Do you use Macs or PC's for drawing?

[Marton]

PC master race!! I used a Mac back when I studied illustration and could easily swap between PC and Mac, probably don't have that skill anymore...

[hushicho]

Heheh! Eeeevil!

PCs do tend to be much more customizable and for a less expensive price, but I've also found that sometimes that means you get less dependable quality and to avoid that you generally have to be able to make more technical judgements and, thus, be more familiar with the tech. There are plenty of Windows PCs that work just fine for whatever their users need, and there are probably Macs that don't! I still say a good approach is to just try both as you can and make your own choices from that. I used to use only Windows PCs but I've switched in the past few years. If I can't afford a Mac, I'll definitely work with a Windows machine! I just prefer not to have to, so I can play on my Windows machine and work on my Mac.

Building a system is a great idea, and you usually save a huge amount of money on that. But the problem there is that some don't do the building very well, or some aren't comfortable doing it. It's also possible to mess up parts irreparably in so doing, so that's always kind of a consideration if you're not too confident in your computer-building abilities. It's an ideal situation though if you know someone who is good at it and willing to put it together for you!

[Shanny8]

I used to be one of those " I need to get a Mac" type when I first got out of art school, but as I went on I learned it doesnt matter as long as the computer has the power & specs to get the job done that you need it to do.

[shazzbaa]

There was a time where Mac vs PC made a big difference for art, but now it kinda doesn't. If you have an old or outdated machine, you might have trouble doing things that take a lot of memory/RAM/whatever whether it's a Mac or a PC. If you have a more recent machine, you'll be fine.

I use a Mac (Macbook Pro laptop), and I'm pretty happy with it! But a good PC will do the same things.

(I will say that I do find the retina display on my mac a bit frustrating -- it means things display smaller in Photoshop than they do on the web, so it's harder to preview what things will look like to other folks. but that's a pretty minor complaint!)

[indagold]

I use mac mostly because they used to be reliable computers compared to windows, emphasize on used. Windows is plagued with viruses and kinda poorly made compared to macs and macs tend to be more suited for art based things but honestly macs and pcs are just garbage now so it doesn't matter which. Yes technologically speaking macs are better in some aspects and not as flawed as a windows but they're not as good as they used to be years ago.

[dojo]

I've always been a PC user, and have very strong anti-mac opinions that I won't delve into too deep since a lot of it has to do with their business practices, but as far as actually USING the computers go, I'm still more partial to PC, because there's just a lot of little things about macs that bug me and have given me issues in the past (the big one being the lack of being able to set sound to mono. That may SOUND silly, but when you're deaf in one ear, and you're being asked to listen to phone conversations for the company you work for and different parts of the convo are sent to different sides of your headphones, it quickly affects your ability to work)

Honestly, though, I think you're better off just sticking with what you already know. You know how to use it already, and there are differences in how you do little things that could be annoying to get used to, and honestly, both systems are just as good as the other these days. It's been years since Macs have been better for anything outside of just having more options for art programs. So yeah, if you use a mac, stick with Macs, if you use a pc, stick with PC. The only thing I can actually say as far as reliability goes is Desktops are going to last you longer than a Laptop, so if you have the space for one, I'd recommend switching from a laptop to that. Laptops don't typically have a very long lifespan so if you're looking for something that will probably last you more than a couple years, go with a desktop regardless of OS. (A laptop CAN last a long time if you're careful with 'em, though, so I'm def not saying all laptops won't last long. Just from my own personal experience this has been the case)

[AnnaLandin]

I use a PC/Windows. I grew up using PCs, and am not used to Macs - I used them in college, because the school computers were Macs, but didn't really get along with them.

... Of course, I'm still using Windows 7, so I can't tell you how W10 works or how reliable it is. ^_^;

It works well for me, and is fairly reliable, and I run Manga Studio 5/Clip Studio Paint on it without issues. Just make sure your machine's got enough memory/RAM to handle a good drawing software, and you're good.

[haleymewsome]

I go to an art college where we're encouraged to use MacBooks, but two of my classmates are using Windows instead. They also happen to be the only two people who have had catastrophic crashes and losses of assignments haha.

It should also be noted that customer service and repair services for Apple products are way better, I had an iPhone just suddenly brick on me, and within literally 5 minutes of walking into the store they'd handed me a brand new one and I was on my way.

For me, PC is for gaming, and Mac is for work. If you can afford a Mac I say go for it.

[ChipGod]

I use the sketchbook app on the mac

[punkarsenic]

Generally speaking, macs are preferred in all artistic fields - PC is for accountants (and folx who aint stinking rich, like most of us) theyre typically more powerful, faster, and theres a lot of software that is mac specific. however paint tool SAI is PC specific. while there are fairly accurate alternatives, like firealpaca, if SAI's your program, PC must be your OS of choice (bootcamping can fuck off for now)

if youre using photoshop? sure, use a mac, its probably better in a lot of ways i couldnt explain. theres also high quality drawing software thats mac specific, and they probably have superior touchscreens but touch screens suck ass so who cares

[joannekwan]

I used to have a Dell, then when it finally began showing it's slow lagging death thralls I switched to Mac, since I was at school at the time and it was just easier to move between my personal computer and the class comps. Also because of this back and forth, it was better to get a laptop with the same color display specs as the computers I'm printing stuff through for class assignments.

I'm on my second Mac now and it's great. The only drawbacks to Macs I see is the price, and SAI only runs on windows, so I've never had the opportunity to play with that program.

I'll also note that I have a PC that I game on, so I can switch between OS's pretty easily.

[heterodont]

If you know how to customize a computer and have the common sense to avoid downloading blatant viruses, PC is the way to go. IIRC you can't open up a mac laptop and change the parts, but I know they're already...built with the processing power to run the things they need to run, which is why they're so expensive. You can do the same with a desktop/laptop? for cheaper, but you need to know how to build a computer and what parts you need for it to be effective and not blow up.

I've always used windows, I only ever use mac at school because ~art school standard~ and so far in the 10? years I've used a computer, I've only had my hard-drive brick on me once. It didn't affect me too bad because I had an external HD with a backup on it. On the contrary, a lot of my friends use mac and at least once per semester I hear someone who lost ALL of their work for a final that they weren't able to recover :T Apple store can't recover EVERYTHING either, as a friend of mine who uses a mac also lost all of his work and they were only able to recover half of the files on his laptop. So if your worry is how often the OS will crash or whatever, you should already be backing up your work on an external HD and/or saving constantly - it's a computer you can't fully rely on it being functional 100% of the time.

It also depends on what programs you use. AFAIK Sai is the only program that isn't compatible with mac but i think SAI 2 is, except who knows when that's coming out. Certain 3D modeling programs also don't work with mac os but they're all industry standard ones that I doubt are gonna be used for casual usage.

[Kura]

PC, not really a preference thing, it's a 'this is what I can afford' thing. And since everyone I know uses PC I can use their left over parts (either they sell them cheep or give them free) from when they upgrade to make my own computer

[keac]

Well, I've been reading all your posts, and I see that most of them are quite mixed. We had PC computers for years now, but right now, my brother switched to a Mac, and my other brother has 3 PC's and is quite Anti-Mac and Anti-Apple (Kind of ironic, eh?). Also, I rarely do gaming, it's just not my hobby. And if PC is better, what kind of PC is identical with the performance or speed of a Mac? Speed and performance is really my concern. I went to a computer store one day and introduced me to a new product, but it only has 4 GB RAM, but it runs with SSD memory which means it's still "fast" even if it has lower RAM memory.

[Shanny8]

Is it weird that I'm not anti-Mac but anti-Apple on everything else they make? Lol...

Also, I dont do PC gaming. It's just not my thing...I'll stick with the consoles.

A lot of the PCs, when they say it has 4GB of RAM, that means the minimum to run the computer. Some have extra bays that you add more memory to maximize the speed/performance(at most, 3x); so with a 4GB you could probably add more memory(depending on the bays) and max it out at 12GB.

[joannekwan]

I'd still upgrade to at least 8 gb of ram, actually I installed new ram on my old mac myself without having a "pro" do it. It made such a difference.

[heterodont]

Researching helps a lot with a PC because there really isn't any one type of pc that is the same as mac as mac is solely made by apple, meanwhile pcs have different companies that make different desktops/laptops.

afaik the only thing that matters with getting a good drawing computer is its processing power (cpu) and the RAM. Reading about the SSD/HDD it seems like the SSD is faster at processing information such as opening files, but it doesn't really help the performance of the computer overall.

[NanettesClouds]

afaik the only thing that matters with getting a good drawing computer is its processing power (cpu) and the RAM. Reading about the SSD/HDD it seems like the SSD is faster at processing information such as opening files, but it doesn't really help the performance of the computer overall.

Actually that's not quiiiteeee right. Most drawing software doesn't require that much power unless you're using a lot of filters and layers and a really large resolution. Photoshop actually has an upper limit to how much ram it will use, Watch this video for more info about that.

The CPU/GPU doesnt really matter either unless you do a lot of video editing and/or gaming, or running a bunch of high-rez monitors, or plan on doing A LOT of multitasking. Heres a video about that.

the SSD/HDD thing is very much a preference thing, SDD's are faster than an HDD, but they have a much shorter lifespan, personally I prefer SSD's because I like not having to wait around for my artwork to save, and knowing my previous computer track record, my computer is more likely to fail because I spill something on it than the SDD dying from too much use. Here's a video about SDD's vs HDD's.

As far as windows VS mac's go, it's mostly preference, but you can probably get a PC with better guts than a mac for the same price. Also, most PC's have actual ports :V

Based on OP's other posts/profile it seems like they're trying to take steps to be more professional with their art, and the truth about that is that there isnt really a magic tool that will make your art more professional. You gotta experiment and find what works for you.

[heterodont]

Research into parts for individual purposes before buying a computer helps a lot is what it boils down to, haha

I know enough for my own purposes but not really much else beyond that - so it was based on my perspective from my own research I did looking into my own needs for a computer. AFAIK photoshop is really the only one that's super dependent on a good computer build? and even then I think it only handles up to 64 gb of ram, but even that's pushing it unless you work on gigantic files like you mentioned.

[gateofselidor]

I've been using Macs for nearly 20 years, because I grew up in a Mac-using household. Windows works just fine, and I'm not uncomfortable using one for creative work, but I have a strong preference for Macs. They're not as easy to customise, so you have to spend a lot to get the right setup to begin with, but I've always found them very reliable and high quality. While they're marketed as being easy for casual users, there's also plenty of depth to them for a more experienced user (though Apple does like to go to ever-further lengths to hide these features).