Wife wants to buy me a mac????

I am a PC user and have often thought about the change, but to get one thats equal to my PC would cost around 7k.........big jump from a PC that cost me 2k to build and thats not including monitor kb and rodent
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
I am a PC user and have often thought about the change, but to get one thats equal to my PC would cost around 7k.........big jump from a PC that cost me 2k to build and thats not including monitor kb and rodent
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What spec PC have you that would cost £7K as a Mac ?
 
quad core amd with 2 8890gti in sli 2tb hdd 4gb memory and probably worth about 600quid now as it was built a while ago when prices were higher (dont need sli as I dont do games but it was a bad option lol)
 
actually its a dual core sorry

edit.......and the 7k was what another member here said I would have to pay (a while ago)
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
actually its a dual core sorry

edit.......and the 7k was what another member here said I would have to pay (a while ago)
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My previous gen Mac pro would be significantly faster than the AMD :)

A basic £1895 Mac pro (QUAD Nehalem!) plus 2 x 1Tb Samsung HDs from Scan £120 (or your current drives!) + ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB @ £160

This would absolutely blitz your current setup by a very long way.

Most Apple users upgrade RAM and HD from places other than Apple!
 
No doubt it would mate but would rather get my use from this one first and once it starts to fail then think again, seriously at a mac as they do seem better than PCs
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
No doubt it would mate but would rather get my use from this one first and once it starts to fail then think again, seriously at a mac as they do seem better than PCs
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I wasn't suggesting that you change your computer now just that whoever quoted your £7K was rather inaccurate!
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
it was last year or threabouts:lol: forgot who it was:thumbs:
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Although I do the Mac tips etc I have a balanced view of things having both machines available to me. If you have a machine that does what you want, like you do, then there is absolutely no point in changing. Spend the money on glass :)

Anyone that is planning to change or thinking seriously of doing so is better just making sure that any new peripherals are mac compatible so check those scanners and printers! (Most new ones are).
 
My 2p's worth...

Have you been to a Mac store? Have a play, or if you have a friend with a Mac ask him/her to show you the ins and outs.

If you look at the iMac you will see how good the screen is. I have NEVER EVER seen a screen as good as the iMac, perfect for photographers IMO.

I swapped in Jan this year and after the initial shock i must say i LOVE my Mac! If i had to go back to a PC i would wait for Windows 7 and spend most of the money on a decent screen.
 
As someone who uses pc and macs and linux and even amigaOS I've gotta say they all have their pro's and cons...
Mac's nice OS, good stability, consistent ui throughout, more expensive on initial purchase and slightly less availability of parts and software
Linux fantastic stability (servers with 1 year+ of constant uptime ie. 100% no reboots), ui changes depending on window manager etc. software is hard to find for pro use, hardware support can be/is a nightmare.
PC availability, Windows 7 is my favourite all round OS, cheap availabilty, virus/malware/bloatware these will be the death of the platform

At the end of the day though, my point is that whatever you get is just a tool, an end to a means, and any of the platforms is capable to a fairly high degree of doing that. If you go Mac, you will have a learning curve and expense. If you stay PC, again I would get Windows 7 and a decent spec pc with the associated costs and learning curve. You really do pays your money and takes your choice. I would go and spend a day with a mac owner and see how it suits you and see if you think you can go down that route. £1500 buys a hell of a lot of a pc these days, more than I would personally spend on 4 machines (however I build/repair/upgrade them!)

Any questions, you can send them my way...
 
Isn't this really another canon/nikon type argument?

Depends on what you like and what you are comfortable with. Macs have a great styling to them, people grow up with PC's and so feel comfortable. Macs seem to attract an additional premium for their styling.

Some of the arguments on here about windows crashing all the time are a little strange. Ok microsoft allowed system DLL's to be available to any programmer, which can affect stability if you load any old shareware app. Just keep it fairly clean (I keep the kids off mine :D ) and it's fine.

Mac's seem to have almost as many OS updates these days as MS OS systems.

One point to watch is if you mix Mac and PC systems on the same network or external storage systems. Macs can write filenames/extentions that windows thinks are illegal and can cause issues when trying to delete folders etc.

At the end of the day, as with cameras, it's what you feel comfortable with and can afford.
 
My 2p worth.

Switched from PC to Mac about 10 months ago. Still have my Dell desktop, and compaq laptop. but they don't get used much now.

Mac's aren't cheap. But they do work well. The only problem, I've had is with a Delkin UDMA card reader, For some reason there are no drivers for OS 10.5 and it kept causing a kernal panic ( Mac version of "Blue Screen of Death" , but the Mac recovers from this with a restart. Card now in bin)

Converted Photoshop to Mac with help from Adobe, Lightroom runs cross platform so no problem there.You may want to look at Elements 8 for Mac as it seems to have most of the features you might need.

As said before Open Office is near enough to Office for most people, and it's free. I use iWork though as I prefer it. Email I use Thunderbird as I can get delivery notifications, which I can't with Apples mail, but that's a minor point.

What I do like is that apps are kept tidy. AppDelet works a treat in removing the app and the prefs file, no hunting around for registry entries that keep causing conflicts.

Drawbacks. Not any thing significant. Occasionally you may have to pay a little more for a piece of hardware that's Mac compatible, but that's only happened once (£5). Games, well I don't play any, but then that's what the Playstation and X-Box are for.

I like my Mac. It wasn't cheap, but then I hope it will last me for years. Would I go back to a PC. Well I use the Dell occasionally for specific tasks and it's OK.

As has been suggested earlier. Go to the Apple store and have a play. They are happy for you to spend time on the machines. many will have Photoshop and Aperture loaded. See what you think.

Just a word of advice. Leave the credit card at home..........
 
kingbling11 said:
Any news on a specific date? I'm making the switch and getting an iMac for Xmas. If theres a new one coming out ill wait a bit ***.
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You never get an actual date. The staff in the Apple shops don't have one either but November is the whisper. Have a look through the mac tips thread whilst you're waiting :)
 
Do you think itll be any physical changes or just beefing up the guts of it like the last update?
 
kingbling11 said:
Do you think itll be any physical changes or just beefing up the guts of it like the last update?
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It depends on how far Apple goes!

They have the ability to stick a quad core in it now but I think any changes are likely to be small progressions.
 
I suppose it has only been about 6 months since the last one. Sorry Paulie-W for hijacking your thread :lol:
 
Horses for courses in my case. I will use whatever tool I feel gets the best results. Some of the programs I use are not written for Mac's and I really need to keep them on the PC. I tend to mix and match as and when I need.

However, I PREFER to use the Mac, its just nicer to use, way more stable and user friendly. The GUI is far better and everything seems to be quicker on the Mac. Just don't ever ask me to let go of the pc though....
 
I went from PC to MAC about a month back and haven't looked back

I have another PC in the house which I use connected to the TV (Running Windows 7) and in all honesty I prefer running the mac

Once I get up and running if I can find the software i use to run on my TV PC I will convert that to a Mac mini aswell

using them both and PC's at work I always find a mac better

you will enjoy it
 
If you are very interested in the iMac design then first remember that it is essentially a laptop, which means it won't be *quite* as fast (although not much in it) as like for like desktop hardware (and is part of the reason they are more expensive than the equivilent windows desktop, aptop components are more expensive). Also have a look at Sony's offering to the market, they do a very nice all in one for a similar price. :)

Photo editing wise you won't find a lot of difference as you will probably be using the same programs (CS, Lightroom etc), with a imac being a little slower (than the equivilent again) due to the laptop internals on more intensive tasks. One thing a mac won't do is make everything go much "faster" hardware is hardware and that's all that's really important, the OS just allows you to use it. :)
 
is one better than the other? is one more stable than the other? does one need replacing sooner than the other? simple.. NO.

its all about personal preference about how you want to move around your screen.

do PC's have issues, yes. so do Macs. we've had several teething issues with Snow Leopard for example.

my advice would be to go to an apple store and play around, then find someone with an install of Windows 7 and also have a play. then make your mind up.. :)
 
neil_g said:
is one better than the other? is one more stable than the other? does one need replacing sooner than the other? simple.. NO.
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We tend to look like we are arguing on threads like this but I do agree with what you say after this but:

MacOS IS more efficient and a Mac will feel faster than a similarly specced Windows PC this also drags out its useful life.

Macs ARE more stable - Are they totally stable NO but they are more stable than Windows machines, it is very rare that a program under MacOS will crash the whole system requiring a reset. The big thing though is that most drivers are written by Apple which means that they are designed to work together. Windows has to handle numerous things that it has never even heard of. If Apple brought out a blu-ray writer and something in the OS caused a stability problem they can just re-write that bit of the OS. Windows hardware providers do not have this option.

I really do use both constantly and have no axe to grind. Windows 7 is VASTLY better than Vista so yes make sure you see that before making an decisions. I think it is due out on Thursday (might be wrong)
 
cowasaki said:
We tend to look like we are arguing on threads like this but I do agree with what you say after this but:

MacOS IS more efficient and a Mac will feel faster than a similarly specced Windows PC this also drags out its useful life.

Macs ARE more stable - Are they totally stable NO but they are more stable than Windows machines, it is very rare that a program under MacOS will crash the whole system requiring a reset. The big thing though is that most drivers are written by Apple which means that they are designed to work together. Windows has to handle numerous things that it has never even heard of. If Apple brought out a blu-ray writer and something in the OS caused a stability problem they can just re-write that bit of the OS. Windows hardware providers do not have this option.

I really do use both constantly and have no axe to grind. Windows 7 is VASTLY better than Vista so yes make sure you see that before making an decisions. I think it is due out on Thursday (might be wrong)
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fair comments :)

in my experience we see about the same amount of issues hit our IT helpdesk from both OS.

but yes W7 is immensely superior to anything MS has released to date. if i remember rightly official public release is the 22nd..
 
The new iMacs are out now. Check the Apple Store for details. I'm drooling already!!
 
Now I have to add more macs to the tip for thursday ! :)
 
The new mighty mouse looks sexy :love:
 
neil_g said:
is one better than the other? is one more stable than the other? does one need replacing sooner than the other? simple.. NO.
QUOTE]

This is simply wrong. OSX is far, far more stable than XP or Vista. I own a macbook pro, 24" imac, a HP tablet running Vista and a Samsung running XP.
The HP with Vista has frequent software issues, the netbook is more stable running XP but the two macs perform without any issues at all, 100% stable.
I have no axe to grind with Windows, in fact my brother-in-law has worked as a software developer at Microsoft in Seattle for many years and I can get any MS software packages for $10-$40 dollars from the MS shop. I find OSX software much better.

Windows 7 appears to be a much better OS than Vista but I would highly recommend Macs and OSX every time.
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As far as stability goes, beein running windows 7 with some fairly hardcore software for around 12hrs a day since the RC version came out. This is prerelease software and unfinished. Not ONE problem, in months and months.

It's a lot of cash for some pretty screen animations. If you pin all your apps to the taskbar it works basically the same as the bar at the bottom in OSX, if not better. I really think your (her) money would be better spent on camera gear/holiday whatever
 
neil_g said:
my advice would be to go to an apple store and play around, then find someone with an install of Windows 7 and also have a play. then make your mind up.. :)
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Good advice and it should become easier to follow after tomorrow when Windows 7 is officially released. I guess this is mainly a home machine which you will be pp'ing photo's on and such so the choice is ENTIRELY down to your own personal preference and what works best for you.
 
Ceebs said:
This is simply wrong. OSX is far, far more stable than XP or Vista.
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we have an entire floor (1/3 of the building) of macs, i would wholeheartedly disagree. we have about the same IT requests from mac users having software issues as windows users.

even our (mac fanboy) design studio manager says that the old "macs never crash" quote is a big old load of proverbial.

i could rattle off a few issues we have logged currently if you like?
 
I think the problem here is (and I must admit it winds me up a bit) is that many people make comments like "I've had a Mac for 8 years...." and "my old PC kept crashing..." or "my brother told me..." and seek to pass this off as incontravertable fact. Those of us that work in the industry (and I am guessing neil_g is one of them) see a different side of things and can base our comments on what happens in the real world when this gear is used for it's main purpose - to help companies make money.

You simply cannot state as fact to people here that "OSX is far, far more stable than XP or Vista" based on "I own a macbook pro, 24" imac, a HP tablet running Vista and a Samsung running XP". That's just your limited experience of the subject. It looks like Neil supports his fair share of Macs and in my own team, we support many hundreds of computers (including Macs) across 16 countries and I can say with confidence that there is not much to chose between the 2 platforms.

There is a reason why Windows PC's have over 90% of the market and it's not to do with good marketing. As I advised the OP in my last post "the choice is ENTIRELY down to your own personal preference and what works best for you". So, let's stick to the facts.
 
LemmingLover said:
Those of us that work in the industry (and I am guessing neil_g is one of them)
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correct. as much as i hate dropping lines with "i work in IT and i think.." ive worked in IT support for 10-11 years now. current role is in a support role for a very well known surfy clothing company with its own in house design team.
 
LemmingLover said:
I think the problem here is (and I must admit it winds me up a bit) is that many people make comments like "I've had a Mac for 8 years...." and "my old PC kept crashing..." or "my brother told me..." and seek to pass this off as incontravertable fact. Those of us that work in the industry (and I am guessing neil_g is one of them) see a different side of things and can base our comments on what happens in the real world when this gear is used for it's main purpose - to help companies make money.

You simply cannot state as fact to people here that "OSX is far, far more stable than XP or Vista" based on "I own a macbook pro, 24" imac, a HP tablet running Vista and a Samsung running XP". That's just your limited experience of the subject. It looks like Neil supports his fair share of Macs and in my own team, we support many hundreds of computers (including Macs) across 16 countries and I can say with confidence that there is not much to chose between the 2 platforms.



There is a reason why Windows PC's have over 90% of the market and it's not to do with good marketing. As I advised the OP in my last post "the choice is ENTIRELY down to your own personal preference and what works best for you". So, let's stick to the facts.
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Sorry, I didn't realise the OP's wife was buying hundreds of computers for use in a company. I thought she was buying one computer for the OP, in which case, information from individuals who have personal ownership of different operating systems seems valid. whereas the experience of companies using many machines seems less so. I stand by my comment that OSX is superior in stability to Microsofts offerings to date though as I said, Windows 7 seems very good indeed. If that winds you up a bit you should relax more :)
 
I wouldn't go to mac
just what I'm used to and I just prefer the power to be able to get in there and fix things on my PC, upgrade components etc
also W7 looks tasty, very happy with it so far.
 
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