i-Macs
Surf-Matt
Posts: 5,952
Okay I'm TOTALLY sick of my Windows laptops dying on me.
Mine is a high spec Acer with great reviews - at just over a year old it died completely and crashes constantly. The other is a 6 month old Lenovo (high spec) that's just cack.
One is XP, the other is Vista.
My plan is: Get two i-macs (20" screen, 500GB HD) and use the laptops ONLY for mobile work.
What I need to know is:
Is Mac Office now 100% compatible? We use 1000s of files and need to send and receive them from clients seamlessly. Is most stuff pretty straightforward to a Windows head? Will it crash less? Will I not have to tw4t around with antivirus software? Will it run MUCH faster? Is the Time Machine worth getting?
These are the core business tool so not worried about the initial cost, they just need to work and keep working without having a little hissy fit and crashing all the time.
And Windows 7 can sod off - I'm sick of anything Windows now!
Mine is a high spec Acer with great reviews - at just over a year old it died completely and crashes constantly. The other is a 6 month old Lenovo (high spec) that's just cack.
One is XP, the other is Vista.
My plan is: Get two i-macs (20" screen, 500GB HD) and use the laptops ONLY for mobile work.
What I need to know is:
Is Mac Office now 100% compatible? We use 1000s of files and need to send and receive them from clients seamlessly. Is most stuff pretty straightforward to a Windows head? Will it crash less? Will I not have to tw4t around with antivirus software? Will it run MUCH faster? Is the Time Machine worth getting?
These are the core business tool so not worried about the initial cost, they just need to work and keep working without having a little hissy fit and crashing all the time.
And Windows 7 can sod off - I'm sick of anything Windows now!
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Windows 7
Sorry Matt! But it's brilliant, massivley quicker than Vista, I had a free upgrade to it, so was using it about 2 weeks after it came out, I've had no crashes, freezes, driver issues or anything. It just works.....isn't that a Mac ad line?
A mate has got a Mac, we normally laugh at him because it does silly things in an awkward way. He tries to tell us it's intuitive, but then he has to go onto a forum to find out how to do a print screen :roll: That, and it's slower than an equivalently priced Windows machine, and overheats, and you can't upgrade/replace bits yourself and his is now held together with parcel tape (build quality? ha!). Other than that it's great......
Also: HT, flats, tubless tyres, mudguards
And Linux (someone's going to mention it!)0 -
Is Mac Office now 100% compatible? We use 1000s of files and need to send and receive them from clients seamlessly. Is most stuff pretty straightforward to a Windows head? Will it crash less? Will I not have to tw4t around with antivirus software? Will it run MUCH faster? Is the Time Machine worth getting
not sure if 100% compatible but most office stuff seems to work fine between W*ndows and Mac.
Yes, it will crash much less.
No, you won't need to tw@ around with antivirus software.
Yes, it will run much faster.
Personally not found a need for Time Machine just yet but other people I know who use it think it's great.0 -
singlespeedexplosif wrote:Is Mac Office now 100% compatible? We use 1000s of files and need to send and receive them from clients seamlessly. Is most stuff pretty straightforward to a Windows head? Will it crash less? Will I not have to tw4t around with antivirus software? Will it run MUCH faster? Is the Time Machine worth getting
not sure if 100% compatible but most office stuff seems to work fine between W*ndows and Mac.
Yes, it will crash much less.
No, you won't need to tw@ around with antivirus software.
Yes, it will run much faster.
Personally not found a need for Time Machine just yet but other people I know who use it think it's great.
But an equally expensive Windows machine would crash much less and be faster than the current (broken?) laptops too.
I've never found anitvirus a hassle.
1) Install,
2) use computer
is the normal procedure. If I was using it for business I wouldn't trust all of my security to a smaller market share.
As for compatibility, my mate only bought a mac because of the Mac Lab' they had at his uni (he's a creative type). The Adobe files, I think photoshop, but may have been audio stuff, were compatible from PC to Mac, but not the other way. So any work done on the uni computers could only be opened on another Mac. Whereas he could work at home on his PC and take it into uni to open on a Mac or PC0 -
Just employ someone who knows what their doing to clean and set up both laptops and let them do a routine service every 3 months. It's all that's needed.
I doubt your hardware will be the problem, if you'd have said Acer, then maybe. But not Lenovo and together. After they've been cleaned and set up right never use them for anything else other than work and only have work applications on them (all part of a decent set up).0 -
We have been using laptops since we started the business - after about 18 months they are almost unuseable. I hate the constant "updates" that slow the computer down, I hate having to wait almost five minutes from switching on to actually being able to use the internet/Word.
Apparently everything is compatible now - I think I'll get two, bung Office on them and consider the time capsule thingy.0 -
Surf-Matt wrote:hate having to wait almost five minutes from switching on to actually being able to use the internet/Word.
Windows 7.....when I hibernate my laptop it's awake within 5 seconds. And I mean properly awake and just waiting for me to give it something to do, not just showing the desktop but still struggling to get going.
Have you looked at any of the Vaio desktops, the one's that are 'just a screen' like the Macs? Don't want to see you wasting your money 0 -
I've never used Time Capsule as I don't really need it, however I too have heard from people that use it that it can be a life saver (Do it right in the first place is my motto).
Mac work better without antivirus as any other software you add will slow things down and make things crash, so don't install any.
If you get a new iMac, then you'll get windows with it. You can boot up in either Mac or Windows. My personal advice would be to get rid of the windows partition, as it's the most expensive PC you'll ever own.
My final advice is not to get iMacs. We've sent so many back now as when something goes wrong with it, all you can do is send it back, meaning you're without a computer for some time. You can't open them up at all, other than to add some more RAM. As bails rightly said, a good spec PC will be just as stable, just as fast and be a hell of a lot cheaper. They're also much easier to repair. I'm a Mac user through and through, but I get fed up of them all too often.It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.
Join us on UK-MTB we won't bite, but bring cake!
Blender Cube AMS Pro0 -
I hate Vaios. freelancer I work with has had nothing but trouble with hers and it cost a fortune. My reason for wanting to change is constant hassle with Windows based laptops.0
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Not worried about style (in fact i think i-macs look a bit ponsey) - just has to work. And work. And work! Cheers for the links though!0
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My Mac is broken....
But Its my "old" one. Now on mac number 3 since the GF stole one from me 0 -
I'm thinking two of the latest 21.5" screen ones with 3.06Ghz Core 2, 4GB RAM and a 500GB HD.0
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if you're going MAC, i suggest you go totally mac. Not mac + PC laptop.
They can be a right PITA to set up working together. The main issue being large file transfers between the 2 and sharing storage.0 -
The idea would be to use the imac for 95% of our work, then take a laptop (this one - just had Windows re-installed) when portability is needed (not often) and then transfer any work done when out and about.0
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Its the transfering of work yuo might have issues with... thats what I was saying.
As mac and windows use a different HD formatting. (although mac can use Fat32 along with windows, but you can't transfer anything over 3gig which is annoying... plus its slow).
So if you have a load of work stored on an external HD thats windows formatted, you won't be able to open any of it on the mac without reformatting or using a correctly formatted dongle.
Oh and it'd be good to note that office for mac doesn't have all the features that office for windows does.
Its quite a bit harder to use and formatting is usuallly screwed when transfering windows>mac/mac>windows.
I know this because when at uni, i'd write a 5000 word essay on my mac, then spend a day reformatting and editing it on windows to print/submit it.
edit: what sort of work will you be doing out of interest?0 -
Ben - cheers for all your help.
We write a lot of press releases, case studies and often need Excel spreadsheets. We also deal with a lot of pdfs and jpegs (often needing to resize/reformat), use the internet a lot and deal with lot of emails.
Nothing too processor heavy - no videos or massive database manipulation. Also print and scan a lot.0 -
PDFs and photos are miles easier to work with on a mac.
Iirc, excel Is ok as long as you don't need complicated graphs and again tranfering them to windows is pretty poor.
The thing is, it takes time to get used to what a mac can do and how much more it can do than a windows pc. I still learn new things!
I wouldn't recommend the time machine btw. They're a waste of money. You might as well just buy a high capacity network drive. They're a load cheaper and much more simple to use.
They're a great investment but Just make sure that everything you have now can be used/converted to be used on the mac system.0 -
Happy to invest a bit of weekend time of learning what they can do but the main thing is to save time of crashes (some fatal!) at critical moments and generally speed up our computer productivity. Even reinstalling Windows then all the drivers and other cack has taken me hours after my laptop died for no reason.0
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PDFs and photos are miles easier to work with on a mac.
Iirc, excel Is ok as long as you don't need complicated graphs and again tranfering them to windows is pretty poor.
The thing is, it takes time to get used to what a mac can do and how much more it can do than a windows pc. I still learn new things!
I wouldn't recommend the time machine btw. They're a waste of money. You might as well just buy a high capacity network drive. They're a load cheaper and much more simple to use.
They're a great investment but Just make sure that everything you have now can be used/converted to be used on the mac system.0 -
We don't do delve that deep into Excel - just spreadsheets with a few formulae. No graphs (yet).
Another thing I do it update a website - simple XML coding stuff using a pretty basic website management system - assume this would still be fine?0 -
What Anti virus / Internet security program do you use
I wouldnt be surprised that you have a trojan virus that's attached itself to one of your programmes or something you downloaded ..0 -
well I have a MBP that the graphics chip has failed on so I have no screen output. But that's a known problem with old MBP's.Surf-Matt wrote:Happy to invest a bit of weekend time of learning what they can do but the main thing is to save time of crashes (some fatal!) at critical moments and generally speed up our computer productivity. Even reinstalling Windows then all the drivers and other cack has taken me hours after my laptop died for no reason.
My mac mini (now the gf's) is the single best pc I've ever owned. It's incredibly fast and it's microscopic! I'd highly recommend one. Set it up with wireless keyboard and mouse and connnect it to a tv or high quality screen, you hardly even notice it's there!
The iMacs however are superb pieces of kit. Very powerful and capable. Probably too powerful for just processing but it's nice to have it in reserve.
Just depends what you need/want/can afford.0 -
Surf-Matt wrote:We have been using laptops since we started the business - after about 18 months they are almost unuseable.
They need cleaning out and updating.Surf-Matt wrote:I hate the constant "updates" that slow the computer down, I hate having to wait almost five minutes from switching on to actually being able to use the internet/Word.
XP with SP3 only receives Security and Internet Explorer updates (more or less). XP should fly on any modern day laptop. If it doesn't there are reasons why (it needs cleaning out and updating).
Vista is a big fat turd no matter what way you spin it but you should still see better results than you are reporting (it needs cleaning out and updating).
If you want I can pm you a couple of whizz-bang diagnostics that will give a rough indicator as to what's going on on both machines. pm me if you want, Matt.0 -
If you're worried about transferring stuff from a mac to a pc, then install macdrive on your pc. This allows it to read mac formatted HDD's making life a bit easier for everyone.
I've never had problems with Excel, but not used it intensley like you probably will. You might find the time machine useful if you find sometimes that you wish you hadn't deleted something, but I'd back it up onto a seperate drive. But, if you find you need something you've deleted quite regularly, then a network server is better.It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.
Join us on UK-MTB we won't bite, but bring cake!
Blender Cube AMS Pro0 -
if it's something that requires a specific piece of software (ie released by the host) make sure it works with mac.Surf-Matt wrote:We don't do delve that deep into Excel - just spreadsheets with a few formulae. No graphs (yet).
Another thing I do it update a website - simple XML coding stuff using a pretty basic website management system - assume this would still be fine?
If you can use any web software just get adobe. It's awesome bu very pricey.
If it's all done online then there will be no problems.0 -
This is all very helpful!
We use Norton 360 Premier which is meant to be good and backs up our data. I'm assuming it's probably not though (it was pricey too!). I clean the laptops up every few months.
While price is always an issue, a couple (or a few) hundred quid doesn't matter - they help us make money. Anything that slows them down/costs us is (in real terms) probably worse than the extra initial outlay if they are capable of what people say they are.
Programs used are just basic - Word, Excel, occasional (but avoided if possible!) Powerpoint, Irfanview, the usual plug ins, Adobe reader (not needed the full version yet but might do) but the information stored is absolutely critical - invoices, planners, photo libraries, etc. etc.0 -
Norton ain't worth jack .....I would suggest you change and get a better Antivirus programme ...
Avast and webroot0 -
I'd note that time machine and time capsule are two different things. Time machine is software included with the OS that creates incremental backups (need a file before that edit you made three weeks ago? Just go back and get it). Time Capsule is essentially a harddrive with a wireless access point built in.
You can use time machine with any external harddrive, even an NFS network share if you want.
I do a lot of scientific computing (it is my job) and a Mac is perfect for that. Still run Linux on all the servers though.0 -
Surf-Matt wrote:Norton
Ugh!
I think that's one of those rare anti-viruses that's expensive, slows down the machine more than an actual virus, isn't the best at protection and won't let you uninstall it.
For paid for AV, Kaspersky is meant to be very good, otherwise AVG or Avast.0
