PC's vs Apple for a laptop

Hi,
With computer aided design, being the way I do a lot of my lay out.
I need to get a lap top for the new shop, to save space. I been using PC's
but wonder if anyone has been using Apple for lay out and what
your impression are?

Jim: A few months ago I switched from PC's to Apple computers and it's been the best computer decision I've ever made. When it comes to anything visual, Macs simply rule the roost. Most pros use Macs for audio, video, graphics design, etc, and Macs own the publishing world as well. I'm using a Power Mac G5 desktop system (pre-Intel) and a MacBook Pro (Intel) laptop. The computers have 2.5GB and 2GB of RAM respectively. I've owned Dell, Sony, and IBM laptops, and the MacBook Pro runs circles around all of them.

With the new Intel chipped Macs, you can also run Windows if you like, so you have the best of both worlds. There are a few different options for this, including running Windows in a window or booting to Windows when you start the computer. I've not done this, but I could on my Intel chipped MacBook Pro. It's rumored that the new Macs run Windows faster than PC's.

The Mac operating system is unbelievably stable and robust. As I type this on my Mac desktop system I'm running Safari (Mac's brower) with 5 sites open in tabs, Dreamweaver, CaptainFTP, Adobe Photoshop CS2 with 7 open images, Adobe Illustrator, Final Cut Express video editing software, Live Type, and Real Player. There's not a hint of a slowdown, and some of those apps are real processor hogs. Once I opened 63 raw photo files (8mb ea) into Photoshop!

Prior to the Intel chips, Apple used PowerPC chips, and Mac software was written for the PowerPC chip. Since the new Intel chips, Mac software is being rewritten by software companies to run on the new chips. The Mac operating system will run the old software by translating it on-the-fly with Rosetta, which runs invisibly. At this time Adobe is recoding its flagship applications to the new Universal Binary standard which will run equally well on PowerPC and Intel chips. Users can expect a slight slowdown in performace until the new software is released. Personally, I run Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver with very little performance degredation.

I don't have antivirus software sucking up system resources because there are simply no viruses that attack Macs (but if you run Windows on one, you're open to viruses just like with a PC).

I should add that I don't dislike PC's at all. We have two of them here, and I've been a happy PC user for many years. If you make the switch and get past the learning curve, I'm sure you agree that Macs are simply better computers. / ~Sam
p.s. My friends Rod Cameron, Blaine Lewis, and Kate Wolf all helped influence my switch to Macs.

Jim,

Aside from being a plant manager I am also the IT manager for 11 locations in California. I deal with everything on our complex network system. I have to agree with Sam that for graphics the Macs out-perform the PC platforms. I am still on a PC but will everntually go to Mac for graphics in the near future. My 2¢

I have been a hardcore pc gamer for years. I still use my pc for gaming and quickbooks. I do use corel 13 on the pc still. I would like to see your seminar on this program Andrew.

I use this quad g5 for all my design work. I make all my menu's at work. I do all forms for my pizza shops with the mac. I do a lot of my engraving design on the mac. I love corel 13 and hate I can't get it for the mac. I did get corel painter 9.5 and this is one great program for artist. I just finished installing adobe creative suite 2.3 a few minutes ago. I can see that program is worth the money.

Sam what does this program dreamweaver do?

I just finished setting up a imac to take to the shop tonight. I did install quickbooks 2007 on this unit.I trashed the old gateway laptop.

Harold: Dreamweaver is for website design. All of iGraver was designed and maintained with Dreamweaver on a Mac.

Hi,
I was leaning pretty heavily toward apple. Well, that clinched it for me.
It'll be an Apple for me. Thanks.

I replaced our PC with an iBook G4 this year and really like it. However, the stock iPhoto software is lacking. It can't even resize a picture or I haven't figured how. I had Photoshop Essentials on the PC and it was all I needed for photo work. I've been looking for a program that has vector capabilities since I understand it's the way to go for clean drawing resizing and I don't think PSE has it. Any suggestions for MAC "engraver" oriented software? Thanks

For vector drawing Adobe Illustrator is probably your best choice. For scaling and cropping photos, Photoshop Elements is probably the least expensive route.

So, I went out and bought a Toshiba with Vista on it. Because all my programs were for windows.
So, it's all going back to the store to exchanged for an Apple.
The Toshiba is a nice enough machine, but what a bag of snakes, Vista is.
It's fine if you don't ask it to do anything, but just try opening it then watch out.
There was a disk in a nice shiny box that said upgrade on it. No where did it say
it was just the backup disk for the version that was loaded. So when I popped it in the machine.
Oh My God. A plague of frogs. First I got treated like a criminal by a tecki for India.
Then I found out that the backup disk has a HUGE FLAW.
Vista wouldn't run Corel draw. As far as I'm concerned it's the only program the machine
has to run.

Thank goodness I can return it and get what I wanted in the first place.
I was going to have to get copies of the programs like Photoshop, Illustrator anyways.

I would suggest that anyone buying a computer, PASS of Vista. At least for a year and a half.

I switched to apple last year too.

I'll never own another one of those #%@&^!%$#@^!& *&$^*&@^!*& *$^@#&*!^8 PCs again!!!!!!!!!!

Wish I would have went the Mac route years ago. It has been 8 months and I have not had one freeze up, one memory bog down and I have not seen a blue screen of death yet. Macs are the best. Period.

Ray

I started on apples, took a little delve into pc's and went running backto apple. I have an Intel imac now. It is a very stable machine and I have had no problems...

Well except for my 2 year old with the slot loading DVD drive. You know how they like to put peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in VCRs? Well she put mom's credit card, one of my business cards, and a metal washer in there. Now I keep a piece of electrical tape over the slot. The geniuses (that is what they call the apple tech guys) had a real laugh at all the stuff she crammed in there. They fixed it for free though!

Advice with the macs - always max out the ram and the video memory if you are working heavily with graphic applications. It makes for a better experience.

For years I've done all of my advertisements on a Mac using Photoshop, and I love the system. Managing files and moving them around is so much sensible, and installing programs is normally much easier. I have a Windows box for 3D work in Rhinocerous only because my old Mac can't do it. My next Mac, however, will be a different story now that Intel chips are Apple's future. OS X is a very stable platform.

I'm just in the process of going over to Mac. I've just bought this MacBook and I went for it over the Pro because of a) the price and b) the size. I want to be able to carry it with me to the US and the like and it's just the right size and weight. I love it (though it's not without problems at the moment), and plan on getting an iMac to replace the desktop PC later this year.

The problems I'm having are that a lot of manufacturers and software developers totally overlook Mac platform. For example, this Mac wouldn't work with my old AOL broadband connection so I had to get a wireless router and it works fine but it's the satalite computer on the network. Why? Because the software is written for the PC and I couldn't get the Mac to install said software so it's connected via Airport. Also, I've gotten used to a lot of things on the PC that just don't seem to be there on the Mac. Mac users would probably call it a long winded way of doing things, but it's really just a case of what you're used to.

So why am I changing to the Mac format? Because I'm fed up with PC's going to the wall after 2 or 3 years. The more stuff you put on them the more conflicts happen. I've just had to do a complete system recovery on my PC because it just wouldn't boot up. After the XP screen appeared the screen would just go blank and there was no way I could get into the system. Luckily I'd backed up all my important data onto an external hard drive so all my photos and word documents were safe but I lost all my old emails completely. This is worth noting - Back up your data regularly or risk losing everything!

The reason I'm going to get an iMac is to run both Windows and OS X then I can use all my important and expensive software without having to get the Mac equivilant and then I can still use AOL. Also, sometimes it's nicer to be able to sit at a desk and have a large screen to work with. I honestly don't think I'll ever trust PCs again and as for Vista?*$%$@£! The guys in PC World admitted that the amount of conflicts are unbelievable with dissatisfied customers coming back and complaining that periferals such as printers just not working so having to buy new hardware too. Its just another, way too compicated, operating system....imagine, you have several varieties of Vista and then you have to decide whether you're going to run it in 32 or 64 bit and then you find it conflicts with your machine. It's crazy! Why is Microsoft allowed to get away with this? If it applied to any other company in any other field they'd go to the wall. Unfortunately there is no one out there to challenge them although Mac gradually seems to be stealing people away from PC.

Mac has definitely won a convert in me, I just have to take the time to learn how to use the thing properly!

I too have been looking to switch. Last weekend I walked into a local music store which happens to sell macs. I played with them for quite a while. The Mac Pros are definitely the way to go. The Imacs seemed slow in comparison and I have never been a fan of all-in-one case/monitor setups. In the end I walked out without buying anything. I am a power user on the PC. I like to see everything. I'm used to having lots of right click options and such. There isn't even a right mouse button to click on. When I clicked on the hard drive icon all I saw were Applications and Documents folders. I expected a directory tree. Where is it? I am sure that all this is nothing more than an interface change that I would need to relearn. But I am so busy right now I didn't think I wanted to put that much effort into it. The price of the Mac Pros kind of put me off for now as well. You can easily drop $3000- $5000 on one of these rigs....ouch!
I will probably do it at some point but decided I wasn't quite ready yet. I use lots of expensive cad/cam type apps that are not supported on the mac and therefore would either have to maintain a PC or run them under a virtual machine on the mac. Ah well ....I will continue to put it off.

Marcus,

I also intended to use both windows and osx but once I got used to osx I have not even bothered to load windows on the mac.

BTW, Some fo the software companies will let you swap out the PC version for the MAC version for very small fees (like shipping). IT is worth checking into. If I remember correctly it cost me about $250 in all to have the software exchanged. A copy of windows to load onto the mac was a lot more than that.

THings may be different across the pond but it would be worth checking into.

Ray

Andy: As a former PC power user myself, I noticed the same thing when I first got my Mac. On a PC i spent much time in Windows Explorer moving files, etc. The Mac is different, and this was the biggest part of the learning curve for me. It's actually quite simple and right-click options are available for the mouse. I enjoy my desktop and laptop Macs, and can't see ever moving back to a PC. As for running Windows on a Mac, it can be done, and that certainly is an option. / ~Sam

All, I am also a PC power user, and recently made the switch to a Mac Pro (Andy, you're right: $4000!). Adobe gave me a Mac version of Photoshop CS2 for $6 as long as I agreed to destroy the Windows version.

I have reluctantly decided to install Windows XP Pro (NOT VISTA!) as a virtual machine on the Mac to allow me to use some of the programs for which I would have to pay full price to replace, or programs for which there are simply no Mac equivalents. This will also allow me to use the two printers I have been using for the PC, for which there are no Mac drivers.

I said "reluctantly" above for a reason: security. I will not install any of the antivirus/spyware/firewall crap that so badly bogged down PC performance. Instead, I will do my best to isolate the virtual machine from the internet.

Jim, if you make the move, you will never look back.

Hi All,
It's to late to look back now Don. I am now the proud owner of a Macbook Pro 2.33GH.
I pick it up Tuesday. I'm still shaking after only having had Vista for a week. What a time eating
bad experience. The wife is bucking for a new machine and dog gone it, that's going to be a Mac also.
I think Microsoft is in for a big fall as soon as it sinks in how bad Vista is. From what I saw, I don't
know that it's fixable with service packs. It's just got to many bugs. I have a friend
Bill who is a CEO of a computer program company that does thing with shopping Carts.
He got a new lap top. I asked his opinion of Vista. He said he had XP loaded on his new lap top
because there are not enough thing that he uses can deal with the 64 bit drive.

All I want is something that works and does what I tell it to. I want something that works seamlessly
in harmony with anything else I need to use to do business.
I do not want to have to spend time looking for a fix on the net.
I would rather talk to engravers at the cafe. Hmmmmm, "looking for a fix"
sort of sound like being a junky. Feels like it after having tried Vista and gone a little crazy and got the
shakes. I wish Microsoft a lot of luck, but I think they should junk Vista and start again.

I have noticed one particular lapse in the beauty that is apple, although it does not alter mac's usefulness for our professional needs. Streaming video (from cnn, and definitely from cbs) has a reliability issue for me and many that I talk to in regards to macs running osx. It works some times and not others. It may be an issue with video file standards or it may be an apple issue.