Hi i am a PC user and i wouldl like to know what so good about the
Mac. Why do so people who are involved in digital art and movies like
them opver the pc. I have been thinking of getting a mac laptop since
i only use one for browsing the web, email and Microsoft office, would
it be a good idea to use a mac for me?

Most important of all i would like to know good and bad things about
the mac befor i go and get one.

Hello sulafa-ga:

It is my pleasure to answer your question, once again. Earlier, I
replied to one of your queries regarding eBay.

From your question, I can safely make three assumptions.

1)	You want to know why people involved in digital arts and movies
prefer MAC?
2)	You will not be using any sophisticated application. Keeping that
in mind, Is MAC the right choice for you?
3)	What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of MAC?

Let me answer your questions briefly in my own words and than I will
provide you links where you can find further answers to your
questions.

Most people who are involved in digital arts and movies use MAC not
because it has an edge over PC in the related fields but because of
the MAC history.

Actually, it was Apple that first started to provide local colleges
and Universities with Apple computers. Because of this fact, until
early 1990’s, almost all of the Educational institutions used MAC
operating system. At the same time, Apple made sure that the software
it is producing is only available from Apple and nothing similar is
available in the market.

As a result, students and teachers were stuck with the MAC’s. Also,
Apple produced revolutionary software for digital arts and Movie
producers to gain an upper hand in the digital art market.

That is precisely why you see many digital arts and movie people using
MAC because their initial training was based on MAC and historically
most advanced software in Digital Arts was produced by Apple
Computers. Take an example of iDVD and iMovie software.

As the director of Animations at Oxygen, Kit Kaybourne describes this
phenomenon, “The tools from Apple have allowed Oxygen to make work
that is amazingly sophisticated using off-the-shelf products on the
desktop”.  (Source: Apple Media Arts at http://www.apple.com)

Come to the second question. Yes, almost all of the professionals in
the computer industry agree that when it comes to the ‘casual user’,
MAC is the best choice.

The reason is simple. Not only does MAC has a very user friendly
interface but whether you get an iMac, iBook, PowerBook, or G4
desktop, there's no need to find a video card, Ethernet card, modem
card, USB card, or even a FireWire card. Everything you need is in the
box, and the OS can handle it all. (Source: Tech TV)

Let’s tackle the third question. Since, every product in the market
has its disadvantages and advantages; it is a very broad category. I
am providing you links to the related material on the web where you
can read in detail. Please refer to ‘Links’ below:

IMPORTANT LINKS AND ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTIONS

When it comes to using PC or a MAC for business, gaming, casual or
professional use, which one should you select? Here is the answer.

http://www.geekshelter.com/view.php?section=guides&idnum=20
(Read the ‘Sections’ at the end of the article).

Since, both PC and MAC have their ups and downs; here is the best
article that will provide you with goods and bad about the two systems
in simplest of words.

Judgment Call Mac vs PC (Tech TV)
http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/features/story/0,24330,3339893,00.html

MORE LINKS FOR YOUR RESEARCH AND CONCLUSION

I can go on and on with an answer since it is such a broad question.
Instead, I will provide you ‘keywords’ that you may type in the Google
search engine and it will help you find one useful link after another.

Please type in these very useful links in the Google search engine to
come out with more extensive details.

KEYWORDS

Mac vs PC
Advantages of MAC
“Mac or PC” (Ignore the first few results)

I hope this will help. Please clarify if you need further help. I will
be obliged to serve your needs. Thanks for using Google Answers.

Sincerely,
Leader-ga.

Good answer

I think the answer given above is fairly incorrect.  As both a Mac
user when given a choice (though I have a W2k workstation for things
that require it) and someone who regularly uses his Mac for digital
art (imaging), I think I have a better shot at this.

Macs are designed much more coherently from a user perspective. 
Things flow better in the interface than on a Windows machine. 
Artists appreciate this, since it reduces the amount of conscious
effort required to use the machine.  Since art in a computer is
something of an unnatural endeavor, getting the interface out of the
way is the single most important aspect an OS can provide.

A related aspect is that the interface that is presented to the user
is sufficient to fully engage and take advantage of all aspects of the
computer without them having to be a computer systems engineer.  In a
commercial design environment, the systems engineering requirements
are greatly reduced over what would be required in a Windows based
office.  Reduced sys eng. equals lower overhead.  So while a home user
may focus on the small difference in sticker price, a business which
is able to use Macs exclusively, or in a dominant role, will see
dramatically better profitability.

Also very important to a digital artist is the consistency of the
color representation of the images produced on different machines and
when printed.  Macs are noted for this and eliminate the "oh, it
looked better on my machine" that happens all too often on PCs.  In
addition, the displays used with Macs are consistently superior to all
others and set the standard year in and year out.

Finally, it should be noted that the exterior design of a Mac is
aesthetically pleasing, while a Dell or Compaq looks entirely out of
place in a graphic design or artistic environment.  Not only does this
affect the workplace performance, but it also impacts potential client
response - it helps deliver the image of a studio.

Hope that helps.

Hello its leader-ga:

First of all, I want to thank leoj-ga for providing a useful feedback.

Leoj-ga has argued that digital arts and movie people use Mac because
of its technical superiority over PC. I think my answer stated this
fact. It reads,
"As a result, students and teachers were stuck with the Mac’s. Also,
Apple produced revolutionary software for digital arts and Movie
producers to gain an upper hand in the digital art market."

Now, if the history of Mac is any issue than I stand by my word and I
will provide proof, if needed by the customer. The fact is fairly well
known in the computer industry.

Again, there are lots of studies on the comparison tests of both Mac
and PC on the internet. Anyone can easily verify my claim.

I will appreciate anyone's comments. We all know that critique always
helps a writer.

Sincerely,
leader-ga.

For more on this issue:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=210008

As a long time Mac gal who started off on a DOS machine (icky icky
icky), I can say I prefer the Mac far and above the PC(even with
updated OS). I am very dyslexic and find the Mac has a more intuitive
interface. I don't know why that is, but the fact that I don't have to
try to play computer engineer every time I need to execute a key
stroke, makes me more productive in the long run. My children started
on Macs at age 2 with educational games, and they both found it very
easy to play their games and manuveur around. At ages 6 and 12, they
are both very well versed, and I no longer have to help them find
files (a pain on PCs) or figure out how to do stuff.

Macs are less likely to be felled by computer viruses that travel
through email or files. Most viruses are designed to exploit Microsoft
platform holes and thus Macs are immune to those viruses. This does
not mean that they are virus-free, just that you are less likely to
have virus problems on a Mac. I work in a virtual office environment.
Of my 10 colleagues, the 4 or 5 of us with Macs are the only ones who
have had NO virus problems in the last 3 years I've been with the
company. Yet, ALL our PC folks have encountered viruses and the
subsequent downtime and cost associated with them.

That said, PCs often offer a better selection of software, everything
from office applications to games. Most of the big warehouse type
stores will have a ton of software for the PC and a very limited
selection for the Mac. You can get around this by ordering from Mac
Warehouse or a similar Mac-only vendor, but you'll never find the
quantity of titles offered by the PC software manufacturers.

And, as someone else mentioned, Macs are pretty. For us artsy-fartsy
types they provide a constant reminder that our work is fun.

As well, someone mentioned the all-in-the-box aspects of the Mac. That
is really one of it's stong suits. You open the box, attach the
icon-coded cables to the icon-coded plug-ins, turn it on, and voila,
you're on and good to go. When I first bought by G3 iMac, it took
literally 5 minutes to pull it out of the box, connect the cables,
plug in a dial-up line (I've since graduated to DSL) and configured
the internet preferences and was online checking my email. I can't
comment about PCs in that respect, but I can't imagine PCs offering an
easier setup.