When did I say that? :o
anyway, I’m only speaking from what I’ve heard, so I accept that I may be wrong about certain things.
Also, I’ve read a lot of Graphic Designer job ads, and just about all of them require you to be able to work on a Mac with Mac specific software.
I never said Macs do better graphic design than PCs, Macs are just more inclined towards designers than PCs are (apparently). %|
Your words:
Industry standard software for graphic design: Quark express, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Freehand. Pretty standard stuff available on Windows as well, nothing Mac specific here… Most graphic designer sarted out using Macs and still do but plenty of us use Windows or Linux or whatever when called for. If you’ve used Windows 98 and up you’ll pick up MacOS, or KDE, or Irix in no time…
Or you can go to compUSA and buy a 15 dollar microsoft 3button laser mouse (with scroll wheel) a 15 dollar usb keyboard and some cheap speakers. You get what you pay for with Apple products. For instance you can put their keyboards in the dishwasher if you spill beer on them 
I find this to be a strength rather than a liability, but to each their own.
And this is totally untrue. The tower/powerMac systems can use many if not all of the same components as off the shelf pc’s for repairs/upgrades. This isn’t 1985 anymore.
You don’t get the same level of support for free I can tell you that right now. Quality software is worth paying for.
Although the whole system is not open source, the kernel for OSX is, as well as many included utilities. The BSD system layer that sits on top of the Mach-0 kernel is derived from OpenSource.
OSX comes with a smorgasbord of usefull software, much of which the open source world simply cannot touch. Furthermore with projects like Fink, you can run/compile 99 percent of the open source/unix apps out there on OSX. Try doing the reverse. The custom X11 server that ships with OSX integrates seamlessly with the rest of the system.
I hope this is a joke. OSX is based upon BSD, so at the very least it is the equal of linux in that area. Furthermore it has technologies like rendevous that make it a heck of a lot more ‘network capable’ than either linux OR windows.
You bet your bippy! Well, then again so is OSX…
Too bad some of your reasons dont seem to be based on fact…
Zarf
But to answer your question:
You can effortlessly do things on a Mac that PC users only dream about, without giving up any of the compatibility with the PC world that you need.
The Mac…It Just Works
Ask them — the millions of people who use and love their Macs — why it’s become such an integral part of their lives, and most will tell you that it’s because it just works. Letting them do what they want to do. How they want to do it. Intuitively. And there’s good reason. Only with a Mac do you find absolutely flawless integration of hardware and software. Only with a Mac do you get an operating system built by the same people who built the computer it runs on. Take a Mac out of its box, and you experience that hand-and-glove fit from the get-go. Plug it in. Turn it on. And you’re ready for anything. That’s because with a Mac, you’ll find all of the essentials built right in. USB. FireWire (IEEE 1394). Ethernet. Modem. Macs even come with built-in antennas for wireless networks. And every Mac comes with drivers for most of the printers, joy sticks, DV camcorders, keyboards, storage devices, digital cameras, input devices, MP3 players and game pads you’ll be connecting to those ports. So when you plug them in for the first time, they’ll just work, too.
It Doesn’t Crash
Are you just a tad too well acquainted with the notorious “blue screen of death?” Bid it a fond farewell. With Mac OS X, you’ll become accustomed instead to industry-leading stability. In this elegant new operating system, memory is fully protected and applications can’t conflict with the OS or one another. And, oh yes, Mac OS X is built on the industrial strength of UNIX. Most Fortune 500 companies, governments and universities rely on UNIX for their mission-critical applications. And now, so can you.
It’s a Digital Jukebox
The critics all agree (and how often does that happen?) — not only does iTunes turn the Mac into an unequalled digital jukebox, but iPod, iPod mini, iPod photo and the new iPod shuffle have no peer among digital music players on the market today. And iTunes 4 comes with an appealing new feature: the fabulous iTunes Music Store, stocked with more than 1 million songs you can preview and own with just one click. iTunes makes it easy to convert the music from your CD collection into digital audio files. Lets you make playlists to match your every mood. Offers one-button burning of audio CDs. And seamless integration with digital music players. Like iPod. Which fits in your pocket, weighs as little as 0.78 ounces, holds up to 15,000 songs, features lightning-fast music transfers via FireWire or USB 2.0, plays for up to 15 hours and lets you bring your music wherever you go. iTunes and iPod for Mac offer additional integration with Apple’s iLife products, taking them beyond their Windows versions. For instance, you can use your iTunes library as the soundtrack source for your iPhoto slideshows, iMovie films and iDVDs. You can even display iPhoto pictures on your iPod photo.
Delivers The Promise Of Digital Photography
Everyone loves iPhoto, which revolutionizes the way you save, organize, share and enjoy digital photos. Included with every Mac, iPhoto lets you easily download, organize, find and share your photos — as prints, in a slide show or on a website it will even help you build. Simply drag your mouse, and iPhoto magically grows or shrinks your photo thumbnails. So you can view individual shots in detail or see hundreds of photos on the screen at once, and quickly scroll through thousands to find the one you’re looking for. iPhoto even lets you create your own custom coffee-table books. You may never go back to using a film camera again.
Best Solution, In Fact, For All Things Digital
Designed and built for today’s digital lifestyle, the Mac offers a complete and integrated ensemble of digital tools called iLife. In addition to iTunes and iPhoto, iLife includes GarageBand, iMovie and, on all systems equipped with a SuperDrive, iDVD, as well. Like the Mac itself, the iLife suite of applications is easy to use and work together flawlessly. Create a musical masterpiece in GarageBand, then listen to it on iPod or add it to a home movie or DVD slideshow. You’ll use iMovie to turn raw video footage into polished films — complete with soundtracks, titling and effects — that friends will actually ask to watch over and over again. And iDVD will let you burn your photos and movies onto DVDs that can be played on most commercially available DVD players.
Built To Go Everywhere — Because That’s Where You’ll Want It
We think computing on the go should always be a first-class experience. That’s why we design our PowerBook and iBook G4 computers the way we do. Light. Thin. Displays so bright and clear, you’d think you’re working on a desktop system. And they come standard with what some other laptops consider “extras”: capacious hard drives, built-in optical drives, USB, FireWire, Ethernet, modem, video out, audio in, WiFi. Consider this: Can your PC laptop go coast to coast with just one battery? Can you put the system to sleep just by closing the lid? Does it wake up instantly? Can your PC laptop automatically switch between Ethernet, dial-up and wireless connections on the fly? Without a restart? Ours can.
The Internet Is Integrated
When did you last configure a PC for the Internet? Take you long? It won’t on a Mac. Fact is, most of our customers are up-and-surfing within 15 minutes. And that includes people who never touched a computer before in their lives. What will your experience be like? Using a utility such as Move2Mac, you’ll find moving your favorites, email contacts and email messages to the Mac mere child’s play. And wait till you try the software. Safari and Mail offer features not found on any platform, features that make browsing and email on a Mac an absolute joy. Want to stay in touch? With just a simple click, iChat AV works with iSight to let you see and hear your co-workers, friends and family, no matter how far away they are. And iChat AV works seamlessly with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). Furthermore, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger all have Mac versions. In fact, you’ll find tons of Internet tool options. That includes QuickTime. When it comes to world-class streaming video, no product offers a better digital media experience than QuickTime 6. Of course on a Mac, it’s just as easy to stream video, chat, read email and surf wirelessly. That’s because every Mac is ready for WiFi (802.11b and 802.11g) — we call it AirPort — right out of the box.
Office is Office and then Some
The transition to a Mac is easy in part because you’ll continue using the same applications you already know. Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac OS X gives you Word, PowerPoint and Excel, all with the same familiar features and shortcut commands. And thanks to exclusive features, the Mac versions improve on their Windows counterparts. Office documents are all fully compatible between Mac and Windows, so you can share everything from spreadsheets to presentations. Beyond Office, you’ll find you can run more than 10,000 applications designed specifically for Mac OS X. You can do anything you’d dream of doing on the Mac — from CAD to databases to finance.
It Works Effortlessly With PCs
Standards let everyone work together harmoniously. That’s why Apple has adopted so many of them. Take networking. Networking on a Mac is built on the same technologies used by PCs. As a result, the Mac is at home on PC networks (or just about any other kind), making the business of sharing files and printers with PCs entirely painless. And in Mac OS X you don’t have to be a network administrator to make it all work. What’s more, Gigabit Ethernet is built in. As is support for 802.11 wireless, so you can network without cables inside your house using AirPort or another wireless access point. Of course, you can also swap files via data CD, floppies or Zip disks. And most new peripherals connect via USB or FireWire (two other industry standards), so you can use them with either PCs or Macs.
It’s Beautiful
Our designers and engineers agonize over every millimeter of every new Macintosh model, and every pixel of the user interface. The result: ergonomic products that are the toast of the design world. iMac G5. PowerBook. iPod. iBook G4. The new Mac mini.You can see obsession with design and detail wherever you look: the orderly layout behind the removable back cover of the new iMac G5, the pint-sized perfection of the new Mac mini, laser-etched text where others would put a sticker, the tough colorfast polycarbonate cases of the eMac, the anodized aluminum alloy enclosure of the Power Mac G5, the elegant optical mouse included with all desktop Macs, the instructions on the back of the door you open to add memory to an iBook or PowerBook. They’re objects that would be striking even if they weren’t computers. Tools that are, at every level, a pleasure to use.
We think you owe it to yourself to experience a Macintosh first-hand. Check out the high-performance PowerBook. The Power Mac G5, the world’s fastest personal computer. The oh-so-portable iBook. The beautiful iMac. And the most affordable Mac ever, the Mac mini. Come see one at an Apple Store or one of our resellers. You’ll find the Mac can answer most of your questions itself.
Well theres tons of reasons to get a mac, but they may not be good ones depending on your parents needs.
<bias>
-OSX is based upon a system paradigm that has over the last 20 years been proven time and again to be among the most stable, secure and robust in the world.
I am of course referring to Unix. Beneath the candy coated shell of OSX lies a monster of an OS waiting to be unleashed. This means that not only will you have little or no system crashes due to buggy applications, but even in the highly unlikley event that your system security is compromised (something that happens almost weekly to many windows users), the amount of damage that an attacker can cause is greatly curtailed by the security features of Unix systems.
-OSX runs many popular applications like Microsoft Office, Photoshop/Illustrator/Indesign, and QuarkExpres while at the same time providing almost instant access to literally THOUSANDS of quality Open Source software (via fink and gnu/Darwin)
Not much to elaborate on here. You get the best of both worlds.
-If your at all intersted in extending your interest in computers beyond what you know currently and plan to pursue a job in the IT field OSX is a great choice.
As I said before, based on Unix. Furthermore it ships with a whole suite of world class development tools standard, something you have to pay extra for with Microsofts system.
-OSX has many innovative technologies that have no correlary on any other OS.
I won’t spend a whole lot of time going into why Quartz and Quartz extreme rock so much, or why its so cool that apples version of python ships with a module for interfacing with them. Suffice to say they are just 2 of the many really cocol things you get when buying a computer with OSX on it.
-The UI kicks ass.
Sorry it just does and anyone who tells you otherwise has not actually attempted any real work using OSX. There are many small things that Apple has painstakingly researched that make the interface among the most usable and transparent in the world. It does take some getting used to (sound farmilar blender users?), but once you start getting used to it you will begin wondering how you ever lived without it.
</bias>
Uhmmm those are just a few of the reasons I switched to a mac. Course none of this may matter to your parents in which case I would suggest buggering off and leaving em alone 
Cheers,
Zarf
Lol I’m in.
Ok let’s begin.
Who says windows, mac osx or linux has never had an error message or else is a donkey. I used those Os types, windows more then Linux and Mac s almost more then windows. I can tell you about experience they are all 3 buggy, even Mac os and Linux. Ok here a small why.
Btw I didn’t choose a side, it’s a general reply, not I like this more then that and tell more positief things then negative.
Windows:
used: XP Prof
comment: Easy to install, takes some time but the wizard helps you fine, almost my sister can do it herself. When done installing there are some anoying audio bugs, especially with microphone and recording. Afher that if you use it with care, don’t use Internet Explorer but Netscape, you won’t get much addware or spyware. Also outlook is a nice virus catcher, so get rid of that. Further, sometimes an error, or not responding stuff, but easy to fix with taskmanager.
Further easy to add hardware and software, especially hardware in xp prof is just plug and play. 99% of the time the delivered install cd’s aren’t much of a use, windows recognice almost everything.
suites: users as: graphic designers, coders and home default users, but use with care.
Macintosh
used: Mac osx (10.3)
comment: Well also quiet easy to install, but that’s apple. Further some nice programs come with the Os, but some software is useless because you don’t have stuff that works with it, like IPod (dont’ have one, but ok)
The layout is nice, but not that really userfriendly. It’s friendly for home users, but people which are curious what’s stored where or how encounter long search around until they find it. Like where does IPhoto store it’s pictures, but who cares 
Adding new software goes with ease, but adding new hardware inside the mac itself isn’t that easy (ask a mac geek for that) adding plug and play things go quiet well, but yep, most things are Mac Only which I find really anoying, why that? My usb stick works on Linux, windows and Mac, but they sell mac only sticks too 
and why?
The anoying I don’t want to restart, reset but only shut down on switching the electricity of bug has been fixed, on the G5’s, fine that was the most common bug I met each day on my work. Further nice stuff.
suites: graphic designers, home internet users (beware of mac only things, windows and linux things won’t work on this.
Linux:
used: Vendora, flashpuppy, Redhat, and some more.
The installing is on ‘some’ linux builds quiet easy like vendora. But because linux is freeware I encounterd a lot of Os install bugs. Won’t install, or install and on reboot errors, errors on formating your hd drive and some more.
When its installed the Gui is quiet cool on some builds, sometimes windows like, sometimes Unix Mac os like. The mac os like ones are quiet easy to navigate, the windows like gui’s are anoying to browse around, slow and screen filling, but that willl be fixed with multiple desktop screen views.
Further adding new hardware before installing Linux goes with ease, a plug and play does the job, but afther installing the Os, it’s a nightmare of home users. The worst way to do this is coding or use dos like stuff.
Installing programs in the intresting part, windows software will run on some linux builds running windows enviroments. Mac os stuff? didn’t get that running on it. Windows compatible hardware is compatible with Linux in some causes, well actually in most times.
suites: coders and advanced os users, computergeeks in one word
Here a sort comment:
Windows xp = want to have a pc, do some nice things on it and want learning a pc, how to use it. Userfriendly and made for graphic designers.
tip: use xp prof, that’s the most suiteable more control able windows os.
Mac Osx = want to have a nice smooth looking pc, don’t want to extend the hardware and just have fun and don’t share files with each other. A personal, graphic design, internet pc.
Linux = if you want to get more control over your pc, which is in most causes for a normal pc users useless unless you know what you’re doing. Installing, well a tip: buy a book and get informed how to use or install before doing it. Using the irc channels for Linux is in most causes useless, takes hours before people actually can help you with the install. Another Tip: get a easy Linux build with boot install wizard cd.
This Os is most suitable for advanced pc users, so if you want to use it, be sure to have a phone number to call a geek if you encounter problems.
I runn all those 3 oses, within 6 months I got results of these oses. This part is my opinion.
windows: use with care, no problems, take time to exit it don’t rush exiting things that will show not responding stuff. But within 6 months I got almost no errors. It even didn’t crashed.
Mac Osx: you can mess up verything, and it still works, a real home user pc to chill and have a good looking os to show to friends. But the Mac only stuff anoyes me, why aren’t mac os hardware working on linux and windows while linux and windows stuff works on mac I never get an error, but a system freeze once a while in a week.
Linux: 80% of the builds I used had horrible installs. Hardware configure problems, especially sounds cards and video cards. Even Os install problems, (did I see that on windows and mac? 
nope) The Gui’s look quiet well, but is really screen filling, and really slow to browse. The content you can browse on windows and mac os in just a few seconds, take more time on linux. Cool Gui but anoying. On install of the Os, you choose what should be installed and which not, but unchecking the stuff you don’t want doesn’t really help. In most causes it just gets installed. And the total hd space of the os is quiet big. You’re a computer geek, like coding and don’t care about good looking stuff. Use Linux. Else, don’t use.
Running Linux 3 months instead of 6 gave more errors then windows and Mac osx together in 6 months.
Yeah right, you think I didn’t have knowledge of it, and I just run windows. Well no, U run windows at home for my blender project, and coding stuff. I run Mac Osx at work, to get money and used Linux 6 months on my server. But I prefer Mac Osx and windows then 1 day trying installing Linux without a computergeek or Linux install guide (totally waste of time)
I also installed linux, mac osx and windows os at the same knowledge levels. To install Linux and Mac os I called a Linux and Mac expert to teach me. And even the Linux guy was :o on the errors linux gave.
Using Knoppix is cool, I used it a lot. The easy knoppix shows you to just run a reboot, the hardness shows linux as a hd disk install. When I saw knoppix I was like, cool just a few seconds and another os is here. But installing it on your hd shows the complete another side.
I don’t know why it’s so famous, people say it won’t crash, don’t show errors and it’s easy to install. But why are LinuxGeeks on conferences telling me is has sometimes huge problem. Is it just microsoft boycot?, just the hate that someone has got a huge amount of money and is soo exited to develope each time another stuff?
All for all, it’s better having more kind of Os to quite your needs.
I personally work better and faster on a PC, but there are plenty of reason to bash windows!
Tell em’ this:
One day, the president of Ford (I don’t know who he is, I should though) and Bill Gates were eating in a small cafe. Bill gates started bragging,
“You know, if Microsoft was in the car industry, we’d all be driving 100% fuel efficent cars that would be able to drive at 150 mph. in the city due to advanced technology that would detect the distant from another car and stop you in .5 seconds.”
The pres of Ford though about this for a moment and replied,
“Yeah, I guess so. But would you really want your car to crash five times a day?”
I read that in a Reader’s Digest. LOL! 
Those things are so funny.
Go Dante! I qouted you in my info on AIM once. Can’t remember all you said but it was funny. Some thing like, “I can’t believe how easy networking has become these days, I mean sitting down for a nice LAN game and everything working right the first time, I hate it. I hate playing games.” Bunch of stuff like that. I wish I still have all of it. I like to use it to bug my mac loving friends.
Go Dante! I qouted you in my info on AIM once. Can’t remember all you said but it was funny. Some thing like, “I can’t believe how easy networking has become these days, I mean sitting down for a nice LAN game and everything working right the first time, I hate it. I hate playing games.” Bunch of stuff like that. I wish I still have all of it. I like to use it to bug my mac loving friends.[/quote]
I don’t see why that would bug them. On OSX all my network connections autoconfigure themselves, which is more than I can say for when I networked my 2 PC’s running Win2kpro and XPpro togather.
Zarf
In the last week I havee been involved in at least 5 or 6 ‘mac vs pc’ threads here and on CGTalk and I see a disturbing trend. Usually the threads start innocently enough like these ones, then the PC users start bashing the mac, oftentimes citing erroneous or flat out wrong
information.
The disturbing thing is that when a knowledgable user points out the prescense of faulty information they are ignored and never get a response. A few posts later someone else starts bashing the mac again using the same debunked arguments. I find this to be a really strange phenomenon. What has Apple done to engender such platform bigotry? Yes I did say bigotry since it seems that the Apple haters have more interest in bashing Macs than they do in the objective truth.
Some of the more common ‘error’s’ or ‘lies’ I see on these threads (not just this one!)
-You cannot upgrade or repair Macs
Fact: Macs, especially the powermac models can usually be ugraded or repaired using off the shelf PC components. The biggest exception being the motherboard and processor.
-Macs don’t network
Fact: OSX is based upon a Mach MicroKernel integrated with a BSD system layer . Aside from the fact that BSD/Unix is a great OS for networking, OSX includes technologies like Rendevous that enables zero configuration networking in many situations.
I have no trouble getting my mac to talk to other types of machines like PC’s ect.
-There is no software availible for the Mac
Fact: there is more software availible now for the Mac than ever before. On my system I have Zbrush2, Cinema4D, Motionbuilder, Maya PLE, Adobe CS suite, Blender, Wings and a host of others both commercial and OpenSource. Companies like Kaydara and Pixologic that wanted to deploy their flagship titles in a unix enviorment chose OSX over linux and freeBSD.
Additionally through Fink and GnuDarwin you also have access to thousands of quality open source products. For those wanting to port unix apps without rewriting a signifigant portion of the UI code Apple has provided a custom X11 server that integrates seamlessly with OSX.
Games are still somewhat a problem but the situation is improving rapidly. For example Ive been playing the demo for ut2k4 on my powerbook latley… its pretty fun 
-Macs crash all the time!
Fact:OSX is currently about as stable (if not more so) than any other Unix, including Linux and FreeBSD. Of course you will see applications crash on OSX, but you will see the same thing on Linux and FreeBSD since this is generally the application vendors fault. No OS on the planet will make a buggy application without any error handling or fault tolerance built in from crashing. The thing is with a Unix system the application wont take the whole system down with it.
There are more, but those are the most glaring ones that spring to mind.
So why the hate people?
Zarf
lol, i dont care if people use macs. But I have to admit, a lot of times they can be very annoying about their comp. But I’m sure windows users can be the same way. Although I think most windows users just use it because they have to or it’s what they are used to. But they arn’t obessed with it.
The reason why it’s wise to choose a Macintosh when doing graphic design work is that any unforseen glitch, say in the handling of color or margins or fonts or what-have-you, could result in the complete spoilage of a production run … or a technical delay for which the printer will nonetheless charge you. The cost of even one such incident will be greater than the cost of the entire computer system.
When a computer problem develops, it completely shuts down the productivity of a worker who, again, is worth far more.
If a security problem that nobody wanted, that nobody other than the vendor (Microsoft) could control or prevent, is literally inflicted upon their user community because Microsoft wanted to win a court-case (that they didn’t win, but bribed their way out of) … then those users may know that their money would not be well-spent on lawyers. But they do know that they can vote with their wallets.
BTW, Windows wouldn’t keep crashing if you would stop downloading all that virus infected porn online.
Before I switched to Firefox, it was IE that was downloading the virus infected porn (without asking me 
)
And it crashes even if I don’t download virus infected porn 
I think that they should buy a mac because:
a) Microsoft is rubbish
b) Macs look nice
Of course, they might consider not buying anything and instead use the money to buy shares in Apple - cause they’re doing alright at the moment… or donate it to a worthy cause.
How about get a Mac, install Vodoo Linux with windows running software ?
So you’re telling your parents that Windows sucks, but have nothing to justify your opinion with, so you need get the opinions of others on this forum to relay onto your parents? That’s completely ridiculous. You probably don’t even know what is wrong with Windows, other than “it’s stupid.” It seems that your parents know more about what they want than you do.
I’ve had Windows XP for a full year now, and I’ve never had ANY problem caused by Windows itself. Whatever causes Windows to crash is caused by some stupid, faulty program/virus you’ve downloaded.
Maybe it’s because you’re 15 and can’t even persuade yourself against ignorance.
Well, let’s not get personal, shall we? :-?
<Censored> years ago, I was fifteen once. Happens to the best of us.
Fact is, you can be perfectly happy with either type of computer, and there really isn’t much rational justification for prejudice for/against either one. It is particularly important that, if you intend to be “in the business,” you should not harbor prejudices of this type. You are always going to walk into rooms where “the decision has already been made” whether you agree with it or not, whether you would counsel the same way or not. But you will also walk into rooms where the decision has not yet been made and you’ll be asked for an unbiased opinion and you’d better be able to provide one. Recognizing also that, a mere three years from now, all of this hardware might be regarded as “laughably obsolete.” … as in, “my wristwatch can do that!” (And by then, it can.)
Then I must be the worst of us.
I’m not deliberately trying to be a grumpy bastard, but what’s the point of having an opinion if you have nothing to back it up?
Oops! :o My point must have been taken the wrong way. It wasn’t much of a point I admit, and I probably should have hit “cancel” instead of “send.” But in any case, I was not trying to make a joke at your expense, and I think I just did.
Please accept my sincere apologies.
Well, I don’t know macs but I know windows and linux, and Linux is hard. You have to be a real expert. It’s really cool but so far it has caused me nothing but misery.