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10/25/2005 08:17:44 PM · #1 |
I remember a thread a couple of months ago, and I think Scalvert, added a link to a great deal for an iBook. Well, I am thinking about dumping my notebook PC and transfering my operations to a Mac. I don't know if I want a desktop or notebook, but am thinking a desktop.
I checked out the iMac G5 w/ 20" Monitor unit and seemed pretty sweet for the price. I have a list of questions if anyone has any answers that would be appreciated....
1. Does anyone know any links to good deals going on across the web for Macs?
2. Would the iMac G5 be a competitive unit for Photoshop and the like (2Ghz, 512 ram, 250 GB, ATI Radeon 9600 w/ 128 SDRAM)
3. Can you use a Dell monitor to hook up to a Mac notebook for larger viewing at workstation?
4. I know I can transfer images via CD burning from PC, but how about Word docs and other common stuff?
Thanks a lot in advance, and Scalvert, if I am not mistaking you are the Mac expert, any advice or pointer would be great.
Message edited by author 2005-10-25 20:35:24.
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10/25/2005 08:35:27 PM · #2 |
As always, add more RAM if you can -- your best single investment for improved performance.
You should be able to get an adapter to hook up another monitor.
One of the best ways to move files between PC and Mac is with a FireWire or USB II hard drive formatted in FAT32 -- both machines will read that.
Word and Photoshop (and most other files) will open on the Mac if you have the same (Mac version) software installed. If you use Office, the Mac version (better than PC version) usually comes bundled with Virtual PC, which will let you run your PC programs on your Mac -- often a bit slower but more stably than on an actual WinTel box. |
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10/25/2005 08:40:05 PM · #3 |
Well I have brought my macs from clubmac.....Imac nice deal). Also check out Clubmac clearance sale. If you dont see anything here in the clearance section you like just through their website.
Yep and Imac G5 would be good for photoshop, you dont need a top of the line G5 or Imac either to run photoshop if thats all you are going to be using. Yes any crt montior should work for a G4 or G5 including the powerbooks (notebooks) with an adapter. Also word documents will open fine in a mac then to transfer them to a pc that would work also (you made need to add .doc after the file name for the pc to recognize it).
Well let me know if that helped or if you need any more help let me know I love macs been using them for forever.
Well here are the macs I have:
A Dual G5 Mac with a gig of ram/superdrive/160 gb harddrive
A powerbook 1ghz 60 gb harddrive/a gig of ram/ superdrive
Message edited by author 2005-10-25 20:45:49.
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10/25/2005 08:41:33 PM · #4 |
Find a student and order using their student discount. :) They only get so much per year they can get so make sure to find a student that doesn't actually use Macs.
I have a dual proc G5 and it's smoking fast for rendering everything. I have 2 gigs of ram in it at the moment.
If you have photoshop for PC you can just call Adobe and tell them you switched and they'll help you switch to Mac. It shouldn't cost anything. When I did it I bought the Mac upgrade and my previous version was for the PC. Unfortunately my registration numbers don't like to play nicely together so everytime I have to reinstall photoshop I have to call Adobe -- it's pretty painless though.
You can use a memory stick to transfer docs. A word doc written in WinWord will open in Word for Mac.
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10/25/2005 08:51:52 PM · #5 |
Personally, I don't think now is a good time to be investing in what is now "old" Mac hardware... since Apple has made the decision to switch to Intel's x86 processor family, the future of MacOS is going to be x86 based... and any upcoming OS enhancements, performance improvements, cost savings, etc. will be "lost" if you have a "dinosaur" based on old Apple technology... just something to consider.
Not sure why you want to switch from PC to the Mac in the first place... you don't really say. It is a rather expensive proposition actually, especially when you factor in the costs of having to re-buy software like Photoshop.
Message edited by author 2005-10-25 20:52:30. |
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10/25/2005 09:04:02 PM · #6 |
| i had never owned a mac before this year. i bought an imac g5 with the 20" screen just like your looking into. i went with apple solely for their reputation with photoshop and other image/ video editing software. i've enjoyed my computer imensely. like i said i've always owned pc's up until this year and still have one but i've had no problem adapting to the apple platform. feel free to e-mail me with any questions that i might can help with. oh, and also, i bought my imac from apple.com using the education discount. that takes $100 off the price. good luck. |
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10/25/2005 09:15:22 PM · #7 |
Check out MacMall.com, they had a 1GB RAM upgrade for $40 recently, may still be valid on some models. And you can never have enough RAM :-)
As for the switch to Intel, yes that will make a couple of Macs seem antiquated sometime soon, but rumor has it that the first to be switched will be the Mac mini and the smallest iBook. Check out macosrumors.com, but remember that they are just rumors, and that there may be a loooong wait until your favorite configuration gets switched over. Besides, you don't have to worry about Adobe or Microsoft dropping support for current genaration Macs for the next few years, they have far too much invested in this platform. |
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10/25/2005 09:21:22 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by Cutter:
1. Does anyone know any links to good deals going on across the web for Macs?
2. Would the iMac G5 be a competitive unit for Photoshop and the like (2Ghz, 512 ram, 250 GB, ATI Radeon 9600 w/ 128 SDRAM)
3. Can you use a Dell monitor to hook up to a Mac notebook for larger viewing at workstation?
4. I know I can transfer images via CD burning from PC, but how about Word docs and other common stuff? |
1. To save money, you have several options: get a refurb from the Apple Store (they carry the same warranty as a new Mac), search DealMac for bargains, buy from Amazon and take advantage of their rebates, or check MacConnection and ClubMac for bundle deals (free RAM, printers, etc.).
2. The iMac is very capable for PS, especially the big 20" model. Be sure to feed it lots of RAM (OtherWorld Computing is a good source) for best performance. A G5 iMac will run circles around a G4-based laptop, but it will also pale in comparison to a dual processor (or new dual core) PowerMac. The iMac takes up far less space, of course, but at the expense of expandability. Note that Apple has had some issues with the logic board and power supply that affect about 10-20% of 20" iMacs, so it would be a good idea to get AppleCare just to be safe.
3. Sure, no problem and no adapter needed. The only caveat is that iBooks are VGA (analog) only and limited to 1024 x 768 resolution, while PowerBooks handle DVI. If you want to use a large or flat panel monitor, stick to the PowerBooks.
4. Common file types (JPEG, Photoshop and Word documents, etc.) are the same format on both platforms. A Word document on a PC is the same as a Word document on the Macintosh, and there is no "conversion' to worry about. Note that even Apple's most basic word processor, TextEdit, will open and save simple Word documents.
Hope that helps. |
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10/25/2005 09:32:51 PM · #9 |
Thanks everyone so far for all the comments. And thanks scalvert for me putting you on the "spot", and you delivering the point by point questions.
Anymore opinions? Check out this link and tell me why the iMac G5 would be any better than this competitively priced unit?
Dell Desktop
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10/25/2005 09:38:13 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by Cutter:
Thanks everyone so far for all the comments. And thanks scalvert for me putting you on the "spot", and you delivering the point by point questions.
Anymore opinions? Check out this link and tell me why the iMac G5 would be any better than this competitively priced unit?
Dell Desktop |
Ok, I admit I'm biased (Mac user since 1984), but the advantage??
Well....can you imagine a world without a blue screen of death? Without constant software conflicts? Without your computer crashing all the time?
To me, the hardware and the dependability of the programming are big plus-es for Mac. I think I've had my iBook crash on my once...and I've had it 1 1/2 years. And it didn't crash so much as it froze and I got impatient waiting for it to keep thinking :-) And that's been my standard experience with Apple. It's just good to not have to worry about stuff like that.
Plus, they're REALLY easy to use and set up. Just pull it out of the box and plug it in. Literally. Kinda like that. |
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10/25/2005 09:48:50 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by Cutter:
Thanks everyone so far for all the comments. And thanks scalvert for me putting you on the "spot", and you delivering the point by point questions.
Anymore opinions? Check out this link and tell me why the iMac G5 would be any better than this competitively priced unit?
Dell Desktop |
Hook your Dell up to the Internet, and start worrying about viruses. On the Mac, no viruses, no worries. |
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10/25/2005 09:53:51 PM · #12 |
very good point Magnus, is that true everyone, I have heard this generally speaking. And ladyhawk, thanks, because that is to me the selling point. Ease of use, smooth sailing in terms of lockups and use of photoshop.
What about my hp photosmart printer and hp scanjet, will they work on a Mac? Or my palm pilot? Sorry, but I don't want to be surprised by something....
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10/25/2005 09:54:18 PM · #13 |
well I would get the mac, like said before by other users they rarely crash... my powerbook crashed ran a program which fixed the hard drive so I could get my files off. Then I went ahead and brought a new harddrive for it anyway. But other than that never had any major problems with macs at all. Never know virues to worry about or adware programs. And Mac OS X is extremly stable never crashes.
Originally posted by Cutter:
Thanks everyone so far for all the comments. And thanks scalvert for me putting you on the "spot", and you delivering the point by point questions.
Anymore opinions? Check out this link and tell me why the iMac G5 would be any better than this competitively priced unit?
Dell Desktop |
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10/25/2005 10:41:45 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by Cutter:
very good point Magnus, is that true everyone, I have heard this generally speaking. And ladyhawk, thanks, because that is to me the selling point. Ease of use, smooth sailing in terms of lockups and use of photoshop.
What about my hp photosmart printer and hp scanjet, will they work on a Mac? Or my palm pilot? Sorry, but I don't want to be surprised by something.... |
I'm the only Mac user in a company with close to 100 Windows machine, and I'm the only one not required by penalty of death to run virus detection software. In fact, I've never used such software in 20 years of Mac usage and I've only got one virus (every machine in the company got this one 10 years ago, but it caused no data loss).
As for the peripherals, Apple lists every device they supply drivers for. This is what I found for "HP PhotoSmart" //docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301175#hpdrivers
The Palm Pilot definitely works, I've used a bunce over the years. |
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10/25/2005 10:55:19 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by EddyG:
Personally, I don't think now is a good time to be investing in what is now "old" Mac hardware... since Apple has made the decision to switch to Intel's x86 processor family, the future of MacOS is going to be x86 based... and any upcoming OS enhancements, performance improvements, cost savings, etc. will be "lost" if you have a "dinosaur" based on old Apple technology... just something to consider.
Not sure why you want to switch from PC to the Mac in the first place... you don't really say. It is a rather expensive proposition actually, especially when you factor in the costs of having to re-buy software like Photoshop. |
Apple has stated many times that this will not be the issue. I run 10.39 on a dual 500 G4. Also, I'm not sure th eintel chips will be better. I would of been happier if they chose the 64 bit AMD's. I also wonder if the decision to switch didn't have anything to do with the fact that Microsoft is putting 3 of the power PC processors into the new xbox.
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10/26/2005 08:56:01 AM · #16 |
Originally posted by ladyhawk22:
can you imagine a world without a blue screen of death? Without constant software conflicts? Without your computer crashing all the time? |
My Windows XP machine never gets a "blue screen of death", doesn't have any software conflits, and never crashes. Of all the people I know that have Windows PCs (I only know 1 person with a Mac), none of them have these crashing/conflict issues that you speak of. If some people have these issues, it is because they chose to install some software that is causing those problems.
Originally posted by ladyhawk22:
Plus, they're REALLY easy to use and set up. Just pull it out of the box and plug it in. Literally. Kinda like that. |
That's pretty much the way any Windows PC is these days too. |
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10/26/2005 09:16:35 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by EddyG:
Originally posted by ladyhawk22:
can you imagine a world without a blue screen of death? Without constant software conflicts? Without your computer crashing all the time? |
My Windows XP machine never gets a "blue screen of death", doesn't have any software conflits, and never crashes. Of all the people I know that have Windows PCs (I only know 1 person with a Mac), none of them have these crashing/conflict issues that you speak of. If some people have these issues, it is because they chose to install some software that is causing those problems.
Originally posted by ladyhawk22:
Plus, they're REALLY easy to use and set up. Just pull it out of the box and plug it in. Literally. Kinda like that. |
That's pretty much the way any Windows PC is these days too. |
I've had several BSOD incidents on my Wintel machines here at work and at home. Win ME was the worst, but not to many still run that.
As far as software conflicts, you're right, it's not Windows, but things not agreeing with Windows, like IE6, which, on my machine caused a problem with Windows explorer. Basically, it caused Win Explorer to not open. Microsoft's fix?? Remove IE6 and use IE 5.x . Now that just screams stability to me. I've also had conflicts with Firewall Software, Printer Drivers, Scanner Software..........All of which have severely limited the usefulness of my computer.
I just set up a Mac G4 after several years of using PC's and I have to say, it was, by far, the most hassle free setup I have ever done. It really is like the ads say, "It just works." Everything I plugged into it, worked, no hunting for the disk, no driver install, no reboot 3 times, it just works. Even my Microsoft USB mouse.
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10/26/2005 10:43:59 AM · #18 |
For most cases your buying the mac for the OS which is far superior to Windows. The hardware is also designed for multiple apps running at once. I can have itunes running, illustrator, email, safari, AND photoshop at the same time and still be okay. Try that on a windows system, especially an intel based one.
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10/26/2005 10:54:13 AM · #19 |
So in regards to printers, palm pilots and peripherals, is it like a plug and play, then the Mac recognizes the peripheral and you are good to go? Like Spazmo said, "Everything I plugged into it, worked, no hunting for the disk, no driver install, no reboot 3 times, it just works. Even my Microsoft USB mouse." Is this what Spazmo means?
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10/26/2005 10:59:39 AM · #20 |
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10/26/2005 11:05:09 AM · #21 |
Originally posted by Cutter:
So in regards to printers, palm pilots and peripherals, is it like a plug and play, then the Mac recognizes the peripheral and you are good to go? |
In rare cases, you might need to download a driver, but most things just work. Scanner support is the weakest (limited to recent Epson and Canon models mostly), but VueScan will drive almost any scanner- often better than the manufacturer's own software. Older PalmPilots that needed an adapter for USB (like the Palm V) won't work, but recent models shouldn't be a problem. |
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10/26/2005 11:11:49 AM · #22 |
Originally posted by Cutter:
So in regards to printers, palm pilots and peripherals, is it like a plug and play, then the Mac recognizes the peripheral and you are good to go? Like Spazmo said, "Everything I plugged into it, worked, no hunting for the disk, no driver install, no reboot 3 times, it just works. Even my Microsoft USB mouse." Is this what Spazmo means? |
Yes, I did have to install Palm desktop for mac, but again, it went off without a hitch.
If there is specifc software that you want to use instead of what the Mac already has, like scanner software or the camera software from Canon, obviously you have to install that, but mostly, I have found the default Mac software easier to use.
As an example, take my DSL connection. With MSWin, I have to install software from my ISP, drivers for my network card, click innumerable OK buttons, reboot twice and then try to connect. The software by default assumes that I am a new user and tries to automatically connect me to the server where I initially setup my username/password, so I have to disconnect, then edit the connection to use my username/password. This takes at least 45min.
Setting up my Mac to use the same connection went like this: Started Safari, a window opened that offered to setup my connection and prompted me for my username/password, I entered the info and clicked OK.
That's it. Took 5 minutes max.
Message edited by author 2005-10-26 11:14:36.
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