Switching from Apple Mac OS X to Windows Vista ?
Can a photographer find happiness switching from Apple’s Mac OS X to Windows Vista? This photographer is going to find out in a controlled experiment. Yes, at Daylight Photo we still have our eight Mac machines up and running and that’s not going to change, at least not in the short term. But when it came time to buy a laptop from which to run this blog, I decided to give a PC a try. I do have an aging PC desktop at home that runs Ubuntu Linux but my last Windows experience was back in the days of Windows 98.
I’ve long been a believer in both Apple hardware and the Mac OS, it truly is quality stuff. So when I needed a blogging laptop I planned to go straight for a Mac. An iBook with DVD burner would run around $1400 and then I’d need some software and then…I could be up to $2000 before I knew it. Wow, the blog makes a couple bucks here and there but it would take quite a while to pay off $2k. That’s more than I could afford to invest.
Hmmm, what about a PC? I’ve also needed a PC / Windows machine at times to troubleshoot website and video delivery glitches. After much debate it seemed like it would be worth a try. At that point my goal became the creation of a budget system under $1000 that would hopefully satisfy all of this blog’s posting and photo / video editing needs.
I compared specs and eventually found a Toshiba Satellite
So I’m around $825 and want only to boost the RAM up from 2 GB (it will take up to 4 GB). I’ve also done a couple things to make Vista more Mac-like, I admit:
So now I probably have Mac users laughing at me for buying a PC and Windows users laughing at me for trying to make the computer more Mac-like. But after a month or so, you know what? It’s working out well and I have no complaints. Is there life after Apple? I’ll keep you posted.
I’m truly and utterly shocked as a Mac user…
I am frequently amused that many photographers I talk to manage to stay out of the religious Nikon vs. Canon war, but seem to have very strong opinions about Windows vs. Mac computers.
Personally, I’m using a MacBook Pro for private use and photography work, my office workstation is a Linux PC (mandated by the University) and I also develop software for Windows (by running Parallels and Boot Camp). Each of the operating systems has its advantages and disadvantages, but at the bottom line, each of them gets the work done that it is meant for.
Anybody who is laughing at you for choosing a system that best suits your needs needs to step out of their mental box and accept that no single system is perfect, and it all comes down to one’s specific demands…
Utter shock…excellent, that’s what I was going for.
Stephan, thanks for the input. That’s a great observation on how photographers avoid the Nikon vs. Canon argument. Is Linux commonly used in the University environment, do you know? I’m surprised (and pleased) that so many readers are using Linux on a daily basis.
Nooooo……you went to the dark side.
And on that note I am going to give OjectDock a try on my work computer
Stephan, you’re so right! And since Apple is using Intel Processors, it’s only a matter of taste.
Jim, this is my first comment here. Thank you for the great work you are putting in this blog!
Yes, linux is widely used at universities. At least here at ETH Zurich.
(I hope my english is not as bad as I fear)
Jim, I am not really sure about the situation in the US, but as far as I know the German government funded a lot of development for the SUSE Linux distribution, and I think even OpenOffice development. So to my knowledge many (all?) German universities use Linux as the standard desktop system; there are some exceptions for specific purposes (eg. software that only runs on Windows) but when I started to work here I wasn’t even asked if I needed a dual boot setup.
In my experience, Linux works quite well for daily use. Students send me their work as PDF or as OpenOffice documents; while far from perfect, this works just as well as it did with the Microsoft Office documents I had to handle at the Austrian University where I worked before. And, as I said before, for the few things that I need a Windows machine I either fire up Parallels on my Mac, or use one of the lab PCs that run Windows.
By the way, I’ll grab the opportunity and second Enrico on his thoughts. I really enjoy reading pro photo life and appreciate the hard work you’re putting into this!
I’m not going to mock you or laugh at you. Just sit here, grieved that you gave up on Linux to maintain your blog. It’s a sad day indeed.
I’m going to go find a quiet, somber place to sit and mourn.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3192/2698603738_ff9bacac8a_o.jpg
John, no need to grieve, this is going to give me a chance to try a couple of new Linux distros on the dedicated Linux machine. I need to find the link that Mike put in comments a couple weeks ago on some Linux photo software I haven’t yet tried. Then I’ll get a dual boot going on the laptop…
Yay! Another Windows user with a Mac-looking desktop. I have no shame about it, as there is no way a Mac would have been financially feasible.
Fake Macs UNITE!
Here is that link again:
http://www.ubuntuproductivity.com/journal/ubuntu/07/2008/ubuntu-photo-manager-experiment/
Now if I could only find a studio management software that runs on Linux, I’d be set.
Nikon vs Canon?: Fuji
But Mac vs PC…aw c’mon! You could at least get a Hackintosh or something, get OSX.kittycat running on your laptop. But Vista? Seriously??? It’s a question of “I think for a living” versus “I pound nails into my forehead for a living”. I find Windows to have all the graphic subtlety of a circus sideshow.
That said, my wife—who owned a perfectly good ibook in her day—decided to get a Dell thingamabob. Apparently the Mac thing didn’t stick with her. She kept worrying that she couldn’t interface with work. Which is weird. Whatever.
Horses for courses and all that.
Interesting you’ve mentioned the Hackintosh route, Matt, I’ve done a bunch of reading on it. Then I envisioned a time hole and here I am, forehead bleeding but cash left in the bank. We’ll see where it goes.
I still have a Fuji S2 in the camera case somewhere, too. That was our workhorse for a year or two.
First I never use Mac, and I’m quite happy with my XP. But I wandering why all the proffesional people who works in the field of design and photography use Mac rather than pc.
Jim or anyone can you give me a reason why you use Mac to process your work? beside the reason speed and lux design:)
my friend said that Mac handle color much better than PC. mac show exact color with the print and press output (at least almost).Is that true?
thanks anyway, by the way this is my first comment. The same like “Enrico”, I want to thank you for your great blog.
Sorry if my questions is a little far from the topic:)
Imagine the situation:
Bill has a Mac and a Canon.
Bob has a Vista and a Nikon.
Ben has a Nikon and a Mac.
What would the discussion be about?
I’m looking extremely forward to your responses to this…
GASP!….. Mac users don’t switch to PCs.
although I do understand your dilemma. But why not just get a used Mac laptop for under $800 and call it a day. You know it’ll still outlast a new PC laptop. And you can defiantly get one powerful enough to blog from; and then some.
Andry, Apple has always put specific emphasis on the needs of graphics professionals and they have a wonderful color management system built into the operating system (since OS 8). It’s very easy to use color management in the Mac environment. Conversely, Windows dominates other markets, like business productivity.
But, to be honest, I’ve never used a Windows machine for color management so I don’t know (yet) how hard, easy or consistent it will prove. Anybody have experience with both?
Jim,
I’m a Mac guy at home, but I use Windows and Linux at work (non photography day job). The only issue I have is expecting things to work one way (the Mac way) and getting frustrated when they don’t. I’m constantly bothered by windows that popup, emails and web pages that print with text cropped, etc. It seems like once a week I think “… and businesses think this is more productive?”
Good luck with your Toshiba. Years ago… gasp, it’s been a decade… I had one and I really liked it. Wouldn’t trade my MBP for one… ever.
Geir, that’s an interesting proposal. More often than not I try to stay away from topics like specific pieces of equipment. This is kind of fun, though, this Mac vs. PC talk…
Rick, I thought about a used Mac laptop but this seemed like a good opportunity to give something else a try. Plus there really was an additional reason: our studio has 7 of the older G4/G5 Macs that are pretty much rendered obsolete by Apple’s move to Intel so, for all intents and purposes, we’re kind of starting over from scratch with both computers and software. Before writing a really big check I wanted to explore the alternatives. Trying out Windows in this way seemed like a good, low cost test. We’ll see how it works out.
No problems yet, Ken, but I admit using Linux for awhile really helped. It’s interesting that I’m using more and more web-based software (Firefox, Fireftp, Wordpress, web-based email) so the interface differences aren’t that great. I’ve definitely read up on things and have turned off some of the annoying popups you’ve mentioned. Vista has a mind of it’s own!
well thanks for the input Jim. It’s kind of a great trust input from the expert:)
Oh yes Geir what would the discussion be? maybe it’s kind like a religion…….
it’s a never end talk. Thanks anyway. I just want to know deeper about Mac.
I’m amazed that you decided to switch to Vista. My personal setup is all Mac and Linux. My day job setup is all PC and is generally in a state of crashing, not running or slowing me down.
It wasn’t always that way, but after a few months I needed to do more than a couple of tasks. I had to install more than a limited number of applications on the Windoze environment. It began to show it’s true colors once again.
I’ve had my latest Mac, longer than my latest work PC and the PC costs me money in time wasted. The Mac is loaded to the hilt and everything runs flawless. On the PC I have to spend time dealing with software and driver incompatibilities and have to wait upwards of 5 minutes just for the wireless to find the right network to connect. Not so on the Mac. For me the Mac is clearly the long-term savings. Saving a few bucks on an initial investment is not cost effective for me.
Technical stuffs aside, as new-faster-more powerful hardwares were introduced every minutes.
If you rather save a few bucks ( or maybe more ) for a ugly PC, why would a client want to pay more ( perhaps alot more ) for a professionally done picture ? Why want to pay more for Luxury Leather Wallet where a used nylon wallet can just hold the same amount of stuffs ?
Appreciating Creativity and Inspirations ~
If anyone would say paying so much more for a Mac that can do equally same job as a PC does are insane~ I would say those paying a fortune for Professional Portraits should just get a Digital Camera and do snapshot at home, it will be the same person in the image anyway.
Make any sense ?
Thanks for the input, I understand your points about Mac superiority. I’ve been a Mac user since ‘85 or so and have never had a complaint, except for the cost of the hardware. I’ve only used a PC once, from 2000-2002, and it was (at times) a frustrating experience. There’s a lot of pressure in my industry to keep lowering costs, though, so I have to explore all of the options.
Philip, I very well may find your experience with this blog laptop, that time lost in productivity makes it more expensive in the long run. Maybe I should have checked with you guys before buying it.
I understand your point, Ahtak, it makes sense. There has always been a higher regard for Apple equipment and that’s what we use at our photo studio. I don’t know how (or if) our professional clients would react if PCs were used in the production environment of our studio.
Kudos for trying something new, Jim!
With the number of great multi-platform programs and increasingly web-based applications, I do wonder when the choice of operating system will become a minor concern…
(Writing this on my Windows iTunes “jukebox” since the MacBook’s hard drive ate it today and the Fedora Linux box hasn’t been powered up in almost 2 years :P)
Thanks for your Blog. I’m an assistant in the Midwest who needs the reminder that making it is possible.
What G4 macs do you have? Interested in selling sans hard drive?
Ahhh, yes, someday every app will be hosted online and Google will own everything. Wow, remember when Microsoft was the evil empire? And you’ve reminded me that I need to dual boot this laptop with Linux asap. Linux is the Switzerland of operating systems, I should be safe there.
Kenneth, I’ll let you know on the G4s, right now they’re still at work for automated tasks. Where in the midwest are you located? And, btw, you gave me the inspiration for tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) post, tune in if you can…
Windoze is the evil empire. It’s just too bad that Hackintosh is now taking their OS ques from their far clunkier competitor. Before you MAC fans burn me to the ground recall all the “minor quirks” (though i’m not one to call losing a directory “minor” or “quirky”) Lepoard has displayed in each of it’s release/updates so far.
I’m in Indianapolis Jim. I’ve got a friend in Cinci i planned to send your way (though you’ve probably already met her (Kelli K)).
See you tomorrow!
Wow Jim! This is the longest running, most commented blog entry so far. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to slow down anytime soon.
I’ll be back in a few minutes with a bowl of popcorn!
It’s been awhile since anyone commented on this entry, but I thought I would. Ahtak, I think you’re coming at this from a bit too biased a perspective. I’ve used Mac and Windows operating systems except I haven’t used Vista yet — I’ve never had a problem with XP Pro and am thinking maybe Windows 7 might be alright.
But you seem to think that photographers who work on images on a Windows machine are just producing “snapshots” indistinguishable from the point-and-shoot, built-in flash, low quality stuff that most people are used to.
As a photographer (and journalist) who does work on Windows, I thought I’d suggest you try to do a little more work before you press your shutter button than when you load files or scan into a program to produce more ones and zeroes in an electronic box.
I think a lot of folks who call themselves photographers these days…really aren’t, and never would have been “photographers” if not for the ease of technology and software making “professional” portraits and fake results.
Just my two cents!
a*ron:
Totally agree with you pal. Get an Entry Level Cam with kit lens, print some name cards, and start charing and call themselves Photographers… anyway, here is my site to share ~
http://www.flick.com/photos/ahtak
Guess is not any better than those who we are talking about here, LOL !
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