Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "SteveZ"
<blizzie12@y...> wrote:
> I'm thinking of giving my PC to my son and purchasing a Power Mac G5. 
> Are there any tangible advantages of switching to Mac for image 
> editing, processing and/or printing? I'm aware that Macintosh is 
> prefered by the graphics industry but what are the advantages of one 
> system versus the other? 
> 
> Comments? Opinions?

Yes, I have one of both (i.e., a comment and an opinion): my
curmudgeonly comment is that this very topic has been discussed to
death both in this group and possibly everywhere else on the Internet.
So I sincerely hope we can avoid a potentially (or invariably?)
devisive, open-ended and off-topic "poll". Instead, couldn't you
formulate one or more _specific_ questions pertaining to the influence
of operating system on B&W printing? You could begin by telling _us_
what software and printer(s) are you using currently for your B&W
"image editing, processing and/or printing". And what might you plan
(or want) to use in the near future? Would these choices be equally
useable/useful after switching systems? Much of that you could answer
for yourself quite possibly.

My opinion (admittedly rather Mac-centric, but I hope unclouded by
emotion) is that the one-time Mac advantage (to which you alluded) has
pretty much been minimized; so you'll find that the decision about
switching systems comes down to your perceptions of subtle differences
(some not-so-subtle) in things like the operating system "refinement",
ease-of-use and color-management-awareness. But don't take anyone
else's word for which--Mac or Windows-- has the "edge". Beyond those
issues, the decision between using Mac or Windows for editing/printing
might actually be based on something as trivial-seeming as the
unavailability (for Macintosh) of the application QImage . If you
happen to be one of those individuals who has become "hooked" on using
certain unique features of QImage, that's not a trivial situation,
since there's no fully equivalent Mac app. But if you can live without
QI (or some other Windows-only application), then perhaps you can rent
(or borrow) a Mac for a few weeks and decide whether or not you prefer
the "feel" of it.

Oh yeh, and what about the rest of your life (the part not involved
with image editing and printing)? Are your important day-to-day
applications satisfied on both platforms (same or equivalent apps)?

Phil