Mac or Windows?

[natso]

think the title speaks for itself..
i want want to buy a new computer.. might be able to get one.. anyway.. what do you use and why do u use it? i have experience with both but dont know what is nicer to ork with.. i like windows but lots of designers choose Mac.. why is that?

[unit_number_43]

Originally posted by natso@28 Minutes Ago
think the title speaks for itself..
i want want to buy a new computer.. might be able to get one.. anyway.. what do you use and why do u use it? i have experience with both but dont know what is nicer to ork with.. i like windows but lots of designers choose Mac.. why is that?

[snapback]89326[/snapback]

In the 80's and early 90's Mac systems had much better gamma correction on their monitors. Ergo mac became the standard in the art and design industry. Old habits die hard, but the design industry is slowly dividing between the two systems. To do a mac to pc conversion can be difficult, depending on alot of variables. For a single person to switch, it's no big deal.

:edit:
I forgot to mention another reason why mac's were so popular, especially in the 3d moddeling field. RISC(PPC) vs. CISC(x86). I won't go too deeply into the tech jargon, because it frankly confuses me sometimes. Sufficed to say a PPC chip of the same (and even lower) clockspeed as an x86 chip performed better because it had shorter pipelines. Floating point calculations on a PPC would absolutely demolish the CISC based chips. Not to mention that the RISC's often had much better effeciency ratings.
:/edit:

Here's a breakdown of the good and bad as I see it.

Mac

+ Reliable (apple built everything in that machine to work with that machine. no driver problems or incompatible hardware. it's gauranteed to just work.)
+ The Desktop (It's freaking beautiful)
+ Speed (like I said, apple built the entire system as a single unit. Everything is finely tuned and compatible.)
+ Easy (once you adapt to the way a mac works it becomes soooo easy to use)

- Software (there's a lot more software out there for windows than their is for macs)
- Gaming (that goes doubly so for gaming. There are only a handful of game titles available for the mac)
- Compatibility (sometimes you can run into some serious problems when passing files between a mac and a windows system)
- Expense (they ain't cheap)

Apple is moving over to an Intle based CPU instead of their PPC's. So if you are going to buy a mac, wait until those new chips are released. They should be out by 2006 on most systems.

Windows

+ Software (just about any kind of software can be bought for windows)
+ Expense (an x86 box is cheap to build and a windows liscence isn't too harsh either)
+ Gaming (you can't beat a solid x86 box for gaming, especially with a 64bit CPU)

- Unstable (you run into a lot of problems, not just with software, but also hardware)
- Scattered Support (You're dealing with multiple companies making each peice of hardware, getting help and servicing can be a problem sometimes)
- Attacks (Windows has more holes than Bush's WMD in iraq report)
- Just plain ugly (fess up, there isn't a pretty looking reasonable priced x86 machine out their, and XP out of the box is pretty ugly in itself)


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I would recommend a Mac if you have the money for one (remember, you're going to have to actually buy the software too, there's not much mac warez out there), and you're not going to be gaming...and you're not going to be doing alot of work with Windows machines.

If you can't meet those requirements then you'd be better off using a Windows machine.

I, personally, would get a mac.

[CrazyGamer]

There is almost no difference between a mac and a pc at the moment, well wait a moment, ya there is. if you want to spend a lot of mula you can get an AMD dualcore and make you comp hella fast. Pc's you can upgrade with hardware whereas if you were to try that with a mac i will wish you luck. Also if you belive the myth that macs are all that faster at graphics you are pretty much dead wrong. I mean look at Alienwares comps. They are pretty much ten times better then the G5. Apple has yet to come out with a new version for the mac so i deffintly don't recomend getting one. Also if you home build your comp you can have one that is a hell of lot better then anything on the market.

[MetalSkin]

Well 43 beat me to a punch but summed it up very well. The only thing 43 didnt' mention was that you can buy pc's and have then run very well without any problems if you take a few simple precautions, which are:

Dont run pirate software
Dont run pirate software
Dont run pirate software

Can't stress that enough, a lot of stuff comes through that sh*t.

Also buying a brand name helps a massive amount as normaly there is a lot of work done in making it a quality system, this is more evident with laptops, but holds true for pc's.

[CrazyGamer]

Only if you are paying good money. All these companies now cut huge corners in order to cut costs. And that brings down reliability.

[MetalSkin]

downloading illegal software from a source that has to find a means to provide its revenue garentees that eventualy you will be installing a peice of software that has embedded one of the following:

* Key logger
* virus
* addware
* backdoor

As well as a lot of pirate software is unstable due to the nature in which they hack the software to avoid the anti piracy protection.

[Samuel]

Pc's for general use.

Mac's are nice for video editing tho. It allows for easy compatability. Tho pc's can do it just as well if you some money.

Windows kills in gaming. No more to say on that, lol.

For speed, it depends on what you wanna do. Macs are fast but a pc can easily kicks it ass.

I use both pc's and mac's for different purposes. Mostly pc's with win. xp.

[natso]

lol, this isn't making my choice much easier..
i agree with most that 43 said so i guess mac is better ( and way cooler! )
thanks allot for the comments guys

probably going to be a G5, or maybe an Alienware.. they seem to be pretty good.. got to look into it

cya later

[Samuel]

Dont get an alienware.. they are a rip-off. I would suggest making your own pc ( if you know plenty on how to fix it). If you cant, id suggest buying just a regular pc, like a hp, compaq, dell, or anyother name brand pc, then upgrading it.

Most new packages come with a gig ram, 3 ghz or higher processor (or 64 bit), and a 17" flat pannel monitor. All you need is a good graphics card, mouse and keyboard.

Then you will be able to tackle anything. I would highly suggest getting a windows based pc, strictly based on compatability and cost.

[unit_number_43]

yeah, alienware is not worth the money. check their system specs then go buy those parts yourself and put it together.