That comes out to be a highly personal choice. I think you see that with all the replies to this thread. I suggest VM Fusion if you wish to go to the mac; for $70 it will play Windows XP or Vista in a window of the Tiger or Leopard OS. You can drag and drop between programs or files running on the separate OSes. You can access files of the opposite OS (at least OS-X can access the Windows files).
Check with your program's provider. In many cases the license can be switched to the other OS at no charge. In many cases at a low charge. You have to stack that against the cost of Windows (and maybe Parallels or Fusion). In some cases you can get by with Crossover Mac. Still rough, but lots cheaper than the other recourses. A free 30-day trial is offered.
Lots of freeware from Source Forge. GIMP has high ratings as compared to Photoshop. Learning curve? Well, I guess you have to pay something somewhere along the line. Just what and where seems to be your choice.
If you're happy with Windows, why not stay with it? But if not, think about Linux. If that doesn't "grab" you, now you have your path to Mac OS which is also good. Do buy a book (I bought Pogue's Missing Manual and it sure eased my jump from OS-9 to Tiger).
Anyone know of a good CRM for Mac? Thats one thing I'm looking for, but they don't have it.
As far as my PC, it never crashes. I never have problems with it. It is just as fast as an equally configured Mac. Of course a Mac Pro with 8 core 2.4ghz processors will be much faster than most PCs, because people don't spend that much on a PC.
Price comparison, they are equal. Mac Pros just use the VERY high end stuff.
Andrew Gough wrote:
Thanks for a reasoned response. As someone who is about to switch to Mac and will run both enviroments for the forseeable future, I have a couple of questions regarding document management - if you have the time.
Will the Omni Group Outliner support pdf, word, and excel formats? I am currently using Paperport on the PC for my document management and I am very happy with the software, do you know of a similar program for the Mac?
thanks
Andrew
It supports export to Word, as HTML. Word in turn supports .PDF and in some cases .XLS. Honestly I never tried it. I use Omni-outliner for note-taking in classes and client/witness meetings; I usually keep it in outline format, and generate memoranda or deeper outlines by exporting to HTML openable in Word. I don't think you can import .PDF, XLS, or .DOC files in Omnioutliner. My preferred tool for document generation of that sort is Scrivener, which isn't an Omni product. I also use Omnigraffle for figures and tables, as I think the the graphics and table implementations are just amazing.
For my graphics work, it's all Photoshop and Painter, though I am on the lookout for good shareware options in this area as well.
lordarka wrote:
It supports export to Word, as HTML. Word in turn supports .PDF and in some cases .XLS. Honestly I never tried it. I use Omni-outliner for note-taking in classes and client/witness meetings; I usually keep it in outline format, and generate memoranda or deeper outlines by exporting to HTML openable in Word. I don't think you can import .PDF, XLS, or .DOC files in Omnioutliner. My preferred tool for document generation of that sort is Scrivener, which isn't an Omni product. I also use Omnigraffle for figures and tables, as I think the the graphics and table implementations are just amazing.
For my graphics work, it's all Photoshop and Painter, though I am on the lookout for good shareware options in this area as well.
I have a self-built PC and a MacBook. As long as both monitors are calibrated then either hardware can be used. All that talk about hardware being built better - they are all the same. Most Macs these days run on a Core 2 Duo processor, SODIMM ram, and harddrive. How is that different from the PCs? As long as you use PS3 and software that's available to both OS then there is really no difference.
sino408 wrote:
I have a self-built PC and a MacBook. As long as both monitors are calibrated then either hardware can be used. All that talk about hardware being built better - they are all the same. Most Macs these days run on a Core 2 Duo processor, SODIMM ram, and harddrive. How is that different from the PCs? As long as you use PS3 and software that's available to both OS then there is really no difference.
It's not really different at all, as most Mac hardware is farmed out to companies like Sony and ASUS. One thing that can be different, though, are the chasses used to construct the systems. For instance most Dell and HP computers, especially laptops, are constructed on plastic frames to reduce weight, whereas Macbook Pros have historically been constructed on aluminum or alloy frames. The metal construction makes them not only feel sturdier but makes them more durable for long term use.
mdude85 wrote:
It's not really different at all, as most Mac hardware is farmed out to companies like Sony and ASUS. One thing that can be different, though, are the chasses used to construct the systems. For instance most Dell and HP computers, especially laptops, are constructed on plastic frames to reduce weight, whereas Macbook Pros have historically been constructed on aluminum or alloy frames. The metal construction makes them not only feel sturdier but makes them more durable for long term use.
Same basic idea goes for cameras.
My MacBook is plastic while virtually every PC laptop manufacturer has a magnesium alloy model.
Being a systems analyst, I can't comment on Macs as I've never used them.
However:
To say "Macs don't get virii" "Vista is a crap shoot"
Is wrong.
Mac's don't have virii because malicious people who make virii want the most for their dollar. Therefore they make virii for PC's. If everyone bought a mac, trust me, you'd have virii problems quickly.
Complaints about Vista. I'll say this to anyone who says Vista is a crap shoot, whether you're pro-PC, pro-Mac, or don't give a hoot. You get out of Vista/XP what you put into Vista/XP. If you don't know what you're doing, it will suck and you will jack it up with downloads, spyware, malware.
If you know what you're doing, Vista/XP will give you no problems and will run smoothly.
For all intensive purposes, there's little difference between Macs and PC's these days. You can Windows apps on both. Neither are *very* proprietary. That's the bottom line.
However I have noticed with Mac users is they tend to have the same smugness that Hybrid owners have. A lot of them think they are superior simply because they have a Mac. So if anything, I like Macs, but a lot of their fans are irritating.
In the event that you live within access of an Apple store then may I suggest that you visit the store and see if they offer the 1 hour a week tutorials on the Mac. I believe that the coast is $ 100.00 for 52 classes in the store. You arrange the time with them.
I have a friend who was a died in the wool PC user and had her business on Quickbooks. She didn't want to hear a thing about anything but a PC. Of course she had her share of visitations by the PC guru's to constantly bale her out of a mess.
Finally she went to the classes and to make a long story short she now has an iMac and is happy as a clam.
In the event that you live within access of an Apple store then may I suggest that you visit the store and see if they offer the 1 hour a week tutorials on the Mac. I believe that the coast is $ 100.00 for 52 classes in the store. You arrange the time with them.
I have a friend who was a died in the wool PC user and had her business on Quickbooks. She didn't want to hear a thing about anything but a PC. Of course she had her share of visitations by the PC guru's to constantly bale her out of a mess.
Finally she went to the classes and to make a long story short she now has an iMac and is happy as a clam.
sino408 wrote:
My MacBook is plastic while virtually every PC laptop manufacturer has a magnesium alloy model.
The very popular Dell Latitude and Precision laptop models have a full magnesium alloy chasses while the Dell XPS and Vostro laptops have plastic chasses.
I never said Macbook have metal chasses, I said Macbook Pro has them. Additionally, while a good portion of chasses in laptops have magnesium alloy, many are sticking to plastics. And with rising prices on metal commodities, you will see some major manufacturers either raising prices or moving back to rigid plastic (perhaps made from derivatives of HDPE)
zuiu wrote:
If you know what you're doing, Vista/XP will give you no problems and will run smoothly.
Either people who know what they're doing or have no idea what they're doing and only use 10% of Windows OS will have no problems and will run smoothly. It's that pesky percentage of users who "sort of know" what they are doing and will attempt to make strange registry edits, download shareware without virus protection, etc etc and for them, XP/Vista will give them many problems.
People going from Mac to PC or PC to Mac as a cause as to why one or the other is better, is irrelevant.
When something isn't working for you (the reason why is debatable) obviously you're going to like whatever you're changing to. You like it simply because it's not what you were previously using. In that, you overlook any flaws that may or may not exist with the new system simply because it's not the old system.
Another gripe I have with Mac is the way they advertise. Their advertisements make PC users look like idiotic tool bags.
Having used both mac & pc's, I would say that the design of the mac os and helper programs is much better thought out than windows in ways that result in substantial time savings. For example, consider what happens when you get a new computer. On the mac -- just plug in the time machine backup and run migration assistant. Total time, a few minutes. On the pc -- find all your cd's for your software and reinstall them one at a time. Figure out where all your preference files are for your programs and copy them over manually or go into the program and redo them. Total time, several hours.
