Are Macs really any better for Graphic Design?

Today, I was showing my family a bit of artwork I've done on my PC. Mostly photoshop work, a bit of illustrator, and some vector work too. My cousin's wife and I began to talk about my new Wacom tablet, and she told me she had a Mac, and suggested I get one too (as I am going into the Graphic Design field in college) I asked her, why should I get a Mac laptop instead of a PC? She told me that macs were better at graphic design that PC's are. I've heard this before... I always here this... But I have never seen any proof? I asked her why and she just looked at me like I had asked the most disgusting question in the world. She couldn't answer. I guess after hearing so many people say that Mac's were better at Graphic Design than Pc's it just makes it true?

Time in and time out I hear people say Mac's are better at Graphic Design than PC's. Why? Is there really a reason?

Imagine this:

I have a PC and a Mac, running virtually equal hardware, and running identical versions of Photoshop. Why is a Mac more adept at accomplishing the same task that a PC? What makes the Mac better? Is this just some random rumor with no factual basis?

(When answering the poll remember the "no" answer, doesn't mean that PC's are better, it just means that they might be equal, or Macs are not particularly better, but may be the same)

(Also note I am not asking which is better in general, only whether Mac's have some sort of advantage when it comes to computer graphics)

I've used Adobe on both the pc and mac, I tend to like the pc better because the whole one click thing on macs tends to slow me down. Other then that the only reason why I could think macs would be different is there software might be better. I think Final Cut pro is one of the better softwar licenses apple has.mattes2542

But the software is identical, and Mac's lack a lot of 3D imaging software. You don't know of any hardware advantage Mac's have that make them better at grapic design?

I've used Adobe (photoshop) on both the pc and mac, I tend to like the pc better because the whole one click thing on macs tends to slow me down. mattes2542

Agreed.

[QUOTE="mattes2542"]I've used Adobe on both the pc and mac, I tend to like the pc better because the whole one click thing on macs tends to slow me down. Other then that the only reason why I could think macs would be different is there software might be better. I think Final Cut pro is one of the better softwar licenses apple has.Toribor

But the software is identical, and Mac's lack a lot of 3D imaging software. You don't know of any hardware advantage Mac's have that make them better at grapic design?

I guess people tend to think they're more stable than PC's Since they dont get viruses etc. Which somehow in turn makes people think they're better for graphic design?

College courses just use macs for some of the programs for graphic design...-supercharged-

True, the college I'm going to does use Mac computers, but Mac's don't really have a lot (or any that I'm aware of) exclusive software content for Graphic design. In fact, any 3D animating or editing is difficult due to the lack of support from several 3D programs. All software aside, do Mac's do anything PC's can't in the graphic design realm?

Honestly I don't see how they could be better because they lack the ability to really upgrade to decent graphics cards since the majority of the time they force you to use low profile or intergrated.

The only way they could be better hardware wise are the mac pros that have the dual quad core xeons and up to 16gigs of ram, but that all seems like overkill to me.

They're not, that is why nobody could give you a good reason. You use the same software on a PC as you would for a Mac for such things. duxup

Aha! So it was all an elaborate ruse! It seems Mac's are just as good or perhaps sub par when compared to PC's graphical capabilities...

Macs dont have those kind of hardware to support even better graphics designing especially used for a development of a game.SoberWarock

I think the old graphic design software was used on macs because schools got a discount on them.

These days alot of schools are switching to Dell because they are cheaper and support a wider range of software.

Well that's what I think.

I've used Photoshop on a PC and Mac, and there's really no difference except the double mouse buttons on PCs. 

There not better. Im in college for game design but i do alot of graphic design, (thats my current job)

I like pc's alot better it is faste with two mouse buttons and the wheel.  

pc has more 3d programs like max and maya. (mac dose have maya)

 I think people say that Mac's are better because back in the day (maybe still now) Photoshop came bundled with mac's.

I could work on both but what i hate about macs is that i get lost in there interface looking for the minimize button, 

Thats why my school preferes Mac G5's than PC's in my graphics class..Airsoul

  Long ago MAC used to be the best equipment for digital art. I'm sure now it's just a myth. Everybody knows that at one time MAC was the best so it's the cool thing to say. Now it's just splitting hairs.

  They're both Personal Computers, obviously. You mean Microsoft vs Macintosh, or Win vs Mac.

  Long ago MAC used to be the best equipment for digital art. I'm sure now it's just a myth. Everybody knows that at one time MAC was the best so it's the cool thing to say. Now it's just splitting hairs.

  They're both Personal Computers, obviously. You mean Microsoft vs Macintosh, or Win vs Mac.

MagnumPI

Macs dont have those kind of hardware to support even better graphics designing especially used for a development of a game.SoberWarock

[QUOTE="SoberWarock"]Macs dont have those kind of hardware to support even better graphics designing especially used for a development of a game.Click_Clock

Check this out:  http://www.apple.com/macpro/graphics.html

Hardware wise,these graphics cards are the same as you would get on a pc.  They made sure that you can take advantage of whether you operate on the Windowsside or the Mac side

This isn't exactly relevant to what you're discussing, but it may be of interest to you.

I work in the Electronic Imposition department at a book manufacturer.  I don't do much design; rather I check over customer-submitted files and correct problems with their art, resolution, dot range, font issues, etc.  We have both Mac and PC programs for InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark, and I have to say I personally prefer the Mac programs.  I never used a Mac before I began working in that department, but it seems to me that I have less problems with the applications.  It is interesting to note that files made from PC applications give us the biggest headaches (whether checked on a Mac OR PC) whereas files originating from Macs have few if any problems.  This is noteworthy because:

-Files that are problematic and take more than 20 minutes work to clean up at our plant are sent back to the publishers, who in turn send them back to their Graphics Department or their contract typesetters.  If they have their people send a corrected file, there's usually a hefty surcharge from my company to replace the bad file, or they can pay us to fix the problem and we charge by the hour.  People who create iffy files end up costing publishers money and time (turnaround from files submitted to published book is usually about two weeks), and usually aren't kept long-term or contracted again.

-With faster turn-around dates, there's little room for potential error.  As a result, the industry has pushed for more standardization amongst themselves and the type of files they receive from customers, and the recommended format is nearly always Mac.  In the past two years many North American companies have given publishers discounts for having "press-ready" files, which again is almost exclusively Mac.

I need to point out again that I'm not a designer - I work with files already created by professional artists and typesetters, but I've been doing it for 7 years now.  Mac is my personal preference, but it's also the big industry standard right now.  A few years down the road, that may change - I'm only referring to the current state of the business.

To my knowledge a lot of the graphics software on Macs rendered stuff faster than their PC version. But there is a lot less software for Macs which is kind of a big downside. Also a lot of people are complaining about the UI and the single mouse button, if you aren't used to it then guess what you aren't going to like it as much. Now I don't like a single mouse button which is why I just plug in a normal mouse, but I pretty much only use the one button because if you have a crazy amount of keyboard shortcuts kind of don't need more than it. Oh and in terms of hardware kind of weird because the only one thats worth doing graphics editing on is also much the more expensive Mac Pro, the fact that you can't upgrade hardware yourself on any of the others pretty much makes those unsuitable.lim_ak

Not only are Mac's inferior in the power nessisary for graphical design,the software licences cost nearly double on a mac then a PC. Adobe CS2 on a mac is a couple hundred dollars more then the windows version, and its the same program. Bobby_Oz

[QUOTE="mattes2542"]I've used Adobe (photoshop) on both the pc and mac, I tend to like the pc better because the whole one click thing on macs tends to slow me down. pinneyapple

Agreed.

I agree.....as with most anything that you buy a higher price tag does not always mean it's a better product.

[QUOTE="Bobby_Oz"]Not only are Mac's inferior in the power nessisary for graphical design,the software licences cost nearly double on a mac then a PC. Adobe CS2 on a mac is a couple hundred dollars more then the windows version, and its the same program. ice_radon

I work for a studio, I knwo how much licencing costs, both for corporate and home 

Macs dont have those kind of hardware to support even better graphics designing especially used for a development of a game.SoberWarock

"But the general view is that Macs are more optimized for color accuracy, especially in digital proofing color workflows....The other thing to consider is that most color reproduction and pre-press professionals and printers are still set up for Macs and are more used to dealing with Mac related issues."

So there you go. 

Not really, generally people only buy mac's so they can walk around with an undeserved sense of appreciation...dommeus

It was 10 to 15 years ago when the hardware was different and Adobe favored Mac.  But now the hardware is the same and Adobe makes everything for both that have all the same features so it's not true.

Plus it's that the GD guys grew up using Macs in school so they are more used to the OS and keep spreading this rumor.  It's funny to because at our company we have a small GD department and the spoiled little weirdo's have to have Macs.  Yet they are using like 5 year old Macs which is just a joke.  There is no way a 5 year old Mac with an out of date version of Photoshop is anywhere near as powerful as a new PC with the newest version of Photoshop.  But those spoiled little weirdos get to use what they want.  But its funny because to put them in this little office are far away from the rest of the company so its like they are off in there own little world using a bunch of silly, stupid old Macs. lol

i think macs are made mainly to be used for art stuff but it doesnt mean you cant do art on regular comps.

It was 10 to 15 years ago when the hardware was different and Adobe favored Mac. But now the hardware is the same and Adobe makes everything for both that have all the same features so it's not true.

Plus it's that the GD guys grew up using Macs in school so they are more used to the OS and keep spreading this rumor. It's funny to because at our company we have a small GD department and the spoiled little weirdo's have to have Macs. Yet they are using like 5 year old Macs which is just a joke. There is no way a 5 year old Mac with an out of date version of Photoshop is anywhere near as powerful as a new PC with the newest version of Photoshop. But those spoiled little weirdos get to use what they want. But its funny because to put them in this little office are far away from the rest of the company so its like they are off in there own little world using a bunch of silly, stupid old Macs. lol

basersx

[QUOTE="ice_radon"][QUOTE="Bobby_Oz"]Not only are Mac's inferior in the power nessisary for graphical design,the software licences cost nearly double on a mac then a PC. Adobe CS2 on a mac is a couple hundred dollars more then the windows version, and its the same program. Bobby_Oz

I work for a studio, I knwo how much licencing costs, both for corporate and home

[QUOTE="basersx"]

It was 10 to 15 years ago when the hardware was different and Adobe favored Mac. But now the hardware is the same and Adobe makes everything for both that have all the same features so it's not true.

Plus it's that the GD guys grew up using Macs in school so they are more used to the OS and keep spreading this rumor. It's funny to because at our company we have a small GD department and the spoiled little weirdo's have to have Macs. Yet they are using like 5 year old Macs which is just a joke. There is no way a 5 year old Mac with an out of date version of Photoshop is anywhere near as powerful as a new PC with the newest version of Photoshop. But those spoiled little weirdos get to use what they want. But its funny because to put them in this little office are far away from the rest of the company so its like they are off in there own little world using a bunch of silly, stupid old Macs. lol

Darthmatt

They're not, that is why nobody could give you a good reason. You use the same software on a PC as you would for a Mac for such things. duxup

Back when Windows 3.1 was out Macs had a more user-friendly interface than PCs, quickly becoming popular with artists that wanted the tools but not the crappy interface of older versions of the Windows OS. Today there is no discernable difference. Duxup knows his stuff. 

As a graphic designer, i can tell you Macs are better at graphic design than a PC. For about 95% of people using it, they arent going to notices any differences between the two. But when you need fine-tuned production level quality, Macs are a bit better.

Theres subtle differences between the two, but Mac's ColorSync is pretty freaking sweet. Color management options from Windows have always been pretty awful and are a pretty big pain to work with. The much better standard set of color managment options on the Mac can make life a lot easier especially for a print house with a fair variety of various different printing presses, especially if they arent all just pigment ink based printing presses. ColorSync takes out a good deal of the grunt work when it comes to make color profile settings for all your color sensitive devices, and thats something that could save you hours, upon hours, upon hours of work to get right.

But, the deal is, how many of you deal with color management and profiling? Heck, how many of you know what it is? Probably not many. So, i can understand perfectly why a lot of people cant find the differences. The differences tend to only appear at the proffesional production level of graphic design.

With that said, i still use a PC and a PC version of Photoshop mostly because one of my big hobbies is programming. Mac and programming is pretty much a joke. I enjoy the convenience of having one machine that can do everything, even if the PC version of Photoshop does take a bit more work to get the most out of it.

[QUOTE="basersx"]

It was 10 to 15 years ago when the hardware was different and Adobe favored Mac. But now the hardware is the same and Adobe makes everything for both that have all the same features so it's not true.

Plus it's that the GD guys grew up using Macs in school so they are more used to the OS and keep spreading this rumor. It's funny to because at our company we have a small GD department and the spoiled little weirdo's have to have Macs. Yet they are using like 5 year old Macs which is just a joke. There is no way a 5 year old Mac with an out of date version of Photoshop is anywhere near as powerful as a new PC with the newest version of Photoshop. But those spoiled little weirdos get to use what they want. But its funny because to put them in this little office are far away from the rest of the company so its like they are off in there own little world using a bunch of silly, stupid old Macs. lol

Darthmatt

"Also the mac OS is way better than Windows" LOL thanks fror proving my point!  Its better than Windows at what?  Do the graphics you make on photoshop mac look better than the graphics you make on photoshop PC?  Of course not!  The Mac OS is not better in anyway!  Its just spoiled GD guys think its better. 

If you have two GD guys next to each other, one on a mac, the other on a PC there would be no differnece in speed or quality of work what so ever.

"Also the mac OS is way better than Windows" LOL thanks fror proving my point! Its better than Windows at what? Do the graphics you make on photoshop mac look better than the graphics you make on photoshop PC? Of course not! The Mac OS is not better in anyway! Its just spoiled GD guys think its better.

If you have two GD guys next to each other, one on a mac, the other on a PC there would be no differnece in speed or quality of work what so ever.

basersx

You're right for about 99.99% of cases, and thats why alot of people think theres no real differences between the two version.

The Mac version is a bit better than the Windows version due to the limitation Windows had back in Windows 95/98 that files cant be larger than 2GB. Macs didnt have that issue at the same time. How does that relate to Photoshop?

Putting on the compatibility option for the Windows version to support Photoshop v4.0 and v5.0 file options limits the size of the file that you can make to under 2GB's. The Mac version doesnt have this limitation for the compatibility mode. At the job i worked at it was only 3 or 4 times i ended up creating files bigger than 2GB and it wasnt that hard to fix it since i just delted a few layers and merged some and that reduced the file size by about 400MB. What are the chances a casual Photoshop user will be creating 2GB+ files and still need the compatibility mode? Almost none. But its something you can encounter on an actual production level.

Is it worth getting the Mac version over a PC due to these differences? The answer is always maybe. Sometimes you wont get any benefit from the Mac version, sometimes you dont need the extra software options of the PC version. 

[QUOTE="basersx"]"Also the mac OS is way better than Windows" LOL thanks fror proving my point! Its better than Windows at what? Do the graphics you make on photoshop mac look better than the graphics you make on photoshop PC? Of course not! The Mac OS is not better in anyway! Its just spoiled GD guys think its better.

If you have two GD guys next to each other, one on a mac, the other on a PC there would be no differnece in speed or quality of work what so ever.

XaosII

You're right for about 99.99% of cases, and thats why alot of people think theres no real differences between the two version.

The Mac version is a bit better than the Windows version due to the limitation Windows had back in Windows 95/98 that files cant be larger than 2GB. Macs didnt have that issue at the same time. How does that relate to Photoshop?

Putting on the compatibility option for the Windows version to support Photoshop v4.0 and v5.0 file options limits the size of the file that you can make to under 2GB's. The Mac version doesnt have this limitation for the compatibility mode. At the job i worked at it was only 3 or 4 times i ended up creating files bigger than 2GB and it wasnt that hard to fix it since i just delted a few layers and merged some and that reduced the file size by about 400MB. What are the chances a casual Photoshop user will be creating 2GB+ files and still need the compatibility mode? Almost none. But its something you can encounter on an actual production level.

Is it worth getting the Mac version over a PC due to these differences? The answer is always maybe. Sometimes you wont get any benefit from the Mac version, sometimes you dont need the extra software options of the PC version. 

Why would any business be using Windows 95/98?!?!  Every company I worked for in the 90s was using Windows NT which did not have a 2 GB file size limitation!  95/98 were never meant for businesses, it was an OS created only for home users.  You could have used Photoshop on NT with no problems and made files larger than 2GB.

if you are ready too spent like 15000 dollar, you should go mac

ou can get a

-16 core CPU

-16 gigs of ram

- 4 strong video cards( not rlly for gaming, just designing

its called the apple G5, awesome thing

get a 30 inch apple monitor, and your set

if you have the money afcourse

[QUOTE="Darthmatt"][QUOTE="basersx"]

It was 10 to 15 years ago when the hardware was different and Adobe favored Mac. But now the hardware is the same and Adobe makes everything for both that have all the same features so it's not true.

Plus it's that the GD guys grew up using Macs in school so they are more used to the OS and keep spreading this rumor. It's funny to because at our company we have a small GD department and the spoiled little weirdo's have to have Macs. Yet they are using like 5 year old Macs which is just a joke. There is no way a 5 year old Mac with an out of date version of Photoshop is anywhere near as powerful as a new PC with the newest version of Photoshop. But those spoiled little weirdos get to use what they want. But its funny because to put them in this little office are far away from the rest of the company so its like they are off in there own little world using a bunch of silly, stupid old Macs. lol

basersx

"Also the mac OS is way better than Windows" LOL thanks fror proving my point! Its better than Windows at what? Do the graphics you make on photoshop mac look better than the graphics you make on photoshop PC? Of course not! The Mac OS is not better in anyway! Its just spoiled GD guys think its better.

If you have two GD guys next to each other, one on a mac, the other on a PC there would be no differnece in speed or quality of work what so ever.

From what I understand this is pretty much carry over from old hardware.  A while back mac were using 64-bit cpu's on a 64 OS, while PC's were still using 32-bit.  This really didn't make much of a difference until you go to render something, and see that the PC is going to take much more time to render than the macs.  Now imagine the amount of time saved rendering on a mac when doing a film like Monsters Inc you're going to save a few hundred (if not thousands) of hours rendering.

Of course nowadays both have 64 bit cpus and I think PC are pulling ahead on the muli-core cpus which means you might be better learning on windows right now.  I haven't used a mac for a while but I'm seeing a ton of pc advantages lately like specialty graphics cards for 3d rendering (they cost more than my pc though), custom drivers for custom equiptment.