Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/04/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]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