PC vs MAC

Macintosh. I fix computers for a living and don't want to have to fiddle as much at home. I also don't have near the worries about viruses, adware and such. I also don't have any problems finding system upgrades or software for it (unless you're using it for games).
 
My dad worked for IBM for 25 years, so naturally I grew up in a PC home. I'm used to them by now, plus I have a lot of experience dealing with them. And I have collected plenty of software for PC...

I hear good things about Macs, though, and would be willing to try one. Perhaps I can afford to get one in the near future.
 
The reason I ask is because I’m just wondering how many people use PC vs MAC to work on there movies. I have a PC that I built myself (as I always do) its top of the line… but after looking at the specs for the Apple G5 I was blown away! That thing has so much power I’m sure it would make rendering a much quicker and painless job. The thing is though, I don’t have any experience with a MAC, therefore if something broke I wouldn’t be able to fix it myself, I’d have to pay someone a lot of money to fix it… so I’m still trying to decide and just needing some insight.
 
If video is your major pursuit, and you are not used to a particular application yet (or willing to look at new ones), go the an apple store and try out a mac. Final cut studio is a very cool package that will handle just about every need you have for making films.

If you are looking more budget, you may want to price out PC's and go with the less expensive editing packages. Keep in mind to get all the features you would get with the macintosh, the pc price ends up being relatively comparable.

Most of the times the real answer to this question is "what will you be more productive with"...of which a major component is "what are you used to". Personally I would say if you had little to no experience with computers, the macintosh would be the way to go. It has a much less steep learning curve, and all the power you will need. If you have experience with pc's, then you would have to retrain yourself to use your computer if you switch. The differences are not large, they are little and many. Enough so that PC users often have a hard time adjusting due to the fact that it "feels" alien. Mac users have the same problems using windows or linux.

As far as software goes, the only thing hard to find for the mac in volume is games...but all the big games make their way to the mac as the companies tries to eke more profit out of the franchise.

One of the things I like most about the macintosh platform is there are relatively strict expectations about how an application needs to work and feel to succeed. This means that just about everything released has a very consistant interface with every other application on the system. Learning the common keyboard shortcuts in one app will usually transfer to every other application you will use. For power apps, lots of the big studios and sfx houses use linux/*nix systems with custom software (many titles are released as free open source)...these don't compile/run under windows.

cinepaint (used for wire removal in hollywood).
Cinelerra (free open source DV editing suite) is making its way to the platform.
Jahshaka (editing/effects tool) is out now for OSX.

Plus, final cut is gaining ground against avid (free version) in hollywood as well and only runs on apple hardware.

As a computer support professional, I have a network of 400 macintosh servers & desktops and 20 pc's...the pc's take up more of my time than the macs.
 
I'm a long time Mac user. Just like John, it's mostly because it's the system I grew up with. And I'm really comfortable with Final Cut and DVD Studio.

AFMAN - if your number one concern is being able to fix it yourself you should stay with your PC. I've never even tried fixing mine (never had to) but I hear that getting into and tinkering with a Mac isn't as easy as with a PC.

I think this debate really comes down to personal preference rather than "better". Both machines are great tools.
 
directorik said:
I think this debate really comes down to personal preference rather than "better". Both machines are great tools.
I whole heartedly agree with you. Better is in the eye of the beholder. I've been a PC user all my life and haven't tried MAC so I'd choose a PC based system.

You ask what's better, but what do you want to do with the computer?
Figure out everything you want to do with the computer.
Weigh your options based on the availability of applications and addons that you may want.
Then choose the system that's right for you.


For $5000 you could get a MAC and FCP and post a film.

For $5000 you could get a PC and Premier and post a film.


How much do you want to spend? What do you want to do with the system?
 
I see, very good, I like the answers that I am hearing. Let me brake it down a bit farther…

I have a very good PC… Top of the line. But I have herd a lot of good things about Final Cut Pro, though I have never used it, I herd it blows Premiere out of the water. Do they make Final cut pro for PC.

I guess what I’m asking is this: with everything else aside (ie games other applications, etc) if you were to use it only for video editing, which would you use… dose one do something the other cant? I have always herd that if you do any type of video editing or 3D animation you should go with a MAC, but what I never herd is why!
 
for the past 3 months, there's an on going 3 part article about NLE and it compared them all, AVID, Pinnacle Edition, Premiere Pro, FCP, Sony Vegas, and it gives a table of comparison what one can do better than the other, etc.

The conclusion is simple, not one of them is the TOP NOTCH, one can be good for one thing, while the other is good for other. It's again, a preference choice.

I've grew up with both mac and pc, but I've ventured more into PC now, not to mention, I have 7 computers, 4 of them are for editing, they haven't crash on me for years... And they are all hooked to internet, doing a lot of browsing/editing, etc.

I love my Premiere Pro, and I've realized I didn't learn much about it compared to what others can do with. This was realized recently thanks to a DVD from Adobe, called 2005 Adobe Customer Sampler Reel, in 30 mins, it showcase customers that used Adobe products to make their video (commercial, ad, promotional, etc), and they blew me away, really, it's that good.

As for FCP blows Premiere away? that's a preference matter, if you have used FCP for years, of course, it's going to be better than any other NLE software. If you have been using Sony Vegas for quite sometime you would never be able to feel comfortable with Premiere or FCP.

FCP is however, a GOOD software for MAC, it's mainly for them, not for PC and probably not going to go for PC (who knows)...

It's like what above said, it's a preference choice, if you like one system, get it, learn it, master it. After all it's not the tools, but the person working with them that can make wonders.

If you can, call Adobe up and see if they can send you a copy of their 2005 Adobe Customer Sampler Reel, you would really be impressed what they've done with it...

As with 3D Animation, most uses Lightwave, Maya, 3ds Max, I don't think it's matter of machine but what the software requires for you to get it done right...

You probably should first sit down and think what do you want to do with the machine? Editing and 3D? then look at the editing software and 3D software and see which would work best on the type of computers you want (PC or Mac) then from there decide what system to go with (configuration of a PC or MAC) and there, you will have a system of your liking, perhaps not for everyone else but for you it would work well...

Johnny Wu
www.mdifilm.com
 
AFMAN10 said:
I guess what I’m asking is this: with everything else aside (ie games other applications, etc) if you were to use it only for video editing, which would you use… dose one do something the other cant?
I would use a G5.

People who use and like Premiere will tell you that Premiere is great - people who use and like FCP will tell you that FCP is great. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but each program is a fine tool. Neither is better than the other.

Doesn’t make the choice easy does it?

I love FCP and the Mac in general. And I would say FCP blows Premiere out of the water. But like mdifilm says - that’s a preference matter.
 
It sounds like you are looking to buy a decent video editing program. So figure between $500 and $1000, depending on what you buy. Premiere, Vegas, Liquid are all available for PC. Not sure about Mac...but they might be available on Mac also.

A new G5 will cost about $2000. Since you already have a top of the line PC, my recommendation would be to stick with that and use the $2000 you didn't spend on the Mac to get your PC-based editing software and a kick-ass camera.

Unless you happen to have an extra $2000 and you don't know what to do with it...then go for it!
 
I wish I had an extra $2000 that I didn’t know what to do with….

I already have Premiere Pro and like it very much, I just wanted to know what other people thought and what there experiences were. So I will probably just do as you said… just save my money and get a kick ass camera! And probably use some money to get some more RAM for my PC (I only have a Gig but it can go up to 4 Gigs). Thank you all for your inputs.
 
I would max out the ram, stick an extra huge hard drive to add to your machine. and use that. You have a firewire port right? A firewire card would be another purchase if you don't.
 
PC or MAC

I was a long time user of PC until one day I needed a Mac temporarily; I never went back. After constant expereince w/ both machines I come to the conclusion that Macs are simply better for the arts, which is of course what this is all about.
 
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