Why Creatives Prefer Macs

Some argue that this lean towards Apple products in designers is due to the premium status of the former and the vanity and shallowness of the latter. As a creative with a Mac on my desk, I must protest. Brand prestige might play some part in it, but it definitely not the major reason.

The thing is, my creative brethren would be happy to be charged less money for the same product, it is the experience we value, not the brand name.

My 17-inch MacBook Pro is old. In fact, Apple recently declared it obsolete. However, its resources are still enough for my professional tasks. It runs OS X and occasional disk cleanup is enough to keep its performance on the decent level. Although I had to uninstall Skype and some other bulky apps I rarely use due to disk space limitations, I’m okay with it.

I could afford a new one, but I would not, mostly because of the screen (Apple favors smaller ones lately). It is more shabby than chic, but it is still my favorite tool. Where is the glamor here, I ask you? Or vanity?

Of course, there is a cohort of fanboys that create a bad rap for Mac users in general, but as you will soon see, the fondness that creatives hold for Apple computers is genuine.

By the way, it has its venerable history. Old print design studios used Macs by default because back then, there was no other option apart from a Mac running PageMaker. If you wanted to publish from the desktop you used Mac. However, that would explain the tendency only in part. Of course, there is more to our preference than a mere tradition.
Design
Designers are overwhelmingly visual beings. As everyone else, they value the efficiency and ergonomics of their tools, but also their beauty, their feel and, unsurprisingly, their design. I am a designer, and I am a sucker for good design. Duh! I often cash out on a piece of technology a great deal more than I could have, simply because it is better looking and sleeker than the thing with the same features that is cheaper yet uglier by far.

Now then, even if you are not a fan of Apple, you cannot deny they know their stuff when it comes to an attractive, visually pleasing form to give their products. Do designers want a thing that will constantly be before their eyes to look good? Yes, please.
Experience
I know, it’s an Apple buzz-word that they seem to use each time when the newest model lacks nice substantial improvements. A magic word to charge you for air.

However, user experience is indeed very important. As a graphic designer, I do not care much for the technology, I care more about the idea. I want this idea to flow from my head to the laptop screen. Any obstacles it meets are very disruptive. Creatives (I speak for myself and my close acquaintance) often find it hard to concentrate, everything that breaks the flow is frustrating, and sometimes it costs a day’s work. Therefore, we want our computers to simply work.

Tech enthusiasts may view problems with software or hardware as challenging tasks, they often enjoy tinkering with their machines, crafting them unique mods, finding the way to install something uninstallable and creating their own plugins and skins for open-source software. They share their exploits with the community and take pride in them. For them the way is destination. And this is great. This is how their technical creativity work. However, what is fun for a programmer is death to a digital artist. Okay, maybe not death, but major annoyance.

Apple is design-driven company with products that concentrate on the end user. Whereas Windows is a technology-driven company, that experiments and implements fast. If something is possible in the end, they are satisfied – and it does not really matter how bizarre a path their user must take to achieve it.
Software
At this point, some of you may laugh. If there is something that Macs are poor in that’s the choice of apps compared to the software diversity available for Windows users. I mean, look at the games! Game designers ignore Mac users as an audience as if we were non-existent, right? Not quite so.

Although there are hardly any cult-status shooters made for Macs, there are plenty of exploration, role-playing, and strategy games with stunning graphics, which more than satisfy my appetite for gaming.

When it comes to software for my work, I hardly ever need anything other than Photoshop Creative Suite. By the way, Photoshop was not available on PC for the first few years of its release (another bit of history to add to the puzzle).

As for the other creative professionals (filmmakers, animators, artists, musicians, etc.), Macs have a plenty of built-in high-end software that is already there, by default. It works natively and smoothly, therefore they hardly would want anything else, however wide the choice could be. Sheer numbers not always give an edge, as you can see.
Power of Habit
One cannot deny that leaving a familiar ecosystem might be a major pain in the backside. This is true for iOS vs Android, Mac vs PC, Canon vs Nikon and vice versa. If you have been continually using one of them, you are puzzled by the differences you find in the opponent. It can be, depending on individual’s ability to adapt, challenging to frustrating. There must be a good reason for putting yourself through this limbo of feeling computer illiterate and learning everything anew. Until I have one, I’ll stick with Macs.

I do not wish to start a holy war here. Both companies and their products enjoy the love of their fans for a reason. I only wanted to share with the community my side of the story and debunk a couple of stereotypes.

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