Switch, PC to MAC?

[Curt]

After processing files on a PC w/PS for years, I am getting the itch to switch to a MAC.
I currently have a  nephew built 3 year old  PC running a Athalon 2500 & 2G RAM.
When it works, it works well.

 Could some good & knowledgeable person guide me to a properly configured MAC with a spec recommendation.  I am not made of money, just want a reliable & worthy machine. Thank you!

[photopat]

Curt-It all depends...

A Dual 2GHz G5  (with 512 mb RAM) is about $2000 (the "smallest" of the tower macs at the moment)
If you work with "big files" you want to add another 3 1/2 Gig RAM but these are bettter(cheaper) bought from a PC store.(minimum would be 2Gig all together in my mind)

I pesonally work on a dual 1.8 G5 with 4 Gig RAM and I'm wery pleased with it.
I normally work with files @ a couple hundres mb and never feel I need a "faster" computer (even though who's ever satisfyed with what they got when there are faster machines out there    )

But since Apple is moving to intel processors on all  their new computers it's hard to give any "real" advice at the moment.

It's not that the G5 of today is going to be non compatible with newer OS for a couple of  years (if ever) ,but the price on the towers might go down a fair bit when the intel towers are introduced
(whenever that's going to be)

And the intel macs has ben prowen to be really fast.
A  benchmark test made with a macbook pro (core duo 2,16 GHz) booted with Windows XP ran photoshop faster than any PC core duo laptops  http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2...03/21/8212.aspx

From that article

This bodes very well for the performance of an Intel-accelerated OS X Photoshop, when that finally appears.

So the choise is eighter buy a G5 today or wait out the new intel (G5???)
If you are not desperate to get a new computer I would wait a while.

Patrick.

[61Dynamic]

I made the switch to Macs around last Thanksgiving after 12 years of WinPC. I wish I had switched sooner, it's an excellent and very capable platform. I bought a Dual 2.3GHz PowerMac with 3.5GB of Ram. I shoot a 6MP camera in Raw and process everything as 16-bit/channel files and my Mac handles it without a hitch. It even handles 13MP 5D files quite well also.

Apple is switching their computers over to Intel chips and the PowerMacs will be one of the last to be updated. Some are speculating July as the date since that is when Intel releases their new (and very impressive) dual-core Conroe chip.

If buying a Mac now, then there is no problem buying a PowerPC (PPC) system as they do have guts, Apple software will support them for a reasonable time into the future (thanks to universal binary (UB)) and they will perform the best with Photoshop for a wile. Adobe will not be releasing PS CS2 as a UB app due to the complexity of doing so. This means CS2 will have to be emulated on a Intel box and thusly will run slower than optimal. PS CS3 will be UB but that will not be released until the second quarter of 2007 (as in April to June).

Another thing to consider on buying Intel-Macs (Mac-tels) is that all Mactels released now are Revision A hardware and could have unforeseen issues. When buying new Mac hardware it's typically best to wait for Rev.B hardware to be released. I'd speculate that Q2 of 2007 is a good time to make the switch to Intel systems for a professional. By that time Intel will have released their quad-core Kentsfield chip (scheduled for early '07). Just in time for Revision B hardware to be released using that chip if the PowerMacs are in fact updated in July.

In the mean time, a PPC Mac will get plenty of good use and will be money well-spent.

[BernardLanguillier]

Whether it is Wintel or Mac, my view is that today is the worst time ever to buy a new high end workstation.

- Both Intel and AMD are readying their next generation CPUs, and the move is the biggest in the last 10 years... The 2 cores Conroe should be out by September, with 4 core versions coming out Q1 07,

- MS is going to release Vista early 07 and this also is the most significant move in the last 10 years in terms of OS. 64 bits support should help a lot for many image applications,

- Faster/higher capacity HDs will be released soon as well thanks to the perpendicular technology and large capacity external SATA enclosures in the 2 TB range will soon become available at reasonnable prices,

- the next generation optical storage media are around the conrner will Blue Ray due to become available from September, holographic storage also being just around the corner for even much higher capacities (up to 500 GB - see the recent InPhase announcement),

- Solid state disks are becoming more and more realistic for OS boot/scratch disks (see the recent Samsung annoucement for laptops),

- More and more native Intel binary applications are being readied in the Mac world,

I'll wait until early 07 to replace my 2 years old 2 Xeon box. I might go the Mac route, but will most probably stay in the PC world because of these tens of applications I am used to...  Spending big bucks for a 20% increase in performance doesn't make a lot of sense for me, but I feel that a high spec Feb 07 workstation could be at least twice faster than my current set up.

Regards,
Bernard

[John Camp]

I shifted from PC to Mac and would do it again, because I really like the option to run a computer like a toaster; push a button and it does X. With the PCs, which I used for years, it always seemed like something new was coming up -- needed more security, more security would cause program problems, then you'd have to update the programs...I got tired of it. I suppose (actually, I'm sure) that you can make Macs as complicated as any PC, but if you don't want to do that, if you want to keep the computer aspect of your life simple, then the Mac is the way to go.

However.

You're talking big bucks. You if need Photoshop, you'll need a new one, and a new one runs (at retail) close to $700 bucks, though there are some deals. You may need a Lightroom or an Aperture, you may need a new word processor, etc. And be aware that there's a lot more fairly ideosyncratic software for the PC than for the Mac. With a PC, most of the time, you can think of something you'd like to do, and then go find a program that does it. That doesn't work so well with a Mac.

Also, you may eventually want to add a laptop, and of course, use the same software, so that means a Mac, and Mac laptops are notably more expensive (and there are far fewer configurations) than in the PC world.

Overall, given equal function, I would say that you should be prepared to pay up to twice as much for a Mac than you would for a PC, if you shop hard for the PC. Go look at an Apple store, then go look at the Dell store. Sure, the Dells are ugly, but the function is there.

JC

[61Dynamic]

You're talking big bucks. You if need Photoshop, you'll need a new one, and a new one runs (at retail) close to $700 bucks, though there are some deals.

Not true. Adobe will trade out platform license for free. Sign a paper stating you'll destroy you Windows copy and they'll send you a full copy for Mac.

As to other software.. well that depends on what software you need. I personally haven't had any issues there and the Mac equivalents of what I used on the PC have been far better programs overall than what I had on PC. YMMV of course.

When I switched, hardware for a PC cost about $1K more than my Mac equivalent. Even after all the software I purchased for the Mac I was still within over $500 less for my Mac system than what I would have spent on a PC.

This is not to say John is wrong. I'm just pointing out the fact that different people and needs will result in very different costs.

I agree the G4 laptops are quite overpriced. The hardware is just dang-friggin old. The new Intel MacBooks are competitively priced (as in the same) to their WinPC counterparts.