PC or Mac

It always comes down to this:

But seriously folks, whatever tools get the job done for you .
I'm a Mac user, (but I dress more like the John Hodgman "PC" character ! Go figure ... :confused: ) and Macintosh is the best fit for me and my art.

Again, they're only tools, so pick the tool that works best for you.

Having used both (though it's been awhile since my pc blew up)I definately prefer macs.I've had my g5 for a couple years now and it hasn't given me any trouble. I run Flash, and now Maya on my mac.
At work we just got new imacs (we run Flash on them) and they are great!
It's a matter of preference, I guess, but I can never see me going back to a pc.

That was just bizarre seeing a Wikipedia-style article hyperlink outside the Wikipedia.

I run a 20" iMac Core Duo with 2GB of RAM and it works great for animation.

I can run CS3 apps, Digicel, Final Cut Studio, Maya, and pretty much anything else. Gotta have that 2GB of RAM though.

I won't be switching to MACs anytime soon. It would be too expensive for me to switch to a Mac because I would have to buy MAC versions of all the software I have for PC, plus the price of the MAC hardware itself. I do use Macs at the college I attend and I love them. About the only things I have against Macs is the limited number of video card configurations and there lack of Intel Core 2 Quad CPUs.

I'm a Mac user, (but I dress more like the John Hodgman "PC" character !

I'm certain you dress much better. The break on John's trousers is so excessive that it looks like his pants are melting. *

If commercial-Macpeople didn't dress like characters from the movie "P.C.U.", maybe they'd be taken more seriously in the world of commercialcentric inter-character interactions.

* but at least he's showing some cuff. his shirt's the only thing he's wearing that fits him.

I think I'd rather have a Mac just to have less distraction and less technical hassle. From what I understand, the Mac machines - in the course of normal usage - throw you far less curveballs than current versions of Windows. I'm fairly certain that for my next machine I'm going Apple.

Shop around for RAM and don't buy it from Apple. They just charge too much for it. Get the stock RAM the system comes with and purchase additional RAM online.

Here's the catch though: If you need to send your system in for repairs put ONLY the Apple RAM back into the machine before sending it in. Apple tries so hard to avoid responsibility by claiming that using non-Apple RAM is the first culprit in a hardware problem. It's the first question they'll ask you too. Don't let them yank your chain, keep the Apple RAM the system comes with.

About which system to get -- it's going to be a balance of how much do you want to spend and do you want to upgrade your machine in the future. The iMacs are decent little systems, but you can't upgrade the video card or anything like that. The Mac Pro systems aren't cheap. You might want to check out the refurb specials section on the Apple Web site. It changes all the time and they typically have refurbs for 10-40% off retail and they come with full warranty.

when i used flash on Mac back in the dark ages..a whole tool bar was missing... the resize, rotate buttons...is that still the case? Or was i just being dense

Personally I'd go with a PC. They are cheaper, so for the same amount of money you can get a much faster, stronger PC than you can a Mac.

Macs are cooler and prettier, but I have yet to work at a studio where the animators and most of the artists work on Macs.

I run a 3 year old Dell Dimension 8400 and haven't had any problems with bugs or viruses. I run Flash, Maya, Photoshop and Premiere on it with no problems. If you Firefox and a Norton anti-virus program you should be fine. Just stop downloading porn. Awww hell, I download porn all the time and I still don't have any problems. :D

It all comes down to personal preference. If you're a Mac guy, get a Mac. If you're a PC guy get a PC.

I have a quick question for you Mac guys. Since Macs now run Windows, aren't you now open to all the PC bugs and viruses?

Aloha,
the Ape

when i used flash on Mac back in the dark ages..a whole tool bar was missing... the resize, rotate buttons...is that still the case? Or was i just being dense

No, but in my experience Flash is slower on the Mac than on the PC. On my system it runs in Rosetta, which is emulation for Intel Macs, but even on PPC Macs it seems a little less responsive.

I'm hoping that Flash CS3 is an improvement since it's Universal binary.

I think I'd rather have a Mac just to have less distraction and less technical hassle. From what I understand, the Mac machines - in the course of normal usage - throw you far less curveballs than current versions of Windows. I'm fairly certain that for my next machine I'm going Apple.

I used to believe that from hearing it around, but I've never had a problem with XP, and dealt with Macs at school, and...it's weird, I thought the whole demeaning slant against the Macs was "Oh, it keeps all the really gritty stuff away from you, it's like having the safety lock on, but the tradeoff is a smooth ride" and I'd get errors doing simple things like moving a window -- "An unknown error occured" -- sometimes 4 or 5 times in a row, then it would kick me out of what I was doing without letting me save, and the illusion was shattered.

I do like the visuals on the later OSs of theirs though.

I have a quick question for you Mac guys. Since Macs now run Windows, aren't you now open to all the PC bugs and viruses?

I have stand alone PCs and Macs, and I run Windows on my Mac in both Boot Camp and VMWare. I'm careful with my machines so I never get virii or even spyware.

But if that should happen, then the nice thing about VMWare is that your entire Windows system is a file that can be backed up and/or deleted at any time. If you periodically back up the file and then get a virus at some point, you can simply delete the newest version and go back to the old one.

Boot Camp, however, is like any other PC and would require a re-install.

But I don't use any anti-virus at all in Vista and it hasn't been a problem. The new security is pretty good. Plus, like I said, I'm careful.

Macs are cooler and prettier, but I have yet to work at a studio where the animators and most of the artists work on Macs.

Really? I know that PCs are still preferred for most 3D work, since you can get a lot more power for a lot less money, I would think that most 2d places that rely on Photoshop and FCP would lean toward Mac.

At any rate, I would think it would be roughly 50-50, which is what I see in the freelancers I hire.

i use a PC for 3D and after effects and a Mac for everything else.

I wouldnt have it any other way.

adobe products are so much slicker on macs ;) plus the new cs3 is universal right? so itl run great on the new intel chips.

Are there compatability issues in Flash between Macs and PCs Can you work on a Flash file on a Mac then send the file to your PC and still be able to work on it no problem?

I haven't had that kind of issue in awhile. I do most of my Flash work on a Mac, but for the heavy stuff I switch to the PC since Flash still runs in PPC emulation and was never all that snappy to begin with.

I'm hoping Flash CS3 fixes that problem.

Other than that, no compatibility issues to speak of in my experience.

http://www.lauriemcguinness.com/macpc_work.mov

I'm a bit tired of the virus issues with PCs, hence the openess towards Macs.

With the extra thousand dollars you would've spent on a Mac, you can get some nice anti-virus software for your PC.

I had to switch from Mac to PC about a decade ago because I needed to be able to use all the available visualization software, not just the 10 or 20 percent of it that's available for Macs.
If all I was using were Adobe products, I'd probably still be on a Mac.

As alluded to above, it comes down to preference and disposable income. Macs tend to cost more to buy and maintain, but they have stylistic advantages. I lean towards PCs mostly for cost. I know a Mac could handle everything that my computer runs with no issues. Performance isn't the issue. Cost and accessability to maintenance remain the largest reasons I go PC. But thankfully we're all animated in different ways. :D

Macs tend to cost more to buy and maintain, but they have stylistic advantages.

Really? I've run into few Macs that have been lemons, but for the most part they've been solid. If you're talking about taking anything to the Apple store for repairs, then yeah, they're not right in the head. I recommend anyone buying a Mac to get Apple Care. It will pay for itself.

Personally I've found the OS to be much more stable on the Mac since X. Depending on the type of work I was doing I would get a PC for certain apps, oh and Counter-Strike: Source.

Well, it's kind of a moot point now that the Mac OS runs on any PC, isn't it? Just run a dual-boot system, use whatever you please. Personally, I'd go the PC route, just because you've got more upgrade options, and that's going to increase the life of your system. I looked into Mac systems a while back, seeing if there was anything with more than 4 GB RAM, and I couldn't find anything; but I need tons of RAM to do projects in film resolution. You'll probably also want RAID too, to keep a steady backup of your work.

I recommend anyone buying a Mac to get Apple Care. It will pay for itself.

I'm always astonished to hear this. Aside from the conventional wisdom that extended warranties are for suckers, it's especially puzzling when almost every Mac user I know recommends it since it doesn't say much for their experience with Apple products that they break down so often that an extended warranty (and Apple Care can be quite expensive) pays for itself!

Well, it's kind of a moot point now that the Mac OS runs on any PC, isn't it?

Not exactly. A Mac is the only hardware that officially runs both Windows and OS X. Generic PC hardware will not run OS X officially, and can only run it unofficially with some serious hacker skillz. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for work-related projects.

I looked into Mac systems a while back, seeing if there was anything with more than 4 GB RAM, and I couldn't find anything; but I need tons of RAM to do projects in film resolution. You'll probably also want RAID too, to keep a steady backup of your work.

It sounds like you'd need a Mac Pro. The new Mac Pros hold 16GB of RAM, will dual-boot Windows, contain up to (8) 3Ghz Xeon processors, and are quite expandable (including the gfx card and most add-on HD boards).

The 8-core configuration is surprisingly well-priced when compared to other 8-core systems.

Really? I've run into few Macs that have been lemons, but for the most part they've been solid. If you're talking about taking anything to the Apple store for repairs, then yeah, they're not right in the head. I recommend anyone buying a Mac to get Apple Care. It will pay for itself.

Personally I've found the OS to be much more stable on the Mac since X. Depending on the type of work I was doing I would get a PC for certain apps, oh and Counter-Strike: Source.

The operating system may be more stabile, but if you have problems with the hardware, it's difficult to troubleshoot, and ram and everything else is more expensive than that of the PC. I've actually been keeping a couple of old Macs going for six years now, but they've been a lot more work and research than my eight year old PC. And it's impossible to upgrade them any longer. They are now more or less obsolete, whereas I can still use my PC to create graphics and access the net. I am now using XP on my PC, but neither of my Macs can handle OS X. So that leaves them in the dust now. And my PC is a custom 1999 build. How many 1999 Macs are still out there being productive?

I'm always astonished to hear this. Aside from the conventional wisdom that extended warranties are for suckers, it's especially puzzling when almost every Mac user I know recommends it since it doesn't say much for their experience with Apple products that they break down so often that an extended warranty (and Apple Care can be quite expensive) pays for itself!

It really shouldn't astonish you. For warranty to pay for itself it will depend on the tech level of the user, yes. Replace a hard drive or something simple, yeah I can do that. Replace a new component that Apple won't sell me, just not possible. The real problem is you can't purchase Apple hardware parts and that should be taken into consideration. And how many PC repairs shops can you find vs. Authorized Apple warranty service providers?

And I'm not trying to convince ANYONE to purchase a Mac OR PC. Someone asked a question about something I have experience with and I gave my experience. Instead of assuming that I or anyone else recommending Apple Care is not intelligent, possibly inquiring as to why someone disagrees with your experience might be better.

The operating system may be more stabile, but if you have problems with the hardware, it's difficult to troubleshoot, and ram and everything else is more expensive than that of the PC. I've actually been keeping a couple of old Macs going for six years now, but they've been a lot more work and research than my eight year old PC. And it's impossible to upgrade them any longer. They are now more or less obsolete, whereas I can still use my PC to create graphics and access the net. I am now using XP on my PC, but neither of my Macs can handle OS X. So that leaves them in the dust now. And my PC is a custom 1999 build. How many 1999 Macs are still out there being productive?

Yup, hardware is more expensive.

Mine's close. I have a G4 Gigabit Ethernet which came out in 2000.

The operating system may be more stabile, but if you have problems with the hardware, it's difficult to troubleshoot, and ram and everything else is more expensive than that of the PC.

That's certainly true of the older Macs, but all of the newer ones run off-the-shelf RAM and hard drives. Replacing the RAM is pretty easy. The hard drives, not so much, although I usually recommend external drives for storage anyway.

And DO NOT buy extra RAM from Apple under any circumstances.

Instead of assuming that I or anyone else recommending Apple Care is not intelligent, possibly inquiring as to why someone disagrees with your experience might be better.

It's not about my experience per se, and I certainly don't mean to impugn your intelligence. It's just that almost ANY tech person will tell you that purchasing an extended warranty is simply a waste of money. I would think that this is doubly true for Apple products since they are touted as being more reliable and better quality than other computer makers.

That said, you do make a good point about Apple's proprietary nature and their typically closed hardware designs.

I can see where beeblebrox is coming from ...

I'm not technically savvy, more of an end user, and bought Applecare because I was a first time Mac owner and wanted to protect my rather large investment. I bought my G5 in 2005, run Maya 7, Final Cut Pro, AfterEffects, Adobe Creative Suite 2, Flash and Dreamweaver and (at the risk of jinxing myself) haven't had so much as a hiccup. It's been awesome!

Did I need Applecare? Probably not, but it gave me peace of mind.

The only comment I'd make regarding Maya on a Mac is that some tried and true scripts that everyone uses on a PC don't always work. Bit of a pain.