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I’ve been using Macs for… a little over a decade now. I simply love the OS.

Having said that, Windows 7 has made fantastic strides. I still prefer OS X, but it’s definitely becoming a closer race. If you only do web development, then I would say it’s not a big deal. I love using Coda which is a Mac only program, but I can’t imagine that should be the determining factor.

It comes down to what you like and what you need to do. I was a PC for many years — started back when ms-dos was a big deal! I switched to Mac three years ago and will never, ever, ever go back — for my particular needs, OS X is superior in every way. For Zikron’s needs, Windows 7 is the superior way to go. Take a look at what capabilities you require, and that should help make the decision a bit easier. Good luck!

I’ve just ordered my first mac today, an iMac in fact. I bought an iPad in the summer and got the Apple bug. I’m also learning more and more about web design and think it will replace my old XP system. I can’t wait until it arrives!!!

Build your own PC. I know almost every designer likes their expensive, ego-boosting mac though…

As was already said, windows 7 is great, not saying it’s better than OSX, but it definitely get’s the job done. Not to mention the side-by-side snapping feature is a godsend.

I love connecting with other designers, but so far most of them have followed the blind trend of thinking that Photoshop only works on a mac, and thus they are better than the rest of us, which really annoys me.

I know not all of you apple users are like this, just personal experience from my last design course.

BTW, as a quick example I am about to build a new desktop, here are the specs:

CPU: Intel i7 quad – 3Ghz
GPU: Nvidia GTS250 – 1GB
HDD: 1TB
RAM: 8GB

The cost of all this, including case, power supply and some better cooling is $1075. The Australian iMac (lowest-end model) starts at $1449 and has far less impressive specs than what I listed, hell even the highest end model (without adding your own configurations) doesn’t match my PC build specs, and that iMac is $2399!, justified how!?

Bottom line is if the price was more competitive I would consider getting one, as for now, no way.

Bought my first Mac in 1985, when you had two choices: 128K or 512K. Over the years, I’ve gone from passionate Mac advocate to something more pragmatic. For some projects in the mid-90s I had to buy both systems, along with Director, Photoshop, etc. on both platforms, and it was a management and financial drain.

Recently I’m working for companies that have a mix of both. The Mac guys just love their Macs, and the PC guys … well, they just don’t understand the Mac guys.

Here’s how I parse it out for my personal situation:

Cost. PC wins at home. With three kids, I can’t afford to buy them all Macs, plus software. Just can’t. They get exposed to Macs at school, but everything they work on is portable between the home PC systems on a USB key. Also, there’s a much richer ecosystem of low-cost or free utilities on Windows these days.

Usability. PC wins for what I do. Little things get to me. On the Mac, you can only resize a window by grabbing the resizer on the lower right window corner. On Windows, I am far more product in the multi-window format, where the application menu stays pinned to the window. I work mostly on two monitors, and on a Mac, always having to travel up to the far left corner of the far left screen to reach a menu item is very unproductive. Yes, I know. Shortcuts keys. Use them sometimes. But I also just use menus. A lot. Just me. So day to day, working in multiple applications over multiple windows, I’m constantly fussing with the Mac and cursing their stubborness over these little things are simply not advantages. I’m much, much more productive on Windows.

Network setup. Mac is much better here. I’m still struggling to set up my wireless network printing on the Windows 7 machines.

Speed. Tossup. I work mostly on web projects, so I’m not crunching huge graphics files or doing 3D rendering. Nothing I throw at either the Mac or the PC slows it down.

Testing. Mac, slightly. By running a Windows VM on your Mac, you’re better equipped to test with a single machine, and that’s preferable by a hair. Trouble is, by doing initial development on a Mac in Firefox or Safari, I’m always, always having to go back and tweak when I finally view it in IE. It’s much more efficient for me to code for IE’s limitations, and when I finally preview on the Mac I’m either good to go or have only a few items to touch. An alternative is to have a refurb Mac mini to do occasional testing on.

BTW: Windows XP. It’s old. It’s going into end-of-life soon. Get off it. It was OK in its time, but you don’t want to be on XP on a PC anymore than you want to be on OS 9 on a Mac. Windows 7 is just fine.

Viruses. I keep my virus protection up to date, and I haven’t had any problem for years. Whenever one of the kids’ computers gets infected, the forensics always show they were doing something they’ve been told not to do.

iPhone, iPod. Over the years I’ve used both Mac and PC with iTunes to sync my devices. Slight advantage I suppose on a PC during the time when I also had a Blackberry and didn’t need a separate music library for both.

So bottom line, at work, I work mostly on the PC but definitely keep the Mac close for testing. At home, we use PCs and I don’t see myself reinvesting in Macs to change that.

Hackintosh all the way!

Macs themselves are a rip off. Complete social status. Just look at the specs. If you spent the same amount of money on a pc it would s..t the mac all day.

I’ve got both and although I prefer the os of a mac they are a money burner. Servicing, new parts, support, everything is soo expensive. As for upgrading, so difficult as most, when they are bought are juts about maxed out. If not mac will charge insane amounts to max it out compared if you were to do it yourselves.

Apple is having a good run at the moment but more viruses for macs are coming Im sure. Can anyone name me one Apple product that hasnt been faulty in some way…? Insanely overheated batteries, iphones that dont actually work, ipods that break or malfunction.. they all have faults and for that type of money they NEVER should be.

Actually, on the topic of social status and hackintosh…

During a client meeting, my colleague pulled out his hackintosh, the client seen OSX and was immediately impressed he was using a mac, the perceived professionalism of using expensive or popular equipment is very interesting and can play a part in getting yourself a good first impression. (even if your expensive mac is just a compaq with an apple sticker on the back).

As stupid as this sounds I guess it’s just one of those things.. Might have to get an iPad to display their initial mockups during meetings, they might start frothing.