Apple mac pros & cons

[pcalkel]

Hi All

This is only my second post, but may be my last unless I get this sorted, I run windows XP Pro which loses its support on the 8th April, I need to upgrade my computer, but since most of the old stuff on my old PC will not run on Windows 8, then since I have to buy new software I have the opportunity to go either Microsoft or the Apple mac route, what are the pros and cons of the apple mac system, thanks in advance.

Paul

 

[Heather Kay]

As a long time Mac user (I used to be in the design trade! where such things were obligatory in the olden days) I am biased.

Initial purchase may seem expensive, but then you realise the machine is built to last. I have Macs here that are a decade old, and they still work. Last summer, I finally replaced my MacBook Pro with a new Mac mini. The laptop had been in virtually constant use since 2007, and is still quite capable.

So, that's a pro and con. Another con, if you like, is the culture shock. Apple don't design their software to be hard to use, and if you're very familiar with Microsoft's convoluted methods it can be quite hard to break bad habits. My best advice has always been, if you find you're stuck about how to do something, and the "old ways" don't work, stop and just think "how would I want to do this?" Chances are Apple thought exactly the same way.

So, you'll get a long life out of a Mac. There's tons of software out there, some of the best stuff is now actually free and made by Apple. And if you get stuck, there are one or two Mac users who lurk around here, as well as plenty of help elsewhere on the interwebs. Oh, and you can run Windows on a Mac, too, if you really feel the need.

 

[pcalkel]

Thanks for that Heather, I am 90% swayed towards the Mac, I used one in collage doing a video editing course about 10 years ago, I’m just looking for the other 10% of justification.
Paul

 

[Osgood]

Never mind the 10% - the following one pro alone must be worth at least 70%:

Switch on, log in, well? what are you waiting for? It really is that quick without all the Windows antivirus cr£p (although AV is a good idea and the free Mac-specific AV doesn't slow it much).

Suggest you get one of the bundled MS packages for Mac such as Word / Publisher / Outlook (I don't like the Mac email but that is personal), that way you'll feel right at home!

 

[Overseer]

I am biased as well. I have had an iMac at home for about 7 years, a Mac Mini at work for nearly 3 years and I am typing this on a MacBook Air, and have a very old (1989?) Macintosh SE in a cupboard which comes out occasionally just to see the funny little black and white screen. Parallels works very well if you need to run Windows programs but you do need to get Windows as well. I don't think you will be disappointed if you do go for a mac.

 

[Osgood]

And if you can run to a big desk-mounted job instead of a Macbook the image handling system is simply stunning.

 

[Steph Dale]

Paul,

Like any tool, I'd start by working out what I want a computer for - what applications are you going to want to run? It's the most important piece of info!

Are those applications better, easier to buy, cheaper, better supported on Mac or Windoze? I use CAD an awful lot so for me it's pretty much a 'no brainer'; it's a PC.

But I have no axe to grind, no raw emotional reaction to the lines of ones and zeros that comprise the operating system at its working level; it's just software. I really can't get excited about it. It's just a tool; first you have to know what you want the tool for...

And 90% of the population will get by fine with a cheap Android tablet.

Steph

 

[SteveO]

Another Mac user here, since 1986. Similar background to Heather and use one at home and work (and make calls on one!).

For me, having experienced PCs for a very greying year or so, 'plug-and-play' is invaluable - finding, installing and updating drivers was a royal pain. Mac OS is Unix-based so to some degree is self-maintaining. Not only that, but because it's been used in servers since the 70s it's very robust.

Since Mac OS is a comparative minority, writers of malware and viruses targeting Mac are few and far between, so security is a very big plus.

Yes, they are more expensive, but no other platform has greater contiguous hardware compatibility - they are designed to work straight out of the box. I'll gladly help if you need it.

Personally, I'd avoid MS software products like the plague - they play havoc with my fonts and vital software extensions - betraying their PC heritage a bit. For a perfect Office substitute you can use OpenOffice, which is free.

Have fun.

 

[adrian]

I would echo Steph's comments, first decide what you want from the computer. What applications are you using on your XP box that won't work on Win8? Then what are the alternatives.

Mac's can be brilliant and infuriating. We have slowly migrated from Win3.1/XP to a mix of Win7/Ubuntu and now are predominately Mac based with one Ubuntu box because that still has a SCSI card to interface to my slide scanner.

I now have a MacBook Air, brilliant because it uses a solid state disk so as soon as I open the lid it's ready to go. The battery life is stupendous, for light use I get about 9 to 10 hours from a single charge on the laptop. The Apple office suite, pages, keynotes, numbers is free via the app store and is more than adequate for my needs. The QCAD demos I've recently posted are recorded in Quicktime, edited in iMovie and uploaded in one simple step to youTube - all free via the app store. Steph is probably more of a power user with CAD than me hence his requirements for Windows based software. However as mentioned for simple 2D CAD work then QCAD is free and works well on a Mac.

Those are the pro's - the cons? Yes they are at a premium price point (but the quality is there), but as I say the infuriating bit. You have to do things the Apple way, it's quite difficult to do it any other way. For example I have a reasonable collection of CD's all have been imported to iTunes and placed on a network storage system I use for backups. This was intended to act as a central file storage for all our music. Unfortunately every time one of us opens up iTunes it reverts back to a personal iTunes library - it refuses to use the central library. So we've ended up putting all the music under one user id and then I copy the tracks I want to my personal library. Which is why I say you have to do things the Apple way. That said with the network storage the "time machine" on the Mac works very well, this is an automatic system to back up your files and I have used it successfully on a few occasions.

 

[daifly]

Hi Paul
Having been a PC user for 25 years, I have recently bought a Macbook Pro. I would endorse all the comments above about matching the software that you want to run to the appropriate Operating System. That said, I run a number of Windows programs such as Trax and Templot perfectly happily using an application called Crossover which doesn't require Windows to be installed on your Mac.
Mac users are often evangelical about their machines and, with the benefit of three months of absolutely trouble-free use, I can see why. I don't have to spent excessive amounts of time faffing around downloading and installing yet another patch/upgrade/security update for some Windows program or other. The Mac pretty well looks after itself and with an iPhone, iPad and iPod in the armoury too, the seamless integration is a joy.
With 250Gb of solid state memory, it is ready to go as soon as the lid is opened with amazing battery life.
Strongly recommended!
Cheers, Dave

 

[adrian]

That said, I run a number of Windows programs such as Trax and Templot perfectly happily using an application called Crossover which doesn't require Windows to be installed on your Mac.

Although I cannot condone running the free Virtualbox on Mac OSX with the free virtual machine from Microsoft to test out compatibility with Internet Explorer.
http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads

Which runs Templot without any problems at all but obviously this is for testing purposes only.

 

[Osgood]

It still comes back to having around 3 minutes more modelling / scheming time available every time you turn the thing on .

 

[JimG]

On some other forums and mailing lists I'm on, Mac v PC discussions are banned, along with religion and politics.

Jim.

PS. PC user from choice having used Macs.

 

[Bill Bedford]

Paul,
Are those applications better, easier to buy, cheaper, better supported on Mac or Windoze? I use CAD an awful lot so for me it's pretty much a 'no brainer'; it's a PC.

While it's true that there are none of the 'professional' CAD systems ported to the Mac, there are a raft of more accessible application that have been ported, e.g. ViaCAD/Shark, Form-Z, TurboCAD and the Ashlar-Vellum range. There is also FreeCAD, which is open source, though the Mac builds aren't particularly robust.

And 90% of the population will get by fine with a cheap Android tablet.

95% of the population don't use their computers to actually create anything.

 

[Scale7JB]

Big Mac user here but like others have said, what programs do you want to use?

CAD on a MAC is terrible, so much that I partitioned my Mac, and I am running windows on Parallels..

JB.

 

[djparkins]

Unless I'm mistaken, the fact of XP no longer being supported does not automatically mean you have to switch systems or upgrade, it will still work, come 8th april it won't suddenly fall over and die, at work we still run win2000 on some machines. All it means is that MS won't be sending out any more updates for the XP platform, for many that's no problem as they have had auto updates turned off for years.

In short there is no need to panic, XP will still run you just won't get the latest and greatest from MS, but then if your running XP (a 2001 OS) that probably will not concern you

Totally Agree! Why change? We ain't!

DJP/MMP

 

[taliesin]

For what it's worth here is my experience, i have never disguised the fact that when it comes to computers i am a complete duffer. I had a series of PC's that were always buggered after eighteen months to two years, either software or hardware issues, sometimes both. I would happily admit almost certainly caused by my ham-fisted usage.
After ruining yet another one i took the plunge and bought a secondhand Mac laptop which was about the price of a new Microsoft powered laptop. My knowledge of Mac's was very limited and i was surprised to discover it was already five years old bearing in mind my track record with computers. I found it easy to use with none of the annoying little messages popping up saying that there was a fault on this or that, fatal errors etc.
I used it for four years with no problems and only bought another when the Motorola chip stopped supporting the latest upgrades for programmes like i player, it was nine years old at this stage.
I purchased a S/H i Mac from a company which specialises in refurbished Macs two years a go and have had the same problem free use up to now.
I still have the laptop and occasionally plug it in and try it just for the sake of it and it's still working fine at eleven years old.

Now i must admit this is possibly from the "lowest common denominator" point of view but it must say something about the basic build quality, or maybe "you get what you pay for" still holds good.

cheers Rob

 

[Overseer]

Big Mac user here but like others have said, what programs do you want to use?

CAD on a MAC is terrible, so much that I partitioned my Mac, and I am running windows on Parallels..

JB.

Which CAD is terrible on Mac? I use AutoCAD 2013 for Mac for work and much prefer it to the recent windows versions, it seems quicker and never crashes.

 

[Scale7JB]

I bought a copy of turbocad for Mac a while back, drew out a tube plate, so no big deal, but then when i came to hatching in the areas for etching the tool wasn't there..

Subsequently after asking a few questions on forums I was told that the Mac version couldn't do that job, and that's when I put windoze on the Mac.. I'd be very happy to hear that they have changed more recent version if that's the case...?

JB.

 

[adrian]

I bought a copy of turbocad for Mac a while back, drew out a tube plate, so no big deal, but then when i came to hatching in the areas for etching the tool wasn't there..

I've used QCAD (free) on a Mac for drawing up the artwork for PPD, the hatching worked first time for me. Although I didn't have anything too complicated but it was surprisingly easy, my video guides on QCAD will feature just that in the not too distant future.