photoshop projects with Mac guys all the time. We have no problem handing off PSD files to each other in the middle of work. I really don't see what the hell would be a compatibility problem.

 

[Dilbert]

A couple of things:

1) The buying scenario is not your PERSONAL choice -- it needs to be based on what makes the most sense for the COMPANY. If your customers primarily or exclusively use Macs, then your business needs at least one Mac, if not more. Customers drive your business -- it's a no-brainer. It's good that you have some personal input into the choice since it sounds like you're considering it carefully and it would probably end up being your PC, but remember that you ought to be driving the decision on the business case.

2) In the grand scheme of things, hardware is NOT the main driver in overall cost to a business -- productivity is. If you buy a Windows PC, but have to constantly spend a ton of time in workarounds to deal with Mac inputs from your customer, you're actually spending MORE money than you would have otherwise. If no workarounds exist, then you have problems, period. Ultimately, you can justify the cost of very expensive hardware if it is the best or only choice for your purposes. (Lord knows at my company we've bought some wickedly expensive Sun boxes for just that reason: they get the job done.)

3) In a small shop, building your own computers may be acceptable. In a larger business, it's unthinkable that you could do such a thing. The right way to look at costs to compare large OEMs, along with their service plans. If you're the tech support, something like AppleCare may be a good investment, and hedge against leaving them without support.

4) The iMac is going to be less expandable than the PowerMac, and is therefore less desirable. Otherwise, I don't know anything about specific tradeoffs between Apple models -- I don't own any, and it's been years since I last used one. Hopefully others can contribute.

 

[Burger]

Thanks jinx, thats the most helpfull reply yet.

This is hard.

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

This Dual G5 does not run faster than the fastest PC, and is much more expensive. There are no benefits to a Apple over a PC, except if you care about looks. Everything possible on a Mac is possible on a PC, and MUCH more.

Not if you are in the music industry.

Apple >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> PC in that respect.

im sorry, having a Beast ass PC doesnt mean shit if software isnt even being made specifically for it like it is for the Mac.

 

[Dilbert]

Thanks jinx, thats the most helpfull reply yet.

This is hard.

In engineering, you call it a "trade study." Instead of trying to make a choice, you try to make as objective an analysis as possible. Make a list of critical attributes, assign a weight to each, hand out grades for each thing being evaluated, multiply each grade by the weight, and add up the values to find out who wins.

So, if I were buying a car, my important factors and weights (on a scale of 1-10) might be something like:

Size (4)
Cost (10)
Style (8)
Horsepower (5)
Interior Amenities (7)
Country of Manufacture (2)

Let's say I was evaluating a Nissan Altima. I might give out grades like these: Size = 80, Cost = 70, Style = 75, Horsepower = 60, Interior Amenities = 65, Country = 75. The total score would be 4*80 + 10*70 + 8*75 + 5*60 + 7*65 + 2*75. I could grade each car I was interested in the same way, and see how the numbers came out in the end.

An approach like that might work for you as well. Some of the factors might be things like compatibility with key customer applications, hardware cost, support cost, training cost, software cost (since you'll need Mac-specific apps), expandability, reliability (how likely the machines are to fail), and -- last but not least -- desirability. Yes, how much you like a machine IS a factor to be considered...just give it a weight and a grade like everything else. The important thing is to REALLY think about the weights -- there should be a pretty good spread between the most important and least important -- and see if you can find a measurable criteria for each grade. For cost, it's easy -- you just need to normalize dollars. But for things like "compatibility," you want to think about some way of measuring how compatible a Mac or a PC would be. Is there a PC app which can read the same file type, but might not support 100% of the features? Give it a lower grade. Are they identical apps? Same grade.

Hope that helps...

 

[Shogmaster]

Powermac 1.8ghz - $2555 (+$754 ram) (+$1705 20" Cinema Display) = $5014

Just to put it in perspective, the same $5000 could be (all you spec and cost analysis haters, close your eyes):

$90 for the 430 True Power, $170 for the 939 mobo, $300 for a 2.2Ghz A64, $120 for a 16X dual layer SATA DVD+-RW, $740 for 2 sets of these @GB PC3200 dual channel sets (4GB), $230 for a 300GB Seagate SATA, and $200 for a 6600GT PCIe videocard for grand total of only $1850 (As long as you are not in CA, NJ, PR, and TN) for the computer, and $3150+ left over for this fucking beauty, PLUS this to run in dual monitor.

edit: here's a mock up for such a set up:

 

[God's Hand]

Every major design agency uses Macs solely, so if you want your company to compete you're gonna have to get some Macs in there.

I work at a large design/print agency as a designer. Most of us have G5s, and they just tear Photoshop apart (in a good way that is). It's such a breeze sending/receiving files from other companies all over the world, as they generally all use Macs too (other agencies).

The workflows you can get going on once you're familiar with OS X (Panther is needed) are unbelievable. Thinks like having Expose set to hot corners, so with about two moves of the mouse and one click, you can throw a PDF into Illustrator or an Illustrator file into Photoshop.

False. We share files between Mac and PCs all the time. Haven't come across a problem yet, aside from minor font naming issues. And you really offer no real reason as to why it's superior. Because you can send files? I can do that on a PC just as easy. Expose is overrated. It's easier to click the Finder button in the dock, or any app in the dock, to get back to where you need to go.

You can turn off auto-activation you know. I find Suitcase extremely handy, especially when you have 2,000 fonts on your Mac and don't want 2,000 all activated at once. And to say that you can have unlimited fonts in Windows and not have programs take a hit? That's crap, try opening Photoshop with 2,000 fonts activated. The system will probably freak out and die.

Waiting to see this problem where my system will "freak out and die". The only known drawback to having thousands of fonts in the Windows folder is that right-clicking in IE takes 2 seconds longer. Weird.

We need auto-activation for what we do. I open at least a hundred different files a day, and can't be bothered with activating fonts myself. On a PC, it would just be quicker.

Really, it's nice that you enjoy the Mac. But the PC is cheaper, faster, and does more. Not sure how this can even be argued.

BTW, I own an iPod, so it's not like I'm anti-Mac. I'm just smart.

 

[fart]

the worst part of competing platforms is the fucking fanboys

 

[God's Hand]

one note on font handling though - i don't agree that font handling in xp is any better than os x. that said, font handling is os x definitely leaves something to be desired (the panther font manager is worthless, and suitcase is a buggy piece of crap god don't even start me on blue box). fonts are just generally a nightmare.

for those who aren't shog, how is the win32 quark?

No one uses font management utilties on Windows because they are pointless. Microsoft devised a way of letting the system have thousands of fonts activated with no hit on performance. This way you don't have folders all over the place with possible duplicates and damaged fonts.

Win32 Quark is the same as OSX Quark. They both suck. I have to use Quark 6.5 now and then... going from InDesign to it is like stepping into a time machine. Quark hasn't changed since 3.31. I read somewhere that they are still using code from 3 in 6. It sure looks that way.

 

[Ill Saint]

Win32 Quark is the same as OSX Quark. They both suck. I have to use Quark 6.5 now and then... going from InDesign to it is like stepping into a time machine. Quark hasn't changed since 3.31. I read somewhere that they are still using code from 3 in 6. It sure looks that way.

How long do you think until InDesign overtakes Quark as the standard? Personally, I'm finding that most firms are really not that eager to shift... most would prefer to stick with Quark as long as it does the job.

 

[pjberri]

Another thing I detest is how OSX handles files. We have a bunch of EPS files from OS9 built in Illustrator 7 transferred to OSX. If you double click these files, it opens some wonky Apple Graphics Converter. If you CTRL+CLICK (another setback is only one mouse button) and go OPEN WITH, you can open it with Illustrator. But the thing is... why doesn't the OS know it's an EPS file and why isn't it associated to Illustrator CS? Windows looks at the file extension, and that's it. If it's an .eps, Windows knows it opens with Illustrator CS, no matter what original software made the file. That is the superior setup.

Click on an .eps file, any one, and hit 'command i', then go into the 'Open With' menu, select Illustrator and hit 'Change All'. All your .eps files should open in Illustrator now, and you can do that with any file type.

And you can set OSX to show file types, to whoever was saying something about that. I've forgotten how, but you can.

 

[Manabanana]

Just to put it in perspective, the same $5000 could be (all you spec and cost analysis haters, close your eyes):

$90 for the 430 True Power, $170 for the 939 mobo, $300 for a 2.2Ghz A64, $120 for a 16X dual layer SATA DVD+-RW, $740 for 2 sets of these @GB PC3200 dual channel sets (4GB), $230 for a 300GB Seagate SATA, and $200 for a 6600GT PCIe videocard for grand total of only $1850 (As long as you are not in CA, NJ, PR, and TN) for the computer, and $3150+ left over for this fucking beauty, PLUS this to run in dual monitor.

edit: here's a mock up for such a set up:

The problem with that is, he's not really in a position to have a bunch of machines built from off-the-shelf parts.

 

[Shogmaster]

The problem with that is, he's not really in a position to have a bunch of machines built from off-the-shelf parts.

I'd think his office mates will help with that no problem. Infact, it sound like one of his officemate is getting an A64 box built.

And he was just talking about one machine for himself anyways.

 

[fart]

And you can set OSX to show file types, to whoever was saying something about that. I've forgotten how, but you can.

you wouldn't really want to see the metadata attached to HFS+ files. you're free to use the dot filename notation though, if it helps you. the panther finder might even take this into account on occasion (not sure about this one).

 

[Manabanana]

I'd think his office mates will help with that no problem. Infact, it sound like one of his officemate is getting an A64 box built.

And he was just talking about one machine for himself anyways.

Well, shit man. I'm a mac slut and everything, but if you can get the Cintiq out of the deal, go with Shog's setup. :lol It would almost be worth all the spyware and adware trouble to own one of those.

 

[Shogmaster]

Well, shit man. I'm a mac slut and everything, but if you can get the Cintiq out of the deal, go with Shog's setup. :lol It would almost be worth all the spyware and adware trouble to own one of those.

Kind of OT, but I'm so damn excited about the prospects of getting that beautiful 21UX, I can barely stand it! :lol

I haven't been this excited about spending $2500 since that one night in bangkok*!







*

Spoiler

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I've never actually been to bangkok

 

[Screenboy]

If your running mulitple programs then Mac's are the way to go.

Mac's are great for running alot of big programs like Illustrator, Photoshop and Quark, if you ran those all at the same time on a PC, it'd probably crash and when saving files take longer.

I work for a Printing company where I usually design stuff and/or set it up for output on a 5 colour printing press and everything is done on Macs, we'd really struggle if we didn't have them.

We just got a brand new G5 and networking it with our other Mac's was a piece of piss, using Firewire you can basically transfer your old stuff from one comp to the other. At first we was worrying that this would be hard to network with us filesharing all the time and being connected to 2 RIPs but we haven't had any problems at all.

^Im at work now and can I say I love browsing the t'internet on this baby.

 

[Shogmaster]

If your running mulitple programs then Mac's are the way to go.

Mac's are great for running alot of big programs like Illustrator, Photoshop and Quark, if you ran those all at the same time on a PC, it'd probably crash and when saving files take longer.

Someone forgot to tell my PC to crash when running multiple 200+MB files on Photoshop, Painter, and Illustrator at the same time.

Do you think I should call MS to report this bug?

 

[Manabanana]

Kind of OT, but I'm so damn excited about the prospects of getting that beautiful 21UX, I can barely stand it! :lol

I haven't been this excited about spending $2500 since that one night in bangkok*!







*

Spoiler

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I've never actually been to bangkok

Hell yeah! Be sure to make a thread with impressions when you get it.

 

[Shogmaster]

Hell yeah! Be sure to make a thread with impressions when you get it.

Was there even a doubt that such a thread wouldn't be made by yours truly? :lol

No worries bud, I'm on the case!

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

shog....stop being such a blind follower...i love my PC as well, but truth is...macs are where its at when it comes to production whether its music/art/video...etc

with that said.....expose is like the greatest thing ever....i SERIOUSLY wish Windows Xp would just Rip it off and somehow implement it something like it with an update....

I find myself doing expose type actions on my PC and then getting annoyed....

peace

 

[Shogmaster]

shog....stop being such a blind follower...i love my PC as well, but truth is...macs are where its at when it comes to production whether its music/art/video...etc

I'm a blind follow because I started out on Macs doing digital art stuff, huh? *place rolleyes here*

I speak from experience. I'm as far away from a "blind follower" as one can get. Point that stick elsewhere in this thread.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

Unless its gonna be for computer graphics , just get a mac, you will feel better after spending more money, you'll have the only one, and their designs are so cooool. Then again you could get a fucking Dual opteron rig with NUMA and maybe 8 gigs of ram for that much god damn son. That apple cinema display is nice though!

 

[Hooker]

Did some of you miss the section where he's talking about New Zealand dollars?!?

 

[Shogmaster]

Did some of you miss the section where he's talking about New Zealand dollars?!?

:lol :lol :lol OMG, how many of us missed that? :lol :lol :lol



That's like $3600 US dollars. Still could get the 21UX and a build a good A64 unit with 2GB of RAM though.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get hooked on phonics now. :lol

 

[FortNinety]

with that said.....expose is like the greatest thing ever....i SERIOUSLY wish Windows Xp would just Rip it off and somehow implement it something like it with an update....

Got that right. Apple was not bullshitting when it said that it would be the biggest enhancement to the Mac OS user experience ever. I can't even think about using a computer without it.

Anyway, the bottom line is that if you want to be serious about print, film, and like F2B said music, you are best going with a Mac.

For those who say that PCs are taking over the Mac's dominance, maybe if things go at the pace they are in say 10 years. And a lot can happen in that time.

Plus those bitching about problems with Mac and PCs have obviously never touched a Mac in the past five years.

 

[SteveMeister]

Here's another reason why you might need to get a PC, Burger -- I don't know if this applies to your company, but some companies buy site licenses for software they use -- say, 10 seats of Photoshop. The vendor MAY not be willing to split the license between PC and Mac versions, and so your company would have to buy an individual licensed copy for each piece of software you need to run, which would increase the company's costs.

If they buy software piecemeal anyway, it's not really an issue.

Another thing you should consider is that the specs of the 20" iMac's display are NOT identical to those of the Apple 20" Cinema Display. The Cinema Display has a better contrast ratio. I'm not sure if the pixel response time is different, but the fact that the contrast ratio is different leads me to believe they are different LCD's, despite the identical resolution. For design work, the Cinema Display is probably more desirable (plus, it can be used on a PC or a Mac and thus is a better investment for your company).

 

[Jr.]

Get an inexpensive PC for the stuff that wont run on the Mac. Then get yourself the mac for design stuff. The user interface of the mac is designed around designers.

Mac all the way for desing, PC if you need SoftImage or 3DS Max.