I have been a Windows and "traditional" PC user. My computer is old and image processing is very slow. New iMAC where launched last week, and as I have heard wonder fulls about MAC for photographers and image edition I was considering the move for an iMAC. What's the big benefits for a MAC user and tell me what do you think about the characteristics of the model I possible will chose:
I like the iMac's all-in-one design, but the glossy screen is the reason I am not going to buy one. With any light source in the room you get reflections on the screen. I have also been told that the glossy screen saturates the colors and adds more contract to what you see on the screen, so it is not as good for editing photos. I have Apple computers, both a desktop and a laptop, both with matte screens, that have been great to use. I am about to buy a new Mac Pro desktop to replace my aging and slow G4.
Hope you go Mac, you won't go back!!! Pluses for Macs are that they tend to work work work. You will have fewer virus issues for now. I agree about getting a matte screen model. The glossy screen may hurt your editing as was said. You may edit your photos to look great on the glossy and have them not look so great on everyone else's screens. You will want to change the Gamma from the Mac 1.8 to the view the rest of the world uses (2.?) per many technical sites and I "read" from Apple themselves. Load it up with all the memory you can afford right up front. You may have to buy new software such as Photoshop, etc. and this could be a major factor in your spending plans. You should call their helpdesk (Adobe) and ask about it. Same for other software you have been using on your PC. And you should be sure that ALL software you currently use has a counterpart in the Mac world. Then check to see if the Mac software can read your PC files (most major applications will do this - but you said you had an old PC which then might probably have old software). Be sure that the model you get will have enough of the right kind of ports for your external devices! You may decide that a new printer to take advantage of the newer ports is in line (speed!). If your current "old" printer has the old serial port or parallel port, then you will WANT to get a new printer. I love Epson's; but that is a pure opinion. For almost all Mac peripherals, you just plug them in and they work...no changing addresses or other tedious details. Oh, and because of that, you will rarely find a device that has a "conflict" with another device. Now why do people still buy PC's? That get's us to the minuses:
The Mac is more expensive generally. Small cities or towns like mine do not carry any Mac stuff...grrrrr. If something actually broke, then you may find fewer folks to work on them. There is a slew more software built for PC's than for Mac's (not a problem for me as I have found stuff to do whatever I want).
Well, there you go. I have had Macs since the Mac Plus and have used even older ones. I even managed a support group at a company that had over a thousand Macs before I left the company. I shudder to think of the problems I would have encountered if that was a thousand different PC's!!!!!
The previous post listed absolutely no advantages to owning a Mac over a PC in relation to the digital darkroom.
Indeed, he seems to have done a pretty fair job of listing the disadvantages!
In a nutshell, there is simply no advantage to owning a Mac instead of a PC as it relates to the digital darkroom. Your images certainly won't process any faster or look any better due solely to the platform you choose to edit upon. The configuration you listed can be obtained in a PC, with the only difference from a Mac version being that you will have plenty of money left over after buying the PC.
It's all a matter of style, personal preference and the amount of money you're willing to spend.
I build and work on both Mac and Windows PC's and can say without a doubt, your life with be much happier and stress free with a Mac. If the only reason you sit in front of a computer is to process photos, then John has a good point in that both platforms will process photos equally. But if you do more with your computer than process photos that point is mute.
As far as cost is concerned, I have yet to see a Windows machine configured equal to the Mac out of the box, be any cheaper. Any Windows machine advertised less than a Mac has less than what the Mac does out of the box. Besides, if you want a faster Windows machine, buy a Mac, it runs Windows faster with much more stability.
With a Windows machine you are limited to platform, but with a Mac you can run anything without all the frustration, and worry. And another big plus is that backups always work on a Mac and you are lucky if they work on Windows without panic attacks.
The Mac is a computer and not without it's glitches once in a while, but those times are few and far between whereas on Windows it can be a daily battle.
The list can go and on about the advantages Mac has over Windows as a computer in daily life so I will end here by saying photoshop runs on both Windows and Mac and there are plenty of programs out there that run on both platforms. My vote is Mac.
Gotta agree with Tim & Troup, the only addition I would suggest is if you can manage the extra expense, go with the 24in. matte screen. (I did!!) You'll LOVE!! having all that extra screen real estate! (it's also nice if u watch a movie now & then.)
Discussion
7 replies- 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
- 500GB Serial ATA Drive
- ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
- 20-inch glossy widescreen LCD
Thank you ver much
The Mac is more expensive generally. Small cities or towns like mine do not carry any Mac stuff...grrrrr. If something actually broke, then you may find fewer folks to work on them. There is a slew more software built for PC's than for Mac's (not a problem for me as I have found stuff to do whatever I want).
Well, there you go. I have had Macs since the Mac Plus and have used even older ones. I even managed a support group at a company that had over a thousand Macs before I left the company. I shudder to think of the problems I would have encountered if that was a thousand different PC's!!!!!
Good luck!
Troup
Indeed, he seems to have done a pretty fair job of listing the disadvantages!
In a nutshell, there is simply no advantage to owning a Mac instead of a PC as it relates to the digital darkroom. Your images certainly won't process any faster or look any better due solely to the platform you choose to edit upon. The configuration you listed can be obtained in a PC, with the only difference from a Mac version being that you will have plenty of money left over after buying the PC.
It's all a matter of style, personal preference and the amount of money you're willing to spend.
As a current mac user and former PC user, I agree completely with what you said.
As far as cost is concerned, I have yet to see a Windows machine configured equal to the Mac out of the box, be any cheaper. Any Windows machine advertised less than a Mac has less than what the Mac does out of the box. Besides, if you want a faster Windows machine, buy a Mac, it runs Windows faster with much more stability.
With a Windows machine you are limited to platform, but with a Mac you can run anything without all the frustration, and worry. And another big plus is that backups always work on a Mac and you are lucky if they work on Windows without panic attacks.
The Mac is a computer and not without it's glitches once in a while, but those times are few and far between whereas on Windows it can be a daily battle.
The list can go and on about the advantages Mac has over Windows as a computer in daily life so I will end here by saying photoshop runs on both Windows and Mac and there are plenty of programs out there that run on both platforms. My vote is Mac.
Gotta agree with Tim & Troup, the only addition I would suggest is if you can manage the extra expense, go with the 24in. matte screen. (I did!!) You'll LOVE!! having all that extra screen real estate! (it's also nice if u watch a movie now & then.)