I binned windoze 18 months ago and got myself a 20" iMac.

I was fed up of upgrading every 6 months as you do with a normal pc.

Not regretted it once. Everything is so much easier. Everything just works, its as simple as that.

People say they are expensive when comparing the specs but what people fail to take into account is the os.

I have been downloading from the net using bittorrent, video editing, and surfing the net all at once and it has handled it faultlessly.

I would be very reluctant to ever go back to windoze. I have an EEE PC too and i would sooner stick with linux on that too i think.

I recently aquired an old G3 iMac for my 6 yr old son and even that does most tasks surprisingly well for an 8 yr old computer. I doubt you could say the same of an 8yr old windoze based system.

People also bang on about the lack of games for Macs. This is still pretty much the case but i have an Xbox360 and a Wii to keep that part of me happy.

Welcome to a brave new world and enjoy.

I've been a PC user for years, ever since ever since and i'm looking at getting a new laptop......is it really worth getting a mac?

I can do almost anything i want with windows and run any software i know of, am i just going to be stuck shouting at the thing when it doesn't do what i expect it to do and hurl it out the window?

I mainly use my PC for photoshop, e-mails, web browsing, watching films & listening to music.

Will it really make that much of a difference? or am i just going to feel dirty because I've changed to the opposition lol

I shall tell yee what.. i will boot into OSx now and leave it running for the rest of today ill just have to use the Xbox for gaming

PS anyone know if firefox profiles are cross-compatible?

brb!

I've been a PC user for years, ever since ever since and i'm looking at getting a new laptop......is it really worth getting a mac?

Depends what you plan on doing with it, and if you're willing to give it the chance at the learning curve.

I can do almost anything i want with windows and run any software i know of, am i just going to be stuck shouting at the thing when it doesn't do what i expect it to do and hurl it out the window?

Occasionally, yes. But that also depends on what you want to do with it. If it's very specific things then you'll find there's more 'bitty' software available for the PC from independent programmers. But unless you're really into techy stuff then there'll be an alternative way on the Mac somehow.

I mainly use my PC for photoshop, e-mails, web browsing, watching films & listening to music.

You're biggest issue with a swap would be using Photoshop. As it's a new licence (unless you have a 'dubious' copy already...)

Will it really make that much of a difference? or am i just going to feel dirty because I've changed to the opposition lol

For what you're using it for, I don't think it'll make much difference at all. If you give it a chance you may just find it easier and more intuitive than Windows. Or that's how I feel with the difference between the two. But I've not met a Mac user yet who's said any different.

Can you not deactivate a PC licence version of PS and then re-activate it on a mac ?

I'm almost certain they're different serials, you can't use a PC code on a Mac and vice versa. I think CS lets you activate on two computers per serial, so if they were cross-compatible you could use the same for both. Unfortunate really.

You could use VMware or CrossOver, but that kinda defeats the point really.

I'm almost certain they're different serials, you can't use a PC code on a Mac and vice versa. I think CS lets you activate on two computers per serial, so if they were cross-compatible you could use the same for both. Unfortunate really.

You could use VMware or CrossOver, but that kinda defeats the point really.

Hmm you're right in that I think they use different serials, however, it looks like Adobe will allow you to "cross-grade" from one platform to another providing you sign a letter of software destruction ( )

http://www.adobe.com/support/service/ts/documents/lod/lod_exchange.pdf

Taken from here

Adobe will do the cross grade program but depends on what version of Photoshop you have as to whether or not its worth it. If its older than CS1 then its not going to run on an intel mac

Hmm you're right in that I think they use different serials, however, it looks like Adobe will allow you to "cross-grade" from one platform to another providing you sign a letter of software destruction ( )

http://www.adobe.com/support/service/ts/documents/lod/lod_exchange.pdf

Taken from here

Still sounds like you have to upgrade, not just a free transfer of the licence to the new platform? ie I have CS4 for the Mac, if I went to a PC workflow, would I have to purchase CS4 for Windows? As there's no 'upgrade'?

As there's "no dual platform licensing for Adobe Creative Suite products" the poster above would still (legally) need to spend out again to use PS on the Mac (natively) unless the cross-grade would allow a (free) platform (with no upgraded version) change? Which I doubt they'd do as it's essentially giving a free copy out.

Why would you need to buy a new version?

They ask that you enter your existing/old version (in your case CS4 for Mac) and request a transfer to CS4 for Windows.

You provide the original Mac CS4 serial numbers and all the other stuff.

I doubt it would be the same as giving a free copy out because I reckon the minute they issue you with a Windows serial, they will de-activate the Mac one so you could never use it again.

Of course, you could keep your existing Mac version installed and it wouldn't blow up, but that's why they ask you remove it.

Interesting one really, hadn't thought about it before. Might ask my Adobe reseller what their view on this would be.

Steve

Why would you need to buy a new version?

I'm just saying the 'cross-grade' seems to be geared towards an upgrade whilst changing platforms, not simply changing platforms with a current version. (ie you buy the upgrade version from any shop, and Adobe will use your old serial to allow you the upgrade even though it's a different OS, not simply issue you with an alternative serial - where would you get the new platform software from? There's no official download I know of, and I'm not sure Adobe would mail out full copies for free themselves?)

I'll admit I've only read your link and not looked into it though - so I may have the wrong end of the stick? So I'm just musing?

far from sales mate, most of them could tell you the price of anything, just trust me on that as i have that job title as well

That may be, but pricing is IMHO a sales feature. The point I was getting at is claiming OSX is linux and most viruses are written on linux so it's safe is not in the slightest bit true and hence a line to sell something.

Pricing is pricing and thats what Apple sets it at and with out getting on my high horse it is possible but not easy to find a machine with the exact same spec for the same price or even cheaper unless you build one yourself.

Also OS X is based on FreeBSD not linux. Yes i know they are very similar but still different

To the OP

I would say that Mac is definitely better, although the difference is less than it used to be.

From what you say in your post I think you would have very few problems changing to Mac but I also think you probably wouldn't gain that much (anything?) either.

HTH

Back to the arguments...

Edit: On the other hand, just read this thread: None of that nonsense with a Mac.

I agree Ors.

The only problems really is learning the Keyboard shortcuts and the way that the operating system is laid out and where to find things that you just knew where they were in windows (say for example stuff contained in the control panel in windows) Also iPhoto is awesome for organising pics etc and doing minor touch ups etc. Love the one click red eye removal too.

I'm still finding new stuff it does and i love the way you can view your folders in an itunes style window and all the files come up like individual songs and you can view (say on a text doc) the content. As for stuff you gain:

1. Hassle free computing

2. Easy backups using time machine to the point were if you lose one file you don't have to conduct a full restore to get it back you can just retrieve the one file itself you can even view the file from various dates to see which version you want to recover

3. A computer with fantastic performance even when running multi apps at once

4. Amazing battery life

5. An operating system that once you learn to use it is very very intuitive

All this is based on my limited experience and i could go on :D:D:D

Mattbeef. I dont doubt you can get the same spec for the same price or cheaper in a windows machine but it wont get anywhere near a Mac in terms of performance IMHO

Carl:thumbup:

Pricing is pricing and thats what Apple sets it at and with out getting on my high horse it is possible but not easy to find a machine with the exact same spec for the same price or even cheaper unless you build one yourself.

Also OS X is based on FreeBSD not linux. Yes i know they are very similar but still different

You know what I posted in my previous post about it being based on BSD and the line used by the Mac shop guy stating it was linux, being untrue and pure sales tosh?.....

http://briskoda.net/tech-shed/new-apple-macbook-pro-17-mini-review/131671/#post1542888:rolleyes:

Darwin is based on BSD, but the aqua interface isn't robbed from BSD. It is very NEXT like, which isn't really all that surprising.

Given the choice of an XP machine (chose XP here as I really don't get on with Fista) or an OSX machine.. I'd take the OSX one everytime.

The only problems really is learning the Keyboard shortcuts and the way that the operating system is laid out and where to find things that you just knew where they were in windows (say for example stuff contained in the control panel in windows).

In the OSX equivalent of control panel System Properties you can put the windows name for something into the spotlight search box and it will highlight the correct icon.

In the OSX equivalent of control panel System Properties you can put the windows name for something into the spotlight search box and it will highlight the correct icon.

Didn't know that ta very much:thumbup:

Carl:thumbup:

Didn't know that ta very much:thumbup:

Carl:thumbup:

It's called being user-friendly... coming from a life of using M$ OS's I can understand how this is an alien concept. :rofl:

I'm a big fan of Spaces in OSX as well, and there are some keyboard shortcuts to re-educate yourself on.

I love my MBP, but am still some way off ditching a PC for home, it all boils down to games support on the home PC.

I am getting great battery life, Vag-Com works perfectly in boot camp, am trying to get it running in VMware at the moment and the video / photo editing stuff is great (using Aperture 2.0). Thre's a version of Gimp for OSX and now Utorrent is available as well.

Vista was always stable on the old dell laptop, but prone to the odd lock up, the mac has been 100% reliable, no crash's or lockups. In bootcamp Left for Dead fly's along quite nicely and COH / COD run well to.

Great OS, great reliable mobile computing imho, but I'm not 100% convinced by some of the MacBoy spin and can't see me replacing it the windows machne at home yet.

If it ran Sage ok, and had native support for some of the new FPS games, and let me upgrade the graphics card to keep pace without junking the whole device, then I would have a Mac for the main desktop

great reliable mobile computing imho, but I'm not 100% convinced by some of the MacBoy spin and can't see me replacing it the windows machne at home yet

To me, Mac laptop over Windows laptop is a 'No Brainer'. If you talking about swapping a Windows desktop that you're comfortable with, to a Mac desktop, it's a much more difficult decision.

Zero (kinda secondary OP) is looking for a laptop, so Mac does make sense probably.