That's what some have said on here. I was thinking of getting a PC as my next computer. I like it better than mac, cause it's much easier for me to organize everything on. But is there something really so terrible about it for movie making software?
Are PCs really that bad for movie making?
- Thread starter harmonica44
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Okay thanks. When you say Mac is better from a usability layout, and stability standpoint, could you be more specific?
That was pretty specific. You could take that bit of information and go bananas on Google if you wanted to, but that would be a lot of work and who wants that?
That was pretty specific. You could take that bit of information and go bananas on Google if you wanted to, but that would be a lot of work and who wants that?
Well they give a lot of technical stuff that means almost nothing unless you have experienced both systems which is why I am asking actual people, who have, as oppose to sights where you get more one sided information possibly. I need to hear it from people, and not from articles.
People write articles...
If you think one site might be biased, read 10. People here are probably more biased than a computer review site. I know I am haha.
If you think one site might be biased, read 10. People here are probably more biased than a computer review site. I know I am haha.
Welcome to Wikindietalk. Our information is from actual people, as opposed to fake people who write articles.
Your question is subjective, so there is no definitive answer. You're asking what the best personal preference is and we'll all be here drifting like a continent waiting for an answer.
Certainly!
Also, know that I started out using MS-DOS 2.1, then Windows 3.1, Windows NT, Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, Vista, and 7, Linux (Slackware, Red Hat, Ubuntu), Mac OS 7, OS 9, and OS X.
Out of all of those, Mac OS X has the best interface -- it's easy to use, intuitive (meaning if you don't know how to do something, you can guess and be right most of the time), clean, and simple, but still doesn't get in the way of doing more complex tasks. It's not dumbed down in any way.
A great example of this is the Control Panel. Compare Mac's control panel (called System Preferences) with Windows 7. The Mac panel has a small handful of icons and it's easy to find the setting you're looking for. Windows has a giant confusing labrynth of settings so horribly designed I usually wind up using Google just to figure out where the damned setting is I want to change.
The file explorer (called Finder in Mac) has three very useful modes in Mac that are easy to switch between (my favorite is the Column layout). Windows has a few different ones that you have to dive into a menu to change and lacks a Column mode.
This sort of thing is consistant throughout Mac OS X: the most common tasks are right up front and easy to find. On Windows, you never know where they've shoved some common piece of functionality, forcing you to remember a lot of trivial locations.
Mac has no "Start" menu/button -- it's unnecessary. There's a "Go" menu at the top that has the primary useful places you need to go to. One is called "Applications". This simply brings up a Finder window with all your applications in it. For applications you use frequently, just drag them down to the Dock. Once again, Windows 7 is similar (they've finally started copying over some of the better design ideas from Mac, but they haven't taken it as far as they should), but crankier and a bit more annoying, and they still have that badly-arranged "Start" menu/button. (Granted, they finally added a decent search capability, but it took them over 10 years to do it.)
As for an overall feel, Mac OS X really does act as an "operating system" -- it's a program that lets you operate your computer. It's unobtrusive and you tend to forget it exists. You just... you just use your computer.
Windows 7 is like a hyperactive puppy -- always jumping up and down yelling "Loook! look at me look at me look at me! I'm an operating system! I'm right here! I'm jumping up and down in your face! I'm Windows! Weeeeeee!"
And now the most telling thing I've noticed: The most trouble a Windows user has when switching to a Mac is that they keep looking for complicated ways of doing tasks and not finding them. Then they say to me, "Brad! I can't figure out how to do X!". Oh, you just do this simple, intuitive thing. They'll reply with "Oh! It's easy. I never would have thought of doing it that way."
This adjustment period lasts maybe one to two weeks, and then it's no longer a problem.
Mac OS X is powerful enough for a crazy madman like me to do whatever I need to do, and yet simple enough that my Mom can use it without constantly calling me up on the phone asking for help (like she did all the time when she had a windows machine).
This is not a subjective opinion. I've been using computers since I was in the 3rd grade (I'm now 36 years old), and Mac OS X, while not perfect, is the best general-use operating system available today. Maybe someday Windows will finally surpass it (Mac os 9 was horrid and Windows had the clear advantage then, but that was back in 1999), but today it is still very much behind.
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Yes, it is, but it's an INFORMED subjective opinion. I've been using computers just about as long as you (34, my first was a tandy microcomputer, before the c64, several flavours of DOS, etc, and LOTS of unix throughout. Solaris when I could, but BSD will do the trick, and lots of linux. SUSE was my choice back in the day, though I've taken recent spins with Ubuntu). My experience is similar, yet my opinion on the interface is different. My system needs and preferences are different than yours, so what works for me might not work for you.
I do agree with lots of your points. The system settings in Windows 7 are atrocious. XP was much cleaner. The windows registry is confusing, but honestly if you're digging in there, you're beyond average user comparisons anyway. However, I like the way Windows navigates, in general better than OSX (though to be fair, I haven't followed its progression, so I haven't used the latest version for anything). What I dislike about Windows 7 is the effort to make it more Mac-like. But the GOOD thing about windows is with a bit of hacking, you can customize most things.
Hell, you've used linux. It's all about choice. You don't like the way something works? Use a different one (dear god have you seen what they've done to gnome?!?!) I agree that a mac is more stable (mostly due to limited hardware...ALL of my Win7 crashes are third party drivers, usually EMU MIDI drivers actually) and that Windows is a bloated mess. But I disagree that the OSX interface is inherently objectively better. It's different (and that's a good thing), but your opinion, like mine, is subjective.
You're a smart guy, and don't take this as a personal attack, this is just something that comes up way too often in these conversations. Of course, nothing is as insufferable as the evangelical linux community. Linux is not, and should not be for everyone. And sometimes they forget why there are so many different distros/window managers/package management tools/marshmallows. Everyone's tastes are different and there is no one right answer. The only real way to find out what works best for you is to try it out.
So anyway, harm, you know windows. I'm sure you have at least one friend with a mac. Spend some time on their system (and let them help you navigate the corners, though like escher says, they do tend to be intuitive systems). Learn through experience and decide for yourself!
Haven't you people figured out yet that my opinions are fact? 
I run Windows 7 in a VM (I do cross-platform software development and need to be able to run Windows versions) and also use it at work, and the interface for general use still... argh. How can you say it's better than the Mac finder? What's your use case? I MUST KNOW!
I run Windows 7 in a VM (I do cross-platform software development and need to be able to run Windows versions) and also use it at work, and the interface for general use still... argh. How can you say it's better than the Mac finder? What's your use case? I MUST KNOW!
Again, haven't kept up with MacOS since the first OSX. But I like the start button paradigm. I like the taskbar so I can see what's open and alt-tab between them. That said, my start menu is highly organized; my music tools are where I want them to be, arranged by tasks (and ALL OS animations shut off). The one mouse button thing always annoyed me (again, coming from old Sun three button mice) as that I like menus at the ready for my mouse hand. Is that still the case with Macs?
But if you looked at my system, at first glance you might think I was running win98. It's not that I don't try the new whizzy features when they introduce them, I just usually find that they're not what I prefer. I played a bit with Win8; I don't think I'll ever install it on my desktop, but it does look nice enough for tablets. Though there I can't imagine not wanting to run android
For colas I'm all about Jolt (the newest iteration isn't as nice as the old stuff, but still tasty). I'll be super geeky and mention RC Premium Draft (no, seriously, it existed and was AWESOME). My girlfriend commented the other day I'm the only one she knows that will drink the soda they don't prefer, so yeah, definitely in the minority...for most of my opinions, really
But if you looked at my system, at first glance you might think I was running win98. It's not that I don't try the new whizzy features when they introduce them, I just usually find that they're not what I prefer. I played a bit with Win8; I don't think I'll ever install it on my desktop, but it does look nice enough for tablets. Though there I can't imagine not wanting to run android
For colas I'm all about Jolt (the newest iteration isn't as nice as the old stuff, but still tasty). I'll be super geeky and mention RC Premium Draft (no, seriously, it existed and was AWESOME). My girlfriend commented the other day I'm the only one she knows that will drink the soda they don't prefer, so yeah, definitely in the minority...for most of my opinions, really
Ranking sodas:
1. Coke from McDonalds
2. Coke in a can
3. Mexican Coke in a glass bottle
4. 7Up in a can
5. Dr. Brown's ginger ale in a can
6. The rest
1. Coke from McDonalds
2. Coke in a can
3. Mexican Coke in a glass bottle
4. 7Up in a can
5. Dr. Brown's ginger ale in a can
6. The rest
Mac has this: Dock and Command-Tab. It's also friendlier than the Windows 7 equivalent (which is a mess of bad visual design). There's also Exposé, which is enormously useful (especially on their laptops where a simple four-finger swipe-down on the trackpad shows you all open apps, and a four-finger swipe up shows you your desktop).
In OS X you can create a folder of aliases on the dock to accomplish the same thing. When I was a Windows user I did the start menu organizing as well, but on the Mac I've found it to no longer be necessary. It's amazing how a simple, alphabetically-organized list of all your programs (Go->Applications or Shift-Command-A) + most frequent programs in the dock can completely replace a nest of hierarchy-organized start menu items. Had you told me this before I became a Mac user I never would have believed you.
This hasn't been the case on Macs for at least 10-15 years. While the default apple mouse came with one button for ages, the OS itself has supported 2 and 3 button mice since at least OS 9 (and probably 7). I, personally, use a three-button thumb-operated logitech trackball and a wacom tablet. I still don't like the default apple mouse, but it's 2-button now. Also, the nice-and-roomy trackpad on their laptops supports right-mouse-button clicking with no keypresses necessary. A two-finger click is "right mouse button", but you can also set it up so tapping the lower-right corner of the trackpad triggers a right-click (which is the method I use on my Macbook Air).
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It does sound like I could probably be happy running OSX these days, with a bit of futzing around. I do remember disliking the dock showing all the programs you can quicklaunch, rather than what's actually running, but Windows tries to do that these days too. Let alone the mess of everything wanting to autoupdate...good for the average user who doesn't want to think about it, but I can take care of that myself without having the software constantly soaking up resources.
For me, the ultimate bottom line is price. As Alcove mentioned, migrating systems once you've sunk a lot of money into software is never fun (though I'm getting disgruntled with the latest version of Sonar and debating switching DAWs anyway). Also I can (and always have) built a system from scratch as powerful, or more so than an Apple system for a fraction of the cost. But system building, like running a home *nix variant, is for hobbiests rather than the average user.
My opinions might be different if I was a laptop user as well, but again, price per punch, I can't imagine doing serious production on a laptop. At the end of the day, my opinion is still the same: run what you like!
For me, the ultimate bottom line is price. As Alcove mentioned, migrating systems once you've sunk a lot of money into software is never fun (though I'm getting disgruntled with the latest version of Sonar and debating switching DAWs anyway). Also I can (and always have) built a system from scratch as powerful, or more so than an Apple system for a fraction of the cost. But system building, like running a home *nix variant, is for hobbiests rather than the average user.
My opinions might be different if I was a laptop user as well, but again, price per punch, I can't imagine doing serious production on a laptop. At the end of the day, my opinion is still the same: run what you like!
