Getting a new computer, thinking about a Mac ...

[JDub02]

My wife says my trusty old desktop has to go because it takes up too much room and causes too much clutter. I'm thinking about jumping the Windows ship and getting a Mac.

I have some experience with OS X and it was overall very positive. I had messed around with a Powerbook G4 last year and made a slideshow for my church's 20th anniversary. That experience sold me on the iLife suite of applications, but I wasn't ready to give up my trusty XP machine.

Now that the wife has given me a green light to spend cash on a new computer, I'm keeping an open mind. I know that I can do everything I do in XP on a new Vista PC. What's out there for OS X?

Here's what the PC is used for:
*Web - Firefox is cross platform so I'm good there. I wasn't a big fan of Safari.
*Music - Not really thrilled by iTunes on XP. Does it run any better on a Mac? The good thing is that both the wife and I have iPods, so compatibility is a non-issue. And my music library is non-DRM mp3's.
*Newsgroups - Any good newsreaders for the Mac?
*Burning CD/DVD's - I know there are media writing apps for the Mac, but anything like DVDShrink that will allow me to "crop" out a portion of a DVD and burn it? I use that quite a bit to extract clips from movies for presentations.

I'm eyeing up the new iMac or a MacBook Pro 15". I like the thought of a laptop, but I'm not entirely sure I would make use of it. My wife is a teacher, so she gets a half decent discount on Macs. The MacBook Pro is still coming in around $500 more than a similar HP laptop with Vista, but she wants the old tower and CRT gone, so I think I can sneak the extra money past her.

 

[Kaido]

1. Use Camino instead of Firefox - it's basically a native version of Firefox - http://caminobrowser.org/
2. iTunes runs fine on either machine, provided you have enough power. If you buy a new Mac the performance will be great
3. Unison - http://www.panic.com/unison/
4. Handbrake and Toast - http://handbrake.m0k.org/ & http://www.roxio.com/enu/produ...titanium/overview.html

I would recommend getting the 7200rpm drive option. You can install it yourself, but it's tricky if you're not used to laptops. If you go the DIY route, I'd recommend the Hitachi 200gb 7200rpm drive - http://www.xpcgear.com/0a50940.html

Either way I'd recommend getting 4 gigs of ram. You can snag a kit for under $200, great for future-proofing and running VMs (like Parallels) - http://eshop.macsales.com/item...omputing/53IM2DDR4GBK/

Also be sure to get a protective case, you don't want to scratch your precious laptop. I use a Speck case, but Bookshells and Techshells are also good. I have a Black speck case, but they come in other colors including clear. Here's a short video review of mine - http://youtube.com/watch?v=2uRwQwHtmw0

I also use a padded wrist protector from Marware, prevents the wrist area from getting dirty and is also more comfortable. Here's a short video review of mine - http://youtube.com/watch?v=s7DIbCf9DOI

 

[Kaido]

Oh and be sure to get AppleCare if you get a laptop or iMac!

 

[TheStu]

Web: Well, I am not a huge fan of Firefox on the Mac since it doesn't seem to take any effort to actually integrate itself with the OS like other programs do. YMMV however.
Music: iTunes on the mac is just fine, what exactly are you not thrilled about in the PC version?
Newsgroups: Safari has a built in RSS reader, as does Mail
Burning: Disk Utility supports it out of the box. And for cropping out a section of a DVD, you can use Handbrake to rip the DVD, then open it in Quicktime to crop out the file you want. Not sure if you can just crop a section using Handbrake. i know you can rip specific chapters, but past that, not too sure.

If you aren't going for the laptop, then an iMac is definitely the way to go. Pretty well priced, nice screens, powerful systems really and still fairly small footprint on the desk.

 

[JDub02]

Thanks for the responses. I forgot a few things. Hey, I'm on my first night of 3rd shift.

My wife does word processing and presentations that need to work with MS Office apps. Gotta have that.

My problem with iTunes on my PC is the sluggishness. Drag 'n drop on to the iPod can be especially slow or unresponsive. Song search using the filter can be slow as well. I use Windows Media Player for playing music and it works well.

 

[TheStu]

Well, you can either spend the $150-400 for the old Office 2004 (which by the way is made for older PPC Macs and therefore will have to be emulated on an Intel Mac) or $71 for iWork 08, and that should give you all the compatibility you need.

iTunes is plenty responsive on OS X, don't you worry

 

[teclis1023]

JDub, you are going to LOVE the mac! I currently run a Mac, a linux-box and two Win boxes (Vista and XP). I can tell you that bar-none, the Mac is my favorite operating system! The hardware quality is great, the support is great, and they're easy enough that I've never actually needed help.

Take the plunge and enjoy your new computer!

 

[TheStu]

Teclis is right, after using pretty much every flavor of OS under the sun (Ubuntu for home linux, Solaris for workstation linux, OS X, OS 9, Win 3.1-Vista) I can safely say that I like OS X the most. Very easy to use, pretty intuitive (I am more surprised when i try something random and it doesn't work) and the only things i have ever needed help with are usually associated with Terminal, or asking for apps to replace my favorite Windows programs.

You know, the only problem I have had with switching to Mac is that I do occasionally boot into Windows for some older games and what not, and if I don't want to then restart I have some programs installed on Windows for redundancies sake. Anyway, the problem is that I have been having trouble finding adequate replacements for my Mac apps now!

 

[AnthroAndStargate]

Can I play current games on a Mac like Battlefield 2142 and Team Fortress 2 via Parallels and Win XP/Vista? Not old games but current ones. Just curious - thinking about switching next year.

 

[jw0ollard]

Originally posted by: JDub02
I'm eyeing up the new iMac or a MacBook Pro 15". I like the thought of a laptop, but I'm not entirely sure I would make use of it. My wife is a teacher, so she gets a half decent discount on Macs. The MacBook Pro is still coming in around $500 more than a similar HP laptop with Vista, but she wants the old tower and CRT gone, so I think I can sneak the extra money past her.

If it's going to stay at your desk most of the time, I wouldn't bother getting a MBP.

1) Instead, you could better spend your money on the 24-inch iMac + an extra GB of RAM for $1949. (You could of course just buy the 1GB config for $1799, and then buy a nice DDR2-800 2x1GB kit for $75-100.. ) Definitely put 2GB in that thing, no matter how you do it. Despite what I just read in another thread RE: memory management in Mac OS X, in my experience it's quite the memory hog. I have 1GB and opening/closing apps is just a nightmare.

2) RE: Using Camino in place of FF... I'll have to disagree. If you're familiar with FF, it's just a pain to try and use Camino. Menu-wise, nothing is where it should be, and I find it a pain to manage plug-ins. Instead, I'd highly recommend the Intel Mac optimized Firefox, Bon Echo. It comes branded as "Bon Echo" with an odd dock icon, but there are instructions online to rebrand it as Firefox.

3) Oh... and throw out the wretched Mighty Mouse and get a real mouse. The scroll ball broke down on mine rather quickly, and it actually hurts to hold over extended periods. Not to mention you can't right click without actively thinking about taking your index finger off of the left click "button"

4) RE: iTunes/iPods. iTunes runs great in Mac OS X.. unlike it's retarded XP brother. However, if you ever get a new iPod, don't format it with OS X!! Format the iPod on a windows machine, just so you can be sure that it'll connect to anyone's PC/Mac, or any new PCs you may get in the future. Windows is lovely like that, not recognizing the HSF+ file system and all.

5)

Originally posted by: Kaido
Oh and be sure to get AppleCare if you get a laptop or iMac!

Ditto.

If you want anymore advice against getting a MBP, just look up how damn hot they get, rendering them useless as a "laptop".

 

[jw0ollard]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Web: Well, I am not a huge fan of Firefox on the Mac since it doesn't seem to take any effort to actually integrate itself with the OS like other programs do. YMMV however.

You might not be aware.... but you can set Firefox as the default browser, bing bada boom, and you're done. Integration complete.

Originally posted by: TheStu
If you aren't going for the laptop, then an iMac is definitely the way to go. Pretty well priced, nice screens, powerful systems really and still fairly small footprint on the desk.

Agreed.

Just for comparison...

24" iMac
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
$1,799.00

15" MBP
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1440 x 900 resolution
2GB memory
160GB hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM
$2,499.00

Similarly configured, but you're getting a 24" screen and 2x the HDD space for $700 less.. so I really don't think the MBP is worth the price premium.

You could of course go ultra cheap and get the 20" iMac, but at that size and resolution the screen is just so terribly cramped.

 

[TheStu]

No jw what I mean is that OS X has a built in dictionary, but firefox uses its own. OS X has a built in spell checker, firefox uses its own. OS X has a built in password manager, firefox uses its own. When using Safari, a .zip will be auto unpacked, a .dmg automounted... it is integrated with the OS. Sure, making it the default browser make count as integration under Windows, but when you have all these other options available to you in OS X.

However, one thing I noticed... the iMac uses DDR2 SODIMMs, so you will have to get DDR2-667 RAM since there is no real advantage to the DDR2-800 on that chipset (at least last I heard)

 

[jw0ollard]

Originally posted by: TheStu
No jw what I mean is that OS X has a built in dictionary, but firefox uses its own. OS X has a built in spell checker, firefox uses its own. OS X has a built in password manager, firefox uses its own. When using Safari, a .zip will be auto unpacked, a .dmg automounted... it is integrated with the OS. Sure, making it the default browser make count as integration under Windows, but when you have all these other options available to you in OS X.

Well, I called that a "nuisance" and not integration.

Who is Safari to decide that I want to automount and auto-unzip files?? That was probably the #1 thing I disliked about Safari.

Edit: And autoplaying mp3 files?? It's very scary when your speakers start suddenly blaring in the middle of the night because Safari decided to open an mp3 file for you.

 

[TheStu]

Huh, well I don't download mp3s that way, and I prefer it to automount and unpack things since if i am downloading it, I probably want to use it. Honestly, to each their own, which is why it is nice that there are options out there. I used to solely use Firefox myself, but I started to get annoyed by the fact that it seemed to be the least stable app on my system (it replaced VLC, which quite literally fit the phrase "60% of the time, it works, everytime"). So I thought I would give the Safari 3 Beta a whirl and discovered that I liked it rather a lot.

I was just giving my recommendations and reasons for them, I apologize if i came across as proselytizing or anything like that.

 

[jw0ollard]

Sorry. I just didn't know the extent to which you meant "integrated". You don't have to apologize about anything, it's obvious you weren't proselytizing.

You're right though, Safari is obviously better integrated into Mac OS X... which whether or not that is a positive or a negative (or if it makes Safari any better than FF) is too hard for just me to decide.

I'm currently using Opera, actually, since there are two of us that use this Mac, and I like keeping sessions and histories separate so I don't have to log in and out of everything all the time. Anyway, my point is that it seems EVERYTHING other than Safari is UNSTABLE (Opera is a lot more unstable than FF or Safari).. and I wouldn't put it past Mac OS X to be playing favorites with Safari, since it's seemingly better integrated. Yay for being proprietary. :thumbsdown:

@JDub02..

Hope you update us with what you decide to get!

 

[JDub02]

With 10.5 supposedly around the corner, I'm going to wait and see what it's like. I really like the 24" iMac. Then if I decide later that I need something portable, I can get a macbook instead of having a laptop try to be both portable and a desktop replacement.

 

[jw0ollard]

Have you gone to see them at the Apple Store? I haven't but my friend told me they were super nice. He liked the screens alot (He owns a 30" Dell 3006WFP-HC), so I guess they can't be too bad. He raved about the MBP-style keyboards, too. Although the general reviews of them say touch typing can be a pain, since you can't feel the keys as well.

He also told me that Leopard was nice.. and even from general buzz it seems to be a nice improvement in all areas. Dunno if you should necessarily wait for it to come out before you get your iMac, though. If anything, you won't use the new features, and it'll just tax your system more. =p

 

[TheStu]

I saw the new ones at an Apple store... they are nice, quite large too, even the 20". And I love the new keyboards, but that is probably because I am already used to the MacBook keyboard.