by Matthew Russell - Posted 5 years ago
Hi everyone. M. Scott Russell here with another controversial topic. Why do I love these so much? I’ve been accused of trying to stir up the hornet's nest with this one. Which is better for creating comics; the Mac or PC? Asking this is like walking into Congress and asking “Who is stupider; Republicans or Democrats?” If I tell you what I use, I’ll probably piss off half of you while the other half cheers me on. Without further Ado, let’s ruffle some feathers.
Comic creators, like yourself (I’m assuming because you found this blog post) have been creating comics on a variety of systems. Since mankind’s beginnings, we have created comics. It started out with a chisel and a cave wall, and now it is mostly done using state of the art technology. Some people still prefer to draw everything up by hand and let the publisher do all the digital work to it. That is still fine. In fact, its still my personal favorite. Others like to use either tablets or computers to do all the art. I would love to get into a debate as to the best programs to do this in, in another blog post in the near future, this is more concerning the system itself. Mac VS PC! Each has it's place, and are great machines (usually) depending on the hardware built into them. I have decided to show the pros of each and let you decide.
Macs have a very clean design. The way they are put together tends to keep them running smoother and cooler.
They also have history to back them up too. In the early days of computer design work, Apple had the advantage of being the best, so most design schools began using Macs almost exclusively. Since it is always easier to upgrade what you have then to switch, most art/design colleges will never switch. So, if that is what you trained with, that is most likely what you will prefer.
In the end, you get more bang for your buck. When analyzing the cost for a Mac vs PC, the PC will always win. Let's break it down. A quick Google search for a 15-inch laptop with i7 processor, 1Tb hard drive, I found a Lenovo from Staples selling for about $799. The same search for a Mac cost me $1,973.97 from Amazon. This is just a laptop. Let's look at an All-in-one system. 27 inch Mac system runs you about $1700. The closest comparable system was on the Dell store for $1658.99. Not much of a difference unless you are pinching pennies. Keep in mind that these prices are for brand new items and not refurbished, nor did I spend a great amount of time looking for the best deals (total of 5 minutes).
Programs are another reason to go PC. For a long time, there was this myth that great art programs are only on the mac. This might have been true in the early days, but I can’t say if this is true or not. Nowadays programmers build versions for both the Mac and PC simultaneously and they cost the same.
That being said, you might have a small upper hand with a mac while watching things like YouTube tutorials. 80% of the things like Photoshop tutorials are done on a mac but anyone worth watching will walk you through PC shortcodes as well.
Sitting on my desk is my MacBook Pro and next to it is my Dell Optiplex 9020. I have fully upgraded both. I gotta say, I do prefer the Mac. Yet I am writing this on the Dell.
It really feels like our preferences are learned, rather than truly felt. It comes down to what you know how to do and on what system you know how to do it on. In the end, I would have to say, they both equaled out for me. No matter what system you use to create your comics, be it Mac or PC, it will not affect how they display on our website. We make sure we are compatible with all devices and browsers.
