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Thread: MAC / PC

  1. #1
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    Now I've heard that a MAC is far superior to a PC as far as graphic capabilities go and in ever book I've ever seen discussing any sort of graphic software all the screen shots are of a MAC OS. I am curious, what if any, REAL time advantages the MAC OS has over the PC in a graphic programming setting? Im not sure this is the forum to get an un-biased answer , but I need to compile some hard information as to why this is true or whether or not it is a myth. I assume its not a myth so I just need to know some basic reasons why. I'm rather computer savvy so super technological terms will be fine as well. Anyone wanna field this one?

    Thanks,

    Aaron

  2. #2
    Senior Member tupps's Avatar
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    [QUOTE]Originally posted by VTMiddie31
    [B]Now I've heard that a MAC is far superior to a PC as far as graphic capabilities go and in ever book I've ever seen discussing any sort of graphic software all the screen shots are of a MAC OS. I am curious, what if any, REAL time advantages the MAC OS has over the PC in a graphic programming setting?

    <<tupps>> What sort of graphics programming are you talking about, eg; Games, A Graphics App, 3D rendering?

    I beleive that classic MacOS (7, 8, 9) was reasonably easy to program, but still had a lot of tricks, I never really got involved with that. MacOS X is a entirely different ball game, as it now uses PDF as a display format, as well as having the ability to easily hook into QuickTime, OpenGL, and Aqua. Have a look at http://developer.apple.com for more information.

    Thanks

    Luke

  3. #3
    Senior Member SJT's Avatar
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    I'm no graphics programmer (I assume flash doesn't count ) but I think it's partly due to the fact that all these apps only came into existence because of the mac, and first arrived on the mac (pshop, quark etc).
    It just didn't exist on other platforms, so there was a big headstart, which was largely maintained for quite a while.
    There's always been that sort of reputation about the mac because of the early days; and tho' i'm a devout mac user, i'd have to say that the gap between the platforms has been largely removed up until the release of OS X.

    Tupps is right, there are some powerful capabilities built into the quartz layer of the new OS which mean you don't have to write any of the stuff you used to.
    It's all handled by the OS, and you can concentrate on just writing your app to do what it's supposed to.
    Apparently building apps is therefore much quicker and easier (esp with the Objective C used in Cocoa).
    Don't take my word for it tho' your better off asking people who actually build the apps...

  4. #4
    I went to Graph Expo in Chicago a couple of years ago. It is a 'convention' for print providers, 4 color process, pre-press, post-press, etc. The entire graphic arts industry is represented there.

    In the entirety of McCormac's Place in Chicago, there was only one booth with a PC in it, and it was for accounting software for the business side.

    MACs were about 70% of the graphics business, and Unix the rest (Silicon Graphics, etc.)

    The Mac still holds it's place in the graphics industry because of being there first, and because they still have the fastest CPUs.

    This is probably due to the fundamental differences bewteen the Motorola/IBM Chip sets and the Intel chip sets. A process that takes 5 CPU instruction cycles in the Mac world takes 20 or 30 in the Intel chip set. This is probably why a 500Mhz G4 tests faster than a 900Mhz PC.

  5. #5
    Senior Member SJT's Avatar
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    i'd agree with jahronch too;

    Because PowerPC chips are RISC (reduced instruction set computing) processors instead of CISC (complex etc.) they can process instructions faster, and because the new G4 chips are 128bit they process more information with each processor cycle than their earlier cousins too, and far more than 32bit or 64bit pc processors
    In terms of hardware, macs are more powerful than PCs.

  6. #6
    The Definition of... Urbansory's Avatar
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    SJT sums it up when it comes to the chips each platform uses. Macs do less therefore are faster the process commands. PC's are used when it comes to programing, from what I saw at my school, Rochester Institute of Technology. The entire engineering department and Info Tech all have Windows NT, but my department, New Media of course is Mac dominated. I wouldn't give my G4 up for anything except a newer one. From what I've seen over the last 6 years the PC is trying to make a run for the make market, starting with the home user. My Director class used NT, and my professors is one the best lingo experts there are, and she said she was all PC. Personally PC's are slow in comparison to my G4 when it comes to production, but playback is faster and smoother on PCs. Macs are also better when it comes to video production, another aspect of the New Media feild. Macs are bid i the design industry, yet more of the designs software packages are sold for the PC, that home user again.

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