Why do so many professional designers prefer macOS over Windows?
Here are the four main reasons.
1. Color Management
For designers, color accuracy is everything.
From a hardware perspective, Apple computers are known for their highly accurate displays, and macOS includes a comprehensive color management system. In contrast, Windows PCs come with displays from many different manufacturers, with varying resolutions and quality levels, making consistent color reproduction much harder to guarantee.
The same image can appear differently on different monitors, and a design that looks perfect on your computer may look completely different on someone else’s. This can be incredibly frustrating for designers.
Mac displays offer accurate colors, a wide color gamut, and high resolution. In most cases, they require little to no color calibration because they are factory-calibrated before shipping.
Apple’s Retina displays also provide extremely high resolution, making designs appear sharper and more detailed. System icons, fonts, and the overall interface are carefully optimized for high-resolution displays.
The same image often looks noticeably different on a Mac compared to a Windows PC. Designers naturally want their work to match the final output as closely as possible, and macOS generally delivers results that are closer to the intended appearance.
References:
https://iphone4.tw/forums/showthread.php?t=191706
https://www.ad110.com/life/show.asp?id=2609
2. macOS Received Support for Many Professional Design Applications Earlier
Many well-known design applications originally supported only macOS before eventually being released for Windows.
For example, according to Wikipedia, the first version of Photoshop (1.0) launched exclusively on the Macintosh in 1990. Windows support did not arrive until Photoshop 2.5 in 1991. Likewise, Adobe Illustrator, one of the world’s most popular vector graphics applications for publishing and multimedia design, debuted on the Macintosh in 1985, while the Windows version was not officially released until Illustrator 7.0.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator
Some well-known design tools are still exclusive to macOS, such as Sketch, the professional vector design application. Many designers have even switched from Windows to macOS solely to use a specific application, with some choosing to build Hackintosh systems in the past.
This is also one of the reasons why so many designers prefer the MacBook and MacBook Pro.
https://iphone4.tw/forums/showthread.php?t=191706
https://www.ad110.com/life/show.asp?id=2609
3. Better Performance and Stability
The comparison is similar to iOS versus Android.
Because Apple’s ecosystem is relatively closed and the company tightly integrates hardware and software, macOS generally provides better stability and smoother performance than Windows. There is also less unnecessary software clutter. Many users who become accustomed to macOS have little desire to switch back to Windows.
The display is also easier on the eyes, with consistent colors that help designers stay focused on creative work. Unlike Windows, macOS is not heavily geared toward gaming and supports far fewer AAA games, making it less distracting for many professionals.
4. Font Licensing and Copyright Issues
Can you believe that the Microsoft YaHei font doesn’t actually belong to Microsoft? I’ve personally seen this become a legal issue, and it’s certainly not an isolated case.
Imagine you’re the owner of a small business purchasing computers for your employees. Whether they’re custom-built PCs or brand-name machines, even if Windows isn’t preinstalled, most people will install Windows immediately. Next, your designers install Adobe Creative Cloud applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator, regardless of whether they’re licensed or not.
Suppose a designer creates a poster, an e-commerce product image, or a website banner using system fonts such as Lanting Hei or Microsoft YaHei. If that image is later published on your website, online store, or even in a WeChat Official Account article, there’s a chance that one day you could receive a legal notice from Founder Type. In many cases, companies have had to pay thousands—or even tens or hundreds of thousands—of yuan in settlement fees. It may not happen immediately, but the risk grows as your business expands.
What many people don’t realize is that Microsoft YaHei was designed and developed by Founder Type. Microsoft licenses the font for use in Windows, and while personal use is generally fine, commercial use may require additional licensing.
This issue is especially common in the e-commerce industry. A few years ago, Alibaba released Alibaba PuHuiTi as a free commercial font. More recently, it introduced PuHuiTi 2.0, making it permanently free for commercial use across all platforms. It’s not difficult to understand why such fonts have become increasingly important.
By comparison, macOS uses PingFang as its default Chinese font. Its licensing terms are generally more flexible across a wider range of scenarios, including print, posters, and other commercial design work, making it much more designer-friendly—especially for graphic and UI designers.
When it comes to fonts, Apple has clearly taken a more designer-friendly approach than Microsoft. I’ll include additional references about font licensing below the video.
If you’ve worked in a professional graphic design studio or advertising agency, you’ve probably noticed that using a Mac for design has long been an industry tradition.
References:
https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macOS1014.pdf
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/Useterms_Retail_Windows_10_SimplifiedChinese.htm
So if I had to choose, I’d definitely go with Apple devices. Overall, they simply make life much easier and require far less effort to manage.
Video version https://youtu.be/JDZnIHh0388