Mac - Windows

[ywenz]

Really? Why is that?

Performance is not up to par to their Intel counterparts, price-wise it's not up to par either. This is common knowledge. Which is why on apple.com today, they no longer advertise the new G5 desktops by comparing its performance to Intel.

 

[Ash]

i would have thought apple dont advertise it because they USE Intel processor chips in their computers. No point advertising their product against the same hardware. Besides G5 are out of date. They're being discontinued for the newer Intel Mac's

 

[visiondr]

I'm not sure having a dual boot mac is that great of an idea. One reason mac users tend to smile a lot is because they work in a relatively virus free environment. Working in a wintel OS on a Mac platform is just inviting trouble from the multitude of hackers waiting to make trouble for you in the form of viruses, worms, trojan horses etc...

Not exactly. While viruses and other malware could infect the PC side of your Mac, they could never affect the Mac OS. It's just not going to happen. On a dual boot Mac, one simply has to treat the PC side as if it were the pathetic, vulnerable OS that it is and buy and constantly update virus protection.

BTW, has anyone seen the new Mac vs PC ads Apple has been showing. They're great. http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

 

[jan normandale]

This is tricky because without software Apple are a computer manufacturer like Dell. But Dell needs an OS so they use Windows. Apple is defiinitely a company that has computers manufactured, but computers are the way they deliver their OS to the public. A bit different from Dell as a manufacturer and Windows or Linux who supply OS's.

Sorta like "Certs... two mints in one"

Now I suggest we discuss how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. I'll open with none.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

What's up with this Intel GMA graphics card w 64Mb shared memory? Is that supposed to be enough "for most day to day stuff ilke we do here"?

I think that's OK, but mail Apple NL to check with them. I assume you'll be using Photoshop Elements so tell them that too.

As far as I know [disclaimer] if you more or less double the RAM and use the computer for office and leisure computing you are fine. [/disclaimer] In twenty plus years I've followed that rule with many Macs and always been fine.

Apple RAM is expensive, most people buy the computer and upgrade the RAM with Crucial RAM.

 

[kbg32]

15 years ago I was using an Amiga with a Mac emulator. It was cheaper. I've been using Mac since the first Power PCs. I'm lucky, I use them at work too.

 

[kmack]

OK, so i took a look at the mac laptop offers.
I'm just about taking a decision upon buying a laptop, and i want something that would work and be good enough for some years.
And now this Mac idea.
However the models listed on the apple site look quite less equipped than the PC laptops and still selling for more. I mean RAM, graphics card and such.

So my question, is it really that much better optimized, that a Mac with 64mb video memory is as "good" as a pc with double of that? Or is it just another myth?

Yes and No. Because of the system architecture and the fact that the hardware and software interfaces are optimized for each other you will get better performance to a point.

UNIX systems like the Mac uses are very memory intensive. It's designed that way to allow for true multi-threading and multi-user operation. I do believe Apple is stingy in it's default RAM. I always suggest you at least double the amount of RAM Apple gives you for better performance.

BTW: Always check the Apple Refurbs: you can get a nice 15" powerbook for 35% off. Apple Store Special Deals

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Hi all- I din't mean for this to became a Mac Vs. the world discussion. I feel responsible for that. What I am promoting is that there is a lot out there for whatever computing preference you might have.

Viva Choice?

 

[JoeFriday]

Performance is not up to par to their Intel counterparts, price-wise it's not up to par either. This is common knowledge. Which is why on apple.com today, they no longer advertise the new G5 desktops by comparing its performance to Intel.

exactly.. and that's the same reason a Nikon D50 blows away an M2 with a 35 'lux.. cuz the Nikon can take 3 pictures per second.. so clearly the Leica is inferior 🙄

however, I would like to point out that in my day job as a graphic designer, I run Photoshop, processing 60mb files on a daily basis with a 7 year old Mac.. a G4 433mhz machine with a measly 768 megs of Ram.. it's not the fastest machine on the planet, but it does the job quite nicely.. and at the same time I'm multi-tasking.. using QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator and surfing RFF

yes, Macs are decent computers and I'll buy them as long as they keep selling them

 

[RayPA]

Hi all- I din't mean for this to became a Mac Vs. the world discussion. I feel responsible for that. What I am promoting is that there is a lot out there for whatever computing preference you might have.

Viva Choice?

Yeah. The old argument seems less viable today, and really is a matter of choice.

🙂

 

[physiognomy]

Hey Mac users... I'm another convert that's slowly trying to make the changeover. I'm heading towards the end of my first week with my MacBook and so far no problems except unfamiliarity. I haven't used a mac since Desktop Publishing 101 in highschool, so it's been interesting, but pleasant.

Today I finally worked out how to get iPhoto to resize a picture for me (using the Export function), but not before being berated by friends for sending huge photo's to their inbox... What do people suggest as a replacement to Irfanview - click link for those unfamiliar??? That & Photoshop 7 were pretty much all I used on my old pc (still sitting here with it's poor plugs all pulled out 🙁 ), but now I've been severed from both until I work out if I'm going to use Parallels or Boot Camp.

I have read some good things about the GIMP, but also that I'll have to install something to do with X11 windowing protocol??? Their web page describing the download is also a little confusing (maybe because I'm not up on my computer lingo?). Is this a free program?

Any help/info/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Peter

 

[polleke]

What do people suggest as a replacement to Irfanview - click link for those unfamiliar??? That & Photoshop 7 were pretty much all I used on my old pc (still sitting here with it's poor plugs all pulled out 🙁 ), but now I've been severed from both until I work out if I'm going to use Parallels or Boot Camp.

I use CocoViewX:
http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/XJ&sdn=graphicssoft&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stalkingwolf.net%2Fsoftware%2Fcocoviewx%2F

It does the job. So far, I didn't find anything better (for free).

 

[physiognomy]

Thanks... I took a look at the link and it does seem to do most of the quick & nasty manipulations I usually do... It doesn't look like it has any sharpen filter, but I guess I'm going to have to find something a little more complicated for that!

Anyone with experience running Photoshop 7 through Parallels? I'm hoping the 1GB of ram I have will be enough...

Thanks,

Peter

 

[Dougg]

Welcome back to the Mac, Peter! I've been a dedicated Mac user since Fall 1984... As to graphics editing somewhat like Irfanview, I recommend you look at GraphicConverter, which has expanded in capability considerably from its beginnings as a format conversion utility. Almost a mini-Photoshop now, and shareware. (and does have two kinds of sharpening available) http://www.lemkesoft.com/en/graphcon.htm

 

[physiognomy]

Welcome back to the Mac, Peter! I've been a dedicated Mac user since Fall 1984... As to graphics editing somewhat like Irfanview, I recommend you look at GraphicConverter, which has expanded in capability considerably from its beginnings as a format conversion utility. Almost a mini-Photoshop now, and shareware. (and does have two kinds of sharpening available) http://www.lemkesoft.com/en/graphcon.htm

Thanks Dougg,

I took a look & it seems perfect... I'll keep it in mind, but I just started thinking that I'm going to save any money to be spent on software until I know more about running windows app's on my mac. If Parallels will let me use Irfanview/Photoshop 7 I will try that as I have some other windows only programs that I want/need to run. Maybe I'm going out of my way to go with what I know???

Thanks again!

Peter

 

[Nick R.]

The installation dvd that came with your computer will have Xwindows on it. It isn't installed by default so you'll have to do it manually. Once Xwindows is running you can find a gimp binary to install and run that.
Xwindows only has to run when you're running the gimp. Think of it as a helper program.

The only reason that I'd recommend gimp is that the linux crowd is stuck using it for the most part and therefore there is a lot of tips and tricks out there. I used it for a long time before getting PS.

Another option is to buy vuescan and use that as your graphics editor.

 

[Nando]

I was an Apple user since that Apple II until I went to university. Three things led me to a PC, 1 - the games (this is the largest segment of the software market - bigger than Hollywood), 2 - I wanted to run Linux dual-boot with Windows (computer science major here), and 3 - the software piracy - unfortunately. I couldn't afford even the discounted student rates for Mac software and pirated Windows software was easily obtainable. Yes I know this illegal but that was the reality of the situation - there wasn't an 'Open Office' suite back then. I've been using PC's ever since then.

My next computer is going to be a MacBook Pro. I've matured and I don't play games anymore. And if I want to, I can just get myself an X-Box or a Playstation. I also can afford most of the software that I would need and there are more open-source/freeware software available now. And with Parallels, I can run the few Windows programs I would need for work.

I will miss a few things from the PC world if I would switch completely to Macs. Mainly the ability to build a machine myself and completely modify the user interface by using a different shell/window manager. With Windows, I use the LiteStep shell. With Linux, I use Blackbox. That MacOS GUI looks spectacular but I'm the type that likes to customize everything.

 

[Pherdinand]

Peter, people talk about Phoenix as a good IrfanView replacement. Never tried myself (i'm a new guy in Mac as well, and still use PC /Win at work).

Guys - Does anybody know how to get rid of the BaaaAANG sound when i turn on my MacBook? It's kitschy and annoying. Thanks!

 

[physiognomy]

Peter, people talk about Phoenix as a good IrfanView replacement. Never tried myself (i'm a new guy in Mac as well, and still use PC /Win at work).

Thanks Pherdinand... I'll definitely take a look at that one...

Guys - Does anybody know how to get rid of the BaaaAANG sound when i turn on my MacBook? It's kitschy and annoying. Thanks!

Hmmm... mine has never made any noise when I turn it on... Maybe try the white settings/preferences thing in the dock... can you tell I'm still learning too!

Good luck!

Peter

 

[JonasYip]

i was a mac user for years, starting in 1985 from 128k Mac -> SE -> LCII -> PowerPC 8600 and Powerbook 100, and used UNIX at work (oddly enough to design x86 microprocessors for PCs). At some point I had to switch to Windows and stuck with it for 10 years or so, and have generally been pretty happy.

But just recently I decided to switch to OSX and swapped my brand new really nice Vaio laptop for an old G3 iBook from 2001 that we had laying around... and haven't really regretted it a bit. Well, it's a little slow, so I'll probably get a new Mac laptop at some point. I'm just not that happy with the current lineup (what I want is a 12" Macbook Pro). That's what I'll miss about the Windows world: the availability of small (< 4 lbs) laptops.

j