Mac or PC?

Meh.

The machine on my desk was built in 2007. It's 2013.

It's had the drive subsystem upgraded, two video card upgrades and one processor-and-RAM upgrade (chip replacement to go from quad-core to hex.) It has also outlasted two sets of monitors and currently drives a 4-way array of monitors that look like something out of the Starship Enterprise.

It had Windows XP on it and was upgraded to Windows 7, which it currently runs.

There is no Mac path that would have permitted this, and there is utterly no reason for me to replace it. With the Hexcore CPU in it (i7) I can't come up with a reason why I'd materially change it in the foreseeable future, and those upgrades were comparatively cheap too -- none was more than $250 other than the CPU (which was a bit nasty in price, but heh, it is what it is; I re-used the QuadCore in a machine I built for my kid.)

Calicajun wrote in post #15575212
I'm not really sure, going by what I was read (after the wife found it:lol there is only one mother board on the market that can do run both OS.

There are several, but Gigabyte boards are more OS X-friendly.

I know there is a Mac software that let you run Windows software on a Mac. Just wondering if it really make a difference in how well each OS would then work?

Yes, there is a difference, principally those apps that use the gpu for image processing, which include OS X-specific Aperture and Pixelmator. Photoshop nor Lightroom use the gpu for much, which is why they are substantially slower for large images.

tickerguy wrote in post #15575659
It's had the drive subsystem upgraded, two video card upgrades and one processor-and-RAM upgrade (chip replacement to go from quad-core to hex.)

If you moved to an i-series cpu then you must have upgraded the logic board, no?

Tony, thanks for the reply.

Calicajun wrote in post #15575108
Has anyone built a computer that run both Mac and PC OS? Saw a mother board the other day that states it will run both full version of each OS, not just a software that allows you to run Windows on a Mac. Sounded like a good idea on paper. Any thoughts on building this type of computer system?

A Mac, using Bootcamp, can boot to a windows partition.

You can run windows applications on a Mac using VM Software like Parallels or VMware.

Some windows apps can run on a Mac, without a windows partition or vm ware, using WINE. I currently run RootsMagic 6 Essential this way. HERE is a list of other apps .

DunnoWhen wrote in post #15587408
A Mac, using Bootcamp, can boot to a windows partition.

You can run windows applications on a Mac using VM Software like Parallels or VMware.

Some windows apps can run on a Mac, without a windows partition or vm ware, using WINE. I currently run RootsMagic 6 Essential this way. HERE is a list of other apps .

Thanks for the links, it will give my research assistant (the wife) something to read up on tonight.

Tony-S wrote in post #15587329
Yes, there is a difference, principally those apps that use the gpu for image processing, which include OS X-specific Aperture and Pixelmator. Photoshop nor Lightroom use the gpu for much, which is why they are substantially slower for large images.

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure that one of the Photoshop options is to enable the the GPU. Hmm.. I have to go and recheck.

Yes, I'm sure. Very few of their functions use the gpu and those are things most people won't use much.

Jon_Doh wrote in post #15574827
If you want to replace your computer every 12 to 18 months then get a PC. If you want to invest one that will last for years and still have the processing power to run your software years down the road then buy a Mac. Been in both camps and am speaking from experience.

Why would anyone be doing that. I have had PCs forever and if you buy with the ability to easily upgrade your machine in mind it should last a long time. I always buy an extended a 3 or 4 year warranty and my machines last well beyond that. The only reason I have stopped using them is because eventually the hardware becomes outdated.

gjl711 wrote in post #15587777
Are you sure? I'm pretty sure that one of the Photoshop options is to enable the the GPU. Hmm.. I have to go and recheck.

You are correct.

butterfly2937 wrote in post #15590611
You are correct.

I don't know about you, but the great majority of these "gpu enabled" features in Photoshop are pretty useless to me.

http://helpx.adobe.com …hotoshop-cs6-gpu-faq.html

GPU-enhanced features added in Photoshop CS6

Adaptive Wide Angle Filter (compatible video card required)
(These all appear to be implemented from Adobe Labs' Pixel Bender app.)

• Liquify (accelerated by compatible video card with 512 MB of VRAM)
  
• Oil Paint (compatible video card required)
  
• Warp and Puppet Warp (accelerated by compatible video card)
  
• Field Blur, Iris Blur, and Tilt/Shift (accelerated by compatible video
  
• card supporting OpenCL)
  
• Lighting Effects Gallery (compatible video card required with 512 MB
  
• of VRAM)
  

• Draggable Shadows
  
• Ground plane reflections
  
• Roughness
  
• On-canvas user interface controls
  
• Ground plane
  
• Light widgets on edge of canvas
  
• IBL (image-based light) controller
  

• Scrubby Zoom. See Zoom continuously in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Heads Up Display (HUD) color picker. See Choose a color while painting in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Color sampling ring. See Choose colors with the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Brush dynamic resize and hardness control. See Resize or change hardness of cursors by dragging in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Bristle Brush tip previews. See Bristle tip shape options in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Rule of thirds crop grid overlay. See Crop images in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Zoom enhancements. Smooth display at all zoom levels and temporary zoom. See Zoom continuously and Temporarily zoom an image.
  
• Animated transitions for one-stop zoom. Press Ctrl+Plus Sign (Windows) or Command+Plus Sign to zoom, and the image animates slightly between zoom levels. The zoom can be subtle.
  
• Flick-panning. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences (Mac OS). In the General panel, select Enable Flick Panning. Then, select the Hand tool and click-flick the image, like a flick gesture on an iPhone. The image glides smoothly to the new position.
  
• Rotate the canvas. See Use the Rotate View tool in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• View nonsquare pixel images. See Adjust pixel aspect ratio in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Pixel grid. A pixel grid appears when zooming in more than 500% on an image. See Hide the pixel grid in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Adobe Color Engine (ACE). Color conversions are faster because the GPU handles the processing instead of the CPU.
  
• Draw Brush tip cursors. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences (Mac OS). In the Cursors panel, choose a Brush Preview color. Then, when you interactively adjust the size or hardness of the Brush tool, the preview color displays the change in real time.
  

• Preview panel
  
• Full-screen preview
  
• Review mode
  

Those look like the kinds of actions that a GPU is needed for. You don't need a GPU for most of PS features like contrast/brightness adjustment, layer management, photo filters, BW conversions, most of the things photographers use.

Jon_Doh wrote in post #15574827
If you want to replace your computer every 12 to 18 months then get a PC. If you want to invest one that will last for years and still have the processing power to run your software years down the road then buy a Mac. Been in both camps and am speaking from experience.

I'm sorry but I find this opinion completely backwards. Looking at the current line that apple offers in setups running OSX you will only find one series where most or all of the components are user upgradable. This line is their Mac pro line which starts at $2499 equipped with a quad core I7. User upgradable components are the chief concern when determining longevity of any given system. I guess the point I am trying to make is that someone can build or even purchase a Windows box with similar specifications to the Mac pro units for less than half of the amount of money and end up with the same longevity.

Aperture uses the gpu for real-time rendering of selective brushes (dodge, burn, sharpen, blur, etc.) of my 5Dii raw (21 mp), Sigma DP1 Merrill (30 mp) and 4x5" scans (>100 mp) files. Lightroom and Photoshop don't do that so there's always a bit of lag with larger edits (unless they've fixed it in the last few months). It makes it difficult and slow for those edits. Pixelmator pretty much smokes Photoshop when it comes to speed, too. But it's problem is its inability to save 16-bit files.

Tony-S wrote in post #15590703
I don't know about you, but the great majority of these "gpu enabled" features in Photoshop are pretty useless to me.

http://helpx.adobe.com …hotoshop-cs6-gpu-faq.html

GPU-enhanced features added in Photoshop CS6

Adaptive Wide Angle Filter (compatible video card required)
(These all appear to be implemented from Adobe Labs' Pixel Bender app.)

• Liquify (accelerated by compatible video card with 512 MB of VRAM)
  
• Oil Paint (compatible video card required)
  
• Warp and Puppet Warp (accelerated by compatible video card)
  
• Field Blur, Iris Blur, and Tilt/Shift (accelerated by compatible video
  
• card supporting OpenCL)
  
• Lighting Effects Gallery (compatible video card required with 512 MB
  
• of VRAM)
  

New 3D enhancements (3D features in Photoshop require a compatible video card with 512 MB of VRAM):

• Draggable Shadows
  
• Ground plane reflections
  
• Roughness
  
• On-canvas user interface controls
  
• Ground plane
  
• Light widgets on edge of canvas
  
• IBL (image-based light) controller
  

GPU features added in previous versions Photoshop

• Scrubby Zoom. See Zoom continuously in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Heads Up Display (HUD) color picker. See Choose a color while painting in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Color sampling ring. See Choose colors with the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Brush dynamic resize and hardness control. See Resize or change hardness of cursors by dragging in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Bristle Brush tip previews. See Bristle tip shape options in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Rule of thirds crop grid overlay. See Crop images in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Zoom enhancements. Smooth display at all zoom levels and temporary zoom. See Zoom continuously and Temporarily zoom an image.
  
• Animated transitions for one-stop zoom. Press Ctrl+Plus Sign (Windows) or Command+Plus Sign to zoom, and the image animates slightly between zoom levels. The zoom can be subtle.
  
• Flick-panning. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences (Mac OS). In the General panel, select Enable Flick Panning. Then, select the Hand tool and click-flick the image, like a flick gesture on an iPhone. The image glides smoothly to the new position.
  
• Rotate the canvas. See Use the Rotate View tool in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• View nonsquare pixel images. See Adjust pixel aspect ratio in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Pixel grid. A pixel grid appears when zooming in more than 500% on an image. See Hide the pixel grid in Photoshop CS5 Help.
  
• Adobe Color Engine (ACE). Color conversions are faster because the GPU handles the processing instead of the CPU.
  
• Draw Brush tip cursors. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences (Mac OS). In the Cursors panel, choose a Brush Preview color. Then, when you interactively adjust the size or hardness of the Brush tool, the preview color displays the change in real time.
  

Adobe Bridge GPU features

• Preview panel
  
• Full-screen preview
  
• Review mode
  

I do some 3D work and integrate it into lots of my work so I do use the 3D functionality in Photoshop. Actually it has come along way since its original introduction in PS. I also run a few 3D programs too plus I do some video work.

gjl711 wrote in post #15590732
Those look like the kinds of actions that a GPU is needed for. You don't need a GPU for most of PS features like contrast/brightness adjustment, layer management, photo filters, BW conversions, most of the things photographers use.

That is correct. But many of the GPU enabled features open up lots of creative possibilities.