Re: TECH/TOOLS: Need more opinions (long-ish)

[Keith Soltys <ksoltys -at- DJTTD -dot- COM>]

On Wed, 26 Nov 1997 16:06:57 -0500, Paul Branchaud wrote:

...

>When I finally submitted my document recommending software, books, and
>training, it was surprisingly well received. I got word from the company
>president that we should buy two of everything (Adobe software and
>training). So far so good, right? I was also told to evaluate the
>possibility of migrating the Technical Writing department (all two of
>us) from our current Windows 95 to Macintosh.
>
>I haven't worked on a Mac in over 5 years and I don't know how they
>compare to PCs, especially with regards to Frame, Photoshop, and
>Illustrator. Our current systems are Pentium 90s, 32Mb RAM, 1Gb hard
>drives, and 4Mb video cards. We are aware that we must upgrade our
>systems to fully benefit from our tools; I'm thinking Pentium 233s, 48Mb
>RAM, 2Gb hard disk (min.), and 8Mb video cards. I've been asked to look
>into PowerPC Macs.
>
...

I think you need to take a close look at how you are going to interact with
other people and departments in your company. If everyone else uses PCs then
you should probably stick with PCs, if just from a support perspective your
life will be easier. Also, it depends on your users. If you are developing
for Mac users then going to Macs might be a good idea, otherwise not.

As far as your hardware platform, I'd go with Pentium II systems if you can
afford it. The MMX extensions will speed up some graphics operations
dramatically and the PII chip runs 32-bit software faster than the standard
Pentium. Go with more than 2GB drives -- I'd recommend nothing less than 4
and preferably 6 GB. You would be amazed at how fast you can fill a 2 GB
drive these days. If you can, go with WinNT 4 instead of 95 -- it's quite a
bit more stable.

>What I would like to know (ASAP to boot!) is how will productivity and
>performance be affected with either of these platforms. I would be
>especially interested in hearing from people who have worked in a Mac/PC
>environment. I know Adobe products are supposed to be fully "binary
>compatible" (go from Mac to PC to Unix with the same file), so how would
>we be affected if our print shop had a different platform from us. Both
>local Adobe vendors seem to have a Mac inclination (one is a confirmed
>Mac hugger/PC detractor), although one admitted that performance would
>probably be equal between a P2 and a PowerPC.

In the long term, I think you'll be better off with PCs. It looks like the
Mac is very much a niche product (publishing) and even there it's loosing
it's edge in software and hardware to the Intel platform. Generally, you'll
find that there are a lot more tools (both hardware and software) available
on the PC side.

Best
Keith
>

     ------------------------------------------------------------------
   Keith Soltys -- ksoltys -at- djttd -dot- com -- http://www.interlog.com/~ksoltys/
   Senior Technical Writer, Technical Development, Dow Jones Markets Inc.
     ------------------------------------------------------------------
          Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you;
          if you don't bet, you can't win. --Robert A. Heinlein

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