PC to IMac - whats the catch?
Discussion
Was in my local shopping center yesterday, and theirs an Apple store there. Having a look round see the IMac and realise that for just under a grand it looks bloody great.
Also its got inbuilt hardware so uses hardly any space, seems to be highly user friendly and generally looks like a definite purchase.
Can even have microsoft word and so no cross computer annoyances.
So whats the catch having one of these over a normal pc?
Also its got inbuilt hardware so uses hardly any space, seems to be highly user friendly and generally looks like a definite purchase.
Can even have microsoft word and so no cross computer annoyances.
So whats the catch having one of these over a normal pc?
Fiddlemesticks said:
Was in my local shopping center yesterday, and theirs an Apple store there. Having a look round see the IMac and realise that for just under a grand it looks bloody great.
Also its got inbuilt hardware so uses hardly any space, seems to be highly user friendly and generally looks like a definite purchase.
Can even have microsoft word and so no cross computer annoyances.
So whats the catch having one of these over a normal pc?
Haven't really found one yet myself. Used XP for quite a few years and quite happy with it. But decided not to go to Vista and went to MacOS instead so bought this MacBook back in December.Also its got inbuilt hardware so uses hardly any space, seems to be highly user friendly and generally looks like a definite purchase.
Can even have microsoft word and so no cross computer annoyances.
So whats the catch having one of these over a normal pc?
You have a 30 day free trial of MS Office, but since I've never used it I haven't missed it since it timed out.
The only thing I miss from my XP box is Autoroute and Streets & Trips so I got Parallels for that which works well enough. The only issue there is having enough ram so you can switch between XP and MacOS quickly. Right now, with a gig you are close to making a cup of tea territory. I'm told on PH that memory is cheap though. Someone mentioned 4G for £60 the other day which I might look up in a few weeks.
There is a bit of a learning curve with using a new OS. Finder and the Dock for instance taking a bit of getting used to again. The whole OS and its base apps like Safari and Mail.app have a much better quality feel to them than you get in XP or Vista. For instance the fonts are proper fonts like you see in printed matter, whereas Windows uses a map that the font gets thrown into for screen clarity. When you see proper fonts on the screen, they just look so much better. Also the feel of the whole interface feels like it has more quality to it. In Windows there seems to be a lot of colour, which is no bad thing, but in MacOS the use of colour in the interface is much more subtle, and feels less clownlike - its very difficult to explain.
There are also other quality things on this MacBook that Apple have done, which you won't find on an iMac, but I'm sure you'll find other things on an iMac. For instance, the battery has a button to show you battery life even if the machine is off. The power cord plugging into the MacBook is magnetic and doesn't get distorted if you catch it like a normal power plug into a laptop. Its little things like that that make Apple products feel like a little more of a quality purchase.
The only downside, and it is an annoying downside, is making sure your printer works with a Mac. Cyberface will tell you that its easy to make various random printers work with MacOS, but I haven't found it so easy. There are a number of packages that allow you to print to non Mac driver printers, but they are generally for Tiger and not Leopard. With Leopard you have to compile loads of crap and it still doesn't work.
So, make sure your printer has native Mac drivers, or buy a new printer that is compatible from the start to save a lot of aggro. (Or buy the Mac, conclude it doesn't work with your printer and then lob the printer).
A few people will tell you that Leopard is unreliable. Haven't found it myself even before the update a couple of weeks ago, and I use my Mac all the time.
My conclusion after having this MacBook for 2 months is that I should of done it years ago. However, I think I got the timing right in buying when MacOS is fully at home on the new Intel platform as it is now. Not interested in being the first in, or the technological pioneer any more. Just want something that works nicely. I also think there are a lot of being buying into the Macintosh today as well, and recent Apple sales figures back that up, so you won't be alone!
I have both a pc and a mac. The only thing that annoys me is when you install software from a cdrom onto the mac, you need to leave the cd in the machine for it to run after rebooting...
I drag the app to the applications folder and the bar at the bottom, reboot and the app disappears
I drag the app to the applications folder and the bar at the bottom, reboot and the app disappears
mcflurry said:
I have both a pc and a mac. The only thing that annoys me is when you install software from a cdrom onto the mac, you need to leave the cd in the machine for it to run after rebooting...
I drag the app to the applications folder and the bar at the bottom, reboot and the app disappears
Something is wrong with either a) your install procedure or b) your machine. That should not happen. What are you dragging? The .app? If you drag it to the Dock (the bar at the bottom) that simply creates an alias (or shortcut) to the item you dragged. So if that's on a CD it creates an alias to the CD. If you drag it to the Applications folder that should copy it to the Applications folder. You can the drag it from Applications (not the CD) to the Dock...I drag the app to the applications folder and the bar at the bottom, reboot and the app disappears
robbieduncan said:
mcflurry said:
I have both a pc and a mac. The only thing that annoys me is when you install software from a cdrom onto the mac, you need to leave the cd in the machine for it to run after rebooting...
I drag the app to the applications folder and the bar at the bottom, reboot and the app disappears
Something is wrong with either a) your install procedure or b) your machine. That should not happen. What are you dragging? The .app? If you drag it to the Dock (the bar at the bottom) that simply creates an alias (or shortcut) to the item you dragged. So if that's on a CD it creates an alias to the CD. If you drag it to the Applications folder that should copy it to the Applications folder. You can the drag it from Applications (not the CD) to the Dock...I drag the app to the applications folder and the bar at the bottom, reboot and the app disappears
Switched to an iMac two years ago and haven't looked back. Should have done it years ago.
I have no problems with software installs. Although have had issues with old printers and drivers with Leopard, soon sorted though.
The way that it works on my home network is far superior to Windows.
I will never buy a Windoze machine again for my own use.
Alicat
I have no problems with software installs. Although have had issues with old printers and drivers with Leopard, soon sorted though.
The way that it works on my home network is far superior to Windows.
I will never buy a Windoze machine again for my own use.
Alicat
For me, you can't play games on them (yes, yes I know about parallels, but I have no interest in it...) I have my gaming PC for games (
) and CS3 and thats pretty much all I use it for.
Bought a PowerBook 12" a few months back which I use all the time for net use and bits of basic-photoshopping and the like.
Great set-up for me having both
) and CS3 and thats pretty much all I use it for. Bought a PowerBook 12" a few months back which I use all the time for net use and bits of basic-photoshopping and the like.
Great set-up for me having both
LukeBird said:
For me, you can't play games on them (yes, yes I know about parallels, but I have no interest in it...) I have my gaming PC for games () and CS3 and thats pretty much all I use it for.
Bought a PowerBook 12" a few months back which I use all the time for net use and bits of basic-photoshopping and the like.
Great set-up for me having both
You don't need Parallels, you just install Windows on your Mac using boot-camp and boot into Windows for games.) and CS3 and thats pretty much all I use it for. Bought a PowerBook 12" a few months back which I use all the time for net use and bits of basic-photoshopping and the like.
Great set-up for me having both
75_Steve said:
LukeBird said:
For me, you can't play games on them (yes, yes I know about parallels, but I have no interest in it...) I have my gaming PC for games () and CS3 and thats pretty much all I use it for.
Bought a PowerBook 12" a few months back which I use all the time for net use and bits of basic-photoshopping and the like.
Great set-up for me having both
You don't need Parallels, you just install Windows on your Mac using boot-camp and boot into Windows for games.) and CS3 and thats pretty much all I use it for. Bought a PowerBook 12" a few months back which I use all the time for net use and bits of basic-photoshopping and the like.
Great set-up for me having both
Regardless of whether I did that or not, my PC is far more powerful graphics wise than anything Apple make (including any option on the Mac Pro) so for me I still didn't want one!
It's nice to have both as well.
75_Steve said:
In answer to the printer driver issues, I have 2 HP all-in-one printer / scanner things and a Samsung laser here, all of which 'just work' with OSX, without installing any additional drivers.
Drivers are already on the Mac in that case. Its when the drivers were never made, eg any printer I've bought in the last 4 years, that the problems start tinman0 said:
75_Steve said:
In answer to the printer driver issues, I have 2 HP all-in-one printer / scanner things and a Samsung laser here, all of which 'just work' with OSX, without installing any additional drivers.
Drivers are already on the Mac in that case. Its when the drivers were never made, eg any printer I've bought in the last 4 years, that the problems start Also, have you looked through the CUPS drivers to see if anything matches?
75_Steve said:
tinman0 said:
75_Steve said:
In answer to the printer driver issues, I have 2 HP all-in-one printer / scanner things and a Samsung laser here, all of which 'just work' with OSX, without installing any additional drivers.
Drivers are already on the Mac in that case. Its when the drivers were never made, eg any printer I've bought in the last 4 years, that the problems start Also, have you looked through the CUPS drivers to see if anything matches?
There were a couple of other packages you needed, but they weren't made for Leopard, so you had to compile. Can't remember it all exactly and got a bit pissed after spending a considerable amount of time on it.
robbieduncan said:
mcflurry said:
I have both a pc and a mac. The only thing that annoys me is when you install software from a cdrom onto the mac, you need to leave the cd in the machine for it to run after rebooting...
I drag the app to the applications folder and the bar at the bottom, reboot and the app disappears
Something is wrong with either a) your install procedure or b) your machine. That should not happen. What are you dragging? The .app? If you drag it to the Dock (the bar at the bottom) that simply creates an alias (or shortcut) to the item you dragged. So if that's on a CD it creates an alias to the CD. If you drag it to the Applications folder that should copy it to the Applications folder. You can the drag it from Applications (not the CD) to the Dock...I drag the app to the applications folder and the bar at the bottom, reboot and the app disappears
Fiddlemesticks said:
Was in my local shopping center yesterday, and theirs an Apple store there. Having a look round see the IMac and realise that for just under a grand it looks bloody great.
Also its got inbuilt hardware so uses hardly any space, seems to be highly user friendly and generally looks like a definite purchase.
Can even have microsoft word and so no cross computer annoyances.
So whats the catch having one of these over a normal pc?
Wait until tomorrow, (tuesday) poss annoucement on the Imac and speed bump upgrades.Also its got inbuilt hardware so uses hardly any space, seems to be highly user friendly and generally looks like a definite purchase.
Can even have microsoft word and so no cross computer annoyances.
So whats the catch having one of these over a normal pc?
Edited by DamienCBR on Monday 25th February 16:07
I thought the catch was that you got a lot more performance for your money with a PC than you do with a Mac. Comparing my newly purchased PC to the most expensive iMac out there, I have managed to get better performance at almost half the price with the PC. If money's no object then the Macs are probably better but I think PCs offer better value for money.
I got myself a new 20" IMAC for about £700. For PC stuff I run a free virtualisation product called Q. The Mac is great and about the same price as a PC/Monitor combination.
For office products I use Open Office and most other general software is bundled with the box.
The web-ification of most of our applications has meant that the need for a machine to have to be a PC has gone. You have a choice!
It's a great tool.
For office products I use Open Office and most other general software is bundled with the box.
The web-ification of most of our applications has meant that the need for a machine to have to be a PC has gone. You have a choice!
It's a great tool.
CC07 PEU said:
I thought the catch was that you got a lot more performance for your money with a PC than you do with a Mac. Comparing my newly purchased PC to the most expensive iMac out there, I have managed to get better performance at almost half the price with the PC. If money's no object then the Macs are probably better but I think PCs offer better value for money.
On build quality its not like for like. You can't compare this MacBook for instance with an Acer laptop. Yes the Acer maybe a good laptop, but the build quality is totally different and it shows in the long run. To be honest, this MacBook is a league ahead of MsTs 6 month old HP Pavilion.
tinman0 said:
Cyberface will tell you that its easy to make various random printers work with MacOS
It's easy to make various random printers work with OS X.
It's all about CUPS, of course, the Common Unix Printing System - think of OS X as a bit like Linux underneath (it's actually much more like BSD, but unix is unix - if you can operate a command shell then OS X has it all) - therefore plenty of the portable Linux packages work.
Apple have put a fair amount of effort into making CUPS work with OS X as part of the OS, and not a renegade app from Linux looking out of place. Tiger came with CUPS drivers and so does Leopard. The trick with Tiger was to use Internet Printing (lpd) and select a CUPS driver from the list... with Leopard it's all very easy and sitting in System Preferences... though I've got Gutenprint and CUPS drivers in there so I may have a load of manually-added CUPS stuff from 10.0 back in the day... most printers are supported, and you can always download a driver from Gutenprint which is actively maintained.
No worse than messing about with printer drivers in Windows IME... the trouble comes with Windows-only 'all-in-one' printers with piss poor admin-only drivers that I despise even on Windows - in cases like that it can actually make more sense just to replace the printer with a properly supported model.
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