Vanity-Need Computer Advice as far as a Mac laptop

[ozaukeemom]

Sorry for the vanity, but I think this is the one place I can find some reasonable opinions on the pros and cons of Mac versus PC.

[ozaukeemom]

My son is going to college(Still cannot believe it). He is going into an Animation program. From what I understand, the Mac is far better for art based work than a PC. They are extremely expensive. So, my question is, is it that big of a difference? I would like to know why I should or shouldn't try to come up with 3x the money I would spend on a PC laptop. Now, if the Mac is what I have to get, which one? I know there is a Mac Book, Mac Pro and Mac Air. He says a desktop is not practical cuz he wants to be able to take the computer to school.I had thought of a desktop and then a PC netbook for taking with him, but he seems to disagree. Thank you in advance for any and all opinions.

[The_Victor]

Now you’ve done it. This thread is gonna explode.

[1rudeboy]

I'm not an expert, but if you go PC it will all boil down to the graphics card. Avoid "Intel integrated graphics" (or whatever it is called) like the plague.

A dedicated card will be his friend.

[krb]

If it has to be a laptop, get a MacBook Pro. For artistic software you are going to want the MIPs.

[Jet Jaguar]

Ping

[1rudeboy]

[Daffynition]

[TSgt]

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

If he needs a Mac, then by all means that’s what he should get.

But if he has never used a Mac, doesn’t need a Mac, and just wants to have a Mac because that is the cool computer, then price becomes a serious issue.

So buy on need first, then buy on quality/price balance next.

[lefty-lie-spy]

The killing blow is that that you son’s new Mac will run Windows alongside the MacOS if he ever thinks he needs it (which in all likelihood won’t). A Windows laptop can never run MacOS. I am a Unix/Windows/Mac professional and always use Macs at home and for work whenever possible. The Windows OS is outdated, faulty, and highly prone to viruses and maleficent software which makes repair costs inherent with a Windows computer. Get the Mac, and do it right. You and your son will not be disappointed with its power and versatility. For animation, it is also the choice of the trade due to the Mac’s long relationship with the art community and its ability to run all Unix open source (read FREE) software for animation and computer graphics professionals. Please feel free to FReepmail me if you would like more information.

[stainlessbanner]

Your son needs to get the requirements from his animation program. Find out what they recommend and what his peers and professors are using.

You might have to purchase expensive animation packages, choose the platform wisely with software costs in mind.

[1rudeboy]

Now why didn’t I think of that? He should ask one of his future instructors, or a current student.

[smokingfrog]

ping or freepmail swordmaker

http://www.freerepublic.com/~swordmaker

In a recent thread, he was explaining how some older desktop MACs can be purchased and upgraded at reasonable prices. Based on experience with my son, he’s not going to go for the netbook idea.

[billhilly]

All pros, no cons.

[lefty-lie-spy]

“And if you like the one on the right, the news is worse.”

[ozaukeemom]

Thank you all. I am going to be reading this all day! I hope I did not start any kind of flame war. Just trying to do what is best and practical.
We are waiting for the letter scheduling orientation. That will be when we can get more info on recommendations from the school. However, many of his peers are using the Macs. I am thinking that if it will be necessary down the road, I would rather get it now, instead of a PC now and then a Mac later. The money is an issue for me, but I have to look long term.

[Aliska]

I've got the new imac desktop but am having a hard time getting used to it. So I'm not using it. I can fly through all my tasks on a PC, and I do a lot of different things.

Transitioning to the imac slowed me down to a crawl, haven't figured out how to do the simplest things yet. It's compounded because I got Fusion so I could run my irreplaceable Windows apps on it. When I realized what lay ahead in the way of getting all that all configured, and what kind of virus checker to install, I just gave it up for now.

My granddaughter got the neatest pc laptop a couple years ago, I'd kind of like one of those if I find out what it is and if I can load enough RAM and ROM onto one.

I didn't think the imac with the huge screen was THAT expensive compared to what I put into my first two computers. And it has a really slick desktop and all sorts of neat things you can do with it if you ever get it all figured out. The 24" monitor is fantastic, but it displays web pages more like a tablet (taller and narrower), not the "landscape" mode I'm used to (width exceeds height).

I do a lot of Photoshop work and have just upgraded to CS4 and Lightroom, but I can't install it on the pc because it's on dvd which I didn't realize when I bought it. I can't install it on the imac because it's for Windows. But Lightroom has both Windows and Mac versions on it. Somehow I got Lightroom to intall but immediately got an error when I tried to run it, am guessing because it needs 1gb RAM. I still only have 512mb. So I'm stuck with that for now.

I have an external dvd drive. It has software. But it says to uninstall Roxio or there will be conflicts. So I start looking into that, what a huge hassle, won't do a clean uninstall (as usual).

Every time I try to do something like that, it's become a huge hassle. Plus for the first time ever NAV picked up and quarantined a virusW32.BugbearB@mm. Another huge hassle to get rid of that. Symantec says to run the scan again in safe mode and try the repair. I get an error that it won't run in safe mode.

You really need to scrub your hd once a year or so if you use a pc, don't know about the mac yet.

[thefactor]

i have a mac laptop. love it! can't run '.wmv' files though.

i used to work at an advertising agency. all the business end people used PC's. all the art people used MAC's. made sending emails that contained attachments a lot of fun.

seriously, if he's doing art stuff. go to a model with a lot of memory. but definitely get a Mac.

[Sloth]

I agree w/ others that he should ask students/faculty in the program he’s entering. Once he figures out what he needs at a minimum, I recommend looking on craigslist.

[Kirkwood]

He can get deep student discounts on a computer if he buys it on campus from the school vendor. Don’t buy it elsewhere, otherwise he will pay full or near-full retail.