My thoughts:

I personally use Linux distribution called Linux Mint for my everyday use. Such as browsing or anything to with the interwebz, doing school jobs, light image manipulation and a little bit of gaming(I try to keep my linux a gaming free zone, for work only)

Currently I'm using an older laptop Dell Latitude D630, with added 4GB RAM and 120GB SSD. Everything is working fine for my personal use. My goal/dream would be to be able to use Linux to do all my computing, but I'm sort of a geek so you'll have to take that into account. ^^

For this particular computer I first tried Ubuntu but it seemed kind of slow for some reason so Mint it is. I must warn you though, if you really get into trying different operating systems you can be swallowed by it! It is just so much fun. =)

In short, and as other have said: It depends


Edit. Nice to see you found your answer!

I guess I don't have that kind of emotional investment, at least not in this particular fight. I can see the merits of both sides and argue them dispassionately. For me this question is more like "what should I get, a pickup truck or a sports car"? It really depends on what you want to do with it.

And the correct answer to your other question is the C64. See, I can be partisan on the right issue. ;)

PC, of course :P.

You're welcome :).

As somebody who has used Windows since version 3.0, I have yet to encounter a version that wasn't worse than the competition. Sometimes it's more obvious such as Vista and 8, but it's never been particularly competitive with the competition. It has a ton of 3rd party support and MS has abused it's size to force it on people, but it's always been buggy and the UI has always had serious issues.
Because you're an incompetent system administrator that's engaging in something that people are going to see on the network.

In all the years I've been using Linux I've never been hacked. My Dad has been using Linux for about 6 months and he has yet to be hacked.

This intrigues me as I've heard it before - is it due to the OS use of resources (such as RAM perhaps?) or something else? - I paint digitally using a wacom tablet, so getting the most fluid realtime painting experience possible is a must (even on a budget limiting my hardware choices).

Does Adobe sell a functioning version of Photoshop on Linux? There's GIMP which is a Photoshop equivalent for non-professional use. It's a bit buggy, some things require an additional step, and I don't think it supports CMYK colorspace. Then there's the fact that if you are sharing files that practically everyone else is using Photoshop themselves.

GIMP does everything that I need it to do.

I've no idea, but ive heard people talk about it before, hence me asking.

Do you mean the fact that if someone asks you if they can use YOUR PS installtion disk and you refuse and refer them to GIMP they say "but I WANT photoshop!" - even though all they'll ever do is use the filters... badly...

I have been using Windows since 1998 and the only Windows that sucked was Windows Vista at launch it's stable now and Windows 8 just sucks Window 8.1 is so much better.

Linux isn't really competing with Windows because it's free I don't consider anything that's free to be a competition.

Who cares if Microsoft forces it on people. Why do you care? If you don't want Windows 8 then don't purchase Windows 8 you can still stick to Windows 7 Microsoft isn't telling you to purchase Windows 8. A lot of PC versions of video games will still have Windows 7 support and not be exclusively sold to Windows 8 and DirectX 12 will possibly be coming to Windows 7.

I am not a incompetent system administrator I only got hacked once on Linux. Only once.

I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a joke but he meant - if you are collaborating with someone, artistically, they are going to be using Photoshop and will require files in the .PSD format (png and jpg are OK for export but they loose all the layers and object information)

as i remember, GIMP also uses PSD - as does inkscape, artrage... its a pretty standard format

Well I'm not sure what Gydion meant then - maybe GIMP always lags behind a bit and the PS user has to keep remembering to save it in an earlier version compatible format? i.e. an earlier version/specification of .PSD That can always be a pain...

Several versions behind, actually, and while they (and older version of Photoshop) can read files saved in newer versions (provided it was saved with compatibility mode, which isn't default, ridiculously enough, despite not removing anything), they lack several features.

Smart objects, for example, are rastered down to a normal layer if saved* in non-Photoshop or an earlier version where they were not invented yet (that's what compatibility mode does, saves a rastered version that older Photoshop can read as well as a fully editable layer for modern versions), I imagine 3D layers are treated similarly, but it may also be that they're removed completely.

* That is, edit a file with modern features in Photoshop, save with compatibility, all editing features are still there and the older version can open it. But since the older version doesn't know about the new features, it cannot save them back, so you're stuck with the raster layer if you edit and save in the older version.

... and, I, for one, really like smart objects, to the point that I now can't figure out how I was ever making do withouit them. I'm forcing myself to learn GIMP though, sometimes I get mad at it and have to start up Pinta which handles more like the applications I've gotten used to through the last 20 years (Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro 7, and Paint.net).

Actually, i think there are some plugins that help with that - not for saving, but if you export, you get a similar window to the "save for web and devices one".

Been a while since ive needed to do anything like that though myself as I only supply clients with a flat piece

They provide PSD import and export as a format, but you're not supposed to be using it for images that you aren't using with PS. And they're there only because PS is such an important program in that regards.