I purchased an OEM version of Windows 7 Professional back when it was relatively new and I love it! I wanted to get the Professional version so I could run really old games and use older graphics software in ‘XP compatible’ mode. I have had zero issues with it.
Unlike Vista…
And I really enjoy the ‘slide-show’ wallpaper mode, I used to change my wallpaper every coupla months. But now with it changing every two minutes and hundreds of images for it to cycle through it never gets old.
You can also roll your mouse over tabs and active tiles and see ‘previews’ of what is going on without having to click it which is really nice if you are downloading multiple files or running applications on multiple tabs. There is much more but I don’t want to sound like a commercial…
I actually bought Windows 7 ultimate retail at full price for my 4 year old PC in the spring. I had more than 3 gigs of RAM and XP 64 had driver issues.
That said, my 4 yr old PC has issues. But, nothing that can’t be remedied with new hardware or a whole new PC.
More to your question, I personally recommend sticking with what you know.
However, my brother made the switch from PC to mac last year. He likes it despite some software issues and doesn’t seem to regret the switch.
I’m not really an Apple hater though some may call me that for their having expensive hardware (and barrage of releases). I’m more a MS hater (as far as their tactics and expensive software) than Apple. So, just a little background for my biases.
I have 3 pcs (2 PCs and a laptop). The 7yr old P4 runs XP 32. The 4 yr old Core 2 Duo runs 7 Ultimate 64 (after XP 32, then XP 64). And, the 2 yr old Thinkpad runs Vista 32. By far I have more issues with the laptop and I need to set aside a week to wipe the drive and install Ultimate 64.
Don’t get me started on Vista. 7 is a vast improvement.
Whatever you decide, get a lot of RAM. 6 gigs minimum, 12 gigs my recommendation. I run out of physical 4 gigs of RAM just running Firefox or (not and, just or) Google Chrome.
I was a die-hard Windows guys before moving to my new company, and was actually converted. When I switched over at home, gaming was a bit of an issue, but EVE and WOW (anything by Blizzard actually) run natively, and now with Steam for Mac, the gaming has gotten better. Finally convinced Mrs. Amberite to change from Win to Mac earlier this year. She was really resistant, but found learning the new O/S pretty easy actually.
All that said, you’re going to pay a premium for a Mac, and with all the positive reviews on Win 7, it’s harder to make a case for it than in the past. A Windows PC will also be easier to network to your game console. Windows supports streaming media directly to PS3/XBox, whereas with a Mac you need another application like Rivet. No big deal, but annoying.
I’m also having a similar dilemma, hope you don’t mind me tagging it along here, Darth Revan Rules(didn’t want to clutter the forum with a similar thread).
I’m shopping for a new laptop to replace my limping HP laptop (which went through a slew of problems like multiple hard drives failures, etc, over the 4 years I’ve had it - though if their hardware is iffy at best, at least HP has excellent customer service and warranty here (which weirdly, seems to not be the case in the states) so at least I didn’t have to pay for any of the 4 times it needed repairing) which now has some huge problems in loading up programs like photoshop, and takes ages to load up anything that requires system administrator, or would freak out if I plug in a tablet, or the display drive would freak out if I use it for too long and blue screens me. Oh, and the DVD drive stopped working again about 2 months ago no matter how many times I reinstalled or rebooted or updated. Anyway, basically, it’s dying.
And after being a PC owner since my very first Gateway Pentium 60 (remember those cow boxes? :D) back in the days of Yore, I’m wondering if a Mac might suit my usage better than a PC would.
So… I have some (ETA: and as it turns out, many, sorry!) everyday regular usage questions on Macbooks (probably a Pro) that I hope you could help me with, and I apologize in advance for some probably horrifically stupid Qs:
Good battery life, right? How long is the real actual battery life, on average?
For some reason, speedy photoshop/illustrator/graphics even if it has a similar (or lesser) graphics card and less RAM than a PC laptop? I was reading some reviews on some pc laptops, and there’s a diagram where Macbooks, even if they’re not as powerful spec wise, they still perform better than the pc.
what programs are preinstalled (for free) on macbooks? If Photoshop and Illustrator are free, then it does help with easing the price of Macs because I’d have to get them anyway if I get a pc.
Programs like Open office, winRAR, VLC, PS3 Media Server, Audacity, Sound File Converter, ISO burner (not for mass production illegally :D, but I sometimes copy my own DVDs that have the wrong region code and burn them again on blank DVDs so I can watch them on the PS3. Plus, less scratches on the originals), etc - how do these fare (if they fare at all) on a Mac?
This will be my primary laptop, so it will be used for long hours at a time, and frequently. Are Macs durable in this regard? (And will the battery life be affected too much, since it will be plugged in when I use it for long hours? I usually take out the battery on my pc when I’m plugged in so the battery life doesn’t diminish, which I don’t think I can do on a Mac.)
I do a lot of downloads for television shows I don’t get access to here. Are tit borrent/peer guardian type programs easy to run in Macs, and do programs that can read various types of video files (like VLC) run on Macs as easy as they do (and are available on Macs) on PCs? Same question on video/sound conversions (like .avi to .mp4, or to .mpg, or .flv, etc)
I looked in the Apple store just to check out the prices, and it seems like adding hard drive space is really kind of crazy expensive, which is a shame. (but it’s not a deal breaker. I can always use external HDs) In terms of the additions to a Macbook Pro, what are the more necessary ones that one should definitely add to their macbooks? Like for example, is 4 GB RAM enough, or is an upgrade to 8 neccessay?
I know this is a really dumb question, but I have 4 or 5 external hard drives I use with my pc. Do those work on a Mac?
Same question, but with a Wacom tablet. Basically, are these USB dongle things generally compatible with PCs as well as Macs nowadays so people don’t have to buy different versions of basically the same thing?
I’m not a huge gamer, but I do occasionally game on my laptop. Do they have at least a fair amount of games available for Macs like pcs, and do they run well on it?
All right. Say after some kind soul actually answers all these inane questions (thanks in advance :D), I decide it’s too troublesome and remain PC. Any PC laptop recommendations?
And…that’s it. I swear. Phew. I hope that’s it, anyway. Thanks for reading, seriously.
by the way, if you are getting a new power desktop or over juiced laptop, I’d say the OS doesn’t really matter that much. Linux, Windows, Mac will all run pretty well (unless there’s 64 bit driver issues). Software/games from other OS will also run ptty smoothly via Wine (which is available on both Linux and Mac). Especially all of the Star War games runs great on Wine.
But you your new computer is more like a netbook, I have a lot of friends who had to wipe Windows 7 off their netbook, and either switching back to XP or trying Linux, because Windows 7 is too much of a resources hog. And the “watered down” Starter version of windows 7 that’s “designed for netbooks” can only run 3 programs at once.
the netbook that i’ve got at the lab (for the ATOM CPU) can bearly run XP, it runs Ubuntu with Compiz smoothly. It even runs Microsoft Office via Wine, and I can’t tell performance differences between that netbook, and my lab desktop (besides the fact that the screen is super tiny and I have a hard time reading on it).
Mac battery life is generally much better than Win or Linux.
For some reason, speedy photoshop/illustrator/graphics even if it has a similar (or lesser) graphics card and less RAM than a PC laptop? I was reading some reviews on some pc laptops, and there’s a diagram where Macbooks, even if they’re not as powerful spec wise, they still perform better than the pc.
Graphics are fine for photoshop et al., but I’ll give the Winbooks the edge for gaming/3D
what programs are preinstalled (for free) on macbooks? If Photoshop and Illustrator are free, then it does help with easing the price of Macs because I’d have to get them anyway if I get a pc.
You’ll probably get iLife preinstalled, and maybe a handful of others. But apple isn’t big on bloatware. The Big Ticket programs wouldn’t be included, sadly.
Programs like Open office, winRAR, VLC, PS3 Media Server, Audacity, Sound File Converter, ISO burner (not for mass production illegally :D, but I sometimes copy my own DVDs that have the wrong region code and burn them again on blank DVDs so I can watch them on the PS3. Plus, less scratches on the originals), etc - how do these fare (if they fare at all) on a Mac?
You can get those, or equivalents (visit the Mac thread) with ease.
This will be my primary laptop, so it will be used for long hours at a time, and frequently. Are Macs durable in this regard? (And will the battery life be affected too much, since it will be plugged in when I use it for long hours? I usually take out the battery on my pc when I’m plugged in so the battery life doesn’t diminish, which I don’t think I can do on a Mac.)
Macs are insanely durable these days, since they moved to unibody construction (basically, they start with a brick of aluminum and remove bits to put the components in.) More plug time = more battery life, but I think that’s true for everyone.
I do a lot of downloads for television shows I don’t get access to here. Are tit borrent/peer guardian type programs easy to run in Macs, and do programs that can read various types of video files (like VLC) run on Macs as easy as they do (and are available on Macs) on PCs? Same question on video/sound conversions (like .avi to .mp4, or to .mpg, or .flv, etc)
I wouldn’t know anything about that, but I’d tell you if it was problematic…
I looked in the Apple store just to check out the prices, and it seems like adding hard drive space is really kind of crazy expensive, which is a shame. (but it’s not a deal breaker. I can always use external HDs) In terms of the additions to a Macbook Pro, what are the more necessary ones that one should definitely add to their macbooks? Like for example, is 4 GB RAM enough, or is an upgrade to 8 neccessay?
4 GB is fine, but for HD and RAM I’d get third party vendors to upgrade.
I know this is a really dumb question, but I have 4 or 5 external hard drives I use with my pc. Do those work on a Mac?
Yes. It is a dumb question (They work fine, but you’ll get benefits from reformatting them.)
Same question, but with a Wacom tablet. Basically, are these USB dongle things generally compatible with PCs as well as Macs nowadays so people don’t have to buy different versions of basically the same thing?
Same product. You may have to d/l a driver.
I’m not a huge gamer, but I do occasionally game on my laptop. Do they have at least a fair amount of games available for Macs like pcs, and do they run well on it?
Mac games are spiking right now. But you should just get Marathon, because it’s the BEST FPS OF ALL TIME!
All right. Say after some kind soul actually answers all these inane questions (thanks in advance :D), I decide it’s too troublesome and remain PC. Any PC laptop recommendations?
I’m a Thinkpad fan, but you pay a premium. The premium may be comparable to Macs.
But due to my disability (and laziness to learn something new after 15 years), I sort of “need” a Thinkpad (and their keyboards) for it’s button mouse.
I wish Dell was an option for me, but their customer service is atrocious in Asia.
Pike, you are that kind and gentle (and OSSIM) soul! Thanks for answering (or heck, reading) all of that, wow. Even the dumb ones. It was all really helpful, and definitely has me thinking that perhaps it’s time.
Bummer about Photoshop and Illustrator not being included. That would have tipped the scales enormously since price is still of some concern, if not a dealbreaker. But I do yearn for the day when it can take me less than 5 minutes to start photoshop up.
And if question #4 is indeed do-able (now, that’s a dealbreaker, which is kind of sad. Of me. :D), I think I just might start saving a little more so I can actually get one by christmas.
But yikes, the idea of ‘becoming a Mac user’ is … actually kind of frightening. Why is that?
Bummer about Photoshop and Illustrator not being included. That would have tipped the scales enormously since price is still of some concern, if not a dealbreaker. But I do yearn for the day when it can take me less than 5 minutes to start photoshop up.
If you get a scanner (often offered as a package deal) you’ll often get PS Elements, which is 90% of PS. For free.
But yikes, the idea of ‘becoming a Mac user’ is … actually kind of frightening. Why is that?
Why did the light hurt Neo’s eyes? He never used them.
Wacom tablets come with PC and OS drivers on the same installation disk, and generally come with a bunch of bundled software. Which include illustration and photoshop shoftware. And as Pike mentioned scanners and 3-in-one printers usually include bundled freeware as well. And ocassionally didgital cameras do also.
I purchased my Photshop CS2 online and got a educational version which was waaay cheaper. And Microsoft Word as well, but they are making it harder to get teacher/student discount software these days.
OEM seems to be the way of the future, it is so much cheaper to get an Operating System or Application that way. Sure there is no nice thick manual to go with it and no customer support. But a true GEEK has no need for those right?
I buy my OEM’s at Fry’s Electronics, that way I know they are legit and if there is a problem I can just drive there and return it. Rather than paying for postage and waiting weeks for a refund or replacement.
(They work fine, but you’ll get benefits from reformatting them.)