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Topic: Help! Thinking of getting an iMac
| Author | Message |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/8/2007 2:06:50 AM | show profile | email poster I am disgruntled with my Fujtsu laptop. which now boasts an ugly 2-inch crack from the top that just appeared one day after 6 months use. I'm thinking of getting an Apple iMac desktop - one of the bigger models, 24 inch - I;ve had wrotten luck with laptops, and think I can manage with a desktop. As I recall from past use, Macs had some advantage. I will need to run QuarkXPress (a slightly older version) and possibly PhotoShop as well as Word. Input?? Any feedback from Mac users? |
| Stanley_Milgram | Posted – 8/8/2007 6:06:30 AM | show profile I'm making the switch, too, though I'm getting the 20". Mac just came out with the new models this week. My Dell is now four years old and it's crapping out. I'm leery of VISTA, so I think it's a good time for a switch, especially since you can run XP on the Mac now, so no worries about being able to run and view any old files or programs. |
| mad fingers | Posted – 8/8/2007 6:50:53 AM | show profile Macaholic... Never had anything but Macs. Very few problems in all these years, but I think you may have to upgrade your software, depending on how old the versions are. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/8/2007 7:19:44 AM | show profile I love to work in my easy chair with my laptop on my lap -- I'm thinking if I get a desktop, wireless keyboard and mouse and good size screen I may still be able to swing it -- literally, perhaps with the help of a well-anchored swing-away wheeled table. I own a copy of Quark 6 for mac, and thinking that will suffice for my purposes -- My other possibility is to use the keep the laptop (which is fairly souped up but my son covets) as a cpu or whatever the thingy's called, do wireless keyboard (my keyboard's already lost a key -- I tend to really get, um, emphatic when I get typing like the wind. Then get a big screen LCD stationary monitor -- same kind of deal. Less expense for now, perhaps. In this scenario, I would get an education discount on Quark 7 for PC. I've been very wishy-washy on this. A look at my budget may give me my first clue. And if I buy software, should I go to inDesign? Haven't used it, heard it's the wave of the future. -- but could I learn it? I am one old dog with few new tricks in her bag! |
| chucho | Posted – 8/8/2007 7:45:18 AM | show profile You'll have to load Windows with something like "Parallels" on the iMac to run the Quark you're using on the laptop you have. WHich means buying Parallels and Windows. You might be better off simply buying the latest Quark for Mac because I'm still doubtful about dual booting (plus you woudl have to boot up Windows each time you run your current copy of Quark). I use both platforms and consider myself a "Windows" person for various reasons. Minor annoyances with the iMac: There are USB plugs, but they're on the back (rather than the more sensible side) so you have to move your computer to the side each time you want to plug in something on the on-board USB plugs. (And the keyboard USB plug sometimes doesn't work with USB keys that aren't self-powered with their own battery, like music players and some cheaper USB keys. How do you open an iMac? I read you need a special tool to do so. This means you can't just change your own hard drive (or have somebody else do it for you -- a very simple procedure), you have to take your computer to the Mac Geniuses at your closest licensed Mac dealer to be over-charged for this. Sometimes when the iMac locks up (yes, it happens) the power button doesn't work at all! Seriously, I find myself occasionally unplugging the computer just to restart. (I work on this iMac every day, and it's an Intel iMac brand new from January.) I find that Firefox doesn't work very well on Macs (occasionally but quite regularly you have to force-quite), so like with all Macs, you're better off sticking with software made by Apple, like Safari. I don't install a lot of third-party software on the iMac unless it's specifically and exclusively for Macs because they often don't work nearly as well as they do on Windows. Firefox is the most notable example. I hope future versions of Firefox (and Flock) address this problem. The Mac mouse (that tiny egg-shaped one with the teensy roller ball) is stupid. It's a two-button mouse with an "ergodynamic" rocker button (press the left side to left-click and the right-side to right-click). The problem is because it's one button with two sides, you often mistakenly click near the middle and it could go either way. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/8/2007 7:57:56 AM | show profile Ooh, now I remember -- I hated Safari. Hmmm. Also, I'm not using Quark on my Fujitsu laptop. I'm just thinking of doing more design for my own projects again, so I could fire up the Mac copy of Quark I own if I got a mac. Otherwise I think I'd need a Windows Quark. I'm not up to the differences between version -- I'm sure I'd need to get up to speed a bit. But I was laying out regional magazines in Quark two years ago when we were between art directors -- how different could it be, right? Any input on inDesign? |
| pitchqueen | Posted – 8/8/2007 10:07:19 AM | show profile | email poster I have only Macs..threw out my piece of crap Dell...I use Wod ( have to buy) and photoshop, no problems, I also have 2 words that can make you rethink PC's- No Virus's |
| sue ellen mischke | Posted – 8/8/2007 10:24:48 AM | show profile Love my mac...hate safari, but I use Firefox instead. Go for it. Oh, and I used InDesign on it, but it ran slowly. Then again, I didn't have a lot of storage. I took the program off. |
| JimmyG | Posted – 8/8/2007 11:08:36 AM | show profile You don't have to buy Parallels to run Windows on a Mac. There's a free download on apple.com called oot Camp that does the trick, provided you have a full copy of Windows to run (and you have to restart the computer in Windows to run it). And I've had a Mac since 1995, and despite a brief fling with Windows in the interim, would work with nothing else. Here's a buying tip: If you don't absolutely need the flashy new models that came out yesterday, you can find the outgoing ones selling at a discount as being "refurbished." Apple's own online store sells them--look for a "special deals" click-on near the bottom of the apple.com/store home page. Also visit a physical Apple store and ask if they have any refurbs--they often sell there for less than Apple discounts them online. |
| JimmyG | Posted – 8/8/2007 11:09:26 AM | show profile Oops, that's Boot Camp, not oot Camp. |
| questoo1 | Posted – 8/8/2007 11:40:58 AM | show profile I have both, and though I'm a huge fan of the mac, I find the hardware seems to be a little more fragile then pc's. Could be pure coincidence but i've had 3 different issues on 3 different macs over the years. |
| chucho | Posted – 8/8/2007 1:02:14 PM | show profile I've warmed up to Macs just a little since the went Intel, but Angela you don't have force-quite issued with Firefox? What Mac are you using? If you go to chat boards you'll see I'm not the only one that has noticed occasional but consistent force-quit issued running Firefox on a Mac. Another thing I was surprised to learn related to iTunes (crap, crap, crap). I recently installed a modem for a DSL line. The modem didn't work but I still have my cable Internet running. I changed the LAN settings on Internet Explorer (I only use IE to update Windows and to test LAN settings, nothing else) but the settings didn't work. (The problem turned out to be with the modem, not the browser settings.) But I forgot to change the LAN settings back to where they were before. Then I went to start up iTunes and, oddly, it wouldn't connect to my cable Internet. (I only use iTunes to get my podcasts, nothing else.) Then I went back to Explorer and set the LAn settings back. And then my iTunes worked! (My Firefox never stopped working through all of this.) You know what this means? iTunes USES EXPLORER to check for connectivity! Whaaa? So iTunes uses a Microsoft product to "automatically" find the connection to the Internet. It's stuff like that that makes me persist in my view that Apple plays a real shell game. And I would very much advise you not to buy the latest. Apple is notorious for using it's MacZombie fans as the final product-testing phase. Even hardcore Mac users admit that begrudgingly. |
| sue ellen mischke | Posted – 8/8/2007 2:42:09 PM | show profile No.....no force-quit issues with Firefox... I do with Safari, though, which for some reason is also very slow. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/8/2007 6:16:21 PM | show profile I think I'm going to get a large flat screen monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse and use said laptop which still has a service plan and decent memory etc. for a CPU. Seems to be an economical intermediate approach, and later if I go with a Mac, I'll have the other for a desktop unit or for family. I'd love to just plunk down the big bucks when I need things! That would be grand. Several grand, actually ... |
| flight risk | Posted – 8/8/2007 8:59:45 PM | show profile If you have older versions of Quark, you can run it on the new Intel Macs using Rosetta. It's kind of the new Classic Mode. It's by emulation so slower. You should switch to Indesign since Quark is steadily losing market share every year. Partly because they were bastards for so long but mostly because it makes sense to just buy the entire CS package. Photoshop and Illustrator have no competition, GoLive and Dreamweaver are owned by Adobe. As a package you get everything you need for just a little more than the price of Quark. How can they survive? The downside of the new iMac is the keyboard and mouse. Apple is putting form over function. Flat, featureless keys look modern but are not very ergo. Say what you want about Microsoft. Their ergo mouse and keyboards are a lot easier to use. |
