Every semester, students ask me whether I prefer a Mac or a PC for using Illustrator and Photoshop. My answer to this question takes into consideration a couple of main thoughts, that I am going to share with you here:
1. Price point = From experience you can purchase a PC and have it customized and made top of the line to process your work flow smoothly and fast for a lot less than a MAC. However there are many pros that consistently upgrade their MAC computers and have to sell their old ones, so that you can get great deals on used MACS online. You just have to be comfortable with some of the risks with buying from a stranger online.
2. Appeal = I would definitely say that the MAC wins in that category, whether it’s the Laptops or the Desktops they just look and feel very nice.
3. Ease of use = The Adobe programs run and function exactly the same whether it is on a PC or on a MAC. The files can be transferred, opened, saved and collaborated on, on both. What makes the major difference is that the MAC keyboard uses the apple symbol or command, where the PC keyboard uses the control key.
Depending on how computer literate you feel, using the Mac vs the PC is not much different. However I have seen some individuals struggle with the fact that the applications on a MAC are sort of free floating so that when you click on the background you constantly switch to the desktop.
4. Community = The MAC commercials that have been running on USA TV say it very clearly, many MAC users feel a”bit superior” to the PC users, whether it is a sense of them being more creative, stylish or richer (with the MAC PRO price tag), but regardless of the superficial appeal to many, there are many applications that the MAC world comes out with that are simply not available for a PC. Some of them are pretty amazing. Just to name 2: * FINAL CUT PRO which is a professional software for Movie Producers. * RapidWeaver is a software for MAC users that let’s users create stunning websites from many community offered themes that can be completely customized. It is suppose to be very easy to use, but I have not used it yet so I can’t comment on that.
5. Making the switch after…bad idea! = Some students say that they can’t afford the MAC just yet and say that they will start with a PC and then later switch to a MAC.
I think that this is a bit hard to do, because you will have to make the investment for the software again, because you can’t install an Adobe product that runs on a PC on a MAC. See my personal stand below.
Personal stand at this time:
I have worked my entire life in both systems, but I personally own several PC Laptops and Desktops and the reason for that is because I started using PCs as a teenager and it feels very homey to me. From a design appeal the MACs look a lot nicer and once one uses them for a while they have many nice features and a very stylish/ designer community that swears by them. However, as long as none of them pay for me to make the switch, meaning that they purchase all my software to work on a MAC, I am not giving into the “peer pressure”.
One Response to “PC or Mac? What do you prefer?”
I think that Mac is the best for the designers market. It has no issues with design programs such as Illustrator or Photoshop, and all of the creative suite, Corel draw, and so on. I have had a mac book for 2 years now and have had no problems with it, where when I was at FIDM I had a PC…. and well it was incredibly sluggish and had a tendency to burn my ‘jump’ drives. The basic Mac book is what I was referred apposed to the macbook pro since that is mainly used for video editing. Its now only 1,000 for the base, and will give you plenty of joy, and is not hard to use compared to PC.