Internet gurus...I need HELP!

Sean, you'll like the Mac for video and photo. Even iMovie HD and iDVD are very powerful for casual video production. Their professional applications, Final Cut Studio HD, DVD Studio, Motion, Soundtrack, and Shake are so powerful they were used for March of the Penguins (full production) and King Kong (Shake for compositing). If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask.

I have been using Macs ever since OS X UNIX became the platform standard on Mac. I have rarely felt even a twinge of regret. And now, with the Parallel virtual machine, I can run XP or Vista as a application on it simultaneously with OS X. So I can run that odd WIndows app if I ever need to.  I also use Linux at the same time every once in a while.

Macs mostly just work and the word is getting out. Under the hood they are powerful UNIX workstations but the beauty of it is you don't have to lift the hood if you don't want to. But if you do, you can 'soup up' your machine's software tapping incredible power and a huge community of developers mostly for free.

Macs are not perfect--no complex technology is--but they are as close by far as you'll get with a computer.

Scwafish,

That is sort of weird.  Oh well, the important thing is for users to do what they feel they are comfortable with not what some other weirdo (guilty) tells them to feel comfortable with.

Marmot, I used to run a dual boot (win98se/linux cartman release.....watch me date myself) machine in grad school when I actually needed to run linux.

For me, windows is just the best option.  I'm just technical enough that there really aren't any headaches with windows and I just plain like it better.  Probably a familiarity thing.  I was a mac guy before 1996.  I started with an apple II+, then I went to a quadra 610, then PowerMac something.  Then, when I needed to run linux, I got a AMD K6II 450 machine and never looked back.

Linux continues to be a poor option for the regular user for a multitude of reasons, but they are  s l o w l y  catching up.  I doubt it will ever be a serious regular user platform.

I can't remember the last time I got a popup, honestly (I also have google toolbar with popup blocker).  'Course I don't surf porn anymore..... 

MolBasser

Fire fox is Kale Certified

WORD!! Love the image! 

Linux continues to be a poor option for the regular user for a multitude of reasons, but they are  s l o w l y  catching up.  I doubt it will ever be a serious regular user platform.

Agreed. I use it for the odd open source program I cannot get to compile on OS X due to library weirdness--like dvd::rip, an awesome open source dvd ripper and a few Qt or GTK apps I don't want to port.

 

For me, windows is just the best option.  I'm just technical enough that there really aren't any headaches with windows and I just plain like it better.  Probably a familiarity thing. 

That's cool--computers are just tools. Pick the hammer that fits your hand and build something great. Its what you make not your tools that matter. No one cares what tools Achimedes, Michaelangelo, Galileo, Rodin, Newton, Maxwell, and others  used.

But for video by non-geeks, Apple's ease of use consumer and pro apps are the best bar none. And now that Macs use the same Intel processors as Windows systems, there is no performance difference at all.

But for video by non-geeks, Apple's ease of use consumer and pro apps are the best bar none.

Another reason I'm making the switch.  I really enjoy playing with my new helmet cam and DV.  The device output is amazing, but once it comes out of my PC it looks like dooky.  After talking with Z I realized I was hosed with a PC.

Linux continues to be a poor option for the regular user for a multitude of reasons, but they are  s l o w l y  catching up.  I doubt it will ever be a serious regular user platform.

Agreed. I use it for the odd open source program I cannot get to compile on OS X due to library weirdness--like dvd::rip, an awesome open source dvd ripper and a few Qt or GTK apps I don't want to port.

 

For me, windows is just the best option.  I'm just technical enough that there really aren't any headaches with windows and I just plain like it better.  Probably a familiarity thing. 

That's cool--computers are just tools. Pick the hammer that fits your hand and build something great. Its what you make not your tools that matter. No one cares what tools Achimedes, Michaelangelo, Galileo, Rodin, Newton, Maxwell, and others  used.

But for video by non-geeks, Apple's ease of use consumer and pro apps are the best bar none. And now that Macs use the same Intel processors as Windows systems, there is no performance difference at all.

So Macs are essentially PCs now, but way more expensive....... 

I will say that Mac video software is pretty dang good.

My inner gamer makes me never want to buy a Mac though.  Weird, I used to be all into bleeding edge, and yet I had no idea that they had released DX10.....Shame on me. 

Whatever, as Marmot said, it is what you make with the tool, not the tool itself.

MolBasser

So Macs are essentially PCs now, but way more expensive....... 

Haha. I know you are kidding but some people actually think that is still true. The price difference is more like $200 bucks at most (usually less for comparable hardware and adding in iMovie, iDVD, Mail, iTunes, etc you get for free) and the hours of time you save dealing with fewer problems and with greater productivity makes that up in no time. The beauty of the Mac is more than skin deep: while hardware that is elegant and has great features like a back-lit keyboard on the Macbook Pro (which I really appreciate sometimes), its the operating system and software that shine for me. Especially the plethora of open source and free software available.

A 2004 email has been circulating on the web from Jim Alchin, Microsfot's lead development SVP, in which he said the only reason he didn't use a Mac was because he works for Microsoft. Now that's an endorsement. He now claims it was for effect but the context implies otherwise and he could have made his poitn without going that far.

But as I said, just tools even though I think of the Mac as DeWalt or other top-line tools and most PCs as cheap knock-offs, but that's my bias 

The cheapest iMac desktop is 1000 bucks.

I can build an epic PC system for far less than that and it will be far more powerful than that Mac.

The price disparity is still very large between Macs and PCs, or course I enjoy building machines and I have built my last 3 computers and built several for relatives.

Hey, nothing wrong with Macs, they are just a different tool. 

Whatever, it is a good thing that Scwafish found a way to ameliorate his problem.

MolBasser

I totally agree with Mol.  I love the PC.  I am a programmer by trade and I think that if you are technical enough to resolve PC issues then the PC is a more flexible and extensible platform . . not to mention way way cheaper.   

If you want the computer certain specific purposes (ie - graphics editing) or want the computer to just work all the time and you have no desire to mess with it . .then a mac is probably a good choice.  My dad fits in the latter category and I am seriously considering getting him a mac for christmas just so I can stop fixing his PC.

I also am IE over Firefox.  I have played around with Firefox but I guess I just like IE better.  I have to admit that I don't care much about browsers as long as they work.  I don't have the pop-up problem mentioned with IE otherwise I would be wanting to switch, too.

The cheapest iMac desktop is 1000 bucks.

Nope. What graphics chip and memeroy does it have and at what speed?
What's the latency on the LCD panel you get?
What's the color rendition on the panel? How many dead pixels? How even the backlight?
And on and on and on

Microsft and mainboard mfgers are counting on your inability to:
1. count in the extra cost in software (iMOvie and iDVD--Sean's already said apps he paid for suck compared to Appel's free ones) and compare the deep details of what you are getting
2. you downtime, data loss, and security compromises with Windows.

and keep you focused on the one-time initial purchase. But then that's how most people think: shalowwly and immediate-term. But that doesn't make it sound logic or business sense at all.

I am a programmer by trade and I think that if you are technical enough to resolve PC issues then the PC is a more flexible and extensible platform .

Obviously if you program for WIndows, then you need it. But more flexible? Hah! I call bullsh*t on that. What's more flexible than PCI-X, SATA, industry standard RAM, graphics for hardware and UNIX/Linux plus WIndows plus OSX for software? You don't know the Mac obviously I used both often (PC everywhere I worked even Sun) and I do know the hardware specs of both platforms. You are talking from ignorance on the Mac. COmputerworld, Network COmputing, and many other pros say so.

One of my favorite features about Firefox are the themes. Pimpzilla is probably my favorite.

CHEERS!

I travel so much that I am stuck with the company standard which is a PC. A while back I started getting nailed by the pop-ups. I purchased a blocker called "Stopzilla" and POOF! my pop-ups went away. I have not received one since and that is about two years. And now it has a lot of new bells and whistles. Check it out.

PC is more flexible and extensible!?!? You might want to check out the Mac again it has changed a bit since 1996 

I do not use my machine for graphics or video, at least as much as I want to. I have been in IT for about 15 years now and can say there is no better platform for what I do than the Mac.

I think that if you are technical enough to resolve PC issues then the PC is a more flexible and extensible platform .

This is the great thing about a Mac I don't have to resolve any "issues". I have way more time to actually do stuff with my computer. To each his own, what ever works best for you. 

The reason that there are few security issues for Macs is because no one uses them, not because they are safe.

Windows is attacked because it is what the overwhelming majority of the users use.

There is like 400 billion times more software out there for PC than for Mac, and its hardware is infinately customizable compared to Mac.  That is what hooked me.  Cheap, powerful, and supported.

MolBasser

There is like 400 billion times more software out there for PC than for Mac

Hey Mol, do you have a reference for that?

I'm surprised that there aren't any linux advocates out there.  The newer distributions like Ubuntu are a lot more user friendly than in years past.  Personally I run windows because it's what my employer supports and I do a lot with ArcGIS which doesn't have a mac version.  Everything else I do uses open source software and I could easily do that better on a mac or linux box. I'm still waiting to see if one of the new macs running windows before passing judgment on them.  Until then,  I'm seriously considering installing ubuntu as a dual boot so that I can take advantage of a lot of the free open source software that doesn't have a native windows port yet.

Brian