Help with Mac!!!
Posted by: Dan M on 27 April 2004
Just kidding - hey, it's a Mac 
Seriously, Apple really know how to put a nice product together. Our new emac is full of nice features that make it a joy to use. 'Highly recommended' as they say.
cheers,
Dan
Seriously, Apple really know how to put a nice product together. Our new emac is full of nice features that make it a joy to use. 'Highly recommended' as they say.
cheers,
Dan
Posted on: 27 April 2004 by joe90
Macs rule.
Apart from no game software.
Porters of the world wake up!!!
joe90
Apart from no game software.
Porters of the world wake up!!!
joe90
Posted on: 28 April 2004 by Dan M
Apart from no game software.
It came with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. Just as in the real world I can't ollie to save my life.
-Dan
It came with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. Just as in the real world I can't ollie to save my life.
-Dan
Posted on: 01 May 2004 by Wolf
I use a G4 dual 800 for work and play at home. Just love it to bits. Windows to me is a bit byzantine. Always trying to make thier presentation "mac like". Last year did some work for a landscape architect to show off his work in quicktime movies. Then trying tp play them on his system was a horrendous feat, I ended up having to get a $600 software to turn it into Windows media player. That finally did the trick. UGH!!!
glenn
Life is analogue
glenn
Life is analogue
Posted on: 01 May 2004 by Rasher
I never put PC games on my main PC because work is work, and play is play. I can't risk a fuck up on my work PC for the sake of a game - so I have a PS2.
You are so lucky - engineering programs just don't come apple flavour. I had even considered getting a Mac with virtual PC, but there is little point I guess.
I envy you guys
You are so lucky - engineering programs just don't come apple flavour. I had even considered getting a Mac with virtual PC, but there is little point I guess.
I envy you guys
Posted on: 01 May 2004 by Martin Clark
For a production machine - not really much point, no. But as a kind of facilitator, VPC is brilliant.
I'm a long standing Mac fanboy, and always have one at home. Out of sheer bloody-mindedness I 've just loaded VPC4 on an old iMac (333Mhz) I've been given - and it's stable enough to run Microstation, a pretty heavyweight CAD package! It also sees all the ancillaries - USB devices modem etc.- natively, which makes really *using* it a doddle. I can dial up under IE6 on Windows, or Linux, and browse Infopop, then paste/save/open a Mac document on the 'other' desktop. A stunning achievement by Connectix, really.
M.
(who still has his System6 400K floppy somewhere - and another 400K disc with MacWrite, Macpaint and a bunch of university files on - and remembers swappping them to and fro on a Mac 128 to get a thesis done
) )
I'm a long standing Mac fanboy, and always have one at home. Out of sheer bloody-mindedness I 've just loaded VPC4 on an old iMac (333Mhz) I've been given - and it's stable enough to run Microstation, a pretty heavyweight CAD package! It also sees all the ancillaries - USB devices modem etc.- natively, which makes really *using* it a doddle. I can dial up under IE6 on Windows, or Linux, and browse Infopop, then paste/save/open a Mac document on the 'other' desktop. A stunning achievement by Connectix, really.
M.
(who still has his System6 400K floppy somewhere - and another 400K disc with MacWrite, Macpaint and a bunch of university files on - and remembers swappping them to and fro on a Mac 128 to get a thesis done
) )Posted on: 01 May 2004 by garyi
I think its a shame there aren't more games for mac, But that's not to say there aren't any! There are loads of new releases for mac all the time but my favourite is the emulators.
I have emulators for arcade machines (MAME with 200+ games) Super Nintendo (100+ games) and Sega (300+ Games) this is all rather good fun as it typically dates to days in my life when this technology was cutting edge. I remember the old 'count down' games in pubs and clubs with Mario brothers and gradius. You stick 10p in for 3 minutes of play, I have all this on the G5 now.
The Macintosh for me defines where computing can go, its a totally package that works well. Using OSX I have had 1 system wide crash since I bought the OS in march 2001. And although the little letter 'i' is well over used nower days, the ilife software which comes with the mac is undeniably fantastic, itunes, iphoto and imovie have allowed me to really get to grips with the other hardware I own. and everyone that see's iphoto knows that there is nothing like it on PC, nothing even close.
My Step dad bought a Sony Vio even though I told him to get an imac. He tells me he regrets it now after using my mac and the fact he gets the blue screen of death all the bl**dy time. I can't help him much because I don't have the answers for PCs.
I have done the comparisons though and yes the mac is more expensive in terms of the hard ware you get on board. For instance in John Lewis a decent PC package that comes in at the same price as a Mac
package might will have twice the amount of RAM and a larger harddrive. But the macs always have the latest technology and the styling, materials used and general quality is always better and no one here can deny it. If I had to purchase a PC it would be a Sony. Everything else looks and feels like crap.
I have a G5 now, I have coverted it since it came out but damn it I am young and earning money so I got one its now my main source of digital music, as it has built in optical audio out. This goes via 10 metres of optical cable to a DAC straight into the mac. itunes has all the music imported to a 200gig hard drive and a little application takes advantage of the excellent Quartz engine to provide huge full colour icons depicting the covers of each album. This way I have listened to more of my music than I ever have done before.
I have emulators for arcade machines (MAME with 200+ games) Super Nintendo (100+ games) and Sega (300+ Games) this is all rather good fun as it typically dates to days in my life when this technology was cutting edge. I remember the old 'count down' games in pubs and clubs with Mario brothers and gradius. You stick 10p in for 3 minutes of play, I have all this on the G5 now.
The Macintosh for me defines where computing can go, its a totally package that works well. Using OSX I have had 1 system wide crash since I bought the OS in march 2001. And although the little letter 'i' is well over used nower days, the ilife software which comes with the mac is undeniably fantastic, itunes, iphoto and imovie have allowed me to really get to grips with the other hardware I own. and everyone that see's iphoto knows that there is nothing like it on PC, nothing even close.
My Step dad bought a Sony Vio even though I told him to get an imac. He tells me he regrets it now after using my mac and the fact he gets the blue screen of death all the bl**dy time. I can't help him much because I don't have the answers for PCs.
I have done the comparisons though and yes the mac is more expensive in terms of the hard ware you get on board. For instance in John Lewis a decent PC package that comes in at the same price as a Mac
package might will have twice the amount of RAM and a larger harddrive. But the macs always have the latest technology and the styling, materials used and general quality is always better and no one here can deny it. If I had to purchase a PC it would be a Sony. Everything else looks and feels like crap.
I have a G5 now, I have coverted it since it came out but damn it I am young and earning money so I got one its now my main source of digital music, as it has built in optical audio out. This goes via 10 metres of optical cable to a DAC straight into the mac. itunes has all the music imported to a 200gig hard drive and a little application takes advantage of the excellent Quartz engine to provide huge full colour icons depicting the covers of each album. This way I have listened to more of my music than I ever have done before.
Posted on: 04 May 2004 by Joe Petrik
Dan,
Do you do any heavy-duty Photoshopping with your eMac? That's primarily what I'd be using a home computer for, along with some Web surfing, e-mailing and word processing. (I have no interest in gaming or downloading iLPs to my iTable.)
Of those tasks, only Photoshopping is a real bear, so I'd be interested in knowing how the eMac holds up to pixel crunching if that's something you do. I don't have a digital camera, but my film scanner generates 100+ MB files, so I need a reasonably fast processor and a ton of RAM to do anything. Up until now I've been using my uber PC at work, but that's just a stop gap until I get a new computer at home, which is long overdue to be replaced.
I've been using the same ancient consumer Mac since 1996. Like, iGary, I've been coveting a G5 tower with four-barrel carburetor and 23-inch flat panel display, but recent developments at work (as in learning yesterday that my group is losing all of its funding) have forced me to drastically downgrade to something less lofty. If I go with Apple, at best I might stretch it to an iMac with 20-inch display, but the eMac is probably the more sensible option.
So, just wondering what you think of your new eMac.
Joe
Do you do any heavy-duty Photoshopping with your eMac? That's primarily what I'd be using a home computer for, along with some Web surfing, e-mailing and word processing. (I have no interest in gaming or downloading iLPs to my iTable.)
Of those tasks, only Photoshopping is a real bear, so I'd be interested in knowing how the eMac holds up to pixel crunching if that's something you do. I don't have a digital camera, but my film scanner generates 100+ MB files, so I need a reasonably fast processor and a ton of RAM to do anything. Up until now I've been using my uber PC at work, but that's just a stop gap until I get a new computer at home, which is long overdue to be replaced.
I've been using the same ancient consumer Mac since 1996. Like, iGary, I've been coveting a G5 tower with four-barrel carburetor and 23-inch flat panel display, but recent developments at work (as in learning yesterday that my group is losing all of its funding) have forced me to drastically downgrade to something less lofty. If I go with Apple, at best I might stretch it to an iMac with 20-inch display, but the eMac is probably the more sensible option.
So, just wondering what you think of your new eMac.
Joe
Posted on: 04 May 2004 by Dan M
Hi Joe,
I'm not a power user, but having just bought a slide scanner (which came with Photoshop LE), it seems fast enough. Large scans are quick with USB2. You could order an eMac with 1 gig of RAM, which should be plenty for your scans. Having said that, I haven't done much processing as yet (mostly resizing for the web). If there's an Apple Store near you, perhaps a demo with your own files is best.
So far I'm really enjoying the eMac. The CRT is great for looking at pics. The only wrinkle so far is that the fan is a little noisy in comparison to my ibook.
cheers,
Dan
I'm not a power user, but having just bought a slide scanner (which came with Photoshop LE), it seems fast enough. Large scans are quick with USB2. You could order an eMac with 1 gig of RAM, which should be plenty for your scans. Having said that, I haven't done much processing as yet (mostly resizing for the web). If there's an Apple Store near you, perhaps a demo with your own files is best.
So far I'm really enjoying the eMac. The CRT is great for looking at pics. The only wrinkle so far is that the fan is a little noisy in comparison to my ibook.
cheers,
Dan
Posted on: 04 May 2004 by Dan M
PR,
Not for the eMac; there are only two flavors, and I think the only option is how much memory. The G5 I believe has more options (video card, disks, etc) and has several open bays. To be honest, the beauty of the Macs are that you don't have to think about that stuff, but just get on a use the damn thing. Everything I have plugged into it so far has been true plug-and-play. Check out the hardware tab at apple.com.
Dan
Not for the eMac; there are only two flavors, and I think the only option is how much memory. The G5 I believe has more options (video card, disks, etc) and has several open bays. To be honest, the beauty of the Macs are that you don't have to think about that stuff, but just get on a use the damn thing. Everything I have plugged into it so far has been true plug-and-play. Check out the hardware tab at apple.com.
Dan
Posted on: 04 May 2004 by sonofcolin
Can you build MAC's from scratch, selecting you own sound cards, motherboards, casing, software etc., or do you need to buy the complete kit?
No. You can do 'build to order' online at the apple store where you can select RAM, HD, video cards, RAID etc with G5's (RAM and HD only with icrash). Case and motherboard are standard.
Photoshop on an emac / imac is ok, but slow compared to a similar priced PC. A tricked out G5 it very good with photoshop (it has a special pluggin to make use of the G5).
If you are doing lots of photoshop work, a G5 is a good bet. Any G4 based mac is ok for light photoshop use, but not for heavy duty daily use.
No. You can do 'build to order' online at the apple store where you can select RAM, HD, video cards, RAID etc with G5's (RAM and HD only with icrash). Case and motherboard are standard.
Photoshop on an emac / imac is ok, but slow compared to a similar priced PC. A tricked out G5 it very good with photoshop (it has a special pluggin to make use of the G5).
If you are doing lots of photoshop work, a G5 is a good bet. Any G4 based mac is ok for light photoshop use, but not for heavy duty daily use.
Posted on: 12 May 2004 by Wolf
The main thing about the Mac/PC debate is that Macs come loaded with everything on them to do multimedia work and only need a couple very specialized upgrades. (tho now they don't come with microphones to add sound like they used to, I remember everyone in grad school that had a baby was putting that cooing sound on the computer and gloating over it, ugh!)
Cheap PCs are often without the basics of sound, video, modem, etc. and must be installed, but if you put everything on to the level of a Mac they aren't much cheaper. Also, don't compare speed of chips between the two, it's like apples and oranges. Macs are every bit as fast as the top PCs. However, if you're doing 3D modeling, high end investing, business management, scientific research work more software is written for PCs. There are cross platform software available Like MS Word, Quicken etc.
Buying a faster machine will cost you more money, period. But that is only needed by people doing movies and such. for some reason my G4 had a CD/DVD read/write put in but it is a slow one. I don't know if they've upgraded them or not. Most graphic designers work on Macs and it's great for multimedia, the Adobe Creative Suite is incredible. My teachers in graphic design usually rolled their eyes when PC people came in, and then one friend took another class and it was all PC and the teacher was very defensive and wouldn't help him with translation problems so he dropped out and came back to UCLA.
Macs have more fun factor and loyal following and studies have been done about learning the two systems and it seems Macs are a bit easier to learn from scratch and more flexible in their file saving/mgmt. and cross platform oriented (they have to be).I taught my 80 yo mother to do email and word documents and search teh internet, tho she still needs tutoring. PCs are more restricted as Billy boy doesn't like comptetition and makes it hard to use software outside of his limits, engineers rule at MSoft. PCs were originally designed purely for business, then he saw what Macs were doing and decided to do that too, it's just a bit stiffer to use. Macs were designed for multimedia and designers were the main idea people telling the engineers what they wanted, not the other way around.
Also, one important thing is Virus control. Macs have very few viruses out there (there's that product loyalty), while PCs get more and more everyday, that also becomes a consideration.
my two cents worth.
glenn
Life is analogue
Cheap PCs are often without the basics of sound, video, modem, etc. and must be installed, but if you put everything on to the level of a Mac they aren't much cheaper. Also, don't compare speed of chips between the two, it's like apples and oranges. Macs are every bit as fast as the top PCs. However, if you're doing 3D modeling, high end investing, business management, scientific research work more software is written for PCs. There are cross platform software available Like MS Word, Quicken etc.
Buying a faster machine will cost you more money, period. But that is only needed by people doing movies and such. for some reason my G4 had a CD/DVD read/write put in but it is a slow one. I don't know if they've upgraded them or not. Most graphic designers work on Macs and it's great for multimedia, the Adobe Creative Suite is incredible. My teachers in graphic design usually rolled their eyes when PC people came in, and then one friend took another class and it was all PC and the teacher was very defensive and wouldn't help him with translation problems so he dropped out and came back to UCLA.
Macs have more fun factor and loyal following and studies have been done about learning the two systems and it seems Macs are a bit easier to learn from scratch and more flexible in their file saving/mgmt. and cross platform oriented (they have to be).I taught my 80 yo mother to do email and word documents and search teh internet, tho she still needs tutoring. PCs are more restricted as Billy boy doesn't like comptetition and makes it hard to use software outside of his limits, engineers rule at MSoft. PCs were originally designed purely for business, then he saw what Macs were doing and decided to do that too, it's just a bit stiffer to use. Macs were designed for multimedia and designers were the main idea people telling the engineers what they wanted, not the other way around.
Also, one important thing is Virus control. Macs have very few viruses out there (there's that product loyalty), while PCs get more and more everyday, that also becomes a consideration.
my two cents worth.
glenn
Life is analogue
Posted on: 12 May 2004 by David Dever
quote:
Can you build MAC's from scratch, selecting you own sound cards, motherboards, casing, software etc., or do you need to buy the complete kit?
Think of these systems as "barebones"; i.e., FCC-approved with processor / mainboard / case / power supply and a spare drive.
Most high-performance Mac professionals add their own RAM (less expensive than Apple BTO), storage (esp. hard disks / controllers) and video adapter (aftermarket); current G5s feature an AC3-compatible optical digital output (and input) in addition to 1/8" TRS line in / speaker out.
The price of external hardware / storage / memory so dominates the price that platform choice is primarily one's final option. IMHO, it cost about the same to build a high-performance PC as it does a Mac.
Generally, though, there are more offerings from PC manufacturers if you need something cheap (less functional). I myself just threw together a small Shuttle XPC for the odd PC-only piece of software, and it took longer to install Windows XP service packs and security updates than it did to build the machine...
Also, FWIW, the newest eMacs (166 MHz system bus, OS X-only) are pretty spanking machines, especially if you prefer a CRT (video editors, dorm-room TV).