Whos made the switch from PC to Mac?

I think PC's have come a long way. I bought a MACBook pro a few years ago and love it but the stuff I do on my MAC is almost all available on the PC. (PS, Lightroom etc). I don't use Aperture or I photo.

Plus (somewhat off-topic) I prefer Vegas over Final Cut. It just seems more intuitive. I have both and find myself using Vegas to make a video with transitions, fades and everything else then dumping it into FC if I need to do something "special", but 99% of the time Vegas gets it done. Especially now that Vegas has the ability to render to H264 and Quicktime etc. . I find that Vegas is drag and drop more than FC and being old (52) I am less willing to learn new software and FC seems to have a steeper learning curve. It's almost like starting from scratch every time I take a few months off.

Plus I got this neat little netbook for free from Verizon which is about the size of a paperback book. I loaded an old PC version of Lightroom on it and plan on taking an external drive and leaving the laptop at home on the next Bonaire trip. (which will make my wife happy) Plus, having them both on the same wireless network at home is almost like having one big machine. I don't really need a lot of computing power on a trip unless I need to do a lot of processing before I get home like if I'm on a shootout or contest trip. Just being able to copy, archive and look at the shots is enough. But, CS4 and Lightroom 2.5 are on my MAC so I'm not going to invest in CS4 or LR2 for the PC so I'm "stuck" with using 2 machines.

Not sure what the PC equivalents are but MAC does have cool stuff like Toast and Popcorn and MAC the Ripper.

I think that now-a-days it's almost a toss up IMHO.

Mac are 2-3 years ahead in designing. This 7 something is painful copy from mac lates geniuos designs. Therefore I am going to stick with the Apple. Writing this on Windows Vista at home and XP in work. My next computer will be 24" Imac...sweeet!!!

I've heard only great things about Windows 7, but the painful migration process from XP/Vista isn't going to make users happy. The new Apple commercials are great; if you have to reinstall anyway, why not just switch?

I used to think about Macs vs Windows a lot. I used PCs until I entered college, was forced to switch to Mac because of the computing environment there, switched back to Windows after working at Apple in 1997 (it was Mac OS 8 and stock price at 12 -- not a good time for Apple), and finally switched back to Macs 4 years ago. I haven't looked back since, and I never think about the Windows vs Mac debate anymore. I don't think about it because Mac OS is now the only OS I can use without getting angry (which is what happens when I sit down at a Windows machine -- every try to configure wireless in Vista? having computer science degrees doesn't seem to help!

In recent history (since Mac OS X), no one I know has switched back to Windows after going Mac. That statistic in itself is significant.

In any case, computers simply do their jobs, and both platforms are just fine for photographers. What do you need for photography, anyway? Most people will only need a good media downloader, LR/Aperture, Photoshop / Photoshop Elements (less and less necessary every year), and just a few more utilities. Very few useful apps are PC-only or Mac-only -- there is almost always a counterpart on the other platform.

So if you're budget constrained and can only get a $400 netbook with Windows 7, don't worry. Use whatever else you have saved up for good glass and travel.

However, one area where money HAS to be spent is in storage. You should have lots of space for redundant storage. I know a couple people who have lost all of their images, and the loss of something like that is just tragic.

There are always fantastic deals at techbargains.com or other sites for drives, and if you don't want to go with a NAS box or other complicated storage system, you can always get a bunch of external drives when they're on sale and manage them individually.

This is always an interesting topic. I had computers forever (my first one was a TK90, circa 1991), had PCs for most of the time, starting with an XT, 286, 386, the works. So I think I can give an informed opinion.

The Apple operating system (OSX) is easier to handle, but *only* if you are not used to windows. Coming from a Windows to a Mac will give some people headaches just because, since you are so used to Windows, you will try to make things the "Windows way". But starting from scratch, there is no question, OSX is a lot easier. Now, having said that, if you switch open minded and don't mind the learning curve, you will go Apple happy and never look back. As what happened with Eric, everyone that I know that has switched from PC to Mac never came back.

Windows Vista is the worst operating system microsoft made in a long time, but from what I hear Windows 7 is better, so maybe there is light in the end of the tunnel. The biggest problem with windows machines I think is still the viruses and hardware conflict issues. So many manufacturers, and Macs can only be bought from Apple, a lot easier to control. So, because of that Apple machines are a lot stabler.

I made the switch less than a year ago and I love it! Mac is definitely the way to go. I recommend it to everyone. I just feel like it is a lot cleaner and user friendly. Haven't had any problems yet and it's 99.9% compatible with PC's in regards to sharing documents and such.

Thanks for all the input. In the end stuck with a PC. Just upgraded the wifes so she could surf, email, etc... The cost of the Mac + Programs + a new laptop was hard to justify. Save my pennies for the D400;)

The reason to stick with PC's (from a price perspective) is this:

 

1) You already own software and aren't willing (or able) to purchase new versions for your Mac.

Buying a new PC running windows 7 (or switching to it) might make you face the same problem. On a Mac you may be able to solve this by using a Windows emulation software.

I'm using two macbooks and a DELL PC running Windows XP. In general the Mac is really somewhat more comfortable and easier to use. Software installation/removal simply means copying programs to or deleting them from the Applications folder, connecting to networks (Ethernet, WLAN), attaching external hardware and general adminstration tasks can be done with the help of easy to use and easy to find programs. If you need to use Microsoft office then exchanging data between a company PC and your home Mac is just a matter of copy the files and continuing your work.

From my personal experience most programs run more smoothly on a Mac than on a PC (assuming computers with comparable power and similarly equipped). That's why using a Mac is simply more fun.

You see: my vote is for the Mac!

Regards!

Buying a new PC running windows 7 (or switching to it) might make you face the same problem. On a Mac you may be able to solve this by using a Windows emulation software.

 

I'm using two macbooks and a DELL PC running Windows XP. In general the Mac is really somewhat more comfortable and easier to use. Software installation/removal simply means copying programs to or deleting them from the Applications folder, connecting to networks (Ethernet, WLAN), attaching external hardware and general adminstration tasks can be done with the help of easy to use and easy to find programs. If you need to use Microsoft office then exchanging data between a company PC and your home Mac is just a matter of copy the files and continuing your work.

 

From my personal experience most programs run more smoothly on a Mac than on a PC (assuming computers with comparable power and similarly equipped). That's why using a Mac is simply more fun.

 

You see: my vote is for the Mac!

 

Regards!

I'm not playing games on mine, nor am I running anything truly odd or proprietary, but I have yet to find any normal software that doesn't run just fine on both my XP and Win7 systems.

The one thing the Mac version of office is missing is MS Access. If you need MS Access you need Windows (emulation will suffice, in most cases, but that's lousy if you're a heavy user). There is no comparable Mac version if you need to share Access files with other PC's. And Entourage is a joke compared to Outlook. I've heard the new versions in the pipelines may finally bring real Outlook back to the Mac, though, so here's hoping.

Overall, I prefer Macs to PCs, but there are some things that you just can't get away from Windows for.

I switch from PC to MAC 2 years ago. I changed due to MAC is better with graphics then PC. MAC is more stable and reliable. If I had to changed back to PC, I would give up computing.

Sorry to interrupt the group hug here, but I'm a PC guy and have no intention of switching to Apple.

I'm a self taught computer user running 64 bit Windows Vista Business on a Heinz 57 brand Core Two Duo processor with dual monitor setup, two printers (one lazer and an Epson 4000 injet printer), flat bed scanner, Intuos digital tablet, three or four hard drives, LaCie NetworkSpace hard drive, on a Linksys hardwired and wireless network system connected to two other laptops ( both Sony Vaio). Keyboard and mouse are connected to the system by Bluetooth. I'm thinking of adding another video card to hardwire a 42” LCD flat screen TV into the setup.

Have Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, Dreamweaver CS3, Flash Professional CS3, and Lightroom working perfectly among others. I even run a Mac program with an emulator with no problems also. (the software developer is a Apple fan who says he has no intention of providing a PC version of his software).

I have had no problems with the computer as it runs effortlessly. I have found Vista to be rock solid as far as my computing needs are concerned. No crashes, no burns, no driver problems, and no bluescreens of death, period.

As far as Apple computer users are concerned, I find them to be a little too smug for my liking. My experience has been that Apple users are always interested in pointing out the perceived foibles of the Windows system at any opportunity while I as a Windows system user just don't seem to care what Apple does, I am happy with my computer.

When I first got into computers, I had the choice of which system to use and decided to go with the more popular one (286 Intel) at the time because I had been burnt badly in the Betamax and VHS wars of long ago. Fairly or unfairly, Apple computers still seem to be tainted by this marketplace war for me after all these years. Apple at the time pursued a policy of controlling their hardware and software too tightly and stymied their growth while letting the more open Windows environment flourish to their detriment. It got so bad for Apple that Microsoft had to invest $150 million in Apple to keep them alive.

Before Apple gave up the Motorola processors for Intel, I was willing to entertain the idea of Apple computers as being a legitimately different computer system, but since the the changeover my feeling is that they can't be that different, so why bother with all the expense to convert over.

I used PCs until I entered college, was forced to switch to Mac because of the computing environment there,

This was a big turn off for me . Several years ago, I was investigating continuing education opportunities at SUNY (State University of New York) and happened to read the fine print which stipulated that I had to use Apple computers as part of my training. Did not appreciate the marketing push by Apple or SUNY in this respect, so went elsewhere for my educational needs.

The new Apple commercials are great; if you have to reinstall anyway, why not just switch?

Personally, I like the new commercial about Windows 7 being different from the previous version where they go back in time with the PC guy and hear him saying it time after time. As far as I'm concerned, the PC guy looks like he'd be a lot more fun to work with than the Apple guy. The Apple guy just stands around with his hands in his pockets as if he doesn't know what to do next.

And finally, if I was to switch away from Windows, it wouldn't be for Apple, but towards other open source software platforms. I have been pleasantly surprised by software such as Sun Microsystem's Open Office, Mozilla Firefox, the Arduino electronics open source microcontroller environment, and other such efforts.

Just my 2 cents, now it's time to batten down the hatches and wait for all the flames.

Cheers

As far as Apple computer users are concerned, I find them to be a little too smug for my liking.

You are just a PC weenie

Sorry to interrupt the group hug here, but I'm a PC guy and have no intention of switching to Apple.

So why are you posting in a thread asking for feedback from those who have made the switch?

Smugness?

So why are you posting in a thread asking for feedback from those who have made the switch?

 

Smugness?

Nope, just balance.

The OP put the question out to the general public for fair comment. As far as I'm concerned, a reply of “I haven't” is just as valid as a reply of “I have”. I don't remember anywhere in the OP about only replying if you have switched.

Nope, just balance.

 

The OP put the question out to the general public for fair comment. As far as I'm concerned, a reply of “I haven't” is just as valid as a reply of “I have”. I don't remember anywhere in the OP about only replying if you have switched.

Title of thread - "Whos made the switch from PC to Mac?" (implies person wants to know from people who switched or have experience with both)

Question - "Are Macs really that much easier to work on?" (calls for comparison of whether Macs are easier to work on. Hard to do unless you have run both)

When you say you find Apple users smug, criticize them for having deals in place with educational institutions, like companies often do, and go on to say "As far as I'm concerned, the PC guy looks like he'd be a lot more fun to work with than the Apple guy. The Apple guy just stands around with his hands in his pockets as if he doesn't know what to do next.", it is just hard to see balance or answers to the question at hand, and looks like a bit of baiting, but you knew that was a possibility when you said let the flames begin

BTW I am not trying to flame you, I have PCs and I have Macs, PCs basically gather dust now for the most part, but I have used both for awhile and in fact was more PC Centric than Mac Centric at one point for quite awhile.... I just like Macs more by alot and have been that way for years. But like the Nikon/Canon thing, this is something that will never end.

My opinion is on any of these things, if any of us are happy with what we got, it is all cool anyway.

Nope, just balance.

 

The OP put the question out to the general public for fair comment. As far as I'm concerned, a reply of “I haven't” is just as valid as a reply of “I have”. I don't remember anywhere in the OP about only replying if you have switched.

Actually, if you will look at the title of this thread, it is "Whos made the switch from PC to Mac", not "Who has an opinion but no actual experience with a Mac".

There's no balance if you have no idea what you are talking about. Try a Mac for 9 months and then you'll have a basis for discussion. I bought my first Apple in 1979. My first IBM PC in 1981. My first Mac in 1983. I have a Windows 7 desktop, a Mac Pro Desktop, a Windows XP Laptop and I use Linux at work. Now THAT is balance

OS X isn't perfect. I could make a list of things that annoy me. It's just better than Windows based on my experience with both platforms.

Now, if we really want some additional inputs, we can talk VAX VMS, MVS, AS-400 and HP-UX.

Cheers,

John

Actually, if you will look at the title of this thread, it is "Whos made the switch from PC to Mac", not "Who has an opinion but no actual experience with a Mac".

 

There's no balance if you have no idea what you are talking about. Try a Mac for 9 months and then you'll have a basis for discussion.

More importantly, try a Mac with a semi-current version of the OS (10.5 or 10.6... 10.4 at worst).

I was rabidly anti-Mac pre-OSX. OS9 makes my skin crawl when I'm forced to use it (thankfully rare), let alone those times I was forced to deal with prior versions.

OSX, especially 10.2 and later, changed everything. Someone who has an opinion on Macs based on earlier systems... no longer has an accurate opinion of Macs. That's like saying "All Nissans suck because I once drove a Datsun in 1973 and it was terrible".

More importantly, try a Mac with a semi-current version of the OS (10.5 or 10.6... 10.4 at worst).

 

I was rabidly anti-Mac pre-OSX. OS9 makes my skin crawl when I'm forced to use it (thankfully rare), let alone those times I was forced to deal with prior versions.

 

OSX, especially 10.2 and later, changed everything. Someone who has an opinion on Macs based on earlier systems... no longer has an accurate opinion of Macs. That's like saying "All Nissans suck because I once drove a Datsun in 1973 and it was terrible".

That's a really good point. Early versions of OS9 on the old Power PC platform had issues and were slow. Since they went to Intel and released OS X, the Macs jumped up four or five levels of "goodness". I had one about 6 years ago that I ditched and went back to Windows mainly because of performance. It's a different game now. First, Windows went on too long with XP and didn't really progress, then when they released Vista, they really went "backwards" for more than a year and a half, meanwhile Mac and OS X just got better and better.

I've been using Win 7 for several months (Developer's cuts) and it's not bad, but it really doesn't offer that much over XP other than some new zippy interface features. It's really just version 2.0 of Vista and they had to rename it because Vista sucked so much. Example: Benchmark any program on Windows XP and Vista and you'll see that XP just stomps the crap out of it for performance. Windows 7 performs marginally better, but really what we are talking about is an OS that requires more hard disk space and more RAM and still runs slower than Windows XP with your favorite applications like Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.

Each time Apple has released new versions of OS X the old hardware actually runs *faster* on it. This is not just my opinion, it's easy to find the benchmarks all over the place with Google.

Drew

“Balance” as in we have several passionate Apple users, a few posters that are more or less ambivalent, and, myself, a guy that still sees value in Windows Vista. That's what I meant by balance.

I considered the switch and chose against it. Several factors figured into my decision (expense, additional space for an extra system, learning curve etc. etc.)

As Eric stated, he had to change over to an Apple because the educational environment favoured Apple over Microsoft. I had a similar experience with SUNY and decided against enrollment because I couldn't justify the expense of another computer system while I had a perfectly good system with which to work. I don't think that is criticism.

As to the PC guy, I'm just cheering for the underdog. I'm old and I' ve worked with a lot of different individuals. The PC guy just looks like a fun guy to work with. Unfortunately, I can identify with a few of the fashions and haircuts he was wearing in the commercial I mentioned so that may give you an idea of where I'm coming from on that issue.

My opinion is on any of these things, if any of us are happy with what we got, it is all cool anyway.

Amen.

John

All I'm saying is Vista in my experience is a stable computing platform that has performed as I have wanted it to, and has not exhibited any of the bad mannerisms that have been attributed to it by others. In other words, my position is “why throw the baby out with the bath water”. Nothing more or nothing less. What I have been expressing is, my rationale for staying with Windows and I think that contributes to the conversation, after all, the OP did say any insight is welcome. I had purposely limited my comments to what I know about Windows, and have purposely stayed away from discussing intricacies of the Apple operating system. I'm not into pixel peeping with cameras and have no interest in doing it with computer systems. Impressions are just that—impressions. As I said before, several poster are passionate about Apple, some are ambivalent, and I'm just a person who sees Windows Vista as a product that has performed very well for me. There's nothing wrong with that.

Cheers

Drew

 

“Balance” as in we have several passionate Apple users, a few posters that are more or less ambivalent, and, myself, a guy that still sees value in Windows Vista. That's what I meant by balance.

Fair enough and I am a passionate Apple user myself at this point, but by the same token, I ain't going to push things on people. Hey I have been in some "computer places" where I hear people trying to push more computer than most people need, Mac or PC and tell people not needed

I considered the switch and chose against it. Several factors figured into my decision (expense, additional space for an extra system, learning curve etc. etc.)

Again no problem. I actually kept both systems going for quite awhile, and would sometimes like a newer PC more than my slightly older Mac.. well initially.

As Eric stated, he had to change over to an Apple because the educational environment favoured Apple over Microsoft. I had a similar experience with SUNY and decided against enrollment because I couldn't justify the expense of another computer system while I had a perfectly good system with which to work. I don't think that is criticism.

Part of it is certain IT aspects and consistency across machines, and also everyone plays into the education market on different levels. Heck, even Michael Jordan's son caught flack for wanting to wear Air Jordans when that is Nike, and the school had sponsorships with Adidas or something. Imagine being MJs son and told you cannot wear Air Jordans...

As to the PC guy, I'm just cheering for the underdog.

Apple has made headway but still not that much of the computer world (does well in education), but it is cool to hear people think Windows is the underdog

I'm old and I' ve worked with a lot of different individuals. The PC guy just looks like a fun guy to work with.

Watch the Daily Show, John Hodgman also does bits on that. He really is funny and he is great in the commercials...BTW he is a Mac user

Unfortunately, I can identify with a few of the fashions and haircuts he was wearing in the commercial I mentioned so that may give you an idea of where I'm coming from on that issue.

LOL, yeah it is funny. But with how fast computers develop it ain't that long ago Though the Miami Vice clothes are disconcerting

Amen.

As a long time Mac user, who has actually been forced to switch to PC for certain applications in my office, a couple of comments and observations.

With two PC's and approximately 20 MACS in the office, the PC's have required the use of tech support at considerable cost both in actual dollars and time over the years, and the MACS have required none that I could not easily manage myself. This has been particularly the case when upgrading operating systems, usually requiring at least one full day of time and office downtime. Some recent problems involving networking a proprietary program, actually took months to solve, making one element of the PC system inoperable until I found someone clever enough to work it out.

Another critical issue is security. PC's are clearly more at risk to viruses, trojans etc, if only because their shear numbers make them more attractive to hackers and criminal gangs. For example the present issue with the conficker virus should make every PC user be extremely paranoid every time they log on for internet banking or go to a hospital and require a medical test such as a CT scan where the equipment utilizes Windows based operating system. Information presently available to those who care to search for it would prompt one ONLY to use a single PC for online banking as briefly a possible if the bank requires a PC and then to turn it off, and use it for nothing else; and use the MACS for all other online use.

I actually hope MACS do not become more popular, because then the bad guys will start paying more attention to hacking into MACS.