PC or Mac

Jellycat

Jellycat

clever little wings..
Messages
375
Name
Lyn
Edit My Images
Yes
in contemplating getting a mac after using one recently.

Ive been PC forever so im worried about making the switch plus its wont be a cheap move.

Have any of you made the switch and was it worth it?? Did you have any problems adjusting??
 
No real problems adjusting for me, Lyn, after having worked with PCs since the late 80's... I got my iMac about a year ago, and my opinion is that Mac OS X is quite intuitive to use - I don't really like using Windows now.

As far as which is better, there are heaps of threads on TP comparing the two... general consensus seems to be that these days, Windows and Mac are equally capable...
 
I'll agree it's not cheap when you look at the cheapest options - cheapest Mac is far more than the cheapest PC for example. In fact if you put them side by side, in terms of spec, PCs (and by that I mean Windows PCs) are usually cheaper. I had the same issue a couple of months ago - spend £800 on a refurb MacBook Pro or £600 on the same spec Dell laptop.

But I did some digging and found most benchmark tests reveal a few things. Even with the same spec the MacBook is faster with graphical applications - which, as a photographer, is pretty key. The Dell however has much better bundled software and better support (and is £200 cheaper). The Mac also had better battery life.

I've been pretty blown away by the MacBook's performance. The screen is great, much better than any PC laptop I've ever owned, and it batch processes RAW files very quickly. My only negative is the extra weight from the metal body - but if it's that or cheap plastic I'm happy lugging the extra weight around.

It didn't take much to get used to, perhaps a day or two. Most programmes have near identical shortcuts and operate in the same way.

For what it's worth I've always hated Macs (ever since studying for a Computer Science degree where we had to use Macs for a module and they constantly crashed) and always avoided them. I've got a desktop PC I still use plus a netbook and a Linux laptop. I'm certainly no Mac fanboy! But I have to say I've been incredibly impressed so far with the MacBook.
 
Hi Lyn made the leap 2 years ago and have never looked back. For years I worked with pc's both for personal use and in the corporate world. Was the switch hard? No and the online tutorials are great, I would never go back to a pc I love my imac.
 
I was an IT manager for quite a few years before switching to wedding photography so its fair to say I knew windows inside out having supported desktops, servers and laptops at multiple sites. I say "knew" rather than "know" because I am just a user now and don't dig around much in the OS, I just use it.

I bought a Mac Book Pro about 4 years ago when I was just getting started with weddings and it was fun using something different for a while but ultimately it was also frustrating because I just didn't know OSX as well as I know windows.

When it came to replace the Mac Book Pro recently I bought a windows laptop and I am much happier (and quicker doing certain things) and don't really miss anything about the Mac.

Regards what Adam said above about comparing a MacBook Pro to a dell laptop, that's just not a like for like comparison .... most of dells laptops are pretty cheap and cheerful when it comes to build quality whereas MacBook Pros are some of the best built laptops available.

So when people say that apple hardware is expensive to the comparable windows PC in most cases they arent actually taking build quality into account, just basic components such as CPU, amount of RAM, HDD size etc.

Compare a Mac Book Pro to something like a Lenovo Thinkpad and you will find the prices arent that different at all.

You pay a premium with Apple for the build quality, same as you do with a few other manufacturers.
 
I made the switch this year from a high-end Dell laptop running Windows 7 Professional to a MacBook Pro 17 now running Lion.

The switch is really very easy - the general way in which things work is very similar. (I should say I was a Mac user up until 1999, but that's so long ago it made no difference to the learning curve.)

Adobe will transfer your licence keys, but be aware that Microsoft won't, so you'll have to buy Office again if you use it. I used about a dozen other bits & pieces of software. In most cases, there was a Mac version and the software house transferred my licence for me. There were a few cases where I had to find an alternative app to do the job, though for two things there was an included Apple app that worked well.

I don't think there's a massive difference in usability between Windows 7 and OSX, but I do like the trackpad gestures in Lion and the resume feature is something I've wanted for a long time.

Stability-wise, Win7 Pro was rock-solid, and Snow Leopard was the same. Lion is a little less stable - some application freezes, mostly Safari, but nothing fatal.

Hardware wise, I agree entirely with Nick: when you truly compare like-for-like, the price premium for Mac kit is very small. My Mac Book Pro 17 cost me two grand, and the Dell workstation I had before it with near-identical spec was £1850.

The one thing I do like about Apple is the integration, especially the new iCloud stuff. You can be working on a proposal on your Mac, pick up your iPad, get on the train and just carry on where you left off. You don't need to save anything or download anything, the integration between devices Just Works. It's kind of a Dropbox Plus.

So, overall, is there a reason to switch? I'd say yes, though it's not a huge one these days. Is it easy to switch? Yes, but there's a bit of work involved, so pick a quiet week to do it.
 
Once you go Mac go never go back! :)
 
I moved to a macbook pro simply because if I'm taking a computer out and about it needs to be quick, easy to use and strong. I didn't fancy a plastic laptop that would snap in half if it left the comfort of my bag. I've used it for a few years and still not 100% with it. I can use it, I know the in's and out's of it, but it just doesn't work with me as good as windows does. I thought I would escape all the problems I had with xp and vista of errors and crashing and glitches but no. Nothing but problems with the leopard OS, then I moved to Snow leopard for a slightly better experience but to be honest, can't beat Windows 7.

So as soon as I can get windows 7 on it, it should be fine.
All my own opinion, in truth just stick to what your comfortable with.
 
I would love a mac as running win7 and at the mo and I hate it. I am not a pc! As above Apple may have some issues but the fact everything works together is a big plus in my future purchasing considerations.
 
Wedding-Photos said:
Regards what Adam said above about comparing a MacBook Pro to a dell laptop, that's just not a like for like comparison .... most of dells laptops are pretty cheap and cheerful when it comes to build quality whereas MacBook Pros are some of the best built laptops available.
Click to expand...

The Dell had the same processor, memory (size and speed), same shared graphics capability, same speed HDD and a near identical motherboard. It certainly wasn't comparing a £300 base model against a computer three times the price.

The key points were that each were pretty much equal overall, but the where the MacBook performed better at processing tasks the Dell performed much better with bundled software and customer support. Depending on your requirements each has their selling point.

I purposely wanted to test the benefit of the OS, so found a test that compared near identical hardware.
 
Hmm it would be the iMac (desk top) one I'd get, not a MacBook! I would also keep my windows pc as it has too much use and far to many things on it just to ditch it.

Think I may leave it for a while and try and get one if they come down in price (I can hope lol). Thanks all :)
 
I'd never go for a Mac. Why?

I like building my own computers and even with laptops I like to be able to fix and replace things myself (without the need of 27 different screwdrivers). Also, for the price you pay for Apple hardware, you can get significantly better PC gear, so build quality is only an argument when you compare macs to lower end desktops/laptops.
To avoid some Windows annoyances, I switch to a Linux installation whenever I'm not running CS5.

Buying off the shelf, no mods - yeah, you'll probably get a better Mac than PC. But if you know anything about hardware and fancy the challenge of putting it all together yourself, you can get something much more amazing, and much faster for your money by opting for a PC.

As far as build quality for laptops, Asus do some neat high-end brushed aluminium cased ones. I, too, avoid plastic where I can.

Also, post Win98 I've never had issues with Windows as an operating system (although I generally still prefer Linux). I've also never had issues with my hardware dying on me, all my desktops and laptops have had a fantastic lifespan. That's probably because I don't buy off the shelf and I don't buy low-end. To get something decent, quality wise, whatever the brand, you'll have to be prepared to pay a bit more.

I like Apple for their iPods, otherwise they're not for me.
 
Last edited:
no offense but.. argh, again?

to quote myself from another thread halfway down the page..

neil_g said:
cant believe i have to type this out again..

as someone that supports both platforms (argh someone shoot me for occupation dropping), they both have pros and cons, software wise theyre both as reliable as each other (SN compared to W7-64), hardware wise itll vary if you dont spend as much on the PC hardware as you would with mac. otherwise they do EXACTLY the same thing but in a different interface, neither is "better" in anything other than a personal feel aspect.

/thread.

(can you tell its my first day back at work in a week by the rant? :LOL:)
Click to expand...
 
I'll not add to the debate other than this:
adamgasson said:
Even with the same spec the MacBook is faster with graphical applications - which, as a photographer, is pretty key.
Click to expand...
No it isn't. The amount of graphics processing done with photos is limited to 2D moving. As an end user with photography applications, you wouldn't notice if you were running on a top of the range current graphics card or a 4 year old mid range card.

EDIT: Just realised you're talking about the processor, not the graphics. The photoshop benchmark here: http://clubofone.com/speedtest/ seems to be a universally accepted PS benchmark. It scales with processor performance and is pretty independent of OS. There's a whole thread on one of the Mac forums and my Win7 i7-2600K based PC is as fast as current gen multi-processor Xeon based Mac Pros :)
 
Last edited:
arad85 said:
I'll not add to the debate other than this:
No it isn't. The amount of graphics processing done with photos is limited to 2D moving. As an end user with photography applications, you wouldn't notice if you were running on a top of the range current graphics card or a 4 year old mid range card.
Click to expand...

ah wonderful, i missed that little gem :LOL:
 
neil_g said:
ah wonderful, i missed that little gem :LOL:
Click to expand...

Did you miss my other little edit?

arad85 said:
EDIT: Just realised you're talking about the processor, not the graphics. The photoshop benchmark here: http://clubofone.com/speedtest/ seems to be a universally accepted PS benchmark. It scales with processor performance and is pretty independent of OS. There's a whole thread on one of the Mac forums and my Win7 i7-2600K based PC is as fast as current gen multi-processor Xeon based Mac Pros :)
Click to expand...
 
Just buy the system you like the best, on here you often get the same response as "Canon or Nikon"?

Silly but true.
 
neil_g said:
other thing is a mac pro starting price is about double that of a good i7-2600k system.
Click to expand...
Yes. and that's for a 2.8GHz machine. The i7-2600k runs at 4.3-4.5GHz....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top