Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/04/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]ps, the rich remark was somewhat tongue in cheek sorry Nathan ;-) YOu can download iView and trial it as well, and since it works on pc's as well, could be worth the consideration Cheers > Tina Manley wrote: >> P.S. Not to start a flame war between PCs and MACs but could you tell >> us why you switched? > Thanks to all of you who have given advice, this group is great as always. > > To answer some of the questions, including Tina's above: I did not > switch as such. My main desktop computer remains a Windows machine which > lives in my home office on the second floor of our house. I also have a > Windows laptop which I keep in the living room (I am writing this > message on it). But that laptop is pretty big, and the battery life > leaves a lot to be desired. So I wanted something more portable for > travelling, and decided to try Apple. Contrary to what someone > (Alastair, I think) wrote, I am NOT rich, so I opted for a 12" Powerbook > G4, bought second-hand on Marktplaats.nl, a local classifieds site. The > reason I wanted to get Apple is partly out of curiosity: I have been > using computers since 1979 and PCs since 1983 but have never used an > Apple of any kind. > > So far, I like it very much. The OS is superior to Windows in terms of > ease-of-use and overall design, but it is not a huge difference. I have > not seen the Blue Screen of Death on any of my Windows computers for at > least a couple of years (I think the last time was on a computer running > Windows 98). What I did like about OSX was how easy it was to set it up > to my liking, including changing the language of the computer from Dutch > to English, installing Open Office and some other software, setting up > the VPN connection to work etc.. > > As mentioned above, I am not rich, and since my other computers' are > Windows machines, compatibility between the two systems was important. I > have found with pleasure that my CDs and DVDs burned on the Windows > desktop are perfectly legible in the Powermac, as is my USB stick. For > office applications, I downloaded Open Office (the price is right :-)), > and again, some pretty complex Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint > presentations open without any problems on the Powerbook. For photo > processing I bought Photoshop Elements 4, since the full Photoshop is > too expensive and anyway, the capabilities of Elements are fully > sufficient for what I need to do, especially on the road. > > Following the advice here, I will first try the iPhoto application that > is bundled with the OS. If I don't like that, I will look at > alternatives like iView or Lightroom. The problem with Lightroom is that > it is free now but according to the Adobe web site, the beta software is > only usable until the end of June, so I am reluctant to invest time in > learning it if I am not going to buy it once it goes commercial--which I > won't, assuming it will carry a Photoshop-type of price. iPhoto is > definitely the first thing to try, since I already have it. Someone > mentioned that it gets slower as the number of files increases--this is > not a problem, since my usual pattern is to copy the files onto my > desktop once I return on a trip and delete them from the laptop, so the > number of files on the Apple will always just be the output from the > current trip. > > Once again, thanks for the advice to everyone. > > Nathan > > -- > Nathan Wajsman > Almere, The Netherlands > > SUPPORT FREEDOM OF SPEECH, BUY DANISH PRODUCTS! > > General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com > Picture-A-Week: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws > Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com > > Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman > http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507 > Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com > > Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >