PC or MAC

[Neko_Shinpi]

I appologize for this... but i have to ask. I'm going to college in August as an Illustration Major. Which OS would be better to use in my future, a PC (which would most likely be XP...) or a Mac (osX)???

I've grown up with Windows ever since my family got a computer in '92. and I've been around macs throughout my school career. I have some issues with XP and i never really liked macs until osX came out. but that's my bias views.. o.o

I want to do illustration .. maybe a bit of Animation. I've heared that Macs are awesome for graphic artists and such, but i also heard that it depends on what field someone wants to go into...

what are your opinions?

[LooseChippings]

Have you thought about asking the college which System they prefer you to use?

[snowmonkey]

As you have said MACs are Awesome for Graphic design and multimedia application, there is no comparison between MAC and IBM colon PC... I have seen what you can do with MAC and it was impressive.

A decent graphic image could be around few hundred meg and you will need top of the line PC to run it but a three years old MAC can handle it with no problem. There is one thing to consider, is it always harder to get help for MAC then PC and the software are not cheep either.

cheers

[ESALADUANE]

I think LooseChippings is right - ask your college's IT people or your own department advisor. They may have specific recommendations or rules about hooking up to the college's network. While researching a college networking question once I ran across a college regulations site (I don't remember the college) that stated that they would only allow Windows XP Pro to be connected to the University network. Their reasons were: Security, Oversight and Ease of Management and Maintenance of the Network.

[Friday9x]

just buy a mac, with 10.4 you can use Bootcamp to run XP so you can have the best of heaven and hell.

[carlheinz]

My vote is for the Mac and using Parallels to run XP on the mac. I've been using this combo for a few months now and don't' regret it a bit

[fritzi93]

I'm not a MAC fanboi, and prefer PCs, because they are easy to upgrade, and there's a wider availability of programs, especially freeware.

However, it's a fact that professionals would overwhelmingly choose a MAC over a PC for videography. (The digital equivalent of cinematography, including post-production). Animation is included, of course, and graphic design is closely related. Non-linear editing and encoding are best done on a MAC, if there's a choice.

But as already mentioned, the initial cost is more and the software is relatively expensive. If that's a concern, be advised that you can do the same things on a PC, not as easily or (perhaps) as well. If you're really determined to save money, there's a freeware app written by some enthusiast/hobbyist for damn near anything you'd need. Some are difficult to use or buggy, but the single-purpose apps are often better than similar payware. They also force you to understand every step in your process.

Your choice. Good luck.

[SKULLZ1987]

As an IT Technician I prefer PC's, this is only because I find it easier to use and upgrade. You would have to check with the college to see what the Technical guys want you to use. But although I prefer to use PC's I do like the style of Mac's. I was looking at a Mac book Pro the other day and found the features of the 'smack book' and gyroscopic counter inside the laptop where outstanding.

The questions you have to ask yourself are: are you going to play games on it? Are you going to use intense graphical designs? How confident are you with each choice?

With the new Mac's that have Intel chipsets Mac's could over take PC sales in places like PC World. But if you’re still unsure I would stick to a PC. But if you want to use intense graphical designs and have the confidence to use a Mac I would choose that.

It's mostly deciding what you feel combatable using?