PC to MAC

whitey

whitey

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Afternoon all

I am anotehr who is looking at changing

I am in no way making this topic to start a debate on what is best just as to what would be best for my needs

Running on the MAC would be Photoshop CS4, Office 2008 happily

as long as it could run batches in PS then speed isn't the biggest issue

What I currently have with a PC and i am not sure will work
NAS - I presume I can add a network drive and connect easily?
firewire card reader - plug and play I presume

other than that I am open to ideas

Do I wait for Windows 7 or do I "jump ship" as its known as I like the idea of the flatscreen Mac's to reduce my space usage (bear in mind I will run an A3+ printer along side it) s[ace isn't a real issue I just like the idea of using less space than I would with a tower/24" screen

Thanks in advance
 
Before it all kicks off

Apple products are expensive, but we all know that and account for it.

PC's can be had cheaper, and they may be quicker, but most lack the aesthetics of the Apple range. You can also build our own PC for the price of an Apple Keyboard & Mouse. ;)

You could also install Mac OS onto a PC if you choose to go that route (Not legal)

Windows 7 is very nice and a lot better than Vista (or XP) (Apple nicked some ideas from Win 7 for Snow Leopard)

Macs are pretty

Macs tend to feel snappier

Macs lend themselves to workflow a little better

Right, I think that covers the usual arguments, on to your questions...



NAS - No problem, I have a pair of NAS in the house, and the Mac's connect fine to them, as do the windows machines.

Firewire card reader - There's a Firewire 800 port on all the iMac & Macbook Pro range, the macbook has a firewire 400. You can get a 400-800 adaptor or cable if needed.
 
Thanks for the replies

Is there any ranges to look out for? avoid? etc?
 
neil_g said:
depends on why you want to change.. windows 7 is easily the best microsoft OS to date. much better than vista and equally as fast if not better than XP.
Click to expand...

tried a Windows 7 beta not long back and didnt think there was alot of difference between Vista and that, although it did run slightly quicker, not a huge difference to be honest

Raymond Lin said:
The learning curve is not as big as you think.

10 years of Windows user here, new iMac owner for 3 weeks.

Very easy !
Click to expand...

Thats what I like about them aswell, I have only ever used PC's as my main computer but after using a Mac for about an hour and rebuilding one, it seems to be as easy as a PC, once you get used to where things are its not that difficult
 
whitey said:
tried a Windows 7 beta not long back and didnt think there was alot of difference between Vista and that, although it did run slightly quicker, not a huge difference to be honest
Click to expand...

lower footprint, lower memory usage, faster operating in general.. blows my vista install out of the water.. even the release candidate i use at home (havent quite got around to installing the RTM version yet).
 
im in the same boat and i was contemplating on a macbook at christmas (because of sales) however the trouble with macs is compatibility as alot of software isnt compatible with mac although the most popular stuff is so i dont think it will be a problem, i think i will just get a nice dell (i think dells are like the macs of the pc world). just thought will cs3 work with windows 7
 
It's all pretty much been covered. Having used both extensively the speed thing comes down to this. Top end macs compare to top end pcs speed wise as they can actually be the same hardware. In fact when I bought my quad xeon pro it wad the fastest windows machine without overclocking as intel had supplied processors to apple they hadn't supplied to other channels.

You know when you re-install a windows machine and before you start sticking utilities and apps on it? It feels quite snappy and that is how the equivalent mac feels. Unfortunately as you stick all the utils on the windows machines they use up memory and processor cycles and this slows the computer down. With any luck windows 7 is going to address this a little.

Some lower end MacBooks don't have FireWire but most apple machines do and any FireWire is compatible with any other use just need the right connectors.

If you are changing read my thread (see sig). You can now click on individual tips in the list at the start of the thread.
 
Thanks for all of the advise

I think I will be looking for a 20" Silver IMac once I get things sorted and sell my PC/Monitor combo
 
whitey said:
Running on the MAC would be Photoshop CS4, Office 2008 happily

as long as it could run batches in PS then speed isn't the biggest issue
Click to expand...

My white MacBook, 2.1 Duo processor thingy, 1GB Ram and there's a hard drive in there somewhere too, happily batch processes raw files. A new 20" iMac won't even notice it's doing anything.
I'm perfectly happy with my 20" screen, not saying a 24" version wouldn't be nice, but I never feel the need, others might.

One deciding factor for me was also the small footprint thing, and the iMac really is a thing of beauty as a bonus.
 
I have been using Apple frombefore Mac's were invented and having to deal with various PC'S I WOULD NOT CHANGE. My present iMac is neat and now I don't need the pure power and expansion of the tower type - with added memory handles Photoshop, Lightroom, Indesign and Acrobat Pro all at the same time. The screen is good but I have added window shade utility as I found that I could not darken the screen enough to match one printer.
 
cowasaki said:
You know when you re-install a windows machine and before you start sticking utilities and apps on it? It feels quite snappy and that is how the equivalent mac feels. Unfortunately as you stick all the utils on the windows machines they use up memory and processor cycles and this slows the computer down. With any luck windows 7 is going to address this a little.
Click to expand...

it seems to so far (20 days in on RTM and 2 months on RC). but then i only install what i need to and dont install crap.
 
JasonRS said:
Get the 24" the displays better (8bit vs 6Bit)
Click to expand...

I looked at both but for my needs the 30" would be perfect I think

There is one sitting at work behind me on the desk and its the right size for what I would use it for and space wise

altough the 24" would be a distant dream :lol:
 
It is surprising how much more useful the larger screen is when you have tabs open either side of your image - or in my case when working on an image in "shop before dragging it over to a document in InDesign. It is one time when size does matter . . . although most chaps seem to boast how small their equipment is when talking mobile phones!
 
Rather than the screen size it is the quality of the panel that is the main difference, the 20" is only a 6 bit panel, the 24" is a 8 bit panel, so able to display more (accurate) colours.
 
Don't mean to hijack, but I'm potentially about to move to a 8-core Mac-Pro after being a Windows user (and Microsoft certified) for donkey's years. I'm just getting fed up with the windows faff and gradual slow-down over months and the 4 billion nested menus and a million other things.

No real questions, just wanted a tad reassurance I guess as it's a big move for me.....
 
There are plenty of threads on here from people who have switched.

The Switch 101 guide on the Apple support site is really good too.
 
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