Convince me to go Mac

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I've signed up for a course in photography. Its laptop mandatory. I'm not sure whether i should get windows or mac. If I can be convinced I will go for a mac. I also have a panasonic dvd video camera. How do I know whether it will work with the mac. It uses usb 2.0 and needs a dvd ram driver. On top of that I have a business making slideshow videos.

Convince me.

Thanks.
 
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A rather unlikely response for someone here in a Mac group, but I read the following requirements:

1/ Photography - likely means you need to run Photoshop
2/ Laptop

Photoshop is not currently available as a Universal application (PPC and Intel native) yet, which means that if you run it on one of Apple's current laptops, which are Intel chips, it will have to be interpreted through Rosetta, Apple's real time PPC to Intel emulator. This means it will be slower than the same program running native on the Intel chip.

It sounds to me like you need a PC laptop so that you can run Photoshop in native format.

I'm really sorry to recommend this, since the Mac is so much better a machine generally, but if Photoshop performance is a key requirement, you will be better served with a PC for the next 6 months or so until CS3 comes out.
 
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Or he could just get CS2... I own it and it's amazing.
 
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CS2 is not a Universal Binary (although it is pretty responsive when I use it on my macbook pro) CS3 will be when it comes out.

For the slideshow business you could use final cut pro for that stuff and do some really amazing stuff (as I do for my business).
 
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The newest C2D MacBook Pros(2.33GHz) are the first Intel laptops to run Rosetta apps FASTER than the G5 PowerBooks. So if you go the MacBook Pro route over plain old MacBook, which I would assume you would since you'd need the more powerful graphics card, having it run slower shouldn’t be much of a problem.

As far as your DVD camcorder, I can't be sure without hooking it up and checking, but I would think it'd be compatible with a Mac. Macs come stock with tons of drivers built in. If you want to go Mac, take the camcorder up to an apple store or apple retailer, explain your situation and I'm sure they'll hook it up and see if it works.

I don't know much about slideshow videos or software but I’ve made some using imovie and they looked good. I can't be much help with that (that is if what I’ve said has been any help at all) but I’m sure someone out there in the forums knows of some good program. Also, if you decide to check out the compatibility of your camcorder, talk to one of the apple salespeople. If you explain what your needs and concerns are, I'm sure they can find things to meet those needs.
 

cwa107


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I've signed up for a course in photography. Its laptop mandatory. I'm not sure whether i should get windows or mac. If I can be convinced I will go for a mac. I also have a panasonic dvd video camera. How do I know whether it will work with the mac. It uses usb 2.0 and needs a dvd ram driver. On top of that I have a business making slideshow videos.

Convince me.

Thanks.

I agree with the other posters in that Photoshop doesn't run natively on Intel, so you'll likely have better performance on a PC.

That said, many of us who are currently using Macs have made the switch because they are annoyed with the faults of Windows enough to overlook some of the temporary shortcomings of Mac, like the lack of universal binaries for some major applications. If reliability, a quick and efficient OS that doesn't get in your way and general ease of use are important to you, then the Mac might be worth serious consideration. Besides, you can always run Photoshop in Windows via Bootcamp if you find the performance unacceptable under Rosetta.

Whatever you choose, good luck to you and let us know what you decide and why.
 
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...or get a used Powerbook.

CS2 is native.
Proven technology.
Still faster than most laptops.
Sweet looks.
RAM maxes out at 2Gb on most 15"-17" models (1.25Gb on 12").
Great video.

Et Cetera.
 

cwa107


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CS2 isn't native on the Intel machines. It runs under Rosette.

He's referring to the PowerBook which would have a PPC processor, under which Photoshop would run natively.
 

bobtomay

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15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
No viruses, no spyware, No need for that memory hog Norton, or paying for McAfee or even running the free AVG. Don't need to run Spybot and AdAware any longer.

15" MacBook Pro - $2499;.....17" Macbook Pro - $2799;......17" Dell - $2479
2.33 Ghz.............................2.33 Ghz.............................2.00 Ghz
2 GB RAM............................2 GB RAM...........................1 GB RAM
120 GB drive.......................160 GB drive........................80 GB drive
6x double layer....................8x double layer....................8x double layer
X1600 256MB.......................X1600 256 MB......................Go 7900 GS 256 MB
Camera built-in....................Camera built-in.....................N/A
Fire wire 800.......................Fire wire 800........................N/A
N/A...................................N/A.....................................5 in 1 card reader
1 yr warranty.......................1 yr warranty......................2 yr warranty
No virus scanner...................No virus scanner.................15 month virus subscription

Upgrade Dell to 2.33Ghz............ADD: $425
Upgrade Dell to 2 GB RAM..........ADD: $225
Upgrade Dell to 120 GB drive......ADD: $45

Upgrade MAC to 3 yr warranty - $349..........Upgrade Dell to 3 yr warranty - $318

Final tab with 3 yr warranty

15" MAC....$2848
17" MAC....$3148
17" DELL....$3492

To be fair the hard drive in the Dell is 7200 RPM vs 5400 in the MAC. Of course for the $ saved can buy a much larger Fire wire 800 drive for back up and storage for your MAC.

This is why I bought the MAC instead of a PC.
 
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I think people tend to get a little 'performance happy' when it comes to doing things with technology. Professionals have been using Photoshop to run businesses and interface with whatever camera/video/editing software for quite awhile on PPC macs for many years now. An Intel Mac will do pretty much the same thing on the newer hardware with Rosetta even without the 'nativeness' in pretty much the same way, even on the consumer grade Macbooks. It will only get better when Adobe and other software producers produce the Universal binary versions. Once that happens you will be ready to go with it for your business without the virus/spyware/malware issues that plague the windows world.

So really, you can invest in your photo platform in the windows world, where it certainly works well enough but you have to contend with the issues that are involved in the windows OS, or you can invest in the Mac world, which is geared specifically to the creative arts. The Mac as it is works wondefully with Photoshop, video editing, and other graphical endeavours as it stands today. It will only get better in the very near future, and with the same hardware that you can buy now. With a Windows PC/laptop you will only get empty promises that are generated by a marketing juggernaut leveraging its monopoly over the masses.

Apple doesn't really seem to market as much as it just makes good hardware with which its software works as flawlessly as any software can. It is also much more enjoyable to use and look at for hours on end. Of course with certain caveats, as always, but in my own experience over only two years of using a Mac I don't see them doing anything that would prevent professionals in the graphical arts from effortlessly creating whatever the hardware is capable of doing. And this includes professional TV and movie producers.

I used to think that Apple hardware was always overpriced for what it did, but now that I have used one for an extended period I am convinced that it is worth every penny. I'm not a fanboy either. I still use (professionally) Windows and Linux computers but for my own needs (and if I were to start an independent business) I will always use a Mac from now on.
 
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First, I'd like to say thanks for all the quick responses. In regards to CS3, I know there is a beta release. Just curious whether anybody has used the beta and whether it runs natively.
What is the difference between the power books and the mac pros?
I'm not sure if there are any authorized resellers around here, I live in the small town of morrisburg, to test my video camera. Initially I tried to contact apple through the website but there wasn't really any to contact them.
At the moment I use premiere to edit my videos. Considering the team who created premiere also created final cut pro I can see the switch being considerably easy. I'm running an Hp pavillion right now. It hasn't given me much trouble.
Once again, thanks for the responses.
 
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CS3 was built to run as a Universal binary, which means it will run natively on both Intel and PPC machines. I think it would be safe to assume that the beta is Universal.

The Powerbooks are the last generation of professional Apple laptops. They have G4 PowerPC processors instead of the Macbook Pro's Intel processors. They're still quite speedy and can handle most tasks well. Plus, all PPC software and Universal binaries run natively, so you don't have to worry about Rosetta.

Of course, I will obviously recommend you get the Intel based Macbook Pro as it is the faster machine, which helps a lot when dealing with editing of any form of media.
 
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I agree with the other posters in that Photoshop doesn't run natively on Intel, so you'll likely have better performance on a PC.

That said, many of us who are currently using Macs have made the switch because they are annoyed with the faults of Windows enough to overlook some of the temporary shortcomings of Mac, like the lack of universal binaries for some major applications. If reliability, a quick and efficient OS that doesn't get in your way and general ease of use are important to you, then the Mac might be worth serious consideration. Besides, you can always run Photoshop in Windows via Bootcamp if you find the performance unacceptable under Rosetta.

Whatever you choose, good luck to you and let us know what you decide and why.

This is the most sensible reply of them all. Choosing between a Mac and PC in terms of what work you intend to do is negligible. What really needs to be considered is what you want out of the laptop when you're done working on it.

If it's to be left on the side, or you prefer Windows, then a Dell etc. will be loads cheaper and perform just as well.

If you intend to use the laptop for personal computing then you really need to consider the pros and cons of each OS.

I choose OS X over Windows for personal use, but when I'm in work I choose the machine that runs the applications I need the fastest.
 
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To the last reply, I have to get a labtop for school, my hp pavillion is a desktop pc.

I was at staples today and they carry macbooks. What is the main difference between macbook and macbook pro? Thanks.
 
M

MacHeadCase

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For one thing, the MacBook Pro has a dedicated video card while the MacBook Video RAM is shared with main memory.
 
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I don't find the performance of CS2 on my 1.83ghz CD MPB to be significantly different than on my G4 1.42ghz Mini (which is comparable in speed to what you're going to get with a Powerbook). When CS3 comes out, it'll blow away the native G4 performance, and it should be out in what, six months?

If you go for a Mac, don't go for a PPC. If you're unhappy with the performance of CS2 under Rosetta, install Bootcamp or Parallels and run the Windows version of CS2 to tide you over until CS3 comes out.

If you're still torn, keep in mind that you're going to find very few people who've made the switch to MacOS who don't wish they'd done it earlier. You will pay a slight premium, since you can find non-Apple laptops in the sub-$1000 range, but the hardware won't be up to spec with Apple's cheapest ($1100) Macbook model, and the general consensus is that the software won't be anywhere near close!
 
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For one thing, the MacBook Pro has a dedicated video card while the MacBook Video RAM is shared with main memory.

This in itself might sway you between the MB and MBP -- my understanding is that a lot of Photoshop's filters are run through the GPU (and that CS3 relies on offloading work to the GPU even more), meaning you're going to get a huge boost in performance by going with the MBP and its X1600 video card over the MB's integrated Intel video.

I'm not a heavy PS user however, so there are no doubt folks here with more experience who can confirm or deny what I've just said...
 

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