So! Where's the benefit of using a Macbook?

[Resist]

I upgraded the RAM in my 2010 mid year 13" MBP from 4GB to 8GB and still have the same amount of spinning beach balls as before. Guess I'll think about upgrading the hard drive now.

 

[greenmeanie]

You're an "IT TECH" and can't figure this out yourself?

Hi all,

This is my very first post about my very first mac machine, a late 2011 MBP with the 2.2 GHz Core i7 processor (2nd gen quad core), 512 MB Radeon 6750 video, 15" standard screen and 4 Gb of RAM. I've been a PC user for 25+ years and do a fair amount of photo editing and a moderate amount of graphic design for my secondary job as a photographer. My day job is as an IT tech. It would be awesome to get some honest, "proven" responses and not any personal "mac is better than pc" answers.

So, after using pcs all these years and deciding to "upgrade" my last pc-based laptop (a Gateway ID79C with core i7 1.67 GHz first-gen dual-core processor, 8 GB RAM, 5400 RPM HDD, 1 Gb Radeon 5650 vid card) and I chose to get a macbook pro.

I don't have an unlimited budget and after considerable research including talking with several mac techs and a guy at a mac store I thought this macbook pro would be at least a moderate step upwards in performance.

Well, I use Adobe PS CS5, Illustrator CS5, MS Excel, Adobe Acrobat a,d several external USB hard drives (photo storage/backup).

I am finding that I am spending as much time looking at that spinning "beach ball" as I ever did on my previous pc-based laptop (as specd above). Maybe I am doing something wrong or I am missing something but as of now (2 and a bit weeks of use on this macbook) I am feeling that I had traded $2200.00 CDN for a very nice looking BUT mediocre performing laptop. I could certainly have spent the money better with some additional photo lighting or gear and been frustrated NO more with my previous laptop than I am with this new macbook.


DO NOT get me wrong, I am NOT bashing the macbook. I am simply relayin my initial experiences with it in comparison with a lesser specd pc laptop. I am hoping that I am missing something so I can justify the money I have spent. I am hoping someone here can tell me the "magic trick" I am missing to enjoy this macbook as I had hoped I would.

As for the mac OS being better than Windows 7... Well, in some regards it is much better, in others it's much worse. Anyone can do pretty much any task on either platform.

I apologize for the long post and the rant but I hope there's enough information in this post for someone to be able to help me out Show me the light as it were!

Thanks all!

 

[sweetbrat]

ONE more update: I just ran through processing a set of Trader Cards for a Hockey Team I shot recently. It consisted of editing the photo and adjusting the picture position within my card template. I have all 17 player photos on separate layers as well as several groups of editable text levels. There are roughly 100 layers including the static (same for every card) text and design elements. Around 42 MB total file size. I also had the activity monitor running, Sparrow, Excel (with order information), and Firefox (with 6 or 7 tabs open). I haven't seen the spinning ball as of yet and the RAM doubling (4-8 GB) has made a noticeable difference.

Editing a file that large with that many layers...not surprised you needed more RAM. Glad it seems to be working better for you now

 

[plageius]

troll alert

I don't know how you've all missed it.

He said he was an IT tech by trade.

You mean to tell me an IT tech was too dumb to know that his ram might be hitting its limit? doubt it.

I really wonder whenever I hear someone is an IT tech... seriously, its ram thats a basic integral piece of hardware.

 

[windowstomac]

Interested to hear how you find things with 8GB.

As an act of solidarity as another IT tech, I personally never had a need for more RAM than 4GB when I was using Win7...nor did I need more under Snow Leopard (even with Windows running alongside as a VM). BUT after Lion came along my Mac operated in BeachBallsville until I upgraded to 8GB.

 

[bill-p]

Interested to hear how you find things with 8GB.

As an act of solidarity as another IT tech, I personally never had a need for more RAM than 4GB when I was using Win7...nor did I need more under Snow Leopard (even with Windows running alongside as a VM). BUT after Lion came along my Mac operated in BeachBallsville until I upgraded to 8GB.

I think it might have to do with that Lion runs on 64-bit kernel by default whereas Snow Leopard runs on 32-bit by default.

If you force Snow Leopard to run on 64-bit kernel, it would sometimes feel just as sluggish.

 

[bdodds1985]

When I first switched from a PC to my MBP, well, it's a good thing there were no hammers around. but after troubleshooting and familiarizing myself to the OS and the way it runs, I have no regrets and will probly never go back to using a PC again. I dont need anything specific for windows or mac but I prefer the Mac OS to that of Windows. I also like the designs and overall look and feel of Apple products. I look at it like this, so many different brands can run Windows (as well as a mac), but non of those brands make they're own OS. just a shell. So apple has gotta be doing something right.

good luck and dont give up hope. just get familiar with it before you make up your mind. I've had my MBP since October and I learn something amazing almost every day on this machine. just get past apples flaws and stubborn ways and i think eventually you will find something to keep you attached.

 

[unixperience]

You're an "IT TECH" and can't figure this out yourself?

the OP also said he uses windows, and has for the past 25 years. Obviously they aren't the same operating system, or none of us would be here, they are very different.

To the OP: everyone has their own reasons for getting a mac. personally, I love unix systems (can't stand windows, FYI I'm a windows IT guy as well 3 years, not as long as you, but I do hate windows lol) and how easily you can interface with the os on a lower level. I also do computer science, and I love unix for programming as well. The OS is very quick and snappy, unlike windows (no offense i use win7 almost everyday for certain engineering applications).

If you are having problems, perhaps you can try reinstalling the operating system..... i know it isn't ideal, but I know people have had success doing that.. it is a drastic move I will admit, but it can help. You can of course just reinstall the os (leaving all your apps and docs in place) however, this may not be as effective as a clean installation.

I don't think I've seen anyone recommend a "permissions repair" (sorry if I missed it) but open disk utility disk, in the left hand panel, click on your hardrive (probably labeled macHD or MacintoshHD, i forget what they call them now) and below the middle window there is a button that says "repair disk permissions" it will take a few minutes but it may fix some problems. Try that before you reinstall the os

another thing that may help is opening up a terminal window and typing in "sudo periodic daily weekly monthly" and press enter, it will tell you it can be dangerous lol, sudo is basically taking control of the operating system... its like windows "administrator" but with superpowers you can't imagine. It will ask you to type in your password. Note: when you type nothing will appear on the screen, security reasons of course, then hit enter. so what does that do? thats fair you shouldn't do things without reason but unix OS's need to run maintenance scripts, macs do this around 3 am....but since most are off at this time, they won't execute these scripts. heres a description of what they do http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/maintscripts.html#Anchor-The-11481
they basically just clean up logs and databases, cleaning them up, it may slightly speed up performance, hope that helped

----------

Interested to hear how you find things with 8GB.

As an act of solidarity as another IT tech, I personally never had a need for more RAM than 4GB when I was using Win7...nor did I need more under Snow Leopard (even with Windows running alongside as a VM). BUT after Lion came along my Mac operated in BeachBallsville until I upgraded to 8GB.

i also agree with windowstomac, lion uses a TON of memory. that's all there is to it. I still use SL (haven't upgraded and have very little interest) so more ram may help. also switching off the resume apps and such will definitely slow everything down, disabling those options will undoubtedly boost performance