I've worked with a quad-core MacPro for high-end video and compositor effects rendering before. Had it along side an older PowerPC G4 that I wasn't too impressed with. Ran both machines in tandem with a custom setup to do complex renders. The MacPro was extremely fast, and the G4 was brain-numbingly slow.
For the most part, the Apple products could take the stress. The OSX filing and organizing systems were invaluable to my time as a video editor/effects artist. The only problems I had were associated with making different types of software run at the same time and behave well; they would often compete for the memory space, and often times the native Intel-based or Motorola-based software would win over the non-native program, depending on the computer.
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I've owned an iPhone for over a year now. Clean, simple, and easy to use without getting bogged down by a lot of the power-user clutter. Myself being a power user, I actually don't want to think about any of that stuff when I'm using my phone. For where I am at right now in life, it fits just fine. Would I change? Sure, but it would depend on the situation.
It's a pain in the ass sometimes when Apple highly restricts the customizable features in their products. The phone's issues are fairly easy to bypass with a jailbreak. I've been multi-tasking and picture-texting for over a year now [now standard features of the OS3 and OS4 upgrades].
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I've used PCs in my personal life for years. PCs last about six or seven months with me before I wipe the drives and start from scratch all over again. Just the way I do business. Currently I'm using a Panasonic Toughbook that I recovered from a throw-away pile. Paid 200 bucks for it, installed a fresh copy of XP, and it's been a great companion computer since then. Perfect for working outside with me on the car.
PCs are just like knives that get dull with use. Every now and then you need to sharpen them up, and rebuild your registry.
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Ubuntu has been my old standby for several years now. It plays well with Mac and Windows. It can be a pain to set up and a real chore to maintain, but whenever I use it I always get the results I'm looking for.
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Summary? A computer is a computer, and an OS is just an OS. It's just a big pencil. I like them all.
Props to Apple for their highly effective marketing machine. Love them or hate them, it's impossible not to recognize their cultural impact.
It's just a computer.
And yes, I do think Apple dorks are annoying, despite owning and being quite fluent in Mac's Unix-based operations.