Mac or PC for school?

[Zora8912]

WOW thanks for all the replies.

I will be honest for about 6 months I've been looking at pawn shops for Macbook pro's, I just didn't want to be the odd person out even interning at design firms that only uses certain coding programs for Mac's.

I like double booting Windows 7/Mac

Yes,I've been a Windows user since 95 and stooped at Windows 7 and remember Pentium I, II computers & 56k modems making sure you didn't have messages or the phone off the hook,just wish I jumped into everything then

Your guy's/Girls that replied have any completed the courses I want, if those answers are real life results I will just stick with windows and buy a newer one. I Wasn't sure if the teacher shows one thing, and then says everyone using windows it's this method.

thanks for help everyone.

Not really sure if you decided on what your going to get but here is my opinion/advice. Mac is generally know to be very useful for multimedia things like editing pictures/videos or creating music. The reason people like them so much is because they are pretty fast considering their low specs and quite frankly they are reliable and durable because of there aluminum body.

I personally prefer PC because there are a lot more stuff you can do on them and I feel like writing code is better on them than a Mac. In my opinion they are like having a universal tool where you can edit pictures/videos, create music, play video games, and everyone or atleast the majority of people still use Microsoft office for word documents, excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint for presentations which of you want to do that or use them on a Mac then your going to have to dual boot which isn't that big of a deal.

Sorry for rambling on but pretty much what I'm saying is if your just going to stick with photo editing and coding go for a Mac because they are reliable and very durable. But if your going to use it for other stuff like gaming, do office/school work, or you decide to change your major go for a PC because they are more universal. Hopefully I was some what useful lol

[Zora8912]

Better battery life? Build quality? Compared to what? All Windows laptops? Someone is an ignorant fanboy. 

 

 

LOL. no. I use a dell venue for school. I have ALWAYS used PCs. show me a laptop that is equal to a mac in specs, size, battery life, and price, and youll be damn lucky if it comes anywhere near a mac in build quality. show me one. go for it mate.

 

late 2012 macbooks had a overheating problem and the mobo was getting damaged. 300$ to get it fixed. apple just recently issued a recall, and refunded people who paid to get it fixed. what other company would do that for a 3 year old tech product? hell. with android if your phone is 3 years old, there's no hope in hell you will get security updates.

 

prove me wrong. give him a good alternative. until then keep the name calling and insults to yourself mate. but no, instead of giving any examples you will probably state that im just to ignorant to consider others choices. GG with that argument. 

 

Lol everyone really just needs to take a chill pill whenever people start talking about Mac vs PC its like starting world war III. In reality when you compare both of them its almost like comparing a coconut to an mango. They are both designed and used for different things. Mac was designed mainly for people who travel a lot for business/work related things or to be used kinda like a portable studio. Thats why they have an aluminum body  and great battery life so people can use them at places like cafes or airplanes where you don't have easy access to power or room to carry/place it.

 

While PC are directed for people who want top performance and be able to change or customize the PC to what ever they want. Yeah they dont have aluminum bodies like makes but they have better hardware which makes them more power hungry. I personally dont mind have to plug my computer in to charge or turning off some process/changing it to battery saving mode. Plus im someone who likes to take care of his stuff so I don throw my laptop/backpack around, or throw it out an airplane to prove how durable it is.

 

Each one is made for different people who need different needs both can be the best machine but it just depends on what you use it for. Plus being a fanboy isnt a bad thing if you are just be proud of what you like and stand by it. Also no one is really ignorant of anything it just depends on the research we do and the people who influence us which sways or opinion.

 

Sorry for rambling but its just kinda a pet peeve of mine when someone asks for help and people give suggestions and try to help wile others just try to start arguments or whatever.

[Kyuubixchidori]

Lol everyone really just needs to take a chill pill whenever people start talking about Mac vs PC its like starting world war III. In reality when you compare both of them its almost like comparing a coconut to an mango. They are both designed and used for different things. Mac was designed mainly for people who travel a lot for business/work related things or to be used kinda like a portable studio. Thats why they have an aluminum body and great battery life so people can use them at places like cafes or airplanes where you don't have easy access to power or room to carry/place it.

While PC are directed for people who want top performance and be able to change or customize the PC to what ever they want. Yeah they dont have aluminum bodies like makes but they have better hardware which makes them more power hungry. I personally dont mind have to plug my computer in to charge or turning off some process/changing it to battery saving mode. Plus im someone who likes to take care of his stuff so I don throw my laptop/backpack around, or throw it out an airplane to prove how durable it is.

Each one is made for different people who need different needs both can be the best machine but it just depends on what you use it for. Plus being a fanboy isnt a bad thing if you are just be proud of what you like and stand by it. Also no one is really ignorant of anything it just depends on the research we do and the people who influence us which sways or opinion.

Sorry for rambling but its just kinda a pet peeve of mine when someone asks for help and people give suggestions and try to help wile others just try to start arguments or whatever.

Never once said anything rude or to start a argument. Just thought it would be a shame if he 100% avoided Mac because everyone here is pro PC. But 100% understand what your saying, my Pet peeve is the amd vs Intel debate. For school, you want to follow the crowd and use what everyone else is. It just makes learning easier.

[Zora8912]

Never once said anything rude or to start a argument. Just thought it would be a shame if he 100% avoided Mac because everyone here is pro PC. But 100% understand what your saying, my Pet peeve is the amd vs Intel debate. For school, you want to follow the crowd and use what everyone else is. It just makes learning easier.

 

Lol yeah I know sorry if I got a little rude/ mean wasn't my intent ust want the same thing you do help people learn and help them find a way to learn things easier 

[Kyuubixchidori]

Lol yeah I know sorry if I got a little rude/ mean wasn't my intent ust want the same thing you do help people learn and help them find a way to learn things easier

No problem man:D not from you, but the other guy, getting called names with zero info to back it up is rough, and ironic if you get called ignorant.

OP, have you picked a device yet?

[TDP_Equinox]

Hi Folks,

 

I'm very lost on this topic, I know most Design schools teach on Mac's. Would I be lost using Windows with the hot keys using Photoshop or the Coding program? I don't want the teaching explaining something using a Mac but I'm lost using windows.

 

I have access to Mac's but have been a Windows user since 95 but feel I'm limited with design programs as I'm looking to build some cool features & most design company's only use Mac's too.

 

It's so Confusing :wacko:

 

My second Career plan.

 

-two years learning Photoshop with a Degree

-two years learning Web development with a Degree

 

My theory is having something to offer, I want to start and finish that eCommerce site...knowing my code is clean and the images are perfect. I was shocked only folks "learn one or the other".

 

I also have many design features I want to build that haven't happened yet in the boring plain eCommerce landscape

 

Everything is clean and "Crisp" where's the WOW factor now to remember that site.

 

I'm just really looking for help

 

thank you

That really depends on the school. 

Find out if the school you plan on going to uses PC or Mac, and then decide that way. 

If you've been a PC user since 95', using a mac will be a learning curve, but you'll get over it (especially if you have time before school to play with the laptop). 

 

[VulsaviiK]

because they don't know what they are talking about. sure back in the day there where many professional design applications that where mac only. that day has long since past.

 

Actually that's not quite correct. I much prefer Bohemian Sketch 3 to Photoshop for page layouts. Sketch is Mac only. There are still some advantages for PS, but Sketch is gaining a lot of popularity. Might have something to do with the fact it was build ground up for that kind of work, where-as Photoshop has always been general use

 

Lots of people in who work in web development go with Mac. When I start working as a Web Developer next year, 98% chance I'll be working from a Mac. All of the web developers I know, work from a Mac. At the seminars they go to, most of the people there, have a Mac.

 

Point is, PCMasterRace has no place in professional industries, so, regardless of which you settle on, be open minded for a change of platform. Working in web, you'll likely switch between one or the other at some point, since you won't have a choice what workstation you use at whatever job you eventually land

 

EDIT: If you do opt to go with Mac, you can always dual-boot if you need Windows for something else. Also, whoever made that point about graphics cards in Macs, newsflash, it's for work, not gaming. Who cares....

[KG29]

Hi everyone,

 

So I bought a used 2010 Macbook pro 15" 2.4GHZ 4GB 320GB :huh:

 

Have already ordered the 8GB ram kit and will be getting a 1TB SSD drive too.

 

I must thank everyone for the replies, I honestly thought after reading everyone's reviews here & on the Macrumor board (Many members there had already done there degrees) and gave very detailed insight working at design firms. 

 

I had great replies here too

 

Having the option running Windows and learning a new OS was a WIN/WIN, Theft was a big concern buying new. I will be going to school in the UK or State side Georgia/Florida "alone" and having a $3k computer would be awful getting stolen. So buying used was my best option

 

I'm finishing my Law degree in the UK and will decide on what design school's over there might help me, looking at everything its 3 years usually but haven't found web development either.

 

honestly i know it will be Florida or Georgia just need 2 year degrees to learn both subjects.

[TecaFondo]

I'll get a lot of hate for this, but if you want you can get a MacBook Pro and then dual boot to windows but get sure that you get enough memory.

The other option is to get a computer with a high resolution screen like an Alienware 15 or some other windows laptop with one of those screens.

Hope this helps you.

[Philosobyte]

Please get a Mac for Designing. 

But I see that you are MUCH used to PC's. That makes sense, as so is 99% of the forums here. 

 

Umm, In my honest opinion macs are usually better so much so as they use images like .Png's and jpeg's to run a lot smoother and faster for some reason. I have a RAID set up PC with 6 cores, and yet my macbook air that has 2 cores and is WAY underpowered, It would still load everything faster on my mac. I guess you could say photoshop is much more optimized for macs, no matter how powerful the other PC is. Take this info with the smallest grain of salt though, as if I was ever on photoshop, the first thing I would grab is my mac, rather than my PC because of just how smoothly it runs photoshop and illustrator. The only thing I would use my PC for (In terms of production) is video editing, as you actually need power for that. 

 

Keep in mind, photoshop almost requires no compute power at all. It runs flawlessly editing a 28MP image on my dual core macbook air with 4GB of ram. 

Let me guess... you have an HDD in your Windows computer.

[Philosobyte]

LOL. no. I use a dell venue for school. I have ALWAYS used PCs. show me a laptop that is equal to a mac in specs, size, battery life, and price, and youll be damn lucky if it comes anywhere near a mac in build quality. show me one. go for it mate.

 

late 2012 macbooks had a overheating problem and the mobo was getting damaged. 300$ to get it fixed. apple just recently issued a recall, and refunded people who paid to get it fixed. what other company would do that for a 3 year old tech product? hell. with android if your phone is 3 years old, there's no hope in hell you will get security updates.

 

prove me wrong. give him a good alternative. until then keep the name calling and insults to yourself mate. but no, instead of giving any examples you will probably state that im just to ignorant to consider others choices. GG with that argument. 

You only specified "Mac," so I assume you didn't exclude the Macbook Air from the challenge.

 

Base model XPS 13 vs. base model Macbook Air

http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air?product=MJVE2LL/A&step=config#

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd?oc=dncwt5101bw10&l=en

 

The Notebookcheck reviews:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-Early-2015-Notebook-Review.139382.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Air-13-2015-Notebook-Review.144375.0.html

 

Battery life: According to Notebookcheck reviews, the Macbook Air with a 2.2 GHz i7 got 30 min more battery life in the Wifi test than the Dell XPS 13 with a 2.2 GHz i5 processor, although both processors had the same TDP. 

 

 

Build quality: XPS 13's build quality deemed "impeccable" by the aforementioned Notebookcheck review. The Macbook Air's is also obviously impeccable - that's common knowledge. 

 

Price difference: $100 in XPS 13's favor

 

Specs: The same. The XPS 13 has the 2.2 GHz i5-5200U, while the Macbook Air has the 1.6 GHz i5-5250U. Notebookcheck says "Compared to the Core i5-5200U, the i5-5250U features a lower CPU base clock, but integrates a somewhat faster GPU." So they're about even?

 

Portability: In the XPS 13's favor. The XPS 13 weighs 1150g and the Macbook Air weighs 1365g. The XPS 13 also has a much smaller footprint.

 

If you don't care about an extra 30 minutes of battery life (at around the 10 hour mark anyway), the XPS 13 is a better value with size, better price, similar build quality, and similar specs. 

 

edit: The XPS 15 seems to be in a similar position with the Macbook Pro 15, except the Macbook Pro 15 base model is about $200 cheaper than the XPS 15 base model. The XPS 15 has the performance advantage, though, with a dGPU. 

[BrandonTheCat]

Let me guess... you have an HDD in your Windows computer.

Why the hell would I have a hard disk.. Actually yes I do. 6TB of it. I also have 2 intel 730 SSD's in RAID 0 in my PC (In signature) 

and yet my mac, that almost has half the theoretical bandwidth of my PC, still loads it faster. 

 

Next time you make a comment like that, make sure you check the PC in my sig literally a couple of pixels away.

 

OP, Hopefully you have decided at this point. Freaking old thread. 

Uhh it doesnt really matter to me, I use both happily so.. Yeah. Just would like to share my first hand experience with you.

[GalacticGlum]

Being a Windows guy. I'd say go for the Windows With Windows you get ALOT more control and not to mention the amount of software available to you with Windows that Mac users just don't have and for your case in designing not only can Windows run Photoshop, etc.. there are plenty of free and open source designing software's at your disposal (Makehuman for example). Plus if you ever give game development/programming a chance then you'll have access to the many suites of IDE's available to you as a Windows users the most notable one being Visual Studio. I'd say go for a Windows

[Kyuubixchidori]

You only specified "Mac," so I assume you didn't exclude the Macbook Air from the challenge.

Base model XPS 13 vs. base model Macbook Air

http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air?product=MJVE2LL/A&step=config#

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd?oc=dncwt5101bw10&l=en

The Notebookcheck reviews:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-Early-2015-Notebook-Review.139382.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Air-13-2015-Notebook-Review.144375.0.html

Battery life: According to Notebookcheck reviews, the Macbook Air with a 2.2 GHz i7 got 30 min more battery life in the Wifi test than the Dell XPS 13 with a 2.2 GHz i5 processor, although both processors had the same TDP.

Build quality: XPS 13's build quality deemed "impeccable" by the aforementioned Notebookcheck review. The Macbook Air's is also obviously impeccable - that's common knowledge.

Price difference: $100 in XPS 13's favor

Specs: The same. The XPS 13 has the 2.2 GHz i5-5200U, while the Macbook Air has the 1.6 GHz i5-5250U. Notebookcheck says "Compared to the Core i5-5200U, the i5-5250U features a lower CPU base clock, but integrates a somewhat faster GPU." So they're about even?

Portability: In the XPS 13's favor. The XPS 13 weighs 1150g and the Macbook Air weighs 1365g. The XPS 13 also has a much smaller footprint.

If you don't care about an extra 30 minutes of battery life (at around the 10 hour mark anyway), the XPS 13 is a better value with size, better price, similar build quality, and similar specs.

edit: The XPS 15 seems to be in a similar position with the Macbook Pro 15, except the Macbook Pro 15 base model is about $200 cheaper than the XPS 15 base model. The XPS 15 has the performance advantage, though, with a dGPU.

Using that logic I could pick any windows laptop. I disagree with the build quality, @Ghost I believe, he thought the fan was defective it was so loud. Something you have to consider is software. You can run Windows on a mac, but not the other way around. So a Mac gets huge brownie points right there for flexibility.

Ihmo a xps would be a great alternative in the high end sector if you went windows. But like anything, still has its draw backs

[Philosobyte]

Using that logic I could pick any windows laptop. I disagree with the build quality, @Ghost I believe, he thought the fan was defective it was so loud. Something you have to consider is software. You can run Windows on a mac, but not the other way around. So a Mac gets huge brownie points right there for flexibility.

Ihmo a xps would be a great alternative in the high end sector if you went windows. But like anything, still has its draw backs

Not any Windows laptop would work because many of them have build quality/durability flaws, even high-enders like the Thinkpad X1 Carbon: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-Ultrabook.80288.0.html

 

I didn't hear Linus complain about the fan.   I imagine that's either a QC issue, or, most likely, an early software issue because Notebookcheck said "the XPS 13 is more or less inaudible with a maximum load of just under 30 dB... Dell must have updated the fan-control software, as the touchscreen version [(reviewed previously)] reached a much higher 48 dB."

 

Even though we were talking mostly about hardware quality, not software quality, you have a good point on software flexibility. In some cases a Mac is more suitable; I just wanted to express my opinion that Windows notebooks can have similar hardware quality at the same price point. 

 

 

Why the hell would I have a hard disk.. Actually yes I do. 6TB of it. I also have 2 intel 730 SSD's in RAID 0 in my PC (In signature) 

and yet my mac, that almost has half the theoretical bandwidth of my PC, still loads it faster. 

 

Next time you make a comment like that, make sure you check the PC in my sig literally a couple of pixels away.

 

OP, Hopefully you have decided at this point. Freaking old thread. 

Uhh it doesnt really matter to me, I use both happily so.. Yeah. Just would like to share my first hand experience with you.

I'm sorry, I forgot many people have their rigs in their signatures. If Photoshop on your PC was running purely on the SSDs without waiting on any of the hard drives, then you have a valid point. I just have a pet peeve about some people thinking OS X is faster than Windows purely because they've only used Windows machines without SSDs. 

[jas57]

Hi Folks,

 

I'm very lost on this topic, I know most Design schools teach on Mac's. Would I be lost using Windows with the hot keys using Photoshop or the Coding program? I don't want the teaching explaining something using a Mac but I'm lost using windows.

 

I have access to Mac's but have been a Windows user since 95 but feel I'm limited with design programs as I'm looking to build some cool features & most design company's only use Mac's too.

 

It's so Confusing :wacko:

 

My second Career plan.

 

-two years learning Photoshop with a Degree

-two years learning Web development with a Degree

 

My theory is having something to offer, I want to start and finish that eCommerce site...knowing my code is clean and the images are perfect. I was shocked only folks "learn one or the other".

 

I also have many design features I want to build that haven't happened yet in the boring plain eCommerce landscape

 

Everything is clean and "Crisp" where's the WOW factor now to remember that site.

 

I'm just really looking for help

 

thank you

I would go for a mac. especially with adobe working with apple's metal (near bottom of page) API so you get more performance from the hardware than something like OpenGL.

[HUD]

I personally have 3 work computers:

 

MacBook - Only because it's slim & sleek and I like the exterior design. Has Duel bootup (Linux & Mac OSX). Primary use Linux. I use this if I'm going to school/somewhere and need to code.

 

Dell XPS 13 9343 - Throw in bag along with MacBook if I need to diagnose problems when I'm not home -- Has Windows 7 & Linux (1TB SSD).

 

Personally I prefer the MacBook for coding (with linux) just because how small it is.

 

I also have another work desktop with a few different operating systems, but primarily use Linux. 

[vorticalbox]

Please get a Mac for Designing. 

But I see that you are MUCH used to PC's. That makes sense, as so is 99% of the forums here. 

 

Umm, In my honest opinion macs are usually better so much so as they use images like .Png's and jpeg's to run a lot smoother and faster for some reason. I have a RAID set up PC with 6 cores, and yet my macbook air that has 2 cores and is WAY underpowered, It would still load everything faster on my mac. I guess you could say photoshop is much more optimized for macs, no matter how powerful the other PC is. Take this info with the smallest grain of salt though, as if I was ever on photoshop, the first thing I would grab is my mac, rather than my PC because of just how smoothly it runs photoshop and illustrator. The only thing I would use my PC for (In terms of production) is video editing, as you actually need power for that. 

 

Keep in mind, photoshop almost requires no compute power at all. It runs flawlessly editing a 28MP image on my dual core macbook air with 4GB of ram. 

 

i would say you need to look at you PC and see what is wrong with it.

[scottyseng]

Why the hell would I have a hard disk.. Actually yes I do. 6TB of it. I also have 2 intel 730 SSD's in RAID 0 in my PC (In signature) 

and yet my mac, that almost has half the theoretical bandwidth of my PC, still loads it faster. 

 

Next time you make a comment like that, make sure you check the PC in my sig literally a couple of pixels away.

 

OP, Hopefully you have decided at this point. Freaking old thread. 

Uhh it doesnt really matter to me, I use both happily so.. Yeah. Just would like to share my first hand experience with you.

 

Not to be rude, but you might check your RAID 0 array for TRIM support. A bit of software RAID controllers do not support it, so the speed of the array drops considerably over time. Run a drive test such as Crystal Disk Mark periodically to make sure the speed stays where it should be.

[Philosobyte]

Why the hell would I have a hard disk.. Actually yes I do. 6TB of it. I also have 2 intel 730 SSD's in RAID 0 in my PC (In signature) 

and yet my mac, that almost has half the theoretical bandwidth of my PC, still loads it faster. 

 

Next time you make a comment like that, make sure you check the PC in my sig literally a couple of pixels away.

 

OP, Hopefully you have decided at this point. Freaking old thread. 

Uhh it doesnt really matter to me, I use both happily so.. Yeah. Just would like to share my first hand experience with you.

Actually I now have my Windows laptop side by side with my school's Macbook Air, and they load with very similar times. My Core i3-4000m laptop with an Arc 100 SSD loses to the Macbook Air by, like, 1 second. 

 

And processing image files is completely smooth with both laptops.

 

I'd say it's an issue with your setup. 

[BrandonTheCat]

i would say you need to look at you PC and see what is wrong with it.

 

 

Not to be rude, but you might check your RAID 0 array for TRIM support. A bit of software RAID controllers do not support it, so the speed of the array drops considerably over time. Run a drive test such as Crystal Disk Mark periodically to make sure the speed stays where it should be.

 

 

Actually I now have my Windows laptop side by side with my school's Macbook Air, and they load with very similar times. My Core i3-4000m laptop with an Arc 100 SSD loses to the Macbook Air by, like, 1 second. 

 

And processing image files is completely smooth with both laptops.

 

I'd say it's an issue with your setup. 

Ok, Last time I'm on this thread. Don't know why it keeps on picking back up...

Now, Lets get something clear. Rendering on my PC (for example 3D files) is totally kick ass on my PC. 12 threads and a GPU is brilliant. PC's are just great when it comes to that. Any sort of rendering, PC wins. Can't even decline it (Unless you got a 12 core Mac Pro but who the hell really has that) 

But photoshop is different. No, the most computational work you'd ever do in school is load a .png image in photoshop. And I'm serious, Usually schools have really bad PC's so they can't do 4K 3D images with thousands of layers. Really if there is a 3 second difference between a PC or mac, then you are probably fine. Any SSD would work. 

 

Load times, Right.. For you people saying "Issue with the setup" Gah, sure it is. 

I've been accustom to my 1GB theoretical bandwidth, and slowly moving away from my mac because besides photoshop apps, nothing else loads better on the mac. I truly don't understand it. version of photoshop is at the newest *As of writing* CC 2015 

I've been more accustom to mac's just because of how smooth the OS is. everything from scrolling to small animations is just great, though at this point, I would either take Retina Macbook pro, Surface 4 (Whenever that comes out) Or a razer blade... 

 

Macs or PC's, your Probably fine. Truly doesn't matter. Though in my honest opinion, you'd probably be more happy with a Mac.

[coppertj]

You should seriously go with pc. The compatibility is great and everything on mac is basically on pc. I don't recommend going to mac but it's up to you.

 

I for one use both windows and osx (hackintosh) and I rarely go into mac mode because it's not as powerful as a windows pc.

[TheConverter]

 

[TDP_Equinox]

Why is this still here?? OP Made up his mind.

[LePawel]

Mac 100 percent

 

If your education establishment uses Mac, you should use Mac too

Sorry, but this is plain retarded statement...

If an establishment uses Macs they should make sure that whatever they use is cross platform or provide facilities equipped with all the hardware and software needed.