Hi Marty, My advice is to decide which platform is the best for you and not obsess about the networking piece. Here at the U of A we are pretty much all PC across campus, but we've been using a Mac to run our Better Light scanning back for several years. In fact we've been doing a bunch of stuff for you guys at MFAH lately... It took a while to develop a work flow, but we do have the Mac on the network, in limited manner, and we dump image files off the Mac to a designated area where they are then backed up and processed in the PC environment. I would hazard a guess that the stability of the Mac OS platform has saved us a lot of heartache - although the Better Light is absolutely bullet proof, so that is large factor in our success as well. As far as functionality, there isn't that much that a Mac can do that a PC can't these days, but it seems like they do what they're supposed to a lot more of the time, and when you're producing large numbers of very large image files, that definitely matters. I would also strongly suggest consulting with the tech support department of whoever makes your capture device.
Good luck! Denise Gos? Rights and Reproductions Manager Center for Creative Photography 1030 North Olive Road, Tucson, AZ 85719 (520) 307-2830 fax: (520) 621-9444 www.creativephotography.org -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Marty Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 9:31 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Tricky question - is Mac "better" than PC? LOL. I've been biting my tongue, but since I'm a fool too, here are my two cents: 1) If cost is an issue, go with the Mac. Unless you are building your own machine from scratch, you cannot find a comparably-configured high-end machine cheaper than the Mac Pro. See: http://www.macworld.com/2006/08/features/macproprice/index.php 2) While I agree Photoshop works well on either platform, the underlying stability of the OS is an important consideration. I would be extremely hesitant to trust any sensitive or valuable data to a MS Windows machine -- the last thing you want is the OS crashing while you are working on a 500MB image file! But, as I said, each point is only worth a penny. :-) Best, --Paul -------------- Paul F. Marty, Ph.D. (marty at fsu.edu) Assistant Professor, College of Information Florida State University, Tallahassee FL 32306-2100 http://info.fsu.edu/~pmarty On Sep 8, 2006, at 12:21 PM, Sam Quigley wrote: > Being a fool, I'll rush in... > > Go with Macs. > The entire high-end hardware and software imaging industry is > optimized around the Macintosh platform. > And the skill set of most fine arts photographers is centered > around Macs. > I would very much doubt that this is undergoing change at a > measureable pace. > > PCs may be marketed as the machine for everyman and everywoman, but a > museum-grade imaging operation is a completely different arena. > But then, that's just my opinion. > > At 11:35 AM 9/8/2006, you wrote: >> Hello, >> >> We are hoping that the wonderful members of mcn-l can help us with a >> question we are debating here in Houston. I hope this isn't a >> question >> that has been posed recently to the list and I've just missed it. >> >> We are currently involved in a project to convert out photo studio >> from >> film to digital. It's a very exciting project, but it has brought >> up an >> old question that I had hoped to avoid - the dreaded "Is Mac >> better for >> graphic applications than PC?" question. >> >> The MFAH is predominantly PC-based, with only a few Macs in our >> Graphics >> department. Our IT department would like to keep it this way, but a >> consultant has recommended that our new photo studio and imaging >> lab use >> Macs. Our current digital equipment is running on PCs and it >> seems to >> work just fine. Since we're making decisions about pretty >> expensive new >> equipment we want to make sure that we're not overlooking anything. >> >> Can anyone explain why Macs are better for graphics and digital >> imaging >> than PCs? Not just that graphic designers and photographers prefer >> Macs, but why they're different and better? This would be a great >> help >> and I would really appreciate it. >> >> Thanks! >> >> Marty >> >> Marcia (Marty) Stein >> Photographic Services Manager >> The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston >> PO Box 6826 >> Houston, Texas 77265-6826 >> >> Phone: (713) 639-7525 >> Fax: (713) 639-7557 >> Email: mstein at mfah.org >> >> _______________________________________________ >> You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >> Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) >> >> To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu >> >> To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >> http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > ____________________________ > Sam Quigley, Director > Digital Information and Technology > Harvard University Art Museums > 32 Quincy Street > Cambridge, MA 02138 > 617-496-4292 > www.artmuseums.harvard.edu > > > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
