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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Making the change to Apple?
Marc Browning, Photographer
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Wichita | KS | | Posted: 10:42 AM on 12.16.05 |
->> I'm looking at changing to Apple. And have some questions.
1 What program would I use instead of Qimage for my printing needs, as I use on my pc now?
2 what type of programs can I expect not to be able to use. like word,excel,frontpage, & quicken?
3 Can I use my new dell 20.1'' monitor with a G5?
4 My 4 external usb 2.0 hardrives?
5 can I make the change over slowly, like keep my pc laptop and still be able to transfer info,mainly pictures and webpages made in photoshop over to a mac G5 tower.
6 I've all ways liked the way Apple's are built and hear that once mac you'll never go back. Makes me think maybe this pc thing isn't the way to stay. |
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Bryan Rinnert, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | United States | Posted: 11:12 AM on 12.16.05 |
->> 1 What program would I use instead of Qimage for my printing needs, as I use on my pc now?
Not sure on this one, I'm sure there's something Macs can use, I use what came with my printer.
2 what type of programs can I expect not to be able to use. like word,excel,frontpage, & quicken?
Not much, you can use all Office Products the same way (sometimes better)
3 Can I use my new dell 20.1'' monitor with a G5?
Yes
4 My 4 external usb 2.0 hardrives?
Yes
5 can I make the change over slowly, like keep my pc laptop and still be able to transfer info,mainly pictures and webpages made in photoshop over to a mac G5 tower.
Should be fine, sometimes set up is tricky, but can be done.
6 I've all ways liked the way Apple's are built and hear that once mac you'll never go back. Makes me think maybe this pc thing isn't the way to stay.
Yup. |
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Louis Brems, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Rock Island | IL | United States | Posted: 11:21 AM on 12.16.05 |
->> Marc,
As a long time mac user You'll find that the change over is quite easy.
programs are really not a problem anymore more and more are coming over the mac side. Microsoft word, excel, and the rest of them that come with Office are all on Mac now. Quicken can be easly replaced by Quickbooks.
I'm not sure about the printing software your using so i can not comment on that, i make my own prints in photoshop. Your monitor should be usable on the G5. USB 2.0 is a lot slower then the firewire 800 ports that come on a G5 you will be able to use the USB Drives since they were formatted PC first they will be able to open on a mac. I highly recommend looking at firewire drives including card readers. All pics, psd, and jpg's should open fine as well as most if not all pic formats unless its tied to a pc like some microsoft format.
hopoe this helps.
Lou |
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Marc Browning, Photographer
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Wichita | KS | | Posted: 11:22 AM on 12.16.05 |
| ->> I use Qimage as a printing software where I have folder with say 100 4x6's, 25 5x7s, 15 8x10's. you can throw then all to a print page and Qimage will tell me how many sheet of paper I need.and then start printing, as I'm doing other things. |
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Marc Browning, Photographer
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Wichita | KS | | Posted: 12:14 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> Thanks for the info. Is there thing you don't like about Apple's.Like haveing troubles moveing large amounts of pictures,mainly raws. That's the biggest problem I have now is all ways error messages of one kind or another about moveing the files..
Thanks again for the help. |
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Tony Donaldson, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 12:44 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> Mac,
There is plenty of info at http://www.apple.com/switch/ as well. I think making the switch gradually is a great idea.
I haven't used PCs much in years, so I don't know if I have an accurate comparison. Macs just work. I ask a lot of mine, they do everything well, and elegantly. Apple products (computers, iPods, etc.) are designed around the user, most Windows-based products are based on the machine. I know people who have no stability problems with PCs, but many of them are at one end or the other of the tech-savvy spectrum.
People often complain about Macs costing more, but when you set up an equivalent PC, performance-wise, they'll run the same. Getting a good PowerMac, even the lower end one, will give you image horsepower you will love. |
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Marc Browning, Photographer
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Wichita | KS | | Posted: 1:32 PM on 12.16.05 |
| ->> I understand the Powermac will be more powefull, but how will the Imac's do?I do like the design of them. Do they work well for a photog's work load? I do shoot raws but with only D2Hs. right now I use a 2gig pent. 4 with 512 ram and 1000 gig of space |
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Greg Ferguson, Photographer
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Scottsdale | Az | USA | Posted: 1:51 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> The current iMacs are pretty fast - they've got good "bang for the buck".
Before purchasing, consider the difference in money for the faster towers. There are hardware limitations that help Apple lower the price of the iMac, and those limitations can't be worked around. I don't need the absolutely fastest machine - I'm willing to let it churn away when there's a lot to do, but some people sit and stare at the screen tapping their fingers, so they're not happy unless they're running the fastest hardware.
As with any modern computer you'll want to load up on RAM. Modern OSes like lots of room in their sandboxes, as does Photoshop. The more buffering the machine can do in RAM, the faster it'll run, especially a Unix-based OS like the Mac.
Regarding apps... yes, Microsoft's core products are available on the Mac. The Mac team at Microsoft often leads the way for developing new features in the apps. The Open-Office suite is coming along nicely at the same time, so you might want to look into it as an alternative - if it doesn't work for you than you can spend the bajillion bucks Microsoft wants for Office later.
Frontpage... you might want to find a better webpage program if that's something you use a lot... but that's a criticism of Frontpage itself, not the Mac-version only. |
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dinno kovic, Photographer
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San Francisco | CA | USA | Posted: 2:10 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> I made the switch last year, and I had similar questions. Now a year later, I am extremely happy with the switch and haven’t looked back!
Over the past year, here is a summary of my experience to date;
Image Work Flow: Incredibly smooth and efficient (including RAW) I have used PhotoMechanic and Photoshop in both formats and Apple’s work flow is much more efficient. (I find it no comparison) I recently installed Aperture and as I’m using and understanding the tools available within the program, it is surpassing all the expectations I had for the program.
Software variety: Up to now there isn’t anything I miss from my PC. Microsoft Office works great on this platform, especially Entourage, (Microsoft called Outlook Entourage for the Macintosh Format)
Huge advantage:
1-Virus and security. I am no longer frightened and paranoid about viruses and hackers. You should always maintain the best security for your computer, no matter what platform, however a majority of the viruses seem to be directed towards the windows platform.
2-Searching- I am not the most organized individual and sometimes I place files, images in wrong folders or not file folders accurately. To find these files, the searching engine for the Mac is easy and quick..
3-Application Integration-Taking files from one application to another and burning CD’s extremely quick and easy. For example, I produce DVD slideshows my wedding clients. Editing Images, Producing a slideshow, Making a DVD and burning the DVD is so much easier, quicker and I am able to be much more creative with the producing the final product.
Using both platforms: I also have a Compaq Laptop and, like Bryan stated, tricky but can be done.
Cons: I bought an iMac versus a laptop. The iMac is very cool but limited in expandability.
I could go on about all the advantages, but I wanted to provide you with a some what brief summary of my experience to date. |
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Jim Sykes, Photographer
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Montgomery Village | Md | | Posted: 2:51 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> I am in the same boat right now and have been researching my possible switch for awhile.
One of my biggest worries was whether my external hard drives would be compatible.
Well, they are and they arent.
If you formatted your HDD in the NTFS file system then they will be READ ONLY when you plug them into your Mack. But the real problem is that if you try to write anything back to them, it wont say read only and will actually screw up the entire filing system and you will then not be able to read or write anything to the drive till you re-format.
I have gotten that info directly from Apple and also know someone that happened to.
If you left the externals in their factory fat32 formatting you are fine. I made mine NTFS since it allowed for a lot more options in Windows as far as security and permissions.
So if you have NTFS drives, you should convert them in some way before switching. The best way I think would be to get another HDD and leave it formatted in FAT32 from teh factory, and hook it up to your PC and transfer all the data from an old to the new drive. Then format the old drive in FAT32 and continue transferring and re-formatting till you are done.
Then they will work on your Mac.
I'm pretty close to doing it, just got a notice in the mail yesterday that my rewards CC is offering double points at the Apple store till the end of the year, so maybe now is the time. |
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Marc Browning, Photographer
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Wichita | KS | | Posted: 4:54 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> Thanks for all the help, I hope to be making the change sometime in the future.
Jim I'll look at my drives, great info. |
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Dirk Dewachter, Photographer
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Playa Del Rey | CA | USA | Posted: 7:54 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> Marc
I switched, or shall I say added a dual core G5 to my systems and did this specifically to edit images and video. One thing I'd recommend, get rid of the Dell monitor and buy the 23" Apple display. I know it is a lot of money but I don't touch my PC for editing any more.
The PC & Mac can be networked through a gateway and it works very well. I kept my productivity on the PC side (i.e. Word, Outlook, Quicken, Quickbooks) but you can switch them over as there are Mac versions out there. Both Photo mechanic and Extensis Portfolio are dual platform.
One recommendation I have is to separate out the thing you'd do on each system so that way you don't end up with similar files for the same project on both computers.
I switched two of my external Maxtor drives to the G5 and they work great.
Adobe will allow you to destroy your PC Adobe product and replace it with a Mac license for just the shipping and handling of the software.
Another recommendation is to add 2GB of RAM as soon as you get it. Believe me, it makes a lot of difference. I work on 1GB 20X30 layered image designs and I am going to add some more (up to 8GB) |
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Marc Browning, Photographer
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Wichita | KS | | Posted: 7:59 PM on 12.16.05 |
| ->> Thanks again for the info I was just looking at the Aplle site, Nice layout, I might wait till the intel chips come out to make my finaly choice. |
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Chris Large, Photographer
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Okotoks | AB | Canada | Posted: 8:47 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> I'll add my 2 cents (Canadian)..... I switched last January and happy in everyway that I did. You might want to dump your external hard drive to a web based storage site, then retrieve it once you are up and running on your new mac.
All my applications work almost the same (usually better) and I have found no down side to the change. And I second the post about the 23" Apple cinema display. My primary unit is a g4 17" pwrbook but when I'm in my home office I plug in the 23 monitor in tandem with the pwr book. Keep my open files, PM etc on the 17 screen, Photoshop on the 23....works like a charm.
Chris |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington, DC & Seattle | WA | US | Posted: 9:28 PM on 12.16.05 |
->> Chris...THANKS...I was just talking to Robert Longhitano about the 17"PM+23" Cinema combo and wondering how well it works. I jsut added aperture to my bag of tricks and already see the need for a 2nd display. You just confirmed it...guess I'm in the market for one of the Apple refurb units (much better prices on them)
Delane |
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