Mac or Laptop

[Goldstone Rapper]

Photoshop ?

Photoshop is geared to photo editing. I'm looking for software that is geared towards downloading photos from a digital camera and where I can organise a library of photos into different categories by dragging and dropping.

 

[Bozza]

Macs are nice bits of kit, however if they go wrong they are much harder to fix than a PC.

Really? What machines have you had to fix, what was wrong with them and what was 'much harder'?

I've had a couple of issues with my Macs in the past and also sought to upgrade drives and memory and it really couldn't have been easier with neither activity requiring anything more than a screwdriver and about 5 minutes of time. A hardware technician I am not, but the process was quick, easy and, most importantly, successful.

 

[Bozza]

I need a new computer and wish to use it for NSC and photography.

So far I have looked at a Apple Laptop Pro but became baffled re PC laptops. I have also never used a MAC but it seemed really easy in the shop.

Your comments please.

I really don't think a Mac can be beat as a home machine - mail, web, music, photos and videos are all an absolute delight. As others have said, of course, that comes at a cost. If you can afford it, go Mac and you are highly unlikely to regret your choice. If cash is more of an issue a PC can do everything, of course, just in a slightly clunkier way. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

iLife, which will come with a Mac includes the lovely iPhoto (not a Photoshop replacement as someone above seemed to think) which is brilliant for organising your photos including the geotagging and facial tagging. If you need to go further then Aperture (Apple - Aperture - Pro performance with iPhoto simplicity.) will be for you.

 

[Bozza]

Photoshop is geared to photo editing. I'm looking for software that is geared towards downloading photos from a digital camera and where I can organise a library of photos into different categories by dragging and dropping.

A similar question to yours on Yahoo received a response to try Windows Live Photo Gallery - Windows Live Photo Gallery. I'm not sure if this runs locally or in the cloud. If cloud based would do the job for you, Google's Picasa is often spoken about favourably.

 

[Mr Smggles]

The chances of getting a virus is significantly lower which is very handy for late night viewing.....

 

[Bozza]

The Mac has a simpler interface for non tech users

Yes, it probably is.

But Macs are also the choice of a very, very high percentage of the real influencers in the tech community - people such as Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose. Proper geeky nerds and they won't touch a non Apple computer.

It's worth noting that Macs are always behind PCs for new versions of software

Really? Looking forward to some examples of that please, particularly any that would impact a home mail/web/music/photos/video user.

 

[bhaexpress]

Really? What machines have you had to fix, what was wrong with them and what was 'much harder'?

I've had a couple of issues with my Macs in the past and also sought to upgrade drives and memory and it really couldn't have been easier with neither activity requiring anything more than a screwdriver and about 5 minutes of time. A hardware technician I am not, but the process was quick, easy and, most importantly, successful.

I had a real fight with a Mac recently because it got a phantom printer on it. With a PC I could use the device manager or just rip it out of the registry but with a Mac you need to go down to text command level. Rather than rebuild the Mac we decided to borrow a physical printer and connect it just to delete it. Very time consuming and annoying but that was the only way. Engineers who work on both PCs and Macs say the same as I do. I'm not anti Mac just trying to point out a few of the myths that Mac owners still say. A Mac is no more or less reliable than a PC and it's been like that for quite a few years. The only reason people go on about PCs being unreliable is the fact that they so heavily out number Macs.

 

[bhaexpress]

Yes, it probably is.

But Macs are also the choice of a very, very high percentage of the real influencers in the tech community - people such as Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose. Proper geeky nerds and they won't touch a non Apple computer.



Really? Looking forward to some examples of that please, particularly any that would impact a home mail/web/music/photos/video user.

Microsoft Office to name JUST one example.

 

[bhaexpress]

I really don't think a Mac can be beat as a home machine - mail, web, music, photos and videos are all an absolute delight. As others have said, of course, that comes at a cost. If you can afford it, go Mac and you are highly unlikely to regret your choice. If cash is more of an issue a PC can do everything, of course, just in a slightly clunkier way. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

iLife, which will come with a Mac includes the lovely iPhoto (not a Photoshop replacement as someone above seemed to think) which is brilliant for organising your photos including the geotagging and facial tagging. If you need to go further then Aperture (Apple - Aperture - Pro performance with iPhoto simplicity.) will be for you.

That is merely your opinion and not based on fact. I've used both and with Windows 7 there's nothing in it.

 

[Bozza]

Microsoft Office to name JUST one example.

Why would a home user need or want MS Office?!?

 

[clapham_gull]

I've never knocked Apple for their computers, I leave that for their phones (and in my opinion) their apparent hesitance to make their stuff compatible with other people's stuff.

You get what you pay for and if the same company is going to design, build and write the software then it's quite obvious it's going to work nicely (*)

But I think these days the whole "they are easier to use" thing has run out of steam. Cooincidently I was reading an honest article this evening that pointed out a number of things that are more intuitive on windows.

I've thought seriously about buying one, but I don't have that Willy Wonka emotional attachment to all things by one manufacturer that Apple fans have. When I look what I actually need a computer for, I'd probably be better off buying something very very cheap and if it wasn't for my need to use Office all the time, probably install some Linux variant on it.

If somebody bought me one, I'd be very happy with it - but nice to look at comes a long way down my list when buying a computer.

(*) Although these days, the hardware is remarkably similiar.

 

[Bozza]

That is merely your opinion and not based on fact. I've used both and with Windows 7 there's nothing in it.

Of course it's opinion - the bit "I think..." is a massive clue as to that you great buffoon.

Frank my dear man, you trot out the same old shit every time a Mac conversation comes up. You are, I'm afraid, somewhat long in the tooth and a bit dated in your experiences. Particularly, there is a massive difference between what most need from a daily office workhorse and need from a machine for leisure use at home.

As much as I'd like to take my MBP into the office to work on, I know my life would be difficult, not least because we're a massive Microsoft house. I'd hit comparability issues left, right and centre. The PC is still the de facto choice for most offices, and Office the default option for document exchange.

However, I'd absolutely hate to have to clunk around a Windows desktop when I escape from work and do the stuff I want to do on a computer. My Mac does nothing a PC can't do - I'd be a fool to suggest otherwise - but it does it all so much more nicely.

That said, when I bought my first Mac I largely hated it for the first 6-8 weeks. The horrors of Windows were so deeply engrained within me, I struggled to adapt, but once I finally turned the corner, I've not looked back.

 

[clapham_gull]

Why would a home user need or want MS Office?!?

I use Excel all the time for a number of things, for one working out the volume of some odd shaped rasied beds.

It's also worth pointing that Macs are used in the workplace, extensively in the technical side of TV industry.

If they weren't they wouldn't bother having one of the biggest stands at international conferences.

Bozza, you would die if you saw their stand.

The reliability debate is a bit of a red herring isn't it ? I sure there are PC manufacturers out there who make machines far more reliable than Apple, whilst there are ones who make them much worse.

 

[Bozza]

I use Excel all the time for a number of things, for one working out the volume of some odd shaped rasied beds.

Literally all of my home spreadsheet work is done in Google Docs. Maybe I only have simple needs. And the advantage of Google Docs, of course, is no need to copy or send the files anywhere to pick them up at work. They're available to me on any machine anywhere. And to others as well, for example our 'home finances' sheet can be accessed by my good lady whenever she needs to in parallel with me doing likewise.

I imagine Numbers would oblige if I needed something more than Google give me right now.

 

[clapham_gull]

Literally all of my home spreadsheet work is done in Google Docs. Maybe I only have simple needs. And the advantage of Google Docs, of course, is no need to copy or send the files anywhere to pick them up at work. They're available to me on any machine anywhere. And to others as well, for example our 'home finances' sheet can be accessed by my good lady whenever she needs to in parallel with me doing likewise.

I imagine Numbers would oblige if I needed something more than Google give me right now.

I'm always putting code into my sheets as well, because I can I guess.

If there was a spreadsheet alternative that easily allowed me to do that, I'd give it a go.

(Edit - I've just seen you can use Javascript in Google Docs mmmmm...)

Year ago, I used to do with Lotus 1-2-3.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

You can of course get Office for Mac as well, which I have been using to write my dissertation.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

That said, when I bought my first Mac I largely hated it for the first 6-8 weeks. The horrors of Windows were so deeply engrained within me, I struggled to adapt, but once I finally turned the corner, I've not looked back.

This. I moved to a Mac last November & regretted it for 2 weeks. I now rarely open my Dell laptop. I also still use MS Office, especially Outlook (well, Entourage as it's called on the Mac), Excel & Word.

I use Excel all the time for a number of things, for one working out the volume of some odd shaped rasied beds.

I use Excel on my Mac, and I've found it better on the Mac than it was on my laptop

The key thing about the Mac is it's reliability & ease of use. It NEVER goes wrong, and you rarely need to shut it down - just close the lid. I know you can do that with Dells, but they don't react too well. I've never had a single issue with my Mac... it's never needed a restart or anything like that.

I love installing & removing. Drag & drop.. done. So easy. I wouldn't go back. Since I started my company, we've standardised on the Mac

 

[clapham_gull]

I use Excel on my Mac, and I've found it better on the Mac than it was on my laptop

The Mac version doesn't do what I need it to do unfortunately. I get Excel to do some quite weird stuff.

 

[Bozza]

The Mac version doesn't do what I need it to do unfortunately. I get Excel to do some quite weird stuff.

Freak.

Anyway - just get yourself a Mac, as it seems you want to, and either dual boot or use Parallels or similar for when you want to do your dirty stuff on the other side of the fence.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

The Mac version doesn't do what I need it to do unfortunately. I get Excel to do some quite weird stuff.

Sounds like you're too much of a freak then

Truth is, there are obviously strengths & weaknesses of both. The reason why we've standardised on Macs is because, though they're cheaper, Windows laptops are more likely to break - which means wasted time fixing them. We want our staff working on software, not fixing laptops