PC or MAC for photo editing?

[briansquibb]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

Buy an external monitor for your laptop £200 sees you with a good 26" screen

[John27]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

Buy an external monitor for your laptop £200 sees you with a good 26" screen

Now thats a good way to save money Brian, but will my laptop video card be able to drive it?

John

[briansquibb]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

Look in the laptop specifications - if it is reasonably new then probably. You would be able to calibrate it too.

[John27]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

Hi Brian, I'v got a dell Inspiron 1764, not sure on video info except what I found on the net:

Video Discrete video type integrated on system board
Discrete video controller and memory ATI M92-LP 512 MB DDR3
ATI Park 1 GB DDR3
UMA video type integrated on system board
UMA video controller Intel HD Graphics
UMA video memory up to 1752 MB of shared memory
LCD interface Low-voltage differential signaling
(LVDS)

Now what does that mean? lol

John

[briansquibb]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

From the AMD (ATI) site it says


"Two integrated DVI display outputs

• Supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)3
• Supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI only)3
• Each includes a dual-link HDCP encoder with on-chip key storage for high resolution playback of protected content4

"

Seems you are OK then - have you a new 1080p TV with HDMI or VGA? - if so you could try it out on that to verify it

Brian

[John27]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

From the AMD (ATI) site it says


"Two integrated DVI display outputs

• Supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)3
• Supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI only)3
• Each includes a dual-link HDCP encoder with on-chip key storage for high resolution playback of protected content4

"

Seems you are OK then - have you a new 1080p TV with HDMI or VGA? - if so you could try it out on that to verify it

Brian

Cheers Brian, now all I need to find is a whats it's face cable lol.

John

[John27]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

After a lot of deliberation, I have treated myself to a apple imac. What a improvement to my laptop screen, although the mac did cost a lot more. Now all I need to do is calibrate the screen, more money lol. I'll have to keep it from the misses lol. Anyway was thinking about spyder 3 as others have recommended.

John

[DrJon]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

The Inspiron list was all the display adapters they might fit, as there are options. You should look in the Display Properties to see what you actually have.
John

[monobrow]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

I have a couple of friends who might as well be apple salesmen. All they love doing is banging on about how good their mac is at video editing, music, etc.

Although I do get pee'd off myself when virus checkers, etc decide they want to do a scan when you're working away in photoshop.

I use a laptop for my photoshop needs. It's a dell studio xps and has a very good screen on it.

[John27]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

The Inspiron list was all the display adapters they might fit, as there are options. You should look in the Display Properties to see what you actually have.
John

Cheers Jon, I don't have to bother now, as I'm using my mac.

John

I have a couple of friends who might as well be apple salesmen. All they love doing is banging on about how good their mac is at video editing, music, etc.

Although I do get pee'd off myself when virus checkers, etc decide they want to do a scan when you're working away in photoshop.

I use a laptop for my photoshop needs. It's a dell studio xps and has a very good screen on it.

I know getting a mac wasn't a life or death requirement, but I'm glad I did go for it, as it's a vast improvement. Horses for courses and all that.

John

[lashboy]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

Ive read this thread tonight with interest, as I too am having a dilema over whether to get a Mac or not.

Ive got a pretty recent Sony Vaio laptop which is excellent ( VGN-FW31E ), and a good spec, but when Ive ran the Spyder 3 calibration on it, the display has not recognisably changed from what it was to be honest.
Its either got a display which is very limited, or a display which is pretty damn good to begin with and therefore only needed minimum tweaks... I cant tell!

My question is this. As Mac's tend to be the "gold standard" for editing these days, do the Macbook Pro laptops have the same screen on them, as in just as flexible as the Imac's when using a calibration tool assuming they are both running decent graphics cards?

Cheers,

Nick

[Mark]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

There are loads of these Mac or PC type threads, and if you buy a like for like specd machine then they both do the job equally as well.

The main thing is the like for like bit, many people say a mac is a lot more expensive than a PC, but I have found if you do an exact comparison there is little difference in price between the two. especially when you add the price of a 28" IPS screen and all the other little bit you get with a mac, web cam, microphone speakers and so on as those odd £20s here and there soon add up.


Nick maybe your Sony screen is very well set-up in the first place, as was my iMac, I too noticed little change when calibration with an iOne, I guess one way to check the Spyder is doing it job is to set you screen wrong then run the calibration to see if it sorts it out :)

I don't think the Mac is the gold standard for editing anymore, maybe 10-15 years ago it was way out in front but not now. Photoshop is the same on a Mac or Windows machine, and Windows 7 has really caught up a lot to OSX

As far as photography software goes the only really difference is Macs can run Aperture and windows can't ( you would just use the more expensive Lightroom instead)

One plus point for a Mac is you can run Windows on a mac, but you cant legally run OSX on a PC.

OH and today (yes honest today) I tossed my pc in the skip and now only have an iMac

[lashboy]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

Some good points there, thanks you. As you say I suppose I could knocl my screen out of calibration then redo it.

Have a chance to get any kind of MAC through work interest free, hence me enquiring about them. As for software, I already use Lightroom and PS and am more than happy with them. I suppose I could always just do a.couple hundred on an external monitor really if need be.

Thanks,

Nick

[ron-coll]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

You can go either way with an iMac or a high end PC. I have used both but I am currently with my iMac. You can get a lot better specs with a build your own pc than the competition though some would still prefer it. The Mac has better exclusive photo management and editing tools but it also differs from your preference, familiarity and willingness to learn.

[Derry-Canon Fan]

Re: PC or MAC for photo editing?

Hi Colin

whats the iMac's like?

Looked at a 27'' one in PC World, on a business plan .

I am the last freelance in my area, there are a few of us, to change from PC to iMac.