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x86 man has Apple questions

F

FiveDoubleO

Member
Aight...

To begin I do not know of any Mac pages or forums like these here at Anandtech.com.

Let me start by saying I do not know jack about hardware or software for mac's.

The school I will be going to, teach on both the x86 and Mac platforms for studio recording and media.

Since I am in the market for a labtop, the apple i books and powerbooks impressed me. This would give me the experience with the Mac platform I need for school. Now before I take this jump. How well do the x86 platforms network together with Mac? I am gonna need to transfer files. Now what about file compatablity with say Word, mp3 files, or such images such as jgp to photoshop. Should I have no problems? I know readers of this forum have worked with both.

Also tell me what you think of the Mac labtops.

thanks for the input btw.
 

Networking should be fairly easy with newer macs, since they will also use Ethernet like the PC.

Compatibility with mp3, JPG, and other "open" file types should be built in to the system. For
some file types you may need a program like Conversions Plus by DataViz, to transfer the files
to a more mac-friendly format.
 
Both platforms live together pretty well nowadays, and Mac laptops are a great value IMO (especially the iBook). I think it's a good idea to get a Mac as an extra machine, they are pretty popular in media world.

Some comments on Networking:

Your new mac will come with OS X which includes SMB, so you can set it up to share files with your win2k box without 3rd party software. Implementation is still a bit rough, but improving. Less convinient: use NFS or FTP on both machines (available free for both platforms). The NIC will also be included in any newer mac, and some can even do a crossover internally so you can use any cable if you just need to connect two machines.


File compatibility:

Word is no problem in general, but if you have very complicated documents there is a chance that some of the complex formatting comes out a bit akward. Nothing unfixable though.

MP3s and JPGs are no problem, but there's one difference between the 2 worlds regarding all data files: Macs don't natively recognize what file can be opened with what application by looking at a file extension, they use what is called the "resource fork" (a tiny hidden file). There is a utility that has been in Mac OS for ages which takes care of automatically mapping a given PC file extension to a mac prog. And if needed, resource forks can be edited easily.


File system compatibilty:

Macs will read and write PC style CD-Rs without problems.
 
My wife and I just bought a Powerbook G4, and we absolutely love it. Awesome screen (15.2" widescreen), light, and powerful. OS X has the unix geeky stuff for me, and the simplicity and app support for her. She does video editing, and the mac is perfect for that. In fact, most serious media places use Macintoshes.

Good luck!

DaveK
 
Go for the Powerbook G4 Titanium. Looks very cool, big screen, made of titanium, very thin and long batterylife. Expensive though...
 
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