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Wondering if I should switch to a Mac for personal use

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whitlecj

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 31, 2008
105
0
Hey guys. I am a long time windows user and I am strongly considering switching to a Mac. I currently have about a 2 year old windows gaming rig that is rarely used for gaming anymore but still has pretty good stats nonetheless. In the last few months, I have purchased a Nikon D50 DSLR camera for use in shooting wakeboarding pictures and we have gotten into filming with our video camera a lot more. I have heard that Macs really excel in both photos and video.

Windows has been a pain with these items lately, especially the video. For example, windows movie maker automatically launches when you plug the video camera in then immediately crashes. It takes about 5 minutes to close that out so that you can use a program that actually works to capture the video from the camera. The capture process then takes about 50 minutes for 50 minutes of video. Then you have to process the captured video which takes about 30-40 minutes I would guess, then use another program to create the menus and burn the dvd. Just a total pain, imo.

If switching to a mac is the right move, any insight on which model would be best. I like the idea of the portability of a laptop although I still have an XP laptop that my wife uses, so I am not sure it is worth the expense to go this route even though it would be nice to be able to move it around the house.

Also, will I have any problems adjusting to the mac? I will still have to use Windows at work, will this be an issue switching back and forth? Thanks for any insight you can give.
 
Any Mac would be fine for your uses. I use an 18month old MacBook for both photos and video and have no real problems. A bigger screen might help with the video and photo work. You really need to go and try a few at an Apple store or retailer like Best Buy. You can always put a Windows partition on the hard drive to help ween yourself off of the stuff.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

One thing to keep in mind is that if you do decide to switch and are using a camcorder that relys on tapes then it is still going to take 50 minutes to transfer 50 minutes of video to the computer. Thus being said, I think you will still enjoy the iMovie experience in editing. If you are a little more of an advanced editor Final Cut Express is great. I'd try out iMovie first since it comes free with a new computer and then purchase Final Cut Express if iMovie doesn't meet your needs. For video editing make sure you get a computer with plenty of RAM as this tends to be a very RAM hungry task. I would also say purchase an iMac at the minimum and spring for a MacBook Pro if you want a laptop since the MacBook has an integrated graphics card. I hope this helps.
 
You want to do video creation and stuff with photos, so without a doubt switch, Mac OS X is much better for things like that.

In terms of model, do you want a laptop or a desktop? And how much can you afford to spend?

a456 said:
Yes you should switch. Everyone should. :)
Click to expand...

Business users shouldn't yet. Additionally those people who only want a basic computer shouldn't as you can save a lot of money sticking with a PC.
 
If you are going Desktop, get an iMac and max the RAM
If you aregoing Laptop get a Macbook and max the RAM

Buy Applecare
 
Thanks for the input guys. I would really like to keep it around the $2000 mark but could go higher if needed and would certainly appreciate less. My major concern is the day to day switching back and forth between the two OS and if I am really going feel it is worth the money for the picture and video in terms of hassle and ease of use.
 
It will definitely be worth it. I have a feeling once you start using it more and more you won't find your self needing to switch back and forth daily, you will use your mac.

Fro 2 grand I'd look at a refurbished MacBook Pro, or a top of the line 24" iMac
 
I also think you should switch, but don't just blindly follow what we're saying. It's important to keep us as only a second opinion.

In fact, asking people on a Mac forum if they should get a Mac isn't really such a great idea, if you don't want something biased:D
 
iMpathetic said:
I also think you should switch, but don't just blindly follow what we're saying. It's important to keep us as only a second opinion.

In fact, asking people on a Mac forum if they should get a Mac isn't really such a great idea, if you don't want something biased:D
Click to expand...

I hear you. I have also posted this on some other forums so that I can get some unbiased or less biased opinions.
 
whitlecj said:
I hear you. I have also posted this on some other forums so that I can get some unbiased or less biased opinions.
Click to expand...

When I thought I should switch for the first time, I just kept my unholy ideas to myself and bought one.

It's turned out great, but I just build a quad-core rig to take care of the heavy lifting..... :rolleyes:
 
I've noticed this from my dad, but when you use a Mac, don't use it as you would Windows. There are different and better ways to do stuff than on windows, an example would be that keyboard shortcuts are big in OS X.
 
Well if you are worried about missing Windows you could purchase parallel or vmware fusion. I just got my mac and I am not missing it at all.
 
I was in the same boat as you about 2 months back, i went and bought the top of the line macbook and maxed out the RAM. So far its one of the best decisions i've made in my life. i cant stay off the macbook since i got it, I absolutely love OSX.... keep in mind that i am not a windows hater as i never experienced alot of the problems that people go through with vista, i had issues but it wasnt "overwhelming want to smash my pc against the wall" type issues. Anyhow i went out and bought final cut express for video editing and i'm slowly learning to use it.

OSX was so easy to learn between watching tutorials on apple.com and just checking out mac information sites online, you'll feel right at home in no time. I installed a windows partition with bootcamp and havent used it. I still use windows at work though and have no problems going back and forth. although my time on OSX at home is alot more fun and enjoyable.

with your budget i would say go for a 15" macbook PRO, and get a nice external monitor it will be like having a desktop and the convininece of a mobile laptop. I love it.
 
What do you use your computer for at work? If its photo/video work and then you come home to do the same thing then it may be a little confusing. Personally I use Windows all day and Mac when I come home and don't find it difficult as I do completely different things, but I am also a long time Linux user so change comes naturally to me.

I do very simple video editing on a Mac Mini with 2GB RAM. Your budget can get you a lot more than that so you should be fine with whatever you get =]
 
Go for it. I still use a Windows laptop at work, but have been using a Mac at home since 2003. You won't regret it. ;)

My recommendation is to go with a White MacBook and max out the RAM to 4GB. You can also get Parallels to run Windows if you have apps that don't have an equivalent in OSX. Someday, however, you'll realize you haven't turned on the Parallels VM in a few months. :D
 
Thanks for all the responses. This is a great website. I am feeling much better about the switching back and forth after hearing some of your experiences. I mainly use word and excel at work so I do completely different things than I do at home. Now if I could just decide between and Imac and a mbp, I would be all set. It seems like you can get more for your money by going with the imac but you obviously lose the portability that would be nice if you are going on vacation or something. decisions, decisions.
 
My experince with laptops is they always at least for me turn into a desktop computer. If you do not travel a lot then I would go iMac. I love mine to death and I only have had it a day :)
 
I'd go for the MBP, if you want to do Video stuff max out the RAM to 4GB, its probably cheaper to go for third-party RAM (and really easy to fit).
 
You can also get a full size keyboard/mouse and monitor to plug your laptop into so you essentially have a "desktop" computer. You could also lug your iMac around in a suitcase to make it portable like these guys but somehow it just doesn't sound as appealing as the first option...

OK, so they aren't using iMacs but its still a funny idea =]
 
no one has mentioned where to get your 3rd party ram.

I'd score it from Other World Computing

They have great prices and great support. You can't go wrong...except if you buy ram from Apple.
 
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