As a new graduate of Industrial Design and Tech. in the UK I have only used PC’s for design work whilst at universty. I am contemplating investing in a MAC to widen my skill base while I go through the frustrating process searching for my first ID role. I just wondered whether you people in the know thought this would be beneficial or not?
Also what CAD packages are a must for any industrial designer, there are so many out there that I don’t know which will give me the upper hand and which are just pointless. Any advice would be appreciated.
PC mac discussion I don’t even want to start again.
As for 3d packages, Rhino is a pretty simple straight forward and widely used package, alias is also widely used bu more tricky to learn (the best for freeform modeling for me), and Solidworks is increasingly becoming a leader in the sector (learning this will give you an insight into other paramentric software packages as well). That’s how I see the picture in Europe at least.
ugh here we go… mac users can jump on a PC and its easy to orient themselves and get everything done, however you put a PC person on a mac and its the most unintuitive waste of hardware ever made.
hey to shut off the computer you have to put the hard drive in the trash how fun.
Moral of the story is- the new mac laptops have dual core intels. I have both OSX and WINXP on mine… the 17in variety has a great vid card that runs Alias in WINXP very nicely… and I can still use OSX for Illustrator and Photoshop…
As a Mac and PC user (I have both at home) I find less and less reason to use my Mac.
Illustrator and Photoshop are really identical on the PC and the Mac. The PC has Rhino, Alias, SolidWorks. I have been using a PC exclusively at work for 5 years now. Never had any more problems with Windows than I did with OS9 & OSX. The PC locks up every now and again just like my Macs always have.
People get really mental over this issue, but the bottom line for me was I loved using the Mac it has character and feels like a little buddy. But, it isn’t. It’s just another tool for designers to get their work done. I am more productive on my PC than I was on my Mac because I don’t care about my PC. I’m not looking for this update or that tweak to maximize my experience. I can concentrate on designing.
OSX is much more beautiful than XP no doubt about it. XP has some shortcuts that once you are used to you will miss on the Mac. The Mac design / hardware is WAY better than it’s PC counterpart, but let’s face it… Mac hardware is more money, and doesn’t last any longer than any reputable PC these days.
OSX is prettier than XP, but I do my work in the apps, not the desktop. Adobe has done a great job of making Mac and PC versions the same (other than control/command keys).
Most people I know doing graphics are on Macs. 80% of industrial designers I know are now on PC’s (it was about 50-50 five years ago). Those who are on Macs have a PC nearby to do 3D work.
3D is such a huge part of being an industrial designer that unless Mac can get a major player to issue a Mac version of their 3D software I think they will lose more marketshare in this area. Using Bootcamp is helpful, but won’t work for power hungry 3D renderings that cripple even a powerful PC.
Wow for once designers are leaning towards pc. I usually am the only one.
I have been a computer user alot longer than I have been a designer and I cannot see myself ever leaving the pc. If you need something to work different on a pc there is the probability that someone has already done it and you can get it.
As far as the whole marketing campain that Macs are currently running, I think anyone with some computer intelligence can tell that they are full of it. Wow macs can now plug and play! Windows has been doing that since 98’
Macs don’t crash…yeah neither does my 600 dollar Emachines work computer.
Macs can now network…I have had a network in my home for 10 years.
Yes I will agree that Macs have that cool, sleek, symplistic design to them that assures users that using the computer will be just as smooth. I dont want a smooth computer, I want it to CRUSH programs. And mine does.
I am extremely familiar with both Windows and OS X, and I am simply more productive on Macs. It really isn’t about crashing or attractiveness or whatever. I just get more work done faster thanks to system-specific features that just aren’t available on Windows.
The current ad campaign doesn’t highlight new features and abilities of Macs. It attempts to correct a lot of people’s misconceptions about whether Apple products can integrate into normal people’s lives (many people were convinced that Macs couldn’t get on the internet until the iMac, for instance). The posts in these Mac/PC topics underscore the ignorance that the campaign is trying to address.
As an aside, it seems a little disingenuous for designers to treat the industrial and interface designs of their tools so casually. How can you convince anyone that good design is worth anything if you don’t value it yourself? If your software isn’t available or if you just don’t like Macs, then whatever. But its silly to label thoughtful hardware and software design as superfluous.
Seems like what you know and what you need to do drive this way more than brand loyalty?
I would never have picked up a PC for the graphic or web design work that used to be the mainstay of my work, and nowadays… until I can be totally sure that a new Intel Mac will run the software I use for 3d design, I won’t be worrying about the fact that it runs on a Mac.
The software is the tool more than the hardware, for the most part…
Learn some of the software packages first, then run them on … whatever they need to run on!
Love my Mac Powerbook as my personal machine, but whatev. I will buy a $500 PC and run some $20,000 software on it for the other work!
