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The real cost of switching

L

lion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2005
20
0
I've been thinking of switching to Mac for sometime now. The prices of ibooks and powerbooks are very competitive when compared to their pc counterparts. However, i'm not too sure about the amount of money i'll be spending on software.

As a PC user, i've always been able to buy cheap 'hacked' software for my pc including powerful programs such as photoshop and macromedia flash. Any program i want would cost me almost nothing and they work just fine.

I'm wondering how do those who swich to Mac justify the cost of mac programs. Buying photoshop alone would cost more than £300 which is about 30% of the cost of a new iBook. You can argue that such programs work smoother or better on a mac but this still doesn't justify the cost. From my experience, all the 'hacked' programs i've been using on my pc worked reasonably well.

I'm not a professional computer user and i do not study graphics, design etc. But using a pc gives me the chance to experiment and play with such programs without worrying about MONEY!


So, what is the real cost of switching to Mac? The cost of Mac programs are very unrealistic for a home amateur user. Is there a cheap way of purchasing mac software that i'm not aware of?! :confused:
 
lion said:
As a PC user, i've always been able to buy cheap 'hacked' software for my pc including powerful programs such as photoshop and macromedia flash. Any program i want would cost me almost nothing and they work just fine.

...

So, what is the real cost of switching to Mac? The cost of Mac programs are very unrealistic for a home amateur user. Is there a cheap way of purchasing mac software that i'm not aware of?! :confused:
Click to expand...
The biggest buying tip...

Read the forum rules on this type of discussion. :(
 
This is approximately complaining about moving from San Francisco to New York, and you're fine with the cost of living adjustment, but you're annoyed because you know how to rob banks in SF but you've never experienced robbing a bank in NYC.... :rolleyes:
 
I hate the word "switching". I'm bi, and Mac fanboys should begin to consider that possibility. I'm not a Mac fanboy neither a Windows fanboy and I hate people that take sides, there just people with nothing better to do. THEY ARE BOTH GOOD FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES. I mean sheesh, whats wrong with using both Windows and Mac??? I have a Windows VAIO desktop and I love it and a 12" G3 ibook soon to be replaced with a new 12" ibook once they're updated. Buy a Mac, and if you can't afford to buy the Mac versions of the software you already have on your Windows machine, well then use both. Theres an idea for you now. Do some of your work on your Windows machine and do some of your work on your Mac machine. This way you don't get sick of using one operating system. It's like being bi-lingual. Just keep your Windows machine and do some of your work on it.

This is my opinion, having just a Windows machine sucks. And having just a Mac machine sucks just as much too. Having both is the way to go. But "switching" is the stupidest, corniest sounding thing I have ever heard of in my life.
 
lion said:
I'm wondering how do those who swich to Mac justify the cost of mac programs.
Click to expand...
The same way people who use PCs justify the cost of PC software. Mac software doesn't cost any more - it's just harder at times to steal. :rolleyes:
 
I think you misunderstood me. I'm not asking about hacked mac software. I'm bringing the point that switching to Mac costs alot in terms of having to purchace new software. How do people adjust to this fact? and when i asked about ways to buy cheaper mac software, i was wondering if there are certain licencing programs, special educational discounts or websites to buy second-hand programs, that's all.
 
jsw said:
The same way people who use PCs justify the cost of PC software. Mac software doesn't cost any more
Click to expand...


But if you already have the software on PC, swiching to Mac means you'll have to buy it again which costs alot of money on top of the hardware cost.
 
lion said:
But if you already have the software on PC, swiching to Mac means you'll have to buy it again which costs alot of money on top of the hardware cost.
Click to expand...

Did you read my post?
 
lion said:
I think you misunderstood me. I'm not asking about hacked mac software. I'm bringing the point that switching to Mac costs alot in terms of having to purchace new software. How do people adjust to this fact? and when i asked about ways to buy cheaper mac software, i was wondering if there are certain licencing programs, special educational discounts or websites to buy second-hand programs, that's all.
Click to expand...
OK.

Photoshop Elements 3.0 is ~US$80 and works for almost all non-pro users. There are also eBay'd copies of various software, edu discounts from some vendors, etc.

Plus, iLife does a lot of stuff pretty well.

Things like Macromedia S/W will cost about what they'd cost for a PC user assuming legal copies were purchased.

I'd check out what you get with the Mac before even worrying about what you'd need to buy.
 
lion said:
I think you misunderstood me. I'm not asking about hacked mac software. I'm bringing the point that switching to Mac costs alot in terms of having to purchace new software. How do people adjust to this fact? and when i asked about ways to buy cheaper mac software, i was wondering if there are certain licencing programs, special educational discounts or websites to buy second-hand programs, that's all.
Click to expand...
Duff-Man says....it is hard for us to *not* misunderstand when you were talking about "hacked" PC software.

Many software vendors will give you a "cross-grade" to the Mac version for little (sometimes even no) cost. And if you were to look at *legitimate" software disks you'll find that in many cases the Mac and PC versions are on the same disk (this is not as common as it used to be though).....oh yeah!
 
mkrishnan said:
I'm nothing but supportive of open expression of your sexuality, but what does that have to do with purchasing software? :p :eek: :eek: :D
Click to expand...

You know exactly what I meant by that statement. And in terms of purchasing software, I mean don't. If he already has versions for PC and does not want to repurchase for the Mac it,s simple. He can continue using his PC for those applications and use his mac for other things. He doesn't have to "switch". I can't stand to hear that word. It's so stupid and corny. But then he can be bi like me too :p
 
lion said:
But if you already have the software on PC, swiching to Mac means you'll have to buy it again which costs alot of money on top of the hardware cost.
Click to expand...

Okay, a serious reply too...*if* you actually own the software in question, this is not as big an issue as it seems for the most expensive software. I am pretty sure that Adobe offers a license transfer to give you rights to the Mac version in return for your PC license at a pretty minimal cost. It has been discussed here elsewhere. This has been my experience for a lot of the other "expensive" software. If you didn't pay for the copy the first time, then you're back to complaining about having to pay for software instead of pirating it. For which you get little sympathy here.
 
finalcoolman said:
You know exactly what I meant by that statement. And in terms of purchasing software, I mean don't. If he already has versions for PC and oes not want to repurchase for the Mac it,s simple. He can continue using his PC for those applications and use his mac for other things. Then he can be bi like me too :p
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorry, I couldn't resist. :eek: This is a very realistic strategy in some cases. There is a lot of statistics software I use on PC because licenses are available and the Mac versions suck.... So I guess I'm bi too. ;)
 
mkrishnan said:
This is approximately complaining about moving from San Francisco to New York, and you're fine with the cost of living adjustment, but you're annoyed because you know how to rob banks in SF but you've never experienced robbing a bank in NYC.... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Ha... I just started laughing hard when i read it and the people in the room started to stare at me.

Well the real cost of "switching" depends becuase if you buy all your software legaly the company will most likely give you a mac version (except for games). If not youll have to use the same method that you were.
 
Duff-Man said:
And if you were to look at *legitimate" software disks you'll find that in many cases the Mac and PC versions are on the same disk (this is not as common as it used to be though)
Click to expand...
That's right. My copy of Macromedia Studio came as a PC/Mac hybrid CD – of course though, now that Macromedia has been swallowed up by Adobe it's a bit of a moot point. ;)
 
faintember said:
Wow, even though this thread should be locked, i feel like we really have had a break-through today.

I want to let OS X know that i had an affair with Linux last year, but i swear i've broke it off. :p
Click to expand...
I occasionally turn to my BeBox for some fun, but it's just a casual thing - she's too old now. I also use Windows at work - but it's just a work thing, there's no emotion involved, and I get paid to do it.

My only real love is OS X.
 
lion said:
As a PC user, i've always been able to buy cheap 'hacked' software for my pc including powerful programs such as photoshop and macromedia flash. Any program i want would cost me almost nothing and they work just fine.

So, what is the real cost of switching to Mac? The cost of Mac programs are very unrealistic for a home amateur user. Is there a cheap way of purchasing mac software that i'm not aware of?! :confused:
Click to expand...

I hope you didn't pay for hacked stuff; paying a little to the original thief doesn't make it more correct.

Home users don't need Photoshop; you can buy Elements for £50 on Amazon which will likely do everything you need. Or get GIMP for free. And again, most home users don't use Flash... If your 'home' hobby happens to be creating Flash games etc, then you need to accept that you'll have to pay out for it. Just like those people who have a horseriding hobby have to pay out for a horse rather than stealing one out of a field when they feel like a ride.
 
Yes, please be careful about how you pose questions here. The bit about buy hacked software was quite a show stopper.

There are various places to buy software at educational prices such as http://www.academicsuperstore.com/ or even a campus bookstore. You'll most likely be required to prove that you're a student.
 
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