Hi, I'm simonwille.ms these are my thoughts

Why Do Designers Prefer Macs?

Posted on February 1st, 2010

I used Windows products my entire life, even flirting with various Linux distros, before I "converted" to Mac a little under a year ago. So why the switch? Well, before I even attempt to answer that, I need to clear the air. You see, I've noticed time and again that people get very defensive, even vitriolic, about their preferred computer platform and it has always baffled me (much like the console wars). Your computer does not love you. You don't need to fight for its honor. As a marketing major in my undergrad career, I understand full well the concept of brand loyalty, but that should not preclude logic and common decency. These are devices after all. They carry out tasks. There's no need for hate in a frank discussion on hardware and software. Let's be civil here^[1].

So with that said, why do designers and web developers predominantly use Macs in the first place?

Apples to Oranges (No pun intended...)

The short answer is simply that Apple has become the industry standard for design across the board from graphics to print to animation. Of course Apple has always thrived in the creative professional market. This comes partly from how easy it is to produce good design when you are in an environment that itself has been built almost entirely around the principles of good design. Just take a look at any Mac in use and note the clean, simple, minimalistic, and most importantly, unified, user interface. Type and font faces are rendered with uncompromised clarity and precision. Even the process of using a Mac is beautiful as windows and tabs have a subtle, elegant animation to them. The first time I booted up my brand-new iMac, I was blown away by just how good the display looked. Apple has taken extreme care with the color management, gamma, and contrast ratios on their monitors. It shows.

The good, the bad, and the really, really ugly...

The design and interface in Windows, on the other hand, seems almost like an afterthought, or at the very least, a design by committee. At worst, Microsoft has butchered and bent design to meet their own needs (just look at the travesty that is Arial). Microsoft does not have complete control over their product like Apple does, however. They do not make their operating system for their own hardware. They make it for all hardware which is why PCs are so much cheaper. People tend to take this as their single most damning offensive tactic against Macs. Price. I've always been of the mindset that "you get what you pay for" and that price is a surrogate indicator of quality (which is just a fancier way of saying that something that is more expensive more often than not tends to be of better quality than a cheaper alternative)^[2]. If Microsoft did not ship their OS for free on PC's the price would swing wildly back into perspective. Let's not forget that a brand new copy of Windows 7 alone runs from $119.99 to $219.99!

A unified vision

Of course you don't marry on looks, so what's underneath it all? OS X runs on a streamlined Unix core that rarely falters. Though I've had CS4 crash on me many a time^[3], I've never encountered anything as heartbreaking as a BSoD. This solid core allows getting around the UI much faster and easier. Little things like quick-find spotlight, the absurdly powerful time machine, the amazingly useful quick look, and the time-saving expose, spaces, and corners features take the hassle out of file handling and window switching. There's nothing to get in your way or slow you down, only tools to tweak your experience to your liking. Even with this hefty list of out-of-the-box options, you can still get whatever customization you fancy from the very active app community. A community whose force has been seen all the more game-changing in the iPhone market.

In the end, it's up to you

Really, I found the switch to be quite simple and painless which was honestly not what I was expecting. My fiancée, on the other hand, still views the Mac as her enemy and she clings to her laptop out of a line of three or so that have all been eventually destroyed by some form of Windows. That's her choice though and people should work in the environment they're most comfortable in. So before I am labeled as a fanboy or mindless dolt, I would stress that I still design in multiple environments and likely, always will. I simply enjoy my Mac most and I have no problem telling others that. Even though the Mac is the go-to device for designers all over the world, it's still just a device. It just so happens to carry out the task of design best.

-Your Favorite, Only-Semi-Condescending Apple Snob, Simon Willems