Troll Lord Games

I'll soon be dropping money for a new computer & was wondering if anyone here uses Mac? -I'll be doing -well hope to as time allows- some photo editing and map making. I'd love to get into some 3d mapping & design eventually but time is the big problem on that one. I've had problems with my PC & hate how twitchy PCs can be and I've heard good things about mac computers. I figured this would fall under the "artist" section of the forum.

Any views or input would be apreciated.
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Lurker wrote:
I'll soon be dropping money for a new computer & was wondering if anyone here uses Mac? -I'll be doing -well hope to as time allows- some photo editing and map making. I'd love to get into some 3d mapping & design eventually but time is the big problem on that one. I've had problems with my PC & hate how twitchy PCs can be and I've heard good things about mac computers. I figured this would fall under the "artist" section of the forum.

Any views or input would be apreciated.

Haha, great question/topic.
Somewhere in GD, methinks is an interesting discussion.

Anywho, a couple of quick thoughts.

PCs are way cheaper and can do ANYTHING that a MAC can in the way of art/creativity/programs that achieve same. Many years ago, Apple did have the upper hand, but not so today.

All computers and OSs are twitchy (good choice of words, btw), so that may depend on what you're used to.

I've used PCs for as long as they've been in existence and before, as well as MACs. Both good, both bad.

I've hate XP, Vista and have liked earlier version of the MAC OS.

My sister is an art teacher, and has a MAC. I could do more in 5 minutes that she could do in years. I think many artistic types are fooled into thinking that MACs are better for artists, teachers and the like.

Not so.

I really do like and prefer MAC over PC, but have never been happy about the pricing. It sucks and always has.

Shall we talk about Linux, which is the Ring that will rule them all?
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"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

I personally use an old pc with PaintshopPro7 and have only starting having problems more recently when trying to deal with 40mb images and multiple layers (which becomes the case with my cartography). Still, I think that's more an issue of ram than anything else. New hardware and software and I'll be laughing, and the upgrade options are vast compared to a Mac... which I like.

The mac vs pc debate is seemingly eternal, but I think both platforms are becoming so stable that it's just a matter of taste. I grew up with pcs and like them because I know how to use them. Having said that, a friend of mine bought an iMac recently and it's really nice and easy to use.

It's all good!

Rhuvein wrote:
I think many artistic types are fooled into thinking that MACs are better for artists, teachers and the like.

That's because every art or design class in America participates in an active campaign of pro-Mac propaganda. When I was studying Graphic Design, the instructors would constantly prattle about how much "better" Macs are, and how "everybody" in the design/publishing industry uses them.

They do this because at one point in time A LONG TIME AGO Macs were better than PCs. (Mind you, PCs were still running DOS at the time, or Windows 3.1 if you were lucky.) So the entire publishing industry converted from the old "hand"-methods to Macs and they're such a bunch of tech-ignorant morons that they have never once noticed that PCs have long since equaled or even surpassed Macs.
Bottom Line: There is nothing that a Mac can do that a PC can't.

Conversely though, there are at least two things a PC can do that a Mac can't:

1) Run any software besides design and publishing stuff (because software availability for Macs SUCKS); and

2) Be purchased for a 3-digit price tag (because Macs are grievously overpriced, costing on average about two to three times what a PC of comparable vital statistics would cost).

************

EDIT:

By the way, I have worked on both PCs and Macs (because many of my publishing jobs have required me to use their Macs), so I've had extensive experience comparing the two and I prefer the PC by a very wide margin. I wouldn't work on a Mac if you gave me one for free. (I'd sell that piece of crap, buy a PC that was better, and still have money left over.)

************

EDIT:

Whoops. I forgot one other thing a PC can do that a Mac can't:

3) RIGHT-CLICK.

I know how to use a mac, but I like my PC better. Something about the way the mac user interface is set up is very off putting to the way I think. Other folks clearly don't have that issue.
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Peter Bradley

I have both. A mac laptop and a PC desktop. I use my PC for games, and nothing more. BUT that's because, as a professional graphic designer, my world is mac-based. If I want to swap files between work and home without version or font conflicts, the Mac is for me. They're also less prone to virus attacks. The trade off is a huge price tag and an almost absolute lack of non-design software (as has been noted above).

FWIW, a mac can right click if you buy a $10 two-button mouse.

My advice (I know I'm probably too late already) is to go for the PC. You can get a blazing machine with lots of extras (RAM, video card, etc) for what a bare-bones Mac would cost you. The real difference is in the software. Adobe products for the PC are now pretty much on par with Mac versions. Use that extra cash to invest in the best.

Personally, I prefer my Macs. But I'm not one of those annoying twits who thinks any platform is superior to all others in every way. Go for the PC. Down the road, when you're a millionaire artist, then make the switch.
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Jason Braun
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Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks