Are you folks MAC or PC?

I'm deciding to switch to MAC from PC and am very trepidatious about
making that leap. In visiting the Apple store, I'm not convinced that
everything is so much easier and faster. I want to get into video
editing and it appears there are plenty of programs for PC, and
obviously you can get fast PC's much less expensively.

So, what are you folks using?

You forgot to mention SGI computers.

In all reality you are starting a flame war. In the early days, even though
the MAC's specs were not as impressive on paper as PC's, MAC's were better
at processing digital media. However, PC's have overtaken the MAC's on
speed and have a greater software compatibility (and price).

I have used MAC's at work and don't like them. Personal choice. But, you
have opened a HUGE can of worms and asked for an opinion.


"baker1" wrote in message
...
I'm deciding to switch to MAC from PC and am very trepidatious about
making that leap. In visiting the Apple store, I'm not convinced that
everything is so much easier and faster. I want to get into video
editing and it appears there are plenty of programs for PC, and
obviously you can get fast PC's much less expensively.

So, what are you folks using?

In article , "Paul"
wrote:

You forgot to mention SGI computers.

In all reality you are starting a flame war. In the early days, even though
the MAC's specs were not as impressive on paper as PC's, MAC's were better
at processing digital media. However, PC's have overtaken the MAC's on
speed and have a greater software compatibility (and price).

I have used MAC's at work and don't like them. Personal choice. But, you
have opened a HUGE can of worms and asked for an opinion.

Your correct but:

The question begged- is software the primary consideration or hardware.

Imop -Apple still makes superior hardware at a premium price and can be
counted on to support their product (I've been an Apple user since
1982). If you can afford the cost of Apple machines they are better
quality wise -over a longer lifespan, PC's do have more types of
software and are subject to bugs of all types but are perhaps more cost
effective for some people.

That being stated Unix-Linux based OS's are quite superior to either of
the former Operation Systems if one is inclined to learn and use them
and from what I know can be installed on both types of hardware.

Sorry couldn't resist adding some fuel :-D
--
Would thou choose to meet a rat eating dragon, or
a dragon, eating rat? The answer of: I am somewhere
in the middle.

In article , baker1
wrote:

So, what are you folks using?

I consider myself a Mac guy, but in reality use both platforms, and am
certified as a systems engineer for both.

Generally, either will do a good job, provided the software you want is
available on whatever you choose. My advice is mostly to buy whatever
you're used to.

HOWEVER, for the specific task of video editing, the gold standard is
Apple's Final Cut Pro. (They did a little thing call the Lord of the
Rings trilogy with it)

It's not a trivial expense at about a grand, but Apple has a cut-down
version for a lot less, and iMovie (which comes with each Mac) has a
similar interface and is often all you need.

In fact, my very first iMovie project was burned to disk with iDVD
(also free with each Mac) and became a money-making commercial product.
A local student I mentored used iMovie (again, HIS first project) to
win top honors for his senior project.

Since Apple will switch to Intel CPUs this "Apple vs. PC" flame war has lost
its "appeal" (see http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html).

SGI and SUN have already embraced AMD CPU's. Now, you just have to ask
yourself what OS you want/need. The differences in CPU/bus architecture
becomes less important.

Especially when you will purchase your system in '06 (or later), 64-bit is
standard and Photoshop will soon be available in a 64-bit version on all
surviving platforms. So, do you like a UNIX-like OS or Microsoft-like OS?
What threading model serves you best? Remember, kernel scheduling is
different between all these operating systems (see Bil Lewis book about
"Multithreaded Programming with pThreads").

While I prefer HP-UX and Solaris for all server applications, I like Windows
XP for the best GUI response. So, it all depends what you really want. BTW,
if you decide on developing SW (not FW!), the Microsoft OS provides you by
far with the best tools (see VisualStudio 2005).

Regarding "everything is so much easier and faster", forget this quickly
when comparing Apples with Oranges. Apple's currently sold computer
architecture will soon be replaced according to their CEO's blessing of
Intel's dual core CPUs. Since Apple's PowerPC CPU design is already
water-cooled at rather low clock rates, Apple needs to switch to a better
CPU design. AMD and Intel is really all there is for the personal market
while IBM's PowerPC CPU will prevail in high-end, multi-processor system
designs that are mainly performing floating point calculations.

To make this thread at least somewhat relevant for this group, I want to
mention that I prefer Nikon Capture running on PC's. The version for the MAC
isn't impressive at all.

Gregor

"baker1" wrote in message
...
I'm deciding to switch to MAC from PC and am very trepidatious about
making that leap. In visiting the Apple store, I'm not convinced that
everything is so much easier and faster. I want to get into video
editing and it appears there are plenty of programs for PC, and
obviously you can get fast PC's much less expensively.

So, what are you folks using?

Little Green Eyed Dragon wrote:
In article , "Paul"
wrote:

You forgot to mention SGI computers.

In all reality you are starting a flame war. In the early days, even though
the MAC's specs were not as impressive on paper as PC's, MAC's were better
at processing digital media. However, PC's have overtaken the MAC's on
speed and have a greater software compatibility (and price).

I have used MAC's at work and don't like them. Personal choice. But, you
have opened a HUGE can of worms and asked for an opinion.

Your correct but:

The question begged- is software the primary consideration or hardware.

Imop -Apple still makes superior hardware at a premium price and can be
counted on to support their product (I've been an Apple user since
1982). If you can afford the cost of Apple machines they are better
quality wise -over a longer lifespan, PC's do have more types of
software and are subject to bugs of all types but are perhaps more cost
effective for some people.

That being stated Unix-Linux based OS's are quite superior to either of
the former Operation Systems if one is inclined to learn and use them
and from what I know can be installed on both types of hardware.

Sorry couldn't resist adding some fuel :-D
--

Unix, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and the like - the main drawback is
hardware support.
You have to be really carefull when purchasing hardware. Some hardware
(like printers, network cards, modems, and such) will not work, or will
not work properly under these systems.

That being said, a number of the Operating Systems come with almost
everything you need.
SuSe 10.0 sells for $59,99 and has a double layer install disk, a
double layer source disk, and 5 install cds. You can also set you
install source to the packman website for installing additional
software.

Scientific Linux you download for free and has 4 or 5 install CDs. It
has an auto update feature.

FreeBSD has two install CDs.

Ubuntu (I am not sure I spelled that one correctly) has one install
disk, and then does a complete install on-line.

College Linux has one install disk and does a complete install on-line.

Redhat is expensive to purchase, but has a similar package to
Scientific Linux.

Mandrake is now called something else, but has a similar package to
Scientific Linux and Redhat. I am not sure of the cost of this one
since the name change and the ... oh the French have a different name
for it but it is similar to the Chapther 11 bankruptcy/reorg thing in
the U.S. This is now called Mandriva Linux.

There are other distributions available.
http://www.linux.org/dist/list.html has a listing of most hte linux
distributions. If one distributions doesn't work, you might try
another. I am still attempting to get one working on my laptop.
(Laptops are difficult...)

I have SuSe 10.0 running on my main computer at home. I use it for
most computing at home. I have a couple of limitations on it right
now. Some of the problems I have managed to work out by tryining
different settings, and others I have not.

For photo editing programs, GIMP is really close to Adobe Photoshop.
FL-Photo is similar to Picasa. However, FL-Photo will renumber the
exported photos while Picasa does not.
FL-Photo also creates html files in the exported directry. Both of
these features could be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look
at it. KDE has some other photo organizing programs.

GIMP will import Canon RAW files, while FL-PHOTO will not. One of the
other photo programs, and I forget which one now will also deal with
Canon Raw files. I do not know about Raw Nikon files.

Another piece of hardware you have to be careful purchasing is
scanners. I have a UMAX Astra 2200 scanner that does up to 4x5 slides
and negatives. This scanner works in both windows and linux. However,
some of the newer UMAX scanners only work in windows. The 2200 scanner
will work on either a usb port or a scsi port.
Most the distributions come with, or you can download Sane, and Kooka
for scanning.

Zip drives work fine in linux now. Years ago they did not.
If you get a printer that does not work, it will be a paper weight.
Check out printers on www.linuxprinting.org prior to purchasing one or
you will not like the printer.

Most the distributions come with OpenOffice as an office suite. Some
of them also come with Koffice. SuSe 10.0 also has some other office
packages.

I am attempting to get something called QDVD author to work to create
slide shows that will play on a dvd player. I have managed to get
linux to print 13x19 prints on my Epson Stylus 1160 printer now.
Printing large format prints was one of the tasks I used to boot into
windows for. The dvd thing is one of the last few tasks.

The other task is to create greeting cards... I am unable to find a
program similar to Printshop or Printmaster for linux.

Now the SuSe system comes with a whole bunch of software packages that
you have to pay extra for in Windows. Office software, irc clients,
desktop publishing, email clients, there is even a program to keep
track of your beer making recipes (however, the beer making program
doesn't really adapt itself to mead making recipes...I may need to
contact the author about that one...)

Gramps is a genealogy program you can download.
Mp3 programs, and dvd programs you have to download.

So there are a number of programs you can find...it is a less expensive
option.
However, getting a linux or unix system set up can be a chore.

roalnd

baker1 writes:

I'm deciding to switch to MAC from PC and am very trepidatious about
making that leap. In visiting the Apple store, I'm not convinced that
everything is so much easier and faster. I want to get into video
editing and it appears there are plenty of programs for PC, and
obviously you can get fast PC's much less expensively.

So, what are you folks using?

It's a religious issue. I'm trying to give a non-religious answer,
but I've never owned a MAC, and found the first one I encountered
(before I'd used any PC of any sort) terribly hard to use, so that
probably establishes me as having a position anyway.

I'm quite happy with my PC (AMD XP 2600+, 2GB dual channel RAM, 300GB
SATA hard drive for data, Firewire and USB2 for external drives and
card readers and such).

I've helped a number of friends with MAC hardware and software
problems over the years, and the evidence suggests to me that they
have as much trouble as PC users have; but they have fewer native MAC
users to go to help for, and those users are mostly less knowledgable
(hence less helpful). Which is why I ended up trying to help MAC
users. And I've occasionally found the *same* product in both the MAC
and PC section at Micro Center, with different prices, and it's always
higher in the MAC section in that case. I've also followed the
ongoing sagas of problems and repairs of several of my MAC-using
friends. I'm not saying they're *more* trouble than Windows systems;
but it does seem to me that they're *no less* trouble, despite some
reputation to the contrary. They're certainly more money.

The new Unix-based OS does get around one of the long-standing
problems with the MAC -- no easy way to port PC or Unix command-line
utilities to it, so lots of very useful tools weren't available. They
are now, mostly, which is a clear improvement.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

Gotta just love that the OP asked about Mac vs PC for video editing -
and most of the replies 1. Touted an OS he expressed no interest in,
and 2. Didn't mention his intended application at all. Sigh...

baker1 wrote:
I'm deciding to switch to MAC from PC and am very trepidatious about
making that leap. In visiting the Apple store, I'm not convinced that
everything is so much easier and faster. I want to get into video
editing and it appears there are plenty of programs for PC, and
obviously you can get fast PC's much less expensively.

So, what are you folks using
I have been into personal computers since 1982. I grew up and old being
victimized by the CPU arms race. Reminds me of the current digital
camera race so this time I am not going to bite in a big way until
Digital is every bit as good in all respects as film and commodity
priced. I grew tired of dumping money into new CPUs and software. I
have been through Apple II, Macs to many, PCs to boot. Screw it. Now I
am using 2 to 3 year old CPU's with some flavor of Linux. I am using
DebIan at home, SUSE and RedHat, and Microsoft at work. Unless you need
Photoshop for some work flow purpose, I would have a good look at GIMP.
GIMP is free, DebIan is free, 3 year old CPUs are just about free. Does
a great job on the images from my Sony S75 and Oly 2020 and scans from
my film cameras. In the end, the advice has not changed about what
platform to buy. Choose your software then buy whatever it runs on.

In article ,
Scott Schuckert wrote:

Gotta just love that the OP asked about Mac vs PC for video editing -
and most of the replies 1. Touted an OS he expressed no interest in,
and 2. Didn't mention his intended application at all. Sigh...

And what did you do positive today-develop a criticism???? ;-)
--
Would thou choose to meet a rat eating dragon, or
a dragon, eating rat? The answer of: I am somewhere
in the middle.