ZBrushCentral

mac laptops?

Community
#1

i am thinking about buying a laptop as my primary computer. I am wondering if i should look into mac laptops. I don’t know much about macs other than that they are widley used in the CG field. I am planning on going into the graphic design field. I have read many different reviews and opinions about mac vs. pc including the thread which has been going on here.

just a few questions:

  1. i understand that most graphic design work is done on the mac. are macs truly superior over PCs for doing graphic design work?

  2. mac laptops seem to be a little more expensive than PC laptops. are mac laptops better for this kind of work or it doesn’t really matter?

  3. does anyone own an iBook or a Powerbook? if so, what are the pros and cons of each? how does zbrush run on them?

if you can answer any of these questions or know anything that might be a help to me, please let me know. Thanks for all of your help, it is really appreciated!!!

artboy

#2

  1. No

  2. No

  3. I used to, but answering this Question is not all that important.

Mac’s do not dominate CG, PC"s do. Mac’s used to be extremely advantageous in Graphic Design because they needed little color calibration between what you saw on your screen, and what came out of your printer. Actually they need none at all, and that AFAIAC is the only reason Macs dominated in 2D Graphics work for so long.

The Mac was extremely popular amongst Photoshop users, and I think the majority of Adobe products that were sold. For a time even though Apple only maintained a 5% hold of total computer sales they made up about 70% of Adobe sales. That number is not a factual # it’s a guess, but seems about right as I recall.

I have nothing against Mac’s, as a matter of fact I’m typing this from a PowerMac, but the fact is that it’s hard to get a decent highend 3D card for the Mac, and even the best Graphics cards don’t come Apples way fast enough, and they probably never will.
Unless Apple purchases a minor percentage of ATI, or an NVIDIA manufacturer like PNY just so they can stay in the game, and remain competitive in this area I would suggest forgetting about buying a Mac. and buy a PC. You’ll thank your self later

#3

thanks for the response wierdpal. this info will help!

artboy

#4

as far as stability, most times MAC’s are…

with PC’s there are thousands of possibilitys of a systems configuration… The reason I hear that people like useing them over PC is stability.

I am seriously concidering getting Mac’s for my employees. they both use mac’s at home and I constantly hear them whine about bugs, and crashes, and how much easyer this and that is.

for a sound reliable system, I suggest MAC…
although I am sticking with PC for my personal systems.

#5

In my opinion it’s down to which operating system you prefer, I love Macs and I’m never likely to switch to Windows, the reverse is probably true of most Windows users.

Use the system you prefer they’re both excellent. There is a wider choice of software on Windows but Mac has everything you need. In 3d Macs can’t use XSI Max or Rhino (without emulation - which I don’t recommend), but we do have Maya, Lightwave, Cinema, Z-Brush and when they’re released Modo and eventually Mirai (hopefully!)Are they enough? And ask yourself if you really want to pay a $1000 for a pro graphics card, I know I don’t. The ones available for Macs are plenty good enough. OpenGL on Macs isn’t good however and needs to be improved.

Incidently the screens on Powerbooks are second to none, you might want to check the quality of the display on the bargain high street Intel machines!

Try them out and go with the one YOU like. It’s worth pointing out that if you’ve got much software for Windows it will probably have to be replaced to run on Mac - more expense! Cinema is the only modern app I have which is dual platform.

Edit - Just remmbered Lightwave is dual platform too- Baz

#6

Thanks Polaris and BazC! Yes, it would probably be hard to get used to using a mac since i have always been on a PC, but it seems like people who switch over to the mac never want to go back. that is the impression that i have got from most mac users. hopefully i will be going to a mac store soon to get to see what they are like and compare them to PCs.

thanks for the comments! keep them coming!

artboy

#7

I own both platforms but lean much more heavily to PC.

Although I love the inventiveness at Apple and their stupendous design and innovation and the comaraderie and helpfulness of the Apple user commnunity, the PC better meets my needs.

Windows XP has proven to be an extremely stable platform for me. It’s been as “plug and play” as I could hope for. I’ve seen Apple putting out as many software updates to OS X (including security updates) as Microsoft has.

Although you can get everything you “need” on Mac you may not be able to get everything you “want”. It used to be that the really neat graphics applications (e.g. Bryce) were only available on Macs. In recent years that has changed. Though there are a few Mac unique applications out there (like Groboto) they are becoming fewer and fewer or are not being updated. The advantage is probably swung to Windows.

For example, take ZBrush. Although the new version will be available for the Mac platform, it’s not available yet.

It is a rare day that I find a Mac only application, but it’s on practically any day that I can find a PC only application.

A lot of it has to do with your mindset and the Mac aesthetic. I’ve found my PC’s to be as stable under Windows XP and much faster in performance than my Mac. I’d put a quick Intel or AMD chip with a good raphics card up against a Mac (including the G5) any day of the week and believe I’d see superior overall performance from the Windows system.

Good luck.

#8

thanks brian! i will take this into consideration.

artboy

#9

Perhaps some of you that did opt for the MacBook, MacBookPro or even the MacPro could join us…

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=38624

#10

The difficulty in comparing PC to Mac
stems from the radical difference in the
philosophy of the computer manufactures.
I have bought and used both for many
years and what is not obvious to a new
user are those things taken for granted
by each company.
I just did a cost comparison this morning
between Dell and Apple.
I custom designed each to get the same
specifications and here is the result
(in Canadian dollars)

Dell Precision Workstation 690 = $8,567.00
Mac G5 Workstation = $7,838.00
Feel free to do this yourself.
Seeing what is extra and what is not available
is a good education.

To get the best comparison I chose
exactly the same hardware configurations for both.
The problem is this.
Mac comes with many more standard features
that unless you know Mac you can not compare
it to another manufacturer on equal footing.
I had to add a 1GB ethernet connection on the Dell
I couldn’t by optical network, additional firewire,
USB and audio ports on the Dell all of which come
standard on the Mac.
The software that comes with a Mac is considerable
whether you need it, want it, or will ever use it…
it’s free.
The problem with Mac is until recently they have
not advertised their products or their company.
So the majority of consumers don’t know much
about them.

So my recommendation would be,
buy a Mac, put XP Pro on it and enjoy
the best of both worlds while saving
money and getting much more.

Of course if you take my opion as the last word
you would be foolish.
Go to a Mac store armed with the best PC config
you think you need and ask them to show you
a Mac of equal quality.
Then buy it, save yourself money, put XP Pro
on it and enjoy, he, he.

#11

Hey artboy,

I am a looong time mac guy, but I use both PC & mac in my studio. I own an ibook/emac/imac/Dell. Most of my work is with Photoshop and Illustrator, on both machines. I run ZB/HEX2/Silo ‘demo’ on both as well.

#1) OK, graphic wise I can tell that the only REAL difference I can see is with the gamma on the PC. PC colors look darker than on my mac. You can work with this of course. All the shortcuts work. instead of using the ‘option key’ on a mac you will use the ‘ALT’ key on a PC for shortcut combos.

#2) Others have given good advice on this.

#3) I just bought my 14" ibook this past April. I am not totally happy with the clarity of the screen. I am told that the powerbooks (donno know about the macbooks) have a better quality screen. I’m kinda bummed about this. I you are thinking between the two I would check out the brightness and clarty of the laptops at the apple store if ya can. As a ibook owner I would tell you go with a powerbook.

Lastly, one thing I do love about apple is that it includes imovie iDVD which I use quite a lot. My Dell came with windows movie maker but…
IMHO, if you are a full-on professional CG artist you might want to consider a desktop PC. But, since are asking about an iBook/Powerbook I assume you are an enthusiast, perhaps more involved with 2D graphic jobs than pure 3D stuff. If this is the case I would opt for a mac.

Goodluck with your choice.

-Dooki