Mac users help wanted

Hi everyone.This is my first post and its a long one too.I also hope this is in the right forum but it looked like the best one to me. I really need some sound advise, preferably from anyone who has experience using a Power Mac and also a Pc too.

I have been a Windows user for many years and am just fed up with system crashes and shoddy operating systems that don't do what they say on the box! I have spent many months trying to find the perfect pc manufacturer to build me a top spec machine using the best components. However, there are so many choices and also so many limitations with Windows operating systems (Windows XP home, XP Pro, XP Pro 64-Bit, Vista home, Vista 64-Bit.

I have finally decided that I don't think its worth spending a few thousand pounds on a pc when all the operating systems seem to have so many issues and performance limitations. The 32-Bit systems can only handle upto 4Gb ram and in fact only use around 3Gb I think. The 64-Bit Windows systems are also full of problems and after posting numerous topics on many Pc forums about Windows 64-bit. Its still unclear as to which, if any current option is stable enough or likely to be supported long enough to use.

I work as a graphic designer and want the most power I can afford and the option to upgrade as much as I want. Is the grass really greener on the other side? I have a few questions which would really help me out as I need some re-assurance that I will see a massive performance increase by using a Mac.

1. Do Macs crash often or are they honestly much more stable than a decent Windows machine?

2. I am totally confused by the Mac specs when compared to a Pc's. It seem to me that you pay tons more for all hardware upgrades on a Mac than a pc. Is there a reason for this that can be justified such as serious performance increases? If you ran a top spec pc against say the basic power Mac, would it compare etc? (Sorry if these seem like daft questions)

3. I will be using the power Mac mainly for Cinema 4D and the Adobe Creative suite (Large photographic work). Does anyone have any recommendations or advise as to best set up and if I am likely to be able to see a performance increase against a top spec pc.

Thanks in advance and sorry it a long topic but as I am looking at throwing around £4000 at this thing then ANY help and advise would be greatly appreciated.

vreb

Welcome.
1. There still the occasional system errors and such. But they aren't anything to fuss over. An app occasionally freezes and I will need to force quit it but it won't lock up your entire computer like a frozen program would when running Windows. I think, maybe twice in the past year has the system crashed and I was forced to reboot. Even then, it's simply a restart to fix the problem. No OS is free of any faults.
2. Hardware upgrades for Macs can be expensive. It depends on what kind of hardware you are looking to upgrade. Macs and PC's share the same HD and RAM and processors too now that they use Intel chips. The logic boards (motherboards) are different. Macs require Mac compatible video cards, which, in my opinion, is the most frustrating part about owning a Mac.
I am not sure what you'd ever be looking to upgrade. Macs aren't really the kind of computer you upgrade. There are no standards for things like a ATX motherboard and such so really, you're stuck with the computer you've got until you sell it or it dies.
3. When Apple went from using the PowerPC chips to the Intel chips, the flagship of Apple's line changed its name from the Power Mac to the Mac Pro. I assume you're looking for a new Mac if you're looking for the best machine money can buy. If so, I'd look at the 8-core 2.8GHz or faster with the 8800 GT or the Quadro if you can afford it. Any of them will handle all the work you throw at it if you add enough RAM and HD's to you needs. HD and RAM upgrades you can do on your own for a fraction of what Apple charges.

I am not a fanboy here telling you to buy a Mac. I like Apple products because the work. I am extremely satisfied with my Mac Pro. It's a great computer. It gives me lots of expansion, like supporting 2 processors totaling 8 cores, up to 4TB of HD space, 32GB of RAM, and on.... It's a workhorse that will last a long time.

I would suggest if you'll use a Mac to do things to bring home the bacon, you hold off on selling your PC before you jump fully on the Mac bandwagon.
There are lots of good reasons to switch to a Mac. There are plenty of good reasons to keep using your PC full time.
I would suggest doing basic work on the Mac before you get real involved with real work. There are a few things about OS X that frustrate PC users so if you dive straight in to using Final Cut and don't know exactly what you're doing or why the computer is doing what it is doing, you will get frustrated a lot faster IMO.
Switching from a PC to a Mac isn't for everyone. PC's have plenty of strengths over a Mac. Even if Windows is giving you problems, a PC could do more for you than a Mac would. I don't really know your situation or what you plan on doing with a Mac.

It really just depends on how you compute if a PC or a Mac is right for you.

vreb said:

I work as a graphic designer and want the most power I can afford and the option to upgrade as much as I want. Is the grass really greener on the other side? I have a few questions which would really help me out as I need some re-assurance that I will see a massive performance increase by using a Mac.

1. Do Macs crash often or are they honestly much more stable than a decent Windows machine?

Click to expand...

I've had OS X crash on me before, but it is exceedingly rare. Chances are, when it is experienced, it's due to some poorly-programmed or incompatible driver or software that is the problem. In all honesty, the same is true with Windows. I used Windows for years on end, from 3.1 through Windows XP. Windows XP was generally very solid for me and crashes very rare. Much of that was due to the fact that I assembled my own PCs and was meticulous about researching what components I bought to ensure they were the best. I didn't save money building my own boxes, but I did have better performing systems with fewer issues than anything Dell, HP, etc could dream of selling me.

2. I am totally confused by the Mac specs when compared to a Pc's. It seem to me that you pay tons more for all hardware upgrades on a Mac than a pc. Is there a reason for this that can be justified such as serious performance increases? If you ran a top spec pc against say the basic power Mac, would it compare etc? (Sorry if these seem like daft questions)

Click to expand...

There have been a number of reviews that done side-by-side cost comparisons of truly identical-as-possible machines from Apple vs. Dell, for example. The conclusion? The Mac is CHEAPER! Most people who look at specs only see a few surface details. It's the details you overlook or are hidden that often are the killer. Let's take another review from a PC magazine. They did a full round-up of laptops, including the Macs, and guess which of ALL the laptops (Dell, HP, Apple, etc etc etc) was the FASTEST performer for Windows Vista? Yup... the Macbook Pro runs Windows Vista faster than any other laptop.

3. I will be using the power Mac mainly for Cinema 4D and the Adobe Creative suite (Large photographic work). Does anyone have any recommendations or advise as to best set up and if I am likely to be able to see a performance increase against a top spec pc.

Click to expand...

I'll have to leave that question to someone with actual experience with those apps. I'm inclined to say you won't likely see a significant performance increase over a top-spec PC, but then again what you consider a top-spec PC likely isn't what I would consider to be one. As I said before, I used to build my own boxes and I would NEVER buy an OEM computer. Ever. Except for a Mac... which I have switched over to completely over the past couple years because in all perfect honesty OS X is just so much less stressful to use. Ultimately that's the real difference... the OS.[/quote]

Hi bryphotoguy,

Thanks for taking the time to reply, its much appreciated. I spent ages looking into buying a custom pc and after what must be around 4 months of searching through the thousands of manufacturers and different configurations. I simply thought a Mac might be both a better investment and a more powerful system too.

Having literally NEVER used a mac apart from once briefly. Obviously there are some issues that concern me such as learning new shortcuts for my programs and every day tasks too, but theres plenty of online training courses and tutorials to help with that I suppose.

This will mainly be used for 3d modelling in Cinema 4D and large scale photographic tasks in Photoshop. Thats about it really but I simply want the most power I can buy and have a budget of around £4000. This also has to get me Photoshop and Cinema 4d too though.

Thanks,

vreb

One more thing you should consider... today's Macs can run Windows as a dual-boot option. If you are in the market for a new computer, the Mac Pro will be among the best you can buy, and the ONLY platform that you can run OS X on. If OS X doesn't work out for you, or if you need extra time to "test the waters" or update your software while remaining productive, you can still use Windows on the same computer.

Do Macs crash often or are they honestly much more stable than a decent Windows machine?

Click to expand...

I have been a Mac user for around 13yrs. I am experienced in Windows as well. In my (humble) opinion, Macs are much more stable. The iMac I use has never had a system wide crash since I bought it. Applications will on occasion, but the Macs use protective memory. So even if the Apps crash, the system won't.

I will be using the power Mac mainly for Cinema 4D and the Adobe Creative suite (Large photographic work). Does anyone have any recommendations or advise as to best set up and if I am likely to be able to see a performance increase against a top spec pc

Click to expand...

http://www.apple.com/macpro/
I think this Mac speaks for itself...

vreb said:

Having literally NEVER used a mac apart from once briefly. Obviously there are some issues that concern me such as learning new shortcuts for my programs and every day tasks too, but theres plenty of online training courses and tutorials to help with that I suppose.

This will mainly be used for 3d modelling in Cinema 4D and large scale photographic tasks in Photoshop. Thats about it really but I simply want the most power I can buy and have a budget of around £4000. This also has to get me Photoshop and Cinema 4d too though.

Click to expand...

I know for Photoshop, there are companies that make little overlays for the keyboard that highlight a lot of shortcuts. I was taught Photoshop on a Mac when I was in school so it can be frustrating figuring out some things when I use a PC.

That's nearly $8000 USD. Lets see what we can build you...

Thanks for all the help guys. What about performance though. Has anyone had any experience running either Cinema 4D or the Creative suite on both Windows and Mac?

If so, any noticable differences etc?

I have to log off now but will check back soon and thanks again seriously!

Take care,

vreb

If I had $8000 USD, I would buy the 8-core 3.2GHz with the 8800 GT. That would run you $4500. If you use more than 2 monitors, I would suggest a 2nd 8800 GT (add $350). I am not sure where you can buy HD and RAM online if you live on the other side of the pond. But I think $3000 USD would leave plenty of $$ for those upgrades, the software, and maybe a new monitor.

Photoshop or any app really will work equally as fast on the PC equivalent. It'd just be harder to get a working 64-bit Windows PC with 8-cores and etc.... By harder I mean, you'd have to built it yourself or pay someone to do it, wouldn't you? I haven't built my own PC in 5 years now so I don't know if companies make ATX boards that support two- quad core Intel processors, support up to 32GB of RAM, have two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots, and so on.

Hi bryphotoguy, Thanks again for all your help on this. I obviously still have a lot of thinking to do about this as my final quote came back today and it was £5600 (including Photoshop and Cinema 4d though) including VAT which really made me think if all this extra cost can really be warranted when I could easily by a better spec pc for half that price (and with all the limitations of Windows systems etc).

I was especially annoyed that when spending such a huge amount there was hardly ANY discount whatsoever offered as an incentive either. I mean come on. I said to the re-seller I needed a great quote to help convince me that I was getting a great deal and yet I could only make out around £80 discount than the price offered my the official Mac store online!

I know u get what u pay for any Apple has the whole exclusivity thing about it, but surely there should be some decent price incentive when an individual is going to pay the amount I would have?


Anyways, thanks once again adn take care.

vreb