Mac vs. PC

[pianomanSG]

I'm just asking the age-old question about whether to get a mac desktop or a PC desktop. The only thing I care about is programs for animation, photoshop, and tablet usage and compatability. You've probably guessed by now, I want to draw stuff. Which is better for that?
any input is appreciated

Also, I own a mac laptop, which has worked well for me. The desktop is solely for drawing...and stuff...anyone know what Tom uses?

[avwolf]

Ten years ago, Mac easily led the pack in that. Now it's no longer really a race -- the best software is generally released on both Mac and Windows (that is most assuredly true for Adobe's software), and both systems have terrific tablet support. Personally, I'd go with what you're more comfortable with. In honesty, a Windows PC would be much cheaper, but usability is more important than price.

I believe Tom has a Windows Vista computer, based on some screenshots I've seen of his work.

[PhycoKrusk]

Like avwolf said, go for the best combination of comfort and price. The software, whether for Windows or MacOS, is going to cost about the same, so there's no comparative advantage there. One advantage to getting a Mac is that, if you shell out enough money up front, it'll last you far longer than a comparable Windows machine (I worked on a 450 MHz G4 for close to seven years, and it only started having issues in the last year of its useful life. $300 in upgrades probably would've extended it for another two years). Don't get a Mac Mini, however. They're good for farting around the net and office work, but they're really a WYSIWYG computer; you can't really upgrade them after purchase.

One other thing to consider is this: if you install Windows onto a hard drive, you can slot it into your Mac and boot to it as a normal drive by choosing it as your start-up disk, and you can run it just like any other PC without needing Boot Camp. This is true of recent Mac Pros, at least. That may or may not be a selling point, but there you have it.

[FastChapter]

Moved to the Tech Board,

I prefer Windows because I'm comfortable with the layout, the way it operates and I know how to maintain it properly. If for some reason Microsoft went bankrupt and Windows ceased to exist, I'd go to Mac grumbling more about having to learn a new layout rather than changing to a superior/inferior OS. Avwolf pretty much said it all. If any software company wants to survive, they make their product compatible on Mac and Windows. Mac tends to lag a little behind with some release dates, but not many these days.

For a gamer, though, I'd say Windows is the better option. There are, as far as I know, no Mac-exclusive games out there. Windows has a whole library.

[pianomanSG]

Wow thanks, you guys helped me a lot
Still not sure, but it's great to get feedback ^-^

[isk84waffles]

I've always gone with macs because that's what I've been comfortable working with. it helps with school work and my spare time drawing.

[RobbieThe1st]

Personally, while I admit that macs are very nice machines, I will always go with a PC. For one thing, its going to be cheaper, especially if you build it yourself. I can build a PC with the same specs as a decent mac for around 1/2-2/3ds the price.

As far as usability goes, Windows XP. Sure, Vista/7 is the latest and greatest, but they changed so much that its not familiar like XP is.If I wanted to go learn a new OS, I would go for a Linux, like Ubuntu - For one thing, what you learn with Linux can mostly be brought directly to OSX, which is based on Red Hat Linux. And, its free. Which is always good.

[PhycoKrusk]

Personally, while I admit that macs are very nice machines, I will always go with a PC. For one thing, its going to be cheaper, especially if you build it yourself. I can build a PC with the same specs as a decent mac for around 1/2-2/3ds the price.

As far as usability goes, Windows XP. Sure, Vista/7 is the latest and greatest, but they changed so much that its not familiar like XP is.If I wanted to go learn a new OS, I would go for a Linux, like Ubuntu - For one thing, what you learn with Linux can mostly be brought directly to OSX, which is based on Red Hat Linux. And, its free. Which is always good.

Mac OSX is actually based on Mach, which is not Red Hat Linux. But this is me totally being a jerk and splitting hairs.

If you do go for a Mac, I recommend getting a mouse other than the supplied Mighty Mouse. That peripheral is my single biggest complaint about modern Macintosh computers.

[RobbieThe1st]

Mac OSX is actually based on Mach, which is not Red Hat Linux. But this is me totally being a jerk and splitting hairs.

Oops. Actually, I meant to say freeBSD, because theres a cirtain amount of that in osx. But I got my distributions crossed, oh well.

If you do go for a Mac, I recommend getting a mouse other than the supplied Mighty Mouse. That peripheral is my single biggest complaint about modern Macintosh computers.

Yea. That thing is -horrible-.

[The Luigiian]

I want a Linux computer that can do what Windows can do.

Getting rid of Windows and then having to install Wine to use basic programs like Photoshop is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Somebody please make an open-source OS that can run Windows programs reliably and efficiently, without having to add additional software and other crap.

And where's my next-gen, high-quality Amiga OS?

[RobbieThe1st]

Hey, you think MS wants competition? No way are they going to let anyone run MS programs if they can help it. Be thankful for Wine.

[pianomanSG]

I think I've decided on mac. Now i just need to get some money haha

[etam]

Somebody please make an open-source OS that can run Windows programs reliably and efficiently, without having to add additional software and other crap.

ReactOS

ReactOS® is a free, modern operating system based on the design of Windows® XP/2003. Written completely from scratch, it aims to follow the Windows-NT® architecture designed by Microsoft from the hardware level right through to the application level. This is not a Linux based system, and shares none of the unix architecture.
The main goal of the ReactOS project is to provide an operating system which is binary compatible with Windows. This will allow your Windows applications and drivers to run as they would on your Windows system. Additionally, the look and feel of the Windows operating system is used, such that people accustomed to the familiar user interface of Windows® would find using ReactOS straightforward. The ultimate goal of ReactOS is to allow you to remove Windows® and install ReactOS without the end user noticing the change.

Please bear in mind that ReactOS 0.3.10 is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is not recommended for everyday use.

I will repeat what is written above: this is in very early stage of development and it is very unstable.

[epion04]

I will say as far as Pc Vs. Mac. Most everything I do is on a PC, But if I had the money I would buy a mac first anyday. We have a decently new Imac here, and I still have my old powermac G4 that gets used pretty regularly. What I have run into with Macs is the hardware support, it will either work well, or is just won't in my experience.

And just because

[robin1232]

I use a mac, its about half as powerful as my pc and its about 10 times faster.

also, OSX is not based on any Unix distribution (like FreeBSD) but just on the Unix kernel.
its really heavily modified and snow leopard even has a 64 bit kernel.

the thing about the right mouse button is a fable, it does support right mouse button.
hell, I don't even need a mouse with my macbook, say that too my sister, which has some stupid asus laptop that crashes the mouse for half a second every two seconds.
also, I finished Call of Duty 4 without using a mouse

on topic:

if all you care for is animation and image editing, the choice is easy, Adobe software is badly ported to windows and runs about twice as fast on mac