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Excellent article! Microsoft is like McDonald’s: nasty for your health ;)

Thanks for a balanced review!

thanks so much i will get mac very soon

How lame.

I am a freelancer since 1989 – using both Macs & PC. Maybe five but certainly ten years ago there were REAL reasons to use a Mac: better fonts, better applications, better hardware (how that has changed – Macs are basically Intel clones today and Apple’s production standards have slipped in some products) more stable production environment. Today Photoshop is Photoshop (or any other important design tool) – no matter on which box you run it on.

A good designer delivers good work NO MATTER which tool he uses – even when it’s only pen and paper. Stop that techno & brand fetishism – do some good work instead.

we’d love to get macs for our studio, but its not the price, software or any geek loyalty that prevents us – it’s the internal technical skills. connecting the macs to the windows active directory, nas server etc isnt something we’ve never done – and help from google isn’t really the kind of reliability we can afford to risk. if something goes wrong – we can’t fix it at the speed and cost we can with a PC. however, we’re getting closer to making the jump!

Pros and Cons to both sides of the argument. About personal preference in this day and age. Very nice little article though. Thanks alot.

Wow. That’s so cool that you chose to insult your readers and make assumptions in your opening paragraph.

This is all a matter of preference. I prefer to design on a PC because my audience will view my work (most likely) on a PC. There is no end all tool out there that you can get for a Mac or a PC which makes either any better than the other.

In fact I would rather sand my hands off and try and win a push up contest than partake in an argument about why one is better than the other.

It is like Coke and Pepsi, they are both softdrinks, but which do you prefer.

Anyone not using Mac for design already doesn’t know that they don’t know yet.

Well said, but perhaps this article still comes off as needless Windows bashing. Windows is a viable option for people who need raw power at an inexpensive price. With talent – yes talent – you can achieve the same designs on OSX, Windows, and Linux machines.

That said, all three operating systems have their pros and cons. Try them all and use what you like. Personally, I’m happy doing the “psd shows as a preview” tweak in Windows 7 and calling it a day.

As a mac user, I switched mainly because Final Cut was becoming the standard for video editing, and there was no elegant way of getting less-experienced editors my motion graphics work without it and its stable of codecs.

I love using the Mac.

However, there seems to be this constantly-supressed reality that people keep ignoring, which is that even with the latest versions of Adobe’s suite, Windows still runs Photoshop, Flash, and AfterEffects way faster than on OSX.

EVEN VISTA runs AfterEffects faster, and Photoshop and AfterEffects both take longer to start up on my 2008 iMac with 2.8 ghz and 4 gigs of ram than on my 4 year old PC running Windows XP home.

If you don’t notice this enough to put it as even a miniscule part of the reason why one wouldn’t use OSX, then I think I know which side of the form/function argument you fall under.

The biggest problem for possible switchers is probably Apple’s relatively high prices. I’ve been there myself, after having been a hardcore Windows user for over ten years.

However, when I finally switched to a Mac, all of a sudden the extra euros I did pay we’re forgotten: this machine works so much better!

Best reasons: it doesn’t get slower, there is no blue screen, there are no viruses, malware et cetera and its beauty! Buy one!

Wow, I switched to a Mac but none of those reasons even matter. I actually prefer Windows in most ways BUT…I need quietness! I spent $4000 building a SOTA ’silent’ PC but my new 3 Ghz 24″ iMac is virtually silent, and there’s no constant flow of warm air coming up from under my desk. Serenity at last.

Is there really that much difference between Mac and Windows (Note that I don’t say Mac and PC, because Mac IS a PC). I use both myself and I really don’t feel one is better than the other.

I prefer Windows XP still for web design/software devevelpoing – at least for a year or so, then I’ll probably switch to os x or vista (or perhaps something new). Currently i produce results a little bit faster with two mouse buttons by standard, actually and the mac book air processor in such a small package turns on the fan all the time Ive heard ;) //K

I read this article and thought that it would be a red rag to the die-hard Mac haters, of the kind that will call anyone who expresses a preference for the Mac a fanboy, but thus far the comments are remarkably restrained. Smashing Magazine clearly has a better and politer class of readers!

Good article, though the stuff about single button mice has been untrue since OSX became the default operating system. I will admit however that Apple has never made a good mouse, so you’d be best advised to get one from say Logitech or (horrors!) Microsoft. But they do for the most part work with OSX straight out of the box.

I just cannot help it, but Mac has brainwashed so many people it’s insane. The Mac is not only more expensive, it’s also a throwaway box after two years. Mac might have been more stable, but that time has long passed. The price is not justifiable anymore. So if you don’t use a Mac, you cannot call yourself designer, wooo. And if you are a developer and switching to MAC, you should be stripped off your title :). I gotta give Mac the thumbs up for marketing though. Make people believe that when they buy the product, they’ll belong to the elite….

My entire design education was completed on OSX, even though I was a Win user. I got my assignments, worked on them in class (Mac), and then went home and worked on them some more on my PC. And I know I am in the minority when I say that I felt more comfortable working on in Win as opposed to the Mac. Up to this day I am still running a PC and loving it, but I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn the OSX environment. Maybe one day I will switch but for now I’m quite happy.

It is not the tools that make the designer, but how the designer uses their tools.

I use windows. I am not a FAN of it. It is just a computer used for running other software. If Photoshop did not run on Windows, i would have switched. All that matters to me is my own creativity (or lack of it).

“Linux is of course the golden child of the open source movement, but despite the efforts of Ubuntu it is still a ways off in terms of being a turnkey solution for most people.”

As an Ubuntu user I have to say that since Dapper Ubuntu has been an option for the average user–and just keeps getting better. I would never consider a mac.

Rails, Textmate, CS4, and OS X == Pure Bliss.

After using a Mac for a year now, I couldn’t be happier. When I must use my Windows machine, which is quite often (All good architecture software is Windows-only), I feel alone and quite frustrated. But at the same time, I tweak, and customize, and tweak some more–and often enjoy it. When I get back to my Mac, I have nothing to tweak, nothing to customize. But I’ve learned to love opinionated software.

As for the price, Mac’s are definitely more expensive, but it’s worth it for me. It’s all just about priorities. I’m living on a grad school budget: Macbook Pro, IKEA bed, and some good food. I could easily get a more affordable laptop and have some extra spending money, but I wouldn’t dream of it.

Overall, nice article, and greetings from Minnesota.

2 words…

Appl€ Sucks! 8D

Show us your work, not your computer.

I’m not going to get into the Mac vs PC debate, but the nature of this article is just plain messed up.

When I got my first Mac in 1991, Apple owned something like 92% of the creative market. It was very normal for ad agencies to have Macs in the creative department and PCs for business.

Today things are very different. If anything, Macs have gained more ground in the mainstream over the past 10-15 years, but PCs have grabbed a bigger chunk of the creative fields.

This article is bass-ackwards.

I hope NOT to see this kind of article ever more. What will be next if you don’t have iPhone you are loser or if you have iPod you are cool.

The main reason I switched, two years ago, to Mac was I had finally had it with having to reinstall my machine every six months due to Windows crapping out. I swore that the next time I found my machine not able to restart due to some obscure blue-screened code, I would bite the bullet and get a Mac. I am so glad I did.

Now, whenever I have to play “help desk” for others in my family who are still saddled with Windows, I find my jaw dropping at how slow their systems are. No doubt I’ll be rebuilding them each soon (or getting them Macs!).

The best reason, and one you don’t mention (that I saw anyway) is: Windows is unreliable, breaks down constantly, and is maddening to use. I’ve become quite spoiled by my Mac Pro. But on the other hand, it does just what I expect it to: it works. Always.

I work at an ad agency and we only hire creatives with heavy Mac experience. Any applicant that has mostly PC experience, is Mac hostile, or insists on PC/Windows is disqualified. We’ve been burned too many times from these sorts. They always fail and deliver sub par work.

Most of the positives are present on linux. Of course 1 reason they will never be equivalent is the lack of popular multimedia software (All adobe’s stuff, final cut, etc). That is one reason I want a mac – a non-windows computer that can run photoshop naively. If only the mac mini cost <400, then I might buy one. Until then, I can only hope for second hand or a lottery/giveaway.

When my PC broke down and I got a powerbook at the end of 2005 .. I realized after a few weeks I haven’t touched my PC at all .. The switch was completed. I turned my PC into a ubuntu server and got a mac pro 12 months later. And an iMac this year.

I am never switching, my computer frustrations dropped from 80% to 5% and my workflow went from 45% to 80% .. easily.

Snow Leopard, true native 64bit .. I can’t wait.

“Mac might have been more stable, but that time has long passed. The price is not justifiable anymore.” ?

I disagree with this one. I’ve seen more issues in 4 months with my wife’s Vista laptop than I’ve seen in 2+ years with a MacBook Pro.

Realistically I think PC is perfectly fine for any use, but you really can’t discount the great features inherent with the Mac and the lack of baggage by not using Windows. Bottom line is that if you care about gaming or want to save money, than a PC is for you. If you don’t care about those things as much then a Mac provides less danger of virus problems, a more stable environment (you can crash one program on a Mac and still save and shutdown others, not sure I’ve ever seen this as a possibility in a PC).

All that said, designers are “switching to a Mac?” Seems to me that most designers originated on the mac.

I use both Macs and PCs regularly, and I still can’t agree with most of your points besides perhaps the first one. Expose typically annoys the shit out of me (where windows will move unintentionally) but some of the productivity stuff can be useful. Enough to justify the price? Absolutely not.

PCs — and I think this is pretty fair — are a much greater value.

Wow, I remember when this was a site about web design. Out of the many reasons given here, most have absolutely no application to design.

Also, I love how the article pushes open-source, despite the fact that Apple charges far more for their apps (which are just as closed and proprietary as any other vendor). When I was using Mac running OS 10.1, I was pretty pissed to find out that I need to upgrade my whole f’ing OS to update Safari and iPhoto.

Finally, how can the author praise the whole one vendor solution aspect in the same article that knocks MS for being too controlling.

Windows, OSX, Linux it doesn’t matter they’re all the same in many ways. Each has pros and cons. However, it’s nice to see irrelevant, opinion pieces instead of actual design content.

mhhh.. ..and i thought smashing was about objectivity. no, just paid articles.

No offense, but…there are designers who don’t use Macs?

I’ve been in this business over 15 years and I’ve never met a single person or shop who counted on anything else. Shops will sometimes have a few Windows machines around for cross-platform issues or Windows-only solutions such as imposition software, but 99% of actual work is done on Macs.

Though I admit it’s not all that unusual to run across “designers” who use Publisher and then wonder why their pieces cost twice the amount to print.

Another pointless Mac vs. Windows Article – I’m disappointed, would have expected better from Smashing Magazine!

“Mark Nutter runs a web development shop in Minnesota. You can follow him on Twitter where he occasionally says something worthwhile.”

Pity he says nothing worthwhile in this article

Here’s another point to make: if you are a true designer, and you cannot afford to buy or finance a mac, then you are not a designer.
SM may lose some readers, but the true designers are here to stay. ;)

Nice Mac propaganda!

Macs is better at graphics and they have lots more fonts so are better for designers.

Seriously, Macs have a nicer interface, but most of the “main player” apps are on both and run equally well on both (though PC’s seem to have a speed advantage on Adobe stuff). Frankly, if you have worked on any major production, debates about PC vs Mac are quite pointless. You use whatever runs the software you need to run. Unfortunately, in the high-end film graphics area, Apple has really dropped the ball. FCP is good enough for TV stuff I suppose, but the slow death of Shake was embarrasing and has cost Apple dearly in the high-end market. The majority of studios have shifted away from Apple hardware and software solutions.

However, it is obvious that Apple is not “about” computers anymore. Music players and phones are their core business now and it shows. The intel Macs are hardly impressive pieces of hardware.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Macbook Pro, but I am not drinking the Apple kool-aid yet. It is just a computer and anyone who defines their lifestyle around a computer is more than a little sad.

I’ve been designing on Macs and PCs since the beginning of computer based design. PCs lost this battle many many years ago. I know Nobody who designs on PCs. Designers don’t have the time to put up with the crapolla that comes along with a PC.

Expose alone is worth the price of admission. I have typically used a pc at work and mac at home, and I am always amazed at how much smoother my work flow is on a mac. I think it is due largely to expose and the speed at which I can switch between programs/windows.

The KB shortcuts in adobe products also seem much more intuitive. Maybe I’m imagining it, but I doubt it, macs have been the choice of graphic designers for eons, so there has always been close ties between adobe products and mac.

I was a pc person, and then for a long time, I wanted to be a mac person but couldn’t justified the cost and the “apple tax”. However, I eventually got a used mac, and now couldn’t imagine going back.

That, and you can’t beat an os that allows you to upon a terminal and use vi on a default install.

In the time it takes to bitch about what brand of glowing box you use, you could have designed something. Seriously, use what you like and shut the hell up.

I use both every day and both for graphic design.

Beasty PC = 2 grand, beasty MAC = 6 grand.

Nuff said.

SmashingMagazine we are done. You have just lost another viewer. This article is just complete crap, I cannot say it any better then it was said above

“…this isn’t really about designers, per se, as much as a general “OSX is cool” article.”

Here is some of the bs you “claimed” in this article.

“It means that the entire world of open source software out there is pretty much guaranteed to run without much hassle. In a world where open source software is a way of life, web developers need a friendly environment to operate in.”

Uhmm what.. Yes it may have been based on unix when it was started but not any more… OSS is more widely available on PC then mac, and 100% on linux.

“…partly because Unix is inherently more secure than Windows…”

Wait which OS got hacked in under 5 seconds by a year old exploit? O yea… Mac. Which os did he state was hardest to hack? Windows, which browser? Chrome.. No safari, no OSX.

OSX can virtualize all three major operating systems out of the box. This is a must have for checking browser compatibility. To make life even easier, you can do it right from within OSX using programs like Parallels, Virtualbox, and VMWare Fusion. And if you think web browsers render websites exactly the same regardless of the operating system they’re running on you are sorely mistaken.

Yes you said this twice, but all 3 OS’s can do this, just not right out of the box. Honestly how many people do this? Only a select few which is exactly why it should not be included in the OS by default. As you said Minimalism, but I say bloat.

Opinionated Software

This is a very bad thing, I have lost a lot of respect for you by saying this is a good thing. This gives apple complete and total control over everything. If apple wanted every window to have a big pink and purple button in the middle of the window, what could you do about it? Nothing

Most developers are perfectly willing to trouble shoot their own computers, but when deadlines need to be met it can be nice knowing that you can offload some of that hassle to people who already know the system inside and out.

Heres a true story for you.
Apple: We need you to send your computer in for us to check it. You should have it back in 2-4 weeks….
I never have a problem meeting deadlines when I don’t have a computer for 2-4 weeks. Great support my ass.

Unfortunately, Windows doesn’t come bundled with PHP, Rails, or any other open-source web development frameworks or languages any time soon.

Just as you said minimalistic. Why would anyone but web developers want php and rails running on their computers? Noone wants that crap on there except web developers and we make up a very small percent of computer users.

As I stated above you have lost another viewer. I hope you change and write quality articles again so you don’t lose more.

@Agnes

You might want to read the entire comment, as I said, “…is the latest in a disturbing trend of the same…” IE, a lot of the articles I’ve been reading here have been sub-par. I’ve been faithfully following and recommending SM for a couple of years now, and the recent content just doesn’t seem up to the quality I’ve come to expect.

You seem to be making the assumption that my criticism is to do with the Mac vs. Windows debate (As in, I’m a Windows user and I just want to complain about a Mac article), as you’ve mentioned being a Mac user. My complaint has nothing to do with Mac vs. Windows (I love Macs), it’s to do with crappy and biased journalism posted under the guise of objectivity.

I don’t really care about the whole Mac/Win debate. From a productivity perspective, Adobe runs good on both, and there is plenty of webdev software on every platform.

Now, what would be useful is an article on how to do cross browser testing for free on any given platform. Safari on Windows is easy, but what about IE6 7 and 8 simultaneously on both Mac and Windows?

While the cost of a Mac might be more competitive with the PC-equivalent in North America or Europe, down under the cost of a Mac with the same specifications as a PC is nearly double.

For example, last year I would’ve bought a MacBook Pro but the cost was too much – $3000 NZD MacBook Pro vs a $1300 NZD Dell Vostro. I then used the remaining money to go on a holiday and to buy/update Adobe software.

For me, cost is the only factor in the PC vs Mac war. If cost weren’t an issue, I’d definitely have both. PC desktop machine for home, MacBook Pro for a laptop.

In regards to employers hiring Mac-only staff, I think that’s silly but as designers we should be more prepared and skilled with multiple operating systems.

A good chunk of design companies down under use Macs but most use PCs, while a lot of the general public are brand-whores and spend their cash on Macs just to be cool.

Oh and if your PC has got spyware or viruses, then stop looking at stupid email forwards, porn or warez websites. I haven’t had trouble with those things for years with WinXP for both work and home (and I’m still using it!). I haven’t even bothered with Vista yet…

Its true that the tool is important in design, but this article is a shameless plugging of MAC… not that I am a die-hard PC user, nor a MAC pisser. C’mon, arent these up in the Mac site already? Why must we post a remake in SM?

Design, regardless of machine… is nothing without the persistence, creativity, inspiration… and the latest Adobe.

I’m not switching to any company that nicknames their new Operating System version “Snow Leopard”.

either, it’s just a matter of getting used to it…and the budget of course. ;)

The real reasons people switch to mac.

#1 they look hip when they work in a coffee shop

#2 apple spends millions making commercials paying off bloggers like you to promote their product, and microsoft spends nothing comparatively on marketing.

This article is a piece of shit. Completely unbiased. Right. I like the negatives for macs… no right click button and control is command… Oh shit..

Oh, I can drag and drop images from my browser into photoshop too…

I think they both have their benefits, and I like working with macs, But come on, this reads like an apple advert. You are all sheep.

This article is poorly written, poorly researched, and lacking substance one could find looking 5 minutes on a digg comment section. Way to state the obvious in an extremely large amount of words. Also right clicking on the buttonless macbook is SO.FUCKING.EASY. Why do people moan incessently about it? Its awesome.

I just wanted to let anyone know that the “OSX86/Hackintosh” movement has gotten very mature as of late and installing OSX on a PC is far simpler than it used to be. The simplicity depends on your brand of PC or the components involved as some are more Mac friendly than others, but just about every mainstream/popular PC from Dell, HP, Acer, etc has had all the bugs and kinks worked out.

Any of new model Dells are very easy. I have a Dell e1705/9400, and I used a program called “iPC” (there are many others as well) to install OSX on a second partition and it was a SNAP! After installing OSX, I ran an app called “Post-install Dell Utilities” and then everything was working perfectly. I have full nVidia graphics, 1920×1200 res, full Sound, WiFi, ethernet, Firewire, and even Card reader. Bluetooth is the only thing being finicky.

insanelymac.com/forum/ and hackint0sh.org for more info..

If you are a ‘real’ designer, then I think you realized that the skillful designer can produce good work regardless to platform. It’s 2009 right now man, software or hardware or even OS isn’t that much different like in the past.

I’m disappoint with this article, SM. I always found design tips & trick regardless of platform here, but this article is just…a mistake.

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I love reading the comments just as much as I love reading the article…

We’ve been burned too many times from these sorts. They always fail and

deliver sub par work.

Bull.

I’ve been a designer for a long time and I’ve worked in every media – print, web, video, animation and even signs. I’ve also used both Macs and PCs and still do. I don’t know anything about who you hired before, but blaming it on their use of PCs over Macs is lame and suggests that the problem was more likely you.

Admit it FrankG…it’s not about sub par work. It’s about Mac-obsessed PC hatred.

I’ll bet you can count on one hand the number of times you’ve ever used a PC and each time you went at it with an agenda of gathering yet more things you could hate about them.

It’s an irony, of course. Ask any Mac-obsessed designer why they like Mac and they’ll say, “It’s just so easy and intuitive.”

That it is. I picked up everything I needed to know about each new Mac OS in about 5 minutes. What advantage would “heavy Mac experience” give you over light Mac experience – say, a month? In my experience very little.

What’s so much better about working on a Mac over a PC? I use the full Adobe suite and everything I use works almost exactly the same on both machines. Working on a Mac doesn’t make me more creative or make be do better work any more than PCs do the opposite.

So why was a job in your company so challenging to a PC user? The only challenge your former employees had was you looking down your nose at them because of a computer choice. Which was pretty sad.

These PC designers you spoke of…so they love design and they love to create and unfortunately, as a cash-strapped student, they couldn’t bust out $2500 for a new MacBook Pro. So instead of taking advantage of an opportunity to introduce them to a new OS, you decided to hold it over them and judge them unfairly because they don’t use the same tools you’re obsessed with.

BTW, from what I’ve observed, the shift is exactly opposite of what this article suggests. 10 years ago, I couldn’t find a designer who used a PC. Now, their everywhere. Most of them grew up using PCs at home and in school so most new web designers are more and more PC-oriented. And knowing both is like speaking two languages – something most people would consider an asset.

At least the up-and-comers will more than likely evaluate their computer choice based on actual experience rather than snobbishness and hysteria.

But not a Mac-obsessed guy like FrankG.

Most non-Mac-obsessed designers have a keen appreciation for the strengths and weaknesses in both machines, I, like many fellow web designers I know, have used both. I like Macs for print design and Music production while prefer PCs for web design (Safari is an astonishingly crappy browser and all updates are bound in increasingly crappy versions of the formerly awesome iTunes). For video and Flash, I can go either way.

Both computers crash or hang and both have occasional hardware glitches, though I will give Apple an edge for overall stability. Still, PCs crush them on available apps and overall cost-effectiveness.

And there ain’t nothing to be proud of in the Mac mouse. It’s a piece of junk. The ball is too small and refusing to put a right mouse button on one is pointlessly absurd. A company that rightfully prides itself on it’s awesome achievements elsewhere, sticks users with a low-function device with lousy ergonomics.

But you can’t tell that to guys like FrankG. Sadly, his close-mindedness – and the close-mindedness of the article writer – is still all too common in the design world.

Wow, a lot of angry and insecure weenies on this board. Get over it. I use both Mac and PC. I just got hired by a web company, and they use Macs. The company before used PC’s, and they gave me the old Mac cuz I was the new guy. It was an 800mhz G4 with 768 megs of ram….slow as a dog, about 7 yrs old, but you know what?? It still worked, and never crashed. Its a friggin living fossil. PC’s just dont do that. I used to own a first gen Mac Powerbook G4…500mhz G4. Bought it in 2000, ran great until I sold it in 2005. Been PC ever since. Yes, you can get plenty of PC’s for a lot cheaper. The fact remains the parts are NOT the same. It might be an Intel in that Mac, but the motherboards are pure Apple. The cases are pure Apple.

I dont know why so many posts from PC users getting offended and claiming to never come back to SM because of this article. Its mostly true. I had a Toshiba Tecra M4 laptop….well, lets be honest, I had 3 of them. They all broke, all in a 4 year span. First one last just a bit over a year until warranty expired, nvidia card broke, but since its on mobo, entire laptop was a deadweight. So I bought a new one on eBay….paid $200 for a 2 yr warranty from Squaretrade…takes effect after seller 90 day warranty. 2 weeks later, once again, mobo died, returned to original ebay seller, he sent me another one. This one lasted about 2 years until the video to screen converter died, Squaretrade couldnt fix it, they refunded my entire purchase from 2 years ago….so I basically got a free upgrade to a brand new Sony Vaio VGN-FW laptop. So far so good. Previously I had a Sager Laptop….that POS worked great hardware wise, but the structure was horribly built. The lid kept on cracking and I kept on replacing the frame of the lid until I gave up sinking more and more money into it. I’ve had the PSU and video card of a Sony desktop blow for no reason….and a custom built by me from high end Newegg parts PC go through a PSU, video card, and both onboard network cards die. All these problems in the last 5 years alone, ever since I sold that Mac Powerbook. Not to mention the countless Winblows reinstalls, crashes, BSOD’s, and viruses. I hate Winblows, but I love to game more.

My point being….both systems have their strengths, but Mac IS overall, just a better buy, a better deal, and a better OS. My 1996 Mac Umax S900 clone STILL works flawlessly, NOTHING has died in that machine. All the Mac’s I have owned worked flawlessly, and either have been sold off, or still work. BUT….they are pricey at first, and games are just better on a PC, period. Its the reason why I bought this Sony Vaio laptop instead of a Macbook….$1100 as opposed to a similarly configured Macbook Pro which would run about $2700….AND, I just ordered $1500 worth of new PC parts for my custom PC rig….an i7, ASUS X58 Deluxe mobo, 12 gigs of ram, and two (dual) nVidia SLI 260 GTX video cards to upgrade to a kicking gaming rig……a similar Mac Pro would cost around $3000.

Again, granted, Mac’s are pricey off the bat, but I do feel they are worth it, IF you dont game. If I was a console gamer, I would be all Mac. My whole point is though…again, reading some of the insecurities from PC’ers. Why do you get so upset over this article?? Does the truth hurt you that much?? And I do agree that some Mac users need to get over their elitism. Both systems are fine, and in the long run, probably cost the same. Buy a PC for a lot less, but keep replacing failing hardware until the cost is the same as the Mac, and waste money with downtime due to those hardware failures and loss of time and productivity, or go buy a Mac and shell out a lot more from the get go, and not be able to play as many video games, unless you dual boot or run Parallels and run Vista or XP. Either or…WHO CARES!?!?!?!

Everyone has their own opinions and experiences with each platform….but so many of you need to get over your insecurities. I buy PC’s for home use, and work on Macs at work. I dont care. My only needs are Adobe CS, Maya, Cinema 4D, Suitcase, Firefox, and COD4 and COD:World at War. =)

7 or so years ago the argument was MAC was faster than PC. Was this because MAC’s were using SCSI and PC’s were slow IDE? Couldn’t you have spent the extra money to build a SCSI PC that could match the MAC SCSI performance? However, now they are the same guts in a different box. The bottom line for me and my business is higher productivity, which translates to higher profit. I can purchase 1 new PC (box or notebook) every 12-18 months for the cost of 1 MAC (box or notebook), which I would have to use for two – three years before being able to buy a new machine. Why would I purchase a MAC when hardware advancements happen almost overnight? I prefer to purchase a PC more often and stay up to date with technology instead of forcing myself and my employees to use an outdated MAC while technology moves to better possibilities. No one wants to sit and wait on an slow machine to process your design files. Higher Productivity = Happier Employees = Higher Profit.

I don’t know where people get that the MAC operating system is user friendly??? I have done a design course and music course where I was forced to use a MAC. I could not stand every moment of it, I found the MAC OS really unintuitive, so much so that the courses I attended basically wasted my time by trying to force MAC down my throat. In Australia most institutions use MAC by default as a kind of brainwashing for the easily led and people who can not think for themselves, so they choose MAC.

Other operating systems can easily accept PHP or other programming frameworks by just installing the suitable opensource software. Is that all that hard, seriously

I am a Linux user. And also use Windows also.
Sadly, I haven’t seen anybody here near me using Mac. I think the main problem with Mac is that it’s too costly.

A little heavy-handed, there nick…especially considering the singular point of view of the article and the condescension of the writer. And while you had good luck with your Macs, let me assure you that they too break, fizzle out and go bad, too.

Awwwww… so nice to see that this largely turned into yet another ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ discussion. Good job to all of you whose arrogance lead you to somehow believe that you must be correct and everyone who has a differing preference is an idiot. And all in the name of such a mind-blowingly important issue. Holy. Innocent people die all over the world, but my identity is determined by which format I use. Go forth for the cause good soldiers. For all the others who just wanted a good discussion… sorry for the rant!!

Yea, no.

I couldn’t help but notice the vast majority of “pros” listed for the Mac were eye candy and nearly all of the “cons” were deal breakers.

Mac just doesn’t have the support from the market that PC has and when all of the software I want/need is either PC only, or available on both, there’s absolutely no reason to get a Mac. And this is completely ignoring the price tag, where Mac is simply unreasonably high on for all the true negatives with the system.

If I wanted a blogging toy/word processor I’d buy some old Mac on craigslist. If I want a power machine the only option is PC.

I’m surprised that the readers of SM cant realize that this is a paid advertisement for Apple. Its a necessity for SM to monetize their blog, so I don’t blame them.

But why get upset? Its like yelling at your TV.

nice advertisement.

I find it annoying when people say “PC” sucks. These are the people who bought vista at best buy and spent 300 on a starter computer expecting it to run the same as $1200 (overpriced) hardware. They all use the same chip now, just go find better hardware to go along with your cpu and run what you want.

of course mac runs faster than your average computer because there are companies like HP out there selling crap.

You should correct that part about no second mouse button. On my MacBook pro (new generation), using two fingers instead of one is like a right click. This is actually a great feature and work much better than my old pc laptop.

Most of people that said they can’t stand Windows Classic theme or default Luna Blue,(I agree that they look very ugly) surely didn’t realized the customize capability of Windows that superior than a Mac.

Did you ever heard of Visual Style? (I guess not) There are thousand of them for Windows, since a very long time ago. *yawn*
browse theme here:
http://browse.deviantart.com/customization/skins/windows/visualstyle/?order=5#order=9

oh, and these Visual Style is free, you don’t need to buy software like Shapeshifter or so to change theme. I think that’s the reason why people who loves aesthetics buy a Mac, they didn’t know that Windows can be customized!! (That’s why we always see XP with default Luna Blue theme, and default “Bliss” wallpaper!)

very well balanced article, i have mac and PC, i test the websites that i build on both the platform, if single click mouse on mac is bothering than u can still plug your windows mouse to it.

It’s amazing how quickly pretty much every post comparing a Mac to anything (in this case, no particular system) devolves into name calling and exclamation points.

I would simply state that the primary reason I use a Mac instead of a PC is the window management/Quartz environment. I normally work with Mail, Safari, FireFox, VMWare, CyberDuck (FTP), Textmate, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Aperture, iTunes, iCal, iChat, NetNewsWire, Colloquy, Tweetie, TextEdit, and Illustrator all open at the same time. With Exposé, Spaces, and the ability to have windows from separate apps open next to each other without having to resize and reorder them, I can work about 10x more efficiently than I can on a PC.

I tried switching to a PC at my workplace earlier this year and failed miserably. I could do my work, sure, but it took at least twice as long to do simple tasks such as grab a set of files from a server, edit them, build some graphics for them, save them all to the server, then check the pages across multiple browsers. Maybe Vista is way better than XP in window management, but I doubt it based on preliminary testing.

The other nice thing is that I can do work almost as quickly on my 5-year-old iBook G4 as I can on my brand new 24″ iMac, even though the benchmarked speeds are many times slower. This is because even older Macs still run the main system and less-intense apps with ease. In fact, OS 10.5 runs *faster* than 10.3 on the old iBook. Show me a 5-year-old PC that runs Vista *faster* than XP, and I’ll give you a dollar.

Does anyone REALLY believe Apple needs advertising to designer base???

Ugh. Morons.

Great article.. As a windows user and a Mac user, I enjoyed the comparison. Although one point was the secondary mouse click, you can now (on the newer macs) designate a corner of the mouse pad for the secondary mouse click in System preferences (very minor issue compared to what others are discussing).

Also, I read a comment (or two?) about active directory. There is nothing simpler than doing it on the Mac, just need to go to your Utilities and use the directory service and add your domain (select Active Directory) then you are away… Its pretty easy. I do this all the time.

The main reason I enjoy using a mac is primarily the ease and stability of the desktop… I understand that some people want specific tools, heck I have been known to use good ol bootcamp to use an app or tool i needed that isnt present on the Mac. With no problems whatsoever. As a long time Mac user, I have seen the development of many tools and apps that cover the gauntlet of ones that are available on the PC if not its pretty easy (ive found) to find ones that are equal (and a lot of the times) better.

This is just my experience, I still use my PC for games (although less and less thesedays thanks to my PS3 and xbox360)…. but it still has its uses….

Anyway thanks for the article… I loved reading it.. Keep up the goodwork….

At uni ten years ago, I studied design using pre-OSX Macs. It wasn’t the best experience. They would crash frequently when trying to use a browser and bringing up the console wasn’t as useful as CTRL-ALT-DEL on a PC. There were other reasons why I never adopted the OS. (And using Windows beforehand wasn’t one of them, I used MacOS before I heard of Windows).

Ten years into the future, I use a PC. I don’t get blue screens. All versions of Windows since Win2K have been pretty stable.

So while OSX may well be great, Mac’s OS was terrible for a time. While Windows might have been buggy in the past, it’s been fine since Win2K.

I agree with what most of what is said. I have a small business and use Mac (12) for security/ease of use/reliability and Windows (2) for IE only suppliers.

One thing that is not mentioned most of the time is resale. Last month when Apple came out with the new mini’s I replaced 3 that we had. We had bought them about 5 years ago for $600 (+$80 more for more memory). Last week I sold them on ebay for an average of $325, try reselling a 5-year old $600 PC for $325 (or any Mac-PC comparison) Mac’s also have great resale value, which I considered when originally purchasing.

i’m ok with most of the reasons except for one: the support
This is very poor as for me. And when it even comes to fixing, it’s too expensive.
I used to have a Dell. As for the hardware it has a very good support.

Aw, how cute! Another one of “these”… For all things you say it sounds that really we don’t understand why they do or don’t go to this or that platform.

1. Status Quo, Macs have always been associated with design… That’s it.
2. …

The same things could be said about going to Linux, or changing Laptop Brands…

It’s more of a “i like this one better” thing rather than a conscious decision. With “humid screens” desktops and “melt my lap” laptops, and those awesome “Why should I pay extra for this memory just because it comes from Apple” moments, many don’t really go all conscious about this.

I’ll say this once and leave this topic all along: You buy whatever it is you like. If you love it, then continue using it. If you don’t, try something else. It really is that simple.

1 reason why people will switch back from Mac: their stuff breaks. Easily. All the time. Continuously. Sadly their hardware is complete failure, and for the price you’re paying …

And I for one hate the “design consistency”, but that’s just because I don’t like the Mac design much. So basically, everything looks consistently ugly.

A Mac is a computer, not directly an operating system,.. i see no reason to switch a type of computer directly… there are many reasons why you should choose a pc over a mac as well.
Outside that,… taken into account that Windows 7 is on the way, which its performance doesn’t do under for a Mac OSX. Especially not price-wise.

From the comments, being a designer and not use a Mac, is a shit comment. Weren’t designers suppose to NOT do the same always? As long as you got a proper screen.

Quite frankly, Macs are for people who just don’t really know how to use computers – no matter what the “artistes” say. And if something breaks, you need to replace the whole computer. I wanted to make my gaming faster on my PC, so rather than chucking it away and getting a new one, I simply purchased a new video card, swapped it out and away I went. And you cannot get into the operating system to tweak it up like you can on a PC. The Microsoft haters are to be expected, but in all honesty, all they do is make Mac users look like sheep.
“Twice the price, half the power, a quarter of the applications. But who cares, it’s a Mac!” – so the saying goes.

This must be the most unhelpful article SmashingMag published in a very long time. No real news, instead a more-or-less biased approach of the beaten-to-dead mac vs pc-discussion.

I’m not against Apple, I’m not against PC, it’s the tools that do the trick, and for me (and most people here I guess) any machine that can run a browser, a text-editor (notepad++) and the Adobe Creative Suite will do. And if I knew how to run all that stable on Linux (preserving more resources), I would switch immediately.

At this moment our multimedia dept. is run on pc, while graphics use mac. They both have their problems…

@Brian: Wow, all designers in your small little town using a mac? great :)
Anyway, there are some very good reasons why designers should not switch to Mac:
-> It’s quite expensive
-> The difference in performing graphical issues between a MAC and a PC is not that big anymore
-> PC’s are still faster in rendering 3d work
-> Staying with your PC system doesn’t force you to also buy new software
-> Most of your clients won’t experience your website as you do, because they don’ t use the Safari Browser…, because they don’ t use a Mac.
For German readers visit my article on this subject @ http://www.pixel-kingdom.com/top_news/warum-dann-doch-kein-apple/

I can tell you 200 reasons why designers stay with windows.
apple is like a high-class whore. nice to look at but way too expensive for the performance ;)

Also a user of both worlds and still not convinced of OSX for any reason beyond aesthetics.

Those of you, who want to use Textmate on Windows have to checkout e – Texteditor, which offers a lot of the same features, supports Textmate-bundles, is highly customizable and also is ridiculously cheap.

Software should really be the last reason for people to switch, for there is a much larger software-base available on Windows, except a few applications that have been made exclusively available through Apple (e.g. Logic, Shake, etc.).

The only thing I truly love about MACs is their visual appeal.

A really interesting article that has arrived in my Google reader at a time that I am fighting to put cash towards my “I want to switch to mac” fund! It was nice to see a list of negatives as well although they didn’t have any impact on my desire to move my design/development needs and uses across to Mac.

The article seems to have sparked an incredible number of replies, but it’s the good old Mac vs. PC debate so it was always going to! :) I have bookmarked this one so I can come back and make use of the comments to aide my decision to move further…

Great article, thanks!

I find this article completly useless. I work on both, and the question between Mac or PC is only a matter of personal taste or experience. This is subjective. This article is not an information with objective arguments, it’s just a point of view I don’t find interesting. Sorry.

Ok, Apple is sexy but ¿can you know if a design is made with apple or windows? No
I want to buy a MAC for my desktop but is toooooo expensive.
With 2500 € you can buy an basic Mac for design.
With 2500 € you can buy the mother of all PC’s

Maybe in the next life….

Congratulations for the blog.

A computer is a tool. Nothing more. Focus should be on what you achieve with it, not on the machine. OSX, Windows or Linux, you can do everything in any of them with a little knowledge. Be creative and achieve with what you have rather than get drawn into the marketing, they all want to sell you a new computer when most of the time you really don’t need one.

For everything you’ll ever need, you need a tool. Not a Mac. Not a PC. Not a pointed stick. (Well sometimes)

I use both mac and pc as they both have their respected pros and cons but to be brutally honest I don’t like the people who use macs. They are just so anal. As a designer you are taught not to be close minded yet the die hard mac users are all about rules. It’s like they are their own religion. “Genesis 1: And God made the Apple Mac…Do not use a PC. Do not get a second mouse button or you will perish in the hell of diversity.”

I’ve been a Mac user since 1992 and I have never even thought about switching to Windows, eventhough most of the jobs I’ve held actually required me to work on a PC (running Windows).

The number one reason for preferring Macs, to me, is OS X. Maintenancing Windows is a total nightmare, and just about every application that is Windows only sucks (in terms of UI design, usability etc.).

Though I have recently thought about giving Ubuntu a try (due to financial constraints), I really want to (and need to) run PS, Illustrator and InDesign etc. natively.

I actually used GIMP at my last job, but honestly, it doesn’t even come close to Photoshop.

I just like the user experience I get out of apps like Safari, iTunes, iPhoto, NewsFire, Things, Transmit, Textmate etc.

The G4 Powerbook I’m writing this post on has been in use since 2004 – not one OS re-install. Not one single crash.

Okay:
1. “OSX is built on top of UNIX” No it isn’t it is built on top of BSD, which looks similar, but is even better

2. “Lack of Software”
The Mac has plenty of software built exclusively for it.
Almost anything that will run on Linux will also run on OSX
Anything that will run on BSD will run on OSX
With the move to Intel processors, anything exclusive to windows can be run via Boot Camp, or Parrallels, or ….
In other words, the Mac has a larger software base than any other platform.

3. The Command Key/Control Key thing.
That is silly – these commands were copied from the Mac in the first place, so it is the PC that is doing things wrong.

Most designers I know are currently unemployed, or have second jobs. And they have macs as well. Food for thought people…

well, SM … you choose a controversal topic here… but I agree with it for the most of your arguments :) I have to say that I work every day in a web agency since 3 years now on PC, Vista for more then a year and there is nothing to compare with the Macs I have. The only good news about PCs is that Vista is not running that bad overall, but it’s just not as good as Mac OS X, and by far!!! After some month of uses, Vista like Xp is going slower every week: for example Illustrator and Photoshop take the double of time to open, you may have time for format and re install but I don’t… It is THE reason you have to choose Mac for design work, productivity ! The fact that Macs are pretty is a nice bonus…

Macbook pro’s hidden feature – it can also cook egg!!

Please follow the link to view the cooking egg on Mac Book Pro.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/prakaz/3395237918/

Read what Apple says ):
The bottom surface and some areas between the keyboard and LCD hinge of your Apple portable computer can become very warm after extended periods of use.

This is normal operating behavior.

The bottom of your Apple portable may become very warm during normal use. If the computer is on your lap and gets uncomfortably warm, remove it from your lap and place it on a stable surface.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1778#

Solution to over the heat problem:

I bought “USB Notebook Cool Pad” having three fans on it to keep cool my MacBook Pro.

Now I am using this and got 95% heat away… I almost use my mac book pro 8 to 10 hours daily.

Follow the link to see Pad video:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1920621/usb_notebook_cool_pad/

Mac, i love it.但我相信视窗会做的越来越好。

PC = crash, viruses, frustration.
Mac = smooth running, reliable, stable

PC Users = angry, jealous, argumentative
Mac users = relaxed, successful, happy.

PC=diverse, creative, powerful
Mac=un-inspiring, boring, slow

PC Users=Defensive (with every right to be), Clever, Entrepreneurs
Mac Users=Dull, Anal, Have rich daddies

As a long-time Windows user, being handed a Macbook Pro on starting my latest job was a little daunting. I have to say that I really don’t see what the world seems to in OS X. “Windows is always crashing, OS X, solid as a rock.” Well, this is anecdotal of course, but in my experience over the last few years, my XP machine has maybe died two or three times, once a driver conflict, once a rather disasterous hard drive failure and one other was an unexplained crash. In the 6 months I’ve had this Mac it’s ground to a complete halt 10 or 15 times–you know the kind where the spinning mouse cursor sits there and you are unable to do anything. I’m a web developer. Occasionally I’ll crack open Photoshop but usually I’ll just have Eclipse open, perhaps mail, sometimes an FTP client. And, given that, how come this dual core, 2GB machine feels like swimming in treacle? It’s not VERY unresponsive and it’s hard to put into words but it just … JUST feels slightly slow to react to what I do, scrolling slightly behind my movements, click response taking fractions of a second longer than feels right. It’s tiny, but again on XP, it feels instantaneous, and the cumulative effect makes the system feel much less responsive. I don’t care what my machine looks like.. I like the Macbook’s trackpad.. that feels awesome, but otherwise it’s just the OS I care about, and how quickly and easily I feel I can work.

Here

Not a smashing-quality article, to say the least…

You have indeed forgot one big Reason FOR switching to the mac: The Joy of Use!

I was forced to switch to mac after more than 10 years on windows by my last company.
First I was confused and a bit frustrated, ’cause some things just are different and “my workflow” was gone, but after 2 month I was as quick as before, later even quicker and the work just makes much more fun on OSX!

The joy of use is just great on apples products! MS will never reach that level, they are feature-driven and design by committee …

I run a network with almost 30% Mac’s and 70% PCs, and our web design team refuses to go Mac. Our graphics department has an awesome Mac Pro with 4GB of RAM and dual quad-core xeon’s, which rocks… but she wishes she had a decent PC instead.

We do have an all-Mac video department and some office users that prefer Apple, but I think this article does paint with a broad brush.

I loved the article, very well written, but I believe it is looking at a smaller sample than the author realizes. What is most important for a graphic designer is to understand how art works, regardless of the brush they are holding.

As for me, I use Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu on a regular basis and enjoy them all. (Although setting up a good web-dev environment with the specific version of Apache, MySQL, and PHP that I prefer is by far hardest on the Mac… and Inkscape requires X-11 which always causes me issues…) I still love my MacBook, but I don’t see all the benefits I was told would be there.

(No seriously, good article…. I’m not ranting, just letting people know I don’t work for Microsoft, nor am I an MBA, but myself, the web development team at work, and our graphics department at work all prefer Windows for the same reason most designers prefer Mac: because they are comfortable with it and can get their work done faster in an environment they are familiar with.)

The comments are better than the main article.

I use a Mac at work and a PC at home, I’ve never had a problem with my Mac and I’ve had problems with every PC I’ve ever owned. I’d like a Mac at home, if only it didn’t mean purchasing new software… Ok, rant over…

I think we are not in a Kindergarten anymore. Apart from that the funny thing is that only Mac-user start such discussions, maybe the have some deep complexes.

Good article..

“OSX was designed to run as well on the most expensive Mac Pro as it would an eight year old Powerbook because they control the solution from hardware to software.”

This is a load of bull, show me an 8 year old Powerbook that can run the latest OSX that smooth, its the same with vista you cant expect a windows 98se machine to run vista at best performance.

“Perhaps the most popular sticking point of non-Mac users, price is always at the heart of the debate. Under $1200 or so, there is no question that byte for byte, ghz for ghz, you can get a better raw value by avoiding Apple. Apple has chosen not to enter the sub $1000 PC not because it doesn’t want to grow sales, but because it wants to avoid the dogfight that Sony, HP, and other brands are in for the lower end market.”

Its not that Mac does not want to compete with the lower end market, truth is because they cant OSX requires a pretty hefty amount of hardware thats why the cost is higher and the “Mac certified hardware” is a load of bull too.

Comment #8 really sums up everything. If you really need a mac to “design” something better think twice of claiming to be a “designer”

btw im typing this on my Air ;)

Lets face it. It worked!!! We all know who likes what better now….

I have to say, you are dead on when saying that it is a pitfall that you can not maximize a window on a Mac. I use Windows, OSX and Linux and the one and only aspect of a Mac that kills me is that you can not maximize the windows. Though, the windows retain memory. This means that if you leave a window at a large size when it is closed it will open to those same dimensions. But it still drives me crazy.

I like Apples and Macs. But, as a lead C# and .NET developer for around the past 8 years, I find that PCs facilitate my needs for the software I use on a constant basis:

Visual Studio 2008
Adobe Photoshop CS4
MS Outlook + Office

Also, most project management and file repository software (sans TFS) are becoming web based; which is nice for cross browser compatibility. If I was purely a designer, and not jack-of-all trades developer / PM I would be working on a Mac. But once I need to create a web based application that incorporates several different database types, AJAX, LINQ, and tons of functional requirements; I need my Visual Studio.

Is it a perfect world, no. But thats what I do.

PS. I’m also a gamer, so Macs are out of the question as far as home (work)place.

Programming on anything on a Mac is like programming in Notepad. CSS is not “development”.

I’m not a “hipster.” I’m a practical guy who wants a platform that lets me do my work with little OS drama. And that’s what a Mac gives me. And when I want Windows, I’ve got that too on my MacBook Pro. Two computers in one.

Hilarious how the old Mac v. Windows question riles some people up. Personally, I want Apple to stay small. It’s a proven fact that the bigger you get the more quality suffers. Look at the banking industry as an example.

Anyways, I use Windows at work (required) and a Mac the rest of the time. At work, we replace PC’s around every two years and they aren’t your typical business PC’s (you know, bare minimum base model); my current PC is running XP Pro (they weren’t dumb enough to switch to Vista), 3 GHz processors and 2 GB RAM. But, it will be replaced in a few weeks because it’s already dying. Are there things I could do to improve it’s performance? Sure, but my IT department wouldn’t be happy that I did their job for them.

On the other hand, I just bought a new MacBook and love it. But I still have my old PowerBook. I’ve owned it since January 2005 and over four years later it’s still running strong. In fact, it runs better than my work PC even though the Windows PC has better tech specs. Passed it down to my kid. So for those who say Macs have two years life at best, you’ve obviously never owned one.

What does it come down to? OS X. Since it was introduced Windows has never been able to catch up and I doubt Windows 7 will be any different. And the fact that Apple makes the hardware is nice too. Nice not having to ask “Is this a software co. issue or a hardware issue?”. I can just go to Apple’s support page or an Apple store and get help. But these points have already been mentioned several times.

This is definitely the reason I use and prefer a Mac: (“it feels intuitive” or “I enjoy using it more” or even “I can’t explain why I like it better, I just do.”) Nothing against a PC, but I don’t feel the same. There is just something about the Mac that draws me in and causes me to use it more.

One of the best mac/windows reviews I’ve ever seen!
The point with Quicksilver, Growl, TextMate & Adium could have been my own. I love those 4 pieces of amazing software so much :D (especially Quicksilver)

Thank you so much for this article, I will right now “spread the word” ;)

There is some parts I don’t agree with:
1. You can run LAMP on Windows use XAMPP or you can just run Linux if you want.
2. What about virtualization? You can run Virtual machines on Windows too.

If you have talent you can do anything on any system and PC doesn’t equals Windows.

The reason OSX is better because Apple controls hardware.
And it has nothing todo with anything else.

FREE Apple Ad from Smashing Magazine!

From my point of view, it doesn’t matter what system or OS you use as long as you get the results you want.

My only problem is with folks who chose to be snobs about their choices. From my observation, Many Mac zealots justify their attitudes by spreading technically illiterate nonsense and factually untrue assertions that equate to, “Macs are magic and make you creative while PCs are evil and make you incompetent.”

Those types deserve all the scorn and ridicule anyone can hurl at them.

Man the fan boys came out of the woodwork for this one. Your commentary aside this article was excellent comment bait. Well Done!

I would say that Macs are more expensive to buy but cheaper to run. I never have to waste time reformatting, defragmenting, virus scanning, getting rid of the cruft. My macs run as well today as the day I bought them. Contrariwise, my PC enthusiastic friends always need help fixing a printer, re-connecting to the internet, getting rid of some mal-ware. These are the hidden costs of Windows that you continue to pay for.

There are some good and some hilariously bad comments on a generally good article.

As someone who is creative is 3 big areas and wants to use one computer to do it all, I have no choice. It’s a Mac. If I wanted to get consistent great running in the music world, the web design world and the video world (I’m no Adobe user either, geez that stuff costs more than my Mac does anyhow) if I wanted to do all this on one Windows machine it just wouldn’t run well enough. 300 apps added to the system, and it runs the same, no slower, no crashes. Could I do that with Windows XP or Vista? No. I’ve seen it tried. They ended up with 2 machines (separated the music) both of which fall over more than my Mac. They even have a 3rd for office stuff, I just have 1. My Mac is so much cheaper than 2 Windows machines (let alone 3).

So to all those who think Macs are just for being cool, wrong. For some of us (I know it’s not everyone) they are the only sensible choice.

i cant deny that mac is a really powerful machine, and it comes with really cool features and stuff , but its expensive and i’d bet my left nut that a good designer can create the same amount of work with the same quality on the same amount time using a pc for half of the money, So i dont really see the need to change. Mac doesnt offer anything for me that makes me earn more money, so im gonna stick to PC for now.

Macs are for the rich suburb kids, and Windows are for their older brothers.

These are facts:

- If you use Windows, everything around you will explode and you will die a very painful death. Every single project you start on a windows machine will disintegrate and then a little popup will appear and point at your crotch area and laugh. That’s a fact.
- If you use a Mac, women will make sweet love to you 24/7. Anything you design/develop will become an instant success… Money will actually shoot out of the DVD drive!

…or maybe… we should all STFU and get back to work…

1. Windows, Mac, Linux, BeOS, etc. It’s personal preference. Let your work define you as a designer or developer. Not your tools.

2. Smashing will usually post a follow up to this article with a Windows slant. I’m an Apple user personally, but I’d love to see the counter point.

3. It isn’t “MAC”, it’s Mac. There is a difference and programmers and developers should know that “MAC” stands for “Media Access Control” or MAC Address. “Mac” as in “Apple Mac”.

I have yet to join the Mac family, primarily because of the price. I’ve used Mac’s a good bit before in college and yah they are nice, but I don’t see myself gaining much from them. I am in need of a new laptop soon and it would be nice to get a Mac. But I just can’t bring myself to spending double the amount for a similar laptop and having to buy another copy of Creative Suite that I already legally purchased for Windows.

Who know’s…maybe I’ll bite the bullet, but I can get a really nice laptop for $600-800 from Dell or HP that will run just as fast.

I bought a PC 3 years ago. It runs XP and all the software I need to do my development work. The OS doesn’t crash and it isn’t slow. I’ve never had to “re-image” or “re-install” the OS. I have had multiple hardware crashes on hard drives but that has nothing to do with the OS. I still use that same PC for development. I haven’t had to refresh my hardware over the years to go to a new slicker looking version. It weigh’s 4.5lbs and I get just under 5 hours of battery life off it still. It does what I need and I spent a whopping $1200 on in at the time. Not bad but considering my investment of $400 a year it’s pretty good. I’m not worried about the look of it as my clients just care about the final product.

Seriously, half of the people did not even read this article, if you did, you would know its not about designers on a mac its about why -SOME- developers are switching to a Mac.

I work on a Mac, and I prefer working on a mac. I multitask like you wouldn’t believe, and MAC’s OS for devleopment is 1,000% more efficient then any PC. I work on a PC at work because I have to do C# coding and I need the windows environment, but if I could use a Mac I would.

Anyone who has worked on a PC and a Mac consistently and says working on a PC is better is out of their goddamn mind.

If half of you idiots read the article, they are specifically saying why SOME developrs are choosing to switch over to Mac. It’s true, they are. With virtualization & dual boot, why the hell do you even NEED a PC anymore? Seriously? I have played games on a bootcamp partition of XP and can play games flawlessly.

Also to the idiots who keep saying “Its all about the work you do not your tools”, I dunno bout you, but I’d rather use a SHARP axe to cut wood, not a dull blunt rusted one. But hey, that’s just me who wants to be productive and efficient.

Seriously, I’m not even a Mac enthusiast, in fact I hate people that are. Especially the people who sit in coffee shops. I grew up using PC’s my whole life. When I started using a mac I still didn’t like it, but after DEVELOPING (yes I said developing) on it for some time, going back to PC is like driving a 1985 honda civic with a shitty exhaust. I dunno bout you, but I prefer my Beemer.

1. I am right. 2. You are wrong. 3. If you object see #1