Sunday Support Group: Should You Use a Mac or a PC?

The answer is: Yes.

Sure. Why not? If you need a computer, use a Mac or a PC.

Which one? Well, shop until you drop, or flip a coin, or anything in between, however you want to do it. Suit yourself.

Joke
This is kind of a redux of a brief post I wrote a long time ago: Should you shoot with Canon or Nikon? The answer then was yes. Although the choice isn't so binary any more like it was then. It was a joke, the message of which was like that kid in the movie My Life as a Dog who, whenever his parents were fighting, went under his bed, squeezed his eyes tight shut, stuck his fingers in his ears, and went "lah-lah-lah-lah-lah-lah!" so he couldn't hear the fighting.

I just didn't want to listen to any more Canon vs. Nikon nattering.

Ever noticed how there are so often two of everything? Pepsi vs. Coke, Amazon vs. Wal-Mart, Honda vs. Toyota, etc. Human beings are really good at two things: a.) making allies and joining forces to form a team to fight the other team, and b.) when there's just one team, splitting into two teams so the two teams can fight. We do both things constantly. It's like it's hardwired into our DNA. And sometimes it makes no sense: Britain [CORRECTION: excuse me, England—thanks, Peter Wright!] and France got on the same side in 1904 (with the Entente Cordiale) after being on opposite sides for like a millennium*.

I think some people think I'm being inconsistent when I show a high tolerance for personal choices on one hand and then share my own personal shopping agoni...er, problems on the other. Granted, the latter can be annoying to read about because I'm such a head case! But it doesn't mean I'm not tolerant of everyone else's approach. I am. And it doesn't mean I think everyone should adopt the level of angst and perseveration I exhibit myself. Far from it.

You should suit yourself. I'll be a nut, thanks.  :-) 

These ruminations were inspired by reading articles about the new consumer M1 iMac, which of course is causing a flareup of the hoary Mac-vs.-PC rivalry in the comments sections of the articles. Mac-vs.-PC is like one of those skin conditions that can be controlled but never cured. A new product is like an irritant that causes a flareup. But I'm 64; I have no more time left for Mac-vs.-PC threads anywhere but here. It's another hardwired human tendency: we conserve only those resources that are scarce.

Embarrassment
By the way, re my own camera perseverations and angstiness, I'll just put this out there: I haven't actually bought a new camera for myself that became my main go-to axe since 2014. Really. That's when I bought the Fuji X-T1 that became my axe for years. True, I did buy and sell a couple of Panasonics in the last couple of years, but I knew pretty quickly that they didn't "take" and moved on. I bought a bunch of film cameras, as you know, but not to use. I haven't shot film since 2002. And the X-H1 was a gift, not something I went out and bought.

It's even more extreme than that, because I didn't exactly choose to buy the X-T1 in '14.

It's kind of an embarrassing story. What happened was that I requested a sample of the then-new X-T1 from B&H Photo, who are very nice about sending samples, and then I neglected to return it on time. So my contact at B&H emailed and said, we'll give you another 30 days, but then you really have to return it. And then I neglected to return it on time a second time. Just negligence. Kind of disgraceful, but I get absentminded: it's a character defect. I got the rude-shock-slash-wakeup-call when a bill for the camera arrived in the mail. When I called my contact to apologize—well, grovel—he said (essentially), dude, you're really getting me in trouble here!

So, mainly out of embarrassment at my own negligence, I just paid for the camera.

I'm just being honest here. This is actually what happened. (B&H are still nice to me anyway.)

After that, I got to grips with the camera, and ended up liking it more after I really got to know it. So I used it as my main camera until maybe two years ago, when I started to get itchy for something more up to date. And then the X-H1 came along, thanks to Jay.

That meant it was ~5 years with the X-T1, which isn't bad. It's sort of at the long end of my historical turnover rate with cameras. I mean, I like new cameras, like I like new cars. I buy a new car every now and then, and I change cameras every now and then. I'm sure most of you can relate. It's ordinary behavior. (And by the way, I really admire you if you can stick with a camera or a car for 10 years or more. It's super-sensible, and it takes discipline and restraint. My current car is also a 2014, like the X-T1. It's got 90k miles and I'm shooting for 200.)

So don't bust my chops too much about the more annoying aspects of my camera-shopping. If it aggravates you, you can skip it. It just falls into the category of what we do here. I'm looking for a new axe is all. My criteria is that it has to be a "friend," which isn't something I can find on a feature list.

I'll have a print sale so I can pay for it, as Ken Tanaka suggested. We haven't had a print sale in a really long time. Actually I have two in mind.

More about that later. This post is long enough.

Mike

*When the Soviet Union broke up, Mikhail Gorbachev predicted that the U.S. would miss it more than we could foresee. He knew that once the United States became just one big powerful team, we'd have to break up into two teams so we could fight. And sure enough.

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Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Terry Letton: "Sounds like you need a film scanner a lot more than you need another camera. But this comes from a guy who is still satisfied with his Canon 5D II and just chickened out and got rid of his truck after 11 years and 285,000 miles."

Dave Stewart: "When others ask me about matters they're ruminating over with a choice of options, I confess to cheekily and regularly using the same answer. There's usually a puzzled pause, before the laughter ensues. Yes, decide and move on with life. Of course that doesn't mean I'm good at doing so myself, it's more that I recognise others in a similar state of mind. Cameras, I've too many cameras. Likewise lenses, but I have been good lately and reduced the piles of both, which has been cathartic. My problem is the temptation of a bargain that I don't need, and would likely barely use. Most recent example being a Nikon D610, with a shutter count of 29 this weekend. Hope someone else gains that bargain soon."

Dave Millier: "I have PC, Mac, Chromebox and Linux boxes. And none of them is a clear winner. Don't limit yourself to A or B."

Chris Nicholls: "'Can't we do both?' My MacBook sit on my desk next to my PC. And the MacBook runs Win 10 alongside MacOS through the BootCamp facility, for the few Windows applications that I can't duplicate in MacOS. Best of both worlds."

Peter Wright: " Minor historical correction: England and France were on ‘opposite sides for like a millennium’, but before the United Kingdom was united, Scotland was in alliance with France for much of the early part of that millennium (The 'Auld Alliance' it was called in Scotland, and something else in French in France). This was for the purpose of fighting England of course, but after Elizabeth I had no heirs, Scotland and England became the United Kingdom under the Scottish King James (VI of Scotland and I of England). This made a lot of people quite angry, and put the Scottish and English on the same team against France. Part of the result was that there was indeed some dispute in Scotland for one or two centuries after, about which side they should really be on. As to which computer to use; well a Mac of course. Everyone knows that!"

Ilkka: "Choice is good but too much choice confuses people. Years back when Apple had lost its way, Steve Jobs came back and simplified the lineup. Two types, laptop and tabletop, and two levels of power, amateur and pro, if you will. So total of four choices. Easy to choose. Now they are lost again. Do they really need seven different computers, and seven different phones as they currently have for sale in their website? Each with different options for colour and memory."

Mike replies: Curious, isn't it? Surely every company has access to the research that proves the optimum number of choices is three. Maybe it's FOMO, fear of missing out, that drives this. They all think they are missing out on sales if they don't offer finer-grained choices. I go on car websites sometimes and there can be seven basic model choices. And the only distinction between them that's clear is price...and occasionally not even that. It's just confusing. Customers don't even know where to start.

Comments

[John Camp]

Since you brought it up...I now run both PCs and Macs. Macs are easier, PCs are more...congruent...with the business world. There are standard pieces of software that get upset every year or so with new OSX releases. Word is one of them. I need Word to be not upset, and it's not upset if you run it on a PC.

I've been on Macs since the 90s, and here is a small secret that many Mac owners won't acknowledge (including me, until this past spring.) Basically, good PCs are better than Macs in most ways, except for the operating system, which is too clunky. You can get both desktop and laptop PCs that are as fast or faster that Macs with more ports and unusual additional features (my Lenovo desktop has both a phone charger built-in and a LED light panel that shines down on paper that sitting under the front of the computer that you may be copying or editing, and odd, but, I've found, extremely useful feature.) The screens are the same as on Macs, so that's a wash. Anyway, I've lost the old-times Mac religion and have become an agnostic.

[Sharon]

We just ordered two new new PCs because our old ones couldn’t handle our new cameras’ large files. I writhed on the floor for a couple of days trying to decide, then I just ordered them from Puget Systems as we have to have them. So I fully understand how hard it is too decide. UGH. But I will forget the agony when they get here. We don’t upgrade often. I was out of the loop on what is available.

[Tom Burke]

Nice story about the X-T1!

I agree with you on the 'Mac or PC?' choice, and the former 'Canon or Nikon' choice as well. The key thing is to stick with your choice. Changing your mind results in penury, I think.

I've been using Macs for about 20 years. I'm sure that none of them have actually been better than an equivalent PC, but that wasn't the point. I had just started a new job with a (very) small software company - just me and the boss - and I was working from home. (The boss lived 300 miles away). The company provided me with a computer, monitor, and everything else I needed. Working at home was new to me, however, and I found I needed some external cues as to when I was 'at work' and when I wasn't. I was spending a lot of time at a desk in a small home-office anyway, and furthermore the job turned out to feature 'flexible working hours'. Obviously I had to have my own computer - I couldn't do personal stuff on the work computer - and I decided that making *my* computer a different sort of computer from the work one would be useful - an extra cue as to whether I was working or not. So I bought a Mac, and I've stuck with that choice.

(Having said that there's probably no real difference between Macs and equivalent PCs, I have a feeling from what I've read that the new Apple Silicon processors have changed that, certainly for laptops.)

[marcin wuu]

Is it embarassing that I use my current camera (Fuji GX680) for way over ten years now and still there isn't anything on the market that would even remotely make me consider switching? And I am a hardware geek, not gonna lie here, switched just about every other thing I use daily except for the watch.

[Geoff Wittig]

It's probably worth pointing out that here in the U.S. we had a lot of help from Mr. Gorbachev's successors when it came to 'breaking up into two teams'. One can loathe Putin while marveling at the ingenuity with which Russia's intelligence services have gleefully exploited and magnified America's social divisions by manipulating social media.

And Mike, you surely should check out Fuji's X-T4. All the IBIS goodness of the X-H1 in a much prettier package, plus those lovely retro control dials. I have always found the X-H1's exposure compensation maddening, requiring a fingernail on a tiny button while simultaneously turning a rubbery plastic dial. Did the designers ever try using it? The only drawback by my quirky standards is the oversized viewfinder housing on the X-T4, presumably due to IBIS, so it's not quite as pretty as its predecessor.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Just to help reset the needle to zero, a good reminder that photography ain’t really about cameras.

The Guardian 2021 iPhone Photography Awards

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gallery/2021/jul/25/2021-iphone-photography-awards-in-pictures

[Robert Pillow]

I hate to create a wedge between Mac and Windows, but what about Raspberry Pi?

[Kodachromeguy]

Mike, Mr Gorbachev was right. We have broken up into two segments that hate each other, MAGA versus "liberal". And it is destroying the nation. There will be more violence during the midterm elections.

Back to computers. I think each household needs 1 mac and 1 PC. Certain things are easier and faster on a Mac, but other simple tasks seem clumsy. Other tasks are easier to do an a PC.

The new M1 Mac is a problem because a lot of software will not run on that chip. This might be the time to buy an Intel chip Mac while you still can get one so that you can run your legacy software.

[Keith]

Mac or PC? If someone hasn't landed on a satisfactory for them answer, they haven't been trying. Just lately Mac seems to be ahead with their new M1 chip, and personally I can't wait for them to start selling a 27 or 30 inch iMac with the new chip or it's followup, and pretty please with sugar on top, put the SD card slot on the SIDE, not the back. But next month or next year the PC's will get a new chip and the merry go round goes round again.

I just consider how fortunate we are to have such amazing computers, and cameras, and everything else, even as we swear at them from time to time. Consider what computer scientists would say if you took a recent model laptop back say, 50 or 60 years. They'd wet their pants. And what would professional photographers from then think of the current models of cameras from any manufacturer, assuming a current computer to run editing software?

[Bob Rosinsky]

Qualifier: Slightly germane to a paragraph or two in this current Sunday Support Group entry.

Go ahead and buy a shiny new Sony A6600. I purchased one a few months ago when they were on sale. My verdict: It's a wonderful camera. Image quality is great, IBIS is fine, ergonomics are fine, long battery life, and more. I'm now jonesing for the Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD Lens for Sony E.

[Rich]

I like your clickbait title. I have a PC with my photo editing software on it but my daily driver for browsing and email is an iPad Pro, so I have a foot in both camps. I built the PC myself so I had to get Windows and I didn’t want to mess about with Linux.

I’m going to be a bit contentious here and say that I think that the latest iteration of the iMac looks like a parody of itself. I find the big “chin” very off putting and it seems to have lost its character in the redesign.

[Rick in CO]

Its not just the choice of a computer. Your phone, your tablet and your computer can be synchronized such that email, texts, photos, calendars, etc can all be duplicated on all of your registered devices. This can be very handy when traveling, my iPad mini suffices by itself. I can even download photos taken during the day to review and edit. Big difference from even a few years ago - Simply Amazing!

[Bill Tyler]

Mac vs. PC. Canon vs. Nikon vs. Sony vs. .....

The reason there's so much disputation is that the choices are so very nearly equal.

[robert e]

Forgive me if I'm repeating myself, because the story of the XT1 seems familiar, but it sounds suspiciously like a part of you (perhaps wiser, perhaps GAS-ier, perhaps both) tricked the rest of you into buying it.

I wonder, though, if you would have learned to like the other cameras too, if you had as much time to get acquainted. That's not at all a criticism. I just mean that cameras these days are both very complex and rather quirky. We're forced to invest time to just learn what settings are available and where they are, before we can even start to figure out how we want them set.

[hugh crawford]

The answer for Nikon Vs Canon? Hasselblad. Or Rollie. Or Yashica Mat. Or Minolta Autocord*. Or Graflex. I always kept a pair of Nikons because sometimes (usually) quality wasn't as important as quantity and you could always rent stuff.

*I love my Autocord

[Michael Farley]

A correction to Peter Wright’s “correction”. The United Kingdom did not come into existence until 1707. Before then, England and Scotland were separate kingdoms each with its own parliament but with the same person acting as head of state. Both assemblies had to pass an Act of Union to put into effect the Treaty of Union agreed by the two sides in 1706.

[Tom]

Mike,

Why not give the Fujifilm X-S10 a try? I don't have any personal time with one but it seems like it would tick a lot of the boxes for you: latest sensor, IBIS, smallish body, and classic handling. Plus, you get to keep all of your Fujifilm lenses.

[Wolfgang Lonien]

Funny how with "PC" people always seem to assume "Windows"... tho everyone knows of course that Linux is by far the best of all worlds (tongue in cheek if that wasn't clear enough anyway) ;)

[Stephen Scharf]

Just a tip for Geoff Wittig on using the X-H1...you can configure the X-H1 so that it is not necessary to hold down the top panel button on the while turning the command dial to adjust comp. I've been using mine in this configuration since Feb., 2018. Reading the manual helps here. Cheers.

[Markus]

My advice: buy either one, maybe pre-loved, and install Linux... Even 10 year old Macs do fine with it.

This will not limit your photography, but printing. At least for me the successful way for the last 15 years was this combo, using Windows for driving the printer in a virtual environment.

The hardware has grown so much better over the last decades, that many computers outlive the support of their vendors, and it would be a shame to discard them.

At least for me, concentrating on photography is the main target. The computer just should not get in the way. Any brand or operating system you feel confident with will do.

[Neven Falica]

My primary digital camera is 8 years old (Panasonic GX7), I've bought it used, and I've been using it for 6 years. My secondary digital camera is 13 years old (Canon 5D mkII), I've been using it for 3 years now. My three newest film cameras are 20 and 22 years old (Pentax MZ-S and Minolta Dynax 5 are 20, Nikon F100 is 22), I got them some time during the last 6 years. My smaller/city/fun car is 13 years old (Citroën C2 VTS), my highway/travel car is 21 years old (Hyundai Sonata). I've bought Citroën two years ago, Hyundai is with me for the last decade.

Apparently, I like keeping things, using them for a long time!

[Earl Dunbar]

Regarding the “character defect” - I disagree. It’s not a defect, it’s a habit issue, IMO. I share the same (not a) “defect” but have trained myself to use technology at my disposal. I set reminders and calendar events right away.

For example, when I am at the physical therapy office and make my next appointment, I enter it on my iPhone immediately, either while at the front desk or once I reach my car.

For bill pay, all banks and FCUs (as far as I know) support the ability online/app to enter bill scheduled payments. So if I buy something with a credit card because of some offer or points to be earned, I either send a payment right away or schedule it to meet or beat the payment date.

Like all habits, this took some time to develop. I think I’ve only missed two or three deadlines/appointments in many years.