Migrating to a Mac?

[Eric_and_Corinna 0]

Our one year old son decided he would celebrate moving to the US by dousing Corinna's laptop with lemonade, so we need to get a replacement laptop. It's the only way she stays in touch with all of her friends back in Canada, so time is of the essence

We're thinking of crossing over to a Mac...anyone have any suggestions on the model or bad experiences to share?

[MichelleMcK 0]

I have a MacBook and my fiancé has a MacBook Pro. We both love ours. He is an apple certified technician, and has always been Mac, but I switched from PC a little over a year ago, and would never go back!

Depending on what you use the computer for... I think a MacBook is good for most users, unless you are going to use your computer for work- then go for a MacBook Pro!

[MrsCat 6]

My current laptop is an older iBook which I love. My bro and his GF have MacBook pros (which I am envious of). Hubby and I got a iMac in January (which is so pretty).

Absolutely fav thing about the Mac - you can hook up any digital camera instantly (no drivers, no install cd's). Its great.

Worst thing about the Mac - for some websites you've always got to find some software to install because the website isn't compatable with Mac (usually seems to be Windows media player). However, works fine with VJ!

If $$$ is no object, I'd get the MacBook Pro. MacBook Air might be worth the coin if you travel extensively and need a lightweight, long lasting battery.

Also, this is kinda sneaky, but if you decide to buy it online, sign up as if you're a univeristy student (they don't check this), and you can get usually $100 off the price of the laptop/computer and their service plans/warranties are like half the price. shhhhhhh. They take good care of their college students.

[Sprailenes 47]

I have a macbook and its awesome, I haven't turned on my PC since I got it. My husband has a G5 and is a huge longtime mac fan. I think its easy to use and it has a lot of really cool features.

Once you go mac, you never come back.

[SpiritAlight 1]

I started on PC doing design (in the 80s!!) and then used both platforms and then switched completely to Mac about 4 years ago.

Many (non-designer) friends have made the switch in the last 2 years.

Every one is thrilled.

And mostly pleased with no more concerns of viruses (virae??).

If you need more technical advice (i.e. file transfer, software), please ask.

Edited August 25, 2008 by SpiritAlight

[DeadPoolX 9]

There are both good and bad points to the PC and Mac platforms. Neither one is truly "better" than the other, despite what die-hard users might say. I've used both extensively and most of all, it'd really depend on you far more than the machine. By that I mean... What do you wish to do with it?

A PC, by its very nature, is far more flexible than a Mac. It has more hardware and software available, but if you're not interested in playing games or perhaps modifying -- or building -- your computer, then a Mac might be for you instead. The user can do less with the Mac (by this I mean, they can't build one from scratch or swap all sorts of parts as is possible in a PC), but most productivity software, ranging from Photoshop to even Microsoft Word is available on the Mac.

These Apple-imposed limitations, however, make the Mac a much simpler machine to operate. Although I hate to compare any computer to a game console, Apple has essentially done that with their machines. While there are several different versions of each Mac type, the varieties won't differ so dramatically as to cause compatibility issues, as is sometimes the case on the PC. That's one of the drawbacks to having literally thousands of hardware vendors producing parts -- the operating system needs to recognize and handle it all.

The myth that "Macs never crash" is just that. I have seen far too many of them crash in my lifetime. Macs can also get viruses (just like Linux too), but the main difference here is that there are far fewer viruses written for MacOS (or Linux). That's the real problem and not Windows itself. Since just about everyone uses Microsoft's OS today, anyone who wishes to write a virus, trojan, worm or any other piece of malware, aims their work at Windows since most people use it. They figure that if they want to attack others, they should hit the most commonly used OS to hurt the most people. If MacOS were used as much as Windows, I'm sure we'd see the same thing with it, but it's not, so we don't.

One thing you might want to remember that is that PC software won't work on a Mac and vice-versa. So if you have a lot of software for a PC, it will be rendered inoperable, unless you get the newer Macs that can boot both MacOS and Windows. If you do that, however, I'd recommend getting a copy of WinXP over Vista. At the moment, Vista is a memory hog and lacks sufficient driver support.

Edited August 25, 2008 by DeadPoolX

[Eric_and_Corinna 0]

Thanks for all your replies. My wife won't be doing any actual work on it, just using it for internet access, and storing lots of pictures and music files. Can you use MSN messenger or Skype on a Mac?

[I luv my chappara 0]

Thanks for all your replies. My wife won't be doing any actual work on it, just using it for internet access, and storing lots of pictures and music files. Can you use MSN messenger or Skype on a Mac?

yes -----

i love mac, it's easy to use..

[Sprailenes 47]

Also, with bootcamp your mac can become a PC if you need to play games or do PC things.

Edited August 25, 2008 by Sprailenes

[jedinite 0]

I am a Microsoft Certified consultant but I use a MacBook Pro exclusively for my home use. I bought my wife a G4 MacBook (the predecessor to the MacBook Pro) and I enjoyed the look and layout of the Mac OS X (Tiger) back then but the G4 processors did not thrill me. Now the entire Mac line of computers is exclusively Intel-based making the difference between the Mac and PC world a matter of OS rather than hardware.

There are both good and bad points to the PC and Mac platforms. Neither one is truly "better" than the other, despite what die-hard users might say. I've used both extensively and most of all, it'd really depend on you far more than the machine. By that I mean... What do you wish to do with it?

I will disagree with this comment. I believe Macs are better for personal users both technical and non-technical. Mac OS X is built on the Unix BSD kernel, a very powerful and long running operating system developed by AT&T and the University of Berkley. You may be familiar with Linux which is just "free" derivative of Unix. Macs can do everything a PC can do and most times better, and a lot of times more stable, and quite often for cheaper.

Yes buying a new Mac is more costly than your $700 Dell deal, but when you look at the hardware specs, the Mac is a more powerful machine to begin with. Dell bargain bin deals also don't offer much in terms of software and support. Mac's come with enough included and useful software that you don't have to go out and spend several hundred more to get a useful machine. Since Macs are built on the Unix kernel, you can run a LOT of free applications with little or no extra configuration needed. If you want a good Office program, why spend $200-400 for Office for Mac 2008 when you can download OpenOffice for free, and it runs and looks a lot better than Microsoft Office for Mac, and it's still compatible with your Microsoft Office counterparts.

If you need a graphics application, download GIMP, it's an open source alternative to Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. It will do anything Adobe does for free, and most features a home user needs is covered easily by Apple's included iLife software or buy installing GIMP.

A PC, by its very nature, is far more flexible than a Mac. It has more hardware and software available, but if you're not interested in playing games or perhaps modifying -- or building -- your computer, then a Mac might be for you instead. The user can do less with the Mac (by this I mean, they can't build one from scratch or swap all sorts of parts as is possible in a PC), but most productivity software, ranging from Photoshop to even Microsoft Word is available on the Mac.

Other than the variety of hardware that can frustrate and annoy most users, Mac offers the most stable platform for computing. Apple computers are proprietary because it offers it's users a level of experience that you don't get with PCs. Mac users get a solid platform out of the box, PC users often struggle with updating their computer to the latest drivers and fixing security issues. If anyone tells you differently, ask them when the last time they ran into a driver issue on a Mac, then ask them how many times they have had to update drivers on a PC. Mac updates are painless and seamless, Windows updates is a poorly implemented system that often requires the user to reboot several times during and after updates.

With the new Intel Macs (a lot of PC users don't realize that Mac now use Intel chips now btw), you are able to run both Mac OS and Windows if you really need to. Windows can run on a separate partition on your computer using a program called "BootCamp" which is included on all new Macs. You may also run a virtual machine version of Windows with VMWare Fusion or Parallels (I recommend and prefer Fusion). Virtual machines are like running another operating system within it's own program environment, for example you will see Windows within a program window on your Mac desktop, you can drag and drop files to and from the virtual Windows machine and you can run any program you like in Windows as if you were actually on a physical Windows machine.

Also with BootCamp you can run the majority of the Windows games on your Mac via Windows boot up. EA (Electronic Arts) as well as a few other major game publishers have signed deals with Apple to provide Mac compatible versions of all their games. So the age-old fact about Macs not being able to run games like PCs is quickly becoming a myth. World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games have been supported on the Mac even from G3/G4 days.

These Apple-imposed limitations, however, make the Mac a much simpler machine to operate. Although I hate to compare any computer to a game console, Apple has essentially done that with their machines. While there are several different versions of each Mac type, the varieties won't differ so dramatically as to cause compatibility issues, as is sometimes the case on the PC. That's one of the drawbacks to having literally thousands of hardware vendors producing parts -- the operating system needs to recognize and handle it all.

DeadPoolX hit the nail on the head with this point.

The myth that "Macs never crash" is just that. I have seen far too many of them crash in my lifetime. Macs can also get viruses (just like Linux too), but the main difference here is that there are far fewer viruses written for MacOS (or Linux). That's the real problem and not Windows itself. Since just about everyone uses Microsoft's OS today, anyone who wishes to write a virus, trojan, worm or any other piece of malware, aims their work at Windows since most people use it. They figure that if they want to attack others, they should hit the most commonly used OS to hurt the most people. If MacOS were used as much as Windows, I'm sure we'd see the same thing with it, but it's not, so we don't.

Macs are not impervious to crashes, but the amount of crashes, especially on new Mac machines are few and far between. You must realize that a lot of the impressions that PC Tech People had of Macs was from the early days of OS X or before. Ever since Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) and Leopard (10.5) have been available, Macs have been much more stable and effective at handling program errors. Unless you like to run a lot of non-standard programs you'll likely rarely see a crash on a Mac.

I recommend a virus scan for any computer you purchase, whether that be PC or Mac. Windows machines are more susceptible to viruses because most of the computers out there are Windows based. Hackers like to exploit a lot of the security vulnerabilities on Windows machines as well. Unix/Linux and Mac OS are smaller segments of the market, and are built on much more stable and secure platforms. But they are not immune to attacks.

One thing you might want to remember that is that PC software won't work on a Mac and vice-versa. So if you have a lot of software for a PC, it will be rendered inoperable, unless you get the newer Macs that can boot both MacOS and Windows. If you do that, however, I'd recommend getting a copy of WinXP over Vista. At the moment, Vista is a memory hog and lacks sufficient driver support.

Remember what I said about BootCamp and Virtual Machines, you can run ANY Windows software on a Mac now, no matter what. Anyone that tells you differently, ask them to speak to me about Virtualization or running on a separate partition. Macs and PCs now run on the same hardware platform for the most part. When it comes down to it, how much time does one want to spend learning how to repair a Windows PC vs how much time does one want to enjoy using a Mac? If you have any problems with your Mac, you bring it into an Apple Store or a Apple Certified reseller and they will fix it no questions asked. Same thing doesn't necessarily happen with a Windows PC, and if you have a friend/family member that is a tech wiz, well they will most-likely help but be somewhat annoyed if you are constantly running into issues. I know I am.

Remember, I'm a Windows Consultant, if it weren't for Microsoft I wouldn't have a job, but even I prefer a Mac over a PC. If Window machines were built as well as Macs, myself and a lot of my colleagues would probably be out of jobs.

One final thing to note, ALWAYS get the Apple Care on a Mac Laptop/Notebook. You get 1yr of included maintenance and warranty with a Mac Notebook or Laptop purchase but for a small price you get 3 years of hassle-free warranty. If you carry around a portable computer you're bound to have something happen to it, even if it's as little as your laptop bag tipping over with your laptop in it, it may cause some minor damage which may need repair after your regular warranty runs out. If anything goes wrong you're pretty much covered. If you decide on going with a Windows Laptop I'd buy extended warranty as well but I wouldn't guarantee that everything is covered.

If you have any other questions about what software or products to buy with your computer send me a note.

Thanks for all your replies. My wife won't be doing any actual work on it, just using it for internet access, and storing lots of pictures and music files. Can you use MSN messenger or Skype on a Mac?

Yes and Yes. Once she starts using iChat though, I believe she'll be in love with using that instead (as long as her contacts also have macs that is)

[DeadPoolX 9]

First of all, no one who knows anything about computers would purchase a PC from Dell, Gateway or any other "stock" vendor. They'd build the machine themselves or at the very least, purchase their PC from a vendor such as Alienware, VoodooPC, Falcon-Northwest, etc. Anyone who expects to get a magnificent machine at a rock-bottom price is only fooling themselves, although when building one from the ground up, sometimes deals can be made. That requires skill, however.

I know some people enjoy Macs and that's fine. They're free to choose whatever they like. I prefer my freedom of choice over simplicity. Apple gives too few choices for me. The PC, while far more complicated and sometimes frustrating, can offer an ever-widening degree of flexibility and choice for computer users. Of course, some people like everything spelled out for them ahead of time, too.

As for GIMP being able to do everything Photoshop and Illustrator can do, don't make me laugh. I'm a professional graphic designer with over eight years of experience under my belt. GIMP is a fun little tool, but it's not even as useful as Paint Shop Pro (which I found fairly pathetic as well). Ask anyone within the graphics industry and you'll find the same answer (once they've finished laughing or perhaps asking "what's GIMP?") and that's Photoshop is the standard in graphic design that has all others beat. GIMP be good for someone looking to replace Microsoft Paint and hoping to just "mess around a bit," but could never afford a professional raster or vector art image editor.

[Sprailenes 47]

This is turning into one of these...

[MrsCat 6]

This is turning into one of these...

[jedinite 0]

First of all, no one who knows anything about computers would purchase a PC from Dell, Gateway or any other "stock" vendor. They'd build the machine themselves or at the very least, purchase their PC from a vendor such as Alienware, VoodooPC, Falcon-Northwest, etc. Anyone who expects to get a magnificent machine at a rock-bottom price is only fooling themselves, although when building one from the ground up, sometimes deals can be made. That requires skill, however.

I know some people enjoy Macs and that's fine. They're free to choose whatever they like. I prefer my freedom of choice over simplicity. Apple gives too few choices for me. The PC, while far more complicated and sometimes frustrating, can offer an ever-widening degree of flexibility and choice for computer users. Of course, some people like everything spelled out for them ahead of time, too.

As for GIMP being able to do everything Photoshop and Illustrator can do, don't make me laugh. I'm a professional graphic designer with over eight years of experience under my belt. GIMP is a fun little tool, but it's not even as useful as Paint Shop Pro (which I found fairly pathetic as well). Ask anyone within the graphics industry and you'll find the same answer (once they've finished laughing or perhaps asking "what's GIMP?") and that's Photoshop is the standard in graphic design that has all others beat. GIMP be good for someone looking to replace Microsoft Paint and hoping to just "mess around a bit," but could never afford a professional raster or vector art image editor.

Well, I hope you weren't personally offended by my quoting your response DeadPoolX. You and I seem both like the technical ones of the bunch. I would agree with you that anyone that needs a professional graphics suite should go with Adobe Creative Suite, but the majority of the home PC owners out there don't really fit into he professional category, and therefore are probably well off with GIMP anyways. If not they may turn to a product like Aperture or Adobe Elements. At least GIMP is free to try or use. Adobe Creative Suite runs in $400 to $1600 range depending on the features you want.

And since we've established that the user is a non-technical person, it's better for him to get a Mac because the ease of use and service. DeadPoolX, you and I are of a different user set, that would be more than comfortable either forking out a ton of cash for a Voodoo or Alienware machine or building it on our own. I used to always build my PC or buy from Voodoo as I am a personal friend of the founder and CTO of Voodoo PC. But ever since Macs supported Intel I will generally recommend Apple computers to anyone that needs a hassle-free user experience. Most people asking which next computer they should go for are typically not hardcore gamers or technical folks.

Like I said I am a systems consultant for Microsoft products, I know them like the back of my hand and I use them everyday, but when I get home I don't want to "work" on my computer, I just want my computer to work. Hence, with an MacBook Pro, I can do what I need to and at the same time my computer is more than powerful and flexible enough to run Windows or Linux VM sessions, run XCode and Unix Terminal for programming or just surf, play some games and plug into my TV and watch my shows via FrontRow.

Macs aren't for everyone, but for those who aren't comfortable figuring computers out for themselves, do us technical people a favor and get an Apple, you're going to like it better and you're going call us techies not because you need help with your computer but because you want to go hang out and grab a drink.

BTW here's a basic comparison of similar computers, both for ~$2100:

1. MacBook Pro 15"
2. 15.4" Widescreen Display
3. 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
4. 200 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
5. 2GB RAM
6. Mac OS X Leopard
7. iLife '08 included (GarageBand, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, iWeb)

• AlienWare m15x (Customized)
  
• 15.4" Widescreen Display
  
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
  
• 250 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
  
• 2GB RAM
  
• Windows Vista Home Premium (second worst version of Vista, recommend Vista Ultimate for an extra $105CAD)
  
• Software included - ??? A bunch of trial ware?
  

Well that's really comparing Apples to Apples. I don't hate on PCs I just find them to be more difficult to manage than Macs, esp. for non-technical people.

[Sprailenes 47]

Haha you made a PUN! Sorta.

Sorry back to serious discussions.