- Joined
- Jun 16, 2010
- Messages
- 168
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- Your Mac's Specs
- 2010 MBP 15" i7, 2.66 GHz, 4GB RAM, 250GB SSD, OS-X 10.7.2; iPhone4 iOS 5.0
Hi there. I guess I'm looking for more justification for a probable Mac purchase in the near future...
A little history: My 1st computer (waaaay back when) was a Commodore 64, complete with a tape-drive! After several Amiga's and the demise of the brand, I switched to PC -sometime around DOS 3.1, if memory serves, and have stayed "loyal" since... more fool me, methinks. My Win7 machine (current) apparently doesn't like my (4 year-old) graphics card and the whole thing is giving me gyp. Endless crashes, BSOD, driver searches and updates... Enough. I no longer want to be a Microsoft "crash-test dummy"; I no longer have the time -or the patience- to spend endless hours massaging the hardware, OS and software to achieve what should be a relatively straight-forward task. I don't have the money to waste on hardware that'll be redundant with the next OS update. Time to move on.
However... after all these years I have a significant investment in software, which is giving me some pause, but I'm pretty sure I'll just suck it up, replacing software as needs and finances permit.
So, I've been looking pretty seriously at the hardware on offer. In the hope that some of you will be able to offer some thoughts and advice, a little of what I'll be needing the machine for:
Aviation: mission-critical!!! At an absolute minimum, logbook software, currency, renewals et al (yup, I do know of LogTen). Other aviation stuff like TAF's/METAR's/Wx Radar would be really nice and I know there are a heap of other aviation software products availabe too -particularly if they handle NZ and AUS information.
Digital photography: I'm using PS CS2 at the moment -probably won't be in a rush to update that to Mac initially. Aperture looks pretty good, and I've read some encouraging reviews. Storage may be an issue and reformatting existing drives to Mac?
Office software? Thinking maybe OpenOffice at least initially to keep the costs of the platform change manageable.
Website development: I have my own site which I currently manage with DOPUS and Dreamweaver CS4. What alternatives are there for the Mac? I've heard of the limitations of Finder as a shell and ftp client.
Beyond that, it's pretty bog-standard email and web access I'm after.
I'm leaning (pretty seriously) towards a MacBook Pro 15", 2.66Ghz, 8GB RAM, 500GB 7200RPM HDD with an Airport Extreme. I have no need of an external monitor as I'll continue using my existing Dell 2407WFP. I will grab the keyboard and magic mouse however.
I had originally been tempted by the 17", but thought the 15" would be more portable and manageable.
I'm very interested in people's thoughts and opinions! Anything I've missed or need to consider?
TIA
regards
RS
A little history: My 1st computer (waaaay back when) was a Commodore 64, complete with a tape-drive! After several Amiga's and the demise of the brand, I switched to PC -sometime around DOS 3.1, if memory serves, and have stayed "loyal" since... more fool me, methinks. My Win7 machine (current) apparently doesn't like my (4 year-old) graphics card and the whole thing is giving me gyp. Endless crashes, BSOD, driver searches and updates... Enough. I no longer want to be a Microsoft "crash-test dummy"; I no longer have the time -or the patience- to spend endless hours massaging the hardware, OS and software to achieve what should be a relatively straight-forward task. I don't have the money to waste on hardware that'll be redundant with the next OS update. Time to move on.
However... after all these years I have a significant investment in software, which is giving me some pause, but I'm pretty sure I'll just suck it up, replacing software as needs and finances permit.
So, I've been looking pretty seriously at the hardware on offer. In the hope that some of you will be able to offer some thoughts and advice, a little of what I'll be needing the machine for:
Aviation: mission-critical!!! At an absolute minimum, logbook software, currency, renewals et al (yup, I do know of LogTen). Other aviation stuff like TAF's/METAR's/Wx Radar would be really nice and I know there are a heap of other aviation software products availabe too -particularly if they handle NZ and AUS information.
Digital photography: I'm using PS CS2 at the moment -probably won't be in a rush to update that to Mac initially. Aperture looks pretty good, and I've read some encouraging reviews. Storage may be an issue and reformatting existing drives to Mac?
Office software? Thinking maybe OpenOffice at least initially to keep the costs of the platform change manageable.
Website development: I have my own site which I currently manage with DOPUS and Dreamweaver CS4. What alternatives are there for the Mac? I've heard of the limitations of Finder as a shell and ftp client.
Beyond that, it's pretty bog-standard email and web access I'm after.
I'm leaning (pretty seriously) towards a MacBook Pro 15", 2.66Ghz, 8GB RAM, 500GB 7200RPM HDD with an Airport Extreme. I have no need of an external monitor as I'll continue using my existing Dell 2407WFP. I will grab the keyboard and magic mouse however.
I had originally been tempted by the 17", but thought the 15" would be more portable and manageable.
I'm very interested in people's thoughts and opinions! Anything I've missed or need to consider?
TIA
regards
RS