Photoshop: Mac or Windows – Which is Better?

Many times people ask them that which one is better for Photoshop – MacBook or Windows? They know that I have used Photoshop for 2 years on my MacBook and around 3 years on Windows. Although, I did not use the Windows for 3 continuous years. I used it for 2 years before the MacBook and then from the past 1 year till today. If you’re thinking that I switched from MacBook to Windows because I think Photoshop is better for Windows than macOS then you are wrong. Or maybe not.  😆

Related: How to Optimize the Performance of Photoshop

The reason I switched to Windows that I do a lot of other stuff for my other businesses and Windows integrate better with my requirements. I still have my MacBook in my drawer and I can use it whenever I want.

Before I proceed, I would like to tell you the configurations of my current windows PC and MacBook Pro 2015 with retina display.

Dell LaptopMacBook Pro 2015
Screen1920 x 1080 pixels2560 x 1600 pixels (winner)
ProcessorIntel i7 (winner)Intel i5
RAM8 GB8 GB
Graphics Memory4 GB (winner)1 GB
Hard Drive1 TB SATA256 GB SSD (winner)
Price$1099 (cheaper)$1299

This is all a software requires to run. You might be wondering that my Dell has 1 TB space then why did it lose against my MacBook’s 256 GB. The reason is that my Dell has SATA hard drive and MacBook has SSD. The SSD drives are much faster than SATA drives. If you want to test, then test the speed of iMac 2013 with iMac 2015. Both desktops are almost same except that iMac 2015 has SSD, but iMac 2015 takes 1/3rd of time to boot up when compared to iMac 2013. This is the power of SSD drive.

If you want to know the recommended system requirements for Photoshop, head over to the Adobe’s site. The link will open in a new tab.

Let me give you my experience with the Help of a Table:

I learned Photoshop on Windows so Windows stay close to my heart. This does not mean that I will be biased towards Windows. The reason I went for MacBook two years later because I saw almost all the Photoshop users use macOS and I want to try that out also. #Curiosity

WindowsMacBook Pro
StartupI honestly feel that Photoshop takes a lot more time to startupI used three different versions of Photoshop and all of them loaded within 5-6 seconds. I must say that 5-6 is good amount of time given that Photoshop is quite a big software
SpeedI don’t see a big difference in speed when compared with MacBook.But some calculation intensive functions like refine edge tool, liquify tool takes a bit more on MacBook. But it’ll be 2-3 seconds more, not 30-40 seconds.
TouchpadNone of Window’s laptop has force touchpad technology which is a big loss.MacBook force touchpad works seamlessly with Photoshop. The ability to click anywhere on the touchpad is the best thing that anyone can have.
Zooming in and Moving an ImageI include this point because this is a vital part. We all zoom in a lot in Photoshop and Windows work smoothly with zoomed in imagesMacBook lags a bit when you zoom in and move your image. The movement is not smooth which is not designer-friendly.
FeaturesBoth Windows and MacBook have equal featuresBoth Windows and MacBook have equal features
Keyboard ShortcutsWindows has “windows” button which MacBook does not have. This button does not do any task in PhotoshopMacBook has “Command” and “Control” button. They both work in Photoshop. So, MacBook has one extra button that windows don’t have and Adobe utilized it for keyboard shortcuts. This is why you have more keyboard shortcuts available on a MacBook.
StabilityWhole world knows that Windows is less stable than macOS and Photoshop cannot escape. In the past one year, my computer got hanged 7 times when I was using Photoshop. Thanks to the Auto Save feature in Photoshop not all of my work got lostMy MacBook never ever got frozen in 2 years. Cheers, Apple!
PricePhotoshop subscription remains same for both OS but machine price varies. Windows laptops are a lot cheaper and you can get one at $200.MacBook is notoriously expensive and everyone cannot afford it. If you go for a 15″ model, you can buy a small car at that price.
Photoshop PluginsThere are a variety of Photoshop plugins for Windows but lesser when compared to macOSAlmost, all plugin manufacturers know that majority of their potential customers use MacBook. So, they generally first launch their plugin for MacBook owners and then for Windows. The smaller firms which don’t have the budget to create a plugin for both OS, satisfies themselves with a plugin for MacBook owners only.

Final Verdict

Back in the 1980s, computers were quite expensive and only rich people could afford them for personal use. When Microsoft first developed Windows, they said that it’s an OS for people who want to use computers in their homes.  Still today, Windows want you to use your PC and a personal computer. Yes, there are few versions which target enterprises, but deep-down windows are meant for personal use.

macOS is also made for day to day use but Apple focuses a lot on creativity. If you see Apple adverts or its website, you will see at least a split-second scene where a designer is designing something on his MacBook, iPad, iMac, etc. Therefore, designers like macOS more and they go for MacBook.

Although Adobe never says that they give preference to one OS more than others, but I personally feel that Adobe support macOS more than windows. You can see that almost all the Adobe tutorials, help guides, or videos are made on macOS. I don’t remember that I saw them using Windows. Even in webinars, they use Apple’s products.

If you ask my opinion that if I must choose one OS, I would choose macOS. I don’t know the main reason but I feel more connected with Photoshop on my MacBook.

I am using Windows nowadays because TrickyPhotoshop is not all of my company, it is one of my company. In my other companies, I need to do a lot more on my laptop (Photoshop does not count here) and windows work better.

How to Crop an Image in a Circle in Photoshop

Nowadays, we are seeing that a lot of apps are asking for circular images for profile pictures. If they’re user-friendly, they crop an image in a circle by themselves. Otherwise, you need to crop an image in a circle in Photoshop and upload to the app. The good thing is that it takes less than a minute in Photoshop to crop an image. The bad thing is that you need to open Photoshop and do the work. 😞

Related: Not a while ago I wrote a tutorial on Crop tool in Photoshop where I explained the entire cropping process. The link will open in a new tab.

Before I proceed, I want to show you the final picture where an image of a guy is cropped in a circle.

So let’s start the tutorial.

Video

If you like watching videos, here’s the video tutorial for you.

Step 1: Draw a Circle with the Marquee Tool

Grab an Elliptical Marquee tool from the tool panel or press Shift+M again and again until it comes.

Sidebar: I have written a tutorial on Elliptical Marquee tool in Photoshop. If you need to learn more on Elliptical Marquee Tool in Photoshop, head over there. The link will open in a new tab.

Step 2: Draw a Circular Selection

Hold down the Shift key and draw a selection around the face. The Shift key will make sure that the selection always stays circular. If you’re using Rectangular Marquee tool, holding down the Shift key will keep the selection square.

Right now, you don’t need to worry about the center of the circle. We’ll adjust it in the next step.

Step 3: Adjust the Center of the Selection

Now move your mouse to the inside of the circle. You will notice that the cursor changes. This shows that you can move your selection.

Now place the circle in a place which suits you. The area inside the circle will be the area which remains once the cropping is done.

Step 4: Copy the Selection to a New Layer

Now we’re going to copy the selected area to a new layer.

Press Ctrl+J/Cmd+J to duplicate the selection to a new layer. Open the Layer Panel by pressing F7 and you will see a new layer.

Hide the “Background Layer” by clicking on the button that is highlighted with the red rectangle. Once it is done, all the image is gone except the selected area and you will see the background which is shown above. This kind of Photoshop background tells that there’s actually no background present in the image. The area is transparent.

Step 5: Crop an Image in a Circle in Photoshop

After this, we are going to trim all the transparent pixels so that the selection stays. This is the most important step in this tutorial of crop an image in a circle in Photoshop.

Go to Image>Trim and choose Transparent Pixels. Press OK.

 

Once it is done, Photoshop will crop every single thing except the face.

Step 6: Don’t Save it in JPG

If you don’t want the background, don’t save it in JPG. JPG doesn’t support transparency and adds white background automatically. Save in PNG as PNG supports the transparent background.

Go to File>Save As or press Ctrl+Shift+S/Cmd+Shift+S and choose the format as PNG and save. That’s it. This is how you crop an image in a circle in Photoshop.

Top 7 Adobe Photoshop Courses Online

I know that you want to learn Photoshop to show off to your friends or earn some side income. You may also want to become a graphic designer or an artist. Or, perhaps, you want photography and want to take your photos to the next level. In all the cases, you need to learn Photoshop. But Photoshop is not as easy as opening Microsoft Word where you need to open the software and start typing. When I first had a look at Photoshop interface back in 2012, believe me, I had no idea where should I go to even open an image. I know that many of you are in the same place and have no idea where to go. This is why I writing this article to list the top 7 Adobe Photoshop courses online.

Related: I have also written an article on top books to learn Photoshop.

I tried to gather all the courses that are free but almost all of them are not worthy of your time. This is why I needed to include paid courses. I have used an algorithm to rank the courses which are based on below factors:

1: Free or Paid
2: Rating
3: Viewership
4: Quality

All of the above factors have been given some weight and the result is the weighted average of all the factors. The one with the highest average goes to the top of the list of top Adobe Photoshop courses online.

So, let’s start with the last one.

7: Photoshop CC One-on-One

Price: Paid

This is the one of the most elaborative online course on Photoshop CC that explains all the aspects of Photoshop (at least most of them). The downside is that it’s too elaborative. The course is of around 16 hours and I know that you can get to know Photoshop in a 5-6 hours course.

If you’re a subscriber of Lynda then this course is free for you. Otherwise, you need to subscribe to Lynda at the cost of $25/- month. Try to complete the course in one month and cancel the subscription. So, basically, the tutorial comes at a price of $25.

[mk_button corner_style=”rounded” size=”x-large” icon=”mk-moon-tv” url=”https://www.lynda.com/course-tutorials/Photoshop-CC-2017-One-One-Fundamentals/497776-2.html” target=”_blank” align=”center”]Watch[/mk_button]

6: Mastering Adobe Photoshop CC

Price: Paid

The positive side is that the tutorial is updated with Photoshop CC 2017 (the latest version when I am writing this article). The downside is that the tutorial is not that much interactive. The second downside is that this course comes at a standalone price. Unlike Lynda, there’s no subscription model where you subscribe and get to watch all the courses for no extra cost.

You must also know that I don’t like long courses much. The same goes for this one. It’s 13.5 hours long. 😢

[mk_button corner_style=”rounded” size=”x-large” icon=”mk-moon-tv” url=”https://www.udemy.com/adobe-photoshop-cc/” target=”_blank” align=”center”]Watch[/mk_button]

5: Photoshop CC 2015: Essential Training

Price: Paid

The course would have been in the top position in the list of top 7 Adobe Photoshop courses online but lacked at its recency. The course was made back in 2015 although almost all of the concepts still hold true. For all the readers who are very new to Photoshop, I must tell you that Adobe launches a new version of Photoshop every year but each new version has subtle changes and an addition of 3-4 new features. So, even if you use Photoshop 2017, you can use the concepts of Photoshop 2015.

The best thing about this course is that it’s made by one of the world’s most renowned Photoshop expert – Julienne Kost (no wonder this is one of the most watched Photoshop course on Lynda) 😮

[mk_button corner_style=”rounded” size=”x-large” icon=”mk-moon-tv” url=”https://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Photoshop-CC-Essential-Training-2015/372339-2.html” target=”_blank” align=”center”]Watch[/mk_button]

4: Photoshop Beginners Mastery: From Zero to Hero in Photoshop

Price: Paid

The best thing about this tutorial is that the lecturer kept it short. He didn’t pour all the information is one course. The result is that people don’t lose interest. The tutorial is only 2.5 hours long.

[mk_button corner_style=”rounded” size=”x-large” icon=”mk-moon-tv” url=”https://www.udemy.com/getting-started-in-photoshop/” target=”_blank” align=”center”]Watch[/mk_button]

Related: I have also written an article on top magazines to subscribe for Photoshop.

3: Photoshop Course Online by Good Creative Academy

Price: Free

Here comes a free course. The course is not as much as interactive as the ones listed previously. But the fact that its free means it’s accessible to everyone and this is what puts it in the third place in the list of top 7 Adobe Photoshop courses online.

The course is of 41 videos and explains almost all the things that a beginner needs to know.

[mk_button corner_style=”rounded” size=”x-large” icon=”mk-moon-tv” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rkabbx9w5A&list=PLf0N3CF2JlRx7o9oVObgk4y5X6WBF_g21″ target=”_blank” align=”center”]Watch[/mk_button]

2: Photoshop CC 2017 Essential Training: The Basics

Price: Paid

Here’s the latest masterpiece by Julianne Kost, the one I was talking about. Ah, did I mention that Fast Company has put her on the list of 100 Most Creative Person in the planet?

This course would’ve been in the first place in the list of top 7 Adobe Photoshop courses online if only it was free. But the weights that I gave to free vs. paid has put it in the second position.

[mk_button corner_style=”rounded” size=”x-large” icon=”mk-moon-tv” url=”https://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Photoshop-CC-2017-Essential-Training-Basics/519289-2.html” target=”_blank” align=”center”]Watch[/mk_button]

1: The Complete Beginners Guide to Adobe Photoshop by TastyTuts

Price: Free

This collection of 34 videos is all you need to have to learn the basics of Photoshop. Being free of cost means that you have to watch it without paying a single penny from your pocket.

[mk_button corner_style=”rounded” size=”x-large” icon=”mk-moon-tv” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF_jSrBhdlg&list=PLYfCBK8IplO6v0QjCj-TSrFUXnRV0WxfE” target=”_blank” align=”center”]Watch[/mk_button]

This is all that I have.

If you have come across a course that you think is awesome but not present on the above list, let me know in the comment section below. I’ll review it. If it’s passed, I’ll add it to the list.