PC laptop vs MACbook? Please no sectarian debate

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Well.....I was an admitted MacBook hater.

But I have a iPad Pro and love it. I even broke down and got an iPhone to work with my iPad and it's great.

So, I took the plunge and recently purchased a MacBook Pro M2 with a 1TB SSD hard drive so I could manage my photos on the road and do Lightroom and Photoshop upstairs with my wife instead of hiding downstair on my Dell desktop which is fantastic.

After watching a lot of "how to" videos on how to use the MacBook and a considerable amount of time just figuring it out.....it's an A+ machine. Blazingly fast, great screen. Heavy though and iMovie is really good for a beginner like me and LR and Photoshop are virtually instantaneous on the MacBook. NO regrets getting it!

I did get an external monitor so my old eyes can see the details on PS better and that works great also. My 2x backup for trips is a 1TB Sandisk SSD which were on sale.

So... the MacBook Pro M2 is everything I was hoping it would be!
 
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Replytoken said:
Choosing an OS is important, but there are also many other important choices that might end up swaying you one way or another.

Things to consider beyond OS:
  • Budget
  • Weight/size
  • Keyboard feel
  • Battery life
  • Screen size/resolution/color gamut
  • Ports
I have a Windows PC, an Apple iPad and an Android phone, so I am a bit agnostic when it comes to brand/OS loyalty. I personally used Macs from 1984-1995. I have used Win PC/laptops since. Both are great, but as @Abinoone mentioned, it can be difficult to switch when you are used to doing things in certain ways, and I often feel that way when I am working on a Mac. But as @DRwyoming said, if you primarily use Lightroom, then the look and feel will be very similar. I would encourage you to try out different machines in person if you can. And this site is great for reviews: https://www.notebookcheck.net/ . I especially like that they test the screen gamut and accuracy as well as performance under load (i.e. is there throttling as @RecalcitrantRon mentioned).

Good luck,

--Ken
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Nice write up, Ken.

Personally, the screen, color gamut & ports rate higher on my check list, the next is ports, I can not fathom travelling with a huge brick of docking station.

Oliver
 
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If you're going to be traveling frequently and require a reliable machine for editing Z9 files, a MacBook with the M2 chip is worth considering.

MacBooks tend to be more optimized for creative tasks like photo and video editing compared to PC laptops. Thanks to the new M2 chip, you can expect even faster performance and better battery life than previous models.

At the same time, it's important to think about your own needs and workflow when deciding which option is right for you. If you're already comfortable with Windows computers and have software that won't work on a MacBook, it may not be worth switching over.

Ultimately, the choice between a PC laptop and a MacBook comes down to personal preference; decide which one will best suit your needs.
 
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RichF said:
I find Macs to be many times (10 to 25 times) more stable than PCs.
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I think this is a misunderstanding. In the early days of the Mac, it was a horror show, crashing constantly. But, today, neither OS is particularly unstable. The real instability comes from the apps, and the biggest source of instability in commercial software seems to be with software that was written for one platform and ported to the other -- the port is often quite prone to crashing. I expect many people on this site have experienced the instability of Nikon's software on a Mac -- but that's because it was written for PCs. AIUI, Nikon's app stability on a Mac is getting better now, but the problem with software stability resides in the applications, and especially in applications ported from another OS. FWIW
 
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PeggyBaker said:
Right now I'm not dealing with budget issues, just the editing experience.
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The editing experience will be exactly the same. I've used both Windows and Mac machines for a long time and really one isn't better than the other. I currently use a Mac for work and my primary computer at home and these days I just use Windows for gaming. From a productivity standpoint either one will get the job done and unless gaming there aren't as many software gaps as there were a couple of decades ago (and all the photo centric software works on both). The actual Mac computers are obviously really nice but if you spend an equivalent on a PC you can get similar quality.

I think that the big advantages of a Mac have nothing to do with stability or anything like that, it's the eco system.... it's the way all the products integrate (Mac with the iPhone, iPad and Watch) is really nice.... getting calls/texts on all the devices, start something on one device and pick it up on another, shared data, IPads can be used as secondary monitors etc. Once you get sucked into the eco system it's hard to go back :)

The only other advantage (to me) is support and being able to bring it to any Apple store for service.
 
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If you are familiar with both, then my preference would be for a MacBook PRO for the following reasons.

First, it is a single vendor that creates the HW and SW has been a big advantage.z
Second, with Windows laptops, you have many brands, many types and from my experience very varying results with performance and proper driver support and typically a lot of unneeded and not very well functioning additional SW already installed.
 
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JamesFarrell said:
Good points. And something else that I just thought of after my post is if one is trying to deal with a Mac and PC (network or not) whether the different kinds of file system formats between the two different systems will make things really difficult too.
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As a Mac user, while I agree with what other Mac users have said, I would likely stick with an OS with which you are familiar. Your desktop and laptop OS will be the same, so tech issues can occur with either one. Stay in one lane.
But your most recent ? is interesting. The Mac OS file system to be used--recommended--is their APFS. You can only read/write to these files with your Windows desktop with a third party software application from Paragon. Your files are large and if it is your intent to import all you do into your Windows file system, then I cannot advise how easily and quickly this can be done. Or, what problems would ensue and who would help with this issue. So, for this alone, I would stick with a Window's laptop. Speak with Karen.
 
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You've got enough opinions on the computer, so I'll just add I bought two 2TB Sandisk USB-C drives to use when I travel. I put my Lightroom catalog and all my pics on the one drive and then copy it to the other drive as a backup. That way, I don't need to have a huge hard drive on my laptop. When I get home, I just plug the drive into my desktop, power up Lightroom on the desktop, and do an Import catalog and point to the Lightroom catalog on the Sandisk. Works GREAT to move everything over and keep all of my edits and ratings that I did when I was traveling.
 
If you are a fan of that designer brand, have a look at how they a really built. They are also a major force behind anti-right to repair legislation:

 
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I've been rolling my own PCs for many years. I decided to switch to the surface pro 8 for travel due to its size and weight. It works very well in the field for my needs. I prefer my desktop with big monitors for serious editing, but the surface works well very for culling, backups and double checking my photos in the field. I don't think using an IOS phone with a PC is the problem it once was years ago.
 
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It looks like I could store/access files on my Synology NAS from both Mac and PC without having to jump through any third party hoops, does anyone have any experience with this?

PS to @sportmaster welcome to capitalism. Not very many tech companies are good for the planet. I'm not ok with that but don't have much of an alternative.
 
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When I was doing wedding photography and batch processing thousands of images with Photoshop I was initially using a computer running Windows XP and after buying a Mac Pro workstation with its Intel processor I noticed a 50% reduction in processing time. The difference was with the greater efficiency of the Mac OS in managing computer resources. Microsoft with the release of Windows 7 said it was 10% faster than Vista which doubled the overhead for the CPU.

I have multiple laptop and tower computers running Windows 7 and Windows 10, but also a Mac Pro 16-inch laptop. Overall performance of the Mac is superior to my Windows computers. With the M2 processor the Apple computers gain a great deal of graphics processing power which will facilitate working with compressed still files and with video processing. The drawback in the past of too few external ports and needing various dongle adapters is no longer the case with current models.

I still have problems with the Apple workstation options available at this time but would not hesitate to recommend their laptop computers with the M2 processors.
 
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PeggyBaker said:
It looks like I could store/access files on my Synology NAS from both Mac and PC without having to jump through any third party hoops, does anyone have any experience with this?

PS to @sportmaster welcome to capitalism. Not very many tech companies are good for the planet. I'm not ok with that but don't have much of an alternative.
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Yes I do

My wife is a Windows user and I prefer Mac and used to run Linux on my laptop.
Synology just works across the brands.,
 
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PeggyBaker said:
It looks like I could store/access files on my Synology NAS from both Mac and PC without having to jump through any third party hoops, does anyone have any experience with this?

PS to @sportmaster welcome to capitalism. Not very many tech companies are good for the planet. I'm not ok with that but don't have much of an alternative.
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I have a Synology disc station on my NAS as well. 15Tb . 2 macs and a pc as well as 2 iphones and iPads. What’s great is that I can access my data from anywhere in the world where I can get the internet. I have another in my garage (detached from my house) which my DS backs up to weekly. This way I have total control, I have my own cloud, and don’t pay anyone else to have my data.
access is easy….it’s just a drive in Mac Files or Windows File Explorer.
 
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PeggyBaker said:
Hi all-- it looks like I will be traveling a bunch over the next several months. I have been a PC user basically sincBe lu 1, and I have a purpose-built desktop PC which I'm quite happy with. However, for the first time I'm actually considering a MacBook with the M2 chip to get me through this time on the road with my Z9 files. Can anyone speak to this dilemma without feeling the need to trash one OS over the other? Right now I'm not dealing with budget issues, just the editing experience.
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Both Mac and PC have plusses and drawbacks.
The Mac software is usually easier to use but dearer for some reason.
The PC usually has faster hardware but the Macs' OS is faster.
I've moved away from apple recently due to them digitally serial numbering their components.
This means only Apple can fix/service your computer where PC parts can be found everywhere ... 🦘
 
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I used to use a Dell XPS 13 for my travels. What I want is a small, light laptop capable of doing some photo processing while I am on the road. I also had/have a Dell XPS 17, which I am on at this moment, and which I use for photo processing at home (sitting in my nice padded recliner chair). When I started using add-on software for my photo processing, including Topaz Denoise AI, Topaz Sharpen AI, and more recently, DxO PureRaw, I found that the XPS13 was (is) just too darned slow. I decided to get a new travel laptop. At that time, March 2022, it was clear that the Macbook Pro with the M1 Max chip provided the best bang for the buck in terms of sheer processing speed for a laptop. I got a 14" model and I have been happy with it. It is very fast, and in fact is faster than my XPS 17 of similar vintage.

Using two different OS takes some getting used to, but not much. Hey, you use the command key instead of the control key. The basics of these modern operating systems is not rocket science. I had to look up a few things, and every once in a while a quirk of the Mac OS still annoys me. Overall, I used the Windows OS for much longer, so I came to view its procedures as "normal." Actually, the thing about the Macbook that I dislike the most is the lack of a touch screen, which I had gotten very used to.
But the Macbook Pro is very, very fast, and now there are models that are even faster. And the touch screen uses a lot of power, so by comparison the Macbook Pro lasts considerably longer on a single charge.

If there were a Dell XPS 13 that was/is as fast as the Macbook Pro, I would have bought it. I don't know if the current generation of that computer has caught up, but I doubt it. Those Apple processing chips are exceptional.

When I have bought Dell computers I buy a few years' worth of service. I have had to use this service a few times. For Apple, I bought one year of AppleCare or whatever it's called, but it's over now. These machines are pretty reliable.

I use Chrome as my browser on both machines, and I use Adobe products on both machines, no problem. When I get upgrades from Topaz or DxO or firmware updates from Nikon I can get them for both systems.

The one area that has been a bit of a pain (not much) is portable hard drives/SSD. The old ones I used for Windows cannot be read by the Mac. I now make sure that I get an SSD that can be read by either system.

If I were to look for a new laptop, I would check the specs on the current generation of Windows machines and see how they compare to the current generation of Macs. I suspect that the Macbook Pro is still much the faster machine, so I would get a new one. They do cost a bit more, but something one uses every day over a period of a couple of years, it's worth it.
 
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I have A7rIV so these are 60Mp and 60MB compressed raw files. I just bought an MBP 16" with M1, 16GB, 1TB - renewed for $1,700. The machine came to me basically as new. The speed with Topaz Photo AI, Lightroom has been outstanding. Way way faster (3-10 times) than my 3 year old Lenovo P1 workstation with i7, 32GB of RAM and 512GB SSD. So much faster that my mind was blown away. The quality of the HW and integration with SW is outstanding. Further, I can run my 12" iPad Pro as a sidecar monitor and run it with Apple Pencil! That allows for pencil editing of the images, just like with Wacom. I'm not a fan of Apple's file system and native tools for navigating it, but everything else has been stellar.
 
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I have a Windows desktop custom built by MicroCenter. My laptop is a 15 inch Lenovo Think Pad X1. Both get used extensively for photo purposes. I have been trying to justify switching to Apple products for years, but I never could justify the extra costs for equivalent gear sold by Apple. And I know that I do not want two different systems for the same software. My first choice is all Windows or all Apple for both a laptop and a desktop.

Given that your new laptop will not be used for heavy photo editing, I would stick with a windows laptop as long as you retain your windows desktop. If I had to replace my current Lenovo ThinkPad X1 laptop, I would consider a 14inch Lenovo ThinkPadX1 with 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD and a 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1280P vPro® Processor. I am not sure what graphics card is available on a 14inch Lenovo. If you need a high end graphics card with dedicated RAM, then an other Lenovo model or size may be needed. I have a tech savy friend wwho says a i9 processor is not needed for photo processing. Another laptop that is worth looking at is a ASUS Studio book with 32 GB RAM. I believe you can select a graphics card for it.

I use my laptop for D850 and Z9 files.
 
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For overall utility when traveling I prefer my old Windows 7 laptops which have an Ethernet port, a HDMI port, a couple of USB 3 ports, and an internal SD card reader. With the past Mac laptops one needed to use multiplle adapters for the Apple thunderbolt port for different devices.

There are also differences in Wifi capabilities with later models having more sophisticated antennas and processors that provide better performance when communicating with a distant router as is often the situation when traveling. The larger laptops provide better Wifi connnectivity and I is likely from having more space available for longer antennas.
 
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One issue to consider: My MacBook m1 Pro connected to a Canon Pro 1000 printer prints with an obvious magenta cast. This is a known issue and the only solution I have found so far is to print through Canon Print Studio Pro as a plug-in extra. The MacBook prints with an Apple printer driver, not the Canon one . The MacBook operating system, Monterey 12.5.1 does not support a Canon printer driver. PSP is extremely limited compared to the Lightroom print module. If anyone has a solution to this problem I would love to hear about it.
 
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Steve said:
I think either will work. I recently purchased a 16" MBP with an M2 chip and it's been fantastic on the road. Super fast and makes culling large files a snap. I got one with a 4TB HD so I can keep my trip photos on the laptop drive (I still have a pair of backups as well). I've been very pleased with it and have no hesitation recommending it. The biggest downside is that it's painfully pricy. However, you can also get a MacBook Air that's quite a but less with an M2 chip. The downside is that 1TB is the maximum HD size.
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Be aware that you cannot add operating power to the MacBook Air, something about how they make them thin in size. I failed to pay attention when I got my last one and it has 8GB of operating memory and that is not enough for photo programs. This thread is good for me because I'm now debating what to get next, not a MacBook Air because of its small screen size. I'm planning on trading in three older desktop machines and both laptops...I hope they give me something for all five! Also, the MacBook Air does not have a fan and it is very loud running and seems to labor over time.
 
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Viathelens said:
Be aware that you cannot add operating power to the MacBook Air, something about how they make them thin in size. I failed to pay attention when I got my last one and it has 8GB of operating memory and that is not enough for photo programs. This thread is good for me because I'm now debating what to get next, not a MacBook Air because of its small screen size. I'm planning on trading in three older desktop machines and both laptops...I hope they give me something for all five! Also, the MacBook Air does not have a fan and it is very loud running and seems to labor over time.
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Not sure what you mean by ”operating power” but no MacBook has upgradable hardware (memory, SSD etc). You have to decide what you want ahead of time and future proof it as much as you can.
 
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