Being a
Mac user, and one of those
Mac users who thinks everyone should be a
Mac user (tho there isn't any other kind of
Mac user) this is what I would say. It sounds like your computer should be able to handle VW just fine. I have used VW on both platforms and for most of the lighting applications thus far have not run into any problems. Now, I don't do any 3D work or
rendering, so I would have to default to what other people have to say about that.
I run VW 12 on my almost 6 year old PowerBook G4 (800MHz) and it works fine. So if you were going to run out and get a
Mac, probably anything they have for sale either new or refurb will do you fine as they are all newer than mine.
In the PC world I have run VW just dandy on the wonderful Smell... hmmm Dell... computers that the University IT department puts on every staff
desk. Even with computer bogged down by Novell software and all that fun stuff that universities put on computers VW does well.
What does that all mean? Well I think it comes down to personal preference. If you like Windows (and the frustration that it causes) stick with what you have. That is the cheapest option too. If you want a computer that you may use to do other things like photo, video, audio, and graphics editing get a
Mac. it will cost you al little more, but if you wanted to get a PC with equivalent
power/flexability you would pay the same. If you go home at the end of the day and close VW in favor of your favorite computer game, you may want to stick with PC.
Here are a few quotes with which to close my post:
"Never ask a person what computer they use. If they're a
Mac owner, they'll tell you. If not, why embarrass them?" -Tom
Clancy
"Most of the shots that we're talking about, which are the space battle shots at the end of the movie, were actually done on a Macintosh, the kind of thing that almost anybody can do." - George Lucas, on the refurbishment of the Star Wars trilogy
"Being a
Mac user is like being a Navy SEAL: a small, elite group of people with access to the most sophisticated technology in the world, who everyone calls on to get the really tough jobs done quickly and efficiently." - unknown