Win/Mac computer? (Page 2): I’ve use Mac since I was 10 years old and they have served me better than a Windows but like any other computer you have to back up everything on an...

Chris.Cooper Loc: Buena Vista / Golden

I’ve use Mac since I was 10 years old and they have served me better than a Windows but like any other computer you have to back up everything on an external drive to save anything if it does crash. I prefer Macintosh☺️

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

DirtFarmer wrote:

How many USB ports? How many internal disks and what size? How many monitors can I hook up to it? How much memory can I stuff into it?

iMac = one internal monitor, everything else depends on how much money you want to spend.
I switched about 20 yrs ago First a Mac Mini, then a G5 Power Mac, then a 21.5" iMac now a 27" 2017 (last year) iMac last updated to OS Catalina. I found the switch from Windows to be easy I only use the internal drive for the OS and programs, everything else is stored on 8 external HDs in two separate enclosures (USB).

FiddleMaker Loc: Merrimac, MA

rmalarz wrote:

I switched to using a 27" iMac a few years ago. It was set up solely to do photographic, and photographic related, work. I wouldn't consider using a Windoze machine for photography again.
--Bob

If I wasn't so damn old, I would take a sledge hammer to this crappy Dell all-in-one and return to an iMac which is what I had back in 2010. Wish I still had it.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

FiddleMaker wrote:

If I wasn't so damn old, I would take a sledge hammer to this crappy Dell all-in-one and return to an iMac which is what I had back in 2010. Wish I still had it.

Your never to old to try new things, it just takes a bit longer on some things .

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Apologies if anybody suggested this earlier. So close to bed time I couldn't be bothered reading the leadup to this.
I would seriously suggest fitting a SSD and reloading Windows 10. Unless it is your motherboard causing you to reboot I think it most likely to be Win 10 in bad need of a reload. Of course you would need to reload everything else but that is par for the course.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

DirtFarmer wrote:

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) is starting to show signs of age and I am considering replacing it. My wife of 4 years is a mac user and I have been a windows guy since about 1990. I have no problems with windows but I see some advantages of a uniform platform in the house. When I had an android phone, text messages between my phone and her iPhone sometimes took 24 hours to get through. My email works on my iPhone and my desktop but they are separate. The spam definitions on the desktop do not extend to the iPhone, while hers are common to both her iPhone and her Macbook Air. Not a really big deal but it means I get a lot of spam on my iPhone.

So I started to look at Macs. First I looked at the Apple website and saw a few things, but no pricing. I looked at the website of the Micro Center, whom I have dealt with for many years, and they had what looked to me to be a limited selection, most of which were all-in-one machines. I'm used to modular, with lots of third party options.

My current rig is a quad core I7, 24 GB ram, 1TByte C drive, 2 TByte J drive, a 3TByte R drive (used for local Crashplan) the tower has 7 USB connectors, most of which are used for one thing or another (e.g. three external hard drives, a dongle that drives the keyboard and a trackball, a tablet (which I need to use more). I have two monitors working on it, and if I get a real desk to put it on, I will have three.

I have not really done a lot of research but what I've done hasn't shown me anything that looks like what I have now when it comes to Apple stuff. Windows stuff I would have no problem building something similar.

So since there are a lot of dedicated Apple guys out there and since I'm really unknowledgeable when it comes to Apple, I'm open to suggestions as to Apple machines. The problem is not urgent, the system is still working, but it occasionally requires reboots, and they report problems restarting. Shortcutting the startup checking gets me to something that works. I am not committed to getting into Apple, but my wife would like it (and you all know how important that could be).

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) i... (show quote)

For photos many seem to like is the Apple.
If your machine is primarily for business with outside businesses and networking then the Windows platform.

domcomm Loc: Denver, CO

I was on PCs for about 12 years, then I got a job where they had Macs. That made me switch, because it was so much easier and more logical in the way they work. No Drive C or D or whatever. No crashes or freezes. I don't EVER want to go back to PCs! And Macs last so much longer! My brother has been through 4 PCs in the last 3 years. My previous Mac lasted me 14 years. I have a Mac Pro tower, which has tons of upgradablity (unlike the iMacs), with 4 hard drives, lots of room to add RAM, etc., etc.

A few years ago, a company here in Denver didn't know which way to go, so they bought PCs for half of their employees, and Macs for the other half. They were going to do a 6-month test to see which was more productive. At the end of 3 months, it was so obvious which was more productive that they got rid of all the PCs. That, plus other national tests, have proven that you are more than twice as productive with a Mac. You can just work, without messing with different drives, crashes, viruses, etc.

If you want to save money, you can go to LEM (Lower End Macs) online, which is a group that buys and sells used Macs and peripherals. You can list what you want to buy, or what you have to sell/trade, but it has to be Mac related.

spaceylb Loc: Long Beach, N.Y.

rmalarz wrote:

I switched to using a 27" iMac a few years ago. It was set up solely to do photographic, and photographic related, work. I wouldn't consider using a Windoze machine for photography again.
--Bob

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

I use PCs even though I know Apple is the preferred computer for most people working in the arts including graphic arts. Just be ready to shell out some big bucks. A comparable PC replacement to what you have would run between 1500 - 1800, while an Apple with all those features will be double that. If money is no object, go for the Apple.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

DirtFarmer wrote:

I should also note that I have a printer that is on the network. It does not have AirPrint installed. It worked fine for everyone until the last update of my wife's Macbook, at which time it would not print. She spent about 3 hours on the phone with Apple techs and they were unable to suggest anything. Online suggestions did not work. The printer works from her iPhone but not from the Macbook. I don't want problems like that.

If the printer does not have AirPrint installed how does the phone print to it?

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

DirtFarmer wrote:

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) is starting to show signs of age and I am considering replacing it. My wife of 4 years is a mac user and I have been a windows guy since about 1990. I have no problems with windows but I see some advantages of a uniform platform in the house. When I had an android phone, text messages between my phone and her iPhone sometimes took 24 hours to get through. My email works on my iPhone and my desktop but they are separate. The spam definitions on the desktop do not extend to the iPhone, while hers are common to both her iPhone and her Macbook Air. Not a really big deal but it means I get a lot of spam on my iPhone.

So I started to look at Macs. First I looked at the Apple website and saw a few things, but no pricing. I looked at the website of the Micro Center, whom I have dealt with for many years, and they had what looked to me to be a limited selection, most of which were all-in-one machines. I'm used to modular, with lots of third party options.

My current rig is a quad core I7, 24 GB ram, 1TByte C drive, 2 TByte J drive, a 3TByte R drive (used for local Crashplan) the tower has 7 USB connectors, most of which are used for one thing or another (e.g. three external hard drives, a dongle that drives the keyboard and a trackball, a tablet (which I need to use more). I have two monitors working on it, and if I get a real desk to put it on, I will have three.

I have not really done a lot of research but what I've done hasn't shown me anything that looks like what I have now when it comes to Apple stuff. Windows stuff I would have no problem building something similar.

So since there are a lot of dedicated Apple guys out there and since I'm really unknowledgeable when it comes to Apple, I'm open to suggestions as to Apple machines. The problem is not urgent, the system is still working, but it occasionally requires reboots, and they report problems restarting. Shortcutting the startup checking gets me to something that works. I am not committed to getting into Apple, but my wife would like it (and you all know how important that could be).

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) i... (show quote)

I have been using Macs for 20 years. For a while Windows, Linux, and Macs. My current MacPro is a used 2013 model from OtherWorld Computing aka MacSales.com. Now I am Mac Only in this house. Don't worry about lack of internal storage as a large number of RAID 1, RAID 2, RAID 5, and RAID6 devices are available as are extension bus connectors (again check MacSales)l

JerryOSF Loc: Bristol, VA

Install Linuxmint on your old computer. It will be much faster, cost = zero. I have 3 computers, one dual boots with win 8, one dual boots with win 10. I use Linux almost exclusively. No C D E ...Z drives. Graphically does everything. Updates are painless. Software is available for many apps, all free.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

DirtFarmer wrote:

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) is starting to show signs of age and I am considering replacing it. My wife of 4 years is a mac user and I have been a windows guy since about 1990. I have no problems with windows but I see some advantages of a uniform platform in the house. When I had an android phone, text messages between my phone and her iPhone sometimes took 24 hours to get through. My email works on my iPhone and my desktop but they are separate. The spam definitions on the desktop do not extend to the iPhone, while hers are common to both her iPhone and her Macbook Air. Not a really big deal but it means I get a lot of spam on my iPhone.

So I started to look at Macs. First I looked at the Apple website and saw a few things, but no pricing. I looked at the website of the Micro Center, whom I have dealt with for many years, and they had what looked to me to be a limited selection, most of which were all-in-one machines. I'm used to modular, with lots of third party options.

My current rig is a quad core I7, 24 GB ram, 1TByte C drive, 2 TByte J drive, a 3TByte R drive (used for local Crashplan) the tower has 7 USB connectors, most of which are used for one thing or another (e.g. three external hard drives, a dongle that drives the keyboard and a trackball, a tablet (which I need to use more). I have two monitors working on it, and if I get a real desk to put it on, I will have three.

I have not really done a lot of research but what I've done hasn't shown me anything that looks like what I have now when it comes to Apple stuff. Windows stuff I would have no problem building something similar.

So since there are a lot of dedicated Apple guys out there and since I'm really unknowledgeable when it comes to Apple, I'm open to suggestions as to Apple machines. The problem is not urgent, the system is still working, but it occasionally requires reboots, and they report problems restarting. Shortcutting the startup checking gets me to something that works. I am not committed to getting into Apple, but my wife would like it (and you all know how important that could be).

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) i... (show quote)

Suggestion, scary but I've done it twice successfully, reset the old machine before you decide to get a new one, I did it to our old travel computer, an eight year old Toshiba laptop , slow and clunky, annoying, came up to speed better than when it was new, of course it came with Win 8, just did it again on my wife's 10 year old laptop, an other Toshiba, much better than it was, it will give her (and me) another year or two before she has to pick out a new one. Google reset Win 10 and read about what you get to keep, read Windows directions also, you will need to reinstall some programs, this is almost a clean install from what I have read, now the usual YMMV, Bob.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

DirtFarmer wrote:

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) is starting to show signs of age and I am considering replacing it. My wife of 4 years is a mac user and I have been a windows guy since about 1990. I have no problems with windows but I see some advantages of a uniform platform in the house. When I had an android phone, text messages between my phone and her iPhone sometimes took 24 hours to get through. My email works on my iPhone and my desktop but they are separate. The spam definitions on the desktop do not extend to the iPhone, while hers are common to both her iPhone and her Macbook Air. Not a really big deal but it means I get a lot of spam on my iPhone.

So I started to look at Macs. First I looked at the Apple website and saw a few things, but no pricing. I looked at the website of the Micro Center, whom I have dealt with for many years, and they had what looked to me to be a limited selection, most of which were all-in-one machines. I'm used to modular, with lots of third party options.

My current rig is a quad core I7, 24 GB ram, 1TByte C drive, 2 TByte J drive, a 3TByte R drive (used for local Crashplan) the tower has 7 USB connectors, most of which are used for one thing or another (e.g. three external hard drives, a dongle that drives the keyboard and a trackball, a tablet (which I need to use more). I have two monitors working on it, and if I get a real desk to put it on, I will have three.

I have not really done a lot of research but what I've done hasn't shown me anything that looks like what I have now when it comes to Apple stuff. Windows stuff I would have no problem building something similar.

So since there are a lot of dedicated Apple guys out there and since I'm really unknowledgeable when it comes to Apple, I'm open to suggestions as to Apple machines. The problem is not urgent, the system is still working, but it occasionally requires reboots, and they report problems restarting. Shortcutting the startup checking gets me to something that works. I am not committed to getting into Apple, but my wife would like it (and you all know how important that could be).

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) i... (show quote)

I concur with the suggestion to reinstall Windows if you’re getting unexpected reboots and errors. Just remember to have all your passwords for applications, your Windows code and your download folder backed up along with any data on you OS drive - your download folder should have the installation files for any apps that you downloaded. Also, you didn’t mention if your OS, applications and scratch space for any PP aps are on SSD. If not, this is a great time to do that. A 500GB SSD, which is enough for those functions can be had for $50-$60, and the speed of your machine will be amazingly faster. Just a couple of things to do if you’re not ready to replace your existing machine, which actually sounds pretty capable in therms of CPU and memory.

billmck Loc: Central KY

DirtFarmer wrote:

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) is starting to show signs of age and I am considering replacing it. My wife of 4 years is a mac user and I have been a windows guy since about 1990. I have no problems with windows but I see some advantages of a uniform platform in the house. When I had an android phone, text messages between my phone and her iPhone sometimes took 24 hours to get through. My email works on my iPhone and my desktop but they are separate. The spam definitions on the desktop do not extend to the iPhone, while hers are common to both her iPhone and her Macbook Air. Not a really big deal but it means I get a lot of spam on my iPhone.

So I started to look at Macs. First I looked at the Apple website and saw a few things, but no pricing. I looked at the website of the Micro Center, whom I have dealt with for many years, and they had what looked to me to be a limited selection, most of which were all-in-one machines. I'm used to modular, with lots of third party options.

My current rig is a quad core I7, 24 GB ram, 1TByte C drive, 2 TByte J drive, a 3TByte R drive (used for local Crashplan) the tower has 7 USB connectors, most of which are used for one thing or another (e.g. three external hard drives, a dongle that drives the keyboard and a trackball, a tablet (which I need to use more). I have two monitors working on it, and if I get a real desk to put it on, I will have three.

I have not really done a lot of research but what I've done hasn't shown me anything that looks like what I have now when it comes to Apple stuff. Windows stuff I would have no problem building something similar.

So since there are a lot of dedicated Apple guys out there and since I'm really unknowledgeable when it comes to Apple, I'm open to suggestions as to Apple machines. The problem is not urgent, the system is still working, but it occasionally requires reboots, and they report problems restarting. Shortcutting the startup checking gets me to something that works. I am not committed to getting into Apple, but my wife would like it (and you all know how important that could be).

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) i... (show quote)

I spent 30+ years with IBM, was there when the IBM PC was introduced, had my own IBM PC starting in 1982, and used a Windows PC until I retired in 2011. When I retired, I bought a Mac, and I have never looked back. My wife and I both use iPhones and iPads, and a calendar entry on any of those devices replicates across all the Apple devices in our household. Not having to deal with Windows upgrades is great.

I will tell you there are still some things that work better in Windows than on my Mac. I've made peace with those items, but still get annoyed with them from time to time.