OSX vs Windows 10 for Pre-Press...

[PricelineNegotiator]

It seems that in the last six months the iMac I use has gotten much slower and I am wondering if it has had something to do with the patches for Intel's security vulnerabilities. I am going to move my iMac to another desk as I have been putting together a new Windows box to see how things work out. Worst case I can always go back to the Mac.

When did you buy it?

We have a 2013 iMac that was pretty much fully loaded at the time and it's basically garbage now even after a complete reinstall of the operating system. We have 2010/2011 i3 PC's that are snappy as hell and work great to this day running Windows 10. I honestly think Apples in that period either have horrible memory issues or they were manufactured with planned obsolescence. Sucks that you have to sink $3000 into a Mac to have it fully loaded, but honestly it's about the same cost for a screaming PC with a 5K DCI-P3 monitor. I think they're getting better but the 2015 and earlier Macs are just complete garbage. Will take time to tell if our new iMacs will become paper-weights or not. I doubt it due to the big advancements with processors, storage options and memory.

Once our fleet of PC's with i5's and HDD's die off, they'll be replaced by custom builds with i7's and m.2 PCIe drives or whatever is the new thing at the time. Also having IPS monitors starting in the $300+ range is sexy.

In the grand scope of things, these computers are one of the most inexpensive machines to buy every few years. Time is money and technology changes constantly.

 

[DYP]

It is probably just me but I have always had problems running Windows. Always seems to hang a lot and needs rebooted every couple of days. Even a brand new EX-P 3100 Fiery needs rebooted every couple of days or big jobs will start having pauses. Reboot and the jobs roll right along without pausing the printer for a day or two. I thought originally it was SMB print enabled, but after disabling it the pauses will come back eventually until rebooting.

I think one of my Windows problems is I work to fast for it. I notice if I make an effort to slowdown and wait until it completes it task before I keep going I have less problems with Windows.

For me life is better and less stressful if I try to interact with Windows as little as possible. Unix and Linux operating systems just seem to work better for me. I did install a SSD in a Windows RIP the other day. I could clone the Boot Partition just fine to the SSD but what a PITA to get it to boot from it. Ever clone a Mac boot partition and notice how simple it is to boot from it.

 

[kdw75]

When did you buy it?

We have a 2013 iMac that was pretty much fully loaded at the time and it's basically garbage now even after a complete reinstall of the operating system. We have 2010/2011 i3 PC's that are snappy as hell and work great to this day running Windows 10. I honestly think Apples in that period either have horrible memory issues or they were manufactured with planned obsolescence. Sucks that you have to sink $3000 into a Mac to have it fully loaded, but honestly it's about the same cost for a screaming PC with a 5K DCI-P3 monitor. I think they're getting better but the 2015 and earlier Macs are just complete garbage. Will take time to tell if our new iMacs will become paper-weights or not. I doubt it due to the big advancements with processors, storage options and memory.

Once our fleet of PC's with i5's and HDD's die off, they'll be replaced by custom builds with i7's and m.2 PCIe drives or whatever is the new thing at the time. Also having IPS monitors starting in the $300+ range is sexy.

In the grand scope of things, these computers are one of the most inexpensive machines to buy every few years. Time is money and technology changes constantly.

It is a Late 2013 iMac with the fastest i5 processor and 16 Gig of RAM. I tried using Parallels on it and it worked great, except that after it ran all day the machine would become extremely slow, like there was a memory leak or something. Closing Prallels fixed it.

 

[kdw75]

It is probably just me but I have always had problems running Windows. Always seems to hang a lot and needs rebooted every couple of days. Even a brand new EX-P 3100 Fiery needs rebooted every couple of days or big jobs will start having pauses. Reboot and the jobs roll right along without pausing the printer for a day or two. I thought originally it was SMB print enabled, but after disabling it the pauses will come back eventually until rebooting.

I think one of my Windows problems is I work to fast for it. I notice if I make an effort to slowdown and wait until it completes it task before I keep going I have less problems with Windows.

For me life is better and less stressful if I try to interact with Windows as little as possible. Unix and Linux operating systems just seem to work better for me. I did install a SSD in a Windows RIP the other day. I could clone the Boot Partition just fine to the SSD but what a PITA to get it to boot from it. Ever clone a Mac boot partition and notice how simple it is to boot from it.

I must admit that overall the Macs have been very reliable and stable, but since Windows 7, so have our Windows machines. I always build them using quality parts. The ones we currently have are all X79 and X299 motherboards from Asus and Gigabyte. Our oldest has a 3930k processor in it that I built back in 2012. It still seems very snappy and runs 24/7 and is only rebooted for updates.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

It is a Late 2013 iMac with the fastest i5 processor and 16 Gig of RAM. I tried using Parallels on it and it worked great, except that after it ran all day the machine would become extremely slow, like there was a memory leak or something. Closing Prallels fixed it.

Get one of the new iMacs. Night and day.

 

[OffsetStorefront]

It seems that in the last six months the iMac I use has gotten much slower and I am wondering if it has had something to do with the patches for Intel's security vulnerabilities. I am going to move my iMac to another desk as I have been putting together a new Windows box to see how things work out. Worst case I can always go back to the Mac.

The patches for Intel's security vulnerabilities decreased performance on all computers using Intel chips: PCs, Macs, and even cell phones. The performance decrease is almost unnoticeable for everyday users and around 20% for those using their computer at top utilization (which it's probably not unless you're in academia running models or rendering video). If it's gotten much slower, I'd suggest it's the HDD if you have one. Replace with a SSD and it'll feel brand new.

 

[DYP]

Ram is another thing you need to make a machine run fast. 48GB or more is best. 16GB is bare minimum to get any kind of reasonable performance. That brings up another thing about the difference between Windows and Unix/Linux based computers is that more Ram seems to be less beneficial for Windows

 

[OffsetStorefront]

Ram is another thing you need to make a machine run fast. 48GB or more is best. 16GB is bare minimum to get any kind of reasonable performance. That brings up another thing about the difference between Windows and Unix/Linux based computers is that more Ram seems to be less beneficial for Windows

Windows and MacOS both can work just fine with 16 GB, or even 8 GB. I use an iMac with 32GB and it only uses around 16 GB for programs and just caches files with all the rest. If you have less, just make sure you're not keeping a bunch of Chrome tabs open or 3-4 open Adobe programs simultaneously and you'll be fine.

 

[MGB_LE]

I have been using Parallels on a Macbook Pro for prepress since about 2011, and have never looked back. I get two computers in one, can use my Adobe CC license for both platforms and bam, we're ready for any client file or artwork. I'm actually in Windows 90% of the time, but it's like the Mac side is my personal laptop, and the VM is my work machine, so two computers in one.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Ram is another thing you need to make a machine run fast. 48GB or more is best. 16GB is bare minimum to get any kind of reasonable performance. That brings up another thing about the difference between Windows and Unix/Linux based computers is that more Ram seems to be less beneficial for Windows

Dude that is way overkill. Do you run 15 Adobe CC programs and all of the Office programs at once, plus surf the web and some Youtube videos? I've never seen that much ram be useful.

 

[DYP]

I run 48GB in my main work box. At least 32Gb is is being used most of the time and there is still to much paging to SSD going on. Next box I will put at least 96GB in it. For what reason would you run office programs in a pre-press, design environment?

If you have have never seen that much RAM be useful you must have lived a really sheltered life. Or maybe it is not that useful on non unix/linux based 64-bit OSs.

 

[ChrisZ]

Since MAC is 100% PC hardware and you can install OSX on PC only difference is your point of view.
Chris

 

[joshlindsay]

Since MAC is 100% PC hardware and you can install OSX on PC only difference is your point of view.
Chris

Yep. I run a i7 "Hackintosh" as my main workstation which dual boots Win10 Pro and have a 2012 Macbook Pro at home. I do prefer MacOS to Windows.
I'd had the same thoughts re Windows vs Mac in a production enviroment. Our prepress operator has an expensive 27" iMac that's now a few years old. If that went I'd probably switch that machine over to PC as Hackintosh for non techie can be a pain for day to day operation.

I recently used Win10 exclusively for 1-2mo but fell back to Mac as it's what I know. Windows was great and felt super quick.
One issue I ran into over on Windows was if I setup an variable document on my local XMPie trial, packaged it up and saved it to the server and opened on the iMac with the production licence the XMPie component was gone so had to reset it all up again.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

I run 48GB in my main work box. At least 32Gb is is being used most of the time and there is still to much paging to SSD going on. Next box I will put at least 96GB in it. For what reason would you run office programs in a pre-press, design environment?

If you have have never seen that much RAM be useful you must have lived a really sheltered life. Or maybe it is not that useful on non unix/linux based 64-bit OSs.

Running:

Acrobat DC
After Effects CC
Animate CC
Dimension CC
Dreamweaver CC
Illustrator CC (5 Documents Open)
InDesign CC (25 Documents Open)
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
Premiere Pro CC
XD CC

Firefox (8 Tab Open)

Teamviewer (2 Connections)

Microsoft Word (2 Documents)
Microsoft Excel (2 Documents)
Publisher

Mailbird

Google Backup (Actively Syncing)

.....

And still only using 13.2 GB / 15.9 GB. Perhaps this is because I am using an m.2 NVMe drive? Google Intel 760p and see how fast this thing is compared to standard SSD. Depending on your usage it's 3-4 or 6-7 times faster speed than a normal SSD.

Edit: I'm not trying to be an ass, I am legitimately curious where this need for memory of this size is allocated. I was confident in my initial reply, but I tested all of this to be sure.

 

[DYP]

Typical workday environment. And 21GB swaped. More Ram would be less swaped. OS boot partition OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

What type of documents are open in each program?

 

[DYP]

The less ram you have the more your swaping memory to your storage devices. If you think your storage devices are fast enough for what you do and don't need to use the faster ram then that is your decision. As my example (without many documents open or working) shows is the reason my next computer will have at least 96GB of ram, maybe more.

 

[OffsetStorefront]

Typical workday environment. And 21GB swaped. More Ram would be less swaped. OS boot partition OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD.

That is the strangest RAM usage I've seen in awhile. It's swapping 21GB while simultaneously holding onto 13 GB of cached files? Firefox using 5-6 GB of RAM alone? Something seems wrong there. I don't think your RAM/swap usage is typical.

 

[AP90]

The less ram you have the more your swaping memory to your storage devices. If you think your storage devices are fast enough for what you do and don't need to use the faster ram then that is your decision. As my example (without many documents open or working) shows is the reason my next computer will have at least 96GB of ram, maybe more.

Is spending $1k+ in just RAM upgrades really worth it and pay off? I mean I get that a lot of you guys are running nice big new fancy machines. Our office is running 2012 mac mini's with 16gb ram and we get along just fine. Im running a 2011 27" iMac with 20gb ram. Thought about upgrading to a SSD but honestly it works just fine for my needs. Ill be the first to admit its not the snappiest of machines. But really, its an extra 10-15 seconds here and there worth it.

 

[gordo]

I don’t know about ram but the hard drive on my 2012 MacBook Pro recently died and I replaced it with an ssd drive. It’s like a new machine. Much faster startup time and apps load and work faster. I was having issues with some of the tools in PhotoShop being very slow to the point of being unusable. The ssd fixed that.