In my mind, there are two reasons to choose Mac instead:

1. The shortcuts and desktop environment allow some different approaches to be used when switching between open files. Faster? Easier? Maybe, depending on the user

2. Better hardware. Macs usually have high quality parts. Their failure rates are pretty low and their support is commendable.

Macs also keep a lot of their value if one decides to sell, but I do feel a lot of people have Macs just because they’re “cool.”

Side note, if anyone thinks Macs are inherently cool, they should do some research on the Foxconn factory suicides.

First it was the PowerPC compiled CS3 on a intel quad macpro. Rosetta is great, but for demanding apps like After Effects, it kinda works but not that much! It took us sometime to figure out what whas happening, CS3 PPC on intel mac was a horrid production experience: crashing for no apparent reason, super slow, all kind of weird stuffs. I forced the production to upgrade to cs4 (yeah, x86!), they were really pissed, I somehow looked like a fool for complaining on all mighty expensive apple hardware running adobe products! Isn’t that what you prefer, you hipster motion graphics designer? I don’t care if it’s mac or windows: this is expensive and unreliable.

CS4 is way better, but it still feels like a cheap port of the windows version, AfterEffect is way faster on vista (don’t believe me, google it!) and don’t get nearly as much memory errors and bugs!
I’ve been experiencing serious slowdown running AE and photoshop CS4 at the same time on a dual i7 12gig of ram MacPro (I guess it’s an OpenGL problem), WTF: isn’t it supposed to “just work” and be the graphic/video plateform of choice!

At home, I’m a windows XP64 users but at the office it’s 49%mac 50%windows and 1%linux… Apple exclusive apps are great: FinalCut is standard, iDVD, iCal, ect it’s great I love those! But for adobe stuff, basically what I use most, windows is a secret kept secret for good reasons, it would alienate a lot of graphic designers not fond of conformity/mainstream.

Adobe invest more effort in their windows versions and it shows and feel, don’t believe me: I dare you to bootcamp win7, install CS4 and run some benchmark on stuff boderline in OSX! Sad, adobe and apple we’re supposed to be a match made in heaven!

sidenote, I virtualize OSX in windows

Since one can’t install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on the same installation of Windows, a Mac provides a great test machine. In the past I had to rely on hacked versions of IE which were more trouble to manage.

As for “religious fanaticism”… I thought you were not bashing? Name-calling sounds like bashing to me.

If I gave you the impression I’m on a crusade against Apple, let me assure you I’m not. I’d like an Apple on the side if they weren’t so darn expensive (or underpowered like the mini).

It’s funny that I feel somewhat cornered here. I consider myself a minority among web designers for using a PC. Just like Mac users are a minority among computer users. This is probably why many Mac users are so vocal about their affection for OSX. And it’s probably also why I like to point out that an OS is merely a tool. I know very little people who talk about their power drill with near-religious fanaticism.

All I’m saying is that there are compelling reasons to use Windows, as there are to use Macs. And even more to use Linux .

I agree with some of your points, but feel you’re missing out on a few reasons for using a Mac too.

You say that designers on Windows can test in “Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Chrome without the need for tricks or virtual machines”. This is true – you’ll need a virtual machine to test certain Windows environments/browsers on a Mac – but you CAN do it. On a Windows machine you can NEVER test an OS X environment / browser though.

Before I switched, I shared your suspicions and prejudices about OS X. My idea of Mac / OS X was that it might look good, but it wasn’t going to be as handy as Windows. Indeed, lack of (free) software was one of my qualms. But I switched anyway (mainly because of annoying issues with my windows machines when doing presentations with video… Macs really do handle video better – believe me).

It took me a few weeks to really get into a rhythm with OS X as my main computer, but I found that the aesthetics of the interface made me enjoy working on it more than I ever had on Windows. It made me FEEL more productive (although I don’t know if I actually AM). I spend a lot of time on my computer – so I appreciate it looking and feeling good.

I also found that there are LOADS of free/shareware apps for Mac which look a zillion times better than the average freeware utility for Windows.

As so many people say after switching: I don’t want to go back. I have personally never met anyone who switched to Mac and regretted it. Sure, there are some cons here and there, but apparently never enough to warrant a return to Windows.

I’m not on a mission to make you switch (although I’d loove to hear your experience if you got the chance to work on a Mac for a solid 3 months or so… customizing it completely to your needs*). I suppose I just want to hear you say SOMETHING positive about Mac SOMETIMES.

* I may have one for sale soon )… no I’m not switching back… just upgrading… maybe.