Windows Or Mac?

[Helegad]

Me and RiderKid have been arguing over what new computer RiderKid should get. He strongly believes that Mac is better for the things he wants to do (audio, video, and picture editing). I know for a fact that Windows has more apps that can do a better job than Mac could for doing these things anyday.

So the question stands: is Windows or Mac better?

[Member_of_STARS]

That is an age-old question and from the looks of things, hasnt been answered with 100% full certainty. The two... "factions" stand by theirs. So far, the only two arguments for MAC, that can be considered legit, are its user friendliness and simplicity. The other one I cant comment on myself, but people say its ticking better with various accessories. Plug ´n play.

So the question is:

Does your friend actually KNOW how to operate Vegas, Premiere, Photoshop and even Fruity Loops, or is he just beginning?

[Project Omega]

Get a mac, then run Windows through a VM on it. Problem solved.

I've never liked limitations. Nor have I been a fan of the thinking where it's either good or bad; black or white. I've always been a middle man I guess. I can lean towards onside, but will try both options and see which I like better. My first Mac experience was with a G3 back in 1998. It wasn't anything mind-blowingly awesome IMO. At that age all I was thinking was "Can I play DOOM on this?"

In recent years I got to play around with a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and of course my iPod and iPhone (generation 1 so no GPS for me )

Although I really like macs, there is a small learning curve if you've never dealt with one before or have only played around with PC's for most of your life...

A PC built solely for multimedia editing would probably be more powerful and be able to run many more applications that are not available on the Mac.

[Carnivol]

I used to work on a mac nearly half-a-decade ago, and I dunno how things have changed in the Windows world in terms of these applications, but...

When I worked in OS-X, I felt multitasking just worked "better" in general than in an XP environment. I've seen Vista have some nice features that kinda throws off the same impression, so maybe there is something there.

Again, since this is based on my experiences years ago, I dunno how things are now, but when I was multi-tasking and moving assets back and forth between Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop (and sometimes also Macromedia Flash, now Adobe Flash) at the same time as I was rendering video in Final Cut... things still worked smooth for me. At the same time, my home rig would choke if I even considered doing anything else at all.


Also, it's worth noting that I've yet to actually see an application on PC that works as nice for video editing and such as Final Cut, but then again, Final Cut isn't exactly something the everyday man would shell out for a license of (But it's really worth it if you want something that's very straight forward and incredibly functional and also used a lot in the world of big screen editing.)

There's also the very cheap "iMovie" on Mac, which is a very simplistic editor. It's kinda like the Windows Movie Maker of OS-X. A bit more functional and straight forward (We're talking very easy to learn and master. Everything is very straight forward and easy to use "out of the box")


In general, I feel like it's much easier in an accessibility and non-distracting type of way to go with an OS-X setup when you want to make a "workstation". A lot of people have also been getting newer Apple computers lately as they are easy to setup with a dual boot for both Windows and OS-X, so you can do whatever you want wherever you want, basically.


Another thing is probably since Mac computers up until recently have been very standardized in terms of what hardware they use, applications on them in general are very nicely optimized, often more stable and have fewer random odd issues than you have on a regular PC (But ofcourse, as with most things, they're not always perfect and flawless.)

One thing I feel like it's easier to learn to use properly on a Mac is shortcut keys. It's just that the environment in general somehow encourages it. Dunno how to describe it in any other way than that, really. Some complain about the one button standard mouse... but seriously, if that is your only complaint... buy one with more buttons. They're supported ;D


You probably have a lot of tools on PC that can do a lot of the jobs you can do on a MAC, and that "better," but in the case of something like video editing; unless you enjoy working with a shitload of different dedicated tools for every single little thing you're doing... It's not even a question to me anymore. I'd rather have Final Cut's full user interface and do something in two minutes than spend half a day blindfolded preparing an AVS script, to then import the video somewhere else to add some other effect to then jump over to some other app to do some other crap to then find out I didn't like my initial settings in the AVS script and then basically have to start from scratch again.




If you can get someone to point out the main application names for what you need for what you wanna do, a setup with OS-X may very well be your best friend. I can't speak much for audio editing outside of what I've done to video in Final Cut, though. So I don't know if there are any great music composition tools and such available, but I'm sure there probably are plenty of stuff available.

[Borman]

It all comes down to the interface, you either like OSX, or you like Vista (and if you are doing video editing, at this point, Vista is the way to go, as the 64 bit XP was never any good, and more ram = good). OSX has the benefit of Final Cut, but other then that, most of the programs on Windows and OSX are available on both.

[Stars1356]

I always used PC. I guess I don't like change and have never been brave enough to get or use a Mac since I was like 10. Although most people that I know that have a Mac love them.

[imacwesker]

I know for a fact that Windows has more apps that can do a better job than Mac could for doing these things anyday.

Is this a troll? Thanks for the laugh, anyway
The only reason for me to buy a PC is if you love to build your computer yourself. Some people does, same as building/tunning their car.
If you want to get a job done with a reliable OS, with reliable softwares, buy a Mac. And instal Windows on a partition as Project Omega said, for the one or two softwares Windows-only you need to use.

I have used Mac and Windows PC at work since 1994 and Mac at home only. Mac are reliable (ie, they don't crash and don't need an IT 24/7) and Windows 1995-1998-2000, Windows NT and Windows XP aren't (in a professional workflow).
When Mac OS 7 to 9 had their issues, Mac OS X 3, 4 and 5 are completly reliable.

And about the "amount of softwares available" on a Mac, always remember that Mac is the only kind of computer to allows you to legaly use all the softwares from Mac, Windows and Linux.

[riderkid]

Is this a troll? Thanks for the laugh, anyway
The only reason for me to buy a PC is if you love to build your computer yourself. Some people does, same as building/tunning their car.
If you want to get a job done with a reliable OS, with reliable softwares, buy a Mac. And instal Windows on a partition as Project Omega said, for the one or two softwares Windows-only you need to use.

I have used Mac and Windows PC at work since 1994 and Mac at home only. Mac are reliable (ie, they don't crash and don't need an IT 24/7) and Windows 1995-1998-2000, Windows NT and Windows XP aren't (in a professional workflow).
When Mac OS 7 to 9 had their issues, Mac OS X 3, 4 and 5 are completly reliable.

And about the "amount of softwares available" on a Mac, always remember that Mac is the only kind of computer to allows you to legaly use all the softwares from Mac, Windows and Linux.

what does that mean, also people say you can't use divx

[Helegad]

Mac are reliable (ie, they don't crash and don't need an IT 24/7)

*insert massive cough here*

Every single piece of software on the Macs at school crash like a school bus driver on drugs.

[Borman]

lol just about any Mac in an education setting has been a piece of crap for me. It got to the point where the IT people were looking over my shoulder, since I kept making it crash. Its the same thing for Windows PCs in an education setting really. Education computers are the reason I hated Macs in the first place, they were hunks of crap

At home, on my Mac, the only program that ever really crashes for me is Firefox, which again, does the same on Windows for me, so its not unusual.

DivX, and any other codec for that matter, works fine. Perian I believe covers them all to get them working in Quicktime in one big pack, or VLC is available as well.

[Gradon]

I've used both, but since I've used Windows since I was a child, I can't use Mac to its full potential; I find it quite confusing with the one clicker mouse and how it runs, the programs and I'm just used to Windows.

[riderkid]

im always willing to try something thats why i want a mac

[Borman]

I've used both, but since I've used Windows since I was a child, I can't use Mac to its full potential; I find it quite confusing with the one clicker mouse and how it runs, the programs and I'm just used to Windows.

You can use any USB mouse you want, right clicks and all. Many of your Windows programs are on OSX, but I fully understand not wanting to buy them again (if you bought them ), or not having certain programs.

[riderkid]

ok to helegad and all the apple haters...I don't PC game!!! i can't afford to gmae each motnh and thats why i use gamefly, im gonna have ot save for 2 months to buy a new comp and hopefully mym om can help me get the xtra i need. I jus want a reliable computer to work on and have fun.

[Carnivol]

Well, if gaming in general isn't exactly something you're planning on doing, it shouldn't even be a question.

OS X has plenty of emulators for most platforms (for a bit of background emulation glory), you've got the fancy apps you need and it does your internet and chat biddings.

I really wish they still did the lamp post iMacs, though (I really wish I could get one of those, but with modern hardware). I just love how the screen is attached on an arm and can easily be moved around and adjusted.


And, oh, about school setups and such and why they often are unstable:
If they'd first of all get those systems up and running online, to then update their applications, you'd be half-way there on getting things more stable. Not to mention that a lot of schools also often use old licenses so you have to load up the OS9 emulator everytime you want to run some of those apps.


And like Borman says, Firefox and such has the exact same issues on both platforms. So it's not like a crash in Firefox in OS X isn't gonna happen in XP/Vista.
(And I prefer using VLC for my random video playback)