planning to switch to mac
planning to switch to mac
after using windows all my life, i have finally decided to switch to mac. i just got fed up with all the errors that come up when you use windows. plus i stopped gaming and havent played a computer game in the past 4 months, (no i didnt go to a rehab) so there is nothing to hold me back. apple sells some very nice laptops such as the new macbook that they offer (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W ... lm=MacBook).
ill probably get the 2ghz white one in half a year or so, but still will take the DIY way out and upgrade ram and HDD myself ;). If i learned anything from these forums, its that upgrading yourself is easier and cheaper.
If any of you guys are using macs feel free to give me advice and heads up on anything you feel i should know. time to say good buy to the "get genuine"
boot up screen
ill probably get the 2ghz white one in half a year or so, but still will take the DIY way out and upgrade ram and HDD myself ;). If i learned anything from these forums, its that upgrading yourself is easier and cheaper.
If any of you guys are using macs feel free to give me advice and heads up on anything you feel i should know. time to say good buy to the "get genuine"
boot up screen
- infinitevalence
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Well
Pros
1. More Stable
2. Can be significantly faster
3. Uses less memory
4. No Need to defrag harddrives with certain Filesystems
5. Most if not all software is free
6. Can do everything windows can do and more
7. More customizable
8. Faster Updates
9. Faster Fixes
10. Most OSes are free.
Cons
1. Gaming is Lackluster at best
2. Installation can be a pain
3. Not all hardware is supported
4. Harder to use for a new user, ie learning curve can be steep.
Pros
1. More Stable
2. Can be significantly faster
3. Uses less memory
4. No Need to defrag harddrives with certain Filesystems
5. Most if not all software is free
6. Can do everything windows can do and more
7. More customizable
8. Faster Updates
9. Faster Fixes
10. Most OSes are free.
Cons
1. Gaming is Lackluster at best
2. Installation can be a pain
3. Not all hardware is supported
4. Harder to use for a new user, ie learning curve can be steep.
Well I tend to thing that the appearance of most Mac computers are really very nice and the customer support is top draw so if you're only going for those reasons go ahead even though there computers are a little pricey for the hardware. Past that if you'd like to try some Linux operating systems or keep Windows for any gaming you ight do then teh only thing that would be necessary to do would be the split you hard drive into however many partitions are necessary. This is all assuming you'd going for a custom build, but in any event that sort of setup in my opinion would give you the best of all worlds in order to figure out what you like and what you don't while still keeping a really nice piece of hardware.
Now assuming all my assumptions are wrong and you're going that direction for the operating system then you could probably just as easily install Mac OSX on your current machine while still getting all the benefits. In any case there are benefits and drawbacks. Mac users seem to love their macs but it doesn't mean you will. What you might want to do is find a friend who owns a Mac and will let you play around with it a bit just to get a feel for both the software and the platform. That way you're not exactly going blindly into this decision. Past that good luck and I hope it all turns out well for you. Oh, and take a look at dicecca's chart. Its pretty thorough.
One more thing I'd like to mention, and correct me if I'm wrong but I'd say you'd probably like the easiest transition possible to your new platform. Mac OSX would probably be the most user friendly change followed by a few easy Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora followd by your Slackware, Yoper, and Gentoo. Plenty of OS's fit in between there. The point is that Linux is hard to get used to. Its not exactly the most user friendly operating system even in its most user friendly forms and although many people once they get used to their operating system of choice its not for everyone esepcially if you want seamless transition. In any case Mac OSX though nothing compared to Windows which supports just about any game out now is a better alternative at the moment if you ever want to go back to even some moderate gaming. That may change of course, but its something to keep in mind. In any case good luck on your decision. Hope it turns out well for you.
Now assuming all my assumptions are wrong and you're going that direction for the operating system then you could probably just as easily install Mac OSX on your current machine while still getting all the benefits. In any case there are benefits and drawbacks. Mac users seem to love their macs but it doesn't mean you will. What you might want to do is find a friend who owns a Mac and will let you play around with it a bit just to get a feel for both the software and the platform. That way you're not exactly going blindly into this decision. Past that good luck and I hope it all turns out well for you. Oh, and take a look at dicecca's chart. Its pretty thorough.
One more thing I'd like to mention, and correct me if I'm wrong but I'd say you'd probably like the easiest transition possible to your new platform. Mac OSX would probably be the most user friendly change followed by a few easy Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora followd by your Slackware, Yoper, and Gentoo. Plenty of OS's fit in between there. The point is that Linux is hard to get used to. Its not exactly the most user friendly operating system even in its most user friendly forms and although many people once they get used to their operating system of choice its not for everyone esepcially if you want seamless transition. In any case Mac OSX though nothing compared to Windows which supports just about any game out now is a better alternative at the moment if you ever want to go back to even some moderate gaming. That may change of course, but its something to keep in mind. In any case good luck on your decision. Hope it turns out well for you.
If your main gripes are errors and the "get genuine" screen, don't expect much refuge in the OS X world.
Used them for a good couple years doing graphics through school, even maintained the lab.
Most. Cryptic. Error. Messages. EVER.
Not even Google could survive the onslaught.
Though, more often than not, the application or OS just poofs and doesn't even give you an error message. Joy.
Give me a BSoD any day over "error free" crashes and restarts.
I must say though, Apple does a very good job of putting up the facade that it's OS is more stable. If the user has nothing to associate with crashes like error messages or BSoDs, then they have nothing to reference or whine about online other than text messages, which nobody ever reads. Just like how this message will never reach anyone. And made ever harder by the fact that video is a lot harder to share than pictures.
Random unfixable slowdowns are also present, only with these, you can't just run your registry through a cleaner, because there isn't one.
Only solution we found at the time was to reload the entire OS and all the applications again. Premiere, After Effects, FreeHand, Illustrator, PageMaker, InDesign, Flash, etc etc.
I got really put off those Macs those few years. Though the instructor's reasoning for using them was understandable as he revealed to me, he just didn't want the students to be playing games on the computers all day.
As for upgrading the laptop yourself, make sure to read the warranty info carefully. Because you'll likely bust it if you so much as lift a sticker off a screw if I remember correctly. Maybe, maybe not, haven't really been following Apple's policies lately.
Used them for a good couple years doing graphics through school, even maintained the lab.
Most. Cryptic. Error. Messages. EVER.
Not even Google could survive the onslaught.
Though, more often than not, the application or OS just poofs and doesn't even give you an error message. Joy.
Give me a BSoD any day over "error free" crashes and restarts.
I must say though, Apple does a very good job of putting up the facade that it's OS is more stable. If the user has nothing to associate with crashes like error messages or BSoDs, then they have nothing to reference or whine about online other than text messages, which nobody ever reads. Just like how this message will never reach anyone. And made ever harder by the fact that video is a lot harder to share than pictures.
Random unfixable slowdowns are also present, only with these, you can't just run your registry through a cleaner, because there isn't one.
Only solution we found at the time was to reload the entire OS and all the applications again. Premiere, After Effects, FreeHand, Illustrator, PageMaker, InDesign, Flash, etc etc.
I got really put off those Macs those few years. Though the instructor's reasoning for using them was understandable as he revealed to me, he just didn't want the students to be playing games on the computers all day.
As for upgrading the laptop yourself, make sure to read the warranty info carefully. Because you'll likely bust it if you so much as lift a sticker off a screw if I remember correctly. Maybe, maybe not, haven't really been following Apple's policies lately.