Good advice. I work cross platform. I like some things and dislike some
things about both Macs and PCs.
Now you can run both OS on either machine. 

Vista is a memory hog, paired with Office 2007 and Adobe CS3, you will
need a high-end machine to run them satisfactorily.



-----Original Message-----
From: SciArt-L Discussion List-for Natural Science Illustration-
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Britt Griswold
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 10:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SCIART] OT- Looking for Advice - PC to MAC

Alexandrea,

If you currently have expensive PC software and are happy with it, and
have been able to handle the Windows OS without problems, I see no real
need for you to change.  You can configure a PC laptop with similar
hardware specification and you will find the costs are very similar to a
Mac laptop.

However, if you are going to go with VISTA, you may want to think twice.
Stay with XP is what I am hearing.  I am a Mac Person.  The reason
people say Mac is better, is that it comes from a background of
graphics, so the OS is graphics oriented and is better UI for human
interface design, and color management is not an afterthought.  The
downside is that there are many more packages to do obscure or esoteric
things on the PC. But if you are an Adobe person, that is cross platform
as are the files, and have similar interface inside the program, and
manage color inside the program suite.

If you were starting out from scratch, I would recommend the MAC for all
the reasons listed above as a superior graphics machine.  The Mac may
not be a superior machine in other areas of computing, but with a UNIX
backbone and Intel processors, it is hard to argue that it is not now
the most flexible platform for future development in general computing.

Britt

Pataky, Alexandrea wrote:
> Hello all -
> I am looking for some advice on buying a new computer.
>  
> I have always had a PC (a Dell laptop) and have never had any problems
with it.   I am going to buy a new computer soon, and am thinking about
buying a MAC because everyone always says they are better for artwork (I
use mostly Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator).  Here are my questions:
>  
> 1.  What kind of laptop would people suggest?
> I need something that: 
> has a lot of memory
> Can be used with my Wacom Tablet
> preferably lightweight
>  
> 2.  If all the artwork I have made has been created on a PC, will I be
able to open/work with it on the MAC?
>  
> 3.  Is it a good idea to go to the apple store or just buy it online?
>  
>  
> Incidentally...are they really better for artwork?
>  
> Thanks for any help you can offer!
>  
> Alexandrea
>  
>  
> Alexandrea Pataky
> Fine Arts Department
> Deerfield High School
> [log in to unmask]
> 224.632.3168
>