Mac v's PC

[Kiwi Ross]

Question is really to Katie.What is the approx. percentage of Mac users to PC users in the world.

Dare I ask, but what would a prefered machine be by Nemetschek.

Ross from down under.

[CipesDesign]

ROSS, I'll ask what they always ask: What system are you running (then maybe Katie can slant her reply your way). For my two cents I am a Mac fanatic and will whine loudly when forced to use the other OS. But on the flip side, the windows version of VW is nearly identical to the Mac version. It's just the Windows GUI I dont care for. PLC

[Joe Newell]

Well kiwiross, having been forced to use both systems by vvarious bosses. I would lean towards a PC system running Autocad. Not exactly an answer to your question but really how many bugs does a systems and a program have to have before a software publisher and designer can be held accountable for the downtime they are responsible for . Seriously I figure I have spent the better part of 1 1/2 months in 4 years rebooting or restarting VW or reconstructing lost drawings once I had to redraw a sheet of details because a fun little routine in minicad that rounded everything off to one inch increments before I realized what the question was.

[MullinRJ]

Joe, I find your comments very interesting as I have had exactly the opposite experience. In the 12 years I have used this software I have only lost one file, but not while I was working on it. It was one I went back to later, so I always attributed it to a disk error.

MiniCad/VectorWorks has always saved my data without a flaw, which I find quite remarkable when I think of it. It has been so reliable that I don't even keep backups (tape backups, yes; duplicate files, no). I do admit to saving a lot, as I have a twitchy left hand that hits CMD-S often, a habit I picked up working on a Mac-Plus years ago. As you can tell, I work on a Mac (once I went Mac, I never went back), so I cannot speak to the PC side of the equation as it relates to the original question of this post. I do hope your experience is the exception to most VW user's.

Best wishes,Raymond Mullin

[ccroft]

I guess we're getting a little off topic here, but I'd like to weigh in on ray's side. I have had NO downtime running Vworks/Rworks on a g4 in the past 3 years. (touch wood) I only use it about 3 or 4 hrs a day though.

[Guest]

Well, we can't make recommendations of PC over a MAC for liability purposes. Here at work I use Win 98 and a G4 with OS 9 and 10 on it.

There are some things I like the PC more for, and there are some things I like the Mac more for.

I can tell you that when I draw in VW, I primarily use the mac since there is better control over memory on the Mac platform. When I am working on a big project (very rarely) I work in OS 9. When I'm just playing around with the program I am using OS 10. Of course when I am troubleshooting, I try to match the OS as often as possible or even try the problem in both OS 10 and OS 9.

As for the PC, Win 95/98/ME is not as stable of an OS as Win NT, 2k and XP and would prefer to use one of those, but somebody has to use Win 98, so it might as well be the newest person in the dept - Katie. Actually, there are a few of us that use Win 98.

I also use my PC to do everything on it - email, message board, FileMaker, Instant Message .. so running VW in addition to all of that is asking for trouble. I run it to troubleshoot, but I rarely sit down and really draw something constructive in VW. Usually I'm so busy there is little time durring the for creativity.

So do I prefer a Mac or PC? I like both for different reasons. If you want to use a MAC, I still say stick with OS 9 until OS 10 becomes a little more stable. If you want to use a PC, personally I prefer Win NT, 2k or XP.

That's my 2 cents - or at least as much of 2 cents as I can say without crossing the line with rules.

[MikeN]

P4 1.4gHzWinXP ProWin 9.5.1

Fast & Stable.

[Joe Newell]

Well given that VW is the program that we're all using now... I prefer it on Windows XP to the MAC OS9.2.2 I have at work. I run the program on both at different times and have never had downtime on XP. I have had lots on my Mac but that problem seems to be getting resolved bit by bit. I typically work on largish architectural drawings 4-5MB in size.

I think I may have a lemon MAC, so perhaps I am not the one to comment. Also, my PC is 1.1 GHz and has oodles of memory which may help too. I noticed on an older PC that VW tended to get slower and slower until everything just ground to a halt and I had to restart. I was running Win 98 on that machine and the machine was seriously underpowered for VW.. Bottom line, given what limited experience I have, I agree with Katie. Big, fast, PC with lots of memory, running XP and VW seems more stable to me.

[VYA]

I have also used both & much prefer the PC. One thing to be aware of if you choose MAC - more drivers are available for Windows if you don't have the most recent printers & other peripherals. Also, printing fast CAD (non-postscript) is not possible on the MAC which really slows down check prints. I think from what I've read that something like MAC Plot can get around this, but it's not cheap. Printing from the PC is fast & easy except that the RIP software provided by HP is not yet available for XP (HP plotters work fine from XP in non-postscript mode). Also, more keyboard shortcuts on PC (VW allows all on MAC, but os commands are limited on MAC), and you can pick any printer on the fly & save those settings per document instead of always going to the chooser or desktop printers if you print to more than one printer on a regular basis. VW 9.5.1 seems more stable on both than previous versions, but I also do mostly 2D at the moment.

[Kiwi Ross]

Thanks to all for their replies. Most interesting they are to.

For me, I am a PC user using P4 1.5Ghz with 512kb RD RAM - 64MB G3 Pro card. Win 2000.

I rarely have problems, note than animations can be slow to do.

As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side. So have wondered how the PC stacks up to the Mac.

Being self employed, finance for computer hardware / software is always tight.

So it is interesting to hear everyones opinion.

I think regardless of system, we all seem to get the best we can get out of what we have got with not a great deal of difference between them. As Katie and others point out, there are areas in each that are a tad better then each other.

And just a quick note to Nemetschek, VW is getting better and better.