Comments on: Think different

By: Reynder Bruyns

Reynder Bruyns — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:07:55 +0000

A came across your article by accident, but it is even now still relevant. Nice reading and it gave me some good input on how to tackle some of these discussions still happening. I started with the MAC and ended with the PC. I will never go back again. Cost and efficiency.

By: mark lazaro

mark lazaro — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:01:13 +0000

hi Everyone,

Well I have followed the whole "mac vs windows" debate for years and never really found anyone who could without reasonable doubt present  substantial facts that proved one was better than the other.

I have been a windows user for over 10 years now working in the fields of graphics, 3d animation and video. My choice of platform was purely influenced by the first company I worked with, we had a network of 15 windows machines and no one really asked questions. With a result people developed workflows, methods and even work-arounds for some common windows memory problems and crashes.

Ive moved on since then leaving my first employer to start freelancing and I now run my own advertising agency in India. On the platform front NOTHING really changed for me. As you would expect I equipped my office with PCs ranging from Celerons to Quad Zeons for various applications.

Everyone was happy, work seemed good. For more than 1 reason I was unofficially crowned the IT guy of the firm. So apart from my work I had to take time off during the day to fix technical issues with the machines. Over the last 2 years the frequency of the breakdowns and issues increased exponentially, we expanded from 3 machines to 10 and things started to go berserk. Cashing in on cheap hardware providers like dell and  the local assembled PC market, we figured we had made very economical investments.

Looking back I would so no, I realised my choice of OS platform was not truly mine, it was something I had grown accustomed to. Our network of machines would continuously develop some problem or the other. Antivirus software apart from interfering with mission critical applications like network rendering managers would eat up valuable CPU cycles. We found ourselves spending a lot of time fixing windows rather than working. To cut a long story short I still had no answer to this dilemma, I didn't  know better. By this time I had learnt the windows registry nearly by-heart. Our efficiency was suffering but we had no alternative.

By sheer accident I met a fellow designer at a trade fair and during the course of conversation we discussed workflows. He ran a studio with a network of macs. Skeptical at first it took me a long time to accept that something as alien as a mac could find its way into my studio.

Well, they have. It started with an imac, i personally moved to it and bought a mac licence of adobe creative suite. Within 2 weeks everyone  in the office was fighting for time on the mac. I completed 2 major campaigns in that 2 week period. Both without a single crash,blue screen, reboot, freeze or anything else my PCs had thrown at me.

I now have a complete plan to move 2 pipelines within the company  (graphics-web,print and video-editing and effects) totally to mac. By the 3rd quarter of this year I would have completed the transition. We already have licences of FCS and Adobe creative suite and are making good use of them. The learning curve has been nothing like what we expected, everyone made a smooth transition within 3 weeks of the software arriving. If there is anything that I under-estimated it is the speed at which my staff found reasons to do thing on the mac. We need more macs now but money flow puts them out of our reach for just a little while longer.

One of the major issues that faced me when I was buying that first mac was the cost of the hardware. Trust me today after much research and math its much cheaper. I bought mac care plans and got a 4 year warranty for my machines. FCS and Shake both top of the line apps upgrade for just 100$ and less. The efficiency gained in the last few months itself is a huge sign that the cost factor of moving to the mac platform is not an issue at all.

Im running out of time here, have to run for a meeting. . . I will try and write more in the days to come.

for now I can ony conclude that using the tool that keeps you designing is the way to go. As much as I love technology I dont want to spend my life fixing it. When the tool you are using is letting you effortlessly be creative youll know its the right one for you.

regards,
mark

By: karen

karen — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 20:54:41 +0000

This is a great post considerding just how sticky the topic is. You've presented several ideas in such a way as to give me a platform of ideas to use when trudging through my own battles on this subject.

>pc advocate.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:06:13 +0000

haha. I don't know. A graphics card is a board with capactors, silicon, chips, etc. soldered into it. It has different firmware on the prom chips to run on different machines...I'm sure I'm simplifying a bit --- BUT the point is, they shouldn't be any different in price. Now, I must admit PCs have some pretty darn expensive video cards too...but generally speaking I could see the Mac being more expensive...maybe it's due to the fact they don't procude as many?? Not to throw a big dagger in the heart of Mac lovers, but contrary to popular belief PC machines outnumber Macs by an alarming amount. I do love Macs though =) All computers are my little children. ... that usually misbehave.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:06:39 +0000

I agree. It is completely worthless to be using a Macintosh computer if you're in business.

If you want to look cool and use an iPod (even though a PC can run one too) then get a Mac.

If you want to make money - use a PC. Ok ok you can make money using a Mac but you're probably snobby and overcharging for design fees just to make back your investment on hardware.

Cliche's aside, I personally like to work by the numbers. If I can spend $500 and have a very nice machine that I can personally upgrade in the future - then that's a wise business decision. Even if it doesn't look as pretty. It works.

Furthermore, Windows is the most widely supported operating system in the world. There are more programs written to run under Windows than any other operating system out there. Yes often times a lot of junk, but also a lot of very valuable software as described above.

I do enjoy the recent Mac commercials that are nice and factual but leave out anything for the PC (of course). The PC can emulate Mac OSX too. It is actually MORE compatible with hardware - like the one Japanese speaking lady commercial I enjoyed that one...nearly fell off my chair laughing.

The network one was nice too- they did say that they were both on the same network. Guess they wanted to make it sound like it was the Macintosh's reason why the Mac and PC were networked...Guess someone never heard of software like PC MACLAN, etc. MacDrive? TransMac? Crossfnt? All nice pieces of Windows software that will help a PC live in a Mac world - especially with graphic design.

The damage Apple did to itself years ago is almost irreversable. Their solution is to make nice looking packaging and machines and overcharge making people feel like they got a value.

I know this subject has been beaten to death - but seldom do you find designers out there saying they work on PCs. I think more should. Any business savvy person would because they are the economical choice. End of story.

Thanks for sharing this post.

By: zoeBe

zoeBe — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:18:07 +0000

I agree with some of the previous comments. If you want other ppl to stop talking about an issue, YOU have to stop talking about it. It would actually be nice to read a design blog that never comments on this topic...now THAT would be a change. Oh well, can't undo what you've already done....(though hmmm...you could delete it! save a little face to new readers! ;)

By: paul merrill

paul merrill — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 11:25:08 +0000

The one thing the 3,000 people failed to comment on was that if our friend had stuck with Macs & never switched, there would not be a $50,000 expense to switch.

Also, Mr. Gates is often cited for his philanthropy, but as a percentage of his income, what he and Melinda give is pretty small. Having said that, we never hear ANYTHING about what Mr. Jobs is peraonally giving away.

By: Mackie

Mackie — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 15:09:58 +0000

Well, being a designer/media creator, the programs I use most are not Outlook but Creative Suite and Final Cut Studio. I've never had any compatibility problems.

By: CreativeGuy

CreativeGuy — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:42:06 +0000

OK, I admit it. I'm a Mac Zealot! I love using the Mac OS. Notice I said I love the Mac OS, not the Mac and not Apple.

Frankly, Apple has put out dud after dud after dud the last few years (excluding the iPod) to the point where I'm ready to consider the alternative.

The G5 is a big, ugly bunch of hot air (literally). Fan noise issues have plagued the machine since the beginning and they still haven't fixed it.

The MacBook and MacBook Pro. Still overpriced, still underpowered. And for the premium price tag, you are treated to a plethora of issues ranging from the white plastic turning yellow after 2 weeks, to yet more "mooing" sounds coming out of your speakers. In fact, the only selling point, it seems, besides the glossy screen is the ability to run Windows.

What I really want is to run the Mac OS on a PC box. I love the Mac OS, but I'm sick and tired of paying an obnoxious premium price for equipment that offers little more in the way of features from the last box, but introduces numerous problems such as the ones littering sites like MacFixIt.

I give Apple one more year. That's it. When Adobe releases CreativeSuite3, I'm going to take a long hard look at Windows and where Apple is with their computers. At that time, if there isn't a HUGE improvement not only in quality of the released product, but features too - then I see no reason to pay the premium prices and I'll probably switch to Windows. After all, as stated in the article, I actually USE the software as my tools of the trade, not the OS, and certainly not the hardware.

By: Derelict

Derelict — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:58:38 +0000

I never post comments anywhere but I must this time. Another reason not to go mac is the lack of a TabletPC. It may not be a Cintiq but I get so much more done being able to draw on the screen. I also don't have to cart around a Wacom as I did with my Powerbook. I appreciated the "industy standard" comments. I was the only person in my year at design school that only used PC's and somehow was able to produce excellent work on what students and teachers called a "inferior tool".