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Mac Versus PC for Photoshop... thinking of changing over... advice please


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ruthlessone_uk

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Will start this entry with "I have NO idea of technology or how computers work".... but I have an entry level macbook which i love, but it is having trouble keeping up with the graphics load since I started PS and stalls alot when I am doing "heavy" graphic work. Had an extra RAM added but doesn't really help. Mac centre said I should upgrade to MacBook Pro with stronger processors. I can't afford it financially. Thinking of getting a PC with a higher spec and switching over so I can afford a better laptop. Any recommendations for a strong laptop for handling photoshop and flash or thoughts from anyone about moving from Mac to PC. Which OS on PC is best for PS or doesn't it make any difference???? Any thoughts from Mac users on how to get better response from my poor Mac??? Any advice would be greatly recieved... thanks :)
 
I would recomend staying away from windows laptops to run photoshop cs5 unless your using portable version or if you are willing to spend a lot of money on it I however find that you can get a custom built pc that will be more then enough powerful for around £500 for example an intel quadcore Q9650/ i7/i5 good graphics card 2 hard drives 1 500 gb for windows and application and 1 x 1tb/1.5tb as a storage drive to save your large graphics on and a minimum of 4gb of ram with windows 7 ultimate 64 bit should be anywhere in the region of £300 to £700 depending who you buy it from cheaper end is if you buy the parts and build it yourself. The other option is similar performane but instead of an intel processer use an AMD phenom x4 black edition a hell of a lot cheaper and pretty much matches the i7 in performance in bench tests hook that up with a good graphics card and you will have a high end spec pc with a price of the budget intel system. As far as mac vs PC once upon a time any kind of editing work was seen to be done on a mac as they were truthfully better and designed more for industry professionals but a good quality mac costs a lot of money these days macs dont have other compatability issues with other major programs but you should consider a pc as it runs photoshop perfectly fine and I have never had any problems considering I am ususlly using major memory doing video editing as well as running photoshop end of the day in my opinion dont just assume a mac will be better as there is not that much difference and a pc can be more practical for daily use depending on other reasons you want a new computer oh and I am also a mac fan boy but tend to use my pc as it is always on.
 
Thank you Hoogleman. As I said, I have NO idea about computers ie I am a techno-idiot!!... I don't really understand when you say "recomend staying away from windows laptops to run photoshop cs5 unless your using portable version"... is that a portable version of PS or of Windows???. Which operating system do you recommend for a laptop? So for instance, can I just go to a shop and say for example... I want a laptop with these specifications... do I go for Sony or Samsung or what???? Sorry, I see that your response is FULL of information... could you go a bit more "layman" for me... cheers :-) ps. I am in Goa/India and heading to Bangkok... lots of duplicates/non-originals and as I have no idea what I am doing, want to buy at a "reputable/registered" shop ie. Sony...
 
well I know someone that runs photoshop cs5 on a sony vaio laptop they are nice spec laptops. I was referring to a portable version of photoshop all though it is lacking a lot of features and prettiness of the full version. I would not like to recomend a specific laptop as it is really down to you at the end of the day on what you like but will say this the bigger the screen the easier it is to work on all laptops will probably come with windows 7 home edition for cheaper end which will only come with 1 gig or possibly 2 gig of ram in which case it will struggle to run photoshop. ut if you go for a mid to high end spec laptop for example toshiba Q series or HP Pavilion they tend to come with windows 7 premium and 3 gig of ram and will cost around £700 ideally though i would suggest the best deal you can get on a laptop with a 17/19 inch screen 4 gigabytes of memory (ram) intel i5 processor and a minimum of 500 gb hard drive but would buy an external usb hard drive to save your work on I have had no end of complaints from people who are trying to run photoshop on budget laptops so would avoid emachine, advent, gateway or acer buy the best you can afford and if you want performance then go check out alien ware gaming laptops or dell gaming laptops they are nice and run anything you can throw at them always buy from a trusted dealer and not some shabby looking palce. hope this helps if you write down the specs I suggested any retailer should be able to point you in the right direction I dont think I can post links yet but if you go look at dell website they have some nice xps/ alienware range of laptops they are quite pricey but very good
 
Hi Hoogleman... you are an ANGEL :-))) thanks so much... I SO understood your second message better than the first... thank you very much for taking your time and energy to respond... I really hope that when I understand what the hell I am doing, I'll be able to help out some other poor shmuck like you've helped me ;-))) Much much appreciated. Cheers, Ruth :-)
 
I hope it works out for you and your welcome I work as a computer engineer part time and deal with no end of people who have been ripped off being promised a computer will do what they want when it will not most salessman want the sale so will say anything and it annoys me and hate seeing it being done it is upsetting that people buy new computers and are willing to pay smaller companies like the 1 i work for to try to get something to work that will never do what they want without them upgrading an already overpriced machine. If you stick to the key features that I listed you should be fine but do not accept anything less than what you have decided to go for just because the salesman is trying to push out over ordered stock they will say it is just as good but unfortunately 9 out of 10 times it isntGood luck
 
My two cents (I am a PC)...

I would go for Samsung or Sony.

Minimum spec:
operating system - Windows 7
processor - Intel Core i5
RAM - 4GB
hard drive - 500GB

A good price for this spec in the UK would be currently £ 530 - £ 625 (a Samsung).

A Macbook with basically the same spec is about £1400 :eek:
 
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It really is a personal preference. I have had it both ways. I was using a basic PC (nothing fancy) paid roughly 500.00 for everything 2 years ago. Could not handle CS5.

So I asked my friend who is totally Mac what he suggested for the CS5 Extended. He recommended Mac Mini since I had everything else needed. It works awesome. I'll never go back to a PC.
 
I've never used a PC (started my first Mac when computer were new in the 80's I've had about ten computers (all macs)since. I have heard some serious nightmares about PC problems, everyone I know says when they use my programs(including Ps) on my computers say "oh this is much better than my pc " i can not compare but the odds here are telling me Mac better.
 
TerryC said:
It really is a personal preference. I have had it both ways. I was using a basic PC (nothing fancy) paid roughly 500.00 for everything 2 years ago. Could not handle CS5.
Click to expand...

These days £530 gets the spec I mentioned above but of course technology standards improve with time and two years ago £530 would get a much lower spec.
 
Well it seems like I will put my two cents in. I would go with a Mac myself since you already have a Mac and the software for it. Macs were designed with doing graphic arts etc from the beginning. PC's were designed to display white text on a black background, that's right they were designed for data entry. Where in graphic arts and design is there any data entry? Sorry to be so blunt, but that's the way it is. Macs access and utilize the ram better than pcs and as for the recommendations as to a Sony built windows system I have to laugh. I have had to do way too many repairs to Sony systems and have to pay three times the amount of parts that would go into any other system. Too many parts in Sony's systems are proprietary. I've spent 5 years repairing and building pcs in my friend's computer store to go with anything less than a MAC. Sorry if I tramped on any toes, but I just had to voice my opinion.
Gunner
 
iDad said:
I've never used a PC (started my first Mac when computer were new in the 80's I've had about ten computers (all macs)since. I have heard some serious nightmares about PC problems, everyone I know says when they use my programs(including Ps) on my computers say "oh this is much better than my pc " i can not compare but the odds here are telling me Mac better.
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IMHO PC made by Sony or Samsung + Windows 7 is as good as a Mac but PC made by other manufacturers or with other operating systems are probably not as good as a Mac. By the way I was watching a video tutorial by PS professionals today in which they said that they use Mac and PC about equally.
 
I agree macs can process photoshop better compared to a basic pc but i tend to find a pc will handle anything you throw at it if it is a right spec machine and has a lower price tag if money is not an object then yes splash out for a mac but if i had a limit of £600 and wanted a performance machine I would choose a pc all though I am the first to admit I am running it on a high spec machine with 16gb of ram so everything is effortless have seen photoshop run fine on 4 gigs of ram but struggled with adobe after effects when it came to rendering long videos
 
Yeah, there is a HUGE price difference... and the upkeep is enormous, if something goes wrong and the warrenty is over... you're finished! but if I could afford to stay with Mac, I would, but looking around this forum, I see that so many people are working fine with PC that I am feeling better about the change over when the time comes. Thanks ;-) I live in Asia to repair a problem with a PC costs next to nothing. Thanks for your 2 cents worth...
 
Ah the reply above was to Jac1... but thank you to all for your responses... the more information I get, the better, it's brilliant ;-)... I really would stay with Mac if I could financially... but I just can't afford a MacBook Pro with the spec I want. And I can't afford the warranty. I really want to get good at PS and if my Mac keeps stalling I am going to get seriously P O'd. I have to say I'm scared of the virus situation with PC... does anyone have any recommendations for keeping things clean and smooth running??? Or any other advice ? Thanks ;-)
 
GWDPhotography said:
as for the recommendations as to a Sony built windows system I have to laugh. I have had to do way too many repairs to Sony systems and have to pay three times the amount of parts that would go into any other system. Too many parts in Sony's systems are proprietary. I've spent 5 years repairing and building pcs in my friend's computer store to go with anything less than a MAC. Sorry if I tramped on any toes, but I just had to voice my opinion.
Gunner
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Ouch! :cool2: Just to add, in my experience things start going wrong on a PC after about two to three years of heavy use. After two years I wouldn't bother spending time and money upgrading / maintaining / repairing parts I would just retire it and get a new one with the latest technology. IMHO five or even two years ago Mac was well well ahead but today the difference is much less. I would even concede that the Mac is still better today but the question is by how much and is it worth the difference in price - this is a matter of opinion.
 
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ruthlessone_uk said:
I have to say I'm scared of the virus situation with PC... does anyone have any recommendations for keeping things clean and smooth running??? Or any other advice ? Thanks ;-)
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I don't know if I am allowed to mention software names here but proper protection software + being careful what you download should = no serious virus problems.
 
Hi Ruthless_uk,

I am by no means an expert, but I have built a number of computers for myself. I personally would suggest you do the same. Find a reputable dealer and buy your machine piece by piece. Start with a nice case (ie good cooling) then a damn good PS (850 watts or better). A good MOBO + 6 gig or better of RAM. CPU intel i7 or i9, A decent Video Card (never by the newest - total rip off in terms of cost - but card should have 1 gig of mem on board). Pick your OS (I use Win 7 Home with no problems).Obviously this is all for a PC.

I have never owned a MAC but I fully admit I love the look of that 24" monitor with everything built into it, I mean it is beautiful. What always stops me from buying one (apart from cost) is knowing that I can't upgrade it, whereas a PC is easy to upgrade. Anyway I have 2 computers (well 3 actually) and would welcome a MAC if I could afford it.

As far as viruses go I guess I am lucky - for years and years and years I never used any Virus protection and never was infected - and I would download a lot of stuff from the Web. Truthfully, even if infected its easy enough to reformat and start fresh, which is a good idea anyway - eventually - because I don't know if others are like me but I have a hell of a lot of files that I have left over from who knows what. I have never even defragmented - ever - machine runs fine. I now use a Virus protector and it's biggest gift - so far - is false positives! Ah well.

Laptops are proprietary aswell, your stuck with what you buy - for the most part. But as has already been said, get the biggest screen real estate you can. From my perspective though to get a decent laptop that will run PS well and do some other stuff is gonna cost a fair bit.

Build your own, saves money and it is easy. Check out some forums on build suggestions - particularily for graphics/video usage - there is a look of expertise out there. You should easily be able to build an awesome machine for $1000 - $1400 Cdn (700-800 pds?)
 
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