I have been a devout PC user for the past 15 years and the time finally came where I have to work on a MAC. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't if I didn't have to, but I'm a graphic designer and my new job requires it.
I understand I am a little biased toward PCs, but I am not closed-minded. Maybe it’s possible to use a mac as quick and efficiently as I can my PC and I just haven’t figured it out yet. Either way, let me first start by describing what drives me crazy about MACs and maybe someone can give me some counter points to my arguments.
1. MACs are better for graphic design
How on earth did MACS ever get this reputation??? I have been in and out of graphic design for the past 13 years and worked on both. And the software is exactly the same. There is nothing in you can do in Photoshop on a MAC that you can't do on a PC. I have heard the excuse that MACs are so much faster and don't crash or get viruses. That's nice if that's what you want to tell yourself that, but MACs crash just the same as PCs, sure they dont get as many viruses, but I have had a PC for more than 15 years and I have NEVER gotten a virus (I am not lying about that) on Win 9x, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. Oh yeah, remember your paying an arm and a leg for a MAC. If you were to dump the same amount of money on a PC, your system would be just as fast. Go ahead and look at the hardware/pricing comparisons. Infact PCs will cost a little bit less for the same hardware.
2. MACs are prettier and aren't so corporate looking.
Umm, hello? You can customize a PC to look ANYWAY you want. You could in the past, and you can now....Trust me, I have had and have seen plenty of PCs that look 10 times "prettier" than any MAC. Also back in the day, there was a program called litestep, an alternate shell to your Windows operating system (which only computer nerds have heard about) which literally allowed you to re-program the way your PC looked and behaved. This was totally awesome and no MAC user then could boast anything similar about a MAC.
MACs aren't upgradeable
When I saw the first iMac, back in, I think 98...My friend was bragging about how cool it was....I took a look, and the first thing I thought was...How do you upgrade it? What if I want a bigger monitor? What if I want to use more than one monitor? What if I want to install more RAM? What if I want to replace the graphics card, sound card, or any other piece of hardware? The fact is the only way to upgrade a MAC is buy a new one. It was true then, and it's true now.
Working on a MAC is clunky and slow
Ok, I know this one is up for debate, it all depends on how you use it….But here are the things that I find the worst about working on a MAC
A. There is no separation between programs. I work in Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign every day, and usually I have all three programs open at once with at least 2 or 3 windows in each program. On a PC if you’re in photoshop and want to switch to InDesign you simply ALT+tab to Indesign. Indesign opens up and completely covers photoshop. On a MAC, there is no separation. If I am in photoshop, I can see all the open windows from every other program I am running and/or folders I have open on my desktop. I don’t want to see any other program. If I am working in one program, I ONLY WANT TO SEE THE CONTENTS OF THAT PROGRAM! I was working with my friend on his MAC, and I asked him, how do you prevent accidentally clicking another program? His answer was to minimize all the windows of each program….Are you serious? Every time I want to switch programs, I have to minimize 12 windows? That’s insane!!! Visually, this lack of separation is a nightmare and looks ultra-cluttered.
a. I know about SPACES, but to me, seems to be a ridiculously clunky and convoluted solution to something Windows does very simply and efficiently and still doesn’t address the minimize problem. Also, incase any MAC users were wondering, there are a lot of “Spaces-like” programs on PCs that do the same thing. I find it to be slow.
B. Option-tabbing through open programs on MAC doesn’t restore all minimized windows for that program. Like I was saying before, say you want to go from Photoshop to Indesign and you have a couple of windows minimized in Indesign, if you option-tab to Indesign, the minimized windows don’t restore. No, instead, the program becomes active but all the windows are still on your doc. On a PC, if you ALT+tab through open programs, the one you select opens up immediately bringing all the open windows with it.
C. No way to minimize all windows and all applications with the click of a button or stroke of a key to reveal the desktop. On a PC, if you press (Window+D), all applications minimize and the desktop is revealed. It’s such a simple keyboard shortcut and it’s such a useful feature. I don’t know, maybe I am wrong, is there one for MAC that does this?
D. I was watching my friend who is a graphic designer work on his mac and he is SO SLOW, he uses keyboard shortcuts in his programs, but when cycling through programs, going on the internet, or just general usage, he moves at a snails pace. I have three monitors, one 24 inch, one 19 inch, and one 17 inch. The things that take him 15-20 minutes would take me 5 on my PC. On my PC, I can whirl around any program I want with next to no usage of my mouse in NO TIME… Or, if I feel like it’s a mouse day, having three monitors allows me to drag and drop things from program to program in warp speed. Techniques that I have never seen replicated on a MAC.
E. The Finder bar to me is ridiculous. It disallows you from minimizing programs. You can minimize program windows, but not the program itself, no you have to actually click somewhere on the desktop to deactivate a program. Maybe this is just preference, but it seems to be more efficient to have all of a programs menus/options attached to the actual program, not the monitor. On a PC any open program’s menus are attached to the program window itself and if you want the program to go away, you can simply minimize or close, no worrying on whether it’s still open somewhere. Also, the Finder forces you to have a bar going across your screen, PCs don’t have a finder bar or an application dock. Your desktop is literally clean and clear of any useless visual distractions.
Anyway, those are my main gripes about MACs (trust me, I have more), sorry for the long post and I would love to hear feedback…Maybe I just don’t know enough? Please help me dispel my hatred for MACS, it would make my life soooo much easier.
Thanks
I understand I am a little biased toward PCs, but I am not closed-minded. Maybe it’s possible to use a mac as quick and efficiently as I can my PC and I just haven’t figured it out yet. Either way, let me first start by describing what drives me crazy about MACs and maybe someone can give me some counter points to my arguments.
1. MACs are better for graphic design
How on earth did MACS ever get this reputation??? I have been in and out of graphic design for the past 13 years and worked on both. And the software is exactly the same. There is nothing in you can do in Photoshop on a MAC that you can't do on a PC. I have heard the excuse that MACs are so much faster and don't crash or get viruses. That's nice if that's what you want to tell yourself that, but MACs crash just the same as PCs, sure they dont get as many viruses, but I have had a PC for more than 15 years and I have NEVER gotten a virus (I am not lying about that) on Win 9x, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. Oh yeah, remember your paying an arm and a leg for a MAC. If you were to dump the same amount of money on a PC, your system would be just as fast. Go ahead and look at the hardware/pricing comparisons. Infact PCs will cost a little bit less for the same hardware.
2. MACs are prettier and aren't so corporate looking.
Umm, hello? You can customize a PC to look ANYWAY you want. You could in the past, and you can now....Trust me, I have had and have seen plenty of PCs that look 10 times "prettier" than any MAC. Also back in the day, there was a program called litestep, an alternate shell to your Windows operating system (which only computer nerds have heard about) which literally allowed you to re-program the way your PC looked and behaved. This was totally awesome and no MAC user then could boast anything similar about a MAC.
MACs aren't upgradeable
When I saw the first iMac, back in, I think 98...My friend was bragging about how cool it was....I took a look, and the first thing I thought was...How do you upgrade it? What if I want a bigger monitor? What if I want to use more than one monitor? What if I want to install more RAM? What if I want to replace the graphics card, sound card, or any other piece of hardware? The fact is the only way to upgrade a MAC is buy a new one. It was true then, and it's true now.
Working on a MAC is clunky and slow
Ok, I know this one is up for debate, it all depends on how you use it….But here are the things that I find the worst about working on a MAC
A. There is no separation between programs. I work in Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign every day, and usually I have all three programs open at once with at least 2 or 3 windows in each program. On a PC if you’re in photoshop and want to switch to InDesign you simply ALT+tab to Indesign. Indesign opens up and completely covers photoshop. On a MAC, there is no separation. If I am in photoshop, I can see all the open windows from every other program I am running and/or folders I have open on my desktop. I don’t want to see any other program. If I am working in one program, I ONLY WANT TO SEE THE CONTENTS OF THAT PROGRAM! I was working with my friend on his MAC, and I asked him, how do you prevent accidentally clicking another program? His answer was to minimize all the windows of each program….Are you serious? Every time I want to switch programs, I have to minimize 12 windows? That’s insane!!! Visually, this lack of separation is a nightmare and looks ultra-cluttered.
a. I know about SPACES, but to me, seems to be a ridiculously clunky and convoluted solution to something Windows does very simply and efficiently and still doesn’t address the minimize problem. Also, incase any MAC users were wondering, there are a lot of “Spaces-like” programs on PCs that do the same thing. I find it to be slow.
B. Option-tabbing through open programs on MAC doesn’t restore all minimized windows for that program. Like I was saying before, say you want to go from Photoshop to Indesign and you have a couple of windows minimized in Indesign, if you option-tab to Indesign, the minimized windows don’t restore. No, instead, the program becomes active but all the windows are still on your doc. On a PC, if you ALT+tab through open programs, the one you select opens up immediately bringing all the open windows with it.
C. No way to minimize all windows and all applications with the click of a button or stroke of a key to reveal the desktop. On a PC, if you press (Window+D), all applications minimize and the desktop is revealed. It’s such a simple keyboard shortcut and it’s such a useful feature. I don’t know, maybe I am wrong, is there one for MAC that does this?
D. I was watching my friend who is a graphic designer work on his mac and he is SO SLOW, he uses keyboard shortcuts in his programs, but when cycling through programs, going on the internet, or just general usage, he moves at a snails pace. I have three monitors, one 24 inch, one 19 inch, and one 17 inch. The things that take him 15-20 minutes would take me 5 on my PC. On my PC, I can whirl around any program I want with next to no usage of my mouse in NO TIME… Or, if I feel like it’s a mouse day, having three monitors allows me to drag and drop things from program to program in warp speed. Techniques that I have never seen replicated on a MAC.
E. The Finder bar to me is ridiculous. It disallows you from minimizing programs. You can minimize program windows, but not the program itself, no you have to actually click somewhere on the desktop to deactivate a program. Maybe this is just preference, but it seems to be more efficient to have all of a programs menus/options attached to the actual program, not the monitor. On a PC any open program’s menus are attached to the program window itself and if you want the program to go away, you can simply minimize or close, no worrying on whether it’s still open somewhere. Also, the Finder forces you to have a bar going across your screen, PCs don’t have a finder bar or an application dock. Your desktop is literally clean and clear of any useless visual distractions.
Anyway, those are my main gripes about MACs (trust me, I have more), sorry for the long post and I would love to hear feedback…Maybe I just don’t know enough? Please help me dispel my hatred for MACS, it would make my life soooo much easier.
Thanks