im on an apple macbook pro. i love it. leopard has made my life so much easier! i grew up using pc and switched about 2 years ago. things have been running so much smoother with programs, customizing etc.
 

There are many things that you cannot do on an apple that you CAN do on a PC, most of which are just games. However, the switch I made from PC to Mac was amazing. You will have to learn an entirely new operating system but all that takes is a bit of time and patience. It is DEF worth it. I think you should go for it. I will never go back to Microsoft computers.
 

I have never used a MAC for longer than 2 seconds lol but i love my new laptop that i got from hp... it uses vista instead of the other one (my brain is not here right now so i cant think of the other operating system PC's use)... Vista is more like the Mac operating system and i love it so much more than the other one... granted its still a PC but its a cheaper way to have an operating system like the MAC and my laptop is especially made for business's, like photography and it was only 999.99 which is CHEAP lol!!! Maybe thats something you could consider!!! Hope this helps!!!
 

NO COmment I really hate computers. I dont spend that much on computers either.
In fact Im using one that I bought at a thrifty store for $50.00 which is a desk top computer.
LMAO talk about cheap huh? Its because that leaves me more money to spend on photography equipment. Computers are known not to last long. Once it runs out of memory you start having major problems. I refuse to pay big bucks for a computer that will only last two to thee years.
 

Mac all the way!! If you can afford it.. Definately.. get one..
 

I, personally am a Mac person. I really think it's whatever you started with is what becomes your preference. I say, do your homework. I don't know a lot of about pc's but I know they have photoshop for pcs. So, just check out the other software out there and read reviews to make sure you'll be able to do what you want to.
Good luck.
 

this past summer I had to get a new laptop quickly, so I thought. I ended up not starting classes then and I wish I had of know that before I got this laptop...it uses Vista and I hate it. I would rather use XP again. But back to what I was saying I had always intended on my next computer purchase being a MAC but I didn't have the money to get a mac and I knew my dad wasn't going to put out that much for one at that time. My son has a MAC and I get on his from time to time and I'm now saving every extra penny I get so get a MAC. I would say go for a MAC. MAC's have been popular in the school stream and the business world for a while, just as any computer you have to take proper precaution to protect yourself an take care and clean your machine. right now I don't have a firewall on my sons MAC but I am still going to get a firewall and virus software for it.
The MAC will take a little time to learn, but if you the least bit computer savvy it wont take long to pick it up. Best of luck with your decision.

♥ Valerie of Valeour Photography & Designs
 

If you ever go MAC you won't go back!
N.
 

If it's Windows that's giving you problems and price is an issue....there's always open source. I have one of my computers running Linux Mint 4.0 and it comes with a plethora of applications that don't cost a dime....including The Gimp which is a pretty decent photo editing program similar to Photoshop. It's a great alternative if you're concerned with viruses. There's about 40 viruses that's been written for Linux and about the same for a Mac compared to 60,000 or so for Windows. The version of Linux I use is very user friendly compared to most Linux distros.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 

I will start off by saying that I use a PC at home, and an Apple at school. My PC is several years old, outdated, only like 300mb or something RAM. Ive been pretty happy with it, I dont mind that its old, or "slow" and photoshop 7.0 works pretty well on my computer (it has never froze up my computer).

At school we use CS3, on Apple I Mag G5 (or something like that, I might not have the name right) At first I was pretty impressed and had pretty high expectations, one thing I had always heard was that it was impossible for Mac's to freeze up. I found out pretty quickly that that was BS. Several times I and several other students have had the Apples freeze up while doing fairly simple tasks.

That alone will keep me from ever buying an apple not to mention the higher costs.
 

I agree with Black Diamond...I am a mac user, and I love it, but in the end you just need to go with what you can afford.
 

i grew up on PCs, my dad always bought the cheapest dell or whatever, and i never thought apple could be that much better. when i went to photo school, everything was mac based, and it changed my life. everything just worked, it was as fast the day i started as the day i left, photoshop was laid out so much nicer, the finder made getting through my images soo much easier (even easier now with leopard!) and the colour output to print was incredible. from a screen standpoint, i wish everyone could view my portfolio on a mac, the colour is so much more accurate, which i don't need to say is important.

i really feel that my macbook pro is my second most important piece of equipment.