Mac or PC

Okay, okay - this isn't a debate. Basically I subscribe to a daily email bulletin called "Shooting People" for film makers. Recently someone posted a genuine question asking whether he should go for a Mac or a PC for his edit station. Cue the Mac people spurting forth vitriol on PC owners, and PC owners doing likewise to the Mac posse. That's been going on for a few weeks now, with the Mac people generally having more to say.

Personally I use a PC - that's what I've got, and it works fine. I can edit my work using Premiere Pro, do my Maya work and my AE compositing quite happily (if a little slow, cos my PC is getting old). I do find that people look down on me - even see me as an amateur - because I don't (can't) use FCP though, which is a shame. I've used Macs in the past though and would happily do so again, if I could afford to buy both the computer and a second set of software licenses!

I'm really bored of the debate. It's one of those things you can never win. I've had these twice before when the computers were the Commodore 64 & ZX Spectrum (C64!), and Amiga & Atari ST (Amiga!). People like what they like. Some people like Macs because they always work with no problems, but others say they hate Macs because they always crashed on them. However someone posted today that "most companies in the business are based on Mac and/or Linux." By "the business" I assume he's talking post-houses, so editing and fx. I honestly have no idea whether this is true, so was just wondering what you guys use, and whether PCs are as bad as everyone is making out?

Cheers, Christian.

I was a HUGE Apple supporter for years! I bought a PC when I got into 3D.
I still use both today, and I really don't care which one I'm working on.



Peter

Both studios I've worked at used strictly PCs. Although also at both there's been at least 1 person that always has a personal iMac handy for certain uses.

At home I use PC, at my first VFX job (and longest) I used Macs, and currently I use Linux.

I also don't care which one I'm working on. I use PCs at home because 3dsMax is only PC.

I seriously don't understand these arguments. Say, for example, the Mac people got their wish and PCs became obsolete, and the only computers anyone could buy were Macs. Would that really be better? Then they could charge whatever they wanted for them. You would not have a choice, no matter what. Where I come from, that's called an unconstitutional monopoly, or, on a government scale, a dictatorship.

No thanks. If you like PCs, go for it. If you prefer Macs, have fun. If you like Linux, you're crazy (just kidding! you can have fun too!).

People friggin' act like FCP will actually make your movie better. If you shoot crap, and don't understand how to put together an edit from a storytelling point of view, FCP doesn't mean diddly squat. All it does is cut footage. That's what EVERY editing program does. And they all work fine. Believe it or not, a FCP cut looks just like Premiere cut or an Avid cut.

Here is how I've seen it: Macs work best with editing, PCs work best with everything else.