fishmaven Loc: Ohio right now

I'm a Mac guy, have been since the CPM days. But, Apple's Macs of today aren't intuitive anymore. If you're already leaning toward a Mac though, I'd advise playing with your friends iMac. No one yet has suggested used Macs. Go to macsales.com and look at their offerings of used Macs. They're one of the best choices for upgrades and take trade-ins. You may be able to duplicate your friends machine, add more memory and still be within your budget. My next machine, I'll be looking at everything in my price range. I won't just buy a Mac, it'll have to be the right choice...
Dan Martin
fishmaven@gmail.com

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

The truth actually is that:
1) PCs run Windows of one variety or another since the late 80s, although there were certainly users running DOS 6.x (not "DOSS connected" into the 90s and there is still a DOS-like command line interpreter in Windows for people (like me) that like command line occasionally.

2) Mac's OS is no more stable than Windows 10. It's instructive to compare the number of revs of OSX to Windows...

3) most Enterprise customers (pros) as well as individuals run Windows - ~80%. I will agree that Macs are popular in the graphics/imagery world, but no idea of the actual percentage without some research. Regardless, they are a small percentage of the total user base.

4) I don't believe anyone can disagree ( even Mac zealots) that you can buy Much more computing power for the same $ with a Windows machine (see the examples earlier in the thread)

Finally, if you like Macs and they run the apps you use well and are willing to pay the price, then carry on, but let's keep the facts straight.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

If you do mostly Word documents and research (Google, Wikipedia, et al), and photo massaging is secondary, suggest you stick with what you have re operating system, either Win or Mac.

JPL

Here is a link to a video about building a computer that is good for photo and video editing. Maybe this is something for you to consider. Total cost with monitor, keyboard and mouse can be in the $800-1000 range depending on your choices. If you do not think you are fit to build your own there is most likely someone you know next door that would be happy to help or do the job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a20QRW162ZQ&t=10s

BebuLamar

And if you have all the money you can buy a much more powerful PC than a Mac.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Bill,
I'm another in the iMac corner. I purchased a "used" one from a friend. I wouldn't think of editing photographs on anything else. It's a 27" with 12G of ram.
--Bob

KTJohnson Loc: Northern Michigan

I'm also a pastor & photographer and I would also advise going with whatever operating system you currently use. If you already use any kind of Bible software (WORDsearch, e-Sword, Logos Bible Software, etc.) it would probably transfer easier to whatever system you are using.

How new and good is your monitor, you may not need to upgrade that. I use a Dell UltraSharp U2715H 27 inch screen, excellent for both photography & sermon prep.
That was about $500 two years ago.

I had a company called Maingear build a computer for me. Intel i7 6700k, 16 gb memory, 250gb SSD, 2TB WD hard drive, DVD, Asus motherboard, about $1400 two years ago, running Windows 10. No complaints so far.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

My thoughts too re sticking with operating system. Lowers the learning curve.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

4 years ago we switched from a dell laptop and an HP desktop to Apple products. Why? Viruses, HD failings etc...

Since that time we had no issues. Except for the screen on a 21” iMac sucked in some soot from all the insence we used to burn in the same room. Which meant that it was our fault. Still under warranty, but I was told that it may take 5 to 7 days. I casually mentioned that I can’t go home to my wife with that kind of news because she uses the iMac for selling on e bay. The next day I get a phone call from the Apple store that I can come and pick it up. No charge.

I’m sure that you get the same treatment at a pc store, but to claim that visiting an Apple store is somehow going to be a negative experience is pure BS.

Personally, I don’t care what computer you or the OP spend YOUR money on, but please don’t make up lies?

Like I said, since we had switched, we had ZERO issues.

We have:

21.5” iMac
27” 5k iMac
iPhone
iPad classic
iPad Air
iPad Pro

No way would I ever go back to PCs.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Just to be factual, Macs use exactly the same components (Intel CPUs, memory, HDs, etc) as PCs, so HW reliability is a wash. Regarding viruses, there are certainly more viruses in the wild for PCs, and the reason is simple - there are 4-5x the number of PCs in service as Macs. As I hope everyone knows, Macs have viruses as well, and since they use Intel CPUs, they’re subject to the same recently discovered native CPU vulnerabilities as PCs. Finally, the vast majority of virus infections are the result of poor computing practices such as visiting insecure sites, opening links in emails, etc. and have nothing to do with the platform.

I am not a PC fanboy or bigot, although I personally prefer PCs for many reasons including cost/performance. I know many prefer Macs and that’s fine, but let’s not let the enthusiasm distort the facts.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

I visit the same sites and more nowadays. I Believe what you wrote, but I yet to hear of an Apple user who was infected with a virus. Do you know of anyone personally?

James Slick Loc: Pittsburgh,PA

For real: NO O.S. IS IMMUNE from malware or viruses. I sincerely hope my Apple fan friends know that. Ironically while trying to assist a pastor with a computer decision, some will put "faith" in man made code! Macs TEND to encounter less viruses as the jerks who write such code will go with the biggest market. And that doesn't even start to cover malware that relys on user gullibility - that NO antivirus software will help with (email phishing,for example.)

I often hear someone advising folks to get a certain OS because "it's more secure than......" instead of helping new users avoid malware in the first place.

This is NOT an anti-Apple comment, I have Mac, Windows, Linux and Android devices myself. I'm "agnostic" towards OSs!, LOL.

My current everyday OS advice is to get the one you are most comfortable with.... period...

It may be MacOS, Windows, or one of the (seemingly) 8.3 million Linux distros out there!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

No I don’t, and by the same token, I don’t know anyone personally (including me or my family) that has ever had a PC infected either, but I’m sure there are plenty of each. The world is filled with users who visit insecure sites, click on suspect links, don’t backup their data, have no off-site DR, don’t use an antivirus and keep the definitions up to date, don’t Install OS patches, and trust their (precious) data to cheap HDs, etc. I have had customers, who were typically running either Linux or Windows servers, who were subject to many kinds of malware attacks including ransomware, denial of service attacks, and every kind of accident you can imagine including A/C failures, lightning strikes, floods, water leaks, accidental Halon drops, and double disk failures, just to name a few.

Btw, I own five Apple devices (including an IMac and using an IPad to write this), and I think the styling and packaging is first rate (except for the difficulty of repairing them), and the user friendliness (especially for the non computer literate user) and sharing of data across platforms is first-rate, but I have to say that IOS is the buggiest OS I have encountered since OS9.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

All I can tell you about is my own experience. Never would recommend a pc or use one again.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

I know plenty who had issues with PCs.