After two decades of experience with both Mac and PC computers, I still love the Mac OS, and I still utterly loathe Windows. Admittedly, I am no computer expert. But, hear me out. If you’re an artist, this might resonate with you.
I built my first PC in high school, it was a Windows XP (or Windows 2000?) machine. My father took me to the local electronics superstore and we picked out the motherboard, etc. I loved the sense of pride when it first turned on, I loved making upgrades, it was fun, at first.
After the tragic “bricking” (electronic death) of that PC, due to viruses or malware or something, (curse you, Napster/LimeWire/Kazaa!) …I got into photography and bought my first Mac. I “went legit” and paid for authentic copies of Adobe Photoshop 6, 7, Creative Suite, and beyond…. (And, yes, I paid for music on iTunes!)
Fast-forward a couple of decades, and I’ve gone back and forth between Mac and PC a few times. As a post-production manager/specialist and private workflow consultant, I have to stay up-to-date on both operating systems for my work.
Shop the Best Computers For Photography Editing: (Adorama) (B&H) (Amazon)
I’d estimate that my time has been split 70/30 or 80/20 between Mac/PC. Whenever I use a PC more routinely than a Mac, though, I have the exact same experience…
With each new version of Windows, my initial reaction is “oh, this isn’t so bad!” After all, I just need a few photo and video editing programs, and they’re virtually identical on both operating systems. As someone who reviews cameras for a living, re-wiring my brain quickly to jive with a few different keyboard shortcuts and Finder VS Explorer comes very easy.
Then, like clockwork, Windows begins to sabotage our relationship. Things get way too complicated, and in a totally new way each time. Each time, I quickly remember why I love my Apple machines. They just work. They’re simple, they run smoothly day in and day out, they’re just idiot-proof. I realize that makes me the idiot, and I’m OK with it; I spent all my energy mastering camera interfaces and customizations, apparently, and I have no patience left for confusing computer problems.
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Today’s story is just one example of why, personally, as a simple-minded creative person I will probably never truly enjoy the Windows user experience like I do the Apple “sphere”. It’s probably not even a good example, there’s probably a really easy explanation for this problem, but after hours of searching the internet and asking all my PC wizard friends, I still couldn’t fix things, so here it is…
DISCLAIMER: We all have our different computer-related experience & track record. Some people have had numerous Macs crash or die on them. I’ve heard the reports of how overall quality control has declined in recent years. All I am doing today is telling my story. You’re welcome to tell your own story in a comment!
Windows PC Display Calibration Profile
Like any responsible photographer should, I attempt to calibrate my latest new PC display. It’s a 4K HDR laptop display, so the slightly older calibration device was barely up to the task. The default calibration options were very wrong for such an exotic display, and I had to re-calibrate multiple times with a lot of trial-and-error, before getting it right. To be fair, I’m not faulting Windows for this complication at all; it was an older model X-Rite device, and my Apple displays were never 4K HDR with 100% RGB! Moving on…
Even when accurately calibrated, however, Adobe applications still displayed images quite differently from Windows Explorer and other applications. (Kudos to Google Chrome for coming the closest to matching Adobe, though!)
I was confused. I hadn’t encountered this problem on a Mac in 10-15 years. And, the difference was significant enough that if I edited my images “to taste” in Adobe, they didn’t just look slightly different everywhere else, they looked horribly over-cooked.
So, I decided to dive down the rabbit hole, and see if there was a deeper level at which I needed to change a color space/display setting, or designate the new calibration profile, in order for Windows to stop over-cooking colors and contrast so much.
Also, by the way, the calibration profile keeps un-setting itself, every time the computer sleeps, even though X-Rite says it has applied it at the system-wide level. So I have to re-apply the display calibration profile every single time I wake the computer. Another reason to dive deeper and check the system-level settings. Which brings us to the present. Let’s try and figure this out together…
First, unlike on a Mac where display settings are all handled in one place through the OS preferences, on this particular Windows PC each hardware manufacturer has its own little add-on programs besides Windows’ own settings. So, I check those first – Acer has one, Intel has one, NVIDIA has one, and of course there’s one more GeForce…thing. None of them seem to have any control over the actual display profile. (Despite one of them actually having a seemingly useless option deceptively named, “Select profile”…)
So, I’m four applications (each with numerous settings) into my hunt, and I haven’t even found anywhere to force my computer to use the same display profile. Only Adobe applications seem to automatically use the X-Rite-generated display profile.
So, into Windows Display settings we go. Let’s count how many layers there are…
This is the 2nd level of the 1st settings window, where the “Color profile” setting keeps undoing itself despite double-checking in the calibration software that the profile should be saved at a system-wide/admin level. So, we’d better go down to the bottom of this window and click “Advanced display settings”…
Layer 3 – Nothing useful here; we need to click “Display adapter properties for Display 1” and go even deeper…
A whole new (2nd) window pops up. This isn’t very useful either, but I do see a tab called “Color Management”, and that sounds a little more promising!
…Sadly, the “Color Management” tab just shows a “Color Management…” button. I guess I better click it! (Depending on how you count, we are 2 windows or 5 layers deep at this point.)
Now we’re getting somewhere! 3 windows (6 layers) into the bowels of Windows settings, I finally find somewhere to set a default display device profile. Except, it’s already set to the CUSTOM profile, even though I’m definitely having the color/contrast discrepancy problems I described. What’s going on? Well, there is another “Advanced” tab in this window; let’s see where that leads…
Is this the culprit? I finally found a “Device profile” setting that I can change from the factory profile to the custom profile! (Layer 7)
…Unfortunately, changing this setting didn’t seem to help. In the lower corner of the window, however, we see a button for “Change system defaults…”
We get an identical window, except this is named “Color Management – System Defaults”. Unfortunately, the CUSTOM profile is still set as the default. Maybe there’s another “Advanced” tab? Yes, there is. At this point, (4 windows, 8 layers) I feel like I’m in a horror house of mirrors…
Finally, when I can go no further, (layer 9!) I found a “Device profile” option that was set to sRGB, even though this is an AdobeRGB display. Let’s try setting this last option to the CUSTOM profile, and see what happens.
…Surprise, surprise: colors and contrast are, in fact, a little bit closer in Adobe applications and other Windows programs. Still, they’re off by a tiny little bit. It’s a margin of error that I’m willing to accept, though, so let’s call it “good enough”, and get on with our lives!
[Related Reading: Datacolor Launches SpyderX Tool Kits for Digital Photographers for Ultimate Color Calibration]
The real question is, surely after going deeper than Indiana Jones into the bowels of my computer for just one final setting, the computer should remember this display profile at the main level, even if I let it go to sleep, or do a full restart?
…Of course not. There’s that factory calibration again! Apparently, I’ll have to re-enable my calibration profile every single time I sit down at my computer. (Unless some Windows genius comments below and tells me what I’m doing wrong!)
Conclusion: Why, Windows, WHY?
Honestly, to be totally fair, I bet the real problem is ME. I’m sure there’s a totally simple solution to this problem, and if I’m lucky you’ll be polite with your comments even though I deserve to be ashamed of my failure. I probably made some rookie mistake.
But, I did try very hard to find a solution. I spent hours reading everything I could find on Windows display calibration and profile settings. I could only conclude that having colors match in all apps may just not be possible, period, when using an HDR-capable 100% AdobeRGB display. Maybe I’m wrong, and I missed a setting in one of those other proprietary apps.
Either way, my point is this: With all the Apple computers I ever owned, at least it was never NINE LAYERS of complicated. (Not to mention the additional apps for managing individual pieces of hardware, as is Windows’ custom…) I don’t care how computer-savvy you are, nine layers of settings is about 6-7 layers too many.
With a Mac, setting up a calibration, or getting it to “stick”, was never a problem. Whenever I got a new Mac, or did a hard drive upgrade and full OS refresh, it was always effortless: install the software, perform the calibration, and tell the program to make the new profile universal. Done!
I might have missed something obvious, but I still can’t get past the fact that there are nine layers, or four different windows of settings, plus those aftermarket programs related to the display and graphics card. That’s ridiculous. Why, Windows, Why? Is this really necessary?
Why Artists Like (Or Dislike) Mac: The Simplicity
I just need a computer that works. I need a computer that only has one or two levels of complexity. As a photographer, I spend hours setting up the custom controls and quick menus on all of my cameras, because I need EVERYTHING to be right at my fingertips.
Why do I feel so strongly about this when it comes to post-production, though? because I’d rather be back outdoors taking more pictures, not “managing” my computer!
I know plenty of photographers that have no problems managing their PCs. They’re also very inspiring, creative artists! I guess everybody is a little different.
I understand that PCs, on average, are an incredible value. And, make no mistake, all the PCs I’ve ever used have been awesome computers overall, including this latest one. They’re powerful, fast machines that really let me blast through a batch of high-megapixel photos, even stitching 300-megapixel raw panoramas with ease! So, if you need the best value, a PC is a great choice, even if you might experience a little bit more frustration.
My point is, if you appreciate simplicity, or if you absolutely require it in order to maintain your sanity, that’s OK! We may pride ourselves in being camera masters, or Photoshop masters, but it’s OK to make certain technology-related decisions that help keep our blood pressure down. For me, that means I’ll likely forever reside in the Mac OS camp. I don’t care about brand name status symbols, or sexy outward appeal, I just want a computer that works as smoothly as possible, for as many years as possible. How about you?
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Prefer pc because I can build it myself
Having recently bought a PC, there not a day that I don’t spend researching why a random error message comes up, why a driver suddenly refuses to work, and when you do find the solution you need to find the settings within the 3 various old and new control panels hidden. Windows is like android, you spend 70% time tinkering, fixing and 30% productivity. Iphone and Macs just work. Granted PC’s have better hardware options but as for getting things done there is no comparison and thats why my mac will be there as a backup.
You should give DisplayCal software a try. Works with most calibration hardware, is free and way more accurate compared to the software that comes with Datacolor/Colormunki devices. It also installs it as a default profile which automatically loads when you boot up Windows.
That last bit about the forcing a default profile is what I really need right now. It’s a laptop display, and it reverts back to the factory calibration even when I close the laptop and let it sleep. Very annoying. But if it’s not forcing the calibration at such a deep level as I have already attempted to manually force, what are the chances that another calibration software will know how to force the calibration to “stick”? I’m almost tempted to go in deep again and literally delete all the calibration profiles that I don’t want it to use…
You do realise you can type Color Management and take you where you want to go at the start menu? That said, Windows color management is left to the applications and/or at monitor level. Even then not all applications honour it which isn’t a Windows issue. However 95% of the time Windows displays what I see correctly as I spent the time to set it up, and calibrate once a month through the X-Rite software who handles a lot of the complexity.
The reason for all those different panels is because it’s not been ported over to Win 10 and it’s there for as much legacy reasons as for most people they don’t use it so it’s way down the chain for porting across.
“Even then not all applications honour it which isn’t a Windows issue.”
But, isn’t it? Windows could…just do it the way Mac machines have done it for over a decade. That’d solve the problem of individual apps not complying. (BTW, it’s Windows’ OWN apps that gave me the most trouble, ironically.)
Yeah seems an odd objection. Mac manages to make every app honour it. Sounds like it IS a Windows problem.
I’m capable of using every version of windows and have built a large data servers from scratch for my fathers business. The one thing I’ve never been comfortable with, is having to be my own I.T. department at the exact time I should be making money with my computers. Somehow my Apple computers haven’t failed me when I needed them most. Ultra reliable and my ROI has always been high on my Macs.
Even on more recent Macs, too? I’ve seen Pye struggle with some of the newest Macs, from high-end iMacs to MBP’s, and have them crash or fail on numerous occasions, owning it to the slight drop in overall quality control in the years since Steve Jobs passing. Your statements give me a little bit more hope, though. Then again I’m told I should just avoid 2015-2019 Macbook Pros, period, due to their terrible keyboards…
I’ve always owned PC’s, and previously had no problem calibrating my monitor with a Spyder Elite. I upgraded to an Eizo which calibrates within the monitor, and it’s been a nightmare!!! Eizo is totally clueless about helping people, I got bad information from the start with them! Did my own research to understand calibration more, and I understand it more now which is a good thing. The very reputable local company (I thought) that built my computer said there was no way the problem was within the computer, and the owner seemed insulted that I even brought up the issue! I got frustrated with Eizo (US), and looked overseas to Eizo (UK), not much more help there either. An unofficial Eizo representative in Australia gave me more information about understanding calibration than anyone, but I am still not calibrated. The Australian rep also told me to contact Les Walkling, he sets up all important photography and museum lighting in Australia. He has a lot of great information on his website, and he is a consultant to Eizo! The initial person I talked to in Australia contacted corporate Eizo in Japan which forced me to work with Eizo (US) again as they called me. I asked the Eizo (US) rep about video cards, he told me that they had no minimum requirements for video cards, and they didn’t test video cards since there were so many out there, I somewhat agree. I talked with a Nvidia rep and told him what was going on, and he had no clue about a lot of things regarding their video cards from what I now understand! One year later, and 2,000 hours and I still cannot print! I tried 6 different printing companies, and they just tell you to calibrate your monitor, but we’d love to get your business, and take your money! I should have returned the monitor after a month or so of trying to calibrate this monitor, but…my fault! I wrote Adorama about my issue, and they are either ignoring me, or haven’t gotten to my email because of Covid-19. NOTE: I’m pretty good with computers, but no expert by any means! One last thing to try…call some other local computer companies! I had no idea that Nvidia has their own control panel…I’m not a computer expert! While remotely going through my computer we found some settings which may have caused my calibration problem!!! I will get test pictures later this week or early next week; and at that point, I will know whether or not I’m calibrated, or just need to tweak my calibration. I’m hopeful, but not convinced at this point in time. Lesson learned here: Certain Eizo, NEC, and BenQ monitors do their calibration within the monitor so beware! Maybe I just needed to go through this nightmare, but I don’t understand why. One would think that these professional grade monitor companies would be more helpful, but don’t count on it. As Eizo told me (summarized), I hope you figure this out because Eizo probably won’t reimburse Adorama since it’s been a year now!
I’ve always wondered that about Eizo monitors- because they have self-calibration tools, does that mean you CAN’T calibrate them with an X-Rite or Datacolor device? That seems like a huge oversight. For the price that an Eizo costs, I’d ask them if you can send them the monitor for service; if it’s self-calibrating then would the profile be stored within the monitor itself?
You still calibrate it with Eizo’s version of the Spyder 5, actually made by DataColor. The video card feeds a signal to the monitor, and the calibration is done inside the monitor. There may be a conflict between the video card and monitor…which makes sense with what I’ve found recently. Once I get the next set of test prints back and if they don’t turn out, or are at a point to be tweaked, I will have decisions to make. I did find a Lemon Law Lawyer that doesn’t take any money from people trying to get help…so they say. Possibly more help with the video card from someone. Another try at talking with Adorama about this; and of course, a different monitor. In the end, it’s a shame that no one wants to take responsibility for anything anymore. I think these companies (Eizo, Nvidia, etc.) just hire people who really don’t know anything, and give them a script and declare them as technical help. One lady from Eizo actually yelled at me and told me to learn how to calibrate! People from these sites (SLR & others) need to band together to fight this refusal, ineptness, or just complete disregard to supply the proper support for these computer products that photographers use. There are strengths in numbers, and I am just a insignificant individual in the eyes of these huge corporations.
There are JUST as many bits of ridiculous BS like this in Mac OS as in Windows 10… -_- System Preferences regularly drives me f**king nuts in a way Control Panel could only dream of, and then there’s the plenty of crap like not being able to fully delete applications without additional 3rd party software, among countless other “unique to Mac OS” issues.
The universal color profile issue in Windows is a legitimate complaint, but this whole article just SCREAMS of over the top biased fanboyism. If you need to use your computer for anything more intense than browsing the web & opening Photoshop, Mac OS is VASTLY more likely to fight you in trying to accomplish whatever it is you’re trying to do. I shouldn’t EVER need to go into the Terminal & use “sudo” commands to accomplish basic tasks, but I regularly must do just that…
IMO, Mac OS hasn’t been a truly definitively superior OS to Windows since the Snow Leopard vs Vista days, but that says more about how bad Vista was than anything else (but from that point, Windows 7 made more improvements than potentially any major OS release in history, while Lion was a horribly performing mess; so this situation didn’t last too long).
You’re totally right! I’ve heard PLENTY of horror stories about Mac OS being utterly terrible and frustrating for some users.
I simply haven’t had that experience, across the board, and for 20 years, I’ve had nothing but frustration after frustration with Windows.
That’s why I wrote this article. Just to let people know, nine layers of settings, and STILL not solving a bug, is ridiculous.
I’m not at all a Mac fanboy. I STRONGLY disliked almost everything that Steve Jobs stood for, and I would NEVER pay full price for an Apple product, I always buy them used or refurbished. Brand-new, they’re a freaking rip-off. They depreciate like a Land Rover or a Cadillac.
Still, I’ve had a almost zero frustration with Mac OS, and almost zero GOOD experiences with Windows. That’s just the way it’s been for me. Thanks for reading, and thanks for commenting! It’s good that others who read this will see that it CAN go both ways.
The “9 layers of settings” problem is just as much of a problem in Mac OS. If not worse. Why? System Preferences. Sometimes 3rd Party applications MIGHT get a section there with some options, but will that be where all that applications settings will be? OF COURSE NOT! You’ll still have a “File” or Help” / “Preferences” or “Properties” menu section in the app itself! Why the hell is it like this? Nobody knows. How do they decide which settings go in which location? Again, nobody knows. At least in Windows, 3rd Party application settings are all in the same place… That application. You know, where it makes sense to have its options, not in the same place the OS options are!
Again, your primary issues with Windows in the article, outside of lacking easily universally applicable color profiles (which is a very real problem) are less actual issues with the OS then a combination of you not being particularly computer literate & being extremely conditioned to the way Mac OS opperates. Something doesn’t have an inherently “superior design” just because you’re far more used to & comfortable with it.
You’re right, I do dislike how Apple tries to collect certain app preferences within its own sphere of settings, but other settings are controlled from the app’s own preferences interface.
Still, I’ve never had to dig nine layers deep through highly repetitive interfaces, just to find one setting, …and still have it not work out.
It would be different if I could go into the preferences for Chrome, Explorer, and other Windows apps and have it all use the correct display profile. But I did check those other apps, and they didn’t seem to want to cooperate on Windows.
Either way, stuff like display calibration SHOULD be done on a system-wide level, and it should NOT be such a hassle. The fact that Windows can’t even understand a user’s desire to have contrast and saturation match in all applications, in 2020, is an epic fail all by itself, because it hasn’t been a problem on a Mac in over a decade.
I’m not arguing with you that system wide color calibration needs to be fixed in Windows. I’ve said the same thing in literally all of my posts. That’s a legitimate issue, and Microsoft NEEDS to fix it. My issue is with you suggesting that providing user’s with quality in-depth settings options & driver suites like Nvidia’s Control Panel is inherently a “bad thing”, just because you can’t understand how to use them….
Even just that one specific example in Nvidia Control Panel is ridiculously useful and can do countless powerful things that Apple wouldn’t let you DREAM of doing in Mac OS. I’d rather have a comprehensive suite of options available to control the hardware I bought instead of having it all be forcibly removed because my expensive computer thinks I’m an idiot who couldn’t handle the power of user freedom & choice.
You’re lucky to have any 3rd party hardware control options in Mac OS AT ALL, let alone comprehensive driver packages… I mean hell, you can’t even use Nvidia GPU’s in the latest Mac OS versions AT ALL.. -_-
Just because all those settings aren’t useful for you, doesn’t mean they aren’t useful at all… (Maybe instead of getting so upset about how much you hate Windows, actually learn to take advantage of its additional capabilities over Mac OS! They are both better at different things.)
Indeed, customizability has always been Windows/PCs’ forte. I wish it was easier to replace and control graphics cards on Macs, period. But the bottom line is, as a “creative”, I want to encourage people to go with whichever system really works best for them. Even if it’s a matter of convenience and simplicity, one way or the other, that better user experience in the long run is nothing to scoff at…
“They depreciate like a Land Rover or a Cadillac.”
I regularly purchase 3K laptops and sell them 2 years later for 1800 show me a PC laptop alternative that does that.
More than 30% depreciation after just 2 years is like selling a car after driving it for just 5-15K miles and losing many tens of thousands of dollars. It’s actually relatively in keeping with the depreciation of many cars that MSRP for $90-100K!
That’s why I’d rather buy a 2-3 year old $3K Mac for ~$1-1.5K.
People: States an opinion online
You: “SCREAMS of over the top biased fanboyism”
LMFAO
My Datacolor Spyder utility sofware loads my color calibrated profile on my Windows 10 machine every time. Sorry to hear about your issues.
The studio does have both X-Ride and Datacolor devices, so I’ll definitely give the Spyder a try! I’ll likely also have to just try a completely clean wipe of Windows 10, just because I’ve mesed with these settings so much already.
With my Macs, it’s always been a “once every ~3-5 years” thing, to wipe the OS and start over. With all my PCs, I feel like I’m doing it every 6-12 months.
I know that plenty of others have had the exact opposite experience, espeically with newer Apple machines that are allegedly less stable than the older generations. I’m just writing my story here as a documentary of how silly it was to have to dig this deep to try and fix a problem… Thanks for reading!
We use both Windows 10 PC’s and Macs. Like all software, what each of them deliver has converged. They not only express similar functionality but both of them have irritating quirks.
Right-clicking on the screen opens a context menu – a Microsoft inovation that Apple held out against for years – that offers you the Graphics Properties option that (I think) contains the settings you want.
Having said that, from the day IBM doorstepped Bill Gates and bought the license for CP/M 86 (MS DOS) Windows was, is, and always will be a botch-up toy operating system. The quicker Microsoft migrate it onto some sort of Unix based platform the better.
Right-clicking on the screen opens a context menu – a Microsoft inovation that Apple held out against for years…
Not exactly the case. While Steve Jobs opposed the two-button mouse for some time, and Apple did not offer one years ago, the Mac most certainly could use such a mouse, including various Microsoft models, during those years.
Is it just me, or is there something intensly irritating about someone like defunct up coming along and down voting your comment without actually having the wit to add a considered opinion to the conversation?
I wish there was a solution to this too… I can get a profile to stick on my computer with ColorMunki but each time my second monitor is unplugged and replugges, the calibration is lost ?
It’s not you, it’s Windows… 9 layers of them! What a joke Microsoft is. And they got the JEDI contract, so we’ll all be dead soon…