01-22-2009, 05:37 PM

Well after a prolonged and agonizing absence from the world of Mac, I am returning. I had a macbook, but then went to the world of windows vista due to work, and I have finally decided enough is enough. Next week I am taking the plunge on a new Macbook Pro. Now onto my questions....

Question 1- I have a Hi-definition minidv based camcorder for family movies. I remember seeing imoviehd on the mac website, but now with ilife '09, I see imovie listed as only imovie(minus the hd). Will the imovie included with ilife'09 support basic HD video editing?

Question 2- I am wanting to set up a decent family website. I already have a domain name thorugh godaddy, and of course I will get a host. What is a decent website building program that will allow me to build a pretty good family website? I think Dreamweaver is a bit much for my needs, and I know absolutely nothing at all about html. I am looking for something that has good features, but it simplistic for the html illiterate. Please help? i was looking at rapidweaver and freeway express, any good?

Question 3- When I left the world of mac, the intel were pretty recently released and photoshop elements wasn't up to standard when run on the intel based machines. I left before Pphotoshop had rewritten elements to work flawlessly with the intel machines. I had ps and it was miserable to use on my macbook. Has photoshop been fixed to work well with the macbook pro?

I will be getting the new aluminum macbook pro, 2.4ghz, and maxing out my ram through crucial. I havent decided yet if I am gonna upgrade the hd to the 7200rpm 250gb, instead of the 5400rpm 250gb.

Anyway, I am so excited to be getting rid of my Dell vista machine. I miss mac soooo much. Thanks for all your help.

01-23-2009, 01:03 AM

1. Yes I believe it still has HD capability its just a change in name.

2. iWeb comes on the mac, but im not sure how good it is. It seems pretty basic but that might be what you need.

3. I dont know how it was before but it runs like a dream on my MB, and should run better on your MBP.

Welcome back! Im sure you will find that the Mac has much different for the better since you left.

01-23-2009, 08:18 AM

as you say, dreamweaver is really good to make websites, but you need a bit of knowledge of web design, wich including HTML, how to build homepage, photoshop =)

I say iWeb is a really good start =)
but, as the **** about it, is that Apple makes it hard to get were they putted the hompage, like to force you to stay with Apple and not using something else, like iTunes, everything goes to itunes store now, thats my feeling... SNAP OUT OF IT APPLE!

I still love my iMac and Macbook and apple, not the way they work some times oO
enough buleshiting from me =)

01-23-2009, 08:37 AM

1) Yes, it will edit HD video.

2) Look into RapidWeaver. It's more robust than iWeb, but not as difficult to learn or complex as Dreamweaver.

3) Forget about PS and PS Elements altogether (although they did move Elements over to Intel with version 6). Try Pixelmator - it's a steal at $59 and takes full advantage of the GPU and Mac core technologies.

01-23-2009, 09:08 AM

Excellent info people. thanks, I am glad to be back on the forum and back to mac. The initial purchase is the hardest thing, hard to tell what I need and what's overkill in purchasing a macbook. Hopefully, its like riding a bike, once you know mac, you know it for good, but only time will tell. I sure will be happy to be rid of this dell though.

I agree with you about iweb hero. I used iweb way back with my ibook, and it was nice, but I felt like my family website was an advertisement for apple. This time around i want to have a better, more personally made family website.

CWA, I took a look at Pixelmator. I like it, I do believe that will be my pic editing program. I liked photoshop, but once I went with the intel mac, photoshop was a beast to run. I had it before photoshop rewrote for the intel machines.

Dabears and cwa, thanks for the imovie info. i was pretty sure it would still fo HD, seems like it would be a backward step to do away with the hd editing, but better safe than sorry. Seems odd they would drop the HD from the name, but hey, nothing apple does is "normal"


Last question: Anyone order from Mcamall? They have no tax, unlike apple and quite a few rebate deals with macbook/software combos. I have never bought a mac from anyone but apple.
Macmall reputable?

01-23-2009, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by jaster

Last question: Anyone order from Mcamall? They have no tax, unlike apple and quite a few rebate deals with macbook/software combos. I have never bought a mac from anyone but apple.
Macmall reputable?

I never have ordered from them myself, but they have been around forever, so I'm sure it's safe. EDIT: Um, their website is down. Says "Service Unavailable." Maybe don't order from them if they can't even keep their website running.

Another option is Amazon. If you order from them, you'll be able to avoid both sales tax AND shipping charges.

01-24-2009, 04:55 PM

Thanks MAMA,
I order from Amazon all the time, but didn't even think of them for Mac stuff. Macmall has 50/50 good/bad reviews online. I think I am gonna stay away and go with a business I know and trust, so..... Amazon it is! Wierd, even with the education discount, it comes ti more with shipping to order from Apple, than it does from Amazon without the discount. Thanks everyone for your help.

01-24-2009, 05:33 PM

1. The version of iMovie available now does do HD. It is NOT the same iMovie as the one named 'iMovie HD'. Apple did a whole rewrite iMovie as of iMovie 08. This new version has it pros & cons and its supporters & detractors.

For people who have iLife 08, a free down/side grade to iMovie HD exists. It actually looks to confirm you have the appropriate software to allow the install. I have to wonder if that will work with iLife 09. I haven't heard anything yet on that.

Note also that iLife 09 hasn't been released yet so isn't part of any Mac you buy today. I understand it is to be released at the end of this month, so you may want to wait for that and make sure your new Mac comes with it. Otherwise it is small cost, US$9.95 plus tax, to upgrade to it from iLife 08.

3. If you are just editing photos than iPhoto may do. A new bread of programs are Apple's Aperture and Adobe's Lightroom that are focused on editing photographs.