hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

For many years, I looked down at Apple computer as overpriced and slightly underpowered. Unfortunately, that really hasn't changed. When I saw the new 27 inch iMAC in 2009 I was struck by the graphical beauty of the screen. I bought one and spent a few weeks looking at tutorials and reading some of the David Pogue books. I haven't regretted changing over to OSX. I was researching laptops for a friend and noticed that one particular model required you to download about 10 files to update the computer (new drivers, OS patches, etc.) On my Macs, I download one file and everything is upgraded. I also noticed back in 2009, that if you went to a Best Buy and looked at all the available software they had on the racks, about 1/4 dealt with malware, viruses, etc. I thought to myself, why don't they just write an OS that isn't so vulnerable. I'm sure things are better now.

tomcat

Your reply is sorta obtuse about what you're talking about when you mention "one particular model" and "available software"-- for what OS on what machine?

markjay

Here is an interesting example to compare - for all of those who say that it is so much easier to work on "media" in an apple.

Take an image that is sitting on the desktop of both a Mac and a PC. Your job is to crop out 1/4 of the left side of the image and leave the balance. Write down what is required to do that on both machines. It could not be a more simple image edit. Not in LR or other software purchased - use the computer image processing software. It takes far more steps on a mac. EVERYTHING takes more steps with a MAC. And dont get me started about using Microsoft software on a MAC. It crashes endlessly.

blackest Loc: Ireland

interesting question, surely you answered it yourself " if you have existing apps that won’t run on a Mac" thats a pretty good reason to run Windows on a mac.

The 2 main ways of running Windows on a Mac are by dual boot or Virtual machine. There are pro's and cons to both but I prefer a virtual machine. For Windows this is Win10 Pro 64bit I generally allocate between 4 & 8 GB of Ram. One nice feature of a virtual machine is the ability to suspend the machine so if i use say Excel on Windows it starts up pretty quickly with Excel already loaded. Do what I want to do and get out the excel app can be run with a full desktop i can switch screens with a simple swipe on my trackpad and files are are integrated. E.g i had a spread sheet on my mac desktop and i opened it from there in windows and saved it back. It really works rather well.

Unfortunately with my Dell I just don't have that flexibility the best I can do with that is to use remote desktop and connect to the Mac that way. I can't just select the app on the Mac I want to run unlike the other way because the Dell knows nothing of the Macs applications.

Windows really is quite limited when you want to run Mac Applications, It is somewhat better running Linux Applications but the Mac is equally good at that too. Perhaps better as many Linux applications are compiled for OSX too. Coherence mode is also handy if you just want an application and not the whole windows desktop.

I pretty much have everything available on the Mac, including all the windows software and Linux software too, why would I want less than that?

blackest Loc: Ireland

Open image in preview, and use the cropping tool, save. I guess you could do the same in mspaint.

Now adjust the white balance... erm is that possible in mspaint? you certainly can do that in preview.

markjay

I guess I am just plain unable to deal with a Mac.
I opened the image with preview.
I cant find a cropping tool.
All i can find in tools is adjust color and adjust size (which does not include cropping)

The fact that we have to have this conversation about something as simple as cropping is what the problem is with apple

tomcat

Thanks for sharing. I believe that most of the complainers that say a Mac is more difficult to use, like this previous poster here, just don't know how to do things on a Mac to begin with. They are accustomed to their archaic MS way of doing things and when they can't find the equivalent way on a Mac, they freak out/invent things and run around claiming "the sky is falling". Your example is a perfect elegance of the Mac OS and design.

Also, I can simply double-click any raw, yes raw!!, file and the Mac will open it directly on the desktop. When the Preview window opens up, I can resize, adjust color, annotate it and quite a few other manipulations without opening up an app software. The fact that the Mac will open up a raw image is quite a feat! Can a Microsoft PC do this so easily and elegantly---don't know and frankly don't care......

blackest Loc: Ireland

If you go to tools menu you can use rectangular select tool , copy paste as new document.

Here is a screen grab from earlier, thats the windows 10 microsoft store running on my mac desktop.

A handything in osx is you can preview files in the finder e.g select 6 image files view as a slide show or like an index print or full screen even share to facebook with the little share button in the menu and thats without opening any application (there is a default option for the type of file e.g a photo would open in preview, you can change that too. You can also drag apps to the side bar e.g if you want you could put textedit in the side bar and drag a text file into there. It could be word 2016 if you like handy if you open a lot of .docx files.

(Download)

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You don't need to, and probably shouldn't change anything. Just accept the fact that though the Apple platform is ok for a wide variety of tasks - by design, it is a jack of all trades - certain tasks, like photo editing can be faster on a properly spec'd Windows machine.

There is a ton of urban mythology associated with Apple products - no, they are not "better" at graphics. No, they are not more "intuitive". No they are not better at return on investment. No, they are not targeted at the power user, because they don't provide any platform that cannot be easily out-performed by a better faster cheaper Windows machine. Yes, they pioneered the concept of computer ecology, providing with seamless transitions between phones (their primary product), tablets and computers. They pioneered the concept of a life-style computer system. Yes, they have a best-in-the-industry marketing department that has created some of the best technology marketing ever. And yes they know how to speak to their customers, and how to make huge profits.

However, Apple users on the whole (broad stroke here), seem to be in one mode when describing why they chose to buy Apple - extremely defensive. And they can't help themselves from spreading inaccurate or just plain false information about the PC experience. My favorite is "I switched to Apple 10 yrs ago and never looked back. Well, a lot has happened in those 10 yrs. Apple has increased it's market share about 20% - from 9% to 11%. PCs have gotten a whole lot more reliable, the hallmark of PC value - the customizability - has remained, and in terms of future proofing - PCs still reign. The one important thing where I prefer to use a Mac over a PC is for video editing - the DCI-P3 wide gamut color space is a great environment, video performance is very good, and Final Cut Pro is an excellent platform to do this on - which I prefer to Adobe Premiere any day. If I am editing on an Avid system, it's a little closer - but I still prefer a Mac.

I never trash talk Apple products. I don't need to. I just present facts - they are more expensive, they are less able to customize for specific needs, they are not easily upgraded - compared to PCs. For some reason this brings out the Mac proponents out of the woodwork - and that's when the baloney starts to come out. And it is mostly trash talk. Very sensitive, these mac fans. And they are typically very dismissive - as in your post, which boils down to "I don't care that YOUR computer is better. I am happy with mine even if it is inferior in just about every way - at least I am happy! And I have a Genius Bar to help me when I get into trouble. So THERE!"

Hey, man, to each his/her own. I use both, so I don't take offense at anything you've written. But I cannot be described by the writings of Abraham Kaplan a 60s psychologist - "I call it the law of the instrument, and it may be formulated as follows: Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding."

OR the old proverb:

"if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" which is explained as:

1. With limited tools, single-minded people apply them inappropriately or indiscriminately
2. If a person is familiar with a certain, single subject, or has with them a certain, single instrument, they may have a confirmation bias to believe that it is the answer to/involved in everything.

This is my go-to definition of a large number of - but not all - Mac and Apple fans. I am an Apple fan for some things. I just recognize that there are other better tools to do certain tasks, and I try to keep a balanced approach and an open mind about things.

tomcat

Hey gene, we have exchanged comments several times in the past, with always a pretty much agreeable tone. I don't disagree with anything you have said, except some of it appears to me to be your personal preference creeping in. All things being relative, again, most of us Mac users just don't care about the cost, etc. We are too happy with our uninterrupted work flow and support to even notice what the microsoft/pc world has developed. I like discussing photography projects with you, but the computer discussions are a waste because I just am not overly or overtly concerned about this aspect of my photography workflow. I have a Mac, I am happy that I can do what I need efficiently with it and the coordination from my other Apple products and that's all there is to it. Sometimes I think the PC/MS comments---not from you---but from others are just jealously?

Thanks for the photo discussions we've had in the past.....

blackest Loc: Ireland

Jack of all trades , pretty much also applies to Windows, if you excuse the inability to run mac software, pretty much is the definition of any computer to be fair.

Microsofts Problem really is they don't make great software. Apples Problem is they will not build the hardware we want to buy.

My macbook pros are great but getting dated and apple isn't producing machines I want to buy to be fair.

Probably the best machine I have is a hackintosh in terms of raw power and flexibility. Thats disappointing.
Of Windows , Linux, and OSX on the same hardware, the poorest performance is Windows every time.

I do use windows in work and it is a pain to work with, we use 2 redundant control systems which helps a lot when one crashes and freezes up and takes 10 minutes to get booted up with the applications we use. Fun fact 2 months ago we bought 11 dell laptops all identical 3 have gone back to dell with faults. One fun thing was the dell docking stations that were bought, they work fine with my mac, giving me 2 additional 27" screens extra ethernet port more usb ports ect...

So I kind of find myself a little torn, Apple has spent the last 5 years or so building machines that I don't want to buy certainly not a laptop. The iMacs are nice but anything less than a 27" iMac requires major disassembly to upgrade. I hope the new mac pro will be more suitable but we keep waiting and waiting...

On the other hand even a 'fast' windows machine is incredibly annoying, so here i am using my old mac and waiting for something to upgrade to. I guess as long as I have a current backup the newer mac books will do if specced high enough.

I don't think nadella or tim cook are doing us any favours. Is it so hard to make fast upgradable hardware or produce a version of excel which locks up when you change the date. Seriously my time sheet does this every time , I change the month and not just that spreadsheet but all of them. I have to kill excel and restart it. Excel has been around since at least office 97, 20 years later its crashing on a cell value...

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

No. You don't need to repeat. We know that the advantages of Apple are "legendary". And that Apple users believe in all of the myths. We do not want you to change. But we don't use them because we prefer reality over legend.

wds0410 Loc: Nunya

"And they can't help themselves from spreading inaccurate or just plain false information about the PC experience."

See, this is where Gene51 loses me. My experience with Windows in the 90s and through 2014 was awful. That is not inaccurate or false. Who has not experienced the Blue Screen of Death or just that lovely message that something or other "is not responding" for the umpteenth time? Those were real and very frustrating experiences and all to frequent.

I don't care if a lot has happened in the last 10 years. My father used to buy GM cars in the 70s and they were horrible. I swore I would never buy GM and I haven't. Again, maybe they do make better cars now (hard to imagine they couldn't) but I don't care. They lost me back then and there is no second chance.

So you can choose to stick it out with a vendor for all of those other reasons but for me, I'm look for something different and I understand it may come with some limitations. Am I getting defensive? Maybe. And yea, you can call me an apple fan boy -- guilty as charged -- but as tomcat said, I don't care.

With all due respect of course. I mean we are talking about computers here, nothing life or death. Right?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

There is nothing wrong with either platform. I have said this forever. The Mac just costs more and provides less. This is not a matter of personal preference - just information. Personal preference is what drives a computer buyer to Mac over PC. You say cost doesn't matter. So, my question is, if you were given $4000 to buy a laptop for photography, why would you settle for a machine with only 16 gb ram, outdated quad core cpu a 15" screen and a single 2 TB internal drive, requiring the addition of externals for additional storage

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MPTT2LL/A&step=config#

When you can get, for that same $4000, a 17" 4K matte screen, 6 core i7-8086K running at 5 gHz, 64 gb ram, a 1 TB PCIe NVMe m.2 drive AND a 2 TB SSD WITH INTERNAL SPACE FOR AN EXTRA M.2 AND A 2.5" DRIVE
for $3766.00

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9175-clevo-p775tm-g.html?startcustomization=1

There is no doubt that the snappy performance of the latter machine would trump any "perceived" value add from the former one. Bigger screen, tons of internal storage and ram, expansion capability, oh, yes, it is even cheaper.

I question the notion that all mac users are independently wealthy like yourself, and will forego value to remain brand loyal.

My son runs simulation software for 3D engineering, and had to go back and get something to run his software on because there was no mac that could run his software. Not even the MacPro. The laptop I spec'd for him - like the latter of the two, does an amazing job and is super capable. He still uses his macbook pro, but not for the heavy lifting - Solidworks, 3D Studio, oh and he also runs Lightroom and Photoshop. He MUCH prefers the faster machine.

So you are correct - it all boils down to a matter of preference.

tomcat

Hi Gene, as much as I like you, I have to say this with all humility. You still just don't get it. We hardcore Macs just simply don't care. If I had the $4000 as you said, I would buy a new iMac and the biggest MacBook Pro with the balance and be oh so happy. I would even do the Snoopy dance. So with all respect and friendship, again, we DON'T care about whatever scenario you can spec out about the advantage of a PC for everyday use. "It ain't happ'n" and I'm off to go do my Snoopy dance now. Take care and stop beating your head against the wall. You are wasting time talking about it.

Let's talk about the Singh-Ray color combo polarizer filter. I just tried one out yesterday and it was astounding.