Switching To A Mac?

[MonoPed]

How many Mac users are there on here? I know I'm gonna have to replace this computer sometime in the near future, and it's gonna be a choice between Window Vista and Mac. One of my friends has Vista on her Dell Laptop, and while the computer itself is quite nice, Vista is ######. So anyway, any potential issues for a long time (10+ years) Windows user switching over to the Mac os? I know Macs are a little more exensive than a PC, but is the addition expense really worth it? Lookin for some honest opinions here, so don't hold back. Thanx!!

[gasman]

I can't comment on the Mac. but I have Vista and am one of the rare people who love it. You just have to play with the setting until you can get it right.

[Harry P.]

I've been using Mac for 20 years. Used to be the operationg systems and ways of performing common tasks were fairly different between Macs and PCs, but they've evolved to where there are more similarities than differences now.

As a longtime Mac user, I finally went over to the dark side and bought a PC too, so now I'm "bilingual". But I have to say, Vista seems ok to me. It's annoying when it constantly asks permission to perform a task, but otherwise I have no problems with it-except the fact that Vista doesn't like Adobe Acrobat!

You'll like Macs...they're great computers.

[Harry P.]

Plus...most of the nasty stuff like worms and viruses are meant to attack PCs, because the vast majority of computer users are PC users...so Macs are pretty safe from junk like that. In 20 years my Macs have never had a virus, as far as I can tell.

[dub]

After trying to build two IBM platform computers over the years and failing miserably, I bought a Mac about a month and a half ago. The best thing I've ever done. I am not a computer guy, and the Mac really does it for me. All I use mine for is music, pictures and surfing the 'net. It is ideal for me. When I bought it, I got home , took it out of the box, powered it up, and 10 minutes later it was asking me if I wanted it to connect to the net using a neighbor's wireless router! There is NO WAY I could have done that with a PC. I know there will be people saying how PC's are better than Macs but it really comes down to each person. Try going to an Apple store and using the different models on display. Once you get used to the OS, you'll find that it is really easy to use. As for preference, that is for you to decide. If you think I am biased, well, two of my PC friends who have made a living working on them BOTH told me to get a Mac!

Edited November 9, 2007 by dub

[Enzoenvy1]

Having been working in the computer world a while I can say with out a doubt GET A MAC!!!! If you do though, get a couple basic books on how to use them to their potential. Many people buy them and never even use what they offer. The ILife Suite is great, the movie editors, the presentations, the music creators, the graphics, the speed, the no BS programs included, and they are beautiful machines. My money and experiences are on Mac.

[sjordan]

Ditto to all of the above. Remember, too, that recent Macs have the Intel Core Duo chip and can run Windows (you have to buy the Windows for Mac OS separately). Caveat: Apple has just introduced an upgraded OSX called Leopard, which some people say hasn't got the bugs worked out yet, so you might want to do some research. There are probably still plenty of the prior OS models in stores (I think it's called Panther.)

[MikeMc]

Read Harrys notes and buy a MAC...use Safari for your web work .....I've got 4 different windows computers inc Vista never a virus on the Mac

[Gregg]

Get a MAC, please!!!

I was born on a PC way back when during the time of the old Kaypro's (used to have to boot up from a 5 1/2" floppy)

I switched to MACs when I bought Plastic Fanatic, back in `97 or so

I still have to use a PC for some accounting and legal stuff, but the MAC is the only way to go

PC's have tried to play catchup to MACs since day one.

Windows 95 was like the first operating system of MAC's back in the 80's

XP? copied MAC OSX

Tiger was the best release so far, now Leopard is out, and I am waiting to go there.

I run a dual 2.3 ghz G5, with 4 GB of RAM, two 300GB hard drives, and a RAID backup

The MAC tower G5 can run two monitors out of the box

The new MacBook will boot up and start in 35-45 seconds, if not faster

New Windows is over two minutes.

And yes, we have no viruses

So, get a MAC, you can get a base model for a grand, the MacBook, and buy the memory from online, like OWC or others.

You'll never go back

And the support, it's the best

[jamie]

I agree with what everyone has said. GET A MAC! Even my wife, although I love her to death, can work the computer! And she is the most cpu illiterate person I've ever met! No bugs, never had to restart, no blue screen of death, no viruses! NOTHING!

[dub]

Get a MAC, please!!!

The new MacBook will boot up and start in 35-45 seconds, if not faster

New Windows is over two minutes.

And yes, we have no viruses

Yeah, my MacBook only takes that long after an update and reboot. I am still surprised about boot time.

[ismaelg]

It will all depend on the applications and what you want to do with it. Web browsing and photo storage don't require a lot of computing power.

I don't know how they compare now, but last time I tried them was about 5 years ago. I tried it 3 times over the years and simply put, the Mac could not handle specific application engineering software. I tried circuit simulation, remote vision systems and systems integration software and we always ended up going back to a PC.

However, it seems that Vista is the best thing that ever happened to Macs. A lot of people are switching. For home use and everyday tasks, anything out there is under-utilized.

[theflame]

ONly thing that I'd add is to get a two button mouse - that certainly smoothed the transition for me. I've got three macs and two pcs (for my business) and the macs are my weapon of choice ANY day

[MonoPed]

Ok, so I'm not as far off my rocker as I first thought, which is good, I guess. What do you guys think of the iMac?

[dub]

I almost bought the iMac, but when they added up all of the extra things I needed, I decided to step up one step to the laptop. It was about as much money as the MacBook without a monitor! It does not come with the mouse or keyboard. The Apple ones are not cheap and other ones might work but, don't look as cool as the Apple ones do. This pricing is regarding the second level iMac. The bottom one does not have the superdrive, which is a DVD burner. The entry-level notebook doesn't either, but to me it was a much better deal. It depends on your needs and what you already have. I started from nothing and the book was the best choice for me. I don't regret spending a little more money than planned at all.

[Gregg]

I lost, the iMac is self contained.

Where you looking at the little box, the Mini?

That is perfect for those who want to shift over from PC's who already have monitor, keyboard, and everything else

Great thing about the Mac is that you don't need drivers 99% of the time

I even bought the HP laser printer that was for PC only, for under a hundred bucks, and got it to work on the Mac with a simple download

Try that on a PC!!!!

I still have the first PowerBook G3 that I did MCM on from 1999-2001.

I still have its replacement, the Titanium G4 PowerBook 1ghz, which is the one you see me using at shows to shoot with

One other thing about the Mac, I went to the IPMS show in LA, and during the seminar I did on photographing models, I plugged Aaron Wood's Canon camera into the Mac, and controlled it directly and in real time from the notebook!

No other drivers or downloads were needed, the software I had knew what it was, could control everything on the camera, and was incredible.

Made me want to buy one of those cameras!!!!

Well, that wraps it up for now

If you want a deal, go to the Apple web site, and on the lower right column of the store page, you will have to scroll down some, you will see the Clearance Store, I shop there all the time.

You get some great deals

and warranty is same

GO MAC!!!!

[dub]

Whoa! Yeah Gregg, you're right. I was looking at the mini. The iMac is absolutely a good deal. The upgraded one is even better than the original. A musician friend of mine has the first gen iMac and he loves it. If I had more money to spend I would have strongly considered it, but it was just out of budget.

[patrol52]

I have a 15" MacBook Pro 2GigHz core duo Intel machine. It is dual boot able to mac os X or windows (XP) due to my need to run AutoCad and other cad software.

I have always used a mac, so windows feels very foreign to me and uncomfortable, although I do know how to use it to get what I need to do, done.

If I were to buy another computer, It would be the iMac (probably a bigger one.) Two reasons: 1) Bigger hard-drive capability than laptop 2) For the same price as a faster laptop, you get more storage and a larger screen, furthermore, I already have a laptop that I don't carry around much anymore. If I already had a decent keyboard and monitor and the like, I would get a mac mini and an external hard-drive. The only real driver problem for mac is on old printers and 3rd party not-so-big name devices, like scanners. You can typically do a google search to find out real fast if there is a driver for your hardware. Unfortunately, some hardware is reverse engineered and the driver cobbled together back when it was made, so re-engineering it hasn't happened yet, and possibly never will, on the other hand, you may get luck and it was popular enough for somebody to figure out how to make it work, and then you're in. Another note on hardware, while I'm at it--Old mac os did not need a right click, so they didn't add that functionality until sometime in the mid 90's. As for new Apple computers and mice, the right click menu is accessible by ctrl clicking on the trakpad on laptops or by simply placing two fingers on it and then clicking. The mighty mouse had both buttons even though it is not separate buttons like other mice. You can also scroll both up and down and side to side with both the trakpad on laptops and the scroll button on the mouse--do that in windows without pushing a button!

About macs, there are many powerful programs that let you get work done because you don't have to fight everything. The only major application purchases I made were Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative suite (photoshop.) Everything else is available for the mac usually for free or very small activation fees. In fact, you can run open office (neooffice for mac) which is a free application that opens Microsoft Office format documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. (I would seriously consider waiting on the new version of Office for mac, because I don't think that the 2004 mac version (current) supports the 2007 windows format (current) files--Open Office should work for now.)

Other applications I use frequently: Firefox or Camino (web browsers), iChat (AIM account), Apple Mail (access webmail), iTunes (music), and iPhoto (picture library/organizer and some editing capabilities), also Quick Time and VLC player (movie players). Notice out of these, 3 are not apple programs, which I installed myself. I doesn't take much to make the default apple environment very use able and convenient for your everyday usage.

[CAL]

Honest opinion.

I used a Mac at work and a PC at home. I was running very demanding graphic programs on each as a film/video editor.

I used FCP and AVID prospectively. Many of the Adobe products I used on both, there wasn't that much of a difference between using AE on a Mac or a PC.

I can say this. The PC that I built my self two years ago has been the best computer I have owned. It is still faster and more powerful than most things out there and has had virtually no problems (knock on wood).

The Mac, a G4 with Jaguar 10X, was nowhere near as stable as my PC, (nor as powerful) and there wasn't anything it could do that my PC couldn't except run FCP.

As I understand it, Mac is even closer to a PC than ever before. It seems much easier and convenient just to use a PC, especially if you are using any business programs or are using it for work. Most of the professional business world is on a PC, and I know Mac will run windows, but… The only people using Macs are the universities and colleges, and people working in arts and graphics, and the old die-hard Mac users.

You can do whatever you want, but you are likely to scratch your head wondering what all the hype about Mac has been all these years. They are not that distant any longer.

[Gregg]

CAL, I agree with you, almost entirely, but I have some questions.

I am curious as the specs on each that you use.

Just for my own curious self, that's all

I too built a PC for my PC work, and I only use Windows 2000 Pro on it, anything else I refuse

It does the legal stuff fine, and covers most of the problems I have with any "foreign" files sent in that the Mac won't convert.

My feelings is that the PC is finally catching up to the Mac, not the other way

True, Mac users have been the minority, but that is a marketing issue, not a "what's best" issue

I would rather be a minority, no one wants to kick number two out of their spot, right?

And we know how really is behind the Mac.

(I actually have a letter from him, and he tried to call me once)

my only claim to fame........

Get a Mac, you'll never go back.

[CAL]

CAL, I agree with you, almost entirely, but I have some questions.

I am curious as the specs on each that you use.

Just for my own curious self, that's all

I too built a PC for my PC work, and I only use Windows 2000 Pro on it, anything else I refuse

It's getting a little out dated now. I built it 2+ years ago and am thinking of upgrading, but nevertheless.

The PC I built

MSI KT8 Neo 64bit board

750 watt PS (I don't remember what brand but one of the better ones)

I almost did a water-cooled system, but I ended up with the best fan I could find.

AMD 3800+ FX chip

Windows XP-PRO

Maxtor Serial ATA 0-RAID 1/2 terabit for media

Maxtor Standard ATA in Cool Drive 3s 1/2 terabit for everything else

With an Open Promise RAID chip set available to expand if needed

Firewire with several FW drives.

Matched 2 GIG RAM

2.0 USB

Nivida APG 7800 FX video card with dual 19" monitors + tv/video

Memorex CD Drive

Sony DVD R/W Drive

XP-PRO is a lot better than 2000 expecially for any kind of graphics.

The MAC I just worked on it. I know some of the features and specs, but I wasn't in it or built it. We had IT guys for that :)What I do know is below.

G4

PS unknown

Convensional cooling

Standard 32 bit G4 chip

Jaguar 10X

No RAIDs

Standard 500 gig HD.

Firewire

500MB RAM later upgraded 1 gig but didn't seem to make a lot of difference.

G4 graphics card w/ dual monitors specs unknown + tv/video

Standard CD/DVD drive.

It crashed as much as my old Win ME PC. It worked okay when it was working, but I honestly couldn't say it was better than my PC.

Edited November 13, 2007 by CAL

[Gregg]

Chris, in the years I have been doing this, I have found that Macs worked best with as much RAM stuffed in them as possible.

The G4 was good, but the G5 is double or more of that.

I built a G4 dual for Jairus from an old Quicksliver single 500 or so, and stuffed it to the max.

That did wonders for it, but the G5 was light years ahead

I had a buddy come over one day while I was working on a layout, and he was so PC, it wasn't funny.

So, I showed him a little something on the Mac that I like to do to blow people away.

As you know, we have the dock on the bottom (or side, or whereever you want to put it) that you can put all your programs in to launch instantly.

I have in the dock:

Quark

Photoshop

Illustrator

In Design

Go Live

Dreamweaver

Word

Excell

Entourage

Mail

Transmit

Safari

Firefox

Adobe (pro something)

toast

Popcorn

and about eight or nine other programs

I launched them all, one by one

After they all started, and were running, I went and opened a cover for MCM, which is about 60+ MB, in Quark, adjusted the image instantly in Photoshop, and sent an email at the same time.

This was with every single program running on the dock!

Now, I hate to downside things, but I am only running with half the RAM the G5 can take, and it's not matched pairs, I buy what I can, when I can.

If I think the Mac's going to crash, I go get a cup of Coffee, and by Java, it doesn't crash!!!!

Again, this is just my personal opinions, and we know what that's worth :-)

I just love what the Mac can do, have bought every single version of the OS that is released, every iPod that is out, and have yet to buy an iPhone (That's not a Mac thing, it's AT&T, I prefer Verizon!)

Time for moi moi...

aloha kao ko!

[patrol52]

There is a bit of unfairness in the comparison here. Windows (even XP) was designed to run on the computers built since it came out in 2001. On the other hand, many of the G4 and G5 series computers were originally designed to run mac os 9. Although they CAN run os X, they are not nearly as good at it as the newer multi-processor Intel based machines. I have several older machines running os X that will never be able to be upgraded past 10.2 because they don't even have DVD drives to install it, but it's ok because they can't handle the features as well as the newer computers. Even if you purchase one of the older computers that was designed for os X, you will see noticeable speed difference over a computer that was upgraded to it from os 9 or before.

One thing I didn't mention earlier: If you do get a laptop, it would be my choice to get the MacBook or the MacBook Pro 17" and stay away from the MBP 15"--as far as I can tell both have longer battery lives than the 15". (I like my 15" cause it fits in my backpack, but I would love more battery life over convenience.)

[MonoPed]

Great info guys, really!! I use my PC for web surfing, email, burning cds, model pics, and I built a small website in notepad. I've used Win95, Win98, and for the past few years, been using Win2kPro. I don't run a whole lot of third party software, mainly an old version of Winamp (MP3 player), ACDSee (image viewer), Photoshop 5.5, Nero CD burning (came with CD-RW drive), Audiograbber (CD ripping), Firefox, and my camera software. From what y'all have been saying, a Mac or an iMac would suit those uses just fine. Maybe time to take a trip to an Apple store...

[MrObsessive]

Phew! Gregg if I ran all those programs at once (I've got 1 gig of memory with Vista), my OS would crash from apoplexy!

Despite what Microsoft says about Vista, it still has it's hangups-----and I still WON'T use IE! I'll stick with Firefox and use IE as an extension.

When I'm in for the market for a new computer again, (I just got this one in June) I'll check out a Mac. I went with a new Dell because my job has a laison with Dell, and we get them at a discount along with a payment plan out of our paycheck.