GalaxyCat Loc: Boston, MA

I'm debating getting the 27 Inch Apple computer: iMac, or a possible (too expensive ?) high-pixel display PC.

Which one is best, and what do people do for a mouse: the track pad, mouse, or a drawing tablet?

Thanks.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I managed to get a 27" iMac a few years ago. Until then, I was using a pretty good PC for editing. I'll never go back to the PC. I use them for other things now, but not processing photographs.
--Bob

GalaxyCat Loc: Boston, MA

Does PhotoShop fill the whole screen? Do you use a drawing tablet? Would a 21 inch screen be just as good, or does the 27 inch really make a big difference?

Thanks.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

What is your budget? How do you post process now? What do you use now? If a PC, have you ever used a Mac. If a Mac, have you ever used a PC?

rdubreuil Loc: Dummer, NH USA

Personal preference and budget. Either one can run into some serious $$$ as to which platform one goes with. I still use a mouse, I'd like a Wacom tablet but, there are more important things on my hardware hit list, so a tablet will have to wait.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Yes, PS fills the entire screen. Yes, on occasion I do use a Wacom tablet. I prefer the 27" as a good deal of my prints are 12x18, some 16x20. I can see them almost full size on a 27" screen.

Additionally, Mac is a bit more immune to a lot of the malware floating around the web these days. One still needs to exercise due diligence, but it is more immune.

I'll also add that I am not a fanatical iMac user. The systems currently running at home are iMac, 2-Win7 PCs and a Fedora Linux system. My laptop boots to either Win7 or Fedora Linux. I just find some are better tools to use for certain things than others. I do expand the use of the iMac to a little more than processing, but not very much. I want to leave drive space for image files.

I'd also recommend looking at G-Tech drives for additional storage space. They work very well with Macs.
--Bob

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Macs are not so much immune as the small user base makes them uninteresting to many hackers. The immune to hacks is a TOTAL MYTH. And MAC attacks are on the rise. Here are a few articles:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-glassberg/are-apple-products-really_b_10241742.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2017/05/07/apple-macs-are-no-longer-immune-to-hacks-and-other-small-business-tech-news-this-week/#1cd3fe809b30
https://thehackernews.com/2017/07/macos-malware-fruitfly.html

Snoopypood

I used to build and use PC's since the late 1980's. I've switched Macs since 2001. As they used the old Motorola processors, there was limited independent software available to us. The change over to the Intel processor in 2007 made a big impact and many developers immediately jumped on the bandwagon and improved their software for use with the new Intel/Mac. As time progressed, Mac continued to push Apple-everything making themselves a chic celebrity. Now, they seem to be orienting themselves to streaming and social media. A couple of years ago, they "upgraded" their OS from the big cats (Tiger, Leopard, Mountain Lion, etc) to El Capitan and beyond - I believe that the latest iteration is High Sierra. When one of my iMacs (2007) died, I replaced it with a new iMac at the end of 2016. It is NOT backward compatible with a lot of hardware and even some software. Many of my non-photo programs will not work with the new OS. Scanners, large high end commercial printers and some other devices are now obsolete and the hardware developers don't want to invest in new drivers or software updates for Mac. I still have all of my photo and video software on an old Mac Pro (2008) running Snow Leopard. Apple has since stopped supporting this so there are no longer any updates available. One of the great things about Snow Leopard on the Mac Pro is that it boots up in about 20 seconds. The new El Capitan takes over a minute - like Windows XP through a VPN. To be honest, when the Mac Pro dies, I will probably go back to a Windows machine. Even Adobe has better support for Windows than Macs particularly on programs other than Photoshop and Lightroom. Fortunately, Lightroom is multi-platform compatible and the switch will be easy. I will however, miss the 30 Cinema Display.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I should add that some panoramic stitching software a friend of mine and I wrote back in 2001-2002 compiled and ran perfectly on the iMac. Up until I tried compiling it on the iMac, I was running it on the Win7 system. So, that was another task which is now done exclusively on the 27" iMac.
--Bob

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Much of this comes down to which system you will be comfortable using. Keep in mind that "intuitive" when talking about computers, really just means that basic way for doing things works for you. I used PCs for decades with a couple of attempts at Apple products. Apple products just don't make sense to me. PCs do. You should sit in front of each and try starting programs,saving files, searching for files and looking up things on the internet. You will quickly find out if you are going to be comfortable.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

With one exception, you will get equal service out of both platforms, but you will save money with a PC. I use both, mostly PC these days as I don't do video much anymore. Avid and Final Cut Pro are great on a Mac, slightly less so on a PC. LR and PS are identical on both. I also have many students using both platforms, and I tend to have the fewest user and hardware issues with Windows users. The issues that come up with Mac users are typically more fundamental in nature. This may not be a universal situation, but in my academic and professional circles it seems to be the case.

The one exception occurs if you are doing color-accurate work. The PC offers industry standard sRGB and wide gamut AdobeRGB for photo editing, but oddly enough, Apple's wide gamut color space is better suited for video production - DCI-P3.

Feature for feature, the PC platform will cost between 33% and 50% less than the comparable Apple platform. The 4k PC system will likely cost more than a 27" iMac.

A 27" iMac quad core i7 running at 4.2 ghz, with 32 gb ram and a 1 TB SSD SATA drive costs $3600. You cannot expand the ram beyond 32 gb.

A system based on a 6 core i7-7800 4.0 ghz, with 32 gb ram and a 1 TB m.2 NVMe drive (4x faster than a SATA drive), would cost $2392, and the system could be easily upgraded to 128gb ram, and you can add 2 more m.2 drives as well as three 2.5" drives and three 3.5" drives - all internally. You also have a wide choice of graphics cards to select from. Adding a Dell P2715Q 27" 4K display for $425 you'll end up spending $2827. I have had great results purchasing Asus and MSI systems from Xoticpc.com, which offer a lifetime warranty on components and very competitive support plans with real specialists to speak with.

https://www.xoticpc.com/gx13-intruder-x299.html?startcustomization=1

The sample configuration in the estimate above was based on this system.

I am fine with any form of input, but if you can get accustomed to a tablet, like a Wacom, you will get some really good performance out of it. I take advantage of the pressure sensitive feature to control flow or brush size in Photoshop. My second choice is the mouse, and last is the track pad.

BTW, here is the hype on the 27" 5K Retina display - bright, but scaled to use 2560x1440 resolution, which requires a third party application to unlock the full resolution of 5K. It is also brighter. Most of the time, most displays arrive way too bright, causing you to edit your images to your visual liking, and then you end up with dark prints. You will likely turn down the brightness to half in order to get decent, not-too-dark prints.

If you are like the majority of users, you can't go wrong with either platform - just be prepared to pay for things with a Mac that usually come free or at a lower cost with a PC, and understand that upgrading an iMac down the road will not be as easy as twisting a couple of screws and adding more memory, better graphics card or additional enterprise-quality hard drives. But at the present, your software will run equally well on either.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

The Mac is more impervious to viruses than PC's argument is disingenuous. It all depends on what kind of virus protection you have. When I had McAfee my PC had all kinds of problems. It froze, ran slow, had blue screens, and picked up viruses which forced total Windows wipes. I researched the best virus protections at the time and switched to BitDefender. Since then my computer has run flawlessly. It constantly runs in the background and notifies me if I'm about to log on to a dangerous site. I do a full system scan weekly and, if I feel things are slowing down at all, will run the optimizer, which clears out all the junk from the registry, cookies, and other areas....basically what those scammers used to get us to pay them to take over our computers to do. So....if you get a PC, get good virus protection and you should be good.

As far as screens go, I'd suggest doing good research into all the screens available. Look at what Dell has, for instance. This would mean pulling up and comparing specifications regarding each screen. Research on what makes a good screen for photography for sharpness and color. It may be different than what would be good for video (I'm only surmising on this point). 4K screens have been mentioned. Are 4K screens beneficial for photography? I just purchased a 4K television and lo and behold there isn't much 4k programming to watch. There are a few 4K videos on youtube and I noticed some 4k movies listed on Netflix but they're all old ones that I've already seen.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

These days, computers are tools. After using both, I do not think there is any performance/utility difference between iOS and Windows. I will tell you one thing, I know several iOS upgrades where you have to repurchase software you already have because Apple changed system architecture. Plus Apples are bloody expensive.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I had a top of the line Dell and when it died I purchased a MacPro. I do believe that the screen on my Dell was better than the screen that came with my MacPro. I was disappointed.