mac or pc?

[stormeffex]

so which operating system is best for art?

i'm planning to buy a computer soon and i want something that can handle the workload. any input would be helpful.

thanks.

[davi]

i'm pretty sure no one is answering because they all use pc ;p

[John P.]

Well, I have no experience in this, but I read in another thread here that Painter 7 is much slower(the brushes) on OS X than Windows 2000/XP.
But Painter 8 is coming up, so by then maybe that's not an issue.

I also read there that Windows 2000 was better for Painter 7 than XP(again, no experience myself).

I've always heard that macs are better than PCs when it comes to art/photo manipulation, but I'm not sure that's the case anymore, with the fastest P4s and AMDs.

The "mac or PC" war will probably never end though... You'll get just as many followers on both sides.

Why not set up a budget; one for a mac, and one for a PC.
As much as you can spend.

Then go to a store and have them show you how it works with the software you're gonna use.

Then you can decide first hand.

[Pontemonti]

or no one wants to get involved in a mac vs. pc fight... ;)
I prefer the pc myself...but I don't do anything art related so in this case my "vote" is useless :D

[I.was.ink]

i use a mac. i don't feel like arguing or anthing. so ill just leave it at that!

[keyth]

i used to have a mac. but i ended up getting a PC because i figured i might have an interest in 3d someday. and what do you know...now i do. besides, i like the way a PC works...navagation-wise that is.

if you have any feeling whatsoever you may be interested in at least playing around with 3d. i highly recommend a PC. the availability for 3d in the mac world is nothing compared to the pc world.


make your decision soon though so you can start working.
:p

[ODIN SIX]

I use both at school,, they both Have strenghs and weekness,

All I can say is Bill Gates will Rule the world someday ,,,
Plus the OS 10 or Jaguar . What ever you want to call it sucks.
On the same note I've had some Problems with XP and Painter at home.....

3D go PC
if not it doesn't matter :chug:

[I.was.ink]

Odin six. jaguar does not suck. compared to pc's crappy operating system, jaguar kills it! no inovation. plain old boring!:mad:

[stormeffex]

thanks for the responses everyone. this is going to be a hard decision because they both have their strengths and weaknesses. i definitely do want to do some 3d work someday...but for right now i just want to stick to the 2d world. i plan on using photoshop and painter a lot so i guess it doesn't really matter what i get right now. i just need something to work on.

btw...that jaguar does look kick-ass

[I.was.ink]

you bet the jaguar looks KICK ASS! best operating system ever. And not according to me. But some Microsoft said it themselves!!!

Why do u think that in Window XP, they made everything more colorful and tried, but weren't successful in making theyre computers look more highteck!:)

[Jason Manley]

all the game developers use pc's at work....but android for example uses a mac at home.

i use a p4 2.4 with a gig of ram and a gforce 4.

dell :)

j

[Lono]

who cares how it looks?

if you ever want to play games get a PC.

if you ever want to do 3d,, get a PC.

if you ever want to get "free" software and goodies from those wonderful P2P sharing programs,, get a PC.

XP is just as dummy proof and user friendly as system 10 or any other mac os.

if your PC breaks,, you can have one of your geek friends fix it. its pretty easy to single out problems on a pc.
if your mac goes bad you gotta pay a tec monkey to come out to your house and do his vodoo. macs arent as easy to work on yourself.

if you want a tricked out case,, slap some ground effects on that bitch and maby some fuzzy dice... maby even a smoke machine??

-Lono

[Groady]

I use macs at school (I study graphics) yet I have a PC at home. Not so long ago if you wanted to work in the print industry a mac would definatly be what you needed. Macs have generally been more reliable than PC's however this has changed now with the release of XP (it's not perfect I know). I can tell you right now that I will never buy a mac and never suggest anyone buys one for the simple fact you can do everything on a pc that you can do on a mac. I often laugh to myself when people in my class say they are going to buy one.

[Fipse]

I´m workin with both - Mac at work and PC at home. In normal cases I would say that a PC is enough for most work. They are cheaper and faster. But even if XP is more reliable than the earlier WinOS a lot of the systemwork is a lot more complicated than MacOS. E.g. in troubleshooting, Network, deinstalling and installing of programs. As I am a SysOp in our firm I prefer to give our graphics a Mac because they can´t do much wrong with them (graphic artists are notorious for being dumbass with computers ;)).

The choice of programs is a criterium, too. If you´re with picture, vector and DTP you can get everything you need for the Mac. But if you´re working with Internet databases (e.g. Cold Fusion, Oracle) and normal Databases you simply have to take a PC. So our complete Internet-Crew is equipped with PC`s.

If you don´t want to care about working yourself in the system and not the programs I think a Mac is the better choice. If you want to spend some more time on learning system background but have a cheaper and often faster system the PC would be your choice. Reliability isn´t a matter anymore. Personally I would recommend not XP with its still existing security problems but Windows 2000 what seems to me the most reliable system I´ve been working with yet.

Something else is if you´re planning to work with the printing industry. I myself am Producer in the ads and we simply have to work with Macs out of matters of compatibility. Due to our customers we often have to work with open data and so can´t use printoptimized PDF and here in Germany the printing industry is dominated by Macs.

As you see there isn´t simply the choice of the "better" system. There are different reasons for both of them and in my function as a SysOp I use them both.

I hope this could help you.

Fipse
(who´s got to work on his vocabulary ...)

[Groady]

Originally posted by Fipse
graphic artists are notorious for being dumbass with computers ;)


haha... In my experience I would have to agree. However I'd like to point out that I studied computer systems for 18 months so I'm not as notoriously dumb as most :D However I did drop out :p

[stormeffex]

thanks everyone for their insight into comps. fipse, you're explaination really helped me to decide on what i want to get. you're right in saying that reliability isn't an issue anymore because everything is basically at the same level. i think that i will get a pc because it just feels more convenient. even if the print industry do use macs, it really isn't an issue anymore because there's cd's now, right...universal to both computers. so now the question is what kind of pc should i get? dell...compaq...gateway...or just build from scratch? any recommendations would help me. thanks.

tou

[Pontemonti]

I don't know about different brands like Dell and Compaq etc...they should be equally good if they have the same hardware inside of them :D
Anyway...as for processors, you have two choices. Either get an AMD processor. At the very least they have been cheaper and had better performance than Intel's processors. But they do need more power, get warmer and need bigger, noisier fans. I recently visited someone who had a new Intel P4 2.0 GHz and I was surprised at how silent it was! So...Intel if you don't want the noise, AMD if you want a little more for the buck. As for speed - get the fastest you can afford. I always try to get the one that gives you the most speed for the money...you'll just have to check prices and stuff.

As for RAM...512 MB DDR sounds good. Get more if you can afford it, but there are other things I would buy instead...

Hard drive...depends on what you're going to do with the computer...if you plan to install more than just a few graphics apps, like lots of games...or if you think you may want to download lots of movies and music or something like that...get a big one! At least, get an 80 GB drive.

Video card...depends on what you're going to with the computer...play games? get the best one! The Radeon 9700 Pro is the best one at the moment - at least that's what they say. If you want to play games: avoid the GeForce MX cards.

CD/DVD...I've had a slot-in DVD for years...it's great. DVDs aren't that useful if you don't plan on doing something with movies (watching or copying) on the computer, though. But as more people get DVD burners, it could be useful to have at least a DVD-Rom. Then get a cheap CD burner as well. If you don't want a DVD-Rom, get only a CD burner...there are lots of cheap and fast ones at the moment :)

Monitor...it's all about what you want to pay...the bigger the better...those flat TFT monitors are really neat. I can't really help you with this one - I don't have the experience :P

You'll probably also want a floppy drive and a soundcard (the motherboard may have built-in sound, but if you want better sound you should get a soundcard) - I would recommend something by Creative Labs (Sound Blaster)...which card you should get depends on what kind of sound you want and how you're going to output it (directly to some kind of speakers (stereo or surround?) or headphones or through an amplifier of some kind?)...
And for internet connection...you'll either need a modem of some kind or maybe a network card (for DSL modems or other faster connections).

Don't forget the mouse and keyboard! :D

And good luck! :)

[gekitsu]

something that may have value for your decision is the kind of "mentality" you prefer with your graphics tool:

a pc, you can buy in single parts, assemble it yourself (yes, YOU can... even i did it and my puter works fine), install win2k on it (best win around) and you're done with YOUR computer. custom-fitted to your needs.
you want some special piece of hardware? just buy it and build it in the box.

on the other hand, the mac is like: you buy a mac type blablabla, you have a mac type blablabla. you buy a program and ask: "does it run on a mac blablabla?" "yes sir"
and it runs on your mac blablabla.
it's more like a console in this regard. there aren't games that run on your ps2 but not mine because i built some parts in it the game doesn't like.

as for os... what does it matter? try the default OS, either won2k or xp, no idea about current mac OS versions, though... just what everyone sais he uses.
if you don't like it, install linux.