Potentially, hopefully, pretty please oh god let me switch!!

Some background on me: I've been working in the computer industry as a Sys Admin (Windows and Linux) for about 5 years now. I've always ran either Linux or Windows on my PC because I'm a geek and have always like the idea of building my PC instead of buying one pre-built.

My first Apple product was the iPhone. I was immediately amazed with the device. Not only did it "just work" but it worked well. It felt good in my hand. After suffering for years under the Microsoft hegemony of Windows Mobile I felt liberated! I wondered, are ALL Apple products this good...

There was a time when I had never even touched a Mac computer. After success with my iPhone and iPod I began to ask myself why I was so hostile to the idea of say an iMac or a Mac Mini or MacBook Pro. The answer I came up with is that a computer is a computer! Once I figured this out I decided to give an honest look at a Mac.

So now I know I want a Mac and that I want to totally move away from Windows all together.

Anyway, I'll try to wrap up this post now because it's grown too long I just wanted to share my story with you guys and ask some questions that are below.

Which Mac will be best for me? I'm in need of a laptop (but am not opposed to starting with a desktop) so I will probably start there, I'm just not sure how much more I'll need to save to get me there (I'm not opposed to buying refurbs from Apple if I get there sooner). I surf the internet, do some website design (dreamweaver for now, but hopefully Coda?), photo editing (photoshop), I watch a lot of movies and TV shows, listen to a lot of music and I want to start editing movies for upload to YouTube. I do play some games, but not very often. Any recommendations are welcome.

For those of you that do web editing, how does Coda compare to say dreamweaver?

The only game I really play on a regular basis is Everquest 2. I don't need a super powered computer for gaming, but whatever I buy needs to be able to run this game at a respectable level. Can the lower end (non dedicated video card) Mac's run this game (obviously under Windows)?

Part of the reason I can't stand using Windows is the stupid stuff they do. For example, there is no Exchange support in Windows 7 but there is Exchange support in OS X! How dumb!! I'm used to using Outlook for Exchange, but in keeping with the idea of getting rid of MS how does Apple Mail compare?

Right now I have a 2TB server with all my media on it. I would like to take the hard drives out of my server and put them in an external raid enclosure that is compatible with a Mac - any suggestions?

I currently stream all my movies and video's to my Xbox using Tversity. I want to either save up and get an Apple TV to hack or replace Tversity, what are the Apple alternatives to Tversity?

Any other comments or suggestions are appreciated! Thanks in advance guys!

2GHz aluminum MacBook refurbished -$899

Save a bit more. I run this same machine and run WoW at fairly decked out settings with decent framerates. I checked out EQ2 and the graphics don't look too much more demanding, if a little less cartoony. Should be fine.

Hope you get your mac

masonade said:

there is no Exchange support in Windows 7 but there is Exchange support in OS X!

Click to expand...

I assume you mean the issues with RCP over HTTP? That can be worked around by adding your domain (Active Directory domain which is not always your web domain) before your username.



Regarding the media server, moving the disk to a different raid card (different enclosure) will most likely mean you have to format them again.

Welcome buddy!

I myself was a pc user all my years until about 3 weeks ago. Now I have 15 inch macbook pro and I can't believe that I've spent so much time with pc's. I've never liked windows, but now after seeing the other side...I truly hate it .

I'm going to start my mac "collection" by that I mean that I need a whole different set of computers for different tasks. I need a desktop and a slightly smaller laptop for all the flights I take and traveling that I do. But my point is that I dont think I'll ever go pc again...like ever. The hardware is of the best quality that I've ever worked with personally, buy that being said it's not the hardware dude...its OSX. OMG I LOVE THE OPERATION SYSTEM ON THIS THING...like I love it...and would marry it! lol

Mac is just simply a superior machine all around imo. But there are some tasks and jobs that a windows machine is just built for much better.

Anyway....on getting a mac. I would save just a bit more. If you can save $1K plus, you can get yourself a pretty good refurb macbook pro. OR keep in mind that the new unibody macbooks are great and only start at $999.

I'll you this that for what you need it for....a decked out MBP might be over kill. I have a 2.8ghz 15 inch macbook pro with 500gb hd at 7200rpm and 4gb of ram. And while I run much more than just dreamweaver, it was the first program I installed and used for a bit before I put everythign else on. And it ran with no problems, and used MUCH less power than I expected. My old sony pc had dreamweaver cs3 on it and was spec to: 1.86ghz Pentium m, 100gb hard drive at who knows what speed, and 1gb of ram and it still ram dreamweaver and many more programs fine...not super great but just fine.

Keep in mind that you'll be on a mac OS and that makes a huge difference in how they work and function from my experience with the same software on both machines. That would be a much bigger selling point for me for what you need than say hard drive, ram or processor.

I think a new macbook will more than do the job that you need and just plop down an extra $100 for the 4gs of ram. Don't let the whole quad core processor talk get in the way either. Its just the new thing now, and as much as I want one just for fun one day, it's totally not needed for what just about most users use their computers for. I have a 2.8ghz core due and everything runs so fast and smooth and I do some pretty heavy stuff on my computer.

I also wouldn't worry too much about hard drive space. Since yu dont really play many games, I would save money. It takes a lot more junk to fill up even 250gb. Just get a large external drive for all your big stuff.

Either way...nice to see another mac convert and good luck!!!!

Hey I was looking at this post last night, and it JUST hit me now. Check out this post: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/bu...m-15-screen-no-damage-barely-used-1100-a.html

$1,100 for a MBP. Might need to add 2GB of ram but that's very cheap and easy to do. Only $1100!