I just got 2 27" iMacs as a transition back to Mac from PC. The best looking monitors I've every seen! LOVE the monitors, especially when it's connected to my blowtorch PCs. Hence the problem.
I love the concept of being able to have a 27" Mac, and then hit command-F2 to have an excellent 27" monitor for the PC. But to get it to work "right" as a Mac has been giving me nothing but grief.
First of all, we are on a ReadyNAS Linux gigabit network that works seamlessly with our PCs (we are a video production company that got tired of waiting for a modern version of Final Cut and jumped ship to CS5... loving every minute of it.) We've been away from Mac for a year or two and have grown fond of how Windows 7, despite the bad rap from others in the industry, truly does "just work."
We felt it was time to get back into the Mac groove, but since we have, we've had nothing but problems.
Getting the Mac to connect to our network at speeds greater than a laughable 6 MB/Sec seems to be impossible even with all the techy network guys here on site. The PCs connect at 100-120 MB/Sec.
Secondly, Finder seems to be as worthless as possible as it cannot see past a couple tiers in our network folder structure before freezing completely up. Adobe can read deep into the network folders just fine on the iMacs, so can muCommander... but Apple, that's supposed to "just work," well, doesn't.
Same goes for dragging/dropping anything from the network to the local drives (or viceversa). The copy dialog in finder just says "stopping..." for ever and never does. Totally, totally buggy.
But using muCommander to copy anything works fine, albeit at near dial up speeds.
Trying to connect a simple network printer is nigh impossible without assigning a static IP address to the printer and forcing Mac to find it based on that IP. Mac never even sees it until you tell it "Oh, by the way look here: 192.168....." and then blind Mac suddenly CAN see it after telling us there were no printers connected.
Windows 7 finds network printers as easily as USB printers. Why can't mac handle this without having to be an IT guy?
I love all the eye candy on the awesome 27" monitor, but candy without functionality just causes cavities... which is what I feel I'm getting right now.
I guess I've never had to use a Mac on a network before. Our first network experience happened on Windows 7. It was pretty much plug and play easy. Mac seems to be your cool "trendy" computer, but when you want to get some business type work done, forget it.
Why do I post this here if I seem so set on Windows 7? Cuz I'm not. I actually want to transition back into Mac and make it work, but I'm not impressed after having been "away" for a while. The grass IS greener on the other side. Not to mention Final Cut Pro is about 2 years behind CS5 and Avid and Steve Jobs seems to have forgotten about all us old pro users that kept Apple afloat for years.
That's my impression and gripe. Please, I'm here cuz I want you to tell me where I'm wrong and how I can correct it.
I'm starting to think that since I haven't been drinking the Mac Koolaide, I can see the light now... that Windows has much more to offer and is really suited for a business/work environment where productivity, not bling-bling, is ultimately what pays the bills.
I love the concept of being able to have a 27" Mac, and then hit command-F2 to have an excellent 27" monitor for the PC. But to get it to work "right" as a Mac has been giving me nothing but grief.
First of all, we are on a ReadyNAS Linux gigabit network that works seamlessly with our PCs (we are a video production company that got tired of waiting for a modern version of Final Cut and jumped ship to CS5... loving every minute of it.) We've been away from Mac for a year or two and have grown fond of how Windows 7, despite the bad rap from others in the industry, truly does "just work."
We felt it was time to get back into the Mac groove, but since we have, we've had nothing but problems.
Getting the Mac to connect to our network at speeds greater than a laughable 6 MB/Sec seems to be impossible even with all the techy network guys here on site. The PCs connect at 100-120 MB/Sec.
Secondly, Finder seems to be as worthless as possible as it cannot see past a couple tiers in our network folder structure before freezing completely up. Adobe can read deep into the network folders just fine on the iMacs, so can muCommander... but Apple, that's supposed to "just work," well, doesn't.
Same goes for dragging/dropping anything from the network to the local drives (or viceversa). The copy dialog in finder just says "stopping..." for ever and never does. Totally, totally buggy.
But using muCommander to copy anything works fine, albeit at near dial up speeds.
Trying to connect a simple network printer is nigh impossible without assigning a static IP address to the printer and forcing Mac to find it based on that IP. Mac never even sees it until you tell it "Oh, by the way look here: 192.168....." and then blind Mac suddenly CAN see it after telling us there were no printers connected.
Windows 7 finds network printers as easily as USB printers. Why can't mac handle this without having to be an IT guy?
I love all the eye candy on the awesome 27" monitor, but candy without functionality just causes cavities... which is what I feel I'm getting right now.
I guess I've never had to use a Mac on a network before. Our first network experience happened on Windows 7. It was pretty much plug and play easy. Mac seems to be your cool "trendy" computer, but when you want to get some business type work done, forget it.
Why do I post this here if I seem so set on Windows 7? Cuz I'm not. I actually want to transition back into Mac and make it work, but I'm not impressed after having been "away" for a while. The grass IS greener on the other side. Not to mention Final Cut Pro is about 2 years behind CS5 and Avid and Steve Jobs seems to have forgotten about all us old pro users that kept Apple afloat for years.
That's my impression and gripe. Please, I'm here cuz I want you to tell me where I'm wrong and how I can correct it.
I'm starting to think that since I haven't been drinking the Mac Koolaide, I can see the light now... that Windows has much more to offer and is really suited for a business/work environment where productivity, not bling-bling, is ultimately what pays the bills.