PC or Mac?

[Robi]

I have always used a PC (windows) but have always wanted a Mac. I am 18, off to university in the summer and want a new laptop for university.

I would be studying web design and am wondering what is actually best. I am a massive fan of the OS X Snow Leopard and have had a look at their new update coming in July, but I just honestly want an opinion from someone who know's what would be best. I want to use something different and new, my mother argues the fact that it's harder to get software (without buying) such as microsoft office and photoshop etc etc.

Any views are welcome, as long as your arguement is backed up! I am currently set on buying the Macbook Pro.

Help :S

[jasey]

I would definitely go with the Macbook Pro. I am not going to lie and say that I am the tech expert that many people on this forum are but I have had a lot of experience with using a PC and a Mac. My first laptop when I was a younger teen was a Windows machine and it was a revolutionary computer for its time but it definitely came with all of its own problems. Windows machines tend to last for less time than Macs do from my experience. They are definitely easier to get things for - your Mother is right - because they are the more popular of the two.

That being said, I find the programs that are on Mac to be much more user friendly and functional. For the two things you mentioned - Office and Photoshop - you won't have any problems. Apple produces their own 'iWork' suite of programs (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) which is akin to the Microsoft Office suite. You might be pleasantly surprised with how well these programs work and how beautiful the results of working on them are. You can save in Windows-based file formats too so people using Windows will be able to read what you write. I work in the graphics field for a magazine so I had to legitimately buy the Adobe suite of programs (expensive) but I know that my ex was able to get a pirated copy of the newest Photoshop in two seconds on a popular torrent site and he used a Macbook Pro.

I have always been a fan of the Macbook Air and have bought one from each generation as they came out because they are more convenient for me. Anyways, when it boils down to the results I believe that Mac OSX is superior to Windows 7 and much more beautiful if you are in to aesthetics. PC users will tell you time and time again that Macs are overpriced for their hardware components and, while this is completely true, there are so many benefits to using a Mac that kind of counterbalance that argument.

I don't think people who use PCs are silly or stupid or anything. I think that Windows is the best choice for many people. I do believe, though, that for someone going in to webdevelopment a Macbook Pro would be a great choice. It will work with your course of study, last a long time and perform well. The customer service by Apple is also lovely. Sorry to ramble - I know this post is poorly written. I just kind of typed as I thought of things. Best of luck, friend!

[Recursion]

Firstly, go into a shop and try one out. Secondly, you'll save yourself £300 by waiting until you actually get to University because you get a student discount.

Don't believe what people say to you, both of them have many pros and cons and the programs are built pretty much the same, the only way to find out which one you'll like the most is by using them. Of course, you won't be able to play any games on a Mac though. Don't be fooled into thinking that just because you're doing a lot of graphics and web design work you need to use a Mac, in fact Photoshop was originally designed and made for Windows.

There's no denying Apple's customer service is brilliant though, and their unibody aluminium designs are verrrryyyy nice.

[Chippiewill]

I would be studying web design and am wondering what is actually best.

PC otherwise you can't test IE rendering without shelling out even more money.

Appearance - Mac
Performance - PC

[jasey]

PC otherwise you can't test IE rendering without shelling out even more money.

Appearance - Mac
Performance - PC

Oh dear, no! There are plenty of free tools online that let you test rendering in any browser you can think of. There are even programs you can download that do it without waiting online for a screenshot. I pay a pittance for a subscription to a very good preview site to see browser renders but as I just mentioned there are many free alternatives.

[Aiden]

Pc all day long

[Tomm]

Having a screenshot of a page or just seeing how it renders is not testing it. Most of the projects I work on now have many, many times more lines of javascript than html+css. How am I suppose to test that with a static preview?

Oh dear, no! There are plenty of free tools online that let you test rendering in any browser you can think of. There are even programs you can download that do it without waiting online for a screenshot. I pay a pittance for a subscription to a very good preview site to see browser renders but as I just mentioned there are many free alternatives.

[jasey]

Having a screenshot of a page or just seeing how it renders is not testing it. Most of the projects I work on now have many, many times more lines of javascript than html+css. How am I suppose to test that with a static preview?

A quick Google search will give you all sorts of options to get real-time previews of IE rendering on a Mac.

[Tomm]

I don't want a preview. How does a preview enable me to debug any javascript issues? How can I interact with the page? For example how could I test if of these were working correct:
http://jqueryui.com/demos/

Anyway, I was just making a point. You can actually test IE in mac properly by using these freely available VMs from microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en....aspx?id=11575

A quick Google search will give you all sorts of options to get real-time previews of IE rendering on a Mac.

[jasey]

I don't want a preview. How does a preview enable me to debug any javascript issues? How can I interact with the page? For example how could I test if of these were working correct:
http://jqueryui.com/demos/

Anyway, I was just making a point. You can actually test IE in mac properly by using these freely available VMs from microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en....aspx?id=11575

The last part of your post is exactly the point I was making. It is pedantic to argue against something when you know the opposite is completely true. Don't you think it is silly to argue that Macs can't help debug things like JS in IE when you know the method in which this is capable?