Switching to the Mac Studio or not? Part 2

Piet van Kroonenburg wrote on Monday 12 September 2022 at 21:59  | reply

The argument that an Apple computer is expensive is, as far as I'm concerned, outdated and really old hat. A year or so ago, a journalist made a comparison between a Windows laptop and a MacBook Pro. He based it on the same/comparable specs and apps. The result was a difference of only a few tens of euros, so what are we talking about! Unfortunately, that article has disappeared into the depths of the internet, I haven't been able to find it anymore. A professional photographer has less to worry about when it comes to price, they can depreciate and offset the purchase of hardware and software as business expenses against their profits and/or pass them on in their rates.
My Lenovo laptop from 2018 (€700) can be taken to the recycling center after 2025, when Windows 10 is no longer supported, because it is not hardware-wise suitable for running Windows 11. Microsoft has already let me know that. My 21.5-inch iMac from 2011 - so by ICT standards by now extremely old - is still happily humming along to my satisfaction and still receives security updates. So, what is expensive…?
My experience is that technically and, since Windows 11, also software-wise, an iMac simply lasts longer than a Windows PC/laptop. Finally: for a Windows desktop, you also have to invest quite a bit in a calibrated (Eizo) monitor, while an iMac already has a good display.
More important to me seems to be the question of how things stand with the applications: wasn't it a year or so ago that Adobe Lightroom (32-bit), particularly highly praised by professional photographers, kept its iMac customers waiting for a long time because they had not responded in time to an update to a new macOS that ran on 64 bits. Okay, the late Steve Jobs wasn't fond of Adobe Flash (as leaky as a basket) and Adobe wasn't really happy about that either - until Adobe itself pulled the plug a few years ago because of the security issues - so there must surely have been some old resentment there, but that's beside the point.
By the way Nando: IrfanView isn't available in a macOS version, see https://www.irfanview.com/ The same applies to Faststone’s Image Viewer (another great app). Apps such as Word versus Pages, Excel versus Numbers, and Keynote versus Power Point are comparable in terms of learning curve and don't require much time to get used to. Migrating your files from one to the other does present some hurdles, but they can be overcome. There are also Linux distros, by the way, which you could consider. You can then work with GIMP (now that really is a dreadful app) and LibreOffice (in my experience better than Word et al.). A Linux variant (there is also a version for older PCs/laptops) and the apps are not expensive at all because, completely free…! After Windows XP ended, I switched a very old HP laptop from 2004 to Linux Mint and it still works perfectly on it to this day. No, I won't bash Windows (or rather Microsoft), but it is no longer the operating system it once was. And that's without even mentioning the frequent grumbling from IT people about Windows' update policy. According to Microsoft, Windows 10 was supposed to become the last operating system ever, and look, we now have Windows 11….!
Good luck making your choice, I know what I would do

If you've had a Window computer for 40 years, you don't switch over to a MAC computer that quickly anymore, certainly not now, it's simply too expensive to do that now. And honestly, I don't see the advantages of it now. I also don't have an Apple phone or tablet, I just don't like the prices anymore.

I still work with a Mac Pro (Mid 2010), so that's already 12 years to my complete satisfaction and I can still effortlessly finish 4K video. A bargain, then. Now I'm switching to Mac Studio because I can no longer upgrade my programs and besides, this new machine of course offers many more advantages. If that one also lasts more than 10 years, I'll be very satisfied again!

I have a MacBook Pro and an iMac, in other words a mobile laptop and a computer in a fixed location. My experience is that the flexibility of my laptop has led me to do much more with the laptop than with the desktop computer. So I would choose the MacBook and not the Mac Studio. With an expected lifespan of 10 years, that comes to 80 Euros per year.

As a hobby photographer, I also face the same choice
I grew up with Windows as an IT guy
My current workhorse is a DELL workstation that is more than 5 years old ( i7 and 48gb RAM) it can't run Windows 11 because the TPM chip is only version 1.2 and can't be upgraded
Windows often causes me stress after updates, no internet again,...
Most important applications are Lightroom & Photoshop and Coredraw
I am also already looking at the Mac Studio
I got an old iMac from my son-in-law which still runs but not with the latest iOS
I have a 6-year-old iPad Pro that still runs the latest version
And an iPhone XR

With Windows it is very difficult to get photos off the iPhone

In part 1, Nando mentioned that his Dell has trouble with 4K videos in Adobe Premiere.
Recently, I had to make a 1.5-hour film on my 2017 iMac, with 4 cameras and an extra audio track (multicam), and that went smoothly with Final Cut Pro X; admittedly in FHD and in proxy, but editing and color grading went smoothly. From my colleagues I heard that they had doubts whether that would also work on their Windows PC.
I have also never encountered any problems with Photoshop (multiple layers) and Lightroom.
And for presentations, I still think Keynote is a great program.
But if you're used to Windows and look at Apple, some things are different and therefore strange. And vice versa.
On the other hand: I know notorious Windows users who, after switching to a Mac, said to me: I should have done that much earlier.
Finally: A Mac lasts much longer as standard (software support and hardware) than the indicated 4 years.

Nando, I’ve been happily working on an iMac for years, but it’s now due for replacement. Switch to a Mac Studio or go with Windows after all? So, going the other way. What’s holding me back from switching platforms is Backblaze (online backup). The backup doesn’t work cross-platform, so it will have to slog away for months again to get completely online. If you use an online backup, be sure to look into this too!