A new iMac or a new PC?

[Orbi]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this Forum, just signed up! Nice to meet you all.

I was wondering if I could ask you all for your opinion. My old PC (laptop) is due to be replaced and I'm thinking about switching from PC to Mac and buying the new iMac (with the 20" screen). :eek:

At the moment I use my laptop mainly for photo editing (photography is my hobby), movie editing, blogging&websites, getting creative with Photoshop, surfing and for writing, which is my second hobby. (I use Word mainly and sometimes Open Office)
I want to make DVD's and just share my digital life (pictures and movies) with all my friends. I'd like to get as creative as I can with my pictures and movies, but my PC just can't handle it, it's too slow and I have to little memory. It crashes all the time... So I need a new one!

I've heard that Mac is just a better machine if you're a creative person like I am. I've been checking out the new iMac and its iLife06. It all just sounds great! And it seems so easy! It would be perfect for me... I think. :confused:

But I'm a bit hesitive to switching to a Mac. I've never used a Mac before as I've always been a PC/Windows user. I am a fast learner, but I fear that a Mac with its OS X is perhaps a too big of a change for me? :rolleyes:

Is there anyone out the who has some good advice for me? I'd appreciate it!

Thanks a lot! :mrgreen:

[pty]

For what you want a Mac would be ideal and I'm sure you'll pick up Mac OSX in no time (not to mention the other advantages such as no spyware, viruses and when you buy the new machine it won't come with a load of free crap already installed).

If you already own software licences for Photoshop and MS Office it may be worth looking into parallels but both of these packages are available for the Mac too.

An alternative word processor (if MS Office is too expensive to rebuy and you want something native) is WriteRoom.

[Orbi]

Thanks!

[John A]

I agree with pty. For what you do, a Mac seems right for you.

I would also suggest you look at these threads that have previously discussed this:

• http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread66849.html
• http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread63597.html

Hope this helps

[Junyah]

Welcome Orbi ...I also agree with pty and joe ... you might wanna give NeoOffice a try also it can read wirte MS Office stuff. For photography i use iLife iphoto as my light table and i have the option of setting my double click in iphoto to a full screen or going into Photoshop. I tried the Beta of Adobe Lightroom. but for simplicity I'm just using iphoto and photoshop on one computer and aperture and photshop on the desktop.

Good luch with your new computer

[Orbi]

Thanks you all for the comments, I'll be sure to check out the links. So I guess it's going to be a Mac then! If all the finances work out,.. I'll be shopping for a Mac hopefully this coming weekend.

But first I want to go to the local Mac store here and check out the machines and get some more advice from the sales people. Perhaps they can also show me some stuff. I'll keep you updated!

Thanks again everyone!

[Lomoco]

Get a mac! You will be glad you switched especially with the leopard OS coming out. The way Microsoft gets their ideas is by copying Apple. Go to www.apple.com and do some looking around in Mac OS X. You will get all the details about the greatness of Macintosh

[John A]

I agree with Junyah about NeoOffice. Since you already use OpenOffice, you'll find it nearly identical, since NeoOffice is basically a Cocoa port (type of OS X framework) of OpenOffice.

Since you use Microsoft Word, you may find AbiWord of use on the Mac platform.

[Orbi]

I agree with Junyah about NeoOffice. Since you already use OpenOffice, you'll find it nearly identical.
Since you use Microsoft Word, you may find AbiWord of use on the Mac platform.

My only problem is that NeoOffice doesn't have a Finnish spell check, as far as I could tell. And I don't know if AbiWord has either...
But I guess I can just download Open Office for Mac, right?

[Junyah]

I don't know if Open Office X11 or Open Office Aqua has a finnish spell check but if it does you could possibly use them or are you going to use boot camp or parallels or VM on you mac ... you could run programs in there?

[John A]

I'm not terribly familiar with OpenOffice/NeoOffice's more foriegn features, but NeoOffice should support just about everything that OpenOffice supports. Quote from the website:

NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta 3 is released. This release is based on the OpenOffice.org 2.0.3 code and includes all of the new OpenOffice.org 2.0.3 features.

So as long as you were using OpenOffice 2.0.3 or earlier, NeoOffice will include a Finnish spellcheck.

[pty]

I'm not terribly familiar with OpenOffice/NeoOffice's more foriegn features, but NeoOffice should support just about everything that OpenOffice supports. Quote from the website:

So as long as you were using OpenOffice 2.0.3 or earlier, NeoOffice will include a Finnish spellcheck.

Abiword should support Finnish no problem; I checked on their site and they don't provice any extra files for the Mac so I presume it uses the built-in OSX checker.

I'll check when I get in from work - Linux only here I'm afraid

[Orbi]

I now use Open Office (PC) 2.0, so I guess that NeoOffice would work then with Finnish. It would be nice if it did, 'cause I probably have so much to learn with switching to OSX and learning how to use all the cool software, that it would be nice if at least Iwill know about the word processor! HA! :lol:

I happened to be at an electronics shop yesterday and while my husband was shopping for a new mobile phone, I fooled around with the iMac a bit and tried out all of the iLife programs. It was cool. And I was slowly getting familiar with it already. I tried out the Finder too and the basic stuff like setting a screensaver/background. It wasn't even that hard!

There wasn't anybody to advice me in English at that moment (not all sales people here in Finland speak perfect English). Well, it wasn't a real iMac store or point, it was just a computer store. So when I'll go to the real iMac store, I'm sure they will help me in English, no problem. I just need to find the time to go there.... I think I'm also going to buy it from there then, cause they deliver in two days, while normal electronics shops take 2 weeks!

So, I do have my heart set on a iMac already and I don't think I need much more convincing now that I tried out some programs and found it relatively easy. I picked it up quite fast. So it will be an iMac, and I think I'm going to buy one at the end of this month. You know, when the new salary comes.... :p ;)

[pty]

I just tried AbiWord for the Mac (been using it for years on Linux) and it is impressive; looks just like a Mac app should.

Anyway to set it to Finnish just open it (it defaults to US English), click file -> new from template and find the one that ends in fi_FI

Then click file, save as, and save the empty file in your documents folder as 'normal' as a template file (awt)

Now just copy to Library/Application Support/AbiSuite/templates and every time you open a document it will be in Finnish.

You can change the interface to Finnish in the preferences and voila.

[Junyah]

Orbi,

That's great that you've found some software you could use for your computer. You know its a great computer to just explore and try the programs that come with it.

I use MS, Neo, and Open Office ... I kinda like Neo Office for the Mac ... But you gotta use what works for you and is comfortable..

Are you and your husband sharing your computer ... or do you have to fight him for it? My girlfriend says she hates the macs .. but I always see her on mine!

[Orbi]

Are you and your husband sharing your computer ... or do you have to fight him for it? My girlfriend says she hates the macs .. but I always see her on mine!

No, we both have our own computers. Whenever my husband is not working, he's behind his computer, :) so already from the start we each had our own.
I've always been a fan of laptops, but now that I'm more and more into video and photo editing, I need a real PC, or a Mac for that matter....

I'm almost ready to buy my iMac. (No, still haven't bought it...) I'm just scanning the websites, reading the Forums, reading tutorials and such. I know now that iMac is the one for me, but I'm still saving money each month. It's a lot of money! Almost there though... :cheesy:

[Digital Daisy]

Change!! Mac X.2 is fantastic for Photos. Adobe 7 & Adobe illustrator will keep you busy
but very rewarding & at times infuriating.
Good luck

[Junyah]

I'm the reverse .. I'm outdoors alot and i'm on the computer only when I have work and personal project (Musicm Photos, and Video.

Orbi go the the apple site and take the free seminars on Mac OS and Photography .. and view the quicktime movies on iPhoto and Aperture.

go to itunes and subscribe to the free photoshop video podcasts... they are visual and imformative.

I moved to photoshop cs3 and aperture on my new macs... but i used to use just iphoto and photoshop elements .. that was a great set up.

I shoot portraits, nature, macro nature and hula dancing. An investigative photography .. i used to be a full-time cop.

Also .. you can shoot directly to your laptop and you can get a good idea of your photos and they are saved right away to your computer.

Get a rugged backup drive or two for you photos.

Good Luck!

[Orbi]

Orbi go the the apple site and take the free seminars on Mac OS and Photography .. and view the quicktime movies on iPhoto and Aperture. Good Luck!

Thanks :mrgreen: for the tips.
I've been checking out the Apple site for a while now. Watching all the tutorial movies on all of the programs, even about iPod and iTunes. I think I'm going to get an iPod nano when I get my iMac as well. I'm still having an old MP3 player, and iPod sounds great.
Hopefully I can get a nice deal if I get both at the same time.... :lol:

But I definitely am sure now that I really want an iMac. :!: It's just a matter of saving up some money first...

[Junyah]

cool .. have fun and save for that mac. I'm saving for a new camera and lens right now.

I think i'm going to move up from the xti to one of the pro eos bodies. And I'm going to get the good zoom lens for it.

So ill be packing my own lunch for awhile and not going out as much.

[Orbi]

Yes!

I finally have my iMac!!!!
The Mac People's Store where I bought it from was really helpfull. I spent a few hours there, just trying everything and letting the sales person inform me of everything. I even got a cup of coffee. What can I say? Great service! And they had one in store, so I was able to immediately take one home!

I was absolutely surprised that when I took it out of the box and plugged it in, everything seemed to work! And with a few simple clicks I had Internet connecting as well! No problems whatsoever!
With Windows you first have to spend a whole day downloading and installing all these Service Packs and get all kind of security and firewalls for Internet. The hell with Windows! OS X rules! :mrgreen:

I have to say I'm still getting used to everything. Some things are different, but I'm doing okay.
I haven't even had the time yet to check out all of the great applications. But I'm having great fun already with iPhoto, iWeb and Garage Band!

Anyway, I wanted to thank you all for your reactions and advice. I'm so happy I switched! Now why didn't I do that ten years ago?!

:cheesy: Thanks everybody!

[Lomoco]

Good for you! Now you can help spread the word about how Mac is better than Windows! Hope you enjoy you new mac! (Just wait for Leopard (10.5) comes out. You will be THROWN FROM YOUR SEAT! I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT IT CAN DO! You can check out a preview on Apple's website. Just go under the "Mac OS X" tab at the top of Apple's home-page. Have Fun!

[Orbi]

Now you can help spread the word about how Mac is better than Windows! Just wait for Leopard (10.5) comes out. You will be THROWN FROM YOUR SEAT! I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT IT CAN DO!

Absolutely I help spread the word!
And yes, I also checked out Leopard. I was already amazed by Tiger, but Leopard seems even greater! That time machine thingie is great! :lol: