O/T - any Apple users?

I can only support what most everyone else has said. I have a Mac Mini. In two years it has never crashed and only Safari has shut down on me and that's only happened maybe 10-15 times at most. It's fast, no viruses. I love my MacMini. For 90% of what I use a PC for it is FAR, far better than any IBM/Windows based machine I've used.

My GF's PC is a bag of problems I try to fix constantly. My work PC is ok, but not as good as my MAC. My MAC does what I tell it to do 99% of the time.

For a personal computer, I will most likely never go back to an IBM/Windows machine. For work...well I'm studying architectural design & drawing so I'm stuck with a Windows based PC for that. But I think AutoCad would be amazing on a MAC if they did it right.

Buy a MAC, don't look back.

 

Macs are for hondacar drivers....where are we?

 

Funny you ask, just this weekend I went from an IBM PC/Laptop to a Mac....I stole my sisters college ID and got the highest end macbook and scored a free Ipod and printer too..and got 100$ off.

I still use a PC for work but in my opinion, each has their pros and cons.

6 of one half-dozen of the other really.

 

I used a PC once... about 12 years ago I think....... what a horrifying experience.

 

Like Ryan said, with the new Intel based Macs you can run Parallels (cost me $49 at Comp USA) and have both a Windows operating system AND the Mac operating system open at the same time----can flip back and forth at will and transfer data from one to the other.

For an office program try Open Office----FREE online and reads/writes the same files as Microsoft Office----I use it for things like Avery label templates that are set-up exclusively for Microsoft Office.

You know what they say, "Once you go Mac...."


Marcy

 

Macs rule.

The price for admission however......
OYE OYE OYE

 

They didn't think it was odd that your name was Heidi?

 

I made the conversion in my office to Mac about 7 months ago and I love it. I was resistant to change as I have used PC's for years.

I still have 2 PC's in my office, but that's only because I need a tablet for my work. So far there are no tablets for Mac. Once they are available I will go all Mac in my office. Right now 3 of 5 computers in the office are Mac.

 

Bingo

Something is wrong here if it's crashing/locking that much. I admin a group of 15 MacBook Pros and have no issues like this at all. They're all doing graphics and video. I standardized on them to save myself the headaches and to have more time to admin the server environment.

If you run Vista or XP you do indeed open yourself to those problems.

Photoshop is pretty much the same on both platforms. Office actually seems better on the Mac, though I use NeoOffice (it's free).

uhhhh bullshit... Gateways are for Honda drivers...

 

Actually - I thought the price tag at just under $1500 for an all-in-one iMac was just right in the sweet spot for me at this time (minus a printer).


If I bought the hot-dog PC that I was going to I would have spent $1200 to $1400 for ethe whole enchilada.

Add to the equation that I'd be forced to buy new anti-spy/anti virus every year (my current home PC is still on Windows98 - and thusly hasn't been running anything for ages - as it's no longer a target) and so on and so forth - we're talking about long run costs that add up to way more than the Apple.


...that parqagraph is a little mushed up - but I think you get the point.




Thanks Marcy - I'm all but sold.

now I just need to go check the Student discounts and see what's up.


Who knows - maybe I'd actually be able to do some art and contruibute to the Friday Art shows!!!

...but let's not count those chickens yet - I still have kids.
for now!


This place rocks!!!

 

Broman,
As has already been stated if you really need to run a Win app or two you can install Win XP/Vista using Apple's BootCamp, Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, etc. These solutions will either give you a dual boot or dual desktop system. BootCamp is a free download at apple.com and supports Vista and XP.

Aperture is our Pro photo solution when working with RAW images. It's a bit of a power hog and if you really need to run this app, I would seriously consider a Mac Pro Dual-Core or Quad-Core. It will run on the iMac okay, but the performance is just not the same. Stock straight six vs. a blown V-8, the six will get you there, it just takes a little longer.

Now, if you want a great all-in-one machine that will do just about everything you need, the new Glossy widescreen iMacs are the perfect choice. I have had one for a couple of months now and it's hard to go back to the flat screen on my MacBook Pro admin.

If you need anything else feel free to contact me.
-Sean

 

I'm a web designer and a Mac guy through and through, but I still use a Windows XP system nearly every day for testing my sites.

I have an iMac with an Intel Due Core 2 processor so I can run XP using Parallels software - the best of both worlds. On the Mac side, after 14 years of experience, I've hardly had a crash. Mac OS X is based on the Unix operating system - incredibly stable! I can't say the same for the Windows machines I've used over the years. I'm not completely knocking them, since they are more of a business industry standard, and are usually less expensive to get set up with.

I find I can get most any title I need on the Mac. True, the game support isn't the best - but that's improving all the time. Also, the look and feel on the Mac - particularly with the mouse - is nice and smooth. The PC can feel awkward.

If there's a title you just have to have on the PC, consider Parallels when you switch to a Mac!

John

 

What a bunch of weenies.

I post in Assembly language by rewiring my vacuum tube Univac, connected to the HAMB via a vintage Heathkit AM crystal set.

Just like the 50s, bro!

 

If you are getting a bomb a half dozen times a day, you need to do some maintenance. I run a Mac 24 hrs a day (don't shut it off) and I haven't had a bomb in 6 years. I regularly start from a start up disc to isolate my main disc, and run maintenance every few weeks. You have something seriously wrong.

 

Assembly Ha! It's all about Fortran baby, bring back those punch cards. Funny thing is my first HS computer class in the '84 covered Fortran and Assembly while I had a TRS-80 at home.

 

People forget that the bad stuff that shuts down Windows machine comes from the internet. If you connect to the internet from a Windows machine, you are asking for trouble. Use the Mac to connect to the internet and you can forget it. Maybe in the future someone will hack it, but I just don't have a problem with a Mac. My wife still tells me how slow her third Windows machine is, but she continues on because that what they used when she was still working 5 years ago. She thinks if she ever goes back to work, she will need a Windows machine.
Oh, well.

 

My mac is cool, but if you want a purpose-built machine have a pc built and run ubuntu on it. Way cheaper, and a pretty os. That's what I am doing next.

 

Dude,
My home PC is a classic. I call it the 57 Chevy of PCs.


500mhz Intel processor
40gig internal hard drive
128 megs of RAM
Windows 98


Varooom baby!


But hey - I got the top of the line stuff at work so I somehow have been able to feel okay about this at home - especially since I am doing CAD work 8 to 9 hours a day EVERY day....the last thing I really wanted to do was go home and get on the computer.

With an Apple and (hopefully) some kind of vector based art work program I hope to get some seat time at home as well.

 

I currently own four Macs. Like ANY other machine, there are some issues (the laptops, from the G3 onward) tend to get warm (read: fucking hot) which can fry the hard drive, but you learn to save/backup which is good practice to get into, regardless.

I am a Design Director at a studio with 100+ employees. With the exception of two motion graphics machines everyone in the studio runs Mac...not just the designers, but everyone, including accounts payable/recievable, etc.

I have been on Macs since 1993 with a couple work-dictated forays into the PC world from time to time. If I could convert every friend and family member over to Macs, I would. Just make sure you buy the extended Apple Care package...it's WAY better to have and not need...

Cris

 

mac for sure, everything will pretty much cost more though.

 

What's a dual 5 1/4 floppy 8088 then? I have one that works with the amber monoscreen. I also have a 8088 that has a 3.5 floppy with a hard drive too.

 

if it aint a mack it's fuckin' wack!

seriously, just run Parallels any all your PC programs work with no issues.

I have 780gig of MP3s that I have *found* all over the internet and itunes handles them all fine. I would suggest bumping all of your pics & MP3's onto an external hard drive and running them from there to keep your hard drive uncloged

 

Well dude - I guess that makes yours a Duece - or at the very least a Model A. It's got all the right parts to be hot-rodded and and it's as basic as a rock.

Mine has to be a 57 because it's bigger, faster, more technologically advanced and can hold more cargo - with more luxury.


Seriously though - I hope to be able to snag a good deal with a student discount. And if i can do the right mount of sweet talking I will get some toys like an external hard drive and some sort of art program that I can go from raster to vector (suggestions accepted). If I am a really good boy I will save my lunch money and get a Wacom tablet (I wonder if I should get the cheap one or go for the gusto and get an intuos - suggestions also accepted).

Okay - well if anyone else wants to speak up - thank you very much.

Sorry it's so O/T - but in the end I hope to be able to do more with this purchase - and be a bigger contributer to the board. I hate just settling for being an observer!! I just can't seem to find the time to drag out the drawing board and all of the lights etc. anymore......

 

I've been using Macs since the 80s and currently have a MacBook Pro and IBM Thinkpad at home and a HP pc at work. The Mac is nice for my photo stuff (Lightroom & CS3), but there are basic functionality issues like the inability to print selected text and other nitpicky things. Although I like the Mac, I don't find it significantly better than a comparably priced pc machine.

 

Adobe Illustrator does that. (auto)tracing bitmap-files into vector-files. It can also import and export files in dwg/dwx-format. I don't how usefull these files are when opened in Autocad again though.
Some CorelDraw-files can be imported aswell.

 

I read this whole thread hoping someone would touch on this. This is what I've been thinking of doing with an old windows 98 machine I have sitting here, just to try it out. Seems like a great solution for a safe web surfer. Has anyone tried this approach?
I'm no computer expert or anything, but I do think that when it comes to PC problems, it's not so much the machine, it's the software, namely anything from microsoft, they are the target. I tell all my friends to use as few MS programs as possible, it has sure made my life easier, for instance, since I've been using firefox as a browser I am a much happier surfer.
Any body here using a linux based system?