I don't get the appeal of Macs. When it comes to photography, there are as many or more very powerful editing software packages out there for MS and a couple for Linux that are AT LEAST as good as anything Ive worked with on a Mac. I do mostly video editing that that is why I am used to using Macs. Until the last few years there was nothing close to what Macs could do with video, but now Adobe Premier is an MS app that is ported to Mac, not the other way around, and it flies circles around the latest Final Cut downgrade. Macs are double the price of comparable MS units and not any more stable. Macs are closed systems, MS, though nowhere near as open as it used to be, has an order of magnitude more options for anything you might want in both hardware and software.
I feel Mac is a religion. Some love Mac, swear by it and that is fine. But they have to admit there is no logical reason other than that is what they like....again, which is fine. I have been using Macs at work for 15-20 years so I am very familiar with them. I also had to install parallels on my work mac for it to run software we needed to do MPEG editing (our stations uses an MPEG playback system) . The boss is a Mac head. We've had this discussion. Before I talked him into letting me install parallels into the Mac I had to explain to him the process I had to do since our main encoder using a proprietary OS based on Windows records to MPEG, not AVI or MOV. I would have to covert the the file from MPEG to AVI, edit, render, covert the file back to MPEG. Each of those steps taking at least the same length as the program as opposed to using an MPEG editor that takes about 1/5 real time to render an edited master.
I just don't see why some go ga-ga over the product over several other quite viable options. This is my personal opinion developed over 12 years of actual usage experience in video/audio/photography editing. YMMV
I have Adobe CS6 (the whole potato) for my Mac. I can do anything I want with it. I used Linux for several years before I switched to OSX because the Linux photo and video editing packages are rubbish.
As for stability, I beg to differ. My Mac running Mavericks (legally purchased) is 100% stable. It does not crash, at all, ever. I have had Safari crash a few times and Firefox crash a few times (usually because of Flash player and or too many tabs open but mostly I would say Javascript which is RUBBISH) but the operating system has never crashed in the 18 months since I built it, in Jan 2012. Not once has it ever gotten a virus. I run CLAM AV which is extremely lightweight but totally effective. I run very aggressive ad blocking and privacy extensions on my browsers and I don’t visit shady websites. My Mac is extremely stable and reliable. It is by far, the very best computer I have ever owned.
When I quit using Windows in the year 2000 I had XP and it was total rubbish. It crashed all day, every day. Blue Screens of Death were the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The computer wasn’t usable because if you even looked at it out of the corner of your eye it would blow up. I was constantly fighting viruses on it. I spent ALL my time trying to clean it up and get it to stay running for even one day. It wasn’t possible to use it for anything. So that was it. I found out about Linux and I wiped Windows out and swore to never use it again. It took me about 2 years to learn how to use Linux because it was very crude in the day and I was messing it up constantly. I would wipe it out, reinstall and try again, over and over and over. It did get better though.
I had ended up using Ubuntu for my personal stuff but they had made changes to it that I didn’t like, such as the GUI, they changed it radically and I didn’t like it. I also did not approve of their monkeying with the privacy, something to do with the internal search being connected to some remote profiteering corporate scums.
And then I got very serious into photography. I got a very expensive professional DSLR camera and I needed to be able to process huge raw images and HD video.
There was nothing for Linux that didn’t totally suck lemons. I tried everything they had and it all was rubbish.
Time to go Mac. Since then I have had zero problems with my Mac and there is nothing it can’t do. Premiere works fine with video out of my Canon EOS 5D Mark II including RAW video.
I am using Magic Lantern so I can record video in RAW and I can even record in 4k (which is a hack that’s actually more like 3.5k but still much higher than 1080p)..
I have found no limitations or hinderances with OSX that would make me even remotely consider using anything else. I have not found any video or image format that my Mac can’t handle.
I also have a blu-ray burner in it. I can read/write blu-ray as much as I like. I bought the complete Breaking Bad series on Blu-ray and ripped it all to disk. I have the PLEX server installed and I can play back the blu-ray rips on my Roku 3 from anywhere in my house on any TV I like. Steve Jobs didn’t want me to be able to do that but I don’t care, I did it anyway.
Sometimes I need two machines if I’m working on something heavy duty and I’ll borrow my dad’s Mac. He doesn’t use it at all, has no clue how to use it at all. He got it from my son who owed him $$$.. It sits gathering dust except when I need to have two Macs at once.
As for windows, I will never, ever use it again. It has nothing to offer that I would be interested in. I wouldn’t use it if it were free. I wouldn’t use it if they paid me to use it.
Unfortunately, I do have windows 7 on my home theater PC but I do not use it for anything except watching FTA and OTA TV. My FTA tuner is puked out and I’m debating replacing the PC with an STB. If I do, I’ll wipe that system out and turn it into an OSX file server for my photos and videos. My ex built that machine for me, before I knew anything about satellite.
I used it a few times to browse the internet and it got infected from flippin pop-ups and pop-unders and it was a miserable experience cleaning it up. I can’t wait until the day when I can pull the plug on it, I really hate that it has windows on it.
I know that there are probably a million people out there seeing red because I totally disagree with the M$ folks. Oh well. It is what it is. I’m an Apple fan girl and I’m not jumping ship, not ever.
I hold a grudge forever and I have one against Microsoft. I’ll never use any of their products or services, period.
Anyway, I’m sure that this thing has strayed so far off the original topic that it’s running the risk of getting shut down.
I don’t wish to argue with anyone because this is one of those things where there is no end to it without simply saying, stop.
Best wishes..
