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General discussion

Considering the switch to a Mac...

Jul 18, 2007 4:42PM PDT

I'm ready to replace my 3.5 year old Sony Z1 laptop with something faster. I mainly design web sites for a living. I have a Mac Mini that I use occasionally, but I use the Sony for 95% of my work.

Now it's time for a new computer, and I'm really considering making the switch. The security is a big attraction, and the fact that I can run Parallels is highly attractive as well.

The Mac that I'm considering is the 15-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro.

First, here is a list of the programs that I commonly use:

DreamWeaver. Does it work as well on the Mac as it does on the PC?

Photoshop and Illustrator. I know these work well on the Mac.

Notepad. I use this all the time to strip formatting out of the documents that I get from clients. Is there a Mac counterpart? I seem to remember SimpleText from my old pre-OSX days.

Outlook. I have five years worth of e-mail in various archives (.pst files). This is where I could see Parallels coming in handy. Maybe I would continue to use Outlook 2003 in Windows XP for my main e-mail client. Or is there a way to access these files on the Mac?

QuickBooks. Is the Mac version compatible with the PC version? Again, Parallels may be my best bet. My wife helps keep my books, so we both need to be able to work on the same file. She has a very new PC.

Palm Desktop. I use this as my calendar. I also store information in the Memos. Will this work on a Mac?

Putty. I use this for SSH connections to a remote web server. I think there is a counterpart built in to Mac OS?


Second, I'm just wondering about performance. If I use Parallels with Windows XP, how does it run in comparison to how it would run on a new PC?

TIA for any and all advice.
Matt

Discussion is locked

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Will it work?
Jul 18, 2007 9:59PM PDT

I'm sure you will get a few responses to your question so I might as well kick this off.

Yes, Dreamweaver works as well, possibly better.
Ditto for PS and Illustrator. (Isn't Illustrator going away or did I misread that?)
Adobe has just release the complete suite as a Universal Binary which means it can run Native on the Intel Macs
Text Edit is the replacement for TeachText/SimpleText
If you have MS Office for Mac, Entourage will be able to import all your email from Outlook. (There is not Outlook version for Mac, Entourage is used instead)
QuickBooks is available for OS X but I don't think the file types are compatible. (Go Figure!) You may need to do some more research on that with Intuit.
Palm Desktop for Mac is available Here
VPN for SSH is built into the OS
Parallels performs very well but it is not going to run as fast as a new PC. To do that, you would need to run XP under Boot Camp. (Free from Apple)

Hope this points you in the right direction

P

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Parallels vs. BootCamp
Jul 19, 2007 12:22AM PDT

I'm sure BootCamp would be fine, but my main attraction is because of the ease of switching with Parallels. How much slower does it run?

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re: illustrator
Jul 19, 2007 1:39AM PDT

It's a fairly irreplaceable program so I don't see it going away anytime soon. Did you hear something?

For RustyBrain... All the Adobe stuff regularly used for web design will work quite well on a mac. However, if you run in the OS X environment, you will need to buy new software. I don't know for sure if Adobe would give you upgrade prices for your present software if you switch from MS to Apple but you can ask them. Anyway, not to dissuade you from switching but a new mac may also require the additional cost of new software. Just something to think about.

cheers

grim

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Adobe software
Jul 19, 2007 2:31AM PDT

I was planning to upgrade to CS3 anyway. My understanding is that Adobe will allow you to switch platforms when you upgrade, if you contact customer service.

Thanks for all the advice. I don't know why this seems like such a monumental decision. Everyone I know who has a MacBook Pro loves it.

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I'm looking forward to a new mac myself.
Jul 19, 2007 11:34AM PDT

I just picked up the master suite from Adobe. Unfortunately my iBook won't run the video apps. Thus, I see a new mac pro in my future.

The new macworld (july 2007) raves about the speed and new features of CS3... when used on a new mac-intel.

If you make the switch to a mac give it a month or two to acclimate yourself. The keyboard shortcuts are almost the same but you will make a few mistakes along the way. Another thing is windows management. The window sizing scheme is completely different on the mac. Use the "F" keys to activate expose' (a way of viewing all the open windows at once} instead of the mouse pointer. Why? Because the new CS3 uses the same mousing movements option to open the pallets (if you chose to activate that function).

Ciao!

grim

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Sorry, I must have confused it
Aug 3, 2007 11:22PM PDT

with FreeHand

My Bad

P

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(NT) Entirely understandable... ;-)
Aug 4, 2007 3:31AM PDT
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Me too, and I'm wondering about hardware compatibility
Jul 21, 2007 4:13AM PDT

Does anyone have a link or suggestion where I can find out whether my existing peripherals will work with a Mac? I wouldn't make the switch if I had to replace a lot of stuff.

Thanks!

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I would imagine the original manufacturer
Jul 21, 2007 4:35AM PDT

Hi Josh

I have never had a problem switching my peripherals (canon printer, epson printer, KDS and Sony monitors, Canon, Sony, and Nikon digital camera and 2 older Sony digital camcorders, external Sony DVD burner, Canon lide scanner) from my winbox tower to my iBook and then back again. The only iffy things may be older equipment that uses connections that are no longer supported. I have an older scanner and a digital capture device that both use Scsi that I only use on an old win 98 machine. Even then, you might find adapters. Anything using USB or Firewire should work.

I have had some issues using an older intuos Wacom Tablet with my mac. Despite downloading the recommended drivers for my mac, it will only work correctly with my winbox. Of course the last time I checked was around January or February so they may have updated since then.

Was there a specific piece of hardware you're worried about?

grim

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Hi Grim
Jul 21, 2007 7:40AM PDT

I was hoping there might be one place I could look as opposed to checking with each manufacturer. The devices I'm concerned about are a Maxtor external hard drive, a Canon CanoScan 4400 scanner and a Canon ip5200 printer. Oh, and my Dell Ultrasharp monitor.

Guess I'll check each maker's support site.

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Looks like I'm good to go.....
Jul 22, 2007 3:02AM PDT

....with everything with the (possible) exception of my monitor. I'll check with Dell on that.

I guess I was thinking back to the old days when things like printers were either Mac or PC and were not cross-compatible.

Next step will be to stop into an Apple store and play a bit, to see if it's really something I want to do.

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If you have questions, feel free to email me...
Jul 22, 2007 4:43AM PDT

... thru my email this member link.

The person who can be most informative right now may be Angeline. She isn't a power user yet but she did make the switch just a couple months ago so she can tell you more about the adaptive problems being fresh in her mind at the present.

I will tell you this. I still have a winbox to handle specific issues (like CAD programs, some file conversion utilities, and the occasional compressed/split files using odd codecs) but I use my mac out of personal choice, 95% of the day. My work flow on a mac is faster in most cases. My maintenance time (system tweaks and security concerns) is almost non existent. There are plenty of freeware and shareware programs available for specific user needs and iLife does an amazing amount of things on a very high quality level. I have done 2 multimedia/DVD projects for clients using iLife and (despite a few technical glitches I found workarounds for) my customers have been very happy.

Yeah, it may not be user friendly to those who want to tweak every aspect of their equipment... but then again, most of those folks have ten computers in the house, but only one or two that are working at any given time. Macs are more expensive? Take the collective cost of all those "Hardware upgrades" and "security software" your average geeks spend their money on... and suddenly a mac isn't that expensive anymore.

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Went into a local Apple store yesterday....
Aug 26, 2007 11:07PM PDT

...and played with the iMac a bit. I was very impressed. We're going to wait for the new version of the OS to be released and then I think we just may go for it!

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Good to hear you liked it.
Aug 27, 2007 1:02AM PDT

It's different, and just as a MS box can't do some apple stuff, you will find a mac can't do a few MS things. For instance, I had a professor last year, who insisted on saving web site pages on her PC for reference as a .mht file. Something a mac won't read. The really cool thing when it comes to a mac and saving information is the built in compatibility to save editable or non-editable .pdf files.

Heads up on where to buy. Amazon offers rebates on some models when no one else is (or at least they used to)... Apple offers pretty good open box discounts on some returns... Of course, you may find a great, one time deal in an apple store as well.

cheers

grim

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To chime in, Josh
Aug 28, 2007 12:09AM PDT

(BTW, I was forced to buy before October, but my iMac is ready for Leopard.)

To be honest, I would have been able to do what I wanted right out of the box for $1499.

But I did buy a couple of extra programs. .Mac, for instance, has an AV protection. There is a built-in firewall.

My HP printer would have worked with the iMac, but a paper guide had broken. My old scanner was not compatible. So I bought a low-end HP all-in-one. The print and copy worked fine, but I had to install the HP software in order to send scanned stuff to the computer.

With the 20" iMac, an additional 1GB RAM 2 extra programs, the all-in-one, an external floppy compatible with Macintosh, and AppleCare, I paid less than I would have for the Dell I was considering. Compare the 3 year extended warranty/support for AppleCare with that of Dell. Check with Consumer Reports as to the ranking of satisfaction with tech support.

It comes with an ethernet card. You can fax if you add the Apple internal modem, which I did not.

My PC had WMe, so I never experienced XP. But I find the iMac to be much more sensible, intuitive and logical. And easier to use. Next time you go to the Apple Store, play with "Finder", and notice how neat and tidy everything is, like the applications being in one folder. My son's comment was, "I don't know why everybody can't do that", referring to the IMac being all-in-one. No tower, no external speakers. (Great sound, BTW) The manual is about the size of a CD case, but the Help for each program is there for a click. A feature I like is that the screen is not cluttered with icons.

I am able to open any PDF I receive. And I can send them. What I compose in my word processor can be read by anyone, and I can read theirs. (No, I did not buy the MS Office offer.)

To be honest, the "learning curve" was barely there. The problem is in the mind-set. It just doesn't work like a Windows machine.

If you buy an iMac in October, you will be getting a beautiful machine. I don't know how the screen could be any better than mine, though. Happy

With Amazon there would be no sales tax. And it does offer AppleCare. However, if you want some extra programs pre-installed, can't do it there. I bought mine locally, so they know me. The local ones also offer free classes.

Angeline

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"It just works"
Aug 28, 2007 6:49AM PDT

The whole PC vs. Mac thing reminds me of the Beta vs. VHS battle. Beta was better in every way (smaller cartridge, better audio and video quality) but the VHS boys had the money behind them and saturated the market, winning the war.

PCs made the most sense for me for years because there was so little software available for the Mac, and because the work I was doing was all PC-based (Access databases, later SQL Server and Visual Studio). It still is but I have a laptop for work now so if I need to work at home I can use that. You also had to choose your peripherals carefully because most were not cross-compatible. Now most of them are. Add that to the "eh" response I had when I got my hands on Vista for the first time and it became easier to consider other options.

I'm sure I'll want to tweak my system beyond the options offered by Amazon, and will end up buying at the local Apple store. We do fax on occasion so the modem will be a must, and I'll want the extra RAM.

Again, my thanks for your impressions.

Josh

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iWork vs. Office?
Aug 28, 2007 9:26AM PDT

Any thoughts?

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I'd ask for....
Aug 28, 2007 10:53PM PDT

...... opinions from others who are involved in business.

I bought the old program AppleWorks, because it has a spreadsheet., which iWorks 2006 did not have. However, I see that iWorks 08 now also has a spreadsheet. I suggest you go to the Apple site and read about iWorks 2008.

The 30 day trial run Office for a Mac is 2004. If Apple still offers the trial run of iWorks 2008, then you can compare them yourself. I checked the Apple site to see if those trial runs are still offered. (Go to Store, select iMac, below "What's in the box" under applications). Or you can look at iWorks 08 in the Apple Store.

It was a personal decision for me. I just didn't want Office.What I have does what I did with Office 2000, my latest version.

You could start a new thread asking for this advice. I've seen that some users work with different programs.

Decisions, decisions. Happy

Angeline

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The guy at the Apple store.....
Aug 28, 2007 11:07PM PDT

....said the iMac comes with 30-day trial versions of both, so it will be pretty easy for me to make a decision on that. I was just curious to see what people who have used both might think.

Thanks again!

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Angeline about To chime in, Josh
Aug 28, 2007 3:16PM PDT

I am pleasantly surprised that you got free classes. They offered them with a discount when I got my Powerbook PC 2 years ago. I am taking the classes again; very helpful. You got a beauty!

Best,

Phantom

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In truth, Phantom....
Aug 28, 2007 11:06PM PDT

..... my "free classes" have been these CNet Mac forums. Happy

The stores here do offer free group classes (by reservation) . But the store locations are out of my driving range. (Apple Stores came here only less than a year ago. I bought mine from a certified Mac store that has been here for years and has a great reputation. They serve a lot of businesses.)

I wish I could take advantage of them.

Angeline

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Response to BrainRusty (I have the name correct.)
Jul 30, 2007 4:21PM PDT

I switched to Mac 2 years ago. Everything transferred from the PC to the Mac in spite of a security suite that was on the PC that locked up everything like malware; all info was transferred to Mac that I chose. All the data from Outlook was moved to Mac Mail and has worked well. It works well with the Mac Address Book and automatically finds addresses when emailing. I have MS Entourage and have not used it; I liked Outlook on my PCs. Good luck deciding. I also suggest you get the one-on-one training. It is very effective.

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Outlook and Entourage
Aug 3, 2007 1:12PM PDT

Just to answer one of your questions, when running Microsoft Office, you'll be happy running OS X with it. Entourage is just like Outlook, and I believe they are cross-compatible, as is the rest of the Office Suite.

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About peripheral compatibility
Aug 4, 2007 5:50AM PDT

I bought the Mac in 2005. I kept the 2003 Dell monitor and use it as a split screen with my Mac laptop. I still use the Harman Kardon speakers I got with my first Dell 7 in 1999. No problems with the speakers or the monitor. I bought a scanner-printer-copier all-in-one from HP with the Mac in 2005. I still need to learn the bells and whistles on the HP. Peripherals should be hopeflly good to go. Good luck to you, Phantom.