Just wondering if anyone had an opinion on which machine would be better for graphic design.  If Mac would you buy a used computer?

I have heard that Ball State University uses Macs in their graphic design program.  Maybe someone on the faculty or something would be willing to provide a little insight.

I'm not in graphic design.  But I got fed up with PCs about 3 years ago.  My iMac is much more reliable.  I have a friend who bought a refurbished iMac through Apple.  I've only heard him speak well of it.

Just wondering if anyone had an opinion on which machine would be better for graphic design.  If Mac would you buy a used computer?

In terms of actual design workflow, it doesn't really matter.  Software availability isn't the issue it once was, though virtually all 2D design suites are better optimized for use on OS X, but what it really comes down to is the overhead of learning to work a Mac if you're not used to it.  The only other caveat I would offer is in terms of what sort of design you're talking about; if you're looking to do professional 3D content creation or video editing at any point, you'll require something like the much-more expensive Mac Pro, as all other Apple computers, even the iMac, uses nVidia mobile GPU chipsets.  They're good, don't get me wrong, but they're consumer cards and not designed for long bouts of rendering like the workstation-class Fire Pros they but in the Mac Pro.

Really, the main draw of OS X is device integration.  If you already have an iDevices, they obviously have much better tie-in, and The forthcoming Yosemite release has a lot of interesting features like Continuity.  Also, if you have need of Windows-only software, you can legally emulate Windows on a Mac, using VMWare or Parallels.

Good stuff everyone and thanks.  I was considering a 2011 Mac pro.

I have one myself, though I'm buying one of the nMPs later this year to match the one I have at work.  The 2011 MP has been an incredible and dependable workhorse, and there's still a lot of expandability in it.  One thing to consider is the lack of Thunderbolt ports or USB 3.0, which makes moving large amounts of design materials a bit of a chore.

I am pro-PC, but anti-Windows.

In other words, I'm all for the cheaper cost and wide availability of parts, freedom of components, etc. that goes with "PC" -- you can build or buy whatever kind of machine you want.

But when it comes to software, it's LINUX ALL THE WAY. I recommend Linux Mint, an Irish distribution that is currently #1 and is based on Ubuntu, which is #2.

Everything "just works" on Linux Mint. All the old wives tales about Linux might have been true in 2000, but not in 2014.

If you haven't tried Linux in more than 5 years, you owe it to yourself to give it another shot. Microsoft is overpriced crap and you don't need any of it.

I've been using Linux for many years now. I switched full-time to Linux in May 2011, though I had been using it near-full-time for a couple years before that.

I can play Youtube videos, burn CDs, and all that right out of the box.

I can't recommend it highly enough. Just think -- all the software is free! If you need something new (say, a Japanese dictionary) you just bring up "Software Manager" and type in what you're looking for. Click-click and it's downloaded and installed on your PC for free!

Mac might be OK for some, but it's a walled garden and everything (hardware and software) is super-expensive. Not very Catholic family-friendly.

I am pro-PC, but anti-Windows.

In other words, I'm all for the cheaper cost and wide availability of parts, freedom of components, etc. that goes with "PC" -- you can build or buy whatever kind of machine you want.

But when it comes to software, it's LINUX ALL THE WAY. I recommend Linux Mint, an Irish distribution that is currently #1 and is based on Ubuntu, which is #2.

Everything "just works" on Linux Mint. All the old wives tales about Linux might have been true in 2000, but not in 2014.

If you haven't tried Linux in more than 5 years, you owe it to yourself to give it another shot. Microsoft is overpriced crap and you don't need any of it.

I've been using Linux for many years now. I switched full-time to Linux in May 2011, though I had been using it near-full-time for a couple years before that.

I can play Youtube videos, burn CDs, and all that right out of the box.

I can't recommend it highly enough. Just think -- all the software is free! If you need something new (say, a Japanese dictionary) you just bring up "Software Manager" and type in what you're looking for. Click-click and it's downloaded and installed on your PC for free!

Mac might be OK for some, but it's a walled garden and everything (hardware and software) is super-expensive. Not very Catholic family-friendly.

I'm sorry, Matthew, but in the context of what the OP is looking for, I very much disagree with you.  Sure, Linux distros have become much more stable, vanilla and non-power user-friendly, but in most ways the software availability limitations are still pretty severe.  You can emulate a lot of things to a degree with Wine, but that requires that you have a pretty substantially powerful tower in most cases, and when you're talking about content creation, that's over and above what you need as a baseline.

And the OP isn't looking to look at YouTube or download Japanese dictionaries.  He's in content creation and that means he can't toddle along using GIMP or Blender; if he's a pro, and working with others, that means Adobe is a must.  Then there's the fact that Adobe CC, being a subscription service, pushes updates pretty frequently; I recall updating just this week, and there is little guarantee that any particular update won't throw a bunch of errors because something new that's added isn't compatible with the Wine emulation, assuming that he can get it to work in the first place.

Apple is a wall garden, but for the OP, who appears to not be a power user with content creation requirements, that's probably precisely what he needs.  Yes, the hardware is expensive, but it also subsidizes the cost of OS development, and allows a yearly OS update that is either free or, at worst, between 2 and 10 times less than a Windows OS update, and can be used on an unlimited number of computers.  Nor is Mac software any more expensive than x86 software, in the main.  Basically all major software suites are subscription-based now and the cost is the same regardless of platform.  And I can't really thing of any major productivity or professional software app or suite that has a premium attached to the Mac version.

I would recommend though, OP, that if you go Mac, to quickly download a different browser and forgo Safari. It isn't a very good browser.

The initial cheapness of the PC. Is offset by the constant need of upgrades and debugging.

I've had a Mac desktop for four years now and have not had a single problem.  With the PC, I would need a professional to debug it after three months and the thing literally became unusable.

Bill Gates is pro-abortion too so let's not get carried away with that line of thinking.  The mainstream culture is a lost cause.

PCs are versatile and very good for a business if you have a staff of IT guys to constantly fix Microsoft problems, which arise as if on a planned schedule, then PCs all the way.

For the everyday internet and computers user, Mac is really great.

Your hyperbole sounds like a perfect Mac commercial. At any rate, you are far from accurate.

First of all, based on what you say, then only a fool wouldn't buy a Mac. Sorry, bub. There are a lot of non-fools that pass up Mac in a very reasoned and educated manner.

First starters, all those of us who aren't rich! Secondly, those who want to own/control their own PCs! Those who want cheap/free software, and so on.

The Mac uses the same hardware as the PC, only it's twice as expensive. I would know; I've shopped for a Mac. I was going to buy one for game development, but I decided to hold off for now. When I say "twice as expensive" I mean exactly that. That's not an exaggeration.

Software is another story. You do realize that PC and Windows are not married, right? You can easily buy standard PC hardware from NewEgg, Amazon.com, etc. and install Linux, which I recommended.

Even Windows isn't as bad as you describe. We've used Windows in the past (my wife uses it in the present) and it goes years without problems as well. If you needed to A) hire someone B) to fix a PC "unusable" after 3 months, then it says something about your own PC skills, sad to say.