Mac vs PC

I'm going to get a new computer soon and I've been on the fence about the whole Mac vs PC issue when it comes to Professional Video Editing. In your honest opinion which is better when? Keep in mind I mean professional video editing not as a hobby, DVD authoring, and design work.

 

Both are pretty equal. Macs have a more stable architecture but only just. Most software is available on both platforms. Unless you need to use, say, Final Cut for your projects, you can get Avid or the Adobe suite on either platform, and then it really comes down to taste - what are you most familiar with. I have to use Final Cut at work, although my preferred platform is a Windows 7 PC. Not that the Mac is giving me any problems, it's just a personal preference thing.

Mac was the way to go a decade ago. Now it can go either way.

 

Most capture cards are both Mac and PC compliant these days - also worth bearing in mind.

It really is down to what software you want to use rather than what platform you use it on. I've got Final Cut Studio, Adobe Creative Suite AND AVID all on my mac, I use FCP day-to-day, but will soon be switching to CS to take advantage of the 64-Bit software.

I will say that as a mac user, I have never had a problem finding software to do whatever it is I want (as PC users have boasted for years).

In the short term, a PC may be a cheaper option, but I have also found that Macs last longer, but are more of an investment everytime you need to upgrade. And watch out for Mac OS software upgrades than can break your favourite bit of software...

 

I am a big advocate for Mac. However I do agree with most when they say to use what you're comfortable with. Back when I was a PC user, I was comfortable with Premiere Pro. When I switched to Macs, I was surprised to find out that the design of FCP was almost similar to Premiere Pro. So it was an easy transition for me. Right now, I'm going back and forth between FCP 7 and Premiere Pro CS6. I use Premiere Pro for Red Footage as it handles it better than FCP 7.