a few Mac questions

After pricing what a new PC with Vista Premium installed will cost, I see I'm

getting very close the the price of a Mac. A few question I have are: Is it

true I will never need anti-virus or anti-spam software? Can I use my new Sony

monitor or should I consider one of the "all-in-one" Macs? I suppose I will not

be able to use my PC Photoshop software in a Mac or am I wrong? I think

Photoshop Elements 5 will do everything I need, I only use levels, curve,

highlight & shadow and maybe a few other tools. My thinking is that if I can't

fix a photo with those basic tools I should have taken a better photo. Are Macs

that really that great or is it just a religion with you guys?

1.) Never" is a very long time. But so far no reaql virus threat threat has appeared. Alas

Spam is a fact of modern e-mail life. The programmable spam filter for the OS X mail

program is very good but still some get through. I see about 5-10 a day on my machine

but the filter catches 10-20x that amount.

 

2.) Adobe does a very good job of relicensing Photoshop products cheaply oif not for

freewhen you change platforms. Butthere is no Elements 5 for Mac (yet) Isuspect there will

be one --or Elements 6 --very shortly.

 

3.) Itisn't a religion for me, but for me I find OS X is a better all around tool than Windows .

Why the weird questions along with the backhanded religion slap? If you get the latest Intel

Core 2 Duo Mac, you can run your favorite XP or Vista too as either Root(Parallels) or in

parallel emulation (Bootcamp) next to OSX. So you can load all your PC software and run

them--including Windows version(s) of PS. Having said that, you will also get all the

buggyness of any other vanilla brand PC running Windows OS--bugs, spyware, DRM(Msft

phone home), viral infestations, hardware/software compatibility wonkyness, etc. With

OSX (current version) 10.4.8 (a 64 bit OS) you can always use as a benchmark to see which

system suits your needs or comfort level. As for monitors, the base standard for Macs is

digital video, but they do come with a digital to analog VGA connector, so connecting an

older VGA CRT is not a problem.

Is it true I will never need anti-virus or anti-spam software?<br>

No. It's true that right NOW you don't need any. It's likely that for the near future you

won't need any. But never say never. The mac architecture is more secure, and definitely

harder than windows to write a virus for - anyone who says otherwise doesn't understand

the differences between UNIX and windows. There have been a couple of "viruses" written

recently for the mac, but these were ridiculous - requiring the user to make some very

bone-headed moves for the virus to get on the machine.<br><br>

 

Can I use my new Sony monitor or should I consider one of the "all-in-one" Macs? <br>

Regardless of which mac you go with, you'll be able to use your monitor. At worst, you'll

need to buy the $20 DVI/VGA converter. If you buy an all-in-one like the iMac, then you

can plug in your Sony for a dual-monitor setup (very nice!)<br><br>

 

I suppose I will not be able to use my PC Photoshop software in a Mac or am I wrong?<br>

Didn't photoshop used to ship with both the mac and pc disks in the same box? Well,

regardless, I know that when at work we upgraded from version 5 PC to CS Mac, we called

adobe about it and they explained how we could get the upgrade version instead of the

full-fledged. I would call Adobe and find out if that is still allowed.<br><br>

 

Are Macs that really that great or is it just a religion with you guys? <br>

As much as I would like to say that they are the perfect machine, they're not perfect for

everyone. Some people just can't seem to handle the way it changes how you work. 9 out

of 10 i know absolutely love it and haven't looked back. they are great machines - I've had

my bargain basement eMac for 1.5 years now and it has NEVER crashed. The only times

I've had to restart it have been for a couple of OS updates and a few power outages, and

that's it. If you switch, the biggest thing will be forgetting how you do some things on a

PC and just taking a deep breath and thinking "OK, what would be the sensacle way to do

this?" However, almost every command in photoshop is exactly the same - just make sure

you set your photoshop gamma to 2.2, because apple's default is 1.8, and you'll post a

photo here and wonder why everyone says it looks terrible. Other than that, I would

recommend that you go to a retailer that has some Macs set up for display and play with

them - you really need to feel it before diving into it to make sure you're going to like it.

As for recommendations - I have used and know people who own iMacs, macbooks, and

macbook pros, and they all love them 110%. I would also recommend waiting until CS3 is

released - CS2 is not native to the intel processors in the new macs, so it will run a bit

slow, and if you have to pay for a CS2 Mac upgrade, you'll end up paying again for a CS3

intel native upgrade.

I've been toiling over the same decision for about a year now. As soon as CS3 is released for Mac, I will be purchasing the Mac Pro w/ 30" monitor. I'm chomping at the bit, but i've done my homework for the last year.

 

If your primary is photo editing, you can't go wrong. Visit thier site, and visit one of thier stores and take it for a test run...you'll be impressed. The systems are quite an investment, but well worth it. The OS is very stable, and very user friendly. They are also the true deffinition of plug and play.

- Never say never, but I've not yet seen a virus on Mac OS X. And I was running Mac OS X

even before it was released by Apple (I worked there at the time ...).

 

- Your new Sony monitor will work regardless. The iMac is a very nice way to save space if

you don't need the amount of expandability that a Mac Pro can offer.

 

- Since current Apple systems can run either or/both Mac OS X and Windows XP, you could

configure it to run your current software or you can upgrade from your current Windows

Photoshop to the latest Mac OS X Photoshop. For best performance, you'll want the Mac OS

X version of Photoshop CS3 when it ships. Photoshop Elements doesn't have what I want or

need in it (color management options and workflow automation mostly), so it's not an

option for me. You can also look at Adobe Lightroom (currently in beta at version 4.1) or

Lightzone (offered by Lightcrafts.com) for doing photographic work. They can cover a

tremendous amount of ground.

 

- Apple systems are really great. I have no religious aspersions with regard to computing

machinery, this stuff just works well for my work. It did before I went to work at Apple, it

does now that I'm no longer there. I've used a lot of other equipment and operating

systems along the way and not found any advantage to entice me otherwise.

 

Godfrey

Apple hasa factory warrantied refurb store. Go to www,apple.com choose store, and scroll

down and look in the right hand column for the "Specials" tag.

Sanford, on an IntelMac you can run all your Windows software. On Macs you can run OSX,

XP, and for instance Linux, simultaneously. And of course all the apps that come with 'm.

 

Try that on a Wintel box!

Macs are great for anything creative, image our sound. And it's NOT a religion. Remember

that the vast majority of imaging work like computer animation or scenery design in the

movie industry, or photo editing for that matter, is done on Macs. Didn't you notice that,

when you see a computer in a film - more oftent than not it'll be a cool-looking laptop -

it's a Mac 10 to 1. There's gotta be a reason :-)

One more question - If I didn't install XP or Vista (kind of defeats the whole purpose of getting into Mac) will I be able to download the hundreds of photos I have stored in CD's. Sorry for the religious remark but whenever I question Mac users they get this far away, eyes glazed over, worshiping look on the faces and talk to me about "converting".

Macs are called a religion at Mac conferences, even in Macworld magazine; it was called a religion before there was a Mac, with the older Apple products too.<BR><BR> When I worked on the floppy eject mechanism on the original MAC, the group in Cupertino seemed like a group of religious folks with certain rigid mindset where nothing could be questioned. There was alot of detailed control of what you got to work with; what not; in the non disclosure arena. One might as well be talking to the wall than to question Apple why one needed an eject mechanism; when the Sonys in HP test equipment just had a button to push. It was called a religion even before the Mac came out with the older Apple products. This was over 2 decades ago; ancient history in the computer hardware business. Having a hardline line iron fisted control on the hardware is part of the religion.<BR><BR><a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=11184"<i>"The team looked at several brands, including those form the automobile industry, sci-fi TV series and Macs. "All of these brand communities have been demonstrated to be capable of producing transformative experiences in their consumers and all have traces of magic, religion or the supernatural," they said"</i></b><BR><BR><a href="http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_mac_vs_pc.html"<i>"The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant"</i></a><BR><BR>Apple products were called a religion in the late 1970's and early 1980's too; before the IBM PC came out; when other folks were using BASIC on Pets, HP's, Timex Sinclair, TI99's, and other earlier "PCs" Many of the other non Apple boxes had alot of folks experimenting, with an open hardware, goofing around with cassette storage, programing each pixel on the screen to for games.

I've used nearly all of the Mac operating systems since 4.3. I've also used all of the Windows versions since 3.1. I prefer Macs, but the latest versions of Windows are quite serviceable. I wouldn't switch operating systems unless you are committed to buying all new software. I also wouldn't buy a Mac just to run Windows on it.

 

It sounds like Elements is the right image editing software for you. I like some of the tools in CS 3 (beta) like L*a*b* mode and the channel mixer, but 90% of the time Elements would work.

<p><i>Is it true I will never need anti-virus or anti-spam software?</i></p>

 

<p>"Never?" There are far fewer viruses that successfully target Macs, in fact I haven't

encountered one in years - which is not to say that it couldn't happen. Cautious users still

use virus software on Macs.

 

<p>You'll still get spam in your email on a Mac. Those spam messages bearing nasty

payloads targeted at Windows computers won't hurt your computer but they are still

annoying. Apple's Mail application does a decent job of detecting spam message, but it is

not perfect.</p>

 

<p><i>Can I use my new Sony monitor or should I consider one of the "all-in-one" Macs?

</i></p>

 

<p>Ah, a two-part question!</p>

 

<p>There is a very good chance you can use your Sony monitor if it is fairly recent one.

You do not need to use an Apple monitor. Quite a few Mac users have third-party

monitors - I know several who use Sony, Dell, etc. monitors. The Apple monitors are of

exceptional quality, but they are expensive.</p>

 

<p>The "all-in-one" Intel-processor iMac is a great computer for most users. To be

honest

with you, very few people - even most Photoshop users - would be disappointed with

these machines as long as you get one equipped with sufficient RAM and a large hard

drive. The monitors are excellent. We are teaching Photoshop in two labs at my college,

and one is equipped with 20" Intel iMacs - and we and our students are quite happy with

this.</p>

 

<p><i>I suppose I will not be able to use my PC Photoshop software in a Mac or am I

wrong? I think Photoshop Elements 5 will do everything I need, I only use levels, curve,

highlight & shadow and maybe a few other tools. My thinking is that if I can't fix a photo

with those basic tools I should have taken a better photo.</i></p>

 

<p>Well, maybe you can use your PC software. <i>All</i> of the current Macs - iMac,

desktop, and laptop - have Intel processors and can run Windows natively. You can do this

using the free <i>Boot Camp</i> software from Apple, which lets you select between

Windows and OS X when you start the computer. Alternatively, you can use a third party

program, <i>Parallels</i>, which lets you run both operating systems concurrently and

switch between them at will. That's right, you can have your Windows computer

<i>and</i> a Mac <i>in one box.</i></p>

 

<p><i>Are Macs that really that great or is it just a religion with you guys?</i></p>

 

<p>If I tell you they really are that great, will you assume that it must be a religion for me?

:-)</p>

 

<p>Happy New Year!,

 

<p>Dan

<i>Sanford Gerald; <br>

> One more question - If I didn't install XP or Vista (kind of<br>

> defeats the whole purpose of getting into Mac) will I be able to<br>

> download the hundreds of photos I have stored in CD's.<br>

> </i><br>

<br>

Yes, Mac OS X can read many different volume formats including the standards used in

data CDs (ISO9660) as well as the Windows file systems, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS. <br>

<br>

I would recommend carrying a CD that you've made to an Apple retailer to try it out in a

demo system if you want to be absolutely sure.<br>

<br>

Godfrey<br>

<i>"Are Macs that really that great or is it just a religion with you guys?"</i>

<br><br>

 

- yes, & yes!

I am a recent convert and i dont seem to have much problems with the move to mac.

I have no problem with the photo cds i saved in my windows machine. Even the data migration was not as bad as i thought it might be.

 

I am a happy camper in the mac world. I still have windows in parallels, but i use it maybe once a month if i have to see some windows file format video or something like that, but it really is not a necessity for me.