I know a while ago, when someone was considering buying a mac and posted in a thread what are the benefits or reasoning behind the purchase of one I responded (amongst other things) something to the effect of "if you do design work maybe you should get a mac."
I later came to realize the statement was indeed a bit outdated and came from the fact I started on a mac in design school in the early 90's, right when desktop publishing started to happen on personal computers. In my first 2 years of design school we didn't even touch computers, it was all done with t squares, triangles, letraset, rub down type and sending type specs to a service bureau to be set. Then we started learning how to set type on a mac. Long story short, adobe programs (which any reasonable person must admit the bulk of all graphic design was done on) weren't even available on PCs until what...like mid 2000's? So I think many years ago, YES....if you wanted to do design you should get a mac.
Anyway, I later learned (mostly by objectively reading threads on this site) that indeed is an outdated way of thinking. Nowadays you definitely can do pretty much any computer related work on either format, whether it's design or 3d rendering or video editing. The platform doesn't matter. The benefits of either are entirely personal to the user.
What I DO find interesting is I bet a majority of mac users could care less what computer you use, and wouldn't call anyone a "sheep" or "superficial" simply based on the type of computer they use. (Again, of course there are extremes to both sides.) But if someone starts a mac thread or asks questions of other mac users, undoubtly there will be someone chiming in on how naive said person is to want to do something on a computer that is SO overpriced, and try to convince said user that because they use a mac they must be a "follower" or have "bought into the hype" and say they are part of the "cult of Jobs" or other nonsense. Who the frick cares?
Maybe there ARE die hard mac fanatics who make smart alecky comments in the many PC threads on this site with titles such as "blah blah operating system update now I cant run my plotter" or "how do I connect my peripheral in vista alta windows vers 25" or other PC related questions, I don't know cause I probably don't read them. (Come to think of it I think I have actually posted a smart alecky comment (with a wink) of "get a mac" once or twice mostly just to see the reaction so maybe I am part of that problem.)
But again, my main point is who cares? Like others have said, its the same old chevy vs ford debate and you will NEVER change anyone's mind so why bother?
Most people have made a decision to use one or the other and I would bet can't be objective in such a debate. The opinions I think weigh the most are folks who are experts and up to date on BOTH systems, and whom I would listen to if I were undecided in a computer purchase. But my gut says few of them are around. As consumers who spend their hard earned money, most everyone else has a dog in the fight and undoubtedly the endless debate that ensues ends up comical or flat out mean.
I mean...Can't we all just get along?
