should I go with PC or Mac for vehicle wraps

[racerxmccoy]

Hi all-
I've been lurking around here for quite some time now. And I'm finally making a post!!!!!
Here is the situation...I've been running on windows XP for years and haven't had any terrible situations that I could not overcome. Lately I've been dabbling into larger vehicle wraps and I'm finding that the size of the files is locking up my PC and often won't allow me to save a file I've been working on for hours. The end result is that I know I need a more powerful machine. The question is, should I stay with a pc or make the move to a mac? I'm currently running Flexi 7.6 but would have no problem with updating to 8.5 if that made more sense in the decision of which machine to go with.

 

[jasonx]

I think you can get comparable machines on both formats.

You could buy a mac and still run XP on it.

Your current computer just doesn't have the muscle to do wraps.

I've got a Quad Core with 4GB ram raid 0 drives dedicated scratch disk and I get away with most wraps.

 

[AKWD]

More memory and fast drives is key, but if you run a lot of filters, a good proc would be very useful. Now, I've used both Mac and Windows for quite some time, alternating through life. It's not a hard move to Mac EXCEPT the cost of getting new software in some cases. It is true that Macs tend to be more expensive, but they are also easier to get one configured for being a design workhorse too. If you want a PC with 8GB mem and a good proc, you're paying upwards of a good Mac anyways; It's the consumer-grade computers that tend to be cheaper in the PC world.

Friend of mine picked up a fully decked-out Mac Pro and the machine just screams. It was just easy for him to do so; He just went to the website and picked it out. For a PC rig like this, you're going do some hunting, and some of the rigs that are on par with the Mac Pro were just made from poor/cheap components overall. PC however, you will save cash. If I were moving into wraps, Mac would be my way to go unless you have a good source on some nice PC parts and ready to deal with WinXP x64 edition.

Just my 2 1/2 cents.

 

[cgsigns_jamie]

I run Mac and PC's here and for wraps I would only use my Mac. Now that Flexi 8.5 is almost ready for Mac I'm thinking of dropping the PC's altogether and just running my Windows applications with Fusion. If you purchase a new Mac with Intel processors you can use a program like Fusion or Parallels to run Windows on your Mac. So currently I have Photoshop running on my mac but I need to open a file in Corel, I just use Fusion to open Corel without having to restart the machine into Windows or using another Windows computer. I just recently did a cost comparison between a new Mac Pro and the comparable Dell Precision workstation and when configured with the same options they are the same price, the Mac was actually about a $100 less. But with a Mac you get two computers in one, Mac and Windows. If you buy the Dell or any PC you can only run Windows. I hope I didn't confuse you, in short buy the Mac.

 

[vid]

Signs 101 Merchant Member SignBurst PCs may be able to help you if you decide on the PC platform.

http://www.signburst.com/

 

[synergy_jim]

do the mac.... if you buy a new PC..... you have to deal with VISTA!!!!

OMG...!!!! The HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[choucove]

There's a lot of discussion about the capabilities of Mac running Windows XP as well, and while I'm not really complaining, I just don't see how this is all that efficient still. Running an OS within an OS is consuming even more system resources. Besides, if system virtualization is the answer for Mac vs. Windows then why not build a good Opteron-based or Xeon-based system with special support for running Virtual Machines and put Windows XP/Vista/Mac OSX/Ubuntu/Red Hat and whatever else you want to use?

All in all, the issues you have been seeing with your computer timing out on larger rip jobs is not because it is a Windows computer, and just switching to a Mac is not what will be the fix either. The cause of the problem is that your current computer RIP center is under-powered for these tough jobs. The answer is a faster processor and more RAM, which depending upon how new your current system is, generally will mean a whole new system upgrade. Be it Mac or PC, you can get this system upgrade and have it help fix your problems.

Flexi still is really a Windows application, and I've heard of some having difficulties with it on Mac right now, but that will be changing in the future. In reality you can easily find a PC that can be configured to match any Mac computer and probably beat the Mac cost as well. For example, we recently were having this EXACT same issue with the computer RIP center that we were using previously. I did a lot of research over several months and finally ended up building a monstrous machine with two AMD Opteron quad-core 2.2 Ghz processors, ASUS professional workstation motherboard, two Western Digital Raptor 150 GB in RAID 0, PNY nVidia Quadro FX570 video card, 4 GB Corsiar DDR2 667 ECC memory, ASUS DVD-RW drive, 800 Watt Thermaltake PSU, and Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 high-end workstation case for about $2,300.00 which was around $400-$500 less than what you could configure a similar Mac Pro.

I suggest www.avadirect.com for absolute customization, great prices, and great customer services. We have a design workstation and servers that they have built and they truly are amazing. Plus, you can pick out EXACTLY what parts to use down to the brand of RAM, motherboard, DVD drive, etc. It's at least worth a look.

 

[Flame]

I say your problem is your components, not your operating system. You can make a PC scream... just need the right goodies, and I'd highly suggest a custom build. Get EXACTLY what you want.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

Thanks Vid! We build PCs just for vehicle wrap design. That's all we do.

We build for Fellers, Aurora Graphics, Mutoh recommends our systems (they just posted a link on their website), and even SAI (Flexi) is apparently recommending our systems to some of its customers (no official partnership though).

The BIG bonus for a PC is that Adobe is releasing Photoshop CS4 in 64 Bit for Vista ONLY. Not Mac. Mac will still have a 32 Bit version, but it is limited to using 3GB of RAM. The 64 Bit Vista version will be able to use as much RAM as you can stuff into your PC. We can stuff 32GB in our SignBurst Extreme™ and SignBurst SuperNova™.

I love Vista. If you put if on the right system, it runs great. We have no stability or speed issues.

If you need anything at all, let me know. PM me or give, email me, or give me a call.

 

[Andreas]

Just go with what you are most comfortable/experienced with. The days where one OS is better at something that another is (basicly) over. The only thing you need to think about is, if you are ripping/printing on the same computer you work on (you do not have a dedicated rip computer), you need to make sure the rip software runs on the OS.

People who love Mac is going to recomend Mac, and people who love Windows is going to recomend that. Its not going to matter much in the end, but you might need more time getting comfortable if you choose a new OS.

 

[Rooster]

Personally I run macs. Always have. I love how easy they are to set-up and maintain.

They chew up and spit out 2+ gig files like nothing.