MAC OS compatible with PC programs?

[cheez]

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?


:$

 

[Ns1]

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)

 

[cheez]

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

 

[Ns1]

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

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.

 

[cheez]

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.

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.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Unarchiver is a good winzip/winrar replacement.

yes it should play those just fine.

 

[Ns1]

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.

I play all types of 1080p videos from QuickTime and 720p videos in VLC with no problems

 

[cheez]

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.

 

[Ns1]

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.

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)

 

[cheez]

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)

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.

 

[Ns1]

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.

OSX can read NTFS no problem, write NTFS you need an app, or reformat using Apple's system, fat (lol), or exfat

 

[cheez]

OSX can read NTFS no problem, write NTFS you need an app, or reformat using Apple's system, fat (lol), or exfat

Hmm interesting. Apple likes fat huh.

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

thanks!

 

[TheStu]

Hmm interesting. Apple likes fat huh.

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

thanks!

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.

 

[Red Storm]

There are Mac clients for utorrent, 7-zip, and VLC. That covers the OP's needs.

 

[Zaap]

1. Transmission > uTorrent, but you can run something like fusion or parallels or bootcamp if you MUST have uTorrent..

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.

 

[MotionMan]

Unarchiver is a good winzip/winrar replacement.

Is it odd that this post made me think of this?:

http://bash.org/?23601

MotionMan

 

[alfa147x]

Is it odd that this post made me think of this?:

http://bash.org/?23601

MotionMan

lol

 

[runawayprisoner]

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.

 

[TheStu]

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.

I find that VLC works better on my Air. But I haven't tried MPlayerX since it first hit the MAS.

 

[runawayprisoner]

I find that VLC works better on my Air. But I haven't tried MPlayerX since it first hit the MAS.

Well, I'm pretty critical when it comes to font rendering, subtitles, and what-nots, so I prefer mplayerX wherever subtitle is concerned.

 

[Tyranicus]

Well, I'm pretty critical when it comes to font rendering, subtitles, and what-nots, so I prefer mplayerX wherever subtitle is concerned.

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?

 

[cheez]

Minor nitpick to OP: to be a proper Mac user, please stop calling it a Media Access Control, rather, a Mac.

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the heads up.^_^

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.

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.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

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.

Macbook Air's have Intel integrated graphics which are located on the cpu die just like all of their pc counterparts.

 

[cheez]

Macbook Air's have Intel integrated graphics which are located on the cpu die just like all of their pc counterparts.

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?

 

[TheStu]

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?

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.