apple vs win

ok now I have been windows based and realy enjoy using psp8, but realise that all you guys are apple heads and use adobe photoshop. Now I want to get a laptop so have the choice of win or apple. Now I will still keep my win desktop but what are the benefits of an apple? & compatability

is it realy woth the hastle? :confused:

setting up a web based co & will need to use the internet but thought if its not going to be a prob will get an apple to push forward my love of art.

Also just getting an ipod so will be dipping my toe in the big apple so to speak but wondered what your thoughts were.

cheers

Alex

I am a total windows user but I do like the Mac laptops. If you get a new mac then you will probably get software with your computer such as iPhoto, iMovie, Safari and more. Macs are also more organized in the way of files. One disadvantage of a mac though is the fact that not alot of things are compatible with mac. Mainly games. Now onto the iPod. I know about 20 people who own an iPod and they LOVE them. They have plenty of memory and are very easy to use. They are extremely expensive though in my opinion. I hope some of this information helped. I'm sure you knew most of it anyway.

Not everyone here is an Apple head, only a few of us actually have one actually. I will be getting a 12" powerbook in the next few weeks, and am really looking forward to that.

There really aren't any compatibility issues between platforms anymore, that is a myth.

Macs have MS Office, and it is completely compatible with the Windows version, as is all files between Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign, QuarkXPress, etc. And of course you can get all the IM programs on the Mac, email, etc. The only place you will find a lack of Macintosh software is in games, but even then the best games are ported to the Mac anyway. You just can't play every game that every comes out.

If there are certain programs that you just have to use Windows for, you have a couple of options. VirtualPC simulates Windows on a Mac, so that you can run any Windows program in a little window on your Mac, albeit a little bit slower than normal. Another option is to actually run a virtual desktop to your existing PC. Just keep it under your desk or something, and connect to it from you Mac. This way you are running Windows apps at the full speed of the Windows machine below your desk, not at a simulated speed that is actually running on the Mac itself.

MacOSX is also based on UNIX, the OS used on huge servers, that has been around for 30 years. You can just fire up the terminal in MacOSX, and have a full installation of UNIX at your disposal. You can run the Apache web server right out of the box on your machine, as well as install PHP easily, MySQL databases, etc. All great for web design. There is an immense amount of power from the UNIX command line if you want to learn to use it.

If you are getting a Laptop, be sure to go look at one of the Powerbooks somewhere if possible. Apple's laptops are top notch, and easily the best on the market. They are all less than an inch thick, and the 12" only weighs 4.6lbs. There are PC laptops that weigh that little, but not that have a DVD Burner built-in, to my knowledge. But anyway the Apple laptops are super sexy, and you really have to see them to appreciate that.

The apps that come with Macs are also amazing. iTunes is incredible, and easily the best Music Playing software I've ever used. I bought an iPod last week which is also incredible, but I'm having to use it on my Windows PC for a few more weeks. But I've used iTunes quite a bit on friend's Macs, and it just doesn't even compare. Plus you'll have access to the iTunes Music Store, which really is as great as everyone says it is.

iPhoto is great for simple photo editing and management, with one click enhancement of photos that works pretty well, red-eye removal, cropping, resizing, etc. The management of the photos is also really great. You can easily group them into albums, enter keywords, etc. Also with just a few clicks you can order prints of your digital pictures online from Kodak, and they will be mailed to you. You can view slideshows of your photos with a song of your choice from your iTunes library, order a hard cover professionally bound album of your photos with pictures, captions etc, one-click emailing of your photos from iPhoto, and more.

iMovie is a simple but good movie editing application. In less than 20 minutes from my first time ever using it I was always already making movies with still shots, videos, transitions, titles, background music, voice overs, etc. It really is extremely easy to use. Then with one click you can send it to iDVD to burn it on to a DVD with professional menus, etc. (If your Mac shipped with a Superdrive, that is)

The Mac of course comes with an email program called Mail, and Apple has their own web browser now called Safari which is really nice.

Then you have iCal, the Addressbook, and iSync, which you can use as your contact management, scheduling, etc. Or use a thirdparty program like http://www.nowsoftware.com/tour/index.html Now-Up-To-Date to do that.

Another of my favorite programs for the Mac is Watson ( http://karelia.com/watson/ ), which pulls info from many different web sites into its own interface. You can easily find pictures, recipes, movie times, weather, phone numbers, etc. When you look up a phone number, just click a single button and all of their info is automatically added to your system-wide address book, which can be accessed from any application on the system. It can do a lot of other things too, and is definitely worth the $30 to register it.

The upcoming Panther release of the MacOS will also have some cool new features like integrated font management, fast user switching, updated Mail program, a new Finder (which is like Windows Explorer or My Computer) an amazing feature called expose, which is an awesome way to manage all the windows all over your screen. (Try a demo of it at http://www.apple.com/macosx/panther/expose.html ) Panther will also have a filevault, that will allow you to encrypt and password protect directories, as well as permently deleting files by overwriting them several times. You can also fax directly from any application that you can print from. Just press fax and enter a number or take one out of your addressbook, instead of pressing print. You can also receive faxes which are saved as a PDF on your hard drive, and can also be setup to automatically email the faxes to a certain email address, which could be checked on a Cellphone. PDF is fully integrated into the system as well, allowing you to save a PDF from anything you would normally print from.

Macs have Rendezvous, which is a networking technology that allows Macs to find each other automatically. I've read stories of people with Macs starting their computers up on a plane, and automatically finding other Mac users on the plane, and then they can start chatting with them, sharing files, sharing their iTunes Library, etc. With not configuration necessary. (You do have to have an Airport card though, which is Apple's wireless networking card)

Macs are also completely invulnerable to viruses right now. Technically I'm sure there could be viruses written for them, but as of right now there are 0 viruses for Mac OSX. Compare that to tens of thousands on Windows. I personally know several people that were hit with the last round of viruses on Windows, and have lost thousands and thousands of dollars in lost productivity because of them. I've lost a lot of productivity as well, just keeping my Windows machine patched up to keep from getting all of the viruses. But if you use Windows now, you probably already know about all of that.

That's just the beginning of the reasons to use a Mac though, and I've really only touched on some of the things that are included in every mac, not even including the great third-party apps that are out there. There are a ton of other reasons to use a mac as well, but this should get you started. Feel free to ask any other questions as well.

I'm a Mac user and I love it.

There's a common misconception that a lot of things won't work on macs. That was back in the System 7.x days. Now, There is a mac double for nearly every major Windows program. For example:

Almost all Adobe apps - only app that isn't Mac is Premiere
Microsoft Office - Mac and PC
All Macromedia apps
etc.

The only major app that I know of that doesn't have Mac double is AutoCAD, but there are other CAD alternatives.

I do agree that the mac is not a real gaming machine, as there are only like 40 Mac games compared to 100's of PC games. If you really want to game, go get a PlayStation ;)

Come chat with me on AIM some time - I'll answer any of your Mac questions.

Excellent post deker

hey thanks for the detailed responses!!

I am not a gamer so won't miss out on that front. I mainly use the web & think u have just sold the mac to me as I want to get into graphic design.

many thanks for your advice

Alex

Macs are NOT completely invulerable to viruses. I have seen some viruse source codes for Macs already. They're not completely invulnerable to hacks either like alot of people think.

Originally posted by supersaiyan1322
Macs are NOT completely invulerable to viruses. I have seen some viruse source codes for Macs already. They're not completely invulnerable to hacks either like alot of people think.

Actually, there were a few viruses for System 6 - Mac OS 9.2 (now known as "Classic Mac OS"), but there are no viruses that will run on OS X. And even if there were one or two, your chances of catching them are about the same as getting struck by lightning inside the house while getting sucked into another dimension and traveling back in time :P

I’ve never liked Macs. My PC’s have always out performed any Mac out there on the market because I’m able to upgrade when I want with what I want. There just isn't that flexibility with Macs.

go derek
yeah I've decided that I want a mac too, I even started working extra hours so I can afford it :X