I am a Mac person. However, before I entered the world of Apple, I was a PC person.
I was introduced to Mac through Dre, who manages the server-side issues of this site. I wanted a computer I could do development and design work on, yet at the same time use casually.
Frankly, once you go Mac, you never honestly go back.
Now, granted, I like the idea behind Windows. It allows more accessibility to computers as well as the Internet; the user can get their computer for far, far less than if they were to purchase a Mac. However, there’s a reason behind this price tag, specifically in the creation of Windows computers.
You’ve never heard of Windows manufacturing their own computers. They just develop the OS, and allow other computer companies to build PCs et cetera for the general public, allowing companies like Compaq, Dell, and a multitude of others to solicit their machines. This, however, can be an issue; said companies generally drive down the costs through the use of what tends to be sub-par hardware. For example, many PCs shipped out with Vista running on only one gigabyte of memory. This, in and of itself, is bad in that Vista requires one gigabyte of memory to run on, limiting the amount of programs said user can run – which most users aren’t completely aware of.
OSX isn’t much better; it runs somewhat better on a single gigabyte of RAM, though it does have its slow moments. However, one must also keep in mind that Apple manufactures their own computers, and therefore, specifically selects hardware that their computers can use. This is great in that it allows a more stable experience for the user, yet also drives up the cost of the Mac.
Is it worth it to shell out that extra money? Frankly, I feel like it was well worth it. I have no complaints about the 24″ iMac that I use and feel it was worth every penny. Before this iMac, I had a huge contrast with the very simple Windows laptop I was using, which sluggishly ran Photoshop and Illustrator on it.
For designing purposes, however, I’d say that Mac is superior. The Adobe suite runs like an absolute dream, in addition to the fact that OSX produces much brighter colors than Windows in that it takes advantage of the graphics card in a much different way.
Then there’s the advent child of the Open Source move, Ubuntu and Linux. Linux, I feel, has quite a bit of potential. However, I’m loathe to run it for design purposes; while it works great for developmental purposes, I don’t feel that GIMP has quite reached a place yet where it can produce the kind of higher-end graphics I need to create my designs. Thus, I will continue on to putter around with my Mac.
Cost is only an issue if you aren’t willing to build your own. I paid less than $1400 for a quad core 3.0ghz with 8gb of RAM, a 750gb HDD, a 22″ widescreen monitor, an ATI Radeon HD 3870 GPU and Windows Vista. A lot of those components would actually cost even less right now, especially the RAM, due to the natural drop in hardware costs over time.
I can run probably run the whole adobe suite simultaneously.Plus, thanks to virtual machines, I can run a lot of different systems within my Vista build. The system has the guts that I was still running smooth while running WoW (auctioneer scanning on max specs)), virtual Debian 4 (updating packages), virtual Debian 5(installing OS), virtual Fedora 10 (installing OS), virtual Ubuntu 9.04 (installing OS), Firefox 3 (sitting at iGoogle) and Team Fortress 2 (actively playing on max specs).
Mac is sleek and pretty and you get the convenience of buying prebuilt with good hardware, but anyone with the know-how to actually build their components, and is not dependent on certain Mac software for their job/hobbies… I can’t recommend Mac. Linux is more secure and Vista is a better gaming platform.
Plus, you know I’m a huge open source advocate, and I can’t stand how Apple likes to bind you into their world. I refuse to use any product that, upon updating, feels the need to throw in some additional software (iTunes), and I won’t buy music in a format that limits where I can use it (AAC). Some software vendors on Vista do this as well, of course, but it’s easier to avoid with the larger variety of software available, and on Linux, you don’t get that crap at all.
Well, it does come with pre-packaged software – but so do most pre-built Windows computers, with gobs upon gobs of trial software, in addition to (usually) some shape or form of trial anti-virus. And yes, I was not a huge fan of the fact that iTunes used AAC, though now you can convert your music into mp3 with just a right-click, in addition to the fact that while they raised the price on some songs they did remove their DRM; I think I already mentioned to you a long time ago in an IM conversation far, far away how much I absolutely despise DRM, and why I was choosing to purchase music off of Amazon instead or just purchase CDs. No, I’m not a big fan of the higher prices, but it seems like that was in order to make some profit off of songs that were harder to get the rights to sell to.
I agree with pre-built PCs; hell, my better half happens to have a computer-building company (which I’m actually currently building a site for). But on the other hand, when you build a PC, you generally hand-pick the kind of hardware which you use for it, and yes, it is generally cheaper as well. The major thing I want to advocate are custom PCs if one were to buy into that market. And yes, Windows is a much better gaming platform. I say Windows because all of my brushes with Vista have been absolutely horrible – before I purchased my iMac, I used a small Gateway laptop that ran Vista. Even after upgrading its RAM, it still ran sluggishly and honestly could not handle the Adobe suite at all. Of course, though, it didn’t have the specs that the computer you just described has; that’s what I’m saying. It takes a pretty decent computer to run Vista well, and use it as a gaming platform. However, a lot of the pre-packaged computers from stores such as Best Buy etc tend to sell computers with sub-par hardware; things such as Intel graphics cards, or slower processors, which sacrifice decent hardware in order to have a lower cost for the consumer. And this is okay for most people; they aren’t like you and I who use their computers for more than just book reports or casual surfing.
I can’t really give an official opinion on Linux, as I haven’t used it for an extended period of time the way I have with Vista or OSX. I do like Open Source of course; 90% of the software I use was gotten via the way of Open Source (such as Neo Office, the Mac version of Open Office). But as I was saying, I purchased a Mac because they have always *felt* better to me when it came to creating graphics and digital paintings due to the more vivid amount of color. Maybe I just had a terrible programming experience with Vista, and maybe it’s because I didn’t build my own at the time and just had the silly little craptop, but I can’t advocate it as one to design graphics on. As I stated, this is more at the pre-built market. Your experience with Vista is a little more unique, because you built your computer.
Also, I no longer game on a computer, thus chosing a computer for a gaming experience is no longer something I figure into the equation. However, I will state that were I to have a computer that was simply for gaming and not for creating graphics et cetera, I would most certainly select Windows for it.