Best laptops for graphic design.

[Davidson]

its been a little while since the last mac vs pc 'debate'. im kind of surprised how many of the amateur guys are using macs these days,

it seems the market is growing.

i always find it interesting that one of the criticisms leveled at mac is that they are more expensive.

you know, in like the same way that burger king is slightly more expensive than macdonals, champaign costs more than lager

and a porche will set you back more than your average honda.

[elsephen]

But a porsche will actually hold it's value and be a great drive 20 years down the road.

Any Mac you buy today will need to be replaced within 5 years anyway. Maximum.

[elsephen]

If you end up wanting to do Graphic design as a profession- Then invest in a Mac.

mac or pc does not mean ANYTHING....it's the programs you use and your talent level. i have been a professional graphic artist for 10+ years and have used a pc the entire time...personally, i hate macs.

ha, this old chestnut. i think its a given that talent is an aside to this argument.

id never go back to a pc. ive had 3 g5s and i have a decent mac book pro. prior to that i had 3 pcs all by different manufacturers, all of them very high spec.

people will tell you that pcs are somehow more versatile and better adapted to some esoteric operations which tend only to relate to pcs anyway.

thats all fine and perhaps they might have some genuine benefits, but in the last 5 years on 4 machines i have:

-had to restart machines 3 times due to a crash,

-have never had a virus (although this will happen at some point im sure, i dont have antivirus stuff gumming up my machine)

-had to reinstall 2 programs

-watched the entire office switch to macs (previously 50-50 split)

-had far less issues with networking, setting up printers etc etc (something pcs see as a win for them altho thats never been my experience)

-probably spent less money on computers. i still use one 4/5 year old g5 in my room for hd rendering.

-dropped my old vaio and a dell box from my second floor for laughs.

if you are serious about the system you use as a designer, i would always recommend a mac and im sure the large majority of pro designers would too.

Welcome to the last 10 years.

I find it humorous that the whole "crash" thing comes up with windows/mac debates these days. I understand it was a huge issue, like...10 years ago. Maybe more. Same with viruses. Unless you're just an idiot, you shouldn't have problems with either.

Funny thing is- I've only had 1 program freeze or shut down that I can remember in a long time... iTunes. And it sucks balls bigtime. I do however give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it's due to the Windows port/version. Still...

The thing I hate most about Mac in general is their nickel and diming. It's terrible, and pretty much consumer rape, IMO. But as I say- If I had tons of money just laying around, I wouldn't mind it, but being just a middle class regular joe- a Mac wouldn't be a good investment for me.

[Skedden]

I got my MacBook in August for school and I'm so proud of it haha. As Fraser pointed out with his PC problems I can agree I've had a lot of problems on my PC's. I would like to say I'd never go back to PC, but I still have one with Windows 7. I use my Mac way more and can't wait to save some money and grab a iMac in the future. I never would have bought my Mac if I wasn't studying in graphic design. But now all I want is Apple products.

[oddball]

Burger King burgers are bland, so why pay for a bland burger? As far as the price goes on a Mac, they are over-priced. I really don't think the argument is Mac vs. PC as much as it's Mac OS vs. Microsoft OS. The Mac OS is as someone said more intuitive to the user and the Windows is more clunky. I'm a graphic designer in a big-time company and I sit and listen to the IT guys deal with all the crap that comes with the Microsoft not-so operating system. That's the real issue as Macs today run an intel chip, the difference between a Mac and a "pc" are the OS and the name on the computer.

As far as the comment of buying a Porsche and it having value and needing to buy a Mac in 5 years,I think most computer turnover is probably around 2-3 years depending on what you use it for. So no matter what you buy, a Mac or pc, the minute you look at the computer and think you want it, it's out of date due to technology.

[andrewharrington]

In the spring of '05 (yep, 5 years ago) I bought the bottom of the line, cheapest 'iBook G4' that Apple made. It's packing a 1.33 GHz processor and 512 MB (yep, megabytes) of RAM. The 30 (yep, thirty, not three hundred) GB of hard drive space has been a revolving door of music and graphics over the years, but it's still chugging along as good as it ever was, like the little engine that could. Never had a crash, never had a virus, never had a problem, really, and I don't even take great care of it, to be honest. I originally ran CS2 on it, then I upgraded to CS3. Even though the system requirements are way above what my machine runs (I think it 'requires' a 2Ghz processor and at least 1 GB of RAM), the CS3 programs run smoothly and without frustration or flaw. I even run them simultaneously. A Mac is highly recommended by me.

Only gripe I have is screen size (I've got a 12" screen). Looking back on it, though, while I thought a laptop would be sweet, I hardly ever take it anywhere. If I had to do it again, I'd definitely get an 'iMac' desktop model. You get much more performance for the money with an 'iMac' as well. The entry-level 'iMac' has a 21" screen and better performance than the 13" 'MacBook' and the price: $1199 for the 'iMac' and $999 for the 'MacBook.'

[vmd9]

its been a little while since the last mac vs pc 'debate'. im kind of surprised how many of the amateur guys are using macs these days,

it seems the market is growing.

i always find it interesting that one of the criticisms leveled at mac is that they are more expensive.

you know, in like the same way that burger king is slightly more expensive than macdonals, champaign costs more than lager

and a porche will set you back more than your average honda.

are you seriously trying to say that Mac are like porsche and PC are average hondas? it's personal preference thats all...if you ask me a dell is a Porsche and a Mac is a Lecar...small,ugly, and boring

but thats just an opinion and like I said it's personal preference. and whats the quote from austin powers: "It's not the size that matters, it's how you use it"

[andrewharrington]

its been a little while since the last mac vs pc 'debate'. im kind of surprised how many of the amateur guys are using macs these days,

it seems the market is growing.

i always find it interesting that one of the criticisms leveled at mac is that they are more expensive.

you know, in like the same way that burger king is slightly more expensive than macdonals, champaign costs more than lager

and a porche will set you back more than your average honda.

are you seriously trying to say that Mac are like porsche and PC are average hondas? it's personal preference thats all...if you ask me a dell is a Porsche and a Mac is a Lecar...small,ugly, and boring

but thats just an opinion and like I said it's personal preference. and whats the quote from austin powers: "It's not the size that matters, it's how you use it"

Whoawhoawhoa. You're telling me that, aesthetically, of course (because actual user experience is rather subjective), this is the Porsche:

And this is the 'Lecar?'

And you're serious?

[vmd9]

dude is that dell from the 90's? haha

of course you picked the ugliest one you could find...

that's like me using this pic to represent all macs

post one of these bad boys

I don't care if someone likes macs better, It's all personal opinions and I can respect that. But for me the only time I would ever buy a mac would be to put it next to a fire hydrant and let dogs relieve themselves all over it...

[chuckymack]

That's ridiculous. I'm beginning to wonder how often you've ever had to use a Mac...

Having said that, I have to use a PC at work and have Macs at home and school. I find the Macs crash less frequently than PCs (although the PCs at work are most likely dated and rife with unused data) and really excel when it comes to simple, fast user interaction. Command+N and single clicking in column view is much easier than double-clicking through a myriad of folders, files and directories. I'm not bashing PCs (I have several colleagues both at school and work who swear by them), I'm just merely stating my experiences and opinions.

[andrewharrington]

dude is that dell from the 90's? haha

of course you picked the ugliest one you could find...

that's like me using this pic to represent all macs

post one of these bad boys

I don't care if someone likes macs better, It's all personal opinions and I can respect that. But for me the only time I would ever buy a mac would be to put it next to a fire hydrant and let dogs relieve themselves all over it...

My bad. I thought those newfangled Dells were even uglier. What is that? The Dell XPS Volcano edition? Sorry, I'd rather my laptop not look a light-up can of energy drink. Can't defend the original iMac, though. It was cool when it came out. Not so much now. Macs are so sweet that my entire city school district had them when I was growing up in the 90s. Then they switched to Dells and had all sorts of problems. They were half the price, but they've ended up spending twice as much in the long run because they've had to repair and replace so many of them.

The moment you first turn on a PC is like magic, It's like turning on a faucet that starts pumping molasses into the machine at a constant rate until it becomes so slow and frustrating that it's no longer usable in 3 years, give or take. Windows 7 is pretty slick-looking though.

[DanDismounts]

Ok I'm just a graphic design student here, but I own both a 15" MacBook Pro and a 15" Gateway Tablet Laptop. I originally got my Gateway as a present from my parents for College about a year and a half ago new. It was great and did everything that I needed it to do but it would occasionally freeze for long periods of time without me doing anything too strenuous on it. Then I got here to college and my teachers told me the exact same thing that Davidson said except he compared them as "Ferrari to a Ford" so I got the MBP and I LOVE it. I was a PC and now I'm a Mac, why? Here's why...With the MBP (the newest version) The first thing that you'll realize is how easy it is to convert from PC to Mac, in fact with bootcamp (a standard Mac program) I can still run all the programs that I was able to on the old PC. I can choose whether I want to run Windows 7 or OSX everytime I start my laptop. The interface of OSX is a little more user friendly than Windows, IMO they're both getting to be almost the same. I haven't had any crashes and freezes never happen no matter how many programs I have open. The Mac is just smoother and easier to navigate having been used to the PC my whole life. I'm sure there's not much I can say program-wise that you all haven't covered, but the biggest change for me wasn't the interface it was something physical and something that made my life much simpler...

The biggest difference for me is the TOUCHPAD! The MacBook Pro, and even just the MacBooks now, have thee single greatest laptop tracking pad I've ever used. It does so much, from scrolling, switching between windows, zooming in & out, navigating the internet, the list goes on and on...it's spoiled me sooo badly. I can't use a PC laptop without getting pissed of at the actual size of the pad or how I can't switch between programs as easily...yes I sound very lazy right now but it's true that the new TrackPad has made my life so much easier.

Check Out Thee TrackPad

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/design.html#trackpad

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/features.html <---Theres a Video that explains the features and shows a video of the TrackPad in action on this page

Here's a way to use the TrackPad as a tablet

All in All as a owner of both systems I'm sure you can create things on a PC that you could create with a Mac but, if you're not a patient person, or you'd just like to be able to have a better experience with it, I'd definitely lean in the Mac direction

[oddball]

And another person who went from a Windows-based pc (macs are personal computers too!) to a Mac. I have never heard of a Mac user going to a pc, unless they are a newbie and had no brain cells left. When buying a computer, buy one that fits you best for what you will do and do your research.

[vmd9]

hmm no one ever has problems with Macs

[DanDismounts]

hmm no one ever has problems with Macs

In my experience...I see PC's hourglass about 30x more often than I see that pinwheel...that's the difference

[Mings]

If I didn't know better, with the way vmd is getting pissed off....he must be Bill Gates' seed.

Or swallowing it.

Spinning wheel is the same as the hourglass, and I get the hourglass a lot more when I'm working on the windows side of my MacBook Pro (I have it for AutoCAD, Revit and Rhino). Overall, it is just a preference thing.

[Spammy]

Guys, I have never owned a mac (but I really want to.) But, for my Dell Inspirion 1545 Laptop, 400 dollars, best investment I have ever made. I can do really anything on it. No lag, or hourglass or whatever. Ive had 13 apps, and 22 tabs open, and there was no system lag. Although I have heard the Macs, have the same capabilities. I respect everyone's opinion but don't you guys think fighting is a little to much? They are both amazing operating systems, Aesthetically, Mac has its perks. Compatibility, PC's have its perks. Just buy what ever laptop, desktop, or all in one that you like best. I will tell mac users this: Every time I have used a MacBookPro, Imac etc. It has given me that crazy spin wheel.

[rentz]

I respect everyone's opinion but don't you guys think fighting is a little to much?

NO

I MUST DEFEND STEVE JOBS' HONOR

[Spammy]

I laughed.

[Davidson]

run home sam, the big kids are fighting.