What is the best operating system for graphic designers?

Answer 1

This is quite a debate, and one which I myself had to find the answer to as well. I'm currently a graphic design student, and it seems that most have their own opinions as to which is the best.

For the most part, both Windows and Mac operating systems seem virtually equal in this regard. Personally, I have an Alienware laptop with Windows XP. This is because I find Vista to run much slower overall on any computer, and because I think Windows (overall) is an operating system that allows the user more freedom. Yes, it is true that Windows-based machines are likelier to get viruses and whatnot, but they also permit the user to choosehis own settings and decide to open his computer to something that may be considered harmful, even when it isn't. Thus, Macs end up being a lot safer, but also less compatible with much of the software out there.

That said, it is traditionally believed that Macs render graphics better, presumably because of the displays or graphics drivers only. Also, I'm told and have seen that most art departments and graphic designers seem to prefer Macs to PCs--for the display reasons alone, who knows?

Essentially, I feel that the operating system doesn't make a huge difference (as I have come to use both extensively), but rather you simply want a high-performance machine with plenty of RAM (to run the giant programs) and hard drive space (to store alllll those versions of the same project).

AnswerI have both in my shop, for different reasons.

I do all my designs on Mac, partly because all my fonts are Mac fonts (and I have a pile of them), and partly because the Mac just feels better to me. I can design quicker on an 800MHz G4 than I can on a 2GHz PC.

My Onyx ProductionHouse and EFI Fiery XF RIPs run on Windows. Windows offers cheap brute force, which is important when you're driving four printers from one computer and the printers in question are bigger than your car.

Answer

It depend how much money you want to spend. If you are buying a Mac for $3000 you can easily get Windows PC 64 Bit 6 GB DDR3 Ram under $2000.Majority of people are using Windows and the results are awesome.

It is not a computer (neither Windows or Mac) , it is you brain, your skills how you implement them.

There is no difference at all if you know how to design you can achieve the same result on both.