Oh how I loathe you, sir Latitude. Not so much that your hardware is bad; your T7300 and 2 GB of RAM, not to mention your Quadro NVS, while not mind blowing by any standard, easily keep up with my projects during my late nights in the comm cafe. It's not that your 14" panel, with its rather odd 1440 x 900 native resolution, is too low, or your screen itself too dim.
It's that you're a F*CKIN DELL*.
Seriously, there's a reason "Dell" is only a few letters away from "Hell".
Anyways, my Hell is crapping out on me, after a mere 2 years of use. It's been in the shop about 4 times in the past 10 months alone, and that was only for hardware problems that I couldnt solve myself. I've had to reinstall Windows another 3 times, and do countless othere menial tasks to get this thing running smoothly. And it's probably going to head back to the ITS Service Desk at my school again soon, as the WiFi card is acting up.
But this post is supposed to be about Apple (though I could do a Dell post triple this length if I felt like it), so I digress..
So, needless to say, a replacement to this 5.1 lb. bundle of joy is in order, if for no other reason then to keep my blood pressure down.
Now, in case no one has figured it out yet, I'm a digital artist. So, where does the digital artist look for a new laptop, or a new computer in general?
Apple of course!!
Now, I know Apple's current product portfolio like the back of my hand. With the crazy amount of press Apple gets, any tech-obsessed nerd can't help but be well aquainted with the Appleverse. So, while perusing my options for a new notebook, the MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro, I realized something. Something really obvious, but something I hadn't noticed until very recently:
Apple has abandoned the creative professional.
Depressing, but true. How you ask? Just take a good hard look at Apple's lineup. What is there? I mean what is really there? Nothing but consumer products, and glorified consumer products.
Now, what do I mean by that? How can a computer be merely a consumer product? Isn't a product's purpose detirmined by its use? Well yes, I suppose one could make an argument for that. But just because you can use something for a specific purpose, doesn' mean it's designed for it. I mean, even though you can cut a cake with your laptop, that doesn't mean you're gonna keep it in your utensil drawer...
So lets examine the nitty gritty of these products: Starting at the bottom and working our way up: The Apple MacBook. Here we have a really odd product. It is currently split in two variations - the white polycarbonate MacBook of yesteryear, and the new, sleek and shiny unibody design we all know and love. Now, perhaps this is wrong to look at, because, the MacBook isn't intended to be a Pro product, its meant for the consumer. But with a feature set on the unibody MacBook nearly matching the MacBook Pro, I think its safe to say that a good portion of prosumers will be at least considering it. So... the Apple MacBook. What does it have going for it? Well...it has a glossy screen, very not perfect for the digital artist, as it throws true color value out the window, not to mention the annoying glare. caused by the edge-to-edge glass. The white MacBook aliveviates this issue slightly by using a plastic display, but its still glossy. Also worth mentioning is that both of these displays are WXGA resolution (1280 x 800), not very suitable for large image editing.
The MacBook unibody also lacks any sort of FireWire connection, meaning anyone into audio, film, or just someone with a FireWire external hard drive is outta luck. Ironically, the white MacBook, which is a lot cheaper and really meant for consumers, has a FireWire 400 port. It also has a miniDVI port, unlike the unibody's miniDisplayPort, which takes away the option of hooking the computer up to that sweet color calibrated external display you have.
But lets move on to the next "step up" in Apple's lineup: the MacBook Air. As a pro product, this thing just utterly fails. I'm not saying its a bad notebook (though I'm sure others would), just a bad notebook for pro customers. Lacking FireWire, only 1 USB port, no Ethernet, no upgradable RAM, no upgradable hard drive, no removable battery, a slow Core 2 Duo CPU, and a still WXGA glossy screen (albiet one of better quality). Also worth noting is the MacBook and Air use an Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU, and while its a good GPU for its class, it will still struggle under heavy creative workflow.
Now the MacBook Pro is in a different class. With it's 15" or 17" screen, a Core 2 Duo chip starting at 2.4 GHz, and the added GeForce 9600M. Of course, with a starting price of $1999, it also is in a completly different price range. While these options are a lot better then the previous MacBook offerings, the problem here is that, despite the name, none of the hardware is really "Pro". Sure the CPU choices from Intel are solid, if not exceptional, yet, in typical Apple style, the price for the hardware is far too high. Another problem is the GPU in the MacBook Pro, the 9600M, is not a prosumer graphics card. The GeForce series of cards is for gaming (ironically, someething the Mac does not excel at). Nvidia's Quadro line, as well as ATI's FireGL series, are cards specifically designed for CAD and other graphics apps specifically for digital artists. Why Apple chose mainstream cards for it's mobile workstations over these is beyond me, though its nothing new. Apple has NEVER used a CAD card in any of their notebooks. In addition, these pro level laptops STILL USE A GLOSSY SCREEN. And only the 17" MacBook Pro, which starts at over $3000, has an option for a matte version. Of course, this once free choice is now a $50 upgrade... Also worth mentioning about the 17" Pro, is that, despite its price tag, does not included a Blu Ray drive. In fact, no Mac does, Steve Jobs is against it, which I'm sure is in an effort to drive iTunes sales. Not only that, the 17" STILL only uses a 9600M. Contrastly, ASUS makes laptops for under $1000 that have 9800M GTS cards in them, which, as the numbering would imply, blows the 9600 outta the water...
So pretty much every Mac portable is ruled out. If we look at desktops, its the same thing. The iMacs are too expensive for the hardware you get, have a glossy screen thats bad for art, and the only real Pro desktop, the Mac Pro (which thank god uses workstation-class Xeon processors) has too crappy a GPU (an Nvidia GT 120) for the price!
So if these Pro level Macs are so bad for Prosumers...why do we buy them!? The answer, again, is obvious, but not so obvious:
The design.
Yes. We, as artists, appreciate good design. We are in the business of making pretty things, and as such, our inner designer orgasms with glee when we look at an Apple product. Those perfect lines, those sleek tapered edges, the beautiful sublty of form, oh my god I HAVE TO HAVE ONE!!!
Stop.
Seriously, are we that stupid? I mean, are we really going to drop $1000+ on a Mac just because Apple hired some guys who can do OUR jobs well!?
Apparently yes, because I've done it a few times myself...
I'm not saying that Mac OS X is bad (as I'm sure Apple fans would be very quick to point out how amazing it is when faced with any negativity about El Jobso's babies), I'm saying, that $2000 for a $1200 laptop in a pretty case isn't smart spending.
We as artists need one thing in our computers: Power. And a lot of it. The more horsepower we have, the faster our stuff gets done, and the more productive we are. Graphic designers need a high resolution screen and a kick ass CPU, which most Mac portables don't have (at least not cheap). CAD and 3D animators need a bitchin video card, preferably workstation-class, which Macs dont have. Audio and video people need high res screen and lots of FireWire, which most Macs don't have. And everyone can always use output to an external monitor, which, because of Apple's switch to miniDisplayPort, is a lot harder to do. And don't even think of using Dual DVI without an uber expensive adapter...
Let's face it. The iPod killed the Mac. As soon as it became cool to like Apple, Apple turned its back on the industry that single handidly kept it alive over the past ten years, and succumbed to the average consumer, appealing to the lowest common denominator. Now, theres no denying that that's good business, (Just look a any recent Apple marketshare values if you want to debate that). However, I can't see why they couldn't have kept a strong Pro lineup going. Anything with an Apple logo on it these days will sell. High end Prosumer products would've still sold to hip consumers trying to be cool, and Pro customers would still be served with valuable tools for their work. It would have been a win-win. But now, their turn to the average person has caused them at least one sale, as I cannot in good conscience buy a new Mac when there are simply better options out there...
*And no, this isnt my only bad experience with Dell machines. I have an Optiplex 745 and it also craps out on me constantly. I had to reinstall Windows after it decided it didnt like my video card anymore. The thing is actually currently sitting OS-less, waiting for yet another reformat, for reasons I don't even feel like going into...
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