Its not a necessity to have one, but I would definitely suggest becoming accustomed to them. I personally prefer using a mac for design work.

I use both seamlessly and interchangeably for the same type of work. My Mac is newer and more powerful (more RAM, faster processor, etc), but there's not much drop off when I work on the road with my tablet PC which is 3 years older than the Mac and has about 1/3 less RAM. If you plan on working on a design staff somewhere in the future, it would probably benefit you to be able to use both proficiently. As far as pros for Mac that I feel are inherent to being a Mac, it's really only that I feel slightly more secure on my Mac from a stability standpoint.

Anthony Smith said:Its not a necessity to have one, but I would definitely suggest becoming accustomed to them. I personally prefer using a mac for design work.

What he said. The software just runs smoother on a Mac. PCs are clunky for design.

Id also point out that in every studio ive been to, Macs have been used exclusively for print design, and a mix of PC and Mac have been used for digital (large motion projects tend to favor high spec PCs).

Ultimately its the software that matters, and they all work on both Mac and PCs. To me it seems like the big reason why Macs are preferred is because everybody else uses them. I use a PC at home and a Mac at school and work and I've never really noticed any reason why one is better than the other, other than the Macs are usually newer machines than my PC.

But like Balefire said, if you plan on graphic design being your career, you better get accustomed to Macs because the majority of places use them.

If you can afford it, get a Mac.

If you can't afford it, get a credit card and then use it to purchase a Mac.

I can work sliightly faster on a mac due to their superior keyboard shortcuts (option + r = registered mark for example), but in reality, working on a PC or Mac is extremely similar. I use a PC at home, and a mac at work. It costs literally half as much for a high end quality PC to match the specs of a mac, and I can't ignore that price difference.

fuck apple :)

Fuck them single click mice.

I can't speak for everyone else, but one of the main reasons I am sticking with using a Mac, is because Apple is one of the best designed brands around these days. Since they don't have third party companies building machines for them (probably one of the many reasons they do run pricier), they can have control over the look and feel of everything about their machines, inside and out. Seems like a very good reason for a designer to use them, in my opinion. Practice what you preach

it's not the early 90's anymore. you don't *need* a Mac for design work.

Lmerrill said:I can't speak for everyone else, but one of the main reasons I am sticking with using a Mac, is because Apple is one of the best designed brands around these days. Since they don't have third party companies building machines for them (probably one of the many reasons they do run pricier), they can have control over the look and feel of everything about their machines, inside and out. Seems like a very good reason for a designer to use them, in my opinion. Practice what you preach

Aesthetics alone doesn't dictate functionality. You can build your own PC using the best components from the brands who lead are the innovators in that given area, and have a blazingly quick and reliable machine. I can build a top tier pc with 32 gigs of ram for $1500-$2000 depending on what processor / video card I use. A base model imac will set you back almost the same amount.

I love macs, but they charge a ton of money because they know that the hardcore apple fanbase will pay it, and because they have no competition as the apple platform is made by apple and apple alone. Just take a look at how much mac ram costs to buy direct from apple, and how much the same spec'ed ram for a mac costs from crucial. Does apple charge 4x as much because they make it themselves?

I have an iMac and i swear by it.. because i do a load of music recording, design and all that media jazz & i think its great for all that. In my opinion.. my mac runs a load smoother than any PC i've had but in all honesty I'm not into all this tech stuff and wouldn't have a clue with specs and what not.. i just prefer a mac.. the way it runs and even the way it looks. They are stupid prices and there are obviously PCs out there that are a bunch better and cheaper but i like an iMac. Each to their own I suppose & depends on what needs you have for a computer x

Christiane said:I have an iMac and i swear by it.. because i do a load of music recording, design and all that media jazz & i think its great for all that. In my opinion.. my mac runs a load smoother than any PC i've had but in all honesty I'm not into all this tech stuff and wouldn't have a clue with specs and what not.. i just prefer a mac.. the way it runs and even the way it looks. They are stupid prices and there are obviously PCs out there that are a bunch better and cheaper but i like an iMac. Each to their own I suppose & depends on what needs you have for a computer.

FTFY

In all honesty, when I bought my imac in 08, I couldn't get a PC with the same specs AND 27" monitor for a comparable price, add to the fact that it was all compact and I just had to plug it into the wall (and I paid for it with a scholarship) and I was sold. Obviously that isn't the case at all anymore, but I haven't had any issues with this machine at all. I'm about how the OS looks/feels/operates more than anything. I think if you're looking to build some ungodly super computer for gaming AND design, of course you want to go with PC, but I'm not a very big gamer, personally. My advice is to get your hands on a mac to use and a pc to use, just for general everyday designing and web browsing and apps and whatnot. Try them out. I think overall you'll find you have a better experience using a Mac. I know that I have. *waits for obligatory "you can install OSX on a pc" comment*

Macs seem to run Adobe products better/faster, and they use RAM more efficiently.

Build a Hackintosh, PC built to your own spec's for fairly cheep then just run Mac software of it.

I used to do design on serval PC before I bought a Mac. The only major difference I say there is in user experience. Everything on PC seem like an after thought. Don't have a volume indicator? Fuck it, lets make ours overlay terrible graphics. User looking to change the brightness? Make him go through control panel then five other sectors. Also, Macs just look more impressive. The only down sight is the whole drinking more Starbucks/instagraming/saying "hella".

i can certainly vouch for the user experience, after moving to a Mac about three years ago my productivity went up like mad. doing stupid shit like NEVER having to open task manager ever again is enough for me to stay on a mac indefinitely.

its quite hard to explain but macs feel a bit more designy too, less clutter in all aspecs.

you can get that with a hackintosh but it doesnt matter what its wrapped in, the mac experience works for me.

For anyone without any sort of budget worries I would definitely suggest a mac for all design work, and keep a PC around for gaming if that's your thing, or heavy 3-D/video editing/secondary web to check cross platform looks for web.

Lmerrill said:In all honesty, when I bought my imac in 08, I couldn't get a PC with the same specs AND 27" monitor for a comparable price,

strange - nowadays it's the other way around.

Whilst I agree with what a lot of people here have said, that the design of the machine and the OS beat windows machines hands down (usually) I think that for people on a budget you get far more bang for your buck on a windows machine. (Before saying this I should mention this is for the UK and I understand that apple charge US customers considerably less when you look at a currency converter) For an entry line iMac you're looking at £1000. That £1000 will get you the 21.5 inch monitor, a 2.5GHz Core i5 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM a 500GB Hard drive and a AMD 6750M 0.5GB. I priced up these specs for a Windows machine and it came to £656.

Ultimately, for the £344 more you're getting a nicer looking machine, and a better operating system. I personally think that the money isn't worth it but I can definitely understand why people would think the opposite. There's no question that Apple make amazing products, I just can't justify the price.

Well, the current Mac OS needs about 256mb of ram at full bore(obviously before photoshop or whatever programs you are running). Where windows 7 home premium idles at around 1gb out of the box. Also, to another point made here, the 27" iMac has a huge resolution @ 1440 meaning less zooming in and out, and faster workflow ( at least for me) Now, my iMac is roughly 3 years or so old, and it's still got a start up time of about thirteen seconds. I have never seen a brand new windows machine get anything better than 2 minutes with almost everything taken out of the start up. And that was with an Ssd. The monitor that apple makes is worth the money to me alone but a superior OS, all in one hardware, and a really intuitive interface has me all Mac. I'm not married to the brand, it's all about performance for me. Lastly, the fact that I in 6 years have never had to defrag or get new av or do any kind of maintenance whatsoever is wonderful. I'm sure there are all sorts of people who can tweak a windows computer to be close, but my time is worth more than a couple hundred dollars in savings. It just comes awfully close to lipstick on a pig. With that being said, to answer your question: you abosolutely do not need a Mac. But most would suggest it to fulfill your needs better.

just for price comparisions: I got myself a new PC about a year ago, for about 1000 Euros: WIN 7 (not once have I had problems with it, or freezing or anything), 8GB RAM, 100 GB SSD, HD 2 TB... etc. Whereas the iMac at work which cost over 3000,- had 4 GB RAM, 1 TB HD. and I'm not even comparing graphics cards or processors. yes, it has an awfully nice display. but is that worth over 2000 Euros?
also keep in mind when changing systems: you probably have to buy most of your software again.

Every time I read one of these threads I keep waiting for all the Mac lovers to mention how fluidly their Mac syncs with their iPhone, iPod and iPad.

chrisXedge said:Well, the current Mac OS needs about 256mb of ram at full bore(obviously before photoshop or whatever programs you are running). Where windows 7 home premium idles at around 1gb out of the box. Also, to another point made here, the 27" iMac has a huge resolution @ 1440 meaning less zooming in and out, and faster workflow ( at least for me) Now, my iMac is roughly 3 years or so old, and it's still got a start up time of about thirteen seconds. I have never seen a brand new windows machine get anything better than 2 minutes with almost everything taken out of the start up. And that was with an Ssd. The monitor that apple makes is worth the money to me alone but a superior OS, all in one hardware, and a really intuitive interface has me all Mac. I'm not married to the brand, it's all about performance for me. Lastly, the fact that I in 6 years have never had to defrag or get new av or do any kind of maintenance whatsoever is wonderful. I'm sure there are all sorts of people who can tweak a windows computer to be close, but my time is worth more than a couple hundred dollars in savings. It just comes awfully close to lipstick on a pig. With that being said, to answer your question: you abosolutely do not need a Mac. But most would suggest it to fulfill your needs better.

I'm not arguing that it isn't possible for a windows machine to load the OS quickly. I am stating the fact that it will NOT without a lot of software modification. Where as any person can walk into best buy and get an apple machine that will be fast and maintenance free for years. I don't want to beat a dead horse. It's just a matter of how much time I prefer to spend on my art vs modifying a machine that isn't as fast as it could be right out of the box.

chrisXedge said:I'm not arguing that it isn't possible for a windows machine to load the OS quickly. I am stating the fact that it will NOT without a lot of software modification. Where as any person can walk into best buy and get an apple machine that will be fast and maintenance free for years. I don't want to beat a dead horse. It's just a matter of how much time I prefer to spend on my art vs modifying a machine that isn't as fast as it could be right out of the box.

Um, that computer isn't likely running ANY software modification. It's running on a SSD(solid state drive) which remembers program states and ONLY boots essentials. SSD's are just hard-drives that are used for whatever you want booted on priority. Most PC manufacturers offer SSD's nowadays, so once again "right out of the box." People nit-pic way too much. If you're [semi-]intelligent and don't go to your local box store to buy a PC, they ALL have the capability to be equipped with no bloatware and with better hardware for a far cheaper price. I really don't know why I have to argue this with someone who has "Xedge" in their name and no avatar, which pretty much throws out credibility, but c'est la vie.

People really need to stop being so blind and fanboyish when it comes to Apple products. Both Apple and PC products can do the same stuff, run on the same hardware for the most part these days(Apple still makes their own MB's to a degree in the respect that that particular model is made specific for Apple by a 3rd party and isn't offered to other products), so the only real difference is OS. Ease-of-use people seem to prefer the hand-holding of OS X, which is fine, but it isn't like Windows is some ancient OS that can't do the exact same thing as good or better. PC's you can get far cheaper and with better specs for the cheaper tag so if that's your thing, PC. If that hand-holding feel of OS X is your thing, get a Mac. Majority of people who use Macs end up bootcamping Windows anyway since Windows has superior compatibility.

Bottom line, get whatever you want and feel best suits you. Both do the job, and there are people on both sides who claim theirs is better. Really, they're equal. It's all a matter of preference not some phantom e-peen that one has over the other.

A.Merkison said:

chrisXedge said:I'm not arguing that it isn't possible for a windows machine to load the OS quickly. I am stating the fact that it will NOT without a lot of software modification. Where as any person can walk into best buy and get an apple machine that will be fast and maintenance free for years. I don't want to beat a dead horse. It's just a matter of how much time I prefer to spend on my art vs modifying a machine that isn't as fast as it could be right out of the box.

Um, that computer isn't likely running ANY software modification. It's running on a SSD(solid state drive) which remembers program states and ONLY boots essentials. SSD's are just hard-drives that are used for whatever you want booted on priority. Most PC manufacturers offer SSD's nowadays, so once again "right out of the box." People nit-pic way too much. If you're [semi-]intelligent and don't go to your local box store to buy a PC, they ALL have the capability to be equipped with no bloatware and with better hardware for a far cheaper price. I really don't know why I have to argue this with someone who has "Xedge" in their name and no avatar, which pretty much throws out credibility, but c'est la vie.

People really need to stop being so blind and fanboyish when it comes to Apple products. Both Apple and PC products can do the same stuff, run on the same hardware for the most part these days(Apple still makes their own MB's to a degree in the respect that that particular model is made specific for Apple by a 3rd party and isn't offered to other products), so the only real difference is OS. Ease-of-use people seem to prefer the hand-holding of OS X, which is fine, but it isn't like Windows is some ancient OS that can't do the exact same thing as good or better. PC's you can get far cheaper and with better specs for the cheaper tag so if that's your thing, PC. If that hand-holding feel of OS X is your thing, get a Mac. Majority of people who use Macs end up bootcamping Windows anyway since Windows has superior compatibility.

Bottom line, get whatever you want and feel best suits you. Both do the job, and there are people on both sides who claim theirs is better. Really, they're equal. It's all a matter of preference not some phantom e-peen that one has over the other.

Couldn't agree more.

Ah, turned into one of those threads. Didnt see that happening.

againstbound said:Fuck them single click mice.

chrisXedge said:I'm not arguing that it isn't possible for a windows machine to load the OS quickly. I am stating the fact that it will NOT without a lot of software modification.

what? that's just not true.

Anthony Smith said:Ah, turned into one of those threads. Didnt see that happening.

really? ;)

I use both Mac and Windows If I had the money everything I used would be Mac.