Thinking of getting my first Mac - any advice would be appreciated!

[JinRoh]

I have a dual G5 PowerMac steel tower and a MacBook Pro laptop. I was a PC user until converted back in 2000. Haven't looked back since. I prefer Macs over to PCs, and I am using Final Cut Pro, Maya, Illustrator, Photoshop, Wrangler, Videohub, After Effects, and Flash on a regular basis through my new media course.

So yeah, I highly recommend Macs. They are so reliable and dependable. Not to mention, pretty.

costly but yeah, pretty

 

[ONEYE]

I'm really close to making the switch from the PC to the Mac.

GET HIM!

 

[occulum]

And in my experience, Mac's are about as reliable as Windows-based PC's. At school we have a Mac lab and a PC lab, both crash just as often. In fact, we were working on Flash yesterday, and someone's Mac crashed and lost all their work.

.. Ive never had any trouble with any of my Macs. Been working daily on them for about 15yrs now. Since OSX was released(once the bugs were worked out of OSX) every single one of my Macs have been very stable. I havent lost a single file since OS9. Or about 7 years. My computer locks up maybe twice a year it seems (applications still lock up, but not the entire comp). I work mainly in large photoshop files and modeling and rendering in 3D software. I deisgned 3 large wall graphics recently that were so large the photoshop files were over 6GB each and thats not all that unusual for my line of work.
My experience with about the dozen or so Macs Ive worked on have been nothing but great from start to finish. id never switch over to a PC OS unless I had to ...

 

[Ultimate Weapon]

I have a Macbook Pro 15" 2GB 2.33 Core 2 Duo and it works great for me. Glad I made the switch.

I'm earning my Master in Architecture and I'm always using my computer for:

Photoshop
Illustrator
Archicad
SketchUp
Revit (Run through Parallels/Bootcamp)
AutoCad 2007 (Run through Parallels/Bootcamp)

It's the best computer I've ever owned. Before this notebook, I had a Dell notebook which has since totally taken a dump. Prior to starting this program a few years ago, I knew I wanted a Mac and not another Dell/Windows PC. To be fair though, I did price out a Dell at comparable specs and the price difference was completely negligible.

Yeah if you want to build every aspect of your computer you will be in total control of the cost, but not everyone has the time, interest nor inclination to do so.

What you're looking at for video editing is not overkill - get the best you can; it will be worth it in the long run. Also don't forget about space - video files take up a lot of space. I want to pick up Final Cut before I graduate this semester so I can get the student discount on it (my undergrad was film studies). Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Mexico Trilogy) edits his films using Final Cut in his home editing suite so you know the quality is there. There are plenty of other filmmakers who use it as well. I can't speak to the Mac Pro as I haven't used it, but it is a powerful machine and well worth the investment for what you're after. You can easily create a professional work station that can churn out some amazing work.

 

[Reinhardt]

thank you all for your input! Went to the Mac store today and the mind is made up - Mac it is. Mac Pro. Hopefully will make the purchase in the next 2 weeks.

If anyone has any other input, or would like to use this thread to simply talk about Macs, please do so. I'm sure I could learn a heck of a lot.

Thanks!

 

[Mad Old Lu]

I've been using Macs for almost 15 years and I think they run great. I've never had any real problems with any of them, and nothing I couldn't find a fix for online somewhere.

As others have stated, get as much ram as you can afford--and not through apple. Try Crucial.com. The Apple monitor would just be for looks. You can find any quality monitors for less than a Mac's. You might also look into Amazon to buy. They usually have some discount on them and depending on where you live, they may not charge you tax. Apple will still honor any warranties whether you bought it through them or Amazon. You have free 90 days tech support and a year (limited) warranty with any hardware issues, although they never take things back outright, just fix them. The protection plan ($250) extends all this to 3 years, but I personally have never bought the protection plan and have never needed it.

Enjoy your first Mac!

 

[hairlesswookiee]

Leopard >>> any Windows OS

 

[Fritz]

Leopard >>> any Windows OS

 

[Dusty]

Macs are great for their complete user-friendliness. Once you get used to the difference, it's amazing how much faster you can find things and run things, etc.

PCs are good for people who want to be more 'hands-on' with their computers. And for those who really like doing a virus search and destroy every hour and constantly having to stay on top of all the new virus detection software Ah, to be virus-free, it's such a great feeling. Even if Macs weren't totally awesome with a super smooth OS, I'd pay the extra just for the lack of viruses (virusii?).

I tossed my PC out the window 4 years ago (literally) and have never looked back

 

[GrueSam]

And in my experience, Mac's are about as reliable as Windows-based PC's. At school we have a Mac lab and a PC lab, both crash just as often. In fact, we were working on Flash yesterday, and someone's Mac crashed and lost all their work.

That makes me think that either the mac is very old, has not been updated or is running on minimal RAM. The entire OS rarely crashes, only individual apps which you just Force Quit then restart. (Just like occulum stated.)


I've had macs for 9 years now and have never had a problem.
Have NEVER lost a file.

My brother and his wife both have macs and work in HUGE files being an architectural illustrator and graphic designer and we are always singing the praises of macs.

And it's easy enough for my 77 yo mom to use, and she can't even figure out her dang cellphone!

 

[MaulFan]

thank you all for your input! Went to the Mac store today and the mind is made up - Mac it is. Mac Pro. Hopefully will make the purchase in the next 2 weeks.

If anyone has any other input, or would like to use this thread to simply talk about Macs, please do so. I'm sure I could learn a heck of a lot.

Thanks!

I haven't read anyone else's comments, but here's my take. Love the PC's, love the image quality on the monitors, HATE the current monitor design. There's no ventiallation on it, the casing is metal, and mine overheats easily, I'm actually getting image burn in it. Their monitors cost significantly more than alternatives and I've seen plenty other good monitors out there with better designs. I'd suggest MAC for the computer and someone else for the monitor.

 

[minivader]

get the most you can afford. (ram, processor, etc) preferably at least 2 HDs since you are using it for video/audio. As for monitors its better you check them out in person, I use a mac monitor and it has been running great for 4 years now.

 

[man_vs_machine]

Mac's rule. I switched to one about 4 years ago for my business. Now that i'm used to it, i'd never go back to PC

 

[darthviper107]

That makes me think that either the mac is very old, has not been updated or is running on minimal RAM. The entire OS rarely crashes, only individual apps which you just Force Quit then restart. (Just like occulum stated.)


I've had macs for 9 years now and have never had a problem.
Have NEVER lost a file.

My brother and his wife both have macs and work in HUGE files being an architectural illustrator and graphic designer and we are always singing the praises of macs.

And it's easy enough for my 77 yo mom to use, and she can't even figure out her dang cellphone!

It was just the program, and they update the computers every 2 years, software every year (Flash CS4).

It's not uncommon in the lab to have programs just close without warning. These ones are Mac Pro computers. They also just changed the PC lab into a Mac lab with new iMac's running both Mac OS and Windows XP, stuff still crashes.

Also--just to point out, currently Adobe CS4 is only available in 64-bit for Windows until the next version which will have 64-bit Mac.


Also just to point out, it's very hard to get viruses on Windows---you have to really try to get viruses to get one, like going to sites that are suspicious (or using Internet Explorer instead of Firefox) or opening up strange emails. Otherwise the only way you can get stuff is if someone is hacking your computer---which is unlikely.


I think Macs are fine for average users, like my parents, but for someone who does a variety of work, I'll never use one.

 

[Kabukiman]

It's not uncommon in the lab to have programs just close without warning.

Yikes. Sounds like whoever is in charge of the mac lab should make a new install image stat.

 

[Reinhardt]

Thanks again for all your comments! It's definitely a no brainer for me now. It's just the monitor that I'm not sure about - There seems to be advantages and disadvantages to getting an Apple monitor. They do LOOK beautiful, their design is very aesthetic, but they are expensive. However, if anything goes wrong, at least I will be covered for 3 years.

 

[occulum]

I have no idea about comparable monitors. But my entire dept as well as my comp at home have all been on Appl emonitors for probably 4yrs now and we havent had any problems with any of them. But as mentioned, theyre not cheap ....

 

[MaulFan]

Thanks again for all your comments! It's definitely a no brainer for me now. It's just the monitor that I'm not sure about - There seems to be advantages and disadvantages to getting an Apple monitor. They do LOOK beautiful, their design is very aesthetic, but they are expensive. However, if anything goes wrong, at least I will be covered for 3 years.

Yup, definitely get Apple Care if you get a MAC, I've had a monitor reparied and two SuperDrive's replaced for no hastle other than throwing the parts into the supplied boxes from Apple, worth every penny.

 

[Reinhardt]

Yup, definitely get Apple Care if you get a MAC, I've had a monitor reparied and two SuperDrive's replaced for no hastle other than throwing the parts into the supplied boxes from Apple, worth every penny.

Apple Warranty all the way - if anything, for the piece of mind until I am more comfortable with the Mac.