Questions for Mac Website Designers...Mac vs PC?

C

Coffee1970

Registered
Hello, and thanks for reading.

Enrolled in college (I'm 37) for e-Business and major in website design.

I have a Windows PC that works fine. I know that Macs used to be all the rage in graphics and such, but now Windows PC's have really come into the picture.

I will be buying a second computer for me to use....so....

Do I need to learn how to use a MAC in todays website design job market? I know that a lot of programs like Adobe's are available on both systems, but if I get a job somewhere that use Macs still? Are Macs still being used as much these days for website design?

Here's the lowdown.........
I have approx $500 to spend on another computer.
I will either get a Dual 1.25/1.42 G4 Powermac off eBay (1-2gb ram, ati pro, etc)...or go buy a new windows laptop that has the usual Athlon X2 or Intel Duo.

I know that the G4 is older technology, but that's ok....with a good video card, max memory, maybe even Firewire 800, it should still rock, yes?

Any help would be greatly appreciated by those in the field.

Thanks again,
Brian.
 
G4 still performs fine for what you are looking for. For graphics etc etc.

And to learn the Mac way .. just hang out here for a while and post what you want to know. The only dumb questions are those that one doesn't ask ;)

A third option if you have already or can get an external display - a Mac mini. If you get a new (or any Intel based at least) Mac mini, you will be able to run Fusion with it - and that way you can also have Windows, Linux and whatever you need on your system. So when there would happen to be a project where you'd need to be in Windows, you wouldn't even need to start up in Windows, just boot up from the VM and run OS X on the background. That is something that might be for use for you, but Fusion (and Parallels) will need an Intel based Mac. With that technology you would be safe for the necessities that they would tell you to need something on a Windows PC. And you could also use what ever you like from Linux (like Gimp for free graphics) all while in OS X. (Or any Mac that you can find that already has Intel in it.. Mac mini, iMac, MacBook etc).

Macs are still used in graphics - fortunately. And they are so much more comfortable, logical, and user friendly and effective that if you can choose, go Mac. :)
 
Technically, you're ok. And I know my Mac design friends will beat me for this, but if it is more economical for you to buy a meaty new PC vs. a "slightly" out dated G4 then by all means go ahead, just remain calm if you get viruses and such or your computer freezes blah blah... If you do go that PC route you don't want to totally neglect Macs altogether. Granted more and more software come in both forms these days, which is cool, but if you use a PC make sure you expose yourself to the Mac desktop, its programs, shortcuts, finder windows, organizations... and when the time comes you can put "confident in both mac & pc platforms" on your resume as it pertains to your field.

As a designer myself, if I am given the choice of a Mac or a PC, you better believe I'm saying Mac all the way to the bank. Its trendy and the girls like it. I get food for free everywhere I go, famous people offer me money and when I go for walks in the park, cute little birds land on my shoulder and baby deer and rabbits walk with me.

I'm biased, but I'd get the Mac, and I'd definitely make sure I don't neglect upgrading it like you said.
 
Well, I do like the idea of walking with the smallest of God's creatures........

I used to have an eMac G4, so I know a little. Have another degree in technical studies, so the windows stuff is easy enough, but like you said, it would be nice to have the confidence to know the ins and outs of a mac.

I just thought that a dual G4 is very upgradeable, cheaper than a new mac mini and can run Tiger and most apps just fine. I know that the G4 system bus is slower, mem is slower, etc.
The G4 I would have would be dual 1.25/Firewire 800, 2gm ram, at least 7200rpm drive, ati pro or GeForce 4/3ti or similiar.

Cannot go over $500 , so a new mini is out for now. Rather have a miror door G4 than a G4 mini.....well, I will keep looking around and think about.

Thanks again,
Brian
 
Brian, the specs of that G4 sound good. The G4 is definitely more upgradeable than the other items listed.
Should we add poll options for voting in the thread? ;)
 
Just to give you an idea, I have a friend who uses Final Cut Pro on a dual-processor 500 MHz Power Macintosh G4. He's upgraded the video card, upgraded the RAM to 1.5 GB, and is running Mac OS X Tiger. He's VERY happy with it. Mind you, this is a Mac that's quite a few years old...

http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/g4mp.html

If he's very happy with this particular Macintosh for video editing in FCP, the Mac that you've mentioned with more than twice the power per processor should be more than enough to cover for what you want to do. Don't count out the G4 just because it's not in production anymore. Yes, it's not as snappy as the Intel Macs, but the Power Macintosh G4 CAN hold its own and has a lot of aftermarket upgrades out there, especially compared to the Power Macintosh G5 which barely has any.
 
You absolutely should (and in some cases, have to) know the Macintosh platform as well as the Windows platform if you're serious about design. I believe that those of us who are working artists enjoy using the Mac more because it's intuitive, allows lovely organizational techniques without fuss, looks good, feels good, etc...

All the goods about the Mac aren't necessarily why you need to know it, however. The more you know, the more marketable you are. The largest design firm in my city (mind you, they've got some extremely upscale accounts -Audi, Volkswagen, Ferrari, Subaru, Charles Schwabb, etc.-) has a 20-some Macintosh design studio right next to the 18 PC's for the secretarial/financial offices. It's been a way to distinguish the designers from the rest of the employees up until about a week ago, when they asked my coworker, whom has a computer consulting business on the side, to completely outfit everybody with at least a Mac Mini.

The design world keeps moving forward, and I'm seeing even more Macs sprouting up all over the place. I imagine that some potential employers might even laugh at you if you tell them you're a design student without any Mac experience.

As far as buying a Mac goes, the G4 you mentioned sounds completely fitting to your needs. I still use a 733MHz G4 to handle part of my workflow! :)
 
Greg Reez said:
As a designer myself, if I am given the choice of a Mac or a PC, you better believe I'm saying Mac all the way to the bank. Its trendy and the girls like it. I get food for free everywhere I go, famous people offer me money and when I go for walks in the park, cute little birds land on my shoulder and baby deer and rabbits walk with me.
Click to expand...

:eek:
 
All excellent advice as usual.....thanks everyone.
At another Mac forum site, everyone frowned on the G4.
People like me with a family cannot keep up with technology and its prices. Few years ago, the dual 1.25 was thousands...now, some think its ancient and worthless...yeah, whatever I guess. If I could get the quad Mac Pro I would.....I agree that a G4 beefed up could and would be nice for me.
 
Just keep in mind that not everyone needs to compute at the bleeding edge. Some people get off on that, but whatever is good enough for your needs will do just fine. You already know about my friend, but to add I have a 2 year old 17" iMac G5 as my main Mac, a 4 year old AMD Athlon XP 2400+ PC running Slackware Linux as my main PC, and a Quadra 650 that's coming up on 14 years that's currently hosting our family homepage. All of these computers suit me just fine. That dual 1.42 G4 Power Mac will suit you fine as well and nuts to those that say otherwise. ;)
 
I would sell the PC you have and add that money to the $500 and then buy an Intel based mac with boot camp, parallels or fusion.
 
I am a mac fanatic and I use a PC with twin monitors at work. The moral of this story is it really does't matter so much anymore which system you use, both can do the job.

I'd prefer to use a Mac because I've got more than 20 years of experience with them, but it's quite easy to become comfortable on a PC.

I'd say know your software, know your html, css and web standards and you will be fine no matter which system you are going to use. The only caveat to this is you will want to test all your websites in IE on a PC since that's what 90% of the world still uses.
 
Will $500 get you a used Intel Mac Mini on ebay? I have two I'm selling here is Australia for somewhere around the $850-900AUD mark. They are truly a lovely, quiet, small machine.

I've been web developing for about 11 years now. For the last 8 of those, I've hardly touched a PC, and if I have my way, I won't ever touch one again. Granted, I'm a programmer, not a designer, so as long as I have a great text editor, it's pretty much all I need. My ex-business partner, who was the designer, has only ever used Mac's. He's always used the Dreamweaver/Flash/Fireworks combo, and that's pretty much the same on both Mac & PC. Personally, I'd go the Mac option every single time.

If you only have $500, I'd be considering trawling ebay to see what you can afford in the Mac department. You may quite easily be able to grab a G5 iMac, which still preform pretty well. My wife has only just moved to a new MacBook Pro after doing all her Photoshop/Illustrator/Indesign work on he G5. She's a childrens book illustrator/designer, and so she's been doing all her 'profesional' work in those programs.

I think there's more to it than just the tools available now. Adobe stuff is available everywhere.. but OSX is only on the Mac based, and I seriously believe it's worth considering this rock solid OS when making the decision too. Everything just works!!

All the best
N
 
Hello Coffee1970,
RapidWeaver is a powerful web design application for Mac OS X. RapidWeaver creates clean, beautiful code that adheres to modern web standards. But don't worry if you’re not versed in XHTML or CSS - you don't have to know any code to get started with RapidWeaver.If you are a code guru, however, you'll love the ability to place HTML, PHP or CSS code throughout the application should you wish.

Thank You
jumi
Ecommerce Website Design
 
I accept with information:All the goods about the Mac aren't necessarily why you need to know it, however. The more you know, the more marketable you are. The largest design firm in my city (mind you, they've got some extremely upscale accounts -Audi, Volkswagen, Ferrari, Subaru, Charles Schwabb, etc.-) has a 20-some Macintosh design studio right next to the 18 PC's for the secretarial/financial offices.
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Well, in some third option if you have already or can get an external display - a Mac mini. If you get a new Mac's mini, you will be able to run Fusion with it - and that way you can also have Windows, Linux and whatever you need on your system. So when there would happen to be a project where you'd need to be in Windows, you wouldn't even need to start up in Windows.
 
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