By Leonard A. Caplan
PC or Mac? This is a question I get most often from “newbie” video enthusiasts. There are a thousand opinions on both sides. This is my take on the subject. If you were a student in my video production class, I would definitely say “Mac” because the studio where I teach is Mac based. It’s a no-brainer that if you’re learning or working in a particular environment to go with that existing platform. If you’re working in a PC environment, it makes sense to get a PC.
But which is better? I’m not one of those people who is dogmatic about computers. I don’t go for the “war” between some PC and Mac users. That being said, let’s objectively compare the features of both. I see the value in both the PC and Mac systems. For the sheer number of applications, the PC is king of every program from car diagnostics to the latest computer video game. If a program for something exists, PCs have it.
Though there are less applications to choose from in Macs, it’s generally acknowledged that Mac based graphics applications are superior to those of PCs.
PCs have problems because of the sheer number of computer viruses out there. Because of this, I have dedicated one of my few studio PCs to being a character generator only machine with no internet connection allowed since it would inevitably slow down the machine in a very short amount of time.
Macs are the clear winner in terms of lack of viruses. Computer mischief makers have geared most viruses to PCs to affect the greatest number of users possible. And most computer users world wide have PCs.
PCs are generally cheaper than Macs and you can pretty much build them from scratch. Macs are customizable mainly when you order them directly from Apple so with the exception of specialty cards and RAM, you’re pretty much stuck with the same Mac you bought.
So which side do I come down on? My particular preference is for Macs, mainly because I am used to Final Cut Pro, available only on a Mac. I picked the Mac and Final Cut Pro for my studio after visiting several colleges and noting that this was the platform and program that they used. My choice was based on the fact that it would be good for high school students planning to enter the world of video to have a head start on editing with the same programs they will use in college.
In a future blog we we’ll talk about PC and Mac editing software. Until then, which do YOU prefer? Write to us and give your opinion!
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1 comments:
Hi Leonard.
Nice blog. At the end of the blog I got the feeling that there was no a detailed comparison between PC's and Mac's for Video Editing. The blog mentions PC's having viruses while Mac's do not. One of the reasons Macs are favored over the PC's in the blog is the fact that Apple offers Final Cut Pro and your studio uses Macs.
I would like to share and compliment why Mac's could be a excellent choice for video editing enthusiasts.
Apple Engineers had worked for several years in the development of the H.264 Video & Audio Compression format trying to obtain smaller size videos without compromising the quality of audio and video. The reason behind of all these investigations was the secret development of Mobile Devices like iPhones, iPod Touch and now the newly iPad. Apple needed to compress video as much as possible if they want to offer high demand applications on mobile devices. They even proposed the H.264 as the standard High Definition Video Compression for the Web. And guess what Leonard. YouTube among other video platforms started to adopt H.264 as the HD compression format. But there's more... 92% of video that is watched online is possible through Flash Platform developed by Adobe. However. The new iPad is not going to use Flash for their videos. iPad is going to stream videos through HTML5 included video player meaning that people will no longer have to use flash to see videos.... Apple has been developed a new mobile device platform called iPhone OS which is getting more and more strengh in the US Market... Mac desktops and laptops have declined in sales over the last few quaters 2009 - 2010... In a near future the MAC PLATFORM will be unlock with Apple because Apple is developing two Operation Systems iPhone OS and Mac OSX... fewer sales of Macs will bring less revenue and more expenses to Apple while increasing sales in iPhones and iPads will bring more revenue for Apple... At the end Apple will continue working with iPhone OS and Mac will be on its own way.... There's more information I would like to share but it will be in another opportunity...
Thanks Leonard. Have a great day.
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