Sounds like you have an incompetent IT staff in that they choose poor hardware. We are basically a Dell shop, and our level of failure on hardware has been minute. Issues not related to user error have been nearly non-existent.pndragon26 wrote:
tweaking= IT working on them: server problems, graphic card problems, start up problems, viruses, always some kind of hardware/software problem... I don't know what they are because I don't have the problems and am not in IT. Bottom line any computer mac or PC has to be kept up to date, to give advice not to use apple because your company can not buy the right software or update your software/OS correctly is pretty silly. Its like saying windows sucks because version 3.1 will not will not run CS3!
Caveat- web designers! Oh, yeah I could see why they prefer PCs, on occasion I do too, when doing some web work (especially flash). But I still do my files and drafts on my mac, for speed. I work mostly in print, CMYK, big files lot of conversions. Say what you want, all the PCs bought this year (4 of them) do not open any .psd files faster than the 8 year old macs. Strange but true. Font problems, color related problems never hear of them on the macs, but are pretty nasty on the PCs. Luckily most of the PCers are 3D designers, we take their renders and then create the marketing work on the macs. It really comes down to preference now adays, no one makes "bad" computers. Its software , Apple makes the computer AND the software, Dell makes the computer and you have to HOPE it works with Microsofts software. I just prefer the macs. Problems on both platforms occur, but most of the mac problems come down to suitcase or groupwise (our font and mail system) issues. But seriously, mac /PC who cares- get them to use Indesign! Your issues will work out better, both mac and PC, Quark is dead, has been for the last 3 years. I've been doing this for 15 years (digital artwork/game design) and if I have learned anything its Quark sucks! Indesign is a joy.
As for Quark, we have no choice but to run it. The art department works on files supplied by our clients, so we have no choice but to support the format in which the client is providing the data. Granted, the art department should have come through us to order the software, but they did an end-around on us; likely due to the fact that we were going to push for them to buy a full version and not an upgrade, because the last full version they bought was like PS 4.