iMac better regarding photo/video editing than PC?

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Hi everyone, I'm new to this Forum, just signed up! Nice to meet you all.

I was wondering if I could ask your opinion(s). My old PC (laptop) is due to be replaced and I'm thinking about switching from PC to Mac and buying the new iMac (with the 20" screen).

At the moment I use my laptop mainly for photo editing (photography is my hobby), movie editing, blogging&websites, getting creative with Photoshop, surfing and for writing, which is my second hobby. (Word & OpenOffice)
I want to make DVD's and just share my digital life (pictures and movies) with all my friends. The problem is,... my PC just can't handle it, it's too slow and I have to little memory. It crashes all the time... So I need a new one!

I've heard that Mac is just a better machine if you're a creative person like I am. I've been checking out the new iMac and its iLife06. It all just sounds great! And it seems so easy! It would be perfect for me... I think.

But I'm a bit hesitive to switching to a Mac. I've never used a Mac before as I've always been a PC/Windows user. I am a fast learner, but I fear that a Mac with its OS X is perhaps a too big of a change for me? :blind:

Is there anyone out the who has some good advice for me? I'd appreciate it!

Thanks a lot!
 
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I swithched in October so I concider myself a switcher still.I purchased a 20" iMac and I'm having fun learning how to use it . iPhoto isn't photoshop .However it has many basic functions we all use..

you can download Neo office which is open office for Mac.

Buy as much RAM as you can afford too

Welcome to the forum
 
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But I'm a bit hesitive to switching to a Mac. I've never used a Mac before as I've always been a PC/Windows user. I am a fast learner, but I fear that a Mac with its OS X is perhaps a too big of a change for me? :blind:

Is there anyone out the who has some good advice for me? I'd appreciate it!

Thanks a lot!
Go with what you know. If you are comfortable with Windows, then there is no reason to deviate from it. Macs don't make creative people creative, they are just computers. I personally don't see any real benefit from using one platform or the other. Use the one you are most comfortable with.
 
M

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Welcome to Mac-Forums, Orbi!

My advice: go to a Mac store in your area and try one out. See if intuitively you can get the hang of OS X, if you like what you see in the OS. I can tell you right now that if you buy one but don't have an open mind in learning a new way of computing, it simply won't work.

Mac OS X is not Windows and the worse you can do is expect it to be, look, feel and react just like Windows.
 
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Expert help...

My advice: go to a Mac store in your area and try one out.

That's a good idea. I already looked at it and fooled around with the one-button mouse a bit, watching a demo, etc etc.
But I think it would be good to have an expert tell me a bit more about the Mac as well as OS X. And perhaps he/she can show me around OS X and explain a few basic things (already read a part of Mac101 manual) and show how easy (or difficult) it is.

I am willing to learn new stuff and I don't expect OS X to be like Windows. It just seems like fun to learn more and new things. And I just love the software iLife06, judging from the advertisement-movies on the imac-site. I can hardly wait to get my hands on it and get creative!

But someone also said to me:
"Don't buy a Mac just for the cool software!"

So, next step; to get more informed...
I'll keep you posted on my decision. Thanks everyone for your time!
 
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Good strategy Orbi...can I also suggest you visit the section of this website that is dedicated to "Switchers"....
Also, the iMac is a lot more artistic-slanted as well as just cool from an overall design standpoint. You'll see what I mean when you open the box and set it up. Lastly, at least it doesn't come with AOfreakingL pre-installed!
 
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Forgot to mention---the people at the local Apple store (hopefully you have one nearby) would be very pleased to answer questions. They have all of the software you mentioned already installed.
Note that you should perhaps wait for the Intel-Mac optimized edition of Photoshop, or use what I use---GIMP! (www.gimp.org)
 

dtravis7


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Remember, You do not need to use the mouse that comes with the Mac. You can use any good USB 2-3 button (or more). If you get an iMac it comes with a MightyMouse which really is a 4 button mouse, but if you and it do not get along, get a Logitech, Microsoft or whatever else you like.

DB and MacHeadCase answered the rest of your question.
 
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There are two things else to consider.

If photography is your hobby, hopefully you know all about color management and color spaces in general. It is my guess, based on what I have seen, that Mac OS X supports color management more or less natively. This is not a bolt on extra like it is in Windows. Even the humble Preview viewer transparently does the right thing when confronted with the same image in sRGB vs. ARGB (I tested it this very way!). So, this is a real bonus. You are not restricted just to a few programs that understand color management - pretty much everything does! This may be because Mac OS X supports this somewhere deep down in its innards, or it may just be the Mac culture at work on software developers - you would never even THINK of writing an image viewer/manipulator that didn't implement this (oh the shame of it all!).

Secondly, I believe that the PowerMac G5 is still the fastest Photoshop engine out there. Once Adobe releases CS3 with its Intel native support, this may cease to be true, but for now, the G5 beats out all comers in performance tests of heavy duty Photoshop filters. So, speed is also a consideration. In tests, my then new 2.3 GHz PowerMac G5 was almost twice as fast as my then current 3.0 GHz Pentium IV HT. This is actually why I switched! I pretty much LIVE in Photoshop for long periods of time, and I LOVED the speed bump. The above wonderful discovery about color management (which Photoshop does anyway!) was just icing on the cake.

So, a few things to think about.
 
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The Mac is MADE for creative programs! It's the industry standard and for good reason. OS X is easy to learn and much improved over Windows XP.
 

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Secondly, I believe that the PowerMac G5 is still the fastest Photoshop engine out there. Once Adobe releases CS3 with its Intel native support, this may cease to be true, but for now, the G5 beats out all comers in performance tests of heavy duty Photoshop filters. So, speed is also a consideration. In tests, my then new 2.3 GHz PowerMac G5 was almost twice as fast as my then current 3.0 GHz Pentium IV HT. This is actually why I switched! I pretty much LIVE in Photoshop for long periods of time, and I LOVED the speed bump. The above wonderful discovery about color management (which Photoshop does anyway!) was just icing on the cake.

So, a few things to think about.

Agreed right now with CS2. The CS3 Beta is already avalible and reports are it FLYS on the Intel Core Duo and CD2 Macs which was expected. Until the full release of CS3 though, the G5 is the fastest Mac out there for Adobe. That will soon change though, but right now it's true.
 
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Get a Mac, you can boot it into windows via bootcamp, so you can run Word e.t.c if you need to without buying the mac versions.

Macs are traditionally a Graphic Designers choice as they were more stable and more capable at photo editing and design applications than the earlier PC's. I am a photo editor for a magazine in the Uk and I can tell you 99% of the media industry here use Mac's instead of PC's - they ooze creativity and are generally less buggy and not as complicated as PC's.

You will find that the screen on the iMac is one of the best you can get for the money, better than the cheap monitors that come with PC's, so as Photo editing is going to be your primary use then I would say after the speed of the machine this is the most important thing to consider.


But as mentioned if you get a Mac you get the best of both worlds being able to boot into XP.
 
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dtravis7, re the comment about speed of the CS3 beta on Intel cores, see the following thread - I had posted some performance numbers on the PowerMac G5 and others added in the results for the Intel cores.

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47667&highlight=Photoshop+performance

Turns out that the results are pretty much the same - it flies at about the same speed on both the PowerMac G5s and the Intel cores. This is in keeping with the general truth that a G5's GHz is about the same as a C2D Ghz.
 
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Open Office for Mac

you can download Neo office which is open office for Mac.

I checked out NeoOffice, it looked fine, I only have one problem, I need a Finnish (and perhaps also Dutch, but Neo Office had Dutch) spell check.
But Open Office is also for Mac, right? (the OO website isn't working at this moment, so I can't check...)

Are there any Word similar word processing programs which include a Finnish spell check? I know WriteRoom, but didn't like it that much... And Abi Word, but couldn't figure out if it has Finnish spell check....

Thanks.
 
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I got it!!!

Yes!

I finally have my iMac!!!! :cool:
The Mac People's Store where I bought it from was really helpfull. I spent a few hours there, just trying everything and letting the sales person inform me of everything. I even got a cup of coffee. What can I say? Great service! And they had one in store, so I was able to immediately take one home!

I was absolutely surprised that when I took it out of the box and plugged it in, everything seemed to work! And with a few simple clicks I had Internet connecting as well! No problems whatsoever!
With Windows you first have to spend a whole day downloading and installing all these Service Packs and get all kind of security and firewalls for Internet. OS X rules!

I've had my Mac for two weeks now. I'm still getting used to everything. Some things are different, but I'm doing okay.
I've had little time to check out all of the great applications. Already I'm having great fun iPhoto, iWeb (60 day trial first) and Garage Band!
I actually already created my very own song!!! My own website and my own little slideshow-movie! And published everything with a single click! I love it!

Anyway, I wanted to thank you all for your reactions and advice. I'm so happy I switched! This machine is great and everything is possible!

:mac: Thanks everybody!
 

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dtravis7, re the comment about speed of the CS3 beta on Intel cores, see the following thread - I had posted some performance numbers on the PowerMac G5 and others added in the results for the Intel cores.

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47667&highlight=Photoshop+performance

Turns out that the results are pretty much the same - it flies at about the same speed on both the PowerMac G5s and the Intel cores. This is in keeping with the general truth that a G5's GHz is about the same as a C2D Ghz.

Very interesting and thanks for the heads up. I heard reports about Amazing speed increases over the PPC version. I think what maybe happening is they are using CS2 with Rosetta then going to CS3 and of course it flys in comparison. Thanks again for the test.

How about tests with Applying Filters and other effects.
 
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Macs don't make creative people creative, they are just computers.

No but they can free up creative people that are trapped by what their pc would allow them to do.

I wouldn't know where to look for a piece of PC software to do a slideshow and add a piece of music. But it came with my imac.

Now my head is full of great things I want to do on my imac that I never dreamed of on my PC.
 

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