FWIW, I am just a lowly bottom feeding amateur photographer. My real job before I retired required me to use PC because it interfaced with the machine programs I could troubleshoot from home. After retiring my old PC was starting to get wonky. I steeled up and bought a MacBook Pro. I hated to spend that much but since converting realized it is the best move I have made in using my Lightroom program which is not near as much a power program as Photoshop. Apple and Adobe work so much more seamlessly than Adobe and PC there is little to compare. If she is going to do this work professionally you just as well face the music and go with Apple. The basic commands are the same but everything on the PC is in a different place than on the imachines. I have several friends in the business and they all use and swear by Apple not at it. In the long run if you buy the right machine now you won't have to buy another one a year or so down the line when she realizes that she is a lone wolf in the job market.

every marketing guy and photographer I've ever hired used a Mac Pro

quote:

I need a computer with a good processor, ram and graphics card.

In your case you need to focus more on the hardware than the OS.

I know the Apple junkies claim that this is the ONLY one for this purpose. Look at your software packages first then apply to correct OS.

Windows 10 with the appropriate software packages are just as good.

Hardware you might be looking at a gaming type of laptop.
Gen 7 I7. DDR4 RAM. SSD Drive. TOUCHSCREEN HD Display.

It will take time to find the right one.
Lenovo, Dell, HP all are good if you get the right specifications.
Using a laptop you will be at a disadvantage "performance-wise" but advantage to portability.
Get as much technology as you can afford, especially in a laptop.

quote:

Originally posted by mrbill345:

Pros: MacOS, Slightly faster processor, Multiple software apps (Photos, iMovie, GarageBand) & Apple's Office apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote), additional Intel HD 630 graphics processor, Brighter screen (500 nits vs 350 nits). Retina Display Profiles include Basic, Adobe RGB, Apple RGB, & ProPhoto RGB as well as the ability to calibrate the display.

Just want to clarify a couple of these points, just so the OP can make a fair comparison.

First, the the Intel HD Graphics 630 is an on board video card built into the chipset. The Dell has one as well (also a 630), and I think most manufacturers offering this generation of Intel processors are utilizing the 630 chip.

Display profiles are a software selection to change the way colors are displayed. Dell has included display profiles as well (AdobeRGB, DCI-P3, sRGB), and any computer has the ability to calibrate the display by uploading whatever profile you want. For color, however, the Dell has the edge as Dell's screen is a wide gamut monitor and can display 100% of the Adobe RGB color space. The MacBook's screen cannot display the whole gamut, even with a software profile selected.

The MacBook's screen does have a higher maximum brightness at 500 Nits vs the Dell's 350 nits.

With regard to software apps, the included productivity software is on par with free software available for download. If you aren't using Microsoft Office, either on your Mac or your PC, then you should be using Google Docs. It has much tighter integration and far superior sharing and collaboration tools than whatever Mac has bundled for free. If the OP goes the Mac route, he'll still want to buy Microsoft Office--kid needs to know how to use Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and Outlook like the rest of the world.

The creativity suite included with Apple is, however, pretty solid as far as free software goes. Windows doesn't offer any good free video, music or photo editors. However, whatever free stuff Apple includes will likely be displaced by the Adobe suite that the OP's daughter will install. Students and Educators get the Adobe Creative Cloud for an insanely cheap price (in order to get you hooked on the platform...today's students are tomorrows professionals). Nobody is going to use iPhotos over Adobe Bridge or Lightroom or Garageband over Adobe Audition.

Hardware specs, the Dell goes Toe-to-Toe with the Mac, and beats it in nearly every regard--and certainly all of the important ones like having an actual USB port, and HDMI out and built in memory card reader. Software specs are machine independent, and Adobe Creative Cloud is full featured on both platforms (and the tool trays can be configured any way you want them). Any difficulties learning how to work around font incompatibility will be considered a bonus skill set to know down the road.

It comes down to MacOS or Windows OS, and price.

One last note: The difference now between a Macbook Pro and a top tier PC laptop may only be $500-$1000, but if she ever goes out and does this stuff on her own, she'll likely have both a laptop and a desktop. The price gap on an iMac Pro and or Mac Pro and a custom built PC machine is insane.

quote:

Just want to clarify a couple of these points, just so the OP can make a fair comparison. First, the Intel HD Graphics 630 is an on board video card built into the chipset.

Actually, it is built into the processor not the chipset.

Great and timely thread. I'm in the process of upgrading my aging PC tower and looking at a laptop with a docking station to give me both desktop use and portable use.

I've considered the Dell XPS, the MacBook Pro and the Leveno Yoga 720.

I think the Leveno is out as users are reporting problems with the 4K screen.

I do photo editing, Coreldraw for vinyl cutting, Office and normal household stuff. I don't game.

Keep it coming.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Just want to clarify a couple of these points, just so the OP can make a fair comparison. First, the Intel HD Graphics 630 is an on board video card built into the chipset.

Actually, it is built into the processor not the chipset.

Right, uh, that's what I meant

Apple is the standard, and frankly for good reason.

How many WYSIWYG computers costing < $250K were out there in 1987?

One.

A Macintosh running Pagemaker 1.0. With laser printer they ran about $10k.

I worked on the only other one, the Linotype Graphics System. It was $250K and up.

The Mac and Pagemaker were miles ahead in terms of capabilities.

PCs were still running code-based WordPerfect 4.?

Get her a Mac.

quote:

I think the Leveno is out as users are reporting problems with the 4K screen.

4K is a whole 'nother animal.
First off much like in TV's 4K is fairly useless in smaller screens.
Second, a lot of users want 4K for gaming and there are several requirements for good 4K.
These are usually revolve around refresh rate and proper supporting connections/ports/cables as well and a supporting video card or graphics.
So I wouldn't do a laptop in 4K.
It doubtfully has anything to do with Lenovo.
YMMV

My brother is a graphics/product designer, at it for over 30 years. We had a conversation about computers last year and he stated Apple is the industry standard, the Macbook Pro the one most everyone uses. His fully loaded Macbook was all marked up with ink, stickers, etc. Pretty funny.

didn't mean to disappear from this discussion but I was out of town last week on vacation with my family.

Lots of good information and insights from everyone. I appreciate the time you put into the discussion. Still unsure of witch route to take. She will probably wait a semester and then decide witch platform.

her adobe suite I think is costing her 35.00 a month. I guess that is what is considered a good deal now days.

Apple all day long. In addition to still being a de facto standard in the industry, if you spend a little extra to get one of the newer models it'll still be running quite well after the last 3-4 windows machines are toast. Listen to Mars, he's been there(is still there) and knows precisely what's what.

It's NOT the operating system that makes a difference.
It's the SOFTWARE.
If you like whatever the software package does then get that one.
Some work on both.
Hardware can be MUCH more powerful on a Windows machine if that is necessary.
Bit simplifying it as Mac or Windows is just plain premature and borderline retarded.
YMMV

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
didn't mean to disappear from this discussion but I was out of town last week on vacation with my family.

Lots of good information and insights from everyone. I appreciate the time you put into the discussion. Still unsure of witch route to take. She will probably wait a semester and then decide witch platform.

her adobe suite I think is costing her 35.00 a month. I guess that is what is considered a good deal now days.

I've been doing this for bunches of years and as a matter of fact I'm about to sit down and produce a magazine. On a Mac mini. The only twist is I have to use a windows version of InDesignwf for font compatibility and that's easy to do by using a Virtual machine. In this way she could have the best of both worlds depending on the needs of the environment. The $35 Adobe shakedown sounds like it is for one product as the full suite costs $49 (unless it is a student discount)

That said, compatibility is paramount as avoidance of problems is critical cause in graphics, big problems come quickly and expensively.

I think $60 or so will get you a VM (you need the MS operating system of your choosing)so a MacBook Pro with lots of ram will fill her needs.

Waiting a semester to help her weigh the choices is a reasonable path.

When it is decided, let us know the outcome.

My MacBook Pro 15" showed today. I have been a PC guy since DOS came on a 5.25" floppy that had to load with each power up.

It wasn't cheap - north of $2,000 - but so far I'm getting along. The learning curve is substantial as this is my first time on a Mac.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
My MacBook Pro 15" showed today. I have been a PC guy since DOS came on a 5.25" floppy that had to load with each power up.

It wasn't cheap - north of $2,000 - but so far I'm getting along. The learning curve is substantial as this is my first time on a Mac.

Mike

Apple has Windows Migration Assistant to move your data from a PC to a Mac.

Apple's New to Mac page

quote:

Originally posted by JimTheo:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
didn't mean to disappear from this discussion but I was out of town last week on vacation with my family.

Lots of good information and insights from everyone. I appreciate the time you put into the discussion. Still unsure of witch route to take. She will probably wait a semester and then decide witch platform.

her adobe suite I think is costing her 35.00 a month. I guess that is what is considered a good deal now days.

I've been doing this for bunches of years and as a matter of fact I'm about to sit down and produce a magazine. On a Mac mini. The only twist is I have to use a windows version of InDesignwf for font compatibility and that's easy to do by using a Virtual machine. In this way she could have the best of both worlds depending on the needs of the environment. The $35 Adobe shakedown sounds like it is for one product as the full suite costs $49 (unless it is a student discount)

That said, compatibility is paramount as avoidance of problems is critical cause in graphics, big problems come quickly and expensively.

I think $60 or so will get you a VM (you need the MS operating system of your choosing)so a MacBook Pro with lots of ram will fill her needs.

Waiting a semester to help her weigh the choices is a reasonable path.

When it is decided, let us know the outcome.

Well we didn't wait the full semester. She got a late 2016 macbook pro with some pretty good specs for 1900.00. Now looking for a thunderbolt 3 dock and/or portable ssd.

the toshiba with the celeron processor and 1 gb of ram wasn't even running for word processing and web surfing lol.

Apple now has a program called bootcamp that will allow you to run the mac with windows. it partitions the hard drive!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Xer0:
If she's going to get into the graphic design field professionally, then the standard is Apple. Just the way it is. Sure you can buy a Windows machine that will do the same for cheaper, but the super majority of people/businesses in graphics design are Apple shops.

^^^^^^^
This times 1000

40 years of experience here in the graphics and printing industry. Don't handicap your daughter to save a few hundred dollars. The entire industry is Mac oriented. Deal with it and move on.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:

Well we didn't wait the full semester. She got a late 2016 macbook pro with some pretty good specs for 1900.00. Now looking for a thunderbolt 3 dock and/or portable ssd.

OWC:
Full size OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock
They also have multiple external storage options (& enclosures) w/ SSD's.