[XeTeX] xelatex vs. pdflatex + otfinst

[Sebastian Hanigk]

Hello!

As I am now in the process of writing my thesis, the typesetting  
issue looms at the horizon (so to speak).

For more than a year I was using xelatex for most of my work but as  
an alternative there is the possibility of using pdflatex and otfinst  
for the generation of TeX-usable fonts from my OTF fonts.

The (approximate) conditions for this work will be the usage of  
Adobe's Minion Pro as text font with Myriad Pro as companion for  
captions and some inserts. Mathematical typesetting will be  
important, as well as graphics, especially MetaPost.

The simplicity of the fontspec package compels me using xelatex, but  
at least for Minion Pro there exists a usable package which I will  
test in the next weeks.

Now the question: what do you suggest? The pros of xelatex are the  
simple usage of OTF fonts and their features and Unicode support (OK,  
inputenc exists); on the other hand, pdflatex can use the microtype  
package (but do I need it?) and sometimes I get the impression that  
mathematical typesetting with xelatex isn't as good as with the  
normal TeX tools; furthermore I need to integrate my TeX engine with  
MetaPost.

Best regards!

Sebastian