I'm not a professional, just an enthusiastic amateur...
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So you're not [a href=\"http://www.stevenmillerphotography.com/]this guy[/url] eh?
In practice, is it odd to have a 1680x1050 monitor matched up with a 1280x1024 second monitor?
I had mis-matched resolutions with my CRTs. It's a bit odd at first, but you get used to it. The resolutions aren't too different so it shouldn't be a big deal.
I realized from one of your posts in the other threads that you are a recent convert to Macs. The emotional side of me has wanted to do this for four years, though the rational side has always said I can do everything photo related on a PC so why bother. What made you finally make the move and are you glad you did? I use Downloader Pro for image ingestion and Qimage for printing. Don't know if you used these before, but if you did, have you found equivalent, relatively cheap alternatives in the Mac world?
Ah yes, the switch. I'd say follow your emotional side! Being happy with the platform you use is very important to productivity and IMHO creativity too. In the end though, both systems are tools. In the same sense we choose between Nikon/Canon or 35mm/MF you should work with the platform that works for you best.
That being said, my history in computers has been with IBM PCs. I learned DOS and Win3.1 more than a decade ago on an old 486 66MHz DX2. For the longest time I was in the "Macs Suck" train of thought based off experience with them from family members and schools. Granted, my interest on computers was for gaming, I still believe Macs weren't a viable platform outside the niche markets until recently.
Once OS X came out I saw potential in the platform and I started to closely observed the development of them. Once the G5 came out and 10.3 gave us Expose (this is seriously a Godsend) I was sold. Considering the state OS X is in now, the track record of Apple since the first colored iMac and the future developments of the platform (Intel switch being one) I believe Macs have a very promising future. More-so than PC have at this time (I'm not saying PCs are dying, just that they aren't going to be advancing much mostly due to Windows).
I switched to Macs because I am disappointed in the direction Windows PCs are heading. With Vista being delayed by several years and the fact that the fundamental flawed design in Windows that causes so much security grief (everything runs as Administrator) won't be fixed until
maybe the version of Windows
after Vista is irritating. The problems that PC makers are suffering due to the price wars they played means that if I want a PC with decent hardware I'd be building it myself and that means no warranty and no free over-night repairs.
Then there is the issue of using the operating system itself. I just got tired of dealing with the constant security issues and windows flaking out on me for one dumb reason or another. Unlike Windows, OS X works
with me and not against me. Printer dialogs (and other apps) don't force themselves in your face, the network connects and stays connected, I can run the system for months strait without the system slowly becoming sluggish, I can run numerous utility apps (such as calendar tools, stats, app launchers, drive monitors, etc) without them having a noticeable hamper on PS performance like they would on Windows, and so on and so fourth. When web editing I typically have a good 15 different apps running including PS and Windows itself within VPC and my mac handles it with grace.
There wasn't much that I had on the PC that the Mac didn't have. With the exception of my web editor (TopStyle) I have found equivalents for the Mac. I never used Downloader Pro or Qimage and I don't know of any equivalents for those. The mac does have an app called Image Capture that will import images but it is not as sophisticated as DP.