Mac user? Why?

[digga]

I've been to the Apple shop again today!!!

(No i'm not stalking any of the assistants !!)

I had spotted that they do ' workshops' in-store for peeps that maybe buying or maybe want a little more of a demo..

Any hows - the hour long stint ended up as nearer 90 mins, there were just 2 of us and we could ask any questions we wanted concerning the system/ programmes etc.
It was quite an eye opener really, and all FOC

The other thing i have latched onto is the 1-2-1 service. This is a 1hr long session with an 'Expert' on your chosen subject/project/hardware, on a One to One basis.
Seems that you can do the equivalent to a 'college course', an hour at a time over a 12 month period, and all for £71.
So if you were interested in say, iWEB , you could go there the first time with an idea of what you want to achieve, discuss it with your expert, and then gradually 'pick their brains' mercilessly until you were as expert as they are.


Has any one got a Student I.D i could use to get an 'educational rebate'??

 

[skyenet]

Has any one got a Student I.D i could use to get an 'educational rebate'??

Their educational discount is available to quite a range of people including kids at school. I have never had any problem buying Apple stuff at Educational prices. Plus they are doing some offer at the moment where you get a £130 off an ipod if you buy a Mac computer.

Even if I have gone into an Apple store I have managed to get an Educational discount. That is the only time I have had to prove I am entitled and have used my ID badge from work. Online you just order through the Educational store and never had to provide any proof.

 

[digga]

Plus they are doing some offer at the moment where you get a £130 off an ipod if you buy a Mac computer.

Hence the request ....

Online you just order through the Educational store and never had to provide any proof.

I'll try that one then ..

 

[andyclift]

Mapsource for the Mac (Roadtrip?) is indeed shite. Last I checked, you could not update the firmware of a Garmin GPS on a Mac, but that was a while ago. I have it installed but never use it.

Yes Roadtrip is shite but Basemap isn't. It is really aimed at off road but in practice it does everything Roadtrip does only better and has advantages over Mapsource.

I originally used PCs and Mapsource and installed Windows on my map because Roadtrip was crap. Since finding Basecamp I never use Windows and have delected Roadtrip.. This year's 10 country European tour was totally planned on Basecamp.

 

[shuck raider]

New Mac owner!! Just bought an iMac tonight with some of the proceeds of the recent sale of me Enfield Bullet, 'cos the old PC was on its last legs.

A returnee to the Mac fold though, started out on Macs (Classic through to Performa ) many years ago - we used 'em in Primary Schools and the kids loved the user-friendly interface. Then those who know best decreed that PC was the future and I kind of drifted away from Mac and on to PC which the LEA supplied to all schools through an integrated network across the country.

Have to say that much has changed in Mac-world but a lot is still very familiar to me. Took it out of the box, plugged it in and away we went Plenty still to discover and I'm looking forward to exploring what's on offer

 

[stolzy]

agreed, I have a Mac too, it is totally overpriced and a huge pita for file management. but hey most people don't manage files anymore so it"s great. Have linux on another machine and AFAIKS it"s as good as Mac...

What is the problem with file management? Can't imagine anything a windows PC can do in that area that a mac can't.

If you want to do serious file juggling you can have a Unix shell and the world is your oyster

 

[flytoolow]

Mac since 96!

Once you go Mac, youll never go back...

For home use (..and if I could professional use..but they wont let me) Mac.

Ive had G3, 2xG4, TiBook, Mac Mini (really cool) and all assortments of apple goodies.

Mac software is (in general) either free or very good value - it works, not complicated and just does what you want. Actually Filemaker (bought for about $100 - 7 years ago) is still in use today...Actually my engineering "team" used to log onto my Mac over the network to find information rather than use the " advised method of using a $500K MSSQL server implementation...

My advise is to try and forget about how it was done on a PC - there is no user manual...Just think what (and even where) you would like something to be and usually thats correct...

Have fun.

 

[cookie]

Last I checked, you could not update the firmware of a Garmin GPS on a Mac, but that was a while ago

you can now. i did it last week.

 

[Roy]

had a macbook for 12 months now
starts when you want it to, stops when you want it to. No long winded painfully slow and regular updates, no clutter or trouble getting rid of unwanted programs, no viruses or equally troublesome virus software, recovered files from old corrupted hard drives that windows can't.
It works like a computer should.
easy to put windows on a partition for windows progs and files via bootcamp

OK initially seems more expensive but beautifully made and probably cheaper in the long run.

Roy
(just timed it, 33 seconds to start, 6 seconds to shut down.)
PS I'm not gay.

 

[bhud]

You are all buggers.
I had decided not to go down the Apple road now I looking at it again.

 

[TurboCharger]

easy to put windows on a partition for windows progs and files via bootcamp

You can do this but as a power Mac user (and self certified IT geek who knows Unix, Linix, Windows, HP-Unix to name a few) since many years. I would not recommend bootcamp. Instead try a virtual machine program such as Parallels of VMWare for mac. They have many advantages, but most of all you can run MAC and Windows at the same time, so you just switch to Windows like you would open a web browser - it's fast pain free and very very sexy (from an IT Geek

OK initially seems more expensive but beautifully made and probably cheaper in the long run.

What you're not telling fellow forum readers is that the basic package delivered with MAC includes iLife '09 and many other softwares that would cost well over US$1000 to buy equivalent for PC. What isn't available is downloadable for free (if you look hard enough). This wasn't the case for mac some 5yrs ago.

PS. If you have a MAC then you must use TimeMachine -> it saved my arse & I can't recommend it strongly enough.

 

[WindyChuffer]

I use both PC and Mac.

Am forced to use a PC at work, and know Windows like the back of my hand having been using it for 15+ years.

Went down the dark side route 2 yrs ago and bought a Mac Book Air. Supersexy. But underpowered and overpriced.

Recently bought a 13" Mac Book Pro - the basic one with 250GB HDD and 2GB RAM at £880 from Amazon - £100 cheaper than the Apple shop and about the same price as a comparably specified Dell. First thing I did when I got it - take the back off and change the Hard Drive and RAM - it now has a 1TB Hard Drive and 8GB RAM. Christ this thing flys. Runs Mac OSX + XP on VMWare at the same time beautifully. So now I have both at my fingertips. What is really odd is the MS Office (Word, Excel etc) performs better on Windows running on VMWare on MacOS than MS Office does running just on the Mac !


Windows or Mac - you decide; depends what you know and are comfortable with. Theres a lot of horseshit spouted about both on the 'net. Macs have problems too you know, and intuitive? My arse ! Yep - you get a lot of the spinny beach ball shit on Mac. No viruses that I know of though.

I have been asked on more than one occasion what it cost to sex up my MacBookPro with 1TB Hard Drive and 8GB memory.

Memory
I found amazon the cheapest by far for the memory - £273 when I ordered in July but seems its now down to £200 . All other places were the amazon price but with VAT on top !

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001PS9UKW/ref=oss_product

Hard Drive
The HDD was ~£165, and as of July. but I see its now down to £117 Western Digital were the only ones to have released a 2.5" hard drive. Its a bit thicker than the OEM drive, but still fits.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1TB-Western-Digital-WD10TPVT-Scorpio-Blue-25-HDD-SATA-3Gb-s-5200-rpm-8MB-Cache-12-ms

The HDD & memory is a doddle to fit, and the MacOSX native tools make disk imaging & deployment for HDD upgrades a dream.

Links and prices correct as of today. Cant believe the price drop in 2 months. FFS !

Mike.

 

[bhud]

Thanks for the PM Mike your inbox is full

 

[Big Derek]

hi i have just moved across to the darkside (mac) having had my 3rd pc crash and loosing all my email and maps and film data etc etc. it happened last nov too. So at that time i bought a new pc water cooled the lot costing me 2.5k thought thats it now but NO! here we are dec 11 months on and its gone again lost all data and b4 everyone shouts back up it was raid + but seems only some files were being backed up?

So thats my reason just bought new iMac @£3.2k!!! Blimey i do hope i have done the right thing, The back up called time machine is so simple it seems to be the dogs! so far i am finding it just a tad different to drive, the little keyboard is good and i love the trackpad its very easy to use.So reason for my reply is not the rant it was to ask you about this Basemap? as i plan some trips always using mapsource on my Garmin 660 are you saying that Basemap will work for me?

So far i have had to loose the following programs as mac will not run them

Mapsource
Incredimail
sage
Acoustica
Capture Wiz
Freecovers

I guess there will be more, but as yet i have not tried to download any films and then burn them to dvd, including printing dvd cover etc.
If i was to install windows on the bootcamp whatever i presume then you are back using antivirus software etc , that all seems like i am just using mac as periferals i would rather become more into the mac side I thought?

If you have any software ideas or tricks that may make my pc- mac change better any advice would be good....

cheers

Big D

 

[andyclift]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Mac.

To answer a couple of queries.

Basemap is great. It does some things better than Mapsource and some not so well but it does everything you need and once you get used to it being different I doubt you will want to go back.

Downloading and burning films? I assume you mean legally but for format conversion and copying (protected) DVDs Handbrake is free and very good indeed. I have only found one DVD that has beaten it. Another must have is Miro. Again free and takes all the hassle out of grabbing video from Utube etc.

Re printing DVD covers and printing on DVDs I gave up with the "specialist" applications years back as they were all too limiting. Use something like Photoshop Elements (a fraction of the Photoshop price and in some ways better) and spend a little time making templates for cases, dvds etc. For example for a DVD I made a 120mm square graphic with a layer with two circles for the inside and outside diameters of the printable area of the dvd. Make the design on layers UNDER the circles then just hide the circle layer and print. Same principle with case inserts etc. Either use guides for front, spine, back or a layer with lines on.

 

[WindyChuffer]

hi i have just moved across to the darkside (mac) having had my 3rd pc crash and loosing all my email and maps and film data etc etc. it happened last nov too. So at that time i bought a new pc water cooled the lot costing me 2.5k thought thats it now but NO! here we are dec 11 months on and its gone again lost all data and b4 everyone shouts back up it was raid + but seems only some files were being backed up?

So thats my reason just bought new iMac @£3.2k!!! Blimey i do hope i have done the right thing, The back up called time machine is so simple it seems to be the dogs! so far i am finding it just a tad different to drive, the little keyboard is good and i love the trackpad its very easy to use.So reason for my reply is not the rant it was to ask you about this Basemap? as i plan some trips always using mapsource on my Garmin 660 are you saying that Basemap will work for me?

So far i have had to loose the following programs as mac will not run them

Mapsource
Incredimail
sage
Acoustica
Capture Wiz
Freecovers

I guess there will be more, but as yet i have not tried to download any films and then burn them to dvd, including printing dvd cover etc.
If i was to install windows on the bootcamp whatever i presume then you are back using antivirus software etc , that all seems like i am just using mac as periferals i would rather become more into the mac side I thought?

If you have any software ideas or tricks that may make my pc- mac change better any advice would be good....

cheers

Big D

What the hell are you doing that you need to spend so much on a computer? A £1K laptop+external monitor these days is more than enough for most people. Seems to me like you are getting a bit carried away, but if you have the money...no worries.

Regardless of the backup method used, it is down to the user to ensure that the files that they need are backed up. It is also imperative that you do test restores from time to time as there is no point backing files up if the restore process does not work.

So this is no reason to switch from a PC to a Mac.

That said, Time Machine rocks. But PLEASE pay attention to the above. There is no need for any lost files if your HD fails / crashes / gets nicked etc.

But as you have now done so, welcome to the dark side.

You'll be pleased to hear that you can run Windows on you Mac at the same time as the Mac operating system. Therefore you'll be able to run all the Windows programs you list above. Buy VMWare Fusion - it costs about £50 and can be downloaded. Once you have installed it, you can install Windows into it. You have the option of running Windows as a full screen as if its a Windows PC, or in a re-sizeable window or in Unity Mode. Unity Mode is super cool - as it gives you the Windows Start bar AND the Mac Dock at the same time.

VMWare also rocks.

I run Windows on VMWare in Unity mode on my 13" Mac Book Pro. I find that MS Office 2007 on Windows runs faster MS Office 2011 on the Mac.

FYI My Mac Book Pro has 8GB memory and 1TB drive. 4GB should be fine but I went for 8Gb as it was v cheap.

ATB
Mike

 

[Big Derek]

Hi thanks for the info, but am i not inviting problems using two os as in wont i have to run antivirus software and attract the whole issue of virus and malware and all that crap coming into my machine.

i only need a few programs i bought ioffice installed on the unit for my excel stuff and its working fine.

i am learning the imail mac std army issue emails and managing with less fun stuff that incredimail offers, i 'll live with that it allows me to bring contacts and diary dates etc from my iphone, which incredimail never did.

acoustica and freecovers for my dvd burns is a good thing but dont support mac so i lost it.

capture wiz is a niffty little cut and capture webpages or chunks of stuff whhich i have missed but there must be something for mac as simple to use, i would have thought.

Then there is MAPSOURCE this is a biggy and i feel only windows so maybe i have to endure the wifes nagging and punch it on her laptop! I hate using laptops, never get on with them. But i do make lots of routes for touring etc.
I was going to look at basecamp too ?

And SAGE this i use as a simple book keeping system invs in out and payable etc again there must be a mac little account book keeping that i have yet to find ? I hope


and yes imac was expensive but i did drag £1.300 back from my last pc i went for the 27" imac with a few upgrades its still i7 as was my last pc this is 2.9htz the last one was 3.5htz or what ever its called and i cant tell any difference yet. the printers i use installed without hassle and so far i would give it 6/10 it will improve in ratings a si learn more about driving it. Like safari prompts etc.

Please keep any idea's or advice and software suggestions coming as i do feel like the yop lad (remember them?) whilst using mac...

cheers
Big D

 

[ianf]

Capture Wiz Replacement...

Is http://www.circusponies.com/notebook/stay-organized the sort of thing you were using on windows?

The above is a web/anything clipping and organizing tool for mac..

 

[WindyChuffer]

Hi thanks for the info, but am i not inviting problems using two os as in wont i have to run antivirus software and attract the whole issue of virus and malware and all that crap coming into my machine.

i only need a few programs i bought ioffice installed on the unit for my excel stuff and its working fine.

By default, VMWare completely isolates Windows running on VMWare from the Mac OS. So if it was to get a virus, it could only fek up the virtual file system, and not your files on the mac.

You can give VMWare access to the internet and USB devices (i.e. your Garmin) without compromising this.

Therefore you can run Windows on VMWare with zero risk to the Mac OS and files.

You can create a Windows image with Mapsource installed and save it as a master image.. Use a copy of it - as and when it gets crapped on, just delete it and use a copy of your master image. Simple.

You can of course configure VMWare to share files with the Mac. If you give Windows read only access, then you still dont need AV s/w. You can give VMWare access to a single directory, say read/write access and you can still probably get by without AV s/w. But if you give write access to your main files, then you should deffo be using AV.

The latest version of MS Office 2011 on the Mac is still shite compared to Office 2007 on the PC. Its the poor cousin. If I'm knocking up a short letter I'll use Office on Mac. If I'm doing heavy duty document writing / spreadsheet work I'll use Office 2007 running on Windows on VM Ware.

Buy the following book - highly recommended: Switching to the Mac - The Missing Manual

 

[Engineer]

Thinking of buying into the Apple 'way of life' ... any tips, recommended software. how easy to get used to? etc

any experience/ views appreciated..

ta!

I never understood the attraction (apart from looks) of going down the Apple route BUT since buying my son an iMac to assist him with his A-levels I have become a convert - it is just sooo much better than a PC in terms of performance, boot up and close down speed are a zillion times faster than a PC, almost virus proof and faster in every way and just bloody lovely to use. I want one now!!!!