I know that I will probably start a firestorm with this post, but I could use some friendly guidance on my next computer purchase. I have long been a PC user at both home and work, but have gotten tired of the "glicthiness" of Windows. Form y next computer, I am seriously considering an iMac. My main uses for my home computer are for simple document production, simple spreadsheets (stuff that I think iWorks could handle fine), managing music, pictures and some light video creation (home movies). I also manage my personal finances on my home computer. I am not much of a game player, but do like flight sim software. I am a X-Plane user so having a Mac is not a problem for that game. My thought is to get a 21.5" iMac with a 3.2Ghz i3, 1 TB storage, 4MD Ram and a Radeon 5670 graphics card. I need to be able to use the Windows version of Quicken for my finance stuff, so I would probably load Windows 7 onto the Mac for Quicken use. I would appreciate any thoughts that fellow FChatters with Mac experience might have on my approach. Thanks!
I *guarantee* you will not be disappointed! The only thing I'd question is iWork - It's "OK", but there are some good alternatives (some free) that will do the job. Everything else you mention is already on the disk so there's no hidden costs like in PC land. And you don't need any anti-virus crap either! Good luck - Any Q's we'll be here for you! Cheers, Ian
I switched to iMac from a Dell PC and never looked back. I bought Windows for Mac and it works great and can take a word doc back and forth from my mac to a PC no problems.
I made the switch 2 weeks ago when I ordered the new Macbook Air. I've had an iPhone since the original 3G came out and an iPad since the 3G version became available. I absolutely love it. It's lite, sleek, and quick. Oh my gosh is it quick. I'm an IT guy for 1 large practice/hospital and several small practices. I've always used windows, but never again. My Dad's PC needs to be replaced and I'm seriously considering getting him an iMac. Afterall, I'm going to have to teach him a new OS anyway. (he's still on XP Pro) Do it, you won't regret it. It's a better designed PC all together and you pay for what you get.
My bad - It seems iWork *is* included on iMacs (it never used to be), so yep, you're good to go - Nothing else needed to cover your "specs". Cheers, Ian
Once you go Mac, you will never go back. I have Macs at home and dread using my PC at work. It is just so archaic. Regarding spreadsheets and stuff like that, I have little experience with so I cannot comment on those utilities.
I switched last November from PC to Mac (27" iMac) at the office. I will **NEVER** go back. As soon as my netbook dies, I'll replace it with a new MacAir,
I have a Dell laptop with Vista Home Premium and haven't had any problems. Then again, I don't use any Windows programs...just their OS, which I think is fine. Music: Winamp Video: DivX, Media player classic Browser: Firefox Office applications: OpenOffice Pretty much all you need...none of those softwares cost anything either. Macs are overpriced for what you get and you can't customize them as much as a PC. That's why there are "less problems" since most computer users have difficulty with options. If you remove options (Macs), you don't run into those situations...
Funny you should say that.... I've been looking into that option pretty carefully. I'm not sure how much speed it would have. The netbook (great for surfing, slow for computing) has an anemic Atom processor. I've been reading about the Kakewalk method of Hackintosh.
I bought a Mac Mini last year, and will never buy a PC again. If you going to be doing word documents on it though and need to be able to open it on a PC also get MS Office for Mac, I got iWork when I first my mini and didn't like it so bought Office 2009 and it's brilliant.
Don't expect miracles. The Atom was originally designed to run toasters and clothes irons. OS of any type are tall orders for that thing.
I'm a bad bad boy. Snow Leopard is loading on the EEEPC now. Remember, I'm the same guy that put Chromium on this machine many months ago on a lark. (FWIW, the OSX installer and Disk Utility on the EEEPC was flying) Time left, about 30 minutes.
Update? DAAAAAYUM !!!!! It actually hauls ass on my Asus EEE PC 1000HA. The base Snow Leopard is just as quick as base XP on the machine. Its basically installed now, and I'm working on a few little tweaks. The ethernet works fine, but the WiFi is MIA so far. I'll try to snap a picture a little later.
Bought my wife a 15" MBP, then 9 months later got myself a 13" MB and love it. I use PC's at work all the time and built my own PC 5 years ago, but go home every night and use my mac laptop . open office or neoOffice (both are the same) instead of MS office or iWork skype web browsers of your choice iSTAT widget (like task manager) Mac comes with iLife (photo,movie,dvd,garageband,calender,etc...) WMP VLC if you really need Windows try Parallels http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/ learn the shortcuts you'll be very happy
Update: Wifi now works and the machine seems to have full capabilities. The processor is plenty zippy and does about what I'd expect. Considering this machine was in the $250 range, it's damn impressive. Onboard video camera works fine, etc. Things I don't like? * The trackpad management via Snow Leopard isn't great. The tap-to-click is very sensitive. * Battery management seems wonky. It holds a charge just fine, but the hibernate is odd. * Font resolution is nowhere close to the sharpness of my big iMac. I'm spoiled. * Kernel Panic. I had one panic episode last night, and I'm not sure what I was doing to cause it. Reboot, and all was fine.... but I'll try to look more closely this coming holiday weekend. On the plus side, I learned a whole lot about the guts of a Mac -- from kexts and DSDT to god-knows what else.
Cool. an iPad killer? How was it when it was running XP (?) If it was noticeably better, I bet we could get it back again.... If you feel like poking at reasons for the kernel dump, pretty much all the logs are in "standard" Unix places btw - Terminal is your friend Having said all that, and as much as I've been called a fanboi, I've gotta say Ubuntu (now available in a netbook version http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook ) continues to impress me - Their latest release (10.10) is probably the "prettiest" desktop I've ever seen!.... Cheers, Ian
I've been playing with Ubuntu on another netbook. It is actually more stable than the Hackintosh which seems to really hate the battery/power managent. The 10.10 ubuntu is indeed quite nice.
I had never considered owning a Mac until I bought my first iPhone. I thought it was so well made that I was pulled into the Mac world. For what you say you need a desktop for, you can use either system and have everything work to your satisfaction. I use openOffice and Firefox to do pretty much everything i need to do on the Mac. The OS is rock solid. If you believe that the next 5 years will bring a large shift into the computer world, this may be the last classic "desktop" you will buy. In this innovation area, I'd currently give Apple products the edge as they seem to be well ahead of the deployment curve, with their competitors fumbling about. Its quite amazing how fast they are moving considering the size of the company. Before Apple haters chime in, let me say that I'm sure that the competitive landscape will be different 5 years from now, and I'll fully acknowledge that Apple is making some mistakes that will cost them down the road.
The Apple 2 was open. The Mac is closed. I build my own PC's. That being said now I game on consoles. No Driver problems. PC with it's open nature invites problems but allows for expansion. Mac's are so closed. If the Ferrari world was like the Mac world there would be no Hill engineering parts available (poking fun at Daniel). Stephen
fortunately for me I can build me own pc, so i dont need to dish out x2 the price for the same thing that I can build.
KT, you haven't been back in this thread since you started it. So, I don't know if you're still interested in opinions but I'll try and help. I have a pretty strong background in PCs and for what you want to do, you can use either a mac or windows based machine. Some things to consider: 1. If money is an issue, then you'll probably get a better deal on a windows machine. 2. Both types can have hardware and software problems. Don't believe stories that macs are perfect. 3. Backup, backup, backup... Either just your sw / data or have a backup machine with your data. 4. If your Apple has a problem be prepared to lug it back to an Apple store. 5. I can tell you that Dell has great on site extended service. (Esp. on there XPS line) The only problem is spending time on the phone diagnosing the problem, but they have worked on it. 6. Style - If you like the Imac then that's a consideration. 7. A great deal of windows stability issues were with Vista. I stuck with XP forever and never had issues with SW. It's my understanding that Win7 is pretty stable. Good luck.
