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nisstrust

28-10-2009, 11:35am

Simple & fun poll, just want to see what everyone here packs :)
Also list what machine and specs you run.

I just upgraded mine:
Mac Book Pro, Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz
80gb intel SSD
6gb Ram
:)

yummymummy

28-10-2009, 11:51am

just a PC here, got the laptop at Christmas time last year :) now I have my own puter and the kids don't touch it! :D

rmlewis

28-10-2009, 12:30pm

You're trying to start a religious war, right :D

PC -Quad Core 2.66, 16GB Ram, 2x 1 GB Disk, Windows 7 64 Bit

Built it myself (Bob the Builder :))

BLWNHR

28-10-2009, 12:30pm

Desktop machine (Custom):
Intel C2Q Q6600 (2.4GHz)
Gigabyte EP35-DS3R
4Gb DDR2
Leadtek Quadro FX570
WD 320GB HDD
2No. WD 1TB HDD's in RAID 1
WinXP Pro
2No. Dell 19" 4:3 monitors.

Server (Dell):
Intel Pentium D 3.00GHz
2.0Gb DDR2
2No. WD 500Gb HDD's in RAID 1
Win Server 2k3

Laptop (Dell 14.1"):
Intel Centrino Duo 1.86GHz
2Gb DDR2
160Gb HDD
On-board video
WinXP Pro

ving

28-10-2009, 12:39pm

pc here...

i use a commodore vic20.

Culhwch

28-10-2009, 2:03pm

Those vic20s are hard to beat. Gotta love anything with a tape deck for a storage device...

PC - Intel Dual Core 2.8GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD (going to put in a second very soon), ATI Radeon 4530 512MB video card.

I @ M

28-10-2009, 2:47pm

How do I tell the difference? :confused013 :D

rogklee

28-10-2009, 3:20pm

PC only coz I understand DOS and windows too well. Mac is a whole different language

charton

28-10-2009, 3:53pm

Laptop Vaio (don't remember of the other tech details) Kids are not allowed to touch it!

swifty

28-10-2009, 4:02pm

Currently using a MacBook pro 15".
My gf has a Sony vaio SR.. There's a story on that in another thread but it's currently running nicely, on Windows 7. I've been putting it through it's paces and I quite like it.
Considering gettng a home desktop windows 7 setup tho.
As u can see, I don't have platform loyalty.

jev

28-10-2009, 9:55pm

Where are the options for "both" or "none"?

I use both and than some :)

iMAC running OSX, a no-brand PC running Linux, another couple of PC's running Windows XP and Vista (thinking to change one to run Win7, dunno yet) and finally a notebook running Vista.

DAdeGroot

28-10-2009, 10:48pm

Hodgepodge of things here.

My main machine is an home built system:
Intel Q6600 quad-core, 8Gb RAM, 320Gb system drive, 1Tb backup drive
Runs OSX Snow Leopard, Leopard and Win XP.

Server is an AMD box running SuSE Linux, with 2x1Tb disks in RAID-1 for my photos, and 2x750Gb disks for other stuff.

Firewall was a Sun Ultra 10 running Solaris 9 and Checkpoint FW-1, but it stopped working when the fan died :(

Laptop is a G4 Powerbook running Leopard.

There are many other machines in the house too, but the above are the ones I personally use.

Gregg Bell

29-10-2009, 6:32am

PC... why?

Able to do more stronger computational skills. :) Tell me do Mac's have clusters? I one day look to build my very own cluster. Right now I have a old PC I custom built...

(2x) Intel Xeon X5365 Quad-Core
(6x) Seagates 1TB
ASUS DSBV-DX
12GB Corsair DRR3 RAM
ATI FireGL V5600
(2x) AOC 19" screens
Canon MP-240

OS - Mandriva, & Vista.

ricktas

29-10-2009, 7:08am

DAdeGroot

29-10-2009, 7:48am

PC... why?

Able to do more stronger computational skills. :) Tell me do Mac's have clusters?

Yes actually, they do. You can even build ad-hoc ones using a tool called Xgrid.

jev

29-10-2009, 9:30am

ive still got a Vic20 and a Commodore64:D
I sold my VIC20 a couple of years ago... but still have a MicroProfessor, a DOS-65 system and even an old 4.77 MHz PC running MS-DOS 3.30 :)

JohnRA

29-10-2009, 12:09pm

Dell PC & Dell laptop with just enough internal wizardry to do whatever I want ...... Sometimes slowly.

Calxoddity

29-10-2009, 1:48pm

24" 2.8GHz iMac with 4GB RAM, 320GB internal HDD, 1TB external HDD, running Leopard. Also use an XP laptop for work.

It's now 12 months since converting to the Mac, and everything is good.

Regards,
Calx

Calxoddity

29-10-2009, 1:51pm

sorry - double post

oiisxc

29-10-2009, 5:08pm

PC for me!
although Mac has iMovie which i reckon is good stuff :)

Natsky

08-11-2009, 8:54pm

I'm a mac girl. Have just ordered one of the new 27" iMacs.
2.8GHZ Quad core with 16Gb RAM and stupid amounts of real estate...can't wait!

Vasco

08-11-2009, 9:02pm

13mac book aluminium uni body with 24inch cinema display here. Thinking about upgrading to mac book pro 15inch.
Vasco

Big Pix

08-11-2009, 9:42pm

you have got to love a Mac...... using a 2004-5 lamp shade Mac with 10.5.8 OS, JBL speakers, external hard drive, airport, to play music for the house, check e-mails, and recipes when cooking..... as this unit is on the kitchen bench, a must have

Gremlin

04-01-2010, 12:18am

just bought a imac 27in monster upgraded from a Intel P4 3Gh 2gmem 250HDD, always beena PC guy but Im loving the speed and screen with the mac!
Never thought those words would ever pass my lips!

coolie21

04-01-2010, 7:55am

Macs for me for the last 15 years.

Surprised at the ratio in the poll given we are constantly told that macs have <5% of market share...

I @ M

04-01-2010, 8:01am

Surprised at the ratio in the poll given we are constantly told that macs have <5% of market share...

Probably due to graphics users and photographers being highly represented on this site compared to the "general" computer using population.

We are different ( and better ) than just "ordinary" people. :D

Now if they could only massage the price of a Mac downwards I could see one here for editing. :p

nisstrust

04-01-2010, 8:46am

come jan 26th i think you will see macs come down further in price, i think it will be a substantial shift in apple positioning especially when you look at what you get for dollars paid on the new 27inch imac i7's.

Raven

04-01-2010, 8:57am

I'm a mac girl. Have just ordered one of the new 27" iMacs.
2.8GHZ Quad core with 16Gb RAM and stupid amounts of real estate...can't wait!

I've got the 27" duo core! You'll love it :D

Also have a 13" macbook which was my first foray into mac love ♥

I may go back to PC in the future, but at this stage it seems unlikely ;)

Whisky_Mac

04-01-2010, 9:37am

G4 Destop Mac with 20" flat screen, dual 867MHz PowerPC, 60GB disk, 40GB disk, 320GB Buffalo external disk and 2GB ram.
G3 Imac blue bubble (the first Imac's) 233mhz speed, a massive 4gb disk space, expanded to 192mb of ram.
Acer PC laptop, AMD Athlon chip, 2GB ram, 220GB disk.

and to think I produced work of the G3 Imac

tanalasta

04-01-2010, 1:52pm

I always wish i'd started with Mac. And love the look, feel and specifications Macbook Pro. Everytime I use a friend's Mac, I'm impressed.

Trouble is, all my software is purchased and licensed for Windows and the cost, time and unfamiliarity with Apple always point me back towards PC.

Dwarak

04-01-2010, 4:19pm

I am happy with my mac g5 personally I feel mac is better esp with the led screen and at 2 gb it is fast

MattC

04-01-2010, 4:23pm

pc here...

i use a commodore vic20.

Hey - that was my first computer - oh how I miss waiting 15 minutes for the tapes to load up!

My new PC
Intel i5
4 gig ram
1 gig HD
ATI 5770 video card
Samsung 24" monitor
I am now a happy camper! :)

jlc

07-01-2010, 9:03pm

Another Mac here -

iMac - 20", 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB internal HDD.

Thinking I might need to be upgrading soon to the new 27" :D

pilling

07-01-2010, 10:22pm

The current:

Macbook (Blackbook)
2.16 Ghz Core 2 duo
2Gb Ram
500GB HD
Still 10.4 - don't see the point of 10.5 as 10.4 is doing everything I ask it to so far - haven't bought or needed any new software for at least 18 months!

Dell D430 (Worklaptop)
Core Duo something or other
I don't actually know the rest of the specs - it's not really for anything except spreadsheets and meetings, but it is nice and small - pre-netbook I think.

The departed or sold:

Mac G5 Dual 2.0 Ghz

15" Powerbook G4 1.67 Ghz. I LOVED this machine and I was pretty cut up that it died on me while travelling (retained all photos through the wonders of backing up to iPod), maybe one day I'll get another powerbook, but my wife keeps reminding me that I really don't NEEEED more power... :P

peterking

07-01-2010, 11:38pm

iMac 27in 3.06Ghz Intel C2D 4Gb Ram
Macbook 13"
PC P4 3Ghz 2Gb Ram
Changed to mac late last year as the PC was not doing the video I wanted and now find the mac better for imaging.
Still learning on the mac.

grizzly

10-01-2010, 7:17pm

i've just gone over to mac bought a secondhand 15inch macbook pro pretty much brand new (he decided he wantd a 13) 2.66 dual core 4gig ram 320gig HD reasonably happy with it just getting used to how everything is slightly different

dejavu

14-01-2010, 10:48pm

I started out running Windows NT then eventually moved to Linux on an IBM ThinkPad.

Now I use a Macbook Pro 17", the power of Unix with prettier packaging and less hassles with updates and drivers. I am a big Mac fan now, but that partially has to do with my line of work and what I do, some of which is difficult on a PC/Windows. On the other hand, if you are in business and have to handle lots of business document types, then Mac might not be so convenient.

If I am to buy another computer to replace my Macbook Pro, I would buy another Macbook Pro.

jprobertson

21-02-2010, 5:17pm

i did a full mac upgrade the other week, my old system was a custom PC built around a 2.66ghz core2 duo with 4gb ram and a radeon 3750, with a 320gb, 1TB and 1.5TB of internal storage.

my current mac line up is the stock MacbookPro 13" and the stock 27" iMac. the 1TB and 1.5TB drives are going into external enclosures and sitting attatched to the iMac until i can get a NAS server.

haven't recieved the iMac yet (on backorder), but i'm loving the macbook pro. so much faster than the windows 7 box.

Xenedis

21-02-2010, 5:30pm

After 17 years of DOS/Windows, I moved to a Mac in 2009.

I like my Mac (MacBook Pro 17"), and don't see myself moving back.

For the type of computer user I am, though, it doesn't make a huge difference. I wanted something different, and things do integrate very nicely.

The hardware is expensive, but sleek and well-designed.

mikew09

28-02-2010, 12:50am

Currently a tiring 4 yr old Dell Inspiron 9300. 1gb ram, 60gb HDD, 1.73 GHz cpu and a cpouple of external drives. Sqeezing as much as I can out of it as I save for my soon to purchase iMac - another convert I am afraid.

latino

05-03-2010, 9:04am

soulman

06-03-2010, 11:27am

I use a Mac Pro quad core 2.8, with 8GB of RAM and a bit under 3TB of internal disk storage, which includes an Intel 160GB SSD as a boot drive. It has a GeForce GTX 285 which drives an Eizo CG241W and a Dell 2408. It's a few years old now and was the entry level pro desktop of its day, but it's still very fast and holds its value well. I have a few other Macs, including a Mac Mini Server & another Mini & some portables that are used for for work, but the Pro is what I use mainly. Looking forward to getting an iPad.

Outback

07-03-2010, 1:01pm

27" imac, 2.8ghz, i7, 8gb ram, 1tb hard drive, 2x 1gb externals

sonofcoco

07-03-2010, 3:07pm

I have a PC:

Dell Studio 16 Core2Duo 2.54Ghz 4GB Ram DDR3 500gb HD RGBLED Screen
It runs Photoshop CS3 and various other things pretty nicely.

I'm not a real computer buff though and I've forgotten anything else I should mention :o

latino

10-03-2010, 12:53pm

Just bought an Imac 21.5 love it!! my 2 c

Whisky_Mac

10-03-2010, 1:13pm

Need another radio button, I have both. An early Blue Imac with 192mb ram that I am able to 10.3 on, a Mac G4 dual 867hz processor and a PC Windows 7 based Acer laptop.

The Imac is only used by SWMBO and is ready for the scrap as it is two slow, still, it has earnt it's keep over the years.

The G4 is the work horse now coupled with a 20 inch flat Mac screen. The Acer is the portable option.

dsaini

25-03-2010, 3:48pm

I am using a dying 4yr old PC.

Considering updating to Mac.

darkc

28-03-2010, 11:07am

Mac all the way. Since i went Apple a few years ago I never want to own a windows PC ever, ever again. I have a 17" Macbook Pro 2.5 ghz core 2 duo with 2gb ram. 27" imac will be my next one when this one dies.

amexav

12-04-2010, 9:17am

I have a Dell notebook

3GB ram, 300GB HDD, 2.2GHz running Windows Vista Premium.

It's the third Dell laptop I have owned and will be the last. Hard Drive has failed twice (first time was within 2 weeks of owning it!), and we recently had to have the motherboard and screen replaced. If we didn't get the extended warranty as a bonus when ordering, it would have been replaced after a year. Funnily enough, it was the first time we decided to spend the extra money on better specs when buying two years ago instead of buying just the basic model - so very frustrating. In saying that, when it works well, we have been very happy - it's just unreliable.

Will be converting to MAC in the next 6-12 months depending on finances and how much camera gear I buy :)

Zek

12-04-2010, 9:26pm

I'm with the PC crowd,
I have a HP 600-
Dual core duo 2GHz, 4GB Ram, 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230 Graphics
Touch screen 22"touch screen.

nick351

13-04-2010, 11:18am

Im waiting for the rumoured new Macbook Pro line. Hopefully within the next few weeks apparently.

mikec

13-04-2010, 2:14pm

Im waiting for the rumoured new Macbook Pro line. Hopefully within the next few weeks apparently.

Waiting for the same thing myself, I'm still on the fence about Mac & PC since the one piece of software that is essential to my work only runs on Windows.

soulman

13-04-2010, 2:24pm

I'm still on the fence about Mac & PC since the one piece of software that is essential to my work only runs on Windows.Running Windows on a Mac is a pretty simple matter and you can even choose from a number of different ways of doing it. I use VMWare Fusion, which runs Windows within a virtual machine. Works fine for the odd time I have to use it, but some things work better when the machine is actually booted into Windows. This can be done by installing Bootcamp which comes on every Mac's installer disks.

Boofhead

13-04-2010, 4:19pm

After getting sick and tired of continual updates for software, hardware, security and all and have a couple of laptops crash within a couple of weeks last November I changed to Macs. Absolutely love the speed, security and reliability. First bought a 17" Macbook Pro then bought my partner a Macbook Air which she loves. I still have a couple of pc's for dedicated software for work that I only pull out whenever I have no choice. My business runs on Macs and I would never go back.

amexav

14-04-2010, 8:15am

New MacBook Pros have been released!! **does happy dance!!**

I am probably lucky that I am a bit poor at the moment - or at least my husband is:p

Chilli

14-04-2010, 11:25am

I switched from a life of PC over to mac one year ago, (what a nightmare the transition was for me) it has taken me this long to get into it and now im loving it and wont be turning back.
wireless macbook OS X, 2Ghz intel core 2 duo (whatever that means :o

danny

24-04-2010, 7:57pm

MacBook and love it. Actually looking to upgrade shortly and it will defiantly be another one.

debs

01-05-2010, 11:51am

Both at the moment

Macbook 13", but will be changing my pc to a 27" IMac in a few months.

TriggerHappy2010

01-05-2010, 11:59am

Model Name: MacBook Pro (15")
Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7

I'm all about Mac love!
:p

Jhpomyzen

01-05-2010, 11:59am

Lucky you, I am not going to change over wish I could but the time and expense is against it. All my family run on Macs they are great.
John H

Spyke

02-05-2010, 9:50pm

Model Name: MacBook Pro (15")
Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7

Just got the same - awesome laptop. Now I've just got to save for Photoshop CS5 :eek: I see Adobe is living up to its international pricing differentials, even though the exchange rate is so much more in our favour.

Smiggle

06-05-2010, 5:38am

PC because it's cheaper and more powerful.

I mean, you can spend 2.5k for i7 + 6gb RAM + 5870 + other stuff and macs hardware won't be anywhere near as better. Would be even cheaper if you went AMD.

If you like OSX so much you can boot it of a pc as well.

My pc consist of the following:

Q9550@3.4ghz under water
8gb Corsair Dominators
4870x2
DFI T2R
64gb G.Skill falcon
1.5tb HDD
NZXT Khaos
1xDell 2407
1xAcer 24"

This only costed me around 3k back in the day.

ricktas

06-05-2010, 6:53am

andrask

06-05-2010, 10:24am

Have always been a PC user although many in my circle have gone the Mac way. The large array of available apps will keep it that way.

bigdazzler

06-05-2010, 11:28am

So how about showing us some photography?

BOOOOOM .... :lol:

Oh and I use macs .. 24" 2.8 imac, 13" 2.0 macbook :devil6:

Calxoddity

08-05-2010, 8:08am

Have always been a PC user although many in my circle have gone the Mac way. The large array of available apps will keep it that way.

... ah yes - quantity has a quality all of its own... ;)

nick351

13-05-2010, 3:33pm

Ive got a new Macbook Pro on the way!

Erin

16-05-2010, 8:44pm

ARGH. A Mac IS a PC. PC is "Personal Computer". What you mean is Mac/Apple and Windows/Everything Else.

Sorry, pet peeve which I am #### about. I also hate wet towels left on the floor and beard shavings left in the sink.

Anyway... I have a Windows set up... specs, I couldn't say, I let my IT husband talk and practice technical geekery. All I know is that I have oodles of space and it goes really, really fast when working with the Adobe CS3 Suite. My baby is my professional grade monitor, though.

I use Mac at school and apart from the pretty colours (have to admit that the monitors are lush), it's not really any better from my point of view. Just a different bit of technology packaged in boring white.

Tannin

22-06-2010, 9:46pm

^ Wrong.

The term "PC" derives from the original IBM PC. Just as every PC made today owes its design heritage to that landmark system of the early 1980s, so too does the term.

SnowA

22-06-2010, 9:48pm

PCs here (just for Erin :p)

1 Dell XPSM1330.
1 DimSum PC at work - just had an involuntary upgrade to a Samsung 20" LCD.
1 self-built HTPC with an Athlon dual core CPU, lots of tuners and a few TB of storage.

All running different flavours of Windows - XPH/XPP/Vista.

Calxoddity

22-06-2010, 10:31pm

^ Wrong.

The term "PC" derives from the original IBM PC. Just as every PC made today owes its design heritage to that landmark system of the early 1980s, so too does the term.

Yes, and for completeness the term "personal computer" predated IBM's trademarking of the term IBM PC to describe their line of personal computers. Having said that, the generic use of PC is broader in its meaning (qv Erin).

Regards,
Calx (who had a personal computer before IBM had a clue).

bigdazzler

23-06-2010, 9:07am

Check out the poll results .. seems more and more are making the switch ;)

grw46

23-06-2010, 10:46am

dual post sorry.

grw46

23-06-2010, 10:47am

Home built PC
Processor Intel core 2 e8500
Ram 4gb DDR
HDD x2 1.5 Tb total
If only I could build my own camera and save the same amount of money.:umm:

Tannin

23-06-2010, 11:16am

Check out the poll results .. seems more and more are making the switch ;)

No. Apple users are self-conscious about their choice and go out of their way to promote it. PC users tend to just get on with their work. Only a small proportion of them bother to visit stupid threads like this one (which, by the way, should not be in the "technology" forum - it's a religious question and should go in the off-topic forum so that readers can avoid seeing the damn thing pop up in "new posts" all the time.) Apple almost went out of business for a while there - their market share was tiny but Vista saved them. Lots of people went Apple after Vista came out. And to be honest, who could blame them? Vista was terrible!

Calxoddity

23-06-2010, 11:26am

No. Apple users are self-conscious about their choice and go out of their way to promote it. PC users tend to just get on with their work. Only a small proportion of them bother to visit stupid threads like this one (which, by the way, should not be in the "technology" forum - it's a religious question and should go in the off-topic forum so that readers can avoid seeing the damn thing pop up in "new posts" all the time.)

hmmm.... my irony meter just went off the scale.

Gavvvvvin

23-06-2010, 1:07pm

So how about showing us some photography?

What does photography have to do with this thread? :efelant:

mikew09

23-06-2010, 1:14pm

Yes, and for completeness the term "personal computer" predated IBM's trademarking of the term IBM PC to describe their line of personal computers. Having said that, the generic use of PC is broader in its meaning (qv Erin).

Regards,
Calx (who had a personal computer before IBM had a clue).

Hmmm, actually Mac/Apples , Windows is maybe not quite the deal either. I might suggest that Mac / Apple is more a presentation of the hardware rather than OS. Windows is the generic term for OS provided by MS. So should it be, MAC or Intel. If we were to allow the term of Windows to be used loosely it could infact mean either Mac or Intel as both products use the same style UI.

Actually, if you can beleive the stories told when I first started in IT, if the MAC (Apple) exec's had not been on a team building fishing day MAC would have been the hardware placeform Bill G's code would have been based on and maybe the IT world might have been a whole load different :-).

Me, I look after Unix / Linux systems so either or for me. I almost bought a mac resently until I seen the cost of setting up dual screens. For now the good old Dell and Samsung 22" monitor will do the job.

Crikey, now even I am confused.

bigdazzler

23-06-2010, 3:10pm

No. Apple users are self-conscious about their choice and go out of their way to promote it. PC users tend to just get on with their work.

No. In fact I think its quite the opposite. Most of the noise about Apple products comes from the PC/Windows users that wanna spend half their lives bashing them. In a non-Apple-specific forum such as this one, I rarely hear any Apple users spruiking the products other than to say that they are happy theyve made the switch, and I certainly dont hear much PC bashing from them. So in reality, it makes me wonder who the more "self-conscious" group is mate ?? ;)

Tannin

23-06-2010, 3:15pm

^ You have worldwide and Australian sales figures in the rough order of 95% to 5% (long-term average; been as low as 1% and as high as 10% but average is around 5) and a forum vote in the rough order of 50-50, and you don't think it's out of whack? You're dreamin' sunshine.

Oh well, believe what you please and never mind looking at the evidence. No skin off my nose.

SnowA

23-06-2010, 4:03pm

At the risk of getting drawn into one of these mass-debates ;), it's a bit simplistic IMO to compare general sales proportions to ownership on AP to conclude there's some great shift to Macs.

AIUI, Macs have always had a greater market share in certain graphical areas - design, manipulation etc, so it's not surprising that the proportion on AP might be significantly higher than across the board.

Conversely if you were to run the poll on a gaming forum you might by the same reasoning process conclude that there's been a shift away from Macs....

bigdazzler

23-06-2010, 5:19pm

No. In fact I think its quite the opposite. Most of the noise about Apple products comes from the PC/Windows users that wanna spend half their lives bashing them. In a non-Apple-specific forum such as this one, I rarely hear any Apple users spruiking the products other than to say that they are happy theyve made the switch, and I certainly dont hear much PC bashing from them. So in reality, it makes me wonder who the more "self-conscious" group is mate ?? ;)

^ You have worldwide and Australian sales figures in the rough order of 95% to 5% (long-term average; been as low as 1% and as high as 10% but average is around 5) and a forum vote in the rough order of 50-50, and you don't think it's out of whack? You're dreamin' sunshine.

Oh well, believe what you please and never mind looking at the evidence. No skin off my nose.

Above I was quite obviously responding specifically to your comments about Apple users spruiking the product, I also notice you didnt refute my response and preferred to speak of sales figures (what that has to do with my comments on the AP POLL Im not sure ??), so ill take that to to assume that you agree PC users are usually the ones whining about Apple and not vice versa ?? OK good. Agreed.

At the risk of getting drawn into one of these mass-debates ;), it's a bit simplistic IMO to compare general sales proportions to ownership on AP to conclude there's some great shift to Macs.

AIUI, Macs have always had a greater market share in certain graphical areas - design, manipulation etc, so it's not surprising that the proportion on AP might be significantly higher than across the board.

Conversely if you were to run the poll on a gaming forum you might by the same reasoning process conclude that there's been a shift away from Macs....

fair enough too Snow ... but that is exactly what I was alluding to, the ownership of macs amongst AP people. I remember a similar poll a long while back here on AP and the gap was much larger if I recall correctly .. hence my original comment. :)

Vince (AP member : virgal_tracy) reported on his visit to PMA the other week and quite clearly stated that he did not see one single PC on display or in use. Every single stall was displaying their products on macs. Its a fact that it is the preferred platform amongst the creative type such as photographers (thats what we are here right ?). Has been for a long time now. Quite obviously gaming is different (presumably, Id rather stick needles in my eyes than play video games)

Gavvvvvin

23-06-2010, 5:36pm

Its a fact that it is the preferred platform amongst the creative type such as photographers (thats what we are here right ?). Has been for a long time now.

:rolleyes:

bigdazzler

23-06-2010, 6:13pm

:rolleyes:

You disagree ??

As I say .. ask Vince what he saw at PMA

Mod note: Personal attack removed

Kym

23-06-2010, 6:28pm

Yawn! Who cares? Its the apps you can run and what works for you.

Microsnot are bastids! Apple have product lock in! Corporately they are as bad as each other. Both want to make lots of $$$$$$$$.

See: http://www.johnchow.com/some-funny-steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-captions/

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4651826976_0858de5cec_o.jpg

mikew09

23-06-2010, 6:38pm

Check out the poll results .. seems more and more are making the switch ;)

I beleive this to be the case also. Sales figures simply reflect the market place that is the best fit for the MAC. I have been in IT since Moses was a boy, consulted on all types of sites even back in the days when IT was the top paying job and before the IT dooms day that killed off those dream jobs and now we are like Rugby players sharing that capped salary - jezz, I am feeling old.

I think you are right bigdazzler, quite a number of the young techo's seem to be moving towards MAC, I here talk of stability and compatabilty being praised by them too.

Will move to a MAC eventually - too focused on buying my new camera kit to put money to an iMac at the moment so took the cheap option and bough a second, quality monitor.

The MAC is very dominant in its primary area - graphics - but MAC are quickly broadening the scope of these PC's. If Apple / MAC can keep their focus I really think there is a change in the wind computer wise.

Mike

Tannin

23-06-2010, 6:44pm

Great captions, Kym! :)

Microsnot are bastids! Apple have product lock in! Corporately they are as bad as each other. Both want to make lots of $$$$$$$$.

No. Apple are worse because Microsoft only lock you in and rip you off on the software side - you can still buy your hardware in a competitive market; an incredibly competitive market in fact, where consumer value just keeps getting better and better every year.

Apple, on the other hand, lock you in and rip you off on both sides of the hardware/software divide.

But then again (I think I'm up to the other, other hand now) you can easily escape from Apple's nasty consumer lock-in and horrible prices by simply never buying any Apple product - it's not as if there aren't a zillion cheaper, better alternatives for most of them - whereas escaping from Microsoft is a great deal harder.

Summary: Apple are worse than Microsoft, but Microsoft are harder to escape from. Toss a coin.

(Assuming you still have one after dealing with those bastard companies for any length of time.)

AmyK

23-06-2010, 6:53pm

I would call myself a Mac user as I use Mac's at school and my main machine is a 27inch iMac.

At home there is a pretty big collection of computers.

My two:
iMac 27 inch, running Mac OS X
Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop, running Windows 7

Younger sister:
Compaq laptop, running Windows 7
Dell Studio 15 laptop, running Windows 7

Parents:
Dell Inspiron 9300, running Windows 7
Acer laptop, Windows XP
Dell desktop, Windows XP
Acer laptop, Windows Vista

And there is numerous old computers in the shed...

mikew09

23-06-2010, 6:59pm

Its a fact that it is the preferred platform amongst the creative type such as photographers (thats what we are here right ?).

Gasp!, light fast breathing - I don't have a MAC, noooo, does that mean I have lost my photographers creative mojo :-).

Quite obviously gaming is different (presumably, Id rather stick needles in my eyes than play video games)

I am with you there mate - rather pull a tooth with a pair of rusty pliers, than load up vid games. :-)

bigdazzler

23-06-2010, 7:19pm

Gasp!, light fast breathing - I don't have a MAC, noooo, does that mean I have lost my photographers creative mojo :-).

not at all mate .. Im not saying that no photographers/graphic artists/desktop publishers/web designers etc. use PCs at all. Im sure there are plenty that do, like yourself. But it is pretty common knowledge that macs are preferred amongst that set. Again, at the risk of harping on it (which no-one else in the thread seems to want to acknowledge .. funny that), I say again, ask Vince about what he saw at PMA, and these guys are the big players in the industry, so thats gotta tell us something right ??

Anyhow, from my point of view alone, ive had PCs (2000, ME, XP, Vista) and they have ALL stopped working for me at some point or another. I switched to mac nearly two years ago, still have the same machines, and they havent skipped a beat. Thats good enough for me :)

mikew09

23-06-2010, 7:35pm

not at all mate .. Im not saying that no photographers/graphic artists/desktop publishers/web designers etc. use PCs at all. Im sure there are plenty that do, like yourself. But it is pretty common knowledge that macs are preferred amongst that set. Again, at the risk of harping on it (which no-one else in the thread seems to want to acknowledge .. funny that), I say again, ask Vince about what he saw at PMA, and these guys are the big players in the industry, so thats gotta tell us something right ??

Anyhow, from my point of view alone, ive had PCs (2000, ME, XP, Vista) and they have ALL stopped working for me at some point or another. I switched to mac nearly two years ago, still have the same machines, and they havent skipped a beat. Thats good enough for me :)

Ha LOL, doesn't bother me really, only my lame attempt at humour. Yea, in brief I said pretty much the same in another thread on this topic - Just ask any IT guys how often they have to reboot the Windows servers, most will probably say pretty often. I was asked to recycle one of my Linux servers a while ago as it had been up over a yr without reboot and still no performance issues. MAC now running Linux under the covers - yea bring it on.

Wish list: upgrade my camera kit, uy an iMac with dual screens.

Gavvvvvin

23-06-2010, 8:19pm

You disagree ??

As I say .. ask Vince what he saw at PMA

Yes, that's what the rolling eye smiley tends to imply.

I don't really care who saw what.

Mod note: Personal comments redacted.

ricktas

23-06-2010, 8:28pm

The baiting in this thread is to stop immediately, otherwise we will be issuing either temporary or permanent site bans!

bigdazzler

23-06-2010, 8:49pm

Yes, that's what the rolling eye smiley tends to imply.

I don't really care who saw what.

Mod note: Personal comments redacted.

Yet another intelligent response.

I'm done with this guy Rick. I'm bowing out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gavvvvvin

23-06-2010, 9:46pm

Yet another intelligent response.

I'm done with this guy Rick. I'm bowing out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't think someone who spews out gems such as
Its a fact that it is the preferred platform amongst the creative type such as photographers (thats what we are here right ?). is in any position to criticize someones elses intelligece.

I'm sorry for not caring about what someone saw at the PMA show. Maybe there is some truth to Apple users being self-conscious. I bet if everyone was using PCs next year you would be boasting about how great they are.

I bet you're so self concious that you came back just to read this even though you bowed out ;)

ricktas

23-06-2010, 9:54pm

I don't think someone who spews out gems such as is in any position to criticize someones elses intelligece.

I'm sorry for not caring about what someone saw at the PMA show. Maybe there is some truth to Apple users being self-conscious. I bet if everyone was using PCs next year you would be boasting about how great they are.

I bet you're so self concious that you came back just to read this even though you bowed out ;)

After my warning in this thread, which you seem to have chosen to ignore, consider yourself banned!

mikec

24-06-2010, 11:43am

Just switched to Mac a week back and its great. So much better than Windows already. While I'll need to run a copy of Windows for one application I'll be running Mac for everything else, it just works so much better.

My Dad just bought a new Sony laptop and while its nice, it still doesn't feel as good as the MBP.

bigdazzler

24-06-2010, 11:59am

Just switched to Mac a week back and its great. So much better than Windows already.
:th3:

arthurking83

24-06-2010, 12:27pm

No Macs here.. ever!

Hardware upgrades/fixes for Macs are just not an option for me(on a limited budget)

Hardware breaks. a fact of life, and no device is immune to the posibility.

I want my devices to last 10years or so, and just about al my devices have either past that stage, or about too.
How many 10year old Mac users out there?

If you're the type that upgrades every two years, then Macs seem to be perfectly fine for running numerous applications, but all the good/best stuff seems to be Windows specific.

One of my nieces recently purchased an iMac that cost a whopping $2.5K!
For $2.5K I could have owned the WinPC universe! :p
but instead I limited my budget to $1.4K instead.

As Tony said, Windoze rules the value for money world(if you know where to look or go to get stuff).

Cheapo generic graphix card on my 7yo PC died a few months back and I had to do something about it(even tho I had no money at the time).
So I bought myself the bits and pieces required to do so(something i actually enjoy doing is building PCs too).
So whilst at the store I also paid for another cheapo generic graphics card for the old PC.. just to see if that was really the issue. Grand total cost of thatVGA card was a whopping $29!!
That old PC is now slated to serve my kids over the next few years as they need it for their schooling.

I'm curious as to how many recycled 10year old Macs are doing service to kids that need to run programs like .. PowerPoint.

..nope! The sooner Macs are legislated out of existence, the sooner world harmony may happen :D

oh!... and the sooner that M$ is destroyed as the monopolistic and evil empire that it is... the sooner they can begin proceedings on the Mac problem too.

BTW! The comments made about how much 'better' the Macs run compared to the old Windows PCs is a moot point! Of course it's going to run better.. it's a newer and faster machine! A one year old PC has half the processing power of a current gen model!

From a rough comparison of what I've seen of the difference between my nieces iMac and my (AMD) PC, there is either no difference in performance, or a slight edge in favour of mine(AMD Phenom 955).. at that's simple things like just opening a browser or an file Explorer window.

So in updating from my old PC to my new PC.. the new one runs faster and better and smoother... :rolleyes:

no baiting here.. just a bit of perspective!

I @ M

24-06-2010, 1:36pm

Ken Rockwell says that Macs are good so therefore they must be.

Errr hang on, that's the same Ken Rockwell that says tripods are useless but we all know that is garbage.

But then again, maybe Ken is smart after all because he is espousing the wonders of a jenuuuine made in the good old USofA Gitzo knock off tripod from RRS today.

So are Macs any good?

Is Ken Rockwell an ex football playing left half back flanker?

Do we really need another overpriced tripod on the market when the Koreans seem to be able to make everything from computers to tripods to football players better than the Americans anyway?

bigdazzler

24-06-2010, 3:08pm

Ken Rockwell says that Macs are good so therefore they must be.

So does Scott Kelby ... surely were not gonna say he doesnt know what hes talking about ? ;)

I @ M

24-06-2010, 3:19pm

So does Scott Kelby ... surely were not gonna say he doesnt know what hes talking about ? ;)

Well now that you come to mention it Darren.

Talking seems to be the one thing that Mr Kelby does know about. After all he was the one that was full of talk about how he was going to send copies of his book to the various photo walk winners around 12 months ago.

They are still waiting.

That is where the talk ends -- any attempt to email him is met by nothing other than return emails promoting his latest course / book etc. etc.

Maybe he spends too many hours staring at a Mac screen checking his bank statements?

maccaroneski

24-06-2010, 3:41pm

Indeed - there must be a dollar for him in it somewhere.

bigdazzler

24-06-2010, 4:46pm

Well now that you come to mention it Darren.

Talking seems to be the one thing that Mr Kelby does know about. After all he was the one that was full of talk about how he was going to send copies of his book to the various photo walk winners around 12 months ago.

They are still waiting.

That is where the talk ends -- any attempt to email him is met by nothing other than return emails promoting his latest course / book etc. etc.

Maybe he spends too many hours staring at a Mac screen checking his bank statements?

Hardly relevant to the thread though mate .. My point was that he being one of the leading Adobe gurus uses macs exclusively so they cant be too bad for playing with photos on, despite whatever commercial arrangement may be in place. And hes not the only one, as weve said .. over and over, and over, and over again.

I @ M

24-06-2010, 5:00pm

Sorry Darren, I disagree, you brought up the point that he might know what he is talking about so I gave you an example of how he does a lot of talking but the truth is far removed from it.

Relate it to Macs and Adobe (Adobe not really being part of the subject either) and I say that Mr. Kelby is more a marketing 'guru' than anything else and probably does quite well with "sponsorship" from the likes of Apple who benefit handsomely from the exposure at the hands of aforementioned marketing gurus.

bigdazzler

24-06-2010, 5:26pm

When it comes to photo editing it would be a brave man that said he didnt know what he was talking about !! He may be a marketing guru mate but he sure spends a lot of time in front of a computer screen editing pictures .. and I would say in context of what machines someone such as he (and all the other Adobe professional) team choose is very relevant.

All good anyway ... you like chocolate, I like vanilla. So be it .. :)

Watchamacallit

24-06-2010, 7:20pm

Always been curious about the whole "Mac vs PC." Personally I'm a bit like I@m, bit of a tinkerer and build on a budget so can't quite justify the costs of the macs (but I do like them and the OS).

Guess is also depends on a lot on what you plan to use them for.

hoffy

26-06-2010, 8:21am

Buy a Dell.....

Watchamacallit

26-06-2010, 12:42pm

Buy a Dell.....

Or gateway? :P

hoffy

26-06-2010, 1:10pm

OK, I have to admit that I have been looking at Macs. In the end, for the money I would need to spend on a Mac to do what I want it to do, I think I could spec up a pretty decent PC. Even in the end, the true Multimedia editing PC's that Mac offer are horrendously more expensive then the consumer model that everyone seems to buy.

gookerz

29-06-2010, 6:38pm

pc given

bigdazzler

29-06-2010, 7:12pm

pc given

interesting first post mate ??

Xebadir

30-06-2010, 12:13pm

Theres no voting option for me :confused013 so I voted with my favourite.
Mac...and PC. Yes I know I am weird...but I should explain.

I use a 15" Macbook Pro for work...and I absolutely love it...the stability and just about everything else I could think of. But the Mac is provided by my boss, so its fairly strictly for working purposes...which means I can't really use it for photography stuff.

My personal computer is a Dell XPS 1530 laptop, a bit older, but built with more than enough power for photoshop and high end tasks etc (was near top of the line when purchased). So most of the time it runs as a portable desktop (I travel a fair bit), with a 23" Samsung XL2370 hooked up. Its not as stable as the mac, but by keeping the bare minimum I need to keep it operating it generally performs adequately to get the job done.

TBH I prefer the Mac, but at this stage I can't afford a new laptop or desktop and my current versions of software are Windows...so hence I continue to use and run both.

mcdesign

30-06-2010, 10:18pm

I would say that there is very little difference between the two platforms now! I originally went to a Mac because all graphics programs were written for that platform, not the case anymore, in fact Adobe only write certain film media programs for the PC. I still prefer the Mac platform because I understand how it ticks and can fix it myself if I need to.

bigbaz

07-07-2010, 11:26am

PC for me, but would consider a conversion

wrxzook

02-08-2010, 2:03pm

I am still using a G5 2.7 dual Mac which has been a great computer, but will have to soon look at updating to an intel Mac, probably an imac.

PhAT

09-09-2010, 8:31pm

i was wondering what to get a macbook pro or a pc but i only want the 13" so should i i would not realy use it for editing just for other things or should i go 15"?

bigdazzler

10-09-2010, 8:06am

i was wondering what to get a macbook pro or a pc but i only want the 13" so should i i would not realy use it for editing just for other things or should i go 15"?

I have a 13" macbook for on the run stuff but its too small for serious editing. I do all my edting on my 24" imac.

13" is perfect for pretty much perfect anything other than serious post production work.

PhAT

10-09-2010, 7:26pm

OK thank you for your reply

Fez

10-09-2010, 8:36pm

I Guess the avatar says it all.

MacBook
iPhone
iPad

oh yes and an HP Pavillon running Vista (yuk) which will become an iMac in the not too distant future

BUGSnBIRDS

11-09-2010, 1:07pm

Recently moved to an iMAC and generally pretty chuffed. Haven't any editing software yet..just getting used to basics of slight differences in word and excel functions and Skype. BUT so far so good.

Dan Gamble

27-09-2010, 3:33pm

Mac's great if you want to tell eveyone you have a Mac.

PC is for people who want a computer they can use, have control over, customise, optimise and functionalise without spending money on aesthetically pleasing plastic casings and painful proprietary connectors.... and then again a year later and then again two years later.

PC is flexible computing

Mac is Kit computing

Depends what you want and what you're doing and how much you care about spending more money unnecissarily.

My two cents... (which i saved by bying a PC) :D

wolffman

27-09-2010, 3:35pm

I'm quite surprised the Mac representation is so high. We went Mac about a year and a half ago now. I hesitated as the idea of teaching the good lady wife another operating system filled me with dread, but it was a doddle.
Sadly the optical drive just stopped working so I am computerless for probably a week!! It's only been at the shop for 2 hours and I miss it already.
MacBook pro 15.4 2.66ghz with 4gb ram and 320 hdd
I went in to photo Wholesalers in Adelaide and they were putting the sell on a young lady to get her into a 13" MacBook pro. I couldn't help myself but had to butt in saying the mac was great. The guys behind the counter looked happy until they asked me what I thought of iPhoto...

Dan Gamble

27-09-2010, 4:26pm

The guys behind the counter looked happy until they asked me what I thought of iPhoto...

:lol:

Calxoddity

27-09-2010, 5:28pm

I @ M

27-09-2010, 5:34pm

Regards,
Calx (at his utterly wittiest today on account of being stuffed around by Virgin Blue computer glitch)

I heard that Virgin Blue use Macs ---------- :D :p

bigdazzler

27-09-2010, 5:46pm

Eberbachl

27-09-2010, 8:22pm

Alot of funny stuff in this thread, and sadly a bunch of myths too. Some comments I'd love to rebut, but sadly that would just start a downward spiral that won't help anyone. :)

Personally, I think we're pretty blessed with some great choices theses days:

Mac OSX is a great platform - fast, stable, secure, lots of yummy eye candy. Sure you pay a premium for it. A 27" iMac is a seriously gorgeous piece of machinery, and for that you'll pay extra. Some people are OK with that, some would prefer not to. That's OK.

Windows 7 is an excellent operating system and came at a great time for Microsoft who were hurting from the unfortunate Vista release. Windows 7 is really what Vista should have been, and with the myriad of great value PC configurations is a great option. Be sure to keep your updates up, firewalls at the ready and anti virus software fresh and you'll have a ball.

Linux is maturing rapidly as a desktop alternative, and my personal favourite, Ubuntu brings alot to the table. Good free open source software, faaaast, secure, and stable with free application alternatives for almost all of the major categories. Be prepared to roll your sleeves up from time to time and work in the command line every now and then to keep things humming nicely, and you'll get a lot from this great platform.

All of the above says is that we've got three great platforms available to us - none of them perfect, but all of them really good in their own ways.

Choose what you like, and enjoy using it.

:)

Me?

My Desktop PC is an AMD 6 core CPU, with 8GB RAM and an ATI 5850 graphics card running the new Ubuntu 10.10 Beta.

One of my laptops is my trusty MacBook 13" with Core 2 duo 2.16GHz CPU and 4GB RAM running OS X Leopard. Still running quickly without issues 3.5 years on, and still getting 4+ hours from the original battery ('twas around 6 hours when new).

My other laptop is an ASUS Intel i3 machine with 4GB RAM and ATI 5000HD graphics running Ubuntu 10.04 and loving it.

On all three of the above machines I have Windows 7 virtual machines (VirtualBox) I drop in to from time to time for various things. All of my Windows 7 VMs run quickly and smoothly on the above machines and I enjoy using them.

It's all good.

:D

Quietguy

02-10-2010, 7:18am

Hope I've done this right

Using...

IMac 20" 2.6g with 4gigs ram, and 3x external hds

MacBook pro 17" i5 with4gig ram

IPad 64gig

IPhone 3gs 32gig (hoping to upgrade to iPhone 4 soon)

Guess who is an Apple fanatic?

David (not admitting he also has an Apple 7300, LCII, and LCIII)

Wayne

13-10-2010, 9:53pm

My Laptop just ceased to exist this week, and when I opened it up, the board looks roasted, so not worth fixing given it's 2 years old. I was looking at a new desktop, and I'm tossing up between the latest imac core i7, the new Mac pro and building a new PC. Given the current pricing for Macs, and what can be had when building a PC for = $, the macs as aesthetically pleasing as they may be fall somewhat short performance wise, particularly when comparing a PC build to a Mac-pro.
Decisions decisions, but I think the PC build is going to win...

Schmenz

17-10-2010, 10:40pm

JM Tran

22-10-2010, 1:11pm

my hp just died at 1.5 years old :(

just got the new macbook pro 15" i7 with 2gb ram (will upgrade later when i have more money) and the 7200rpm harddrive and high res screen. although i cant really tell the difference in the screen.

i also have an asus eepc 1005p with 2gb ram which is great for uni, but too slow to do any mutlitasking.

im very new to mac and slowly getting used to it but i like it so far.i wouldnt say one is better than the other, but i am enjoying not having any "blue screen of death" moments. As my old hp had them regularly, and the netbook had it on the first day!

(although my original mac was faulty and froze lots, but they gave me a new one which has been fine! :D )

Hi EMz, the high-res optional screen is best utilized with the matte screen option for the MBP, I have noticed my hi-res screen with the matte to be a lot sharper looking with more details when zoomed right in - compared to my friends who just have the glossy glass screens and no hi-res option

when you upgrade it to 8GB of RAM the machine just flies so fast! Just over $300 or so for the 8GB Ram from the site sponsors here, or go to MSY:D

terrencechin

22-10-2010, 2:09pm

Not a fan of Macs myself. Used them for a while when I was studying multimedia and there's one at work which I don't like much.

I have a PC running Windows 7 atm, Q6600, 4GB, nvidia video and 24" Dell LCD. I just like building my own setup from hardware I choose.

Schmenz

26-10-2010, 2:08pm

Hi EMz, the high-res optional screen is best utilized with the matte screen option for the MBP, I have noticed my hi-res screen with the matte to be a lot sharper looking with more details when zoomed right in - compared to my friends who just have the glossy glass screens and no hi-res option

when you upgrade it to 8GB of RAM the machine just flies so fast! Just over $300 or so for the 8GB Ram from the site sponsors here, or go to MSY:D

Ooo thank you for the clarification re screen. I thought about matte, but I do kinda like the gloss look. the upgrade to hires wasnt much at all so i thought "why not!"

but yea i definently need more ram! once i stop buying more camera gear ill have some money left for RAM! my googles at the time showed it would be around the 300 mark or less, which is why i waited. apple wanted to charge 500!

exwintech

26-10-2010, 3:14pm

A Vote here for Linux - seems to be no Button for it....! :)

In Australia, Linux is indeed rather a minority thing - only about 86,000 Linux home PC users.

But it's in much wider use elsewhere - the EU, South America, and Asia, in particular.

Most people aren't aware of it - but they probably spend hours each day using Linux or Unix.

I started with DOS - Genuine IBM Twin-Slotter, no HDD - in 1983. I was a Windows tech (suburban dealers, designing and building home PCs, and Workstations.) After 11 years of that - well, towards the latter stages of it - I had become somewhat disamused with Windows, and looked for something else. Macs at the time were very expensive - and a tech where I was working got me onto Linux.

Which was a 'grabber' - with Windows, the System controls the User - with Linux, the User controls the System.

There was a several year period (about 2001-2005) - when I used both Windows and Linux, dual-booted. In those days, Windows was "easier to use", but Linux "did more things". I went through several Distros (like model-names) - and 5 years ago settled into PCLOS - PCLinuxOS - and have used it fulltime ever since.

I like being able to spread work-in-progress over 6 or 8 Desktops (you can have up to 20.) Being able to do "anything you like" with the System - without thingies continually popping up to prevent or object.

The 9+ years without a Virus or Trojan has been nice - but Linux is NOT "invulnerable" on the Internet - Worms and Rootkits do exist, though are mainly aimed at Linux Servers. The biggest risk with a Linux PC is hackers on the Dark Side. A Compromised Linux PC is more valuable to them for their nefarious doings than a Windows PC. So - I'm careful to stay behind Linux Shorewall and a hardware firewalled router.

It's fun going to the ShieldsUp! site and testing - and getting 100% greens - then being told you have your Windows secured very well!

As for the "value for money" - a Linux PC that will equal or out-task a Windows one - is a quarter to a third cheaper to build. Or - a PC that will run Vista Ultimate adequately - will be a total-screamer on Linux.

Then - apart from crooked Pirates, the Windows O/S costs hundreds of dollars. Most applications, tools, utilities, etc - cost from tens to hundreds of dollars. Example - friends who paid $650.00 here in Sydney for Sony Vegas Pro - have used the free Kdenlive here on Linux - are a bit "peeved" - Kdenlive is easier to use, renders much faster, has more functions, transitions, effects - with heaps more of both to D/L free - and I get a "newy" or big upgrade - every few months.

Any interim fixes or updates are of course automatic. That is - when I secured-link connect to one of the PCLOS Repositories - and "Update All" - with Synaptic - the System, and all applications, tools, utilities, games, etc - are all updated in one go. Do it weekly - and it takes 5-7 minutes.

After you do that - you can look at the over 12,000 applications, tools, utilities, etc, readied in the Repository - and mark a few - 5-10-15-20 - and install those to try out, in 1 go. 10 would take under 5 minutes. No reboot needed. And the ones you don't want - "Mark to Uninstall" in Synaptic - click, and it does that.

If you can't find software to do anything you want to, out of 12,000 items, you're not looking very hard... :D

Linux - as late as 5-6 years back - used to be "hard to use" - with a lot of CLI (Command-Line-Interface) needed. No more. I rarely open a terminal to "do things", now. Mostly just to get quick answers - "df" - partition data usage, "top" - what's running and how much resources is each thing using, or "uptime" - which at present says:

[david@localhost ~]$ uptime
15:05:12 up 6 days, 17:03, 1 user, load average: 0.30, 0.39, 0.36
[david@localhost ~]$

So - I'm a rather happy Linuxer - on a 2 year old PC - AMD 6000 dual-core 3GHz, 2GB DDR2, 320GB HDD - which cost under $800.00 to build, and does all I need it to. And that $800.00 "was it" - the System, Applications, Tools, Utilities, Games, etc - cost nothing. I send them a US$25.00 donation from time to time.

Dave.

PaulMac

29-10-2010, 7:52am

I was always a PC person due to the cost and modular abilities. I swapped to a 24" IMAC 18 months ago and I can tell you without any shadow of a doubt that it is the best singular thing I have done in the whole time I have been into photography. I primarily photograph weddings so were talking large batches of photos . I have gone from spending so much time fixing hardware and software issues on a PC to just getting on with work... Every PC person knows the number of popup boxes you get when installing software and hardware... although there's no doubt it's getting better. With my IMAC I have a quiet compact beautiful to work with screen that just WORKS!!!!!! I plug in a piece of hardware... It works. I install new software... it just works. Seriously should have swapped years ago and my images have improved vastly since.

I'm not trying to convert anyone but seriously have a think about it..... You don't know what your missing. There has to be something in it when I can run windows XP in the background on my MAC and it works better than on my PC??

And the cost difference... Quality.. as simple as that.

Nuf said.

PaulMac

29-10-2010, 7:59am

Having issues with my pc as it isn't picking up the ADSL wireless connection. How easily is the iMac in connecting to a wireless connection.

Thinking of buying the imac 21.5 this weekend but want to make sure it will connect well with my wireless ADSL 2+ modem.

Plug it in...turn it on. Enter the password if you have one and your done!

Pretty much no harder than going wireless on an Iphone or Ipad.

exwintech

29-10-2010, 2:34pm

PaulMac - Good for you, mate! Yes, that's sensible. People will find an O/S that suits what they do - and how they want to do it - if they look around at what's available. I long ago gave up trying to get friends here at least dual-booting Linux to have a good look at it.... :)

They LIKE their Windows - most of the friends my age - the 55-65 range - have only ever had Windows - since Win-3.x or Win-95. The kids - there's 8 families and 2 singles in our bunch - are now all teens - or adult... So they came into computers from about Win-95 on. So they're used to Windows - comfy with it - and it generally does what they want to do - in a way they know how to do it.

They don't really want their computing-boat rocked - so why should anyone try to barge-in on that? They know a couple of people who have Macs - and one who has Linux - me, so if any of them ever want to try something else - they can ask and they'd be shown. Mac users are happy to demonstrate their devices, and discuss them - as are Linux users.

As for running non-HDD installs of Windows - I usually have a half-dozen Systems set up to run in Virtual-Box, in Linux. Other Linux Distros to try-out - recently the new Ubuntu/Kubuntu, etc - and Win2k-SP4 - along with XP-Pro SP2 - currently upgraded to SP3, though I don't always bother with that. SP2 runs just about anything friends want me to try out or test for them.

XP-Pro seems to behave very well in Virtual-Box. No Internet hassles - in V-Box it's behind the host-system's Shorewall, and the firewalled router. (And yes, as part of helping the bunch with their Windows boxes - I'm gradually convincing them that a router/firewall is a good idea. On those, I've been using the low-cost ASUS RX3041-etc, series.)

Can be funny.... Some of them are sure that Macs are "too advanced to bother with" - and that Linux is "far too complicated to bother with..."

So.... Weekend before last, one family was visiting... Their younger girl, 15, was in a panic about "not doing her mails and socials" - so I flicked on the monitor, and told her to go ahead. No probs - they have Firefox at home. She'd done a few downloads, so wanted to know where they were. Easy - Firefox is pathed to DLs0 on Desktop1...

Oooops - how was she going to take them to her friend's place... I said she could borrow an old Toshiba 2GB flashy I had in the junkbox on the bench. She stuck it in a USB port on the front of the box, merrily copy-pasted - right-clicked to 'Safely Remove' when told - and off with the flashy... To tell parents at the table, "Gee - trust Unky-Dave to have the latest - got that new Windows-7 we haven't seen yet...."

Said things can be funny - wasn't Win-7 - was PCLinuxOS... But, natch, you can't tell folk that - they'd be helpless - because, of course - "Linux is far too complicated to use".....:D

Do wonder if the little folk 3-5, 5-7, 7-10, so on - find it "too diffy" to use the Linux Games and Educational Interactives, etc, made specifically for them.... ;)

(Yes - the No.1 User-logon was "clean" - had been checked a couple of hours earlier while putting downloaded Google-Vids on a DVD for some other Windows friends. Been caught - once, about 4 years ago. I copied some short videos onto a CD for visiting friends... Which they took home, inserted in their XP box - which didn't like the "additional hitch-hiking content" one bit - crashed, and wouldn't start.... Next day, I was over there doing a re-install job... )

Dave.

Wayne

29-10-2010, 3:02pm

I wa

I'm not trying to convert anyone but seriously have a think about it..... You don't know what your missing. There has to be something in it when I can run windows XP in the background on my MAC and it works better than on my PC??

And the cost difference... Quality.. as simple as that.

Nuf said.

I have given it serious thought over the past week since my laptop died, despite always having PC's and the know how to build and configure my own machine. I find it hard to part with $3K for an iMac that basically has notebook parts with almost no upgrade path and is difficult to self service from a hardware perspective when for a fraction more I can build socket 1366 i7-980X machines with copious ram, 480GB PCIe SSD and the 2GB 5970 series GPU which is a far superior machine in terms of computing power and speed.

I was however prepared to look past the cost saving and the better specs of a PC for the Mac, however when I see that the iMac has no support for USB3, SATA3 (6GB) I lost interest in them and will build a PC instead. Apple need to get with the tech that the industry is dishing out if they want to keep customers seeking cutting edge computing.

exwintech

31-10-2010, 10:34am

Wayne - Linux supports SATA3 and has for some time.

Support for USB - the Linux kernel has had the SuperSpeed / USB3 driver from kernel 2.6.31 - September 2009, I think. It has the native support for the things that are starting to a arrive on the market.

Kernel 2.6.31 and later all have support for USB 3

Changing kernels in Linux is very easy - using Synaptic or Apt-Get - takes a few seconds. That "install" you DO have to reboot for - as the running system can't swap between kernels.

You can install 32-bit and 64-bit Linux systems on the same box, and boot between them.

You can set up the /home user-data partition so that either System can mount and access it. Or create a separate partition either can use - /mnt/data - or as you prefer to name it.

(You can also run a Linux system as several levels of Server, by installing the appropriate Server kernel from the repository with Synaptic, etc. The SMB / Samba setup to run Windows PCs / Stations on a Linux net, comes with the kernels.)

Added kernels come up in the reboot window of the right-click Shutdown / Reboot / Reboot to other Kernel - box. Or, the installed kernels to boot-to are in the startup Menu. The current one will be at the top - others, use the down Arrow, and press Enter to boot to them.

Note that unlike some systems, you don't need to go to 64-bit with Linux to address/use fairly large amounts of RAM - Linux has PAE kernels (installable via Synaptic, etc) - that address up to 64GB of RAM in 32-bit systems.

To go over 64GB - which is fairly generous for a home PC - you do need to go to 64-bit on the system. Many Distros have 64-bit versions set up ready, at no charge.

You can burn a LiveCD from nearly any Linux Distro - that will boot and run in RAM (change the boot sequence) - to have a look at it and see if it suits, before installing. You can also use such LiveCDs to recover data from "won't boot" Windows installs, or just to access data in a Windows install without needing to boot Windows. That won't disrupt or harm the Windows install, as that has to be running to alter or record anything.

It's useful to retrieve essential data from a badly compromised Windows install - you can write to CD/DVD (RW, too), Flash-drive, network, or Internet, from a LiveCD. Then clear-format and reinstall Windows. Can be quicker and surer than trying to "guarantee" that you've de-virus'd, etc - all of an install, including Registries.

Dave.

GoldenOrb

23-11-2010, 8:14pm

I have a mac mini (with upgrade), 17" macbook pro, Mac pro..... cant use iphones here, sat phones are as useless as T*ts on a bull here so a I phone would only get a reception on it if I chucked it at someone....

The Macmini has previously been used for a design business 4-5 years and only ever turned off when we have moved house. Thats pretty good going in my books

somewhere... I have a Dell with vista bloatware (shhhh dont tell anyone) ... I think its holding a door open or the dogs scratching its bum on it some where......

After going to mac I will never go back..... EVER... it even shits me just using the PC's at work

ricstew

24-11-2010, 9:18pm

well I just converted to Mac....just out of the box this arvo......imac 27" refurbished, quad core i7....and once I get the erganomics worked out ( boy am I gonna have a sore neck in the morning! ) I think I am gonna love it. Very intuitive to use. fast as all get out even tho it only has 4 gig ram ( saving for more ram now ) awesome screen! did I say awesome screen???
Still a lot more learning and playing to do but YAYAYAYAY!!!!
cheers
Jan

brindyman

29-11-2010, 2:59am

this computer is my only comp atm so it does everything haha

CPU:intel q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
RAM: G skill 6gb 1066Mhz Ram
HDD: 2 500gig sata 2 drives and 3 2tb WD drives
Graphics Card: nvidia gtx285 graphics card
Monitors: Benq v2400w monitor (16:10) and a Benq g2420HD (16:9) for my monitors
Sound Card: creative soundblaster fatality pro titanium series

if peripherals are required as well

Logitech g15 revised edition and a razer mamba mouse :D :th3:

Red

02-12-2010, 3:38am

Linux Ubuntu
Its very fast!

Desktop with thumbnails. Multiple (tabbed) Desktops.

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/68/screenshot1ek.png (http://img18.imageshack.us/i/screenshot1ek.png/)

Photo viewer and organizer which has basic editing.

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/3203/screenshot5s.png (http://img444.imageshack.us/i/screenshot5s.png/)

The gimp plus plugins RAW file management and the best png compression.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/1510/screenshot4jm.png (http://img14.imageshack.us/i/screenshot4jm.png/)

Tools available

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2356/screenshot2y0.png (http://img88.imageshack.us/i/screenshot2y0.png/)

Raw studio basic lightroom like tool.
Darktable is a lightroom clone.
Inkscape an Adobe vector tools clone
Paint specialized brush tool that works with my GFX tablet.

Phatch Batch resize any folder from the menu
Krename Batch rename an folder from the menu

Nautilus file browser which makes windows explorer look toy like and amateurish. Why? Its really fast, super fast and I can scale the thumbs and zoom in, I can flip between dates and views instantly, no re-cache of thumbs.db. It loads thumbs about 100 times faster than explorer, even on a low spec system. It has superior file handling and I can get plugins like batch resize, batch rename, touch (date) tabbed folders, quick bookmarks and so on instantly.

Unlike Explorer Nautilus will thumb as you view or from top down. So if you are looking for image number 2000 in a folder containing 6000 it will thumbnail the first row you are viewing, you don't have to wait...

I @ M

02-12-2010, 6:51am

A Vote here for Linux - seems to be no Button for it....! :)

In Australia, Linux is indeed rather a minority thing - only about 86,000 Linux home PC users.

I would love the luxury of being able to use Linux but my preferred photo editing software will only run under a windows or mac environment. :action:
And, no, The Gimp can't replace it. :(

colinl

02-12-2010, 8:38pm

I have an iMac. It is my first mac since the late 90's. I'm very happy with it, the range of available software for it has increased greatly over the years. I can even buy cheap software through my employers work for home program (mainly Microsoft and Adobe products). We still have a couple of family pc desktops, my work laptop (pc), and my wifes laptop (pc). I'm probably more familiar with the Microsoft OS just because of the greater exposure to it, but the iMac is pretty easy to use. Most problems I've had when trying to do something are based on my previous pc experience. Recently I was stumped when I needed to un-instal some software. I was looking for the un-installer but couldn't find one. A bit of a search on Apples web site and I found just how easy it was, just drag the software icon into the rubbish bin.

squizzytaylor

03-12-2010, 5:38pm

Ive just ordered an Imac 27 w 17 processor and 16g ram so I hope they are as good for graphics as most say they are, having said that, I have so much productivity tied up in windows at present im converting my PC to w7 and upgrading ram on that as well. Gotta say though cant wait for the mac.

colinl

04-12-2010, 2:39pm

Bails55

05-12-2010, 4:09am

Vista laptop, XP desktop.....but I reckon next year I'll move to Mac.

squizzytaylor

05-12-2010, 12:34pm

You could get fusion and run all your windows software on the mac if you wanted. I was going to that, but then found I could buy the mac versions of Office and CS5 fairly cheap through work, so I just bought them.

I have considered that but have found time and again that the more crap you try to get a computer to run, the less effectively it runs anything. The mac is being bought as a graphics machine and Ill probably let the w7 machine handle every day stuff but I dare say after the novelty wears off the regime may change.

Geoff

colinl

05-12-2010, 12:41pm

I have considered that but have found time and again that the more crap you try to get a computer to run, the less effectively it runs anything. The mac is being bought as a graphics machine and Ill probably let the w7 machine handle every day stuff but I dare say after the novelty wears off the regime may change.

Geoff
They tell me the mac will run Microsoft software through fusion with very little performance drop, but then they were salesmen?

I used to live down your way. In Lemon Tree passage (Port Stephens).

Patagonia

18-12-2010, 12:00am

Macbook 5.1 13,3" Aluminium
2.4 Ghz CPU
2 GB RAM
250 GB HDD

They tell me the mac will run Microsoft software through fusion with very little performance drop, but then they were salesmen?

I Instaled Win 7 in my Mac through Paralles Desktop just for using Mapsource, I don´t know if its real but I feel it starts faster and works faster than in my old PC (similar specs). I Liked Paralles desktop as is integrates and you work as in "one OS"...and it came free with the Mac . i.e.: you have a file in the desktop, if you double click it will directly open the Mac OS or Win aplications that corresponds (One you loaded Win)

...long live to the VIC 20!...

GoldenOrb

18-12-2010, 12:52pm

the other option is virtual box which is a free OS.

Rattus79

03-02-2011, 12:58pm

Core 2 duo 2.13 overclocked to 2.8 gig on a asus p5b mobo
4 Gig 800meg ddr2
512meg ati Radion (el cheapo replacement for a dead Nvidea Card)
320 gig internal 2 terry bite bakup
all on a 32" 1920x1080 Hitachi TV ...

Doom never looked so good :) :lol:

jjhtt

03-02-2011, 2:10pm

what an absolute head *%@# :lol:

who on earth wants to have to tweak this, command that, upgrade this, patch up that, use 3rd party crapware to run a simple piece of software...geezus, it's hard enough trying to get used to new software. Plug and play all the way baby! as long as it has enough grunt to edit a 15meg NEF in photoshop I don't give a monkey's what platform it is...

oh btw, Dell PC Lappy is what I'm punching away on at the moment and I won't get into how big my bits are!

Michaela

04-02-2011, 2:30pm

I have a HP 17" notebook running Win 7 at the moment, which does OK with CS5 and Lightroom though can be a smidge slow at times, and I've used PCs since way back when, buuuuuut I'm seriously considering getting an iMac. I think I could very quickly get used to a 27" quad core i7 with 8Gb RAM. Hmmm ... decisions, decisions. :eek:

mcdesign

06-02-2011, 10:00am

Mac's great if you want to tell eveyone you have a Mac.

PC is for people who want a computer they can use, have control over, customise, optimise and functionalise without spending money on aesthetically pleasing plastic casings and painful proprietary connectors.... and then again a year later and then again two years later.

PC is flexible computing

Rubbish! :rolleyes:

Mac is Kit computing

Depends what you want and what you're doing and how much you care about spending more money unnecissarily.

My two cents... (which i saved by bying a PC) :D

Namus

06-02-2011, 2:20pm

PC user here :th3:

I remember the old Commy 64's - so many memories :th3:

Wayne

25-02-2011, 6:16pm

New Macbook Pro released today, I've ordered one and will be selling my recently purchased one simply for the new Thunderbolt port, but the improved GPU and new quad i7 will be nice too. Makes USB3 look like a snail with bi-directional 10GB throughput and daisy chaining displays and HDD. Its a good update I think.

Cam79

26-02-2011, 6:53pm

Switched over to mac about 6yrs ago now. Dont think I would go back to PC.
All my apple gear works seamlessly together.
Have iMac, Mac book pro, iPad, and iphones.
Why would i want to go back to PC now that i think of it.

markallan

01-03-2011, 10:08pm

I run a simple Compaq laptop, that way i can take it when i do shoots in nature and see my resuults straight away, Cheater i know :D Windows Vista, although i would love to try Windows 7, but Windows XP still is my fav OS.

Forevernowphotography

06-03-2011, 3:36am

JM Tran

06-03-2011, 8:07am

ricktas

06-03-2011, 8:21am

big LOL at the macs feel like they are cheaply put together comment.........really!?

Agree with you here Jackie, Mac's in generally are very nicely finished, Many PC's still look chunky and the panels just screwed on (which they are), whereas Macs are sleek, all parts in the case fit and allign extremely well.

Wayne

06-03-2011, 10:04am

Charmed

12-03-2011, 8:19am

I wanna change my vote to mac

olympuse620

23-08-2011, 11:03pm

Just got a macbook pro and I am wishing that I had done it years ago. Feels like I am driving a luxury car as opposed to the holden/ford PC that I have to use for work.

98kellrs

24-08-2011, 10:28am

I'm not an Apple fan by any means, hate the iPhone, wouldn't even look at an iPad (although I do have a 4 year old iPod) but I bought a MacBook back in 2008 and have enver looked back. It's still going strong 3 years later, I still have no viruses and in terms of design it hasn't aged one bit.

I'm actually slightly annoyed that it's lasting so well because I like the look of the new MacBook Pro's but just can't justify having two laptops! :rolleyes:

shelly1170

24-08-2011, 1:22pm

I have a trusty old Toshiba notebook that would have to be from around 2004 or 2004 I guess. Still working, though a bit slow now. Biggest selling point is that it has a 17" screen.

But my everyday computer is a MacBook Pro from early 2008. Just LOVE it. So easy, everything is preloaded (like pdf reader) and it's true PNP.

The battery has just died (second one) which is a pain. We are looking to upgrade soon to a newer MacBook Pro.

Bax

24-08-2011, 1:36pm

PC all the way for me. I'm running a PC that I built myself 5 years ago and occasionally get out my 6 year old Acer (for when I need to move around and play with network settings)

Surprisingly the Acer still works, the CPU fan died sometime this year, I'd replaced something in the screen a couple of years ago, the CD drive no longer works. But for some reason, even without a CPU fan, it will run all day.

I wouldn't mind getting a Mac, it's hard to say they don't look nice - but I really can't justify the price, especially when comparable laptops are so much cheaper.

ameerat42

16-04-2012, 7:29pm

How can you have either MAC or PC without GRAVY???
Seriously flawed poll IYAM.
Am(bivalent Abacus Aficionado).

abbyp

23-04-2012, 1:18pm

I guess if you have a little bit more to spend then you should go with a MAC. I think Adobe Photoshop would be really great for it :)

fishographer

18-07-2012, 11:23pm

I remember way back when I had an Amiga 2000......all we did as play games though:D

I heard a great quote years ago that stated:
"PC/Microsoft are like the volvo/commodore of the computer world...cheap, nasty and a bit like a##holes as everybody's got one, Macs however are like the formula one racing car of the computer world, a fine tuned performance machine but only run on 5% of the roads....!!"

Back in my Uni days, a few years before home computers really took off, we had IBM labs and Mac labs, anyone who needed to do serious work seemed to use the Mac labs and the IBM labs remained mostly unused......my how things have changed hey.

I have since used Microsoft/PC for most of my time all of which have been off the shelf Dell items, I am no customiser and I guess that is the big issue.....really we need to be comparing apples to apples as a highly customised PC is always going to be different to an off the shelf unit.

My brother is deep in the professional videographer/media/audio editing world and his partner is a photographer/graphic designer, they use Macs exclusively, when I asked why there was a simple explanation, when it comes to graphics and video editing the Macs are faster, handle multi tasks more efficiently and are more stable. Once linked to iPhones, iPads and iTV everything connects seamlessly and just works. He also said to custom build a "PC" system that would be able to run the programs that he needs with the speed and power would cost a lot more than an off the shelf Mac.
My Dell desktop is an old Pentium 4 system and the laptop is not much younger but do an ok job, after playing with the Macs and a newer PC with PS I will be going for a Macbook Pro for a christmas present.....cant wait :D

cheers
Jamie

ricktas

19-07-2012, 6:38am

My brother is deep in the professional videographer/media/audio editing world and his partner is a photographer/graphic designer, they use Macs exclusively, when I asked why there was a simple explanation, when it comes to graphics and video editing the Macs are faster, handle multi tasks more efficiently and are more stable. Once linked to iPhones, iPads and iTV everything connects seamlessly and just works. He also said to custom build a "PC" system that would be able to run the programs that he needs with the speed and power would cost a lot more than an off the shelf Mac.

I think that used to hold true, but today you can generally get a PC with similar specs to a Mac at around the same price or cheaper, and that the PC holds its own on processing speed etc.

Mac's have also come a long way, now being able to run windows programs etc. And iPhones, Ipads will connect to a PC just as easily as they do to a Mac.

I have stuck with PC's cause they are in the majority in the business world (except for graphics design/photographers etc), and I can easily add things like extra memory, new hard drive, new graphics card. Doing so on a Mac (from my understanding) is not as easy for the user.

I could not give a damn what anyone else uses, after all it is the output that matters. A photo can be badly processed on either, so it's the user that matters. It is much like camera brands. The photos are what is important, not the brand of camera body or lens used to take them.

Xebadir

19-07-2012, 9:23am

I'm in a world torn apart by both PC and Mac. For work I use a macbook pro (terminal for programming/high performance computing (256 core supercomputing in Canberra at my disposal for big uni tasks ;)) is a far better alternative to the rather clumsy putty/xterm arrangement that I can manage on PC), and find the stability and everything about it fantastic. But as I don't technically "own" my laptop I can't really use it for image work/video stuff (and quite frankly I don't have the space to do so on the configuration). When I was planning to upgrade my PC I was rather torn whether to wait for the money to get a new/updated Mac or instead go with a high end PC. Eventually the relative ease of upgrading components sold me on the PC (not to mention the fact that not all games run on Mac), with the same/greater power being far cheaper and easier to obtain. While it does mean that I do have to put up with the somewhat more unstable OS (I have only had 5 crashes on my Mac in three and a half years, each from too many processing tasks :rolleyes:), it still does the job just like Rick says. There is also the slight issue of different licences being needed to purchase a Mac or PC version of processing software, which I find confines you to one or the other. In the end its how you use the computer, not what it is ;).

MissionMan

19-07-2012, 10:50am

I switched to Mac about 4 years back, don't think I could ever go back to Windows again. I still use Windows (virtualised for customer sites) but I hate it every time I use it and I've generally ported all my software to Mac so I don't have to use it unless I really have to. Whats interesting is there are very few people who switch to Mac and want to go back to PC again. Speaks wonders for the environment. The only software that still crashes on my Mac ironically is Microsoft Office for Mac.

SamNabz

19-07-2012, 11:04am

MissionMan

19-07-2012, 11:15am

I'm a PC user and always will be... Most people who use Mac's seem brainwashed to me.

Firstly, Mac's were the must have item for any musician/artist.. Then it was the must have item for graphic, marketing and web designers and now they are telling everyone they are the must have item for students and the likes.. What a load.

Whilst Mac's are getting cheaper, for the money you buy a Mac for you can build a PC that will be at least 3x quicker with money to spare.

I don't deny that Mac's are good computers, they have definitely come a long way and seem to be smashing the market, but it wasn't until they used PC components and good marketing ads/campaigns that they were able to achieve their current status. Before that, they were an ugly boulder resembling computer that came in a variety of colours..

End of the day, I would never choose a Mac over a PC.

Its interesting you say that Mac users are brainwashed when majority of PC users have never actually used Mac for any extended period of time (other than potentially walking into a store and playing with one) and therefore can't compare the two where most Mac users have used Windows for an extended period of time. One could easily argue that Windows user are more brainwashed given they've never had used both systems.

Its also worth noting that when you say Mac's were ugly boulder resembling computers that most PC's weren't any different in that day and age.

PC components were always used in Mac's. It was only with the switch to Intel based processors that Mac's were capable of running Windows which is the switch you are referring to. What this did help is give Mac users a level of comfort in knowing that if they purchased a Mac, they could still use Windows if they didn't like OSX. Ironically, most Mac users I know (including a number in the business workplace who have moved from Windows to Mac) start off with Windows for their PC based software but eventually end up converting to the OSX alternatives as virtually every piece of software required now has a Mac equivalent. Both my directors started off with Windows virtualised and over the space of a year used it less and less to a point now where they don't use it.

Xebadir

19-07-2012, 3:43pm

Its a fairly solid point there MM, having spent the past 3 and a half years on both I can agree with you that there are features to both OS that are attractive. For example, the Mac filesystem is a total pain in the backside if you need to operate in a coding/programming environment - its all stored in relatively strange tunnelled places which makes accessing critical application files sometimes difficult and configuring the laptop a real PITA. I'm also not really a fan of the image viewing programs that are stock. I also hate how unstable the MS Office is on Mac, I don't know why, but it makes the windows version look like a pillar of stability. Probably something to do with the file system differences.

I've also at one point had Mac virtually OS tunnelled to Ubuntu (Unix) virtually OS tunnelled to Windows on the Mac and just found that OSX tends to provide me with the best programming solution over the other two OS systems - I don't think I could ever tolerate a Unix based OS all the time though as I find it a bit nerdy and unpolished as a GUI. But thats open source for you.

The massive sell for Mac is the stability, and relatively safe working environment with malware/viruses - it seems that still they are too bad for Mac users, while an omnipresent threat for PC windows systems. A big detractor though is the cost of parts, the still run more expensive especially closer to the cutting edge. The Mac systems also tend to be less plug and play with components, and while rather smick and smooth in the design, the cost of this is more difficult to access internals if you want to do some work. One particular area that hurts the Macs (at least prior to recent models) was the limited opportunities to add SSD to the machine and really bump the speed, and the hurdle with smaller drives in Mac laptop systems. The latest macbook pros have addressed the SSD limitations somewhat, but you still can't really easily swap it yourself.

PCs your big sell is hardware - its cheap to bump that RAM big, swap hard drives, to switch up your processor, swap out your optical drive for a second HDD, fix your heat paste etc. The software options for gaming (if thats your alley) are also much better with Mac not being able to be clocked in the same way or work in an optimal fashion (the cooling systems of PCs are far more effective, the sealed case of the Macs hinders cooling and hence drops maximum flops in power). The limitations lie in a somewhat less smooth design, a less optimal screen display (Mac certainly do that well), and an Operating system that is prone to malware, viruses unless you take alot of precautions and needs heavy configuration to ensure you get the best performance out of your OS - Prior to the release of 7, Vista made Mac OS look like heaven, but 7 was far more competitive with the alternatives.

My big problem with the switch to Mac software alternatives is just the cost atm - its quite expensive to switch all your software over and I don't see that being worth it.

nogi

27-07-2012, 8:05am

Ok, my take on this. Technically, it’s not Mac vs PC it’s Mac vs Wintel or Windows. A Mac is a PC as is a Windows box. PC = Personal Computer. With that out of the way, this whole debate is about as old as religion itself. :D For me, I run whatever offers me the best fit for what I need. At home, I run this:

Fully spec’d 2010 27” iMac (SSD, 8Gb RAM, etc….)
2010 Mac Mini (xmbc media PC)
Windows 7 Laptop
FreeBSD on 2 servers
ESXi on one server which hosts an Ubuntu and Win 7 VM

I used to have a fully decked out PC (32Gb RAM, 4 SSDs, dual 27” U2711, etc…) as well but sold that late last year and changed to my iMac as the main desktop PC. My observation on the Macs have been 3 OS upgrades and not a single hardware upgrade was required to maintain speeds of day 1. The compartmentalised application installs on OSX also leave the system fairly fresh.

Also, whilst the iMac had a higher upfront cost, I think over a 3 year period the cost works out to be the same with a PC for me when I factor in upgrades along the way to run the new version of Windows well and time spent cleaning up registry messes and full reinstalls to return to day 1 speeds. So, one platform has a higher cost to entry but lower maintenance and the other has a lower cost to entry but higher maintenance. And people forget that the total cost of ownership has multiple dimensions, money is only one of them - time is another and just as valuable.

But everything I’ve said above applies to my use case. If I was a hard core gamer, the iMac wouldn’t cut the mustard. Oh, and I am by no means an Apple Fanboi, my phone and tablet are Android. OSX users != iOS users. :p

davsv1

27-07-2012, 1:48pm

I see new OS Mountain Lion is out now, $20.99

nogi

28-07-2012, 8:01pm

I see new OS Mountain Lion is out now, $20.99

Yeah, I installed on launch day. Flawless install, select destination and walk away that's pretty much it. If you are wanting to make a bootable USB/DVD to install on other Macs to save on downloading again, you'll need to do before you start the install.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

rossco

28-07-2012, 8:15pm

got my first mac a month ago , im a fan

jeuring

16-08-2012, 12:18am

dont like the macs they always feel a bit to cheaply put toghter, have thought of buying a mac before but always end up getting the pc, have just pought a monster of a machine, with all the latest bits and i couldnt be happier, it runs so fast and smooth. couldnt ever imagine going to a mac, even thought every one keeps telling me to.
Agree to a point...I have had windows for as long as I remember as I thought Macs were to expensive and wouldn't run all my software. I, never thought Macs looked cheap. Then when they introduced the intel machines, I bought my first Mac and I must say it is a dream to use and I just love it. The 27" makes the photos on here look amazing.

MrBling

16-08-2012, 6:52pm

ameerat42

16-08-2012, 7:31pm

I've worked in this industry for long enough to know that in general Macs are just the better way to go.

The real argument here is Windows vs OSX and there is very, very little that Windows does better than OSX (and for the out dated IT people reading along, just because you don't know how to do it on a mac doesn't mean it cant be done).

And this is supposed to carry weight? Leaden, perhaps!
It's basically saying that mere assertions carry water. Vapour! All vapour!

I 4 1, am not convinced - of whatever it is you're trying to push.

Am.

I @ M

16-08-2012, 7:38pm

I've worked in this industry for long enough to know that in general Macs are just the better way to go.

Which industry?

What products are lining your pockets?

Many people are driven through self interest ----

ricktas

16-08-2012, 7:54pm

I've worked in this industry for long enough to know that in general Macs are just the better way to go.

The real argument here is Windows vs OSX and there is very, very little that Windows does better than OSX (and for the out dated IT people reading along, just because you don't know how to do it on a mac doesn't mean it cant be done).

Show me a photo/document/spreadsheet etc that you can process on a Mac that you cannot do the same thing with on a PC. It is the end result that counts, not the way it was produced. I don't care if your photos are processed on a Mac or taken with an Olympus, it is how the user works with their gear to produce a good resultant photo.

nogi

16-08-2012, 8:20pm

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the question has no right or wrong answer. Use what suites your needs. It's like trying to determine what's better iPad, Google Nexus 7 or Win 8 Surface Pro. Different things for different needs. Having choice is a win for consumers.

MissionMan

16-08-2012, 10:16pm

Kym

16-08-2012, 11:33pm

Mac shmacs; Win doze - meh!
No big deal either way.
You can get more grunt for your $$ from a PC simply because you can build your own hardware if you know how.

Excellent photo & video processing software is available on either platform.

If you're into games then PC hands down.

PS: I've worked in IT since the 70's -- mainframes, mini's, big iron unix, PCs, you name it. I've worked with MACs, PCs and Linux.
I also keep this site running :D

GrahamS

21-08-2012, 6:18am

Had Windows machines for many years, bagged the hell out of anyone with a Mac (basically out of ignorance) switched to Mac a year ago, now have 27"iMac, running OSX and Bootcamp for Windows (gameplay), 13" MacBook Pro, iPhone and Apple TV, so I guess you could say an Apple convert. Will i switch back again........... no way.
Cheers.

griffljg

30-09-2012, 2:30pm

Graham, I am in the same boat, but just a bit behind you, except that I have never been particularly pro-Windoze. I preferred to use Linux instead.

About three months ago, I bought a 27" iMac i7 suitably specced-up with 12GB RAM and a 2TB hard disk, because I couldn't get enough decent photo-editing software running under Linux and wasn't ready to move to the "Dark Side" yet. - It (the iMac) is absolutely bloody wonderful. I am so impressed with it that I have just ordered myself a MacBook Pro with Retina display for processing photos when I am away from home.

Now waiting eagerly for my new toy to arrive! :-)

MissionMan

30-09-2012, 3:37pm

Eberbachl

04-10-2012, 11:53pm

Show me a photo/document/spreadsheet etc that you can process on a Mac that you cannot do the same thing with on a PC. It is the end result that counts, not the way it was produced. I don't care if your photos are processed on a Mac or taken with an Olympus, it is how the user works with their gear to produce a good resultant photo.

Very true. I run Linux exclusively, and use Darktable and GIMP for PP. Notwithstanding being able to look at EXIF data, you wouldn't be able to tell which platform I used to produce a given image (and my clients couldn't care less!). It's either good or it is not. It doesn't matter what you used to produce it.

:D

griffljg

14-10-2012, 11:30am

My MacBook Pro with Retina display arrived earlier this week while I was attending an Engineers conference at which I was both a delegate and the official photographer. I used this as an opportinity to test the MacBook in processing photos on site during breaks in the presentations.

Wow! The qulity of the new Retina display is absolutely amazing and the processing speed is mind-blowingly quick too.

hus

31-10-2012, 3:27pm

Try googling Hackintosh, build a mac at half the cost with twice the speed and power.:cool:

ricktas

04-11-2012, 8:22pm

Wow! The qulity of the new Retina display is absolutely amazing and the processing speed is mind-blowingly quick too.

Samsung have developed a display with 4x the pixel density of the Apple retina displays. We should start seeing the Samsung displays during 2013.

wmphoto

07-11-2012, 7:58pm

Can I change my vote? Having been a PC user since the MS-DOS days (even further back to a commodore VIC 20), I have just made the switch to an iMac 27" 3.4 GHz. Let the very steep learning curve begin. I've managed to get Lightroom and all my photos and catalogue over, so that's a start.

hus

14-11-2012, 8:59am

After installing Mac OS X on my drive D to see what the hype is about I would most likely stay with windows. I come from the days of CPM z80 based cpu's, MS-Dos, apple 2's, vic-20 and had the joy of owning a 128k Machintosh. Also that great little aussie gem MicroBee :)

Zandri

01-01-2013, 7:57pm

I was a die hard PC user that switched to mac over 5 years ago - never looked back! And would never go back to Windows, I'll resort to Linux before that happens again! (one of the reasons I love Mac OS X - it's built on a BSD foundation so still get the power of Linux without the headaches)

ameerat42

01-01-2013, 8:08pm

...it's built on a BSD foundation...

Which is acronymous for Berkeley Software Distribution Foundation. Now everybody knew this but me, because until I searched for its actual meaning, every one of the
squillion references blithely touted the same acronym.
:2enew:, I say!