Actually one big thing is: what do YOU like best because whatever you buy, you will be stuck with it for at least two years.
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Why Mac for design?
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This goes back 10 years or more to the old MacOS and the PowerMac; PC's running Win98 literally sucked for DTP and creating work. (and WinXP was not a big improvement).
By way of contrast, MacOS 8.6 running on a PowerMac 9600 was excellent, even by today's standards.
The "Holy Trinity" of DTP was Mac Quark/Illustrator/Photoshop, and many publishing houses and service bureaus would not accept anything else.
Hence the Mac bias in the DTP industry.
There was also some debate about the virtues of RISC vs CISC processing. (Mac = RISC; PC = CISC)
Anymore, platform is mostly about personal preference; any decently endowed modern computer will work well for DTP/web design/animation.
Okay well those were some great responses.
I've gotten some good info, specifically
opening multiple images does, from my experience using 17" core 2 duo macs, is faster and smoother (Consultant)
Multitasking is smoother (babyjenniferLB)
I have always had trouble taking my work from school (mac) back home (pc). Things just didn't always work very smoothly. So having other designers use the same type of computer makes a lot of sense. (Blue Velvet)
After reading all of this, it seems to make sense that the more difficult procedures will run smoother on a Mac. I have only been in 2 years of High School Graphics, so I could imagine as I enter College Graphics, the procedures will get much more complicated and thus run better on a mac (chrono1081)
My high school was even still running eMac's haha, no one ever perfered to use them but they got the job done.(CW Jones)
Thanks for the replies, it helped a lot.
What I am curious about is the history of this topic. I was told, that a major reason why design is so deep into mac is because in the late 80's and early 90's, the adobe programs were a mac exclusive. If someone could elaborate on the history of this topic I would greatly appreciate that
Also add to all the other info, Adobe created desktop publishing for the mac back in the day and they developed a rip for printers. Designers, artists, etc., could get their files printed better with this rip technology and most printers started using macs for their front end for separations, plate making etc. Printers also, as mentioned, invested heavily in Post Script Fonts, as well as most designers did and have. I purchased the complete Adobe Font Library as an example.
For me. a mac has just be easier to use, for some reason I can still not understand the Windoz OS and when I am on a PC I always get lost!
I have to admit, when it comes to performance, my PC build cranks compared to the Mac Pro used at work (I'm a designer). I hate using the PC because of the button configuration.
At one point in my career, Ive had the pleasure/displeasure of working with Windows, Mac and Unix but mostly 3D/Motion Design. I did however work with numerous Graphic Designers at different levels and 99% of them were pro-Mac due to the nature of the business.
From a different perspective, having Windows as an option opens doors to numerous app options but not necessarily productive ones.
Sadly it also opens up a larger bag of hurt the second your on the Internet
Oh, another major plus point:
Buy a Mac and you can easily and legally run Windows OR OSX (or others).
Buy a PC and you're legally not allowed to run OSX.
OSX is the main reason to buy a Mac, regardless of specs and hardware design.
On a personal note, I still use Windows sometimes. I used to love it because I had time to solve problems and play around with the OS (XP at the time). No days I have a job, a career, a passion. I've no time to fix Microsoft's crappy OS, XP or their newer, crappier versions.
Buy a Mac and you can easily and legally run Windows OR OSX (or others).
Buy a PC and you're legally not allowed to run OSX.
OSX is the main reason to buy a Mac, regardless of specs and hardware design.
On a personal note, I still use Windows sometimes. I used to love it because I had time to solve problems and play around with the OS (XP at the time). No days I have a job, a career, a passion. I've no time to fix Microsoft's crappy OS, XP or their newer, crappier versions.
for adobe suite, there's really no advantage in owning a mac. only thing you'd gain is bragging rights about owning the latest mbp with your hipster buddies at starbucks (if you have those kind of friends).
I've worked as a production artist and (having recovered my soul/sanity) am now working in IT as desktop support for creative industries.
As far as PC goes ... the world runs PC. I know Mac die-hards hate that -- but the fact that Windows works well enough, and that Windows 7 is a very good OS is good news for Mac users, too, because as annoying as the PC world might be, you're inevitably going to deal with Microsoft computers at some point. Adobe stuff works fantastic and stable on PC and, frankly, I like having the ALT key to access menu shortcuts when working in Photoshop and Illustrator, specifically. Don't buy a Mac and expect it to be "frustration free" -- any computer dealing with large files will have hiccups. (I billed many, many an hour in total waiting for beachballs to spin.)
That being said, Macs are also used in design for many reasons, including the fact that there are many custom programs and plugins at the professional production level that not only necessitate Macs, but specific versions of the OS, etc.
As far as regular work, the MacBooks are signature Mac products for a reason, and I used to love working by dropping files on the necessary icon to open things and not worry about it. I don't have first-hand experience with the multi-tasking difference, but the Mac handles the interface elegantly enough to be your best partner when working on design stuff.
You shouldn't buy a Mac just to look cool at a coffeeshop surfing Facebook. Just get an iPad if you want to show off the logo. You should buy one because the integration of the OS and the software will get you what you need, seamlessly.
As far as PC goes ... the world runs PC. I know Mac die-hards hate that -- but the fact that Windows works well enough, and that Windows 7 is a very good OS is good news for Mac users, too, because as annoying as the PC world might be, you're inevitably going to deal with Microsoft computers at some point. Adobe stuff works fantastic and stable on PC and, frankly, I like having the ALT key to access menu shortcuts when working in Photoshop and Illustrator, specifically. Don't buy a Mac and expect it to be "frustration free" -- any computer dealing with large files will have hiccups. (I billed many, many an hour in total waiting for beachballs to spin.)
That being said, Macs are also used in design for many reasons, including the fact that there are many custom programs and plugins at the professional production level that not only necessitate Macs, but specific versions of the OS, etc.
As far as regular work, the MacBooks are signature Mac products for a reason, and I used to love working by dropping files on the necessary icon to open things and not worry about it. I don't have first-hand experience with the multi-tasking difference, but the Mac handles the interface elegantly enough to be your best partner when working on design stuff.
You shouldn't buy a Mac just to look cool at a coffeeshop surfing Facebook. Just get an iPad if you want to show off the logo. You should buy one because the integration of the OS and the software will get you what you need, seamlessly.
I've designed on pc's since 1996 but switched to mac last year. I have to agree with every point you've made. It was ridiculous how often my pc's would crash or hang when having multiple apps open or when working with complicated files. Never switch off my MBP, just close the lid leaving my office, open it up later at night and just carry on where I left off, never any issues
This means absolutely nothing. Nobody denies that the world runs PC. There may very well be more PCs being used as smart terminals than all the Macs in the world. However, none of this group of PCs is used for design. The OP asked the question about why Macs are preferred for design. Let's stay focused on that.
I've found my workflow to, um, flow better under Windows. XP in particular.
I also can't do graphic tablet work under OSX due to having dual monitors. In XP I can disable the iMac display (which is smaller than my main display), under OSX it tries to stretch the 2x displays over 1 tablet and that aint so good.
Prefer the mouse motion in XP as well. It's really raw and unprocessed.
OSX is much better at handling large files though and Finder can be a godsend at times (Spotlight!).
I also can't do graphic tablet work under OSX due to having dual monitors. In XP I can disable the iMac display (which is smaller than my main display), under OSX it tries to stretch the 2x displays over 1 tablet and that aint so good.
Prefer the mouse motion in XP as well. It's really raw and unprocessed.
OSX is much better at handling large files though and Finder can be a godsend at times (Spotlight!).
My Mac friends were horrified that I purchased an XP machine back in the day. But at the time, when OSX had to boot back into "classic" in order to use Quark, performance was HORRIBLE on a Mac which cost more yet gave me less.
So Macs have not "always" been better. They were the default choice for graphics in the 90s, and in the early OSX/ XP days, XP was good and stable.
I wouldn't recommend Macs again if I didn't they learned from their low points, but I think they did. Leopard was far more useful for humans than Vista was.
I'd greatly say your WRONG here ... a proper music editor debuted on Atari and several other machines before being on Mac. Midi was even by today's standard usable on Atari some 15-20yrs ago. I know of no music editor program for Mac then, although I'd concede if better than Cubase on Atari in the timeline I mentioned.
This is a deficiency in your tablet drivers, not in the OS, which most definitely can map a tablet to one of two dual monitors.
Cheers
Jim
Absolutely. Windows does a MUCH better job at multitasking than the Mach-kernel of Mac OS X. (This might be the wrong answer on a Mac forum, but it's the truth nevertheless.)
If you want the best of all worlds, install 64-Bit Windows 7 or 64-Bit Linux on your Apple hardware - it won't get any better than this.
+1
quicklook saves me a lot of time when searching on my files.
+1 for finder +2 for Pathfinder, great ways to navigate your files if you're an organized person and your files are organized in folders and subfolders instead of thrown randomly on your desktop
+1 for Application Frame (Mac Only)
As a student, I study on Windows computers at home, but my projects I do on my base 21.5 iMac and I can say that Mac suites me better, being able to have iD, Ps, and Ai running at the same time smoothly is a pleasure
STOP!!!!
The real reason why Macs are preferred for design goes back to when someone had to make a choice about how type would appear on a computer screen.
Designers and editors needed What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) so that what they saw was what would appear on the magazine page in the shop.
Apple adopted anti-aliasing, which meant letters like O would appear on the screen nice and rounded (the bitmapping would be greyed down).
Windows and PCs etc etc went for sharp text, ie, no anti aliasing, and following the bitmap squares. Great for clarity and scientific use but no guide to what would appear on the printed page.
That's why the text on Windows PCs look sharp to Mac users and Windows people say Mac text looks fuzzy.
Anyhow, that is why designers and editors started using Macs.
Well, thats' what I always thought...
The real reason why Macs are preferred for design goes back to when someone had to make a choice about how type would appear on a computer screen.
Designers and editors needed What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) so that what they saw was what would appear on the magazine page in the shop.
Apple adopted anti-aliasing, which meant letters like O would appear on the screen nice and rounded (the bitmapping would be greyed down).
Windows and PCs etc etc went for sharp text, ie, no anti aliasing, and following the bitmap squares. Great for clarity and scientific use but no guide to what would appear on the printed page.
That's why the text on Windows PCs look sharp to Mac users and Windows people say Mac text looks fuzzy.
Anyhow, that is why designers and editors started using Macs.
Well, thats' what I always thought...
Windows has been doing antialiasing since 2001 and Adobe has handled antialiasing in their programs since as long as I can remember.
Have you installed the wacom tablet driver under OSX? If so, just open system preferences and klick on the tablet, it should be in the bottom row. There you can choose which monitor should be mapped for the tablet. You can even choose to only map it to a single screen in a specific program, photoshop or scetchbook for example, and leave it mapped to dual screen for the rest. Hope this helps.
This has nothing to do with the OS ...