Which brand are you loyal to and why?
- Mac
- Linux
- Windows
0 voters
Am fundementally a Linux guy, but literally bough a computer specifically to use Windows for Illustrator!
Macintosh, but for me loyalty isn’t the issue — it’s just that my entire workflow depends on processes and software that I’ve built a career around since the first Mac came out 30-some years ago.
I’m not sure how Linux could be used effectively for graphic design — the absence of Adobe CC or most of the other big players in the profession seems like a fatal handicap. I do quite a bit of work for a 3D software research and development company. Everyone there uses Linux. I like them all, but they’re mostly mathematicians who prefer command line interfaces.
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Bah humbug …
I have tried many flavors of linux…probably not going to be your best bet. From a photogs stand standpoint anyway like “B” said nothing compares to adobe products. I am a windows guy I chose affinity products which are also not ported for linux.
I very rarely buy Apple products these days - chunks of expensive shiny metal boxes. Emphasis on expensive!
I bought an i9-10900k - 32gb of RAM - sweet graphics card - all for just under €2000. Would never get near those specs on a Mac for that price.
I guess I’m loyal to my wallet!
@Just-B yea it’s a shame that Linux isn’t really a suitable platform for graphic design, hopefully that changes one day. There are some great open source design programs that run on Linux, like Inkscape, but unfortunately it doesn’t support the illustrator format.
@willyflew I came to the same conclusion regarding Linux, Windows 10 isn’t as bad as I expected it to be, however it still doesn’t let you control when updates occur which can be super frustrating as your machine suddenly starts performing worse than usual and nothing remedies it until you realize you need to restart it 
. What distro of Linux did you like most?
@Smurf2 That set up sounds like it has some horsepower, is that a desktop or laptop?
Desktop my friend!
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@pluto I used Ubuntu i tried about 10 distros ad kept coming back to it and finally stuck with it. Ran it as my daily driver until I needed photoshop again.
Ahh Ubuntu is pretty solid, although I always liked the XFCE interface, so I use Xubuntu on my Linux machines. Did you ever try Gimp?
I’ve always been Mac since my first Apple II
But that may change as I’m looking at a $4K build for a new MacBook pro with the specs I need to work at home. Unless work will pay for some of it, I don’t see that happening.
And shortly I’ll need to justify laying out $6K for each desktop unit at work. That isn’t gonna be until Covid goes away and business is real-time again.
I voted Windows, and I’ve already posted plenty about my personal platform wars on this forum, so to spare the regulars, I’ll just leave it at that.
I have tried gimp. couldn’t really get the hang of. The last iteration i used was 3 years ago just after they added raw support. I shoot almost exclusively RAW. Nothing really compares to Adobes camera raw. excepting affinity photo. I have used inkscape for some years now and still do for my line art and the trace feature is awesome once you figure it out.
@PrintDriver That’s a lot of bones to drop on a machine, must be pretty fancy! Do you do graphics/processing intensive stuff or just like having have the horsepower?
@willyflew Have tried gimp a few times too, is so nasty. Yea Inkscape is pretty solid, would probably roll with it instead of Illustrator if it could support the AI files.
It does already - https://inkscape.org/learn/faq/#:~:text=Inkscape%20natively%20supports%20opening%20or,number%20of%20other%20vector%20formats.
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Apple has cut down their production capable options. On Desktop units, the minimum you can get it down to is about $4k, but I need to upgrade the stock Ram and hard drive size well beyond that minimum.
With a laptop, same deal. On that, connectors are an issue. I need to be able to plug in 2 USB objects at minimum and port to an external monitor as well as the ethernet connection…
I work in large format print, handling large production files every day. I need to be able to port to monitors and have a cabled ethernet connector (waiting for wi-fi transfers of 2gig image files is wasting billable time.)
Gotta have a good sized processor, a good sized hard drive for scratch space, and a fairly decent sized monitor setup (I have two 27"-inchers at work.)
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@Smurf2 Yea, but I don’t think you can export files as AI’s unfortunately.
@PrintDriver Wow 2 gig images, that sounds insane! I can see why you need a decent machine!
When I get them they might be 2 gig for a few reasons, starting with they may be 40’x16’ scenic drops. Second they may be layered Photoshop files and third, the designer didn’t believe me when I said they only have to be 30ppi max at that size (normally we run 25-30) and they might send something in the 100ppi range. That’s a waste of time on their end. We’re not going to rip 100ppi at that size (with a few exceptions, of course.) PSB files are a PITA. After a phone call and often a free proof, I can usually knock it down to 800mb or so, flat and rez adjusted.
We might have to be able to put a blur on it too (for broadcast using HD cameras) and we all know what a system suck Gaussian Blur can be.
Also the layers may contain vector smart objects such as logos that need to be color adjusted. So yeah, gotta have a ballsy machine to get home at a reasonable time of day.
It can be a fun job - most days.
But if you’ve weened off an Adobe workflow, why does that matter? (Not saying it doesn’t; this is sincere curiosity.)
I keep saying I have to start learning the Affinity stuff, at least enough to be able to get a native Affinity file into our workflow. Everything we do in my dept is ported through InDesign or Illustrator to any number of other softwares for the various machines that might be needed to make a real thing in 3D space. Last I looked, Signlab does not take Affinity vector files and I can pretty much guarantee our CNC machines don’t (waterjet, plasma cutter nor conventional router.) They barely take Illy files, LOL.
I figure as soon as I take the time to learn it, Adobe will buy it and kill it. Or, at minimum I have 2 years to early retirement and might just go for it cuz this industry is killing me slowly.