Anybody using both Mac & PC?

[Staphylococcus]

Anybody out there is using both Mac and PC at the same time? I mean have 2 computers. I'm tempted to buy a Mac desktop just for photo editing and storage. I can still use my current PC for other stuff like games, web, office work.

How is it like to switch back and forth from Mac & PC?
What software does Mac come with for photo editing?

I would appreciate some inputs to make a better decision. Thanks.

 

[suaved]

Staphy,

Strongly recommend that you save some good money to buy a iMac 20 inch, with upgrade of RAM to 2GB and the Parallels software. This is to facilitate you to run the Mac OS and PC Windows simultaneously.

You get the best of both world at a affordable price. Go try it.:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[frenchbean]

Hi, am doing so at the moment. Have a Mac and a PC at home and using a PC in the office. Well, for me my main computer that I use for personal use is the Mac and I seldom use the PC at home. File transfer between both the PC and the Mac is relatively simple. Just use a FAT32 formatted thumbdrive or External HDD will do. Most generic file types (eg. mp3, doc, pdf, xls, etc) opens on both systems with no problems. I have no problems switching between the shortcut keys of both system (I use shortcut keys on a Mac much more than on a PC).

With the Intel Mac it will be even more simpler as you can run Windoze and Mac OS X on the same machine. Transferring files will just be a drag and drop issue in Mac OS X. Changing OS will just be a simple reboot. Cool huh?

There is no inbuilt Mac software for photo editing, unless you are talking about iPhoto which has very limited photo editing capabilities. You gotta get Photoshop or something similar.

 

[frenchbean]

Staphy,

Strongly recommend that you save some good money to buy a iMac 20 inch, with upgrade of RAM to 2GB and the Parallels software. This is to facilitate you to run the Mac OS and PC Windows simultaneously.

You get the best of both world at a affordable price. Go try it.:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

One thing to note about Parallels is that although you can run Mac OS X and Windoze together without rebooting, there will be some performance loss as compared to using Bootcamp. This might be important if you are playing graphic intensive games on Windoze.

 

[Staphylococcus]

What are these Parallels you're talking about?

Will look at the imac 20inch specs.

Thanks.

 

[Agetan]

New iMac 20 inch is great with the Intel Chip. Though running slower that my PC for Photoshop CS2. I am not sure why? heard about the incompatibility of the chip with CS2.

Other than that, i love my Mac.

Oh yes, I use PC and Mac as well.

Regards,

hart

 

[Yayne]

Staphylococcus,


I'm using pc at home and mac for a workstation. If you have access to MS office, photoshop among other programs for a mac system, it shouldn't be an issue. I wrecked 2 thumbdrives while transferring files between pc and mac initially but frenchbean has the solution ready for you.

At the same time, perhaps you should consider some factors before making the purchase. Unless you're thinking of running programs such as fcp, aperture etc, why get a mac?

At this point, it may be simple, bridging technical/format differences between mac and pc (eg using a FAT32 formatted thumbdrive etc), but do consider some minor hiccups I am facing when you consider switching back and forth on both systems.

Some difficulties I face:

• Cell phone: There is no installation software from Samsung for a mac.
• Playing dvds: I have dvd region code problems on my mac. Didn't have that problem when I was using power dvd on a pc.
• MP3 player: I can't seem to connect my ipod to the pc without losing all my mp3 files and vice versa.
• Convenience: Now that the graphic card and motherboard for my pc has gone bonkers, I'm relying only on the mac. The pc operations I am used to are temporarily stalled until it's repaired.

Hope this helps.

 

[jdredd]

i have a desktop PC and a macbook at home... i tend ot use desktop PC for gaming and photo editing..

macbook for surfing watching dvd and some light editing.

i have a portable HDD i use to swop files between the 2, still havent got down to setting up a network..

 

[Kermitfm]

I have an iMac and PCs running in my home network. I personally don't think it is necessary to use the MAC for editing now that hardware and programs has caught up in the PC platform. Basic free mac programs are great - ilife for example. However I think you can get similar features from Photoshop Albums. For DI, you photoshop runs on both but then you need to purchase 2 licenses.

User interface is slightly different and you need to adjust when switching between platforms. For e.g. the menu bar for Apple programs is ALWAYS on the top of the screen and not the top of the program window.

The Macs has a certain kind of magnetism which is difficult to resist to some people. I would stick to one system simply for the reason of cost and to avoid having to learn multiple system. Of course if you divide your task, like you said, photo editing on Mac and gaming/surfing on the PC, it should also work.

 

[chewraisins]

• Playing dvds: I have dvd region code problems on my mac. Didn't have that problem when I was using power dvd on a pc.

Erm.. you could use VLC player instead of iDVD/FrontRow.. then you will not face any region code problems.

• MP3 player: I can't seem to connect my ipod to the pc without losing all my mp3 files and vice versa.

Have you updated your iTunes to the latest version for both pc & mac? 'coz it allows you to connect an iPod to 5 computers (IIRC).. but then you won't be able to copy the music from your ipod into the pc/mac.. it's only 1 way (unless u know how to hack it.. )

 

[xl1]

Anybody out there is using both Mac and PC at the same time? I mean have 2 computers. I'm tempted to buy a Mac desktop just for photo editing and storage. I can still use my current PC for other stuff like games, web, office work.

How is it like to switch back and forth from Mac & PC?
What software does Mac come with for photo editing?

I would appreciate some inputs to make a better decision. Thanks.

im using both in the same time at office, just spent time you will get use to it

 

[frenchbean]

New iMac 20 inch is great with the Intel Chip. Though running slower that my PC for Photoshop CS2. I am not sure why? heard about the incompatibility of the chip with CS2.

It's not really incompatible just that it's not running natively on the Intel machine. It's running under emulation using Rosetta, so the performance will be a little slower, but it will definitely be faster than me running CS2 on my 867MHz G4 Powerbook. :cry:

 

[frenchbean]

What are these Parallels you're talking about?

Will look at the imac 20inch specs.

Thanks.

This is Parallels

http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

 

[XiaoMiaoWang]

One thing to note about Parallels is that although you can run Mac OS X and Windoze together without rebooting, there will be some performance loss as compared to using Bootcamp. This might be important if you are playing graphic intensive games on Windoze.

The latest Pararells tested performs up to 95% of the native speed...

 

[Yayne]

Erm.. you could use VLC player instead of iDVD/FrontRow.. then you will not face any region code problems.



Have you updated your iTunes to the latest version for both pc & mac? 'coz it allows you to connect an iPod to 5 computers (IIRC).. but then you won't be able to copy the music from your ipod into the pc/mac.. it's only 1 way (unless u know how to hack it.. )

hi chewraisins, i tried VLC player. it didn't work. have been updating my itunes regularly. so there is no way to get my ipod working on both pc and mac simultaneously, thanks.

 

[frenchbean]

hi chewraisins, i tried VLC player. it didn't work. have been updating my itunes regularly. so there is no way to get my ipod working on both pc and mac simultaneously, thanks.

I think you need a hack on your DVD player to make it region free. Go google it, I did it for my Powerbook last time. Forgot the website.

 

[frenchbean]

The latest Pararells tested performs up to 95% of the native speed...

Yeah, true, but Parallels doesn't support 3D Accelerator/Direct X 3D Graphics. Below is quoted from the Parallels website.

"3D Accelerator/Direct X 3D Graphics is currently not supported in this version."

 

[Yayne]

hi frenchbeans,

i'll google for it. will i run the risk of corrupting my station? works well on your G4?

 

[frenchbean]

hi frenchbeans,

i'll google for it. will i run the risk of corrupting my station? works well on your G4?

It works well, for me. Now my DVD drive is region free, but it's really use at your own risk, since it's a firmware hack. It could disable your DVD drive permanently if things go wrong. Not to scare you lar, just letting you know... ;p

Check out this forum. http://forum.rpc1.org/index.php

 

[eng_keow]

Hi Staph, hopefully not MRSA

I'm using iMac 24" with Bootcamp. The WinXP runs beautifully playing battlefield, WOW etc with fantastic speed and graphic. The 24" has a faster graphics card with better resolution too. I you are going to do lots of PS then better to get this, things are much clearer.

Heard about the Parallels but waiting to see how it is going to perform.

cheers,\.