have i done the right thing

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Ross2

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i just ordered a mac book pro
I always used a PC and work with them so very much familar with them.
but after reading threads on here and computer magazine fancied a challenge?

what software can people recommend for it? have gota copy of office and photoshop CS3
:D
 
its only a good thing IF you don't become one of those annoying "i own an apple" people :p

Personally, i doubt i'd ever own one, but for editting media they are supposed to be the mutz nutz!
 
i can see where this thread will end up..

if vista kept crashing on you then there was something wrong with either the install, you had a lot of malware (no offence but possible with pirated software) or there was an underlying hardware issue to be honest.
 
I love my MBP, and you will love yours!
 
I thought about going mac but after trying out a few in different situations I decided to stay with my PCs as they "just work". The macs I tried froze, weren't intuitive and I got a bit fed up of the owners saying there was "no problem you just reboot" Yeah right, perfect machines! But really, given the problems some people have with PCs and others with macs (check the posts on here) they're all machines and can go wrong and pretty much equal. Like Nikon/Canon use what you like.
 
Need a new laptop myself and umm-ing and aahing about which to go for. Will probably go for a PC for pure performance/£ reasons, but thankfully Apple have pushed other manufacturers to catch up in the portability and aesthetics departments.
 
I was exclusive windows up until August, when I invested in aMac Book Pro. Beautiful machines. It runs a dualboot of Snow Leopard and Vista Ultimate very well indeed. No crashes from either OS yet

In a recent Magazine (think PC Pro) MBP's were rated as best laptops at running vista :D
 
andrewc said:
FTP: Filezilla or Cyberduck
CD burning: Toast
Web browsing: Safari or Firefox
Email: Apple Mail
DAM: Lightroom, or Aperture, or iPhoto or Google Picasa
Click to expand...

thankyou for your advice. will look into them!!!
 
Moved to Mac 10 months ago. No problems. Can't see me going back to a windows machine anytime soon, and no I'm not a Mac fanboy...

If you are undecided nip into an Apple store and have a play. OK PC World do sell Macs, and have them on demo, but the Apple shops do have software such as Photoshop loaded, and you can have a play. That way you can decide if a Mac is for you. Don't take your credit card with you though!!!

Your version of CS3 will have to be updated to CS4 if you want to migrate it to Mac.

It's not difficult, you need to contact Adobe customer service for the necessary paperwork. You end up with a brand new copy of CS4 for Mac at the upgrade price.
 
Adobe should be able to change your CS3 license over to a Mac one, but you will need to buy a version of Office for Mac, although I find Open Office is actually just as good and free.

For other software it depends on what you want to do...
 
What's the worst that can happen?

You don't like it? Sell it!

Or...

You can install any Windows after XP SP2 - 7RC is very nice on this one here.

Or...

Linux your thing? Ubuntu runs very nicely on MBPs

Or...

You persevere with Mac OS X...

...and you just get on with it - it's a computer, not a life choice, despite what many of my Mac using associates would have me/you believe (!)

-Rob
 
Software?

iLife '09 or more specifically iPhoto '09.

The photo processing capabilities of iPhoto have now improved to such an extent that the line between iPhoto and Aperture has become blurred. iPhoto has always been able to seamlessly handover to Photoshop for editing - and then back again. The case for NEEDING to is not so clear cut now.

For word processing I still reckon Microsoft Word is it. Pages - part of the iWorks package is nearly there, and OpenOffice is also available for the princely sum of b****r all.

-Rob
 
basically, all the software you'd use on the MBP will work just as well on a PC. you've just paid over the odds for a PC that's contained within a lump of aluminium and has a glowing apple logo on the back.

waste. of. money.

i also find it funny that people buy Apple hardware, then run Windows on them... contradiction much ? ;]

NOTE: this is my OPINION. people are suckered into paying stupid money for Apple equipment thinking it's better than what they had or can get from the PC market. as i said... opinion.
 
....and if cost was the sole motivation behind puchasing decisions the Uk Lada importer would have never shut up shop.

-Rob
 
I just got a new MBP 17". It is awesome! I looked long and hard for a windows laptop that would be as powerful and as well built but gave up and purchased the MBP. Yes they are over priced but there are few other laptops that come close on performance and design IMO.
 
If you start looking at PC laptops with similar specs and metal construction you are getting to pretty much the same price range as the Macbook Pros anyway ;)
 
Moved to a Mac book Pro recently and would not go back to PC (however I did buy it as a second user machine so it was about half the price
 
recrudesce said:
basically, all the software you'd use on the MBP will work just as well on a PC. you've just paid over the odds for a PC that's contained within a lump of aluminium and has a glowing apple logo on the back.

waste. of. money.

i also find it funny that people buy Apple hardware, then run Windows on them... contradiction much ? ;]

NOTE: this is my OPINION. people are suckered into paying stupid money for Apple equipment thinking it's better than what they had or can get from the PC market. as i said... opinion.
Click to expand...

And on the other hand, you can buy a shiny new PC and then have half the memory hogged by the anti virus software you have to install on it. Of course, Macs are not completely free from viruses but in 8 years of owning one and not having AV installed, I've never had a virus (a 6 monthly sweep tells me this).

It's no coincidence that any PC I ever owned needed to be replaced within a couple of years, whereas I still have a 7 year old Powerbook that works fine.

I'm not a so called 'fanboy' by any means, but be careful of those who slate Apple just because it's fashionable to do so.
 
If I could justify buying a MacBook for image editting then I would, they're awesome. However as I game I need a customiseable PC and I simply cannot justify the expense of 2 pricey machines.
If you don't need some PC advantages (upgrades mainly) then Apple really are quite nice :)
 
Dman said:
And on the other hand, you can buy a shiny new PC and then have half the memory hogged by the anti virus software you have to install on it.
Click to expand...

slight exageration. on my 4gb dell avast is using a whopping 70mb.

It's no coincidence that any PC I ever owned needed to be replaced within a couple of years, whereas I still have a 7 year old Powerbook that works fine.
Click to expand...

and ive got a 11 year old dell under my desk that is still perfectly usable.. what do i win?

its not a peeing contest at the end of the day, its all about using what youre comfortable with. period.
 
neil_g said:
its not a peeing contest at the end of the day, its all about using what youre comfortable with. period.
Click to expand...

Indeed, but before he's even had the chance to get comfortable with it, the Apple haters are out telling him he's paid over the odds.
 
easy on fella's didnt want this to turn in out and out war.. perhaps i should re word the question.

what i really would like it recommendations for software to use on it. ie. people experiece using different products.

I will only use this for photo processing and surfing the web,updating websites, im not a programmer, gamer or bias to any paticular software.

was only after advice. :'(
 
Software is about doing what you need to do at a price you are prepared to pay.

There is loads of software to do just about anything from the free to more than the cost of the machine you are intending to run it on. Look to Adobe for the most comprehensive and industry standard solutions, along with Apple themselves.

Apple are an underdog. I like to be different and it is refreshing that it can actually compete with a massive company like Microsoft and win on 'cool'. That in my book is the essence of it's success.

Graham
 
blue max said:
Apple are an underdog. I like to be different and it is refreshing that it can actually compete with a massive company like Microsoft and win on 'cool'. That in my book is the essence of it's success.

Graham
Click to expand...

i never really understood how an operating system could be "cool". until i came across 2 nifty features in W7..

1) if you want to rename a list of files you can rename one then press tab and it moves down the list.

2) when moving back through files, W7 keeps the folder you were in highlighted.

i nearly let out a bit of wee when i discovered those..



maybe i just lead a dull life? :shrug:
 
some of the features in 7 are damn cool - just reinstalled my work laptop with 7 Enterprise and have been using 7 Beta/RC/RTM on my personal laptop for a while.

love it :] OSX seems to restrict me too much due to it's attempts to be way too simple.
 
Apple hardware is overpriced... but they are very nicely built!
Simplicity of OSX can't be compared with other OS IMO

If you are thinking of purchasing then you should really pop into an Apple store and just try it! If you like it then it's likely to be a good choice!
 
kelfan said:
Apple hardware is overpriced... but they are very nicely built!
Simplicity of OSX can't be compared with other OS IMO
Click to expand...

tell that to the small pile of crumbling macbooks we have at work with keys missing, cases split, failed screens. and the 4 new snow leopard boxes we have teething issues with (no canon printer drivers and poor networking to name a few).

regarding simplicity W7 is easily on par with OSX in my opinion. we're even looking at getting non essential mac users back on to PC as its just too much cost and hassle for some apps.

i dont want to sound like im being anti mac because im not. i have a mac on my desk at work and its not the anti-christ that some people make out. however theyre not the answer to all the worlds problems that others make them out to be so i do debug some posts.
 
Dman said:
And on the other hand, you can buy a shiny new PC and then have half the memory hogged by the anti virus software you have to install on it. Of course, Macs are not completely free from viruses but in 8 years of owning one and not having AV installed, I've never had a virus (a 6 monthly sweep tells me this).

It's no coincidence that any PC I ever owned needed to be replaced within a couple of years, whereas I still have a 7 year old Powerbook that works fine.

I'm not a so called 'fanboy' by any means, but be careful of those who slate Apple just because it's fashionable to do so.
Click to expand...

MAC's market share varies depending on what reports you read and what metrics you use. Last figures I saw had them at 3.4% of the PC (desktop/laptop) market. If you were going to take the time and trouble to write a virus or hack an OS, you would go for the big target, not the insignificant little one.

MAC OSX is not more secure than Windows - it is simply less tested by the hackers and script kiddies of this world. Should that change and a significant proportion of that "community" decides that they want to put OSX under the same scrutiny they did Windows, things could get nasty for Apple as with only3.4% of the market they won't have the resources that MS have had to throw at the problem.

That's my sensible comment out of the way so here's an opinion. If the people who buy MAC's could just try to resist the temptation of being so smug about it then these sorts of threads would die out real quick. Something to think about maybe when your trying to right click and eat a sandwich at the same time ;)
 
Why buy a MBP?

Why did you not just buy the MAC OS and create a second partion and install it on there?
 
LemmingLover said:
That's my sensible comment out of the way so here's an opinion.

If the people who buy MAC's could just try to resist the temptation of being so smug about it then these sorts of threads would die out real quick. Something to think about maybe when your trying to right click and eat a sandwich at the same time ;)
Click to expand...

Indeed, each to their own.

I use what I use because I got sick to the nines of the excuses, the conflicts, the reasons why my systems were not giving the performance and reliability that they boasted.
I want to do a job and not discuss at great lengths what is stopping me.

I use video editing, photo editing, music reproduction/recording and of course the general web and desktop usage, for the last five years I have not experienced any of those problems.

Call me smug, I couldn't give a flying one at a rolling doughnut.

BTW, Am eating toast and right clicking to copy & paste :)

= Where there's a will, there's a way :)
 
Ross2 said:
what i really would like it recommendations for software to use on it. ie. people experiece using different products.
Click to expand...


Personally, I use the following software.

Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop for image editing
- Lightroom works for me far better than Aperture, and I prefer the way it handles the files. The catalogs are also portable between OS X and Windows, so if you do switch back, you just move the files & catalog, and don't need to redo all your cataloging work.
- Having looked at Elements 8, I could probably do everything I need to do with that, but I use a few actions, and this still isn't in Elements.

MS Office 2008
- I've tried Open Office, I've tried Works, the alternatives are good, but Office means I get no compatiblity issues.

Evernote - Free - http://www.evernote.com/
- Used for Notetaking, it's free and multi platform.

Vienna - Free - http://www.vienna-rss.org/vienna2.php
- RSS reader

Curio - Costs £'s - http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/
- Mindmapping and brainstorming tool, I use it as my project planning and management tool. I'm on an older version, the new version has a lot of great extra features.

Nice Player & VLC - Free
- Video players.

Filezilla - Free - http://filezilla-project.org/
- FTP program

Macpar Deluxe & The Unarchiver
- Compression and archiving tools.

Skype - Free - http://www.skype.com/
- I can talk to Oz, for free

SuperDuper - Free for the base features - http://www.shirt-pocket.com/
- Disk Cloning tool, although you can use Disk Utility too, this has some nice extra features in the paid version.

GoToMyPC - https://www.gotomypc.com/
- Mac version's in internal Beta at the moment, but it works like a charm.


Web Browser of choice is Firefox, with the XMarks add-on. If Xmarks was 100% feature compatible with Safari, I'd use Safari.

Other Plugins....

NTFS-3G - Free - http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/
- Allows OS X to write to NTFS partitions. I've recently discovered that Snow Leopard can do this natively, but haven't tried it yet.
http://feeds.macosxhints.com/click.phdo?i=c08a1cccddc2143a7db8b2321ad1f817

Perian - Free - http://perian.org/
- Adds additional video support for Quicktime


That's pretty much all I use. I use some screen capture software too, but other than that, this list is what I've installed and used in 2 years of being a Mac user.

I do use the shipped software in iLife, with the exception of iPhoto (which I've removed).
 
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