Why should I bother? Lets say I had an experience the last couple of weeks and need to share it:
Recently my 4 year old PC left me with a dead main board, and I thought its time for a new one,
The big question arises always then: Mac or PC, but after working on finishing some commissions on a 2009 Macbook Pro from my spouse with the GeForce 9500M card and an external Monitor, I got to know what a royal pain in the *** is;-)
(I end up building a custom i7 920, compared to my 2 Ghz macbook the picture above describes the differences very well:) I link this image here in the thinking of fair use and I don´t know from whom it originally is, let me know and I´ll credit!
Statement:
My observations and OS-comparisons grew over the years and its time for me to share this, but please respect that this is only my view, I write about the OSX here as WORKING -platform for mainly graphical design and digital imaging.
In no case I´ll offend someone, if you will, you can call this my public wishlist to Steve Jobs in the hope that the products and especially the OS will get better someday;-)
If you are a proud Mac user you should avoid reading this, it could cause anger and frustration, I will not be responsible for any thrown away Mac´s
Reason 1:
The task bar contains all menu options
OK, for Mac natives on a 13" display and use of single monitor work, its saving space,but dual -monitor -work is a pain, because of the next reason:
Reason 2:
The task bar cannot be moved to another monitor
If you are used to WINDOWS, its naturally that you want to drag and drop the taskbar wherever you want it to save space, especially if you have Photoshop opened on the big-screen and have to search menu-options on the other smaller screen... fail! @ceoSteve_JobsReason 3:
No database import, no files
I don´t know if this is because of the underlying MACH Architecture of OSX, this essential function is missing and apple sells this missing function with an extra program that is needed in order to get your images listed, tagged and whatsoever through libraries. In fact; whatever you want to use, itunes, iphoto, iweb, it all depends on libraries -want to connect a huge external device and search a file instantly? No way, it needs to be imported to your favorite software to be found in iweb for example or you have the big fun in Finder...Reason 4:
The Finder sucks
No customization options like tabs or viewing pane plugins..., no essential database and indicating options, nothing useful in this tool. If you want open a file from within Photoshop for example, browsing to your folder of choice (if its not a recently used one) is a royal pain.Someone like me who knows what the explorer is capable of appreciates the speed the new i7 processors browse and search with ease through folders with 1000 of images without a lag and database need (!) regardless if on the local folder or external storage.
Reason 5:
iWeb produces too much useless code
I know, every WYSIWYG-editor produces a waste of code, but from a list of ten I bet Iweb is near place one, I use it because its ease of use and because its built in and integrates nice with the OS, but buying dreamweaver instead the Macbook would have been the less expensive choice. Also: iweb ftp functions still not properly working in ilife 09I know there are possibly some useful updates, but the one i waited for in ilife 09 was the alternative to directly publish to an ftp, especially because Apple promised this feature would work, now, a year later it still doesn´t work= fail!
Reason 6:
Mac is more stable than a Windows -PC
Every Windows user had experienced it, a crash, a bluescreen, a blackscreen, and every Windows user thinks, the Mac users do have it better, no crashes, perfect designed hardware that fits all qualification for a long, stable Mac-life...wrong!
I experienced both, and since Windows XP and Windows 7 the OS on a PC hardware are extremely stable today, sure malware is an issue, but google this for MAC and you be sure to find updates that Mac´s aren´t that safe as they were in the nineties with only a handful of viruses, malware can also affect Mac-users, welcome to reality;-)
I also have a Macbook and sometimes use the Macbook Pro from my spouse and its safe to say, the Mac hangs as often as a PC, if not even more, freeing up resources would might help to avoid this, but Apple rather choose to complain about FLASH than to reduce resource waste on their machines, that would allow problem-free watching of youtube videos for example.
Reason 7:
Too much distraction from colorful icons and a dock that can´t be disabled
Its true, until OSX 10 the OS was capable of working without being distracted, the main surface was grey beneath a greyer grey, when Apple discovered the colors it has to become clear to every creative that their intention and market has changed.
When everyone moaned that Windows was too full of blingbling in the early 2000, now its OSX 10.5/6
As a special point here I wanted to show the problem of disabling the dock, there is no function to disable this feature, why do I need a zooming Icon that pops up if I want to run a program or open a folder? - Big fail!
Reason 8:
Fully Photoshop power only under 64bit OSX Snow-Leopard?
Yes its true, even if CS 4 is not based under Rosetta anymore, its a shame all CS- versions before were all setup on a virtualization kernel, that allowed the user to wait 40 % longer for any process to run. Now the 64bit capability of OSX 10.6 and the new Photoshop CS5 allows full range support of the 64bit that Apple offers, the downside, it starts to be fun above 4 GB RAM, so if you are on a Macbook, Macbook Pro, or iMac, you´ll probably not enjoy the benefits of 64bit Operating systems, invest some 3-4000 bucks on a MacPro and you can have some fun with at least 8-12 GB RAM;-)Reason 9:
The Mac always runs on half the power it has in order to run silent
This is also true and can be easily tested on your device in hot summerdays with above 30° in your room. The "all-in-one" built MAC´s are designed to work silently, to work silently the processor should not get hot, to not get hot it needs to NOT operate with high usage, the solution to this is design the machines with full hardware and let the user feel that its better to not use the full power if they won´t hear the sound of a raging fan! This is also a good shopping advice: if you want to work in photoshop for example, buy a macbook pro, with 3,3 quadcore, 8GB RAM and an SSD-drive and at least a GeForce GTX260+ to have fun and silence...Ah wait that doesn´t exist? OH, the irony...
Reason 10:
Clicking on the desktop hides your current program
I know there is a workaround for this and gladly in Photoshop there is an option for this in "View", but when you are used to open files from the desktop and drag them into an opened Photoshop window on another screen, its nice if that program doesn´t hide at the moment you click on the desktop, isnt´it?There is for sure plenty of more reasons, but for now and "just" a blog-post should help to make me feel better when I share this experience, and eventually make others aware that not everything is gold that shines.
I surely will turn some "Stockholm Syndrome Apple Users" away who will not accept these facts, but having this experience for nearly 2 and a half year now, its safe to say I will never switch completely to a Mac.
If you are in the process of buying a Mac or want some insights, here is also a nice site that makes you aware of the usual apple defects.
There are also other Mac´s that don´t deserve to switch on if you have to "get work done"
(since I mostly complain about the OS in the list:)
The iMac lacks modular hardware update operability, for everything hardware related you need to call the techy, and work is not getting done in this time, except you have another machine = expensive.
The Mac Pro is still too expensive, the Xeon Processors are competing with the i7 in one high-end -league on Passmarks benchmark page, so with all the warranty extensions you want to save your expensive baby, in 3 years its old and needs to be updated (or apple wants you to replace it with a shiny new one) I have calculated that even with 3 years warranty and on location parts exchange service I can buy 3 High-end up to date PC´s to fill a working range of 9 years, way to go Apple...
The iPad is still missing the essentials: USB- and pressure sensitive stylus support.
I worked on a Mac for more than three years. After this, it started to fail and when it was utterly unuseful I changed to a PC. Now I'm very pleased with the change, I now exactly what you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting read. I have never tried a Mac but had considered it in the past. I first went with PC when I saw how much more machine I could get for the same money. After reading this I feel I did the right thing.
ReplyDeleteInteresting read, alot of it is true, no doubt, but I also noticed several arguments of the "but if you are used to" kind. If you are used to painter Then PhotoShop sucks, if you are used to tea Then coffee tastes bitter, if you are used to driving Then biking is though etc etc. Not saying you dont have a few points but everything you are "used" to you can get past.
ReplyDeletewell i say Mac is like a Hotel. Looks good, appealing, expensive.
ReplyDeletePc is like Home. a place where u always wanna come back.
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ReplyDelete@GeoSolus & @maledictus thanks for the positive responses!
ReplyDelete@colrouphobia that is true, habbits can be grown , changed and get past, but if you will have a better environment, because you pay more for having a so called sophisticated product, its a bitter pill to swallow that the things that are intuitive and logical to use are not possible, or not the easy way.
@Rohith great comparison, love this;-)
@meken, thanks - if the taskbar can be moved to another Monitor this advice would be helpful for others to know, so if you know the magic trick, I´d love to share it and replace the point with another reason(there are at least 10 others;-)
The point with the dock was not just about disabling it for the sake of disabling, but to save resources as its a bunch of useless eyecandy that can be used for important things in the RAM, quicksilver is a much better intuitive application to run programs and is the only thing I´d love to see for windows...
If you can read (the cynic irony) in my post I stated that if you don´t want to hear the raging fan all the time, you should not use the machine at high power all the time, the macbooks and especially the macbook pro´s are getting very hot and are loud as shit hitting the fan and programms slow down to windows 3.1 speed.
I wonder what adjustments you have that clicking on the mac desktop don´t hide your photoshop screen, but when not set to fullframe view, the Photoshop frame simply disappears, thats just annoying...
It may be that with other programs this problem don´t seem to occur, but Adobe programs are having this issue.
You should state things if you really know the correct answers and don´t blame me for the bad experience I had.
With the same amount of energy you put in this comment, you could have helped at least 9 out of 10 people if you´d know what you were talking about(and share your knowledge here)
My main thing that I have against Mac (I'm using one right now) Is the lack of flexibility you can do with their machines. I wouldn't have any problem if I could open it up and give it more RAM.
ReplyDeleteI'm an artist (Only 17, but not the point) that lacks the funds to pay for very VERY expensive programs (Adobe Flash) Etc, Etc.
And one of the most recent problems I've had with a Mac is that I updated my iTunes to 11 (somewhere around there) And it won't let me use this without spending a large amount of money to Upgrade. YET! My friend has had a PC for over 6 years with XP on it and he has NO problems.
Basically. Go for PC. Better Results for less money.