PC vs. MAC
- This topic has 34 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated Feb 8, 2010 at 10:50 pm by
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Guys – I know this has more than likely been covered before but I am taking baby steps toward purchasing a new PC. I have a laptop (circa 2006) that works fine but have tried working with some HD video I shot and it simply can not handle it. I have a new DSLR as well and want to start utilizing RAW images as well future plans for video editing. I have always run PCs but am not against switching to a MAC at all. Do you guys have a PC or MAC package you would suggest? Trying to keep $$$ in mind as well. Large Screen is a must.
Yeah go with the Mac. Just so much cleaner user interface from operating system, desktop to all applications.
The user experience will blow you away from time to time. 😮
On a budget? PC. We deploy both Mac and PC at my office. The new 27″ iMac has a drop dead gorgeous display for sure, and if cash isn’t much of a consideration by all means throw down on one w/ 16GB of RAM.
PCs with Windows 7 will do anything the Macs will in all honesty, if you get the right tool set. For about $1000 bucks these days you can get an Alienware Aurora or something along those lines. $465 gets you a 27″ HD display (I really like HP monitors at the moment). That setup saves you more than a grand! In my personal opinion, working with both, I love the Mac but absolutely will not pay the price premium.
At home I run PC.
This is good advice.
My experience is that a Mac will last longer, performance wise, than a PC.
I generally buy a new Mac about every 5-6 years. It still can run the latest software incl. OS, albeit slower than the newest Macs obviously. I’ve rarely heard a PC doing that. PC will run fine the older OS, but chokes on the newest OS.
But no discussion: a Mac is (slightly!) more expensive than your run off the mill PC. But again, you need to compare a Mac with a big name brand like HP or Sony. Not a Wall-mart PC.
I went with a 21.5″ iMac last week for my desktop. I use PC at work and my laptop is PC. For photos, video, music, Net surfing, I went with a mac. Do what I did and buy an itouch first. If the itouch doesn’t make you want a Mac then buy a PC..
BTW, The 27″ looks great in the store and it really makes the 21.5 look small. What’s cool is when you get home and discover how big that 21.5 is on your desk. Looking back I don’t see where a 27 is even needed. As little Elvis would say, Man,,, that thing’s HUGE! The imac also has an LED screen that is just amazing to look at.
I don’t think you can go wrong either way you decide. I personally use PCs for the same kind of stuff you are mentioning with lots of ram, extra cooling fans and duo monitors. The designers I know all use Macs, because that is what designers want and I never dare question them.
These days Macs are not *slightly* more expensive than PCs. On average, they are $1000 more expensive than a comparable PC unit.
Now, let’s do some home work ok?
Notice all iMacs have 3Gz (or better Intel’s i5 CPU is even faster GHz vs GHz) CPU’s while HP (2.1GHz and 2.2GHz) and Sony (2.66 GHz and 2.7 GHz) are (slightly) slower. The CPU speed will be leading in performance, secondary the remaining specs. Between the brands there are small configuration differences (size harddisk, videocard, etc.) but generally all comparable in performance.
Now, Macs are more expensive than the other high brand PC’s with comparable specs?… Don’t think so.
Apple’s iMacs
HP’s all-in-ones
Sony’s all-in-ones
Now, Macs are more expensive than the other high brand PC’s with comparable specs?…
The flaw in your comparison is simply that PC purchasers aren’t compelled to buy an all-in-one.
Towers remain the most common choice among PC desktops, and you can configure a pretty high-end box for $900-$1100. The iMacs we buy, at an enterprise discount, run $2300 and about all we do is bump the RAM up to 6GB from 4.
Again, I think the iMac kicks butt. I would highly recommend one. In actual practice, I run a desktop infrastructure of 1,800 PCs and Macs. I can say definitively that our PC hardware performs to +/- 10% of the Mac units with a $1,200 price difference at the point of purchase.
For us, the simple fact is that most of our graphic designers are so well versed in Mac OS and tools that productivity costs outweigh the initial outlay.
I am a big fan of the iMac. Apple continues to be incredibly adept at delivering beautiful, user-friendly gear. Aside from personal preference, I haven’t seen any real-world performance superiority over our PC units.
That’s just me. I want a Gitzo, but bought a Slik because it does the same thing (with less panache).
. . . tried working with some HD video I shot and it simply can not handle it. .
Kyle, some food for thought. The minimum specs (bare minimum) for doing HD video, say AVCHD or any of the lower formats, includes a Pro level Mac, say MacBook Pro, or tower (iMacs can do it but with significant challenge to the rendering), 4gb Ram (8gb or better much preferred), a good external monitor, and an external drive with minimum 7200rpm (10,000rpm even better) – Raid 0 for performance is great but other setups will work. I strongly recommend you purchase according to your video requirements and then you will be more than setup for doing a RAW photography workflow.
Remember – ALL macs are also PC’s! I have Windows loaded on my travel MacBook Pro and run PC programs with Parallels everyday. That is one thing people often miss with these price comparisons. Macs are two computers in one 😀
On the subject or reliability –
We normally have around 5 or 6 Macs at any one time and have been using them for years.
I’ve found them to be VERY unreliable and fear the worst on a daily basis once they reach an age greater than about 12 months.
At the moment I have a lap-top and two Imacs on the blink.
With laptops, the chargers & mother boards are rubbish and with the Imacs it’s hard drives.
Obviously, we hammer them with hugh photo jobs, but in general, I would say Apple suck in terms of quality.My new work policy is to rent computers for 2 years and them throw them away before they cause any serious trouble.
I doubt my iphone will see 6 months before I apply all 220 of my hard earned pounds to it.. ;D
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Brett, I am curious… what are the main causes of the failure rate? Is it because of poor quality, overheating, worn out parts, or what?
That’s very interesting Brett – I’ve not seen many direct comparisons of PC vs. Mac.
The problem with a failure has never been about warranty or Apple’s service – in fact they’re pretty good in my experience, but every failure or problem creates so much angst in our business that it really doesn’t matter – I suppose that would be the same with a PC failure.
For example, I had a 17′ powerbook that popped motherboards one after the other and everytime Apple replaced the board no questions, but I had to pay for the data recovery and of course live without the machine for a few days.
To their credit, Apple gave me a new 17′ after the third board.www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Brett, I am curious… what are the main causes of the failure rate? Is it because of poor quality, overheating, worn out parts, or what?
We don’t attempt to isolate the engineering reasons for the failures since we don’t make the equipment and get replacement parts under warranty.
We do track which components fail, and with the Macs it is predominantly hard drives and motherboards.
It’s safe to say that heat issues are more likely with an all-in-one like an iMac due to the form factor, as opposed to a tower style PC where more air circulates.
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