What's so good about macs besides retina display?

Hogloff wrote in post #18343022
Yesterday I was processing some images on my PC. Was using LR and linked to NIK Define to touch up some noise. Define had an issue and locked up. Tried to kill it every way I could think of, but nothing worked...not even killing the process from Task Manager. I had to reboot the computer to remove the hung up application.

That is why I'll not be getting another PC...too much frustration and too much driver incompatibility. Done.

LR used to seize up on my i7 Mac Mini all the time... there are faults to both systems. Windows 10 has drastically improved driver issues, W10 is fantastic at automatically keeping most drivers up to date.

https://m.youtube.com/​watch?v=Y7tvauOJMHo

alan_potter wrote in post #18282426
Slight aside here: in the PC world, I notice a few folk still talking about the Dell 27" 5k monitor. Is that still available in the USA? Dell in the UK doesn't seem to be selling it any more

http://www.itcsales.co​.uk …ml89M0c5aGZj84h​oCyqPw_wcB
https://www.nrgit.biz …hVjy3nVqRA-HM_BoC9xTw_wcB

I used to be all PC. Now I don't even like to work on them. Especially the latest OS's Windows 8 just sealed the deal for me to never own a Windows machine.

I have a late 2013 Mac Pro with 8 cores at work and it obliterates any PC I've used for photo handling. With my JOB I usually get to try most technologies and for now I'm set with MAC's. For our department to test, we purchased 10 Surface Pro 3's and almost every single one of them has failed in some way or the other. They just SUCK.

AzzKicker wrote in post #18400286
I used to be all PC. Now I don't even like to work on them. Especially the latest OS's Windows 8 just sealed the deal for me to never own a Windows machine.

I have a late 2013 Mac Pro with 8 cores at work and it obliterates any PC I've used for photo handling. With my JOB I usually get to try most technologies and for now I'm set with MAC's. For our department to test, we purchased 10 Surface Pro 3's and almost every single one of them has failed in some way or the other. They just SUCK.

Hyperbole never helps your argument.

Windows 10 is a massive improvement over 8. Also, there is absolutely zero chance that your 2013 Mac Pro is "obliterating" any equivalent spec PC, especially a modern one.

Now, if you prefer Mac OS for your workstation that's totally fine, it may very well be faster for your work flow. That does not mean that it's the best or certainty only solution for anyone.

Here is my experience.

I've owned probably 4-5 PC laptops over the last 10-15 years. Bottom line is, they slow down over time regardless. I've factory reset them all and they all fail to run as fast as my MacBook Pro that I purchased a few years back. The reason you "overpay" for Macs is because their constant updates allow these computers to keep running like new year after year. It's almost impossible to get viruses and bugs on a properly maintained Mac. Plus, for photography, it handles photos like a champion. When was the last time a Mac had a program show the notorious PC "Not Responding" garbage? Never... My Mac seriously NEVER glitches out and freezes up windows. The other day I went to install Chrome on my wifes PC and as soon as Chrome would open, it would show "Not Responding." After an hour of trying to figure it out, it came down to some driver that needed to be installed for Chrome to work properly. Yup, just another issue that I would've never had on my Mac. I gave PCs a try for years. I owned many PCs. After owning one Mac, I'll never mess with PCs again. The eventual upgrade is to get a beefed up iMac when I save the coin.

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #18400334
Hyperbole never helps your argument.

Windows 10 is a massive improvement over 8. Also, there is absolutely zero chance that your 2013 Mac Pro is "obliterating" any equivalent spec PC, especially a modern one.

Now, if you prefer Mac OS for your workstation that's totally fine, it may very well be faster for your work flow. That does not mean that it's the best or certainty only solution for anyone.

Even OS's aside. Apple hardware at least in my experience has been better. I used to assemble my PC's and hardware wise they were great on paper, its just driver and OS support was always a problem

AzzKicker wrote in post #18400435
Even OS's aside. Apple hardware at least in my experience has been better. I used to assemble my PC's and hardware wise they were great on paper, its just driver and OS support was always a problem

I've always found Apple hardware to be limited for a 3D workstation. Look at what they did with the Mac Pro: get rid of the tower factor and only have options for a single processor and now 4 year old graphics cards. Getting OpenGL certified hardware (which PCs offer more options), have given me stable performance with Autodesk software.

That's part of the problem, because as a guy who's not super techy when it comes to computers, whatever you just said confused the hell out of me. So in order to get stable use with a PC, you have to purchase/install certified hardware and software? That's something 99% of consumers won't be doing...

Hi. I've just read the second half of this thread, it's amazing how excited some people get on the subject. Some like macs, some like PC's! Simples.

Anyhoo, ive used a PC all my life at work, and for a while a PC at home.

When our second child arrived I needed to move the computer out of the spare room, into my lounge. So now I do all my photo editing in the lounge which makes it a lot more sociable!

After much research I got a 5k 27 inch. 8ram, 1TB fusion drive I think, fairly basic graphic card. I love it. For a while LR was shockingly slow, and I thought I'd made a mistake. More recently LR (cc) released an update which means you can use smart previews as a standard part of the workflow. Now it runs great. HDR, panos, stitch in good time etc.

Best thing for me is the way it looks. Not just the monitor though, the keyboard the mouse as well. It also feels less work like as I use a PC all day at work. Also very few cables unlike more traditional pc's. After editing slideshows on the 5k 27 inch screen are awesome.

I probably don't use the tip of the iceberg in terms of mac features but I still love it.

Sometimes comparing specs, and costs isn't that relevant. Sometimes people just want stuff.

JM Photos wrote in post #18401185
That's part of the problem, because as a guy who's not super techy when it comes to computers, whatever you just said confused the hell out of me. So in order to get stable use with a PC, you have to purchase/install certified hardware and software? That's something 99% of consumers won't be doing...

My post was using an example of a specific application: not a generalization of a PC vs Mac hardware. I haven't run into issues with my PCs getting slow over time (some of it might be not allowing bloatware and having malware software installed). For 3D animation, I've found getting certified hardware (that meets all requirements for OpenGL) has more stability and doesn't have display issues with Maya. And there are more professional graphics cards made for the PC architecture.

The best part of Apple is the OS. If a typical user buys an Apple computer, you don't have to buy anything else, everything comes built-in, and everything works amazingly well together. The only software I have bought in several years is Adobe CC. After many years of building computers, dating back to the 386 series, I switched to Apple when Windows 8 came out, and have never considered going back. Go see how much it cost to upgrade to the latest Windows version. MacOS upgrades are free. I have never paid for an OS since buying my first iMac.

People will tell you PCs are cheaper, Windows has improved...yada, yada, yada. The bottom line is Apple computers are better built, work better, last longer, and look so much better.

ShotByTom wrote in post #18401476
The best part of Apple is the OS. If a typical user buys an Apple computer, you don't have to buy anything else, everything comes built-in, and everything works amazingly well together. The only software I have bought in several years is Adobe CC. After many years of building computers, dating back to the 386 series, I switched to Apple when Windows 8 came out, and have never considered going back. Go see how much it cost to upgrade to the latest Windows version. MacOS upgrades are free. I have never paid for an OS since buying my first iMac.

People will tell you PCs are cheaper, Windows has improved...yada, yada, yada. The bottom line is Apple computers are better built, work better, last longer, and look so much better.

Windows 10 is $30 regularly online... seems perfectly reasonable to me.

PC's are cheaper, Windows has improved. Some Apple computers are better built (some PC's are far nicer than anything Apple makes), Apple's do not "work" better or "last longer" and looks are always subjective. I love my S340 case.

But this is a pointless conversation. Use what works for you and instead of trying to convince the world to buy what you like, how about you give them your opinion (without hyperbole) and let them decide for themselves.

I only tried PC because I wanted to get into PC gaming and once I did, there's no way in hell I'll let Apple gouge me for under-spec hardware. If people think that's a worthy compromise for ease of use, great, go for it, do what makes you happy.

For me its that I like the Mac OS. Also my main computer is a 2011 21.5" iMac i5 quad core. My own personal experience with a windows machine has never lasted this long. I know people that have had their windows machines last that long but for me I havent been able to do it. I also have only regularly used windows up to windows 7 and while I poked around the default install of windows 8 I hated it much. So maybe windows 10 would change my mind as I hear good things with it, but Im pretty invested into apple equipment so a change is not likely.

My response was my opinion, based on many years of experience with computers. I have a 5 year old iMac that runs photoshop, lightroom and all other apps (Mail, iMessage, Spotify, etc..) at the same time, doesn't miss a beat and will still sell for $900. The only additional money I have spent on it was when I went to 16gb of RAM, and Adobe CC. So, I spent $1500 for that iMac in 2012, I'll sell it for $850-$900 when I get a new iMac for my daughter. That puts my cost at around $900 for 5 years use of a computer. The only reason I will be upgrading it is that my daughter wants 5K, and I spoil her.

An equal spec PC is not cheaper than an iMac, a decent 5k monitor alone will be $1200+, Windows 10 Home is $110 (MacOS High Sierra will cost nothing). If you've ever intalled a peripheral on a Mac, you will never go back to a PC!

No reason to get pissy. Most people can't spend the money on an Apple product. Get what works for you. If you want to buy a computer to play games on, Apple probably isn't for you. If it's a business decision, then Apple makes sense.