An Artist Asks: Mac or Windows?

If you're doing almost anything with photos or graphics, an Apple computer is still your best bet

by Stephen H. Wildstrom

Tony Salemi writes: I'm interested in purchasing a laptop and would appreciate your guidance. I am currently attracted to Apple's Macbook Pro, 15 in. or 17 in. My primary interest in upgrading my laptop is to pursue my interest in art using Corel (CREL) Painter 10 and Adobe (ADBE) Photoshop Elements 5. My other requirements are wireless connection to the Internet and spreadsheets with Excel. My concerns are, in priority order:

3. Since my desktop computer is a Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) with Windows software, can I transfer information from the Mac Pro as easily as I could with any conventional Windows laptops, such as Hewlett-Packard, Sony (SNE), Toshiba (TOSBF), etc.?

Dealing with your questions in order: The Mac is my system of choice for anything having to do with graphics or photos. Although a Windows PC would handle all your needs, a Mac will do it with less fuss and bother.

Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X, is due out in October, and I expect it will be very good. If this were a new version of Windows, I would definitely say you should wait to buy a new computer, because Windows upgrades are often difficult—even on systems that are almost new. But my experience with Mac OS X upgrades has been uniformly good, so don't worry about having to go through the process. The only question you need to consider is what sort of deal will Apple (AAPL) cut for folks who buy systems within a month or two of Leopard’s release. I expect the retail price will be $150 or so, but it seems unfair for them to charge people like you the full price.

In general, if you are running the same applications on Mac and Windows (MSFT), the files are completely compatible. The only exception I know of is the new file formats for Office 2007, which Mac Office can't read yet. A new Mac version is due next year—but again, you don't have to wait. Windows Office 2007 can be set to save files using the older format. In fact, moving the files between a Windows PC and a Mac is as easy—or as hard—as moving them between two Windows systems. The problem is in the flakiness of Windows' peer-to-peer networking. If you have any trouble, you can always resort to a flash drive, or just e-mail them to yourself.

Wildstrom is Technology & You columnist for BusinessWeek. You can contact him at techandyou@businessweek.com.