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Community Newsletter: Q&A: Is the Mac right for me?
- 4/5/07 11:48 AM
A Response to 'Is a Mac right for me?'
by dsteitz4 - 3/30/07 5:18 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been a loyal Apple user since back in the days of Apple II and Apple IIe. Does anyone remember Quark? Like the first real accounting program DECADES before Quick Books and others. Anyway, I will admit I have little if no experience with any Windows formats or operating systems. I just know that what little time I have spent on any computer running Windows, I'm lost! Seriously. I find anything Apple makes just so much simpler and user friendly. Very easy computers to use. Especially if you are an artist ( photography, musician, graphic design, etc, etc ). Macs were practically created for just that.
Just looking at an iMac is simplicity in itself. No hard drive 'towers', no separate monitors to deal with. Just one computer. Period. Never mind the fact that Macs/Apple products are virtually VIRUS-FREE. Don't believe me? Look it up. That is a HUGE selling point to me. I just can't speak highly enough of what Apple makes. Quality is #1. I can promise you this..... if you try an Apple for 6months, you will be hooked and wonder why you ever were trained/brought up using a Windows/Microsoft type product.
Oh, and by the way does anyone remember back in the 80's when Bill Gates and Microsoft practically STOLE the idea for Windows from Apple? Yep. Apple invented the technology and Bill gates managed to win the rights in court even though it is an Apple innovation. Look it up. You will thank yourself for a switch.
Apple "invented" something ?
by PhotoMan - 4/3/07 8:10 PM In reply to: A Response to 'Is a Mac right for me?' by dsteitz4Apple did not invent the GUI that you claim Windows trird to steal. Xerox gave Apple the code for its' GUI
Reply to Apple invented something
by dsteitz4 - 4/20/07 8:39 PM In reply to: Apple "invented" something ? by PhotoManIf you knew ANYTHING about the history of Bill Gates and his relationship with Apple, then you would know it's a documented fact that the two squared off in court over the 'windows' issue in the 1980's. It's an Apple innovation PERIOD and Bill Gates STOLE it from them to use as the cornerstone of his software company. He succeeded in changing just enough of the intellectual property to have the courts rule in his favor. Yes the GUI was developed by Xerox, but was improved upon by Apple.( hence innovation! Dur!) Gates saw the improvements and wanted it solely for himself. That's why they went to court... he wanted the glory ( and the rights ) for himself.
Reread your statement...then comment
by PhotoMan - 4/20/07 10:01 PM In reply to: Reply to Apple invented something by dsteitz4I suggest you look back at your previous statement where you said that Apple invented the GUI. I corrected your error in history by stating the (click-an-icon) GUI was invented by Xerox, not Apple (which you have, whether you realize it or not, admitted in your response)
So far as the rest of your rantings are concerned, a Ford and a Chevy are both cars with four wheels, doors and a steering wheel...but how it's put together under the sheet metal is different.
Both Windows and Apple (and all the others as well) have ("click-an-icon") GUI Operating Systems.....it's the code that seperates them, NOT what you see on the screen and THAT is why Apple lost in court and anyone who has studied history knows that.
If possible, I suggest you (re)read the papers filed in court and the court's decision. You may have a problem understanding the terminology used as the "Dur!" word is nowhere to be found.
No offense intended but will the Macaholics please give it a break already. The rest of us are tired of listening to your Holier than Thou repetitive monologues all the time. Have you ever heard of the saying "He who talks about it the most, does it the least"?
All the different Operating Systems are good and all have their problems.
The original question was which system would be best for working with photos. If everyone would have just stuck to the technical facts and experienced comparisons / comments... and left the chest thumping out...then the responses would have been far less and much more informative, helpful and meaningful.
Let's stick to business. This isn't supposed to be a forum for standing on a soapbox.
from an Apple reseller
by davidsessions - 3/30/07 5:45 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I am an Apple AASP, Reseller, Warranty Provider with all the silver apples framed on my wall. My background in in digital imaging, starting with Photoshop 2 and Scitex equipment in the early 1990's. My observations? Mac's have always lent themselves to imaging. Could you imagine Photoshop in Windows 3.1? If you are into photography, you really need to know about devices and ICC profiles. You cannot just expect great results without understanding all the underlying technologies. Photoshop runs equally as well on PC or Mac. I teach college courses on both. I have, however, not seen a better platform out of the box than the Mac. Virtually all output devices are supported with GIMP drivers. And properly installed, any monitor/software/printer combo can yield professional results. The OS is much friendlier, to me and the other 5% (?) of committed users. Given the tight quality control, applications included with EVERY Mac (iPhoto, iMovieHD, iDVD) Mac OS, UNIX core and the ability to run Terminal? (Command line dd data recovery for FAT32 to NTFS to Mac Extended formats within the OS?, is there anything better?) Running Windows XP natively in Boot Camp? If you can spend a few extra bucks, a current Mac will make almost anyone happy, and graphically productive. But remember, although I sell and service Macs for a living. I may just be your best resource.
Mac Mac Mac
by spliceguys - 3/30/07 5:58 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Get a Mac. Any of the macs can handle high quality photos. I work on Macs and PCs.. PC only by force at work. It's always a pleasure to get back to my mac. I can do so much more on it, and quicker than the pc.. Plus, any new mac can run windows if you need to. Don't waste your money on a version of Photoshop for the PC as one person suggested.. Even Adobe has announced that their newest CS3 version of Photoshop and other programs would run better on XP than Vista.. They're recommending against using Vista. Taht should tell you something there..
That will just get you deeper into being stuck in the pc world.. Get a mac, be free of viruses and run windows only if and when you have to.
If you'll be editing photos in RAW format, then also download the trials of Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture.. Both are great programs for editing RAW photos.. It may be all you need depending on what you're doing with the photos.
From Pc to Imac24
by shirlwin - 3/30/07 6:19 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Lee Koo (admin)
2007 I was asked to go and investigate out Imac. I did. Now have the best of both worlds, I keep my Imac24 only for Os Apple. This is only for Music, Photography, & Movies using Mvisto. Still got to get smart with Mvisto & EyeTv Diversity, Saw demo in Apple shop and was impressed. Apple is clean clinical and great. Love it. Oh, almost forgeot.. do invest in Harmon Kardon Sound Sticks for the cleanest sound for music. Keep Ms for office stuff.
Enjoy
Irwin
once i went mac .... hard to look back
by michaelvtaz - 3/30/07 6:48 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
have been using pc and network computers for over 20 years. hesitated to go to a mac because i have invested much in software, training and hardware. purchased an ibook (right before they changed to imac). love it. would not trade it in. there are no crashes. as you may know, most pc laptops spend much time recovering from crashes - the mac has no such difficulty. the software goes out of date yearly, so instead of buying upgrades, i simply bought the mac version. battery life has ranged from six hours new to four hours after two years. has a problem with the dvd-rw and sent it in to mac. it was back the following day and working as good as new. but, recommend buying the 3-year insurance. to be fair, i still have my pc, just hardly ever use it.
good luck and pursue the mac. i noticed some online sellers have good prices.
michael
Is the mac right for me?
by Rob&yvonne - 3/30/07 6:49 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Yes - the mac is right for you. I am an ex-PC user, and have had up until the last year a PC in the household (my son's) while using mac's at work for the last seven years and at home for the last three. Any downtime on the mac in my work environment is EUE (End User Error). The PC had a fair bit of down-time due to viruses/trojans/worms and in any seven day week would be inoperable for at least three of those days due to "freezes", virus checks, systems updates and updates/downloads along with problems with the peripherals. My son has recently moved to a mac - and has no down time at all. The mac applications are both easy to understand and use. Chaz - if you move to a Mac from PC you need to realise that you will face a degree of "unlearning" for the OS's are completely different and the user interface is the single item that I have found ex-PC users trip upon.
Good luck in your choice whichever it may be ...
From the romantic geek: I'm just not sure yet
by billygard - 3/30/07 6:49 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Great to hear the Mac is so good for photography. But let's see if it is well-equipped for phonography...
I call myself a geek because of all the fiddling around that the PC allows me to do. I'm a romantic because a friend of mine gave me an older Mac of his and the "otherness" of it was fascinating to me. It was the G3 (the transparent aqua). The attractiveness of the Mac reached the pinnacle with the particular model. The newer computers look more modern to be sure, with the flat monitors and all that, but they are too stark to be as attractive. My main concern is that this G3 is not upgradeable to the OS versions that postdate it. And so I'll most likely be stuck with the software written back in its era. This one as OS X version 10.2. The guy who gave it to me tried a newer OS that wouldn't work on it.
I've stuck with PCs mainly because I've been using them so long and have been doing all my conspiring, hacking, tweaking on them. Because I compose music, I use MIDI. I found with my old SB AWE64 Gold soundcard, the advent of soundfont technology, and the Vienna soundfont editor that lets me reprogram every detail of the MIDI patches and envelopes to sound as I wish, I was able to make the instruments of the orchestra sound just so. I changed the combination of waves used for the french horn to make it sound less tinny. I removed annoying vibrato from a lot of instruments like the clarinet. I made the "chorus ahs" sound more human by removing a synthetic component from the instrumental preset. And so on. And now I have a system that has come as close to a real orchestra as any other computer I may try to play the MIDIs on. Heck I even took out the obnoxious "orchestra hit" patch and replaced it with a table of phonetic samples that allow me to write MIDI files with vocals. But I warn you these files will scare your pants off if you try to play them on any computer but mine.
Problem is, I haven't been able to port all this work over to anything beyond Windows 98, because I haven't found a soundcard/software combination yet that ports soundfont technology over to Windows 2000 and newer. So I still keep a Win98 partition for this purpose. I have a feeling that Windows 98 was the high point for software and hardware that provided the most for classical music composers.
By this time, it should be obvious why the PC has been such a choice for me. Yes, I know that Macs have MIDI. But that's ALL I know about it. I don't know if you can tweak or change the patches used as MIDI instruments if you don't like the ones provided with the Mac. And I'm not betting on finding much to explore in the way of such low-level configurability on a computer designed for "ease of use". So right now I got this Mac as a toy to make my living room more attractive and to see just what Macs can do. If I can tweak its sound configuration as heavily as I did for my PC, I may do more serious stuff on it. But for now, I'm just not sure yet.
yes and no
by nomad1066 - 3/30/07 6:56 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
in my experence, a mac will now be the best choice because you can now put in peecee OS in it and run all of your familur software without having to switch everything at once.
i've been a Mac user since the first time i bought a computer because at that time the Graphic area was always better to use on a Mac. so of course i am very bias on your question. i have never had my computer crash unless "i" made some stupid mistake and i don't know many PeeCee users that can say that.
as for which computer is the best for you, i have to say a Mac. it seems to do the graphic world easier and better even now, though the two platforms are coming closer and closer every day. you also have to understand right away that some PeeCee programs you might be using are not available natavely for use on a Mac so you might have to buy your PeeCee OS as well.
therefore there is no right answer
Macs vs. PC - Go with the Mac
by jadsemail - 3/30/07 8:02 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have extensive experience with both platforms, including teaching Windows classes (both client and server) at the college level.
First, let's dispell a couple of myths. Here are the facts:
1. Microsoft Office is available for the Mac and works great. Files can be interchanged between PC and Mac without any fuss. The days of buying PCs instead of Macs because of the need for Office applications are over. One exception: Outlook is not available for Macs, but many applications (including Apple's free Mail application) are excellent and offer most of Outlook's functionality; in some cases more.
2. Macs have WAY fewer problems with viruses than PCs, but the number of problems does not equal zero. That having been said, I don't know anyone with a Mac that worries about viruses, and generally most don't even see the need to run anti-virus software. The threat is miniscule compared to PCs. That is not the case with popup adds in browsers, naturally.
3. Mac OS X is Unix-based and compatible with a huge number of open source programs and utilities. The user interface IS way ahead of Microsoft's anything interface: OS X has had "Vista" features for years. The difference this makes is that you can concentrate on your photography instead of the operating system, which is, I think, the idea.
4. Macs are generally NOT more expensive than PCs. Comparable PCs in power and features cost as much or more than Macs. What is not available in the Mac platform are $500 notebooks or desktops, which are useless for photography (and most real users) anyway. Also, Mac's reliability is way higher for hardware than most, and their customer service has won award after award for years.
5. You CAN run Windows XP or Vista 32 on a Mac. The Intel Core 2 Duo hardware is fully capable of being booted by either OS (or both, using Parallels, an outstanding software solution than lets you run both OS's simultaneously and cut and paste between them if you want to). Parallels costs about $80 and is worth twice the price if that's what you need to do. However, most Mac users I know that use both run OS X 99% of the time and only boot Windows when they absolutely have to, which also cuts down on exposure to viruses and malware in the Windows world. Note - Vista 32 compatibility was just recently announced, and I wouldn't jump in there unless there's a good reason; however, Apple, unlike Microsoft, rarely sells "beta" software to the public (best example: Windows Millenium Edition).
I hope this helps your buying decision and helps to clear up the abundant misconceptions regarding Macintosh.
Go bi - living in a dual platform world
by michaelpremsrirat - 3/30/07 8:13 PM In reply to: Macs vs. PC - Go with the Mac by jadsemailI've used both Macs and PCs at work--though only a PC at home, because it's cheaper--for years. Sometimes I get confused about certain idiomatic differences between the two GUIs, but it's necessary to live in a dual platform world, because each OS--and each hardware set--allows you to do different things.
Graphics and desktop publishing, which I've done, is a better experience on a Mac, though it's possible to do it on a PC as well. Games are better on a PC. Productivity software is the same on both. E-mail and Web use are the same, though the Mac is not vulnerable to all the dirty stuff floating around waiting to victimize a PC user.
If you're doing photography, and particularly post-imaging processing, then you'll definitely want to do it on a Mac. However, keep the PC around, because you'll never know when you'll need to work in a Windows environment. Also, the PC upgrade path for hardware can be cheaper and easier for DIY.
Mac vs. PC
by pdhickman - 3/30/07 8:13 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have worked in the graphic design and publishing world for 20 years. Work with many photographers and art directors. I just purchased a new 24" iMac. Have Mac's and PC's. It Mac is a joy to work with. One unit on the desktop. It runs great (Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, etc.) My PC is just for accounting. I would never bother to do the real work on the PC. Part of the Mac experience is just the beauty of the hardware. People walk into the office immediately notice the screen (which is the entire computer). No crashes, no issues with the constant bombard on garbage that the PC deals with regarding viruses. I have both and there is no comparison. I do not have the time to problem solve the PC issues. I can always figure out the Mac (logical process and usually easy to fix).
It is just a matter of how much you enjoy the time you spend working on the computer. I spend enough time that the extra costs is way more that worth it!!!
Best Regards,
Diana
Make the switch!...But, also take the classes...
by nineliladybugs - 3/30/07 8:36 PM In reply to: Is the Mac right for me? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I highly recommend Apple computers. But, if you've been a long time PC user, it might be a little hard to alter your thinking at first. Apple Stores offer a lot of free help to new Mac owners. You're not just buying a computer. You're entering a family. They have classes and workshops on everything from iLife apps to Final Cut Pro. And, a lot of them are complimentary. When you purchase your Mac from an actual Apple Store, they can do a one on one with you to help get you started. Apples are extremely user friendly. But, if you've been driving on the right side of the road all your life, you may need some practice before hitting the streets as a lefty.
Buying a new Apple is a great investment. You'll have a reliable, capable, powerful, (not to mention asthetically pleasing)computer with excellent support. But, one of the greatest perks, in my opinion, is the resale value. Apples really hold their value. If at some point you find yourself pining for a newew Mac that's just hit the market, you can easily sell you iMac and put the money toward the new Apple of your eye. I've owned quite a few Macs in my life. I've gotten much more than my moneys worth out of them. And, when I was ready to pass them on, I sold them quite easily for a fraction less than I payed for them.
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