I want to switch to a Mac from PC

mac hardware is overpriced. You are planning on running adobe software for image processing. Buying the more expensive hardware makes no sense. I just built a complete 8 core AMD system for less than $800 for photo processing. It's fast. It's cheap. It works flawlessly running windows.

Just my 2 cents. Apple knows how to charge more to give you less.
 
guess Win 7 is not as bad as previous incarnations were. but just yesterday I was called to do some maintenance of my parents Win 7 laptop. this time, Java and Flash updates were popping up and causing much stress. Mac does such things much more elegantly and can be disabled in one central switch. of course Mac does everything much more elegantly, but thats just personal opinion :rolleyes: ...and is more expensive, but you get what you pay for.
 
Some years ago there might have been a difference (check, there was a difference). But now both systems use the same internal architecture and chips etc. Therefore the upgrade cycle should be no different. Adobe products are exactly the same on both platforms. That only leaves the OS. Unless of course you just have to have the Mac 'look'.

With regards to Win7 it's pretty solid (Win8 probably more so) and I would be surprised if there is much difference in that regard vs the Mac OS. I would be wary of the fan boys telling you otherwise.

I can't say I have had much to do with the new Mac's but I struggled with them in the mid '90's when friends had problems and I was the 'computer guy' friend. Found them very confusing after being brought up on a PC and being careful where I put files.

I suppose it's what you are used to using, therefore I don't think it makes any sense at all to change now whereas that may have been valid in the past. Mind you what were Apple thinking by persisting with a one button mouse for so long.

I will always have a PC. For one they are cheaper and I build them myself and secondly, I'm still a keen gamer and would hate to miss out if the game wasn't available on the Mac.

Cheers - John
 
Two incidental considerations...

Two incidental considerations...

Apple has quietly, but for certain, removed any promotion involving need/notneed for antivirus protection. Be sure you don't run your Macbook "naked" on the internet. The hackers are seeking new targets.

Be wary of Windows 8. It's becoming clear that a lot of function in Windows 8 is aimed at including tablets. To that extent some of the features we have become used to in Windows XX OS systems, will be removed. For instance... no optical disk support in Windows 8 is what I am told. You will need optional ($$$) or third party software ($$$) if you plan to use CD/DVD burners. Don't know about the audio, but the removal could be linked to the fact that tablets typically don't have optical disks AND CDs and DVDs are being determined to be very risky as archival media... search the internet for recent discussions of CD ROT and DVD Rot.

Otherwise, I pretty much go with the "fanboy" warning on the two systems. The overpricing on MAC/Apple certainly buys a lot of ram and higher spec hardware on the Windows side.

And the last very comical (serious) item to hit the news last week. If you go to Orbitz for travel reservations using a MAC, you will be guided to more expensive hotel and Air travel reservations. I presume this is due to the site being optimize to treat the Safari browser differently from typical PC browsers. (All over the news about a week ago..Orbitz)

I wonder how many other sites are taking this tack on identifying MAC/Apple users as more affluent based on how much more they pay for their computers???
 
Someone else said the mac mini is a good idea ... And it is.... But if you go look at a macbook pro with retina display, it will ruin you for anything else... I'm waiting very impatiently for my custom build to arrive :)

Tom
 
I've owned various Apple computers since 1997 and come the end of the year I'm going all windows 7. The Mac OS and system hardware have become extremely propriety and they are taking the concept of planned obsolescence to a whole new level.
 
Good luck with your purchase Jim!

Seven months ago I bought a 17" MacBook Pro, and I love it! I'd like to have the 15" Retina display, but the standard display is just fine, and the 1920x1200 17" is great for photography! I use Win 7 at work - have for many years - and it runs ok, but then I have a whole IT department to keep it that way. My GF, and teenage son and daughter all have PC laptops: they love them. However, I am getting tired of fixing things for the kids and listening to Reba's constant whining about "it doesn't work, it doesn't work ..."

She used that "it costs less" on me. My assistant at work is an adamant Mac h8r. He complains that everything is controlled by Apple and closed. Both arguments are true. But then, everything on the Mac works together and does not make me cry about it not working.

Convinces me.
 
Amen.

I switched 4 years ago... used to be an "open system" advocate... No more.

Apple delivers and it really does "just work." .... At least for me
 
my advice would be to buy a tower, pc or mac, instead of a laptop...i've burned out video cards on several different laptops...granted, I am editing around 10k photos a week, but switching to a tower for proper cooling of components far exceeds the convenience of portability.
 
If you are computer literate AND like to save money AND get better performance for less then use Windows 7 64bit and you can't go wrong.

If you are not computer literate and like being tied to ONE vendor in a closed system AND like pretty things AND have other Apple pretty things AND like spending big AND like to visit the Mac store and ask a 'Genius' every time you don't know what to do then get a Mac.
 
People who want to have an Apple product do this because they want a lifestyle product.
So no need to complain about the prices. I have my 2nd iMac now and own an older MBP for traveling. Nice stuff but I could also live with a Windows system, not really a big difference from a usability point of view.

I'm looking closely on how Apple tries to control more and more what apps and content is on my computer. There will probably a point in the future when the app-store is the only channel to install software from. Then it's the point for me to change back to an open system like Windows. Adobe licenses are valid for Mac and PC, so one can easily switch both ways.

And Apple has to learn to react faster with security patches. They still think their system is bulletproof.
 
Apple has 100 billion dollars in the bank. Very little of this profit comes from the corporate market sector. Of course the work-wide market place must be wrong. Microsoft is the real innovators... they just do it about a year behind Apple.

And still, Apple is a horrible company with all show and no go? Is their marketing responsible for a $100 billion dollar joke on the world? When will the truth surface and destroy Apple in an iCloud of virtual dust? I assume the Apple haters will short AAPL stock and make millions.

Enjoy your new retina display. It should make editing photos on a smaller screen more practical.

Of course the retina display (that originated with Apples overpriced, inferior, trendy iOS products) is just another deception by Apple's marketing group and provides no advantage whatsoever. The real retina display will be invented by Microsoft in the very near future.
 
Typing this on my eight year old Power Mac G4, which I've been using every day for at least eight hours a day, for over eight years. With no breakdowns, viruses, or problems of any kind. Still runs like a top.

I have migrated my photo editing over to my "new" Mac Pro (three years old) which handles everything I can throw at it.

And when my photo work takes me on the road, my 11" MacBook Air couldn't be lighter or faster.

Baffles my mind how folks can live day in and day out with a PC.

Best,
-Tim

PS: Been using Apple products since the early 1980's with an Apple IIe, and every Mac product I have purchased since the 1990's still works perfectly, including my original Tangerine iBook.
 
My advise as a heavily invested MAC user is for whichever computer you choose. Get the max RAM available (preferably 16gig) and, do a combo drive with an SDD up front using a larger drive for longer term storage.
Editing programs keep become more and more sophisticated and memory hungry. Design your computer with this in mind. I like the Mac mini option but you can only put 8Gigs of Ram in those little boxes. The MBP 15" Retina with i7 2.7ghz/16gig RAM/512ssd/RAID and you're set for a few generation cycles.
 
I use both PC & Mac, both have strengths, both have weaknesses. Those who proclaim "Macs suck, they're overpriced" are just the same as those who say "Windows 7 sucks, it crashes all the time". If you take a "side", then you're bound to end up being wrong, as there is no "one side is better than the other".

Both are modern, decent systems, and I think a 15" Macbook Pro will serve you well. Personally, I'm far from convinced Retina displays are worth the money, especially on a laptop, where all the gear is tied up in one unit (same for PC & Mac). Don't skimp on the RAM, I found even going from 8GB to 12GB made a *big* difference handling large images.
 
jcrutcher said:
It seems every 3 years I need to replace the PC and that has accelerated when I added Photoshop, Lightroom, NIK etc.
Click to expand...

If that is your main reason for switching over, I'm sad to say that's not a very good reason anymore. With laptops like their MacBook Air and their latest version of the Macbook Pro, they're starting to solder their components directly to the motherboard now. You can't even upgrade RAM or harddrives after the fact anymore. If either of those go, you're hosed and have to buy a whole new device if the failure falls outside your warranty period (or pay the hefty repair bill).

That's actually the reason why I'm switching towards PCs again. I find that Apple hardware really only has a shelf life of about 3 years too and after that you have to evaluate whether or not you want to sell off your computer/laptop and still get enough resale value back to upgrade or keep it around until it dies completely. At least with PC hardware, you can just upgrade what you need when you need without having to start from scratch again. Don't get me wrong; I love OS X. As a *nix server administrator and developer, I'm big on using the command line so having the terminal included in the operating system is a big plus for me.

Also when you're comparing prices, you can pretty much build the equivalent or better PC at half the price of purchasing the Mac, and you have the flexibility of just upgrading specific components when your computer seems a little outdated. Two years ago I decided it was time to unload my iMac since it was starting to show its age. I wasn't sure if I was going to go with a new iMac or spend a little more and go with their Mac Pro desktop tower. The show stopper for me? Their processors on their "latest" computers were seriously outdated and this was even after the semi-yearly update. The iMac at the time was still coming with Core 2 Duo processors, and the Macbook Pros were coming with the i3 for the basic and mid range, and i5 for the upgraded whereas i5/i7 was the standard on PC based equivalents (and at a lower cost). And they still weren't using USB 3.0! I was finding that Apple computers were using components that were usually one or two generations behind the PC world and they were really dictating what goes into their machines and that was frustrating for me. So just for the heck of it, I spec'ed out how much it'd cost to build an up-to-date computer (still not top of the line!) and it'd cost me about $600, not including the monitor, to build something that was already faster, had twice the memory, and bigger harddrive than their $1500 equivalent option. So don't believe it when pro-Apple people tell you Apple components are better or their equipment is cutting edge; it's simply untrue.

Although I do have to give them credit for this Retina display people keep talking about. I haven't seen it yet, but I understand what it is and based on what I've heard it's pretty neat. However the downside is it's still in its infancy so a lot of things need to be ported over to take advantage of it. My understanding is things that are compatible with Retina already look amazing, but things that aren't yet look horrible. Sure, Apple didn't come up with the technology, but they're definitely making it more popular.

I'll also give Apple big credit for customer service. One of the problems with the Macbooks a few years ago was the material used was a really crappy plastic and they were prone to cracking and chipping along the edges. Apple had no problem replacing mine and my sisters even though our Macbooks were about 4 years old. Right after I got it back from them, my touchpad wouldn't click anymore. I noticed the battery had swelled up considerably making it impossible to click on the pad (and balance on the table). I was aware Apple had a huge recall a few years back about batteries made in 2006 being potentially defective and sure enough the battery was made in 2006. I made another trip to the Apple store that week and they gave me a brand new battery, even though after 4 years of usage, the swelling was likely due to just normal end of life on it. So after two trips to the Apple store, my 4 year old Macbook was almost brand new again with a brand new battery, new keyboard/restpad, and screen bezel for the cost of nothing :D
 
Whilst I agree with a lot of the above, and Macs are of course more expensive than PCs, if you compare with premium brands, there is less of a difference than first appears. I mean, compare another ultra slim laptop from a good maker to the Macbook Air, prices are actually pretty similar, often the Air comes in cheaper.

I agree on the higher end laptops though, the Apple ones can be really quite a lot more than faster PC models.

I'd also say the Apple build quality has improved a lot recently, with my newish iMac, build and designed is very hard to fault. With my oldish Macbook, well it was a plastic pile of junk. Apple I think has worked hard on hardware, they've gone from crappy puck mice to actually quite nice ones, I think their keyboards are great, and general build is significantly better than it used to be on the low end kit. I'd say build quality in the high end kit has pretty much always been good.
 
Mac is terrific. I do my photography work on a MacBook Pro. Sometimes with an external monitor. The new MacBooks with retina display should be fabulous, but perhaps I'd rather have an external monitor that I keep for a longer upgrade cycle.

I alway purchase Apple Care with laptops, and I usually upgrade after the 3yr service period is up.

Why Mac: The hardware and user-interface standards are elegantly designed; they just work better. With Mac, you are far, far less likely to have any kind of malware or infection. The computer, iPhone, and iPad all work together seamlessly. Especially when you go beyond general use (email, web, word-processing) to do anything with photos, music, or video, the Mac stands out.

Others may have different views; this is mine. FWIW, and hope it's helpful to you.

Enjoy your Mac!
 
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