PC or Mac?
 

Well? Which one do you like more?

I have both. I really don't prefer one over the other.

Macs are PCs.

Oh... well, could you add a "Both" option in the poll?

I've always thought Mac's are the technological equivalent of a coldplay album.

I guess it depends if people like Coldplay then.

They're certainly as bland and dumbed down.

Added.

Thanks.

I say PC. I used to be quite envious of mac users from my limited time using friends' macs, and hearing the positive words they had to say about them. Then in the last year or so I realised that pretty much macs are like every other apple product; as good as other laptops/notebooks/netbooks on the market, just with a little bit of gloss on the programs and marked up in price based on the apple brand.

Congrats.

Haha, this topic will probably be useless on this forum as on any other forum.
But here goes: I've tried both. I prefer PC. Macs run nice, but they cost a lot more and I don't see the upsides. Yes, less can go wrong, but that's only useful when you have problems with your PC. I don't. I think for my parents a mac would be a bliss, they really can't handle computers that don't think for themselves.

Some reasons why I dislike mac
1. I don't like the company. They tell you to expand your memory with apple memory for which they ask literally 6 times as much as regular memory, and it's just the same with an apple logo on it. Stuff like that. They seem to use peoples ignorance to make an awful lot of profit. They ignore the (Dutch or EU, not sure) rule that says that you should be given a two year warranty on any electronic device but they are willing to sell you an extra year of warranty at an incredibly high price. I also don't like the hype around macs. They are just computers with mainboards, hard drives, memory... Yes they have a nice design, but they're still just computers.

2. No taskbar. I cannot live without a taskbar. I can't get used to it.

3. The Price. It doesn't do anything a PC cannot do and it costs at least two times what a PC costs. Yes I do audio, video and photo editing but I don't think a Mac does this better than a PC. It did in the 80's and nineties, but now? I don't see it.

4. Gaming. Yes you can play games on a mac, but only a small portion of the amount of games you can play on a PC

5. Design over practicality. I don't like that. The Magic Mouse is awful (it's too flat, it's got sharp edges and it scrolls way too fast) and these flat keyboards are amongst the worst I've ever typed on.

I do have a 'thing' for the way the apple computers and the OS looks and yes it has some good sides, especially for people who just start working with
computers. But to me they're a tad unpractical and most of al, you pay for something I don't really see.
I'm founding this on a lot of personal Experience. I still have two iMacs, an Apple II, an eMac 1ghz and I've sold my G5's as I didn't use them much. But I definitely did give it a good try before I came to this conclusion.

So: PC for me. And Windows.
That's another thing, people are always bitching about Windows.
I've done Android (which is nice), I've done loads of linux distro's (some of them are really good considering the price!). I've run into some fun stuff, but in the end I haven't found an OS that works better than Windows. Yes there has been some awful windows editions. Like 98FE, ME and Vista. But XP runs brilliantly, so does 7. And 2000 is still incredibly usable on 10 to 15 year old computers. Try mac OS 8.6 for comparison... It's like windows 3.11 already.

Oh, edit: To all those people who have had problems with PC's and all their problems have vanished since they have a mac: Congratulations, you made the right choice. But a PC can run properly. It's user error most of the time. Or you've bought an Acer or a Packard Bell. But that's another discussion :D.

Edit 2: I couldn't live with MacOS. I would go bezerk. If I had to ditch Windows, I'd go for a Linux distro.

So... well produced then?

Don't most companies do that?

Never had that experience. I'm not a huge gamer but I can tell you that games sold here are available for both systems, and if not all the time, at least 90% of the time.

Have to agree with you here. The multi-touch Magic Mouse is the worst mouse I've ever used. I don't have an iMac (just a MacBook Pro), but I can tell you that if I ever bought one, I would switch that mouse for a regular one.

The keyboard is not so bad. Many high end Windows laptop computers use a similar keyboard (Sony, Samsung, some Gateways). Nothing could be worse then a netbook keyboard. Those things are so ****ing small, I don't know how anyone manages to type anything on them.

Actually, I also think most desktop keyboards are horrible. Good to learn on, but overall they are very clunky and you have to type so darn hard to get the words on the screen. This opinion is a result of 6+ years of laptop use. Laptop keyboards are easier to type on because my fingers can just fly across the keys.

Acer laptops are not the best. Yes, they are incredibly cheap compared to other models, but you're really getting what you're paying for. My mom has had two Acer laptops in the last couple of years, and the keys come off very easily. Also, the touchpad is not terribly sensitive. A few of my friends have also had those problems with Acers.

Not every company takes it that far.

I reckon you don't do racing games?

That's what I did when I used my ex's mac to edit video. Found an old microsoft mouse lying around, plugged it in. I almost threw that mac mouse through the room (not kidding, the thing got me bloody agressive).
I bought her old laptop and will now use that to edit photo/video/audio at her place, because I cannot stand the mac. They use the same software (premiere, audition, lightroom) but change it a little bit so it becomes very unpractical. Well, at least that's what I think.

I have a netbook and it is indeed too small. You sort of get used to it (after all, I can also type on my mobile phone) but it's still not a laptop. Laptops should have at least 10" screens. Anything smaller is just too small.
I wouldn't rate Sony, Samsung and Gateway 'high end'. I'm not sure where high end starts with laptops, but I'd go Dell and IBM ;). I'm not sure if these new dells and IBMs have those annoying keyboards. But I probably wasn't clear about this; The Laptop keyboard is quite allright. It still has these annoying square keys that make it impossible to slide from key to key (remember, I do 720 strokes/minute, I know my keyboards :D), but at least they click and don't feel rubbery. It's the external keyboard (that should be better than the internal laptop keyboard) that sucks so much.

I prefer desktop keyboards that have flat keys and a light touch. So I agree with you. That's why I use the
http://static.tz.nl/f/tap/31617_7dc03ec8.jpg
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000. I have four of those :D.
The only exception to this is the old IBM Model M. It's just brilliant. Clicketyclick. Most people tell me they hate my keyboard because the keys feel like laptop keys (!) and the TGBYHN keys are bigger than the rest. But when you type with 10 fingers, blind, that's brilliant as you don't have to reach out with your index fingers so much. I love these keyboards.

I hate acers. I really do. We even have a word amongs computerpeople here called 'acering'. It means a computer just stops working for a couple of seconds, for no apparent reason. Acers have been doing that since the pentium IV and no one really knows why. Not all Acers obviously, but it is a typically acer-thing. If I am to spend money on a laptop, it will be an IBM or a Dell. But I usually buy second hand business laptops and spend my money on PC's as I feel you get more value for money when you buy a PC.
Don't get me wrong, I have three relatively modern (as in: Usable) laptops lying around. A Toshiba netbook (1.6ghz Atom), an IBM Z60M (2ghz Centrino) and an Asus X50V (1.86ghz Dual Core). Apart from that I have... Maybe 10 to 15 older laptops, ranging from 386's to Pentium IIIm 1ghz computers. So I like laptops, but when it comes to audio/video and gaming, I still prefer a decent PC. I always build them myself by the way. Usually just as expensive as a comparable ready made PC, only you get to choose what's in it :).

PC hands down. Mac's are pretty but really not the type of computer I need.

Okay, even though the question in the poll doesn't actually make sense (as I said before, Macs are PCs), I'll play along. I vote Mac. They're the industry standard in my line of work and the OS I learned on so I'd need a very, very compelling reason to switch to Windows. I've had a couple jobs where I've worked in a Windows environment throughout the years and while I think by and large that the differences between using a Mac and using a Windows PC are fairly negligible I do find that a lot of the software that I use seems to run just a little better in a MacOS environment than in Windows.

What software would that be?
Because macs are known for their compatibility with photoshop and the likes, but I can't say it runs better on a mac than on my (older...) PC.

Mostly the Adobe creative suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, After Effects, etc.). In my experience these programs have longer load and save times, crash more often, and are overall more sluggish and problematic in Windows.

Hmmm, I can honestly say that Photoshop, Premiere and Audition never ever (!) crashed here. Oh, wait, photoshop CS3 did. I thought that sucked. But apart from that, they don't crash. They also are not problematic at all. Very stable software. As far as I have been able to compare they always were more sluggish on a Mac. They run fast, but they just stop for a couple of seconds every now and then ('acering' ;D).

Most of it is probably about preferences/taste, but I can say for sure that it never ever crashed. Point is, it is really easy to **** up a PC. You almost cannot **** up a mac, accidentally. For some (not so computer-technical) people, that's a very good thing.

Keep in mind too that I'm using these programs in a professional context and as a result I'm probably putting a lot more strain on them than you are.

I dunno. Big pic is big pic, right? :).

But err... If I'm using them and put little strain on them and even then the PC runs better, doesn't that say it all? :D

I don't think "big pic is big pic" is a very good measurement. For one thing, using these programs in a professional context most likely means that the program is launched and running more often and for longer spans of time. It also means that the user probably has more things open simultaneously, is working with more layers, dealing with higher-res images, larger and more complex files, etc., etc.. I think it's safe to say that basically any tool, from a hammer to a piece of software, is going to get harder, heavier use from the person who uses it for their job than from the casual user.

Well, that's exactly my point. Having used numerous Macs and numerous Windows machines for work over the years, my experience has been that the Macs run better for what I use them for. Keep in mind here I'm not saying that Macs are better across the board or anything, I'm just saying that they work better for my purposes. I realize that my purposes are not the same as everyone else's.

Allright :)
Haven't noticed it so far.
Can mean two things
1. Macs are better when the going gets tough
2. Your PC's were ****ed up :D

Most of the time (and I'm not saying that's the case) it's the second option.

Agreed with Janszoon.

It would be a pretty crazy coincidence if every single one of the half dozen or so Windows PCs I've used for design work in the past 11 years was fucked up.

I never had any issues with Windows XP. My new build is going to use Windows 7 64bit, and I hear it's pretty stable. As far as being sluggish with certain programs, that usually comes down to the actual system's abilities. If you're doing a lot of rendering or what have you, you're going to want a multi-core processor and a lot of RAM. Intel's i7 quad core and 6 core line is probably a better investment for that sort of work, rather than placing importance on the OS only.
I do agree that Mac's OS is more streamlined for particular applications, but I think Windows 7, along with hardware that can handle processor-intensive applications, can be just as good of a solution as any. At the very least, I think the analysis of a computer's performance should be based on hardware first.
Unless we've done side by side comparisons, with the same speed/ability hardware on different operating systems, then we can't really be objective.

I just bought an iMac about a month ago and I will never go back to a Window PC ever!

Haha, that's not what I meant.
People often **** up PC's. There's a lot that can go wrong, both with hard- and software. THAT's a thing Macs have in favor of PC's. You can't really **** them up by accident. With a PC, much can go wrong, but that also gives you a lot of freedom (choose your own hardware, install drivers manually etcetera).

It is. There's two things you should take in account
- Some software won't work with Windows 7. It's just too old. If you, like me, love Nero 6. Good luck. Nero 7 works though. It's not as good, but it works.
- Auto arrange cannot be turned off. Which is awful if you ask me. When you rename something, it automatically arranges your folder, forcing you to scroll back to the file you want to rename next. I am forced to use a batch renamer to rename quickly, as I can't just go F2, type name, press arrow, F2, type name, press arrow etc.

Oh yeah, I hate the new taskbar. It works a bit like the mac dock. It can be set to classic mode though and if you miss quick launch, there's a way to get that back, too.

Apart from that, it's fast and stable and the new search function (just type anything in the box you get when you press the windows key) is brilliant. Want notepad? Just press the windows key, type notepad, press enter, there it is. Want a particular file and know a part of the name? Just write 'letter to Stijn' and it will find it for you within seconds. Anything can be found and started by pressing the windows key and typing the name of the thing you want to find. It's really convenient.
What I also love is that when you grab a fullscreen window bar and drag , it it automatically stops being fullscreen. When you drag it back to the top of your screen, it will go fullscreen again. I thought this was rubbish at first but I miss it whenever I use an XP PC now :D.

Why?

Haha, I beg to differ actually. I've had the misfortune of having to deal with fucked up Macs a couple of times in my career. Usually it was when I was freelancing. I'd get stuck with the computer no one else wanted.

Hardware errors are something else, obviously.

There's another problem I have with macs (and with any OS that's not Windows). Someone may help me with this. I like to use my computer fast. I don't mind starting photoshop and taking hours to make a picture look perfect, but when I just want to add some light to a picture, I want a program that starts fast (<2 secs) and has all the basic functions (rotate, resize, change canvas size, gamma, brightness, crop etc.). Back in the day we had Microsoft Photo Editor. This disappeared after office 2000 and I found photofiltre, which is just brilliant.

There seems to be no such program as photofiltre for both Mac and PC.
I need a simple image editor, no paint-style program, no photo-organizer, just this:
http://www.musicbanter.com/attachmen...1&d=1301518826

If anyone knows a program like this, I am ready to use Linux.
Because that is the main reason I don't. I just can't live without.

I also love the Aero Snap feature (for those who don't know what it is: Windows Aero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I'm often using two windows at once, especially when doing school work, so it's nice to have the windows sit nicely beside each other instead of having to switch between them all the time or resize them manually like with XP.

Oh that's what it does :D. It sometimes happens to me unintended. Nice to know that.
I'm almost always having all my screens maximized (alt/tab ftw). I cannot stand when a screen is just a little bit smaller. You click the background when you don't want to so often. Another thing I don't like about macs: When I say maximize, maximize! Not just make it larger. I'm not made for that OS, you see? :D

It's like the cereal aisle: you have the brand-name cereals that cost a pretty penny, and then you have the "alternate" cereals that cost perhaps 2/3 as much and taste exactly the same. Guess which kind of cereal the Mac is?

Google's Chrome OS has started shipping. Won't touch Windows or Mac, it basically a suped up Linux kernal.

Macs and average PCs aren't exactly the same, but I get your point. I do know Macs ARE PCs, but I'm referring to the OS. I don't know how to stick with your analogy and say what I'm trying to. It'd be like.. Cream of Wheat and Oatmeal? :confused: Never mind.

I think, as a designer, I just prefer Macs. I had no idea there was a correlation until much later. The first time I used one I didn't like them. Not one bit. They were so foreign to me! Then eventually I came around and actually looked forward to using them. A bit later I found out about the designer/Mac thing and thought "well it all makes sense". I used to be angry at the fact that PCs could run far more applications than Macs. And as such, I figured I would always stick to PCs. But then I realized that all I really use is something to listen to music, something to surf the web, and then all the design programs. So I think they just fit perfectly with me. No excess hubbub. Just streamlined and smooth. Nice and smooooth.

Well, I'm curious, what specifically does your Mac do that your PC couldn't?

I didn't say Macs could do something that PCs couldn't. I even said that PCs can run more applications than a Mac. But I don't really use that many applications, as I said. So it's actually kind of perfect. My minimalistististist design aesthetic goes hand in hand with what I need. I actually thought the other day that I honestly could live with toast and butter and water. I'd be set.

This whole thing kind of reminds me of the long battle between niche and design fragrances. But to get into that would be pointless. :( Wrong forum.