Which programs do you recommend for...

[profit42]

Hi,

My 2.8Ghz 4GB iMac will arrive soon (wel, 1-2 weeks...) so I thought that it would be good to have some apps ready when it arrives. Since I'm running windows now and don't know a lot about mac apps, I would like to know what you guys think the best is for the following purposes (Please only suggest the best software available in each category, price doesn't matter (will get everything free anyway...))

- For photo editing I'll use Photoshop CS3, though for Photo management, I don't know which program I should use, Aperture, Lightroom, iPhoto, Bridge, something else (the good old finder?)?

- Music playback etc. Is iTunes the best there is? In Windows it's unusable slow, how's that on a mac?

- Running Windows in OSX: Parallels or VMWare? Is it possible to boot a "bootcamp windows partition" using one of those programs?

- Office stuff: MS Office, iWork, or something else?

- Color calibration: is there a good way to calibrate my monitor (or are there ready to download things for the 24" iMac)?


That's it for now, want to find out the rest by myself when I have the iMac, thanks for your help!!!

 

[MadGoat]

Hi,

My 2.8Ghz 4GB iMac will arrive soon (wel, 1-2 weeks...) so I thought that it would be good to have some apps ready when it arrives. Since I'm running windows now and don't know a lot about mac apps, I would like to know what you guys think the best is for the following purposes (Please only suggest the best software available in each category, price doesn't matter (will get everything free anyway...))

- For photo editing I'll use Photoshop CS3, though for Photo management, I don't know which program I should use, Aperture, Lightroom, iPhoto, Bridge, something else (the good old finder?)?

I'm in the same boat, though I think I've finally settled on Lightroom (aperture is nice, iphoto 08 is nice as well, but lightroom just seems better and lighter) and doesn't put the pictures in a propriatary library.

Also for quickfixes, lightroom 1.1 has the best, quick tools.. Aperture and iPhoto are missing tools like vignetting correction.

- Music playback etc. Is iTunes the best there is? In Windows it's unusable slow, how's that on a mac?

iTunes is rock solid and speedy fast in OS X, I haven't considered anything else. it's just nice having everything there and available at the push of a button.

- Running Windows in OSX: Parallels or VMWare? Is it possible to boot a "bootcamp windows partition" using one of those programs?

I use Fusion to boot off the boot camp partition when I don't feel like rebooting the whole system , but parallels can do this as well. Fusion just seems faster, better and stable. I've heard of issues with parralels screwing up boot camp.

- Office stuff: MS Office, iWork, or something else?

Office 2004 is on my system "incase" I need it , though as of iwork 08 i've only been using that. if you want a free alternative, get neo office, it's a OS X optimised fork of open office.

- Color calibration: is there a good way to calibrate my monitor (or are there ready to download things for the 24" iMac)?

I use one, though I can't remember the name, yuou'd have to ask around

That's it for now, want to find out the rest by myself when I have the iMac, thanks for your help!!!

Enjoy you iMac

 

[I'm a ROb]

The price does matter, since there is no such thing as a free lunch

On your new iMac, iTunes will run smoothly as smooth can be. You won't notice it is running, except for the music comming for the system.

I use iPhoto and that works for me. I'm not sure if it's ideal for your situation sincs iPhoto normally puts your photos in a library.

iWork or MS office... depends on your needs. Keynote looks (and is) great, but if you don't have an Apple labtop to show your presentations, there is not much use in it. Numbers is great, but it doesn't have the functionality of Excel. So it all depends....

Hope it helps though...