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06/26/2009 06:31:15 PM · #51 |
Originally posted by scalvert:
You can use standard PC keyboards, mice, monitors, hard drives, etc., and Macs will run regular Windows software (reportedly faster than native PCs with the same specs), so I don't really see the point of this. |
Right, you have the flexibility of Windows if you run in the Windows environment, but the open nature of Linux or to a lesser extent Windows is not there in an OSX environment. Through out the Apple line they want to control your experience and your dollar. It has benefits and issues. Your IPod has the apple store where you can buy any tune you might want, but it wont let you download books on tape from the library, because Apple won't allow it. With Apple you are buying an experience that is largely a good one, but you are more limited than with a PC environment in what you can do with your hardware. When IMB got Microsoft to write MSDOS they broke the box allowing anyone to write code for their platform, Apple went another route.
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06/26/2009 06:36:23 PM · #52 |
Originally posted by BrennanOB:
Right, you have the flexibility of Windows if you run in the Windows environment... |
The Windows environment isn't even necessary to run Windows software on a Mac. I do find it amusing that the "Windows monopoly" can be argued as more open than a Mac that can run any software. ;-) |
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06/26/2009 06:39:03 PM · #53 |
Originally posted by BrennanOB:
I
Macs treat you like a child and keep your clumsy fingers out of the important controls because you are an idiot.
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Ughhhh no that would be the suckiest OS of all time...........Vista. Locked down, dumbed down, bassackwards POS.
It (Vista) is what prompted my move to Mac about 6 weeks ago. I got a really powerfull (i7 Dell with Vistank 64) I lasted about 6 hours with it before the frustration became too much to bear. Back in the box, RETURN!
Orderd an iMac (paid more for less power) but it just plain works. The way I want it to. Took me about 2 days to become adjusted to it after having used windows since 3.1.
It can hide things if you want it to, it can show everything and let you do anything if you desire- Terminal is very powerfull.
No matter how good the Windows biased press proclaims "7" to be, it's still Vista under the new shell.
The switch is as easy as Apple says it is. I had to buy some software, finally instituted a decent backup plan (since OS X makes it so easy to do). I use Windows at work and now OS X at home and have no trouble going between the two. We use XP at work so at least it's the best version of Windows.
Make the switch, you'll wonder like everyone else why you waited so long to do it.
Gene |
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06/26/2009 06:44:34 PM · #54 |
Ya but it only became so open when Microsoft bought Apple. :)
As I said earlier, we run both systems in the house and I don't understand the need to pick one platform and crusade for it. |
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06/26/2009 07:07:34 PM · #55 |
I'm sorry this has devolved into a Mac vs PC thread. I suppose it is to be expected. Like Brennan, I have both OS's in the house and at work. Both have their positive and negative points, but for my primary system, I prefer the more open "roll your own" approach that is more welcomed by the Windows environment. If it went down tomorrow, I have two G4's a G3 Imac and my last homebuilt PC as backups. I should daisy chain them all together in a C.H.A.O.S. array. CHeap Array of Obsolete Systems.
Come on guys, it's a computer, not a religion.
On the other hand, it's a nice change from the Nikon Vs Canon wars.
Message edited by author 2009-06-26 19:10:31. |
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06/26/2009 08:22:09 PM · #56 |
I got a Mac for Christmas year before last. My husband (very computer literate) and my son (on the Geek Squad at BestBuy) set it all up for me because they knew I'd balk at something new (even though I worked customer support at a large computer company for years before children came).
They sequestered themselves in Hubby's office for literally days beforehand working on getting all of my stuff from my PC to the Mac (we have a network at our house). (Little did they know that I already knew because one of the software programs they bought sent me a thankyou/congrats email and I saw it on my PC.)
Anyway, I was prepared to act surprised and shocked, yet I knew they'd worked many hours, so wanted to sound hopeful and pleased which I think I carried off.
I set it up, worked it for a few days and it crashed.
They took the tower back to the Mac store and got another one. Put all of the stuff on the new Mac.
I worked it for a few days and it crashed. I've forgotten what exactly happened, but it was the equivalent of the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" on a PC.
They packaged it all back up, took it to the Mac store (an hour and a half trip, each way), and left it all there.
They had bought MANY hundreds of dollars of software (CS3 included) that could not be returned because it was opened.
I'm a PC Girl. And they're PC Guys.
That's my story. Take what you want from it. |
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06/26/2009 09:10:34 PM · #57 |
I got bored reading ;) so maybe this was already mentioned.
As for the external drive, the mac can read and write FAT32, it can read NTFS. With a free extension (there are actually two but I've only used the one) NTFS-3G //www.ntfs-3g.org/ you can also write to NTFS but it is experimental (I haven't personally heard of any complaints but YMMV). There is also several commercial programs for doing so also, usually around $30.
As for moving being painless, anything marketing says, is usually a lie, or at least a stretch and I think it is true in this case also. Things will be in different places, the Finder will act a little differently than Explorer.
One thing I have found especially perplexing is downloaded software (freeware/shareware). Sometimes it comes in an auto-mounting, auto-running dmg file, which is like a virtual cd, sometimes it comes in a zip file, sometimes it is a dmg in a zip file, sometimes a launcher pops up asking to install, sometimes a window with a program icon and a shortcut to the Application folder and you have to physically drag the icon over, sometimes you just get a window with some files and have to read a readme to place them, sometimes it is just a single file (an app) that you can drag and use where ever.
But like anything you will get used to it. :)
I can't really pick one as better, I'm more used to my windows keyboard and programs, however the terminal, scripting, and stability of the mac is great too.
If you can I'd suggest spending some time with one, I spent about 5 hours with mine before buying it. In any case good luck :)
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06/26/2009 09:49:45 PM · #58 |
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
I worked it for a few days and it crashed. I've forgotten what exactly happened, but it was the equivalent of the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" on a PC. |
Interesting. I know of only a few cases like that, and the common denominator in all of them is that the operator was a PC expert. Pilot error is platform independent, and I strongly suspect they were messing around in areas that require technical intervention on a PC, but are already configured on a Mac. As a troubleshooter, I've had frequent calls from people who were trying to do something with a familiar multi-step PC routine when only one click was required on the Mac, and they were manually screwing up the system as a result. To Brennan's earlier lament, Apple generally secures the deep configuration stuff to prevent issues like this, but PC geeks often know enough to be dangerous. ;-) |
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06/26/2009 10:17:37 PM · #59 |
Originally posted by scalvert:
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
I worked it for a few days and it crashed. I've forgotten what exactly happened, but it was the equivalent of the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" on a PC. |
Interesting. I know of only a few cases like that, and the common denominator in all of them is that the operator was a PC expert. Pilot error is platform independent, and I strongly suspect they were messing around in areas that require technical intervention on a PC, but are already configured on a Mac. As a troubleshooter, I've had frequent calls from people who were trying to do something with a familiar multi-step PC routine when only one click was required on the Mac, and they were manually screwing up the system as a result. To Brennan's earlier lament, Apple generally secures the deep configuration stuff to prevent issues like this, but PC geeks often know enough to be dangerous. ;-) |
My friends run a custom PC store, and do repairs as well. They get most of their income from "tweakers" who go in and do "expert" fiddling with their windows systems until the thing is utterly hosed, but they don't want to do a wipe and reload (usually have not backed up their drive) and so they want my friends to go figure out where they over-tweaked it. My friends tell em we can do that, paid by the hour, or we can recover your data, wipe and reload for a flat fee.
Two iMacs worked for me right out of the box--took me longer to unpack them from the boxes than it did to get them up, running, and online. You can't say which system is "best" until you define what you mean by "best". For me, "best" means needing little or no work to make the machine do what I want to do--plug and play so I can do what I want to do, not spend time trying to get it to run. Plugged Canon Printers, Scanners into my windows machine--go hunt for drivers and spend a long time to get them to play together. I said screw it, plugged em into my mac, instantly working. I had a linksys wireless router for my pc, HUGE pain in the ass to set up. Bought an Apple Airport Extreme, up and online surfing wirelessly in less than 10 minutes.
For some people, best means more choices of platforms, software options, etc. and they are willing to deal with those hands on efforts to get everything to play together, and some even enjoy that stuff, so best is different for them.
I want my computer to work for me, so that I can use it to do the things I want to spend my time doing. Those things do not include messing with drivers, settings, and having to reset all my personal preference settings in apps when the OS is upgraded. My mac takes care of all that stuff for me, so I can spend time on photography (and too much time on DPC! :-)
Neither is a religion, they are both tools. What you want to do with the tools is up to you, and that will tell you what tools you need. Big time gamers need PCs. I don't need that, I need a machine that gets out of my way and lets me spend my limited time using it rather than delving deeply into it. |
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06/27/2009 05:37:18 AM · #60 |
I have been in dozens of Ad Agencies, Post Production Houses and Studio's. In every single case, when you walk in to the Creative Department or Production spaces all you see are Macs. From Towers, to iMacs to Mac laptops. Why? Because Mac's are the most intuitive machines out there. However when I walk in to a bank, administrative office or the post, what do I see? PC's. You decide. ;-)
Message edited by author 2009-06-27 05:38:31.
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06/27/2009 07:46:12 AM · #61 |
Originally posted by benjikan:
I have been in dozens of Ad Agencies, Post Production Houses and Studio's. In every single case, when you walk in to the Creative Department or Production spaces all you see are Macs. From Towers, to iMacs to Mac laptops. Why? Because Mac's are the most intuitive machines out there. However when I walk in to a bank, administrative office or the post, what do I see? PC's. You decide. ;-) |
OK... I've decided that artistic types have a need to appear trendy and cool. Bankers know they are boring and a cool computer won't help any.
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06/27/2009 09:23:20 AM · #62 |
Originally posted by benjikan:
I have been in dozens of Ad Agencies, Post Production Houses and Studio's. In every single case, when you walk in to the Creative Department or Production spaces all you see are Macs. From Towers, to iMacs to Mac laptops. Why? Because Mac's are the most intuitive machines out there. However when I walk in to a bank, administrative office or the post, what do I see? PC's. You decide. ;-) |
Funny, I walked into a recording studio last week. He had an iMac as his main workstation..... bootcamping into WinXP. :)
He explained he liked the iMac because it was so quiet, compact, and reliable. He used WinXP because that had protools and all his plug-ins. |
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06/27/2009 12:07:49 PM · #63 |
And in the light of a little history... doesn't anyone remember how it all started?
This looks more like a political campaign to me than a product commercial. Perhaps, this explains who, at the time, would be inclined to mac and who would not.
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06/27/2009 12:09:40 PM · #64 |
Originally posted by benjikan:
I have been in dozens of Ad Agencies, Post Production Houses and Studio's. In every single case, when you walk in to the Creative Department or Production spaces all you see are Macs. From Towers, to iMacs to Mac laptops. Why? Because Mac's are the most intuitive machines out there. However when I walk in to a bank, administrative office or the post, what do I see? PC's. You decide. ;-) |
I've noticed that when I watch one of those "educational" shows on PBS (Nova, Nature, History Detectives, etc.), the scientist or historian being interviewed is most often sitting with a Mac laptop ... certainly out of proportion with Apple's reported market share. |
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06/27/2009 12:20:01 PM · #65 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
...when I watch one of those "educational" shows on PBS (Nova, Nature, History Detectives, etc.), the scientist or historian being interviewed is most often sitting with a Mac laptop ... certainly out of proportion with Apple's reported market share. |
I don't have any creditable stats to show for here and now, but believe Apple's current laptop market share is somewhere around 50%. |
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06/27/2009 12:22:35 PM · #66 |
Originally posted by zeuszen:
Originally posted by GeneralE:
...when I watch one of those "educational" shows on PBS (Nova, Nature, History Detectives, etc.), the scientist or historian being interviewed is most often sitting with a Mac laptop ... certainly out of proportion with Apple's reported market share. |
I don't have any creditable stats to show for here and now, but believe Apple's current laptop market share is somewhere around 50%. |
I meant their overall market share of personal computers -- scientists and historians use desktop models too -- and that's usually closer to 5-10% ... |
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06/27/2009 12:25:52 PM · #67 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by zeuszen:
Originally posted by GeneralE:
...when I watch one of those "educational" shows on PBS (Nova, Nature, History Detectives, etc.), the scientist or historian being interviewed is most often sitting with a Mac laptop ... certainly out of proportion with Apple's reported market share. |
I don't have any creditable stats to show for here and now, but believe Apple's current laptop market share is somewhere around 50%. |
I meant their overall market share of personal computers -- scientists and historians use desktop models too -- and that's usually closer to 5-10% ... |
12%. |
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06/27/2009 02:34:24 PM · #68 |
Originally posted by zeuszen:
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by zeuszen:
Originally posted by GeneralE:
...when I watch one of those "educational" shows on PBS (Nova, Nature, History Detectives, etc.), the scientist or historian being interviewed is most often sitting with a Mac laptop ... certainly out of proportion with Apple's reported market share. |
I don't have any creditable stats to show for here and now, but believe Apple's current laptop market share is somewhere around 50%. |
I meant their overall market share of personal computers -- scientists and historians use desktop models too -- and that's usually closer to 5-10% ... |
12%. |
Interesting.
So, what do these stats tell us? - Intelligent people use Mac.
Oh, and cool people use Mac too (like that guy out of the Mac commercial)
QED |
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06/27/2009 03:03:14 PM · #69 |
I just started messing around with some tweaks in Terminal. I love how simple it is to mess with some things. I have had Leopard for a few months now and never knew about stacks. I can stack all my recent apps in one handly little place. Kinda nice when I dont have to go through and find all these different recent pics I was working on. Im starting to get into the development side with the iPhone and am excited.
I have two cameras (Yashika TL Super and a Canon A1) both of them do not have a working light meter and lo I want to use them. Thinking about building a light meter app for the iPhone that also doubles as an HDR calculator.
So I guess I get to be cool and smart with the Mac. Is that even possible?
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06/27/2009 03:46:10 PM · #70 |
I guess my opinions are somewhat controversial as other Mac vs PC topics have indicated.
I'll say this: I use both. I have a Macbook Pro 15" and a gaming PC I built myself.
So far, my gaming PC has given my much less trouble. My MBP does stupid stuff all the time. I mean, it works, for the most part, which is fine. I rarely use Windows on it because Windows support sucks and Apple purposefully makes it this way, so don't buy into the whole "We're better because you can use both!" garbage.
I pretty much don't do anything important on my MBP. It pretty much is just a portable internet machine and word processor that I occasionally edit a few pictures on.
My desktop is running Vista Black 2009 and the Windows 7 Release Candidate and it is both more stable, faster, and more intuitive (with Windows 7, especially. Goddamn AMAZING operating system). Also, I don't run virus software on my PC, so before the Mac Army comes in whining about how all PCs get viruses, the answer is no. You're just not computing intelligently if your PCs are getting viruses straight outta the box.
So yeah, those are my thoughts on the whole thing without going into too much of the bloody details. I never "switched" to Mac, since I still use my PC. But as a PC user my whole previous to the acquisition of the MBP, I'll say the transition wasn't really difficult as it was frustrating. OSX has a few clever gizmos (I LOVE selective screen grab!) but certain other functions that are accomplished simply in Windows are idiotically hard to do in OSX. |
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06/27/2009 07:21:46 PM · #71 |
| When I was at MIT a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised at how many Macs I saw in the hands of engineering profs and students. |
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06/28/2009 07:12:10 AM · #72 |
Originally posted by zeuszen:
And in the light of a little history... doesn't anyone remember how it all started?
This looks more like a political campaign to me than a product commercial. Perhaps, this explains who, at the time, would be inclined to mac and who would not. |
I always loved this commercial...Thanks for posting it!
:-)
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06/28/2009 04:04:28 PM · #73 |
Really appreciate all this input, thanks so much everyone. The idea of spending some time with the OS X is a great one, something I'll definitely have to try for longer than I have. As for gaming, I have my 360 for that so its no problem.
On the hardware front, Im thinking of the standard (new) Macbook, is there any point in upgrading from 2 to 4gb RAM? I guess faster is always good, but to be honest 2gb might be fast enough for what I want- its already much faster than Im using now (512mb) and I tend not to do any memory intensive stuff (but that might be a result of what Im working with now), no batch editing of NEF's etc.
I think the upgrade is around £80, but Im not sure if its worth it for me? Maybe I just answered my own question eh haha?
Thanks again everyone. |
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06/28/2009 04:26:56 PM · #74 |
| I have 2 gig on my iMac and was thinking of upgrading to 4. Then I thought about it: I have PS CS4, Bridge, DPP, MacJournal and Numbers and Firefox open at the same time and do not notice any drain or sluggishness on the system at all so decided to wait until I find I really need it. |
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06/28/2009 04:29:02 PM · #75 |
Originally posted by CEJ:
I have 2 gig on my iMac and was thinking of upgrading to 4. Then I thought about it: I have PS CS4, Bridge, DPP, MacJournal and Numbers and Firefox open at the same time and do not notice any drain or sluggishness on the system at all so decided to wait until I find I really need it. |
Theres the answer to that one then, cheers! |
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