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MAC OS compatible with PC programs?

C

cheez

Golden Member
I have minimal knowledge in MAC OS...

If I get an notebook something like MacBook Air, will I be able to run following programs?

- uTorrent
- Winzip / Winrar
- Download files from Megaupload
- Play video files (MPEG2 / MPEG4 / AVI / MKV / etc)

Can it do all that?


:$
 
1. Transmission > uTorrent, but you can run something like fusion or parallels or bootcamp if you MUST have uTorrent..
2. Yes, pretty sure zip support is built in not sure about rar but there's a winRar equivalent - I've never dl'ed a zip program and I'm pretty sure I dl'ed an open source rar program.
3. Yes
4. Yes (VLC)
 
Thanks. Can I use Transmission to download torrents in some site? I don't have to use uTorrent as long as I can download the torrents.

Hey I just noticed it doesn't have CD drive... uhhhh
 
cheez said:
Thanks. Can I use Transmission to download torrents in some site? I don't have to use uTorrent as long as I can download the torrents.

Hey I just noticed it doesn't have CD drive... uhhhh
Click to expand...

Yeah go download transmission. i personally find it less bloated than uTorrent

re: drive - You didn't know this BEFORE going in? Apple's model is digital only. If you need a cd/dvd drive get a $20 external from newegg and use as needed.
 
Ns1 said:
Yeah go download transmission. i personally find it less bloated than uTorrent

re: drive - You didn't know this BEFORE going in? Apple's model is digital only. If you need a cd/dvd drive get a $20 external from newegg and use as needed.
Click to expand...
Thanks.

I thought VLC plays videos rough.. well, at least that's what I experienced a long time ago (PC with VLC). Does VLC play 720p / 1080i videos smoothly on the Mac without jerking or stuttering? Please let me know.

I don't have the MacBook yet... thinking about getting one as my current laptop is ready to crap out.😳
 
cheez said:
Thanks.

I thought VLC plays videos rough.. well, at least that's what I experienced a long time ago (PC with VLC). Does VLC play 720p / 1080i videos smoothly on the Mac without jerking or stuttering? Please let me know.

I don't have the MacBook yet... thinking about getting one as my current laptop is ready to crap out.😳
Click to expand...

I play all types of 1080p videos from QuickTime and 720p videos in VLC with no problems
 
Alrightie that's good to hear. The MAC isn't as picky as I thought as far as compatibility goes... thanks a ton you all. 🙂
 
cheez said:
Alrightie that's good to hear. The MAC isn't as picky as I thought as far as compatibility goes... thanks a ton you all. 🙂
Click to expand...

largest issue for me is no built in support for ntfs (there's an app for that) and some programs are still PC only (world of tanks)
 
Ns1 said:
largest issue for me is no built in support for ntfs (there's an app for that) and some programs are still PC only (world of tanks)
Click to expand...
Oh yeah I forgot all about the file transfer part. I have an external hard drive with lots of video files. I believe it's in NTFS format. So I need an app to access the files in the external hard drive? Can you pls confirm.
 
cheez said:
Oh yeah I forgot all about the file transfer part. I have an external hard drive with lots of video files. I believe it's in NTFS format. So I need an app to access the files in the external hard drive? Can you pls confirm.
Click to expand...

OSX can read NTFS no problem, write NTFS you need an app, or reformat using Apple's system, fat (lol), or exfat
 
Ns1 said:
OSX can read NTFS no problem, write NTFS you need an app, or reformat using Apple's system, fat (lol), or exfat
Click to expand...
Hmm interesting. Apple likes fat huh.

Thanks so much for the info. You are my lifesavior...^_^

thanks!
 
cheez said:
Hmm interesting. Apple likes fat huh.

Thanks so much for the info. You are my lifesavior...^_^

thanks!
Click to expand...

OS X actually uses HFS+, but like all OSes it is fully compatible with FAT32 external drives (you cannot install OS X onto a FAT32 drive). With 10.7 Lion, they added ExFAT support which is very handy since it removes FAT32's 4GB file size limit.

uTorrent is available on OS X, and it is much lighter than it has ever been. However, Transmission is still the torrentor of choice though.

I can playback 1080p on my Air (older 1.4GHz model) all day with VLC.
 
Ns1 said:
1. Transmission > uTorrent, but you can run something like fusion or parallels or bootcamp if you MUST have uTorrent..
Click to expand...
There is uTorrent for OSX as well. (No idea how it stacks up to Transmission)

Oops, just saw Red Storm's post.

Minor nitpick to OP: to be a proper Mac user, please stop calling it a Media Access Control, rather, a Mac. 🙂
 
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Just to say... MplayerX in the App Store plays a few more formats than VLC, likely has native h.264 hardware acceleration support (VLC still uses CPU), and also has nicer subtitle rendering. Plus it allows on-the-fly subtitle syncing using shortcut or hotkey.

The only drawback is you have to name the subtitle the same as the main movie file. It doesn't have a "Load subtitle" menu for some reason.
 
runawayprisoner said:
Just to say... MplayerX in the App Store plays a few more formats than VLC, likely has native h.264 hardware acceleration support (VLC still uses CPU), and also has nicer subtitle rendering. Plus it allows on-the-fly subtitle syncing using shortcut or hotkey.

The only drawback is you have to name the subtitle the same as the main movie file. It doesn't have a "Load subtitle" menu for some reason.
Click to expand...

I find that VLC works better on my Air. But I haven't tried MPlayerX since it first hit the MAS.
 
runawayprisoner said:
Well, I'm pretty critical when it comes to font rendering, subtitles, and what-nots, so I prefer mplayerX wherever subtitle is concerned.
Click to expand...

What I want out of a video player is the ability to render subtitles at native resolution when a video is full screen, so the text isn't pixelated because it has been rendered at resolution of the video when watching SD content. The only player I have found that does this is XBMC which really isn't really ideal for the kind of things I use VLC for. I just checked out MPlayerX, and it sadly does not fit the bill. Do such programs exist?
 
Zaap said:
Minor nitpick to OP: to be a proper Mac user, please stop calling it a Media Access Control, rather, a Mac. 🙂
Click to expand...
I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the heads up.^_^


runawayprisoner said:
Just to say... MplayerX in the App Store plays a few more formats than VLC, likely has native h.264 hardware acceleration support (VLC still uses CPU), and also has nicer subtitle rendering. Plus it allows on-the-fly subtitle syncing using shortcut or hotkey.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a bad a$$ player. Yes I definitely need hardware acceleration support. I don't want app that does not utilize this feature. This is part of the reason why it plays rough sometimes.



Separate question: I heard that the MacBook Air has dedicated graphics chip on-die, which is integrated with the CPU. And the reviews show this has better gaming performance than the competitors with Intel onboard graphics. I don't really care for gaming. *I care about VIDEO QUALITY* such as screen / desktop quality and video playback (720p / 1080i's). Does MacBook Air do better on this in this department??? Please answer.:colbert:
 
cheez said:
I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the heads up.^_^



Sounds like a bad a$$ player. Yes I definitely need hardware acceleration support. I don't want app that does not utilize this feature. This is part of the reason why it plays rough sometimes.



Separate question: I heard that the MacBook Air has dedicated graphics chip on-die, which is integrated with the CPU. And the reviews show this has better gaming performance than the competitors with Intel onboard graphics. I don't really care for gaming. *I care about VIDEO QUALITY* such as screen / desktop quality and video playback (720p / 1080i's). Does MacBook Air do better on this in this department??? Please answer.:colbert:
Click to expand...

Macbook Air's have Intel integrated graphics which are located on the cpu die just like all of their pc counterparts.
 
Puddle Jumper said:
Macbook Air's have Intel integrated graphics which are located on the cpu die just like all of their pc counterparts.
Click to expand...
I guess what I was asking was does the Macbook Air have better screen display quality and better video rendering quality as well compare to Non-Apple products such as Samsung 9-series?
 
Last edited:
cheez said:
I guess what I was asking was does the Macbook Air have better screen display quality and better video rendering quality as well compare to Non-Apple products such as Samsung 9-series?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, that is a software function as much as a hardware one. I can say this much. My 1.4GHz Air (Oct '10 model) with a 320m can playback 1080p video with nary a hiccup. Not so great with netflix streaming lately, not sure what is up there, silverlight must be bugged, but other than that...

The display on the Air though is very nice, and from all the reviews that I have seen around the web of the various ultrabooks that are coming/have come out is that the Air is the best complete package. The Asus one has good speakers, but the trackpad/keyboard and monitor leave something to be desired, the Acer is good and cheap, but uses a hybrid ssd/hdd solution that is lower in performance, and its screen isn't very good either.
 
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