Every serious digital photographer should use Adobe Photoshop, its literally 20% of the digital photography game. The question I get most from new digital photographers isnt what software to use, but rather Mac or PC?
Having been a PC man most of my life and recently bought a Mac, I thought I would give some insight on to what I think of the two now. Weve all heard from Mac lifers that “Macs never crash, there are no popups or viruses. They are especially better at video editing”.
This is what I have observed:
1. There are definately fewer pop ups, like 5% as many as for PC computers.
2. I havent had any problems with viruses, thank goodness.
3. Macs DO crash, and it seems to be program sensitive. I edit videos using Premiere Pro on both PCs and Macs. Perhaps its just CS3 on Macs, but it crashes 3-4 times a day on my Mac. I could go a year on the PC with perhaps 1-2 crashes.
4. There are software issues. I cannot get certain programs I really really want for the Mac. So no matter how much I love Macs, it seems I will have to have 1-2 PC’s around for now.
5. The build quality is absolutely superior on Macs.
I will say that I like my Mac more with time. There is a learning curve to go through with a new operating system. If you are in the market for a new computer, both the iMac and Mac Book can be purchased for about $1200, and they do not play the same games Dell does when you customize (ie…here is this incredible deal- but its the bare minimum and if you want to upgrade to anything over a 1.4 Ghz processor it-will-cost -you-kinda-thing). Every Dell “Sale” I have seen attempts to unload outdated processors with upgrade plans available.
(PS- As a reference, anything less than a 2.0 Ghz processor (Duo Core) with 2 GB Ram is probably not going to have the firepower to pilot any serious software (Like Photoshop, Video Editing Programs, etc) If you just need a computer to run Word and Surf the internet, then yes….go with the cheapest computer you can find and replace it in a year or two.)
In either case, it doesnt make much sense anymore to invest $3-4 K on any computer, unless you have some serious, serious programs to run. Computers, like cell phones are becoming more and more disposable.
Mac users (Pete, others who are unbiased)….did I miss anything?
I had a friend who raved about MAC computers. We shared the same office at UA. Funny thing: the PC’s ALWAYS worked better and faster than the MAC. He kept saying it was because the MAC was old…but the PC’s were older. I do have to say, I am impressed with the newer MAC products, and I am a die-hard PC fan.
Apple stock closed at $191.79 today, a year ago it was $82.85.
The iPhone goes on sale in Europe next Friday.
A lot of people are switching to this platform.
A few more things: Adobe said there is a defect in how Mac Book Pros see Premiere Pro and this is part of the problem. There is no update, yet. Also, Macs are waaaayyy to finiky about plugging hardware in and out, like CF cards. I never have to eject them on PCs but with Macs, you can accidentally wipe them out if you dont "eject" them first.