What are the advantages in graphics that apple has above windows?

Good question, Eric, one I'm curious about also (so I'm casually bumping it in hopes for an answer.)

I have some vague, hard to pin down observations... some I recall from reading a good biography of Steve Jobs' life and the history of the Apple Corp. Sorta has to do with the underlying philosophical differences between Microsoft's business orientation & Apple's educational/recreational foundation. The GUI, or graphical user interface functions of the operating systems, as they developed in both businesses differ somewhat, I think. The same probably holds true for whats behind that which we see on our screens with each. How they handle files. How they utilize processors and RAM. With the emphasis on business applications, Windows probably favors some functions over others, and the much-tauted "seamless interfacing" with nearly everything under the sun might be a compromise in what is particularly needed in gaming (graphics) or photo/video/audio/animation applications. Apple seems to have traditionally developed favoring institutions like libraries, research facilities, universities, and some say individuals. Hard to say, not knowing the subtle effects of code-writing. In between the two companies lies the land of search engines and other efforts to provide systems to operate within the emerging reality of the Internet. To a large degree, what the hardware manufacturers produce may have a more significant impact on graphics than either of those two operating systems have as time goes on, but I'm expressing opinions that I don't have links and factual basis for presently. I don't know... the Panther, the Penguin and the anticipated Longhorn are all kinda like mythological creatures breathing some exotic expiration that is supposed to somehow inspire us into using computers by the droves. What do you know? I still think an individual has much to offer amidst the masses. Pixels are cool, 'cause a picture is worth a thousand words and ones that move & change are so much the better

Apple and Mac have long been the systems of choice for graphics professionals. One of the reasons, Mac's had better processors than most PC's for years. Apple had 32 bit operating systems and RISC processors before Gates even had Microsoft working on it for windows. Basically Mac's used bigger faster engines than PC's for years.

On a Mac you can modify the RAM allocated to a particular program, especially useful for graphics work, as you are often dealling with HUGE files. If you have tons of RAM you can tell Adope PhotoShop or any program to take advantage of it, without extensive paging and swapping files from the swap file on the hard drive (as on most PC's with Windows).

As far as the myth that there aren't many good software programs to run on Mac, that isn't true, in the graphics area this is most definitely NOT true. Mac's are STILL the computers of choice for serious graphics professionals, ex. like in newspaper art departments. Most decent graphics programs were developed on the Mac platform for Mac's, before they were ever ported into PC versions as well.

I do tech support for a living and worked for a while for Apple Canada's Technical Answerline. I was a windows & pc person first but fell in love with Apple's, as the technology is far superior, the integration with the operating system and the hardware is much better done. I hate living in a windows world and my next computer will be a Mac laptop, it can do anything a PC can do better and faster and with less hassles.

The only trick to having a Mac is living where you can get good support for it. If you live in a small town or in a rural area, your choice is often only to get a PC. If you live near a big city with good Mac dealers - go Apple!!!!!! You won't regret it.