Chewing Pencils

Ahhh, the eternal Mac versus PC debate!

Is there anything that has caused more fights and arguments amongst the art fraternity than this? I don’t know, but in the forums I frequent you can almost guarantee that at least once during the year, this discussion will raise its ugly head. And usually somebody ends up crying…

Perhaps ten years ago, the debate was worth having. But much has changed in that time, and many of the arguments used to support either side of the argument are no longer relevant.

Historically a Mac was the tool of choice for the art world and the education sector. Corporate business and most home users went down the PC track. Macs were promoted as more stable and reliable machines, while PC’s banked on the large number of software titles to keep them afloat. Macs were virtually virus free and PC’s required protection. And then there was the whole Microsoft thing…

But as I said, much has changed. Software titles are now released for multiple operating systems and can output the native file types of most competitive products. You can even switch between operating systems on the one machine! There is still some difference in the area of virus vulnerability, but the right software running in the back ground has made this difference negligible.

This leads me to a very deep and profound conclusion when it comes to suggesting what computer a cartoonist should use - it doesn’t matter.

Already I can hear howls of objection. But get over it…at the end of the day, you should be comfortable with whatever machine you use. If it happens to be a PC, then good. If it hapens to be a Mac, that’s good to. Just don’t think you have to have one or the other to be a successful cartoonist/illustrator. Really, it doesn’t matter.

What does matter is that you choose something that is appropriate for you. In this post, I share a few things on what I think are essential in setting up your computer system, what things I recommend you have if you can afford them, as well as a few things that are not really necessary, but nice to have just the same.

And if you’re wondering what I use, tell me this. The image of the singers at the top of this post was created digitally - was it done on a Mac or a PC?