Author Topic: If somebody offers you swapping your PC for a mac cold turkey: would you do it? (Read 32387 times)

app103 · « **Reply #25 on:** August 29, 2008, 01:35 AM »

Let's see...

A PC that can run Linux (and XP in vmware).

vs.

A Mac that can run Linux (with XP in vmware)...that can dual boot to OSX.

In your case, it doesn't seem like that much of a loss (and more of a gain), considering it would be for work and you aren't paying for it or any of the software that would end up needing to be purchased for it, and if anything goes wrong with the hardware in it, your employer would be picking up the tab to fix/replace it.

As long as it's a high end machine that can handle running what you have now, and OSX, it sounds like a pretty good deal. You will still be able to be productive in the OS of your choice, if you need to switch things around a bit to meet a deadline. If OSX is slowing you down, you can boot up Linux and work there, or XP in vmware like you do now.

As far as software is concerned, you wouldn't be limited to only Mac software in your case, since you would also still be able to use anything you currently do on Linux and XP. So software isn't really an issue as long as whatever you are doing is in some standardized format that has software that can access the data cross-platform.

Since it is work, it's also likely you wouldn't be responsible for any headaches with networking...that is likely to be someone else's responsibility to get working properly. Plus if it did end up being your responsibility, you got those mac-heads you will be working with that should be good for something...don't forget that.

But if it was swapping a pc that YOU own, for a mac, and using it at home and being responsible for any repairs/replacements...and the cost of software...I wouldn't do it. (lots of reasons already expressed by others)

Even in my case, where I would be swapping an 11 year old hunk of junk for a brand new Mac, I don't think I could do it. I have a sentimental attachment to this old snail. I don't think I could trade it for anything. I'd have to be allowed to keep it, even if I had to retire it permanently.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #26 on:** August 29, 2008, 12:14 PM »

I think what I was trying to say (obviously not too well) was that you need to take into consideration what happens once your file leaves your desktop and goes out to a 4-color printshop, professional CD mastering studio, or design agency.

It depends on the software - if you submit Adobe files (which is what most print shops want) as far as I can tell they are identical on both systems. You just need to specify the colour profile used to get the best colour matching.

Let's see...

A PC that can run Linux (and XP in vmware).

vs.

A Mac that can run Linux (with XP in vmware)...that can dual boot to OSX.

In your case, it doesn't seem like that much of a loss (and more of a gain), considering it would be for work and you aren't paying for it or any of the software that would end up needing to be purchased for it, and if anything goes wrong with the hardware in it, your employer would be picking up the tab to fix/replace it.

As long as it's a high end machine that can handle running what you have now, and OSX, it sounds like a pretty good deal. You will still be able to be productive in the OS of your choice, if you need to switch things around a bit to meet a deadline. If OSX is slowing you down, you can boot up Linux and work there, or XP in vmware like you do now.

As far as software is concerned, you wouldn't be limited to only Mac software in your case, since you would also still be able to use anything you currently do on Linux and XP. So software isn't really an issue as long as whatever you are doing is in some standardized format that has software that can access the data cross-platform.

Since it is work, it's also likely you wouldn't be responsible for any headaches with networking...that is likely to be someone else's responsibility to get working properly. Plus if it did end up being your responsibility, you got those mac-heads you will be working with that should be good for something...don't forget that.

But if it was swapping a pc that YOU own, for a mac, and using it at home and being responsible for any repairs/replacements...and the cost of software...I wouldn't do it. (lots of reasons already expressed by others)

Even in my case, where I would be swapping an 11 year old hunk of junk for a brand new Mac, I don't think I could do it. I have a sentimental attachment to this old snail. I don't think I could trade it for anything. I'd have to be allowed to keep it, even if I had to retire it permanently.
-app103 (August 29, 2008, 01:35 AM)

Not sure about that. It is all very well to say that you can use XP/Vista/Linux in virtual machine (Parallels or whatever) but the experience of using any OS Is degraded to some extent in any of the virtual solutions because the emulated hardware support is at a pretty low level in all of them. If you expect to use Parallels on a Mac and use the normal USB hardware you had on a PC under virtual Windows with the same drivers just forget it - at best USB support is shonky and netowrk support is not totally great either. (Same goes for VMWare on a Linux box).

At best virtual machines are a great way to use software occasionally that is restricted to an OS that won't run natively or just for testing purposes. Don't expect virtual machines to be robust (or quick) enough for serious production work. If you are wanting to use multiple OSes on a Mac and spend any time with Windows or Linux for serious work you need a multiple boot setup so that you can use proper versions with real hardware.

The one OS that runs better in virtual devices is Linux because it doesn't have the hardware compatibility issues that plague most people trying to get Linux up and running for the first time on a machine that isn't specifically built to work with Linux. You can even use unsupported devices such as printers by resorting to network print via the host OS.

urlwolf · « **Reply #27 on:** August 29, 2008, 02:22 PM »

Great post Carol.
I agree. using andlinux (great virtualization solution) bypassed all the hardware problems on my laptop.

app103 · « **Reply #28 on:** August 29, 2008, 02:51 PM »

Not sure about that. It is all very well to say that you can use XP/Vista/Linux in virtual machine (Parallels or whatever) but the experience of using any OS Is degraded to some extent in any of the virtual solutions because the emulated hardware support is at a pretty low level in all of them. If you expect to use Parallels on a Mac and use the normal USB hardware you had on a PC under virtual Windows with the same drivers just forget it - at best USB support is shonky and netowrk support is not totally great either. (Same goes for VMWare on a Linux box).
-Carol Haynes (August 29, 2008, 12:14 PM)

OK, so what you are saying is that running XP in vmware when the host OS is Linux is NOT the same as running XP in vmware when the host OS is Linux?

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #29 on:** August 29, 2008, 03:48 PM »

If somebody offers you swapping your PC for a mac cold turkey: would you do it?

You mean after I stopped laughing? ...I'd quit.

While I do have an old Mac (PowerCenter 150 running OS9) here in my office, it's only here because it makes a great door stop.

Mark0 · « **Reply #30 on:** August 29, 2008, 08:31 PM »

Years ago the complaint was levelled that Windows was not truly WYSIWYG for publishing - but that complaint really died with the introduction of TrueType Fonts.
-Carol Haynes (August 28, 2008, 12:54 PM)

That's not always true. There are some quirks in the Win way of rendering fonts between low & hi DPI devices (basically due to certain choices done regarding hinting).
Here's a simple test:

[Select]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Cut & paste the above in WordPad. Using Arial (Western) 10, the right margin will be just about "in line".
Do a preview and it still show up just right.

Now print it (even with a PDF virtual printer), and see the difference!
Clearly this represent an extremisation, but on a complex / real document, that may lead to some pretty interesting effects in some circumstances!

Bye!

jgpaiva · « **Reply #31 on:** August 30, 2008, 06:37 AM »

Now print it (even with a PDF virtual printer), and see the difference!
-Mark0 (August 29, 2008, 08:31 PM)

In case someone's wondering and doesn't feel like testing.. What happens is that the 'i' character and the 'm' character don't retain the same size as in the document, the lines should have the same width but when printed they get different widths.

Mark0 · « **Reply #32 on:** August 30, 2008, 06:46 AM »

Exactly! Here's a screenshot that show it (above, WordPad Preview; below, the print to PDF document).

If somebody offers you swapping your PC for a mac cold turkey: would you do it?

Using styles like bold & italic on small fonts makes can lead to even more interesting results.
IIRC there was some posts about differents font rendering philosophies between Win & OS X even here's at DonationCoder. Basically, Win trade on screen quality, pixel-perfect rendering for strict typographic correctness. Or something like that!

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #33 on:** August 30, 2008, 05:20 PM »

I don't like the Mac operating system - I wouldn't mind having a Macintosh laptop for testing and programming purposes, but other than that, I see no reason to own one. And to switch your Windows-based computer (or Linux, or Unix...) for a Macintosh... to me, that is like going from color to black and white.

Just my opinion. *Gives tower a big hug*

Music_Guy · « **Reply #34 on:** December 19, 2008, 03:59 PM »

I did the switch from PC to Mac a few weeks back. I record music though so it was an eventual switch that I couldn't avoid. I am loving mac and the switch went really smooth since I had a buddy who took maybe 30 minutes or so just showing me around a little.

If you work in multimedia, man, Mac is solid as hell. Runs so smooth compared to my PC which always dropped out or froze in certain software. Plus I was on Vista before which I am not a fan of.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #35 on:** December 19, 2008, 08:26 PM »

Given the season, if somebody offered to swap my mac for a cold turkey I'd certainly consider that!

Here's why

A raincoat's not terribly useful at -25C.

40hz · « **Reply #36 on:** December 21, 2008, 04:30 PM »

Given the season, if somebody offered to swap my mac for a cold turkey I'd certainly consider that!

-cranioscopical (December 19, 2008, 08:26 PM)

OMG!

You outdid yourself with that one.

dangerman 666 · « **Reply #37 on:** July 07, 2009, 10:43 PM »

I guess it's a very personal thing and it looks like most here are against it.

If it were me I might do it. I recently put my old Windows laptop out to pasture and bought an IMac. I've used widows all my life and enjoy the change. It's been pretty painless and I have no significant regrets. For my situation it is great and I'm actually a bit emarrassed how how much I'm enjoying the change.

Having said that I hope I never become a fanboy. There have been some valid points made here. If it was for work and it was going to seriously impact my productivity, I might hesitate. But if someone else was bearing all the costs...I'd still be quite tempted.

daddydave · « **Reply #38 on:** January 20, 2011, 11:23 AM »

Given the choice of XP on Linux or XP on Mac, I would choose to run 64 bit Windows 7 natively. The more I use Windows 7, the more I despise XP anyway. If you are running this on a work machine, work machines in my world are notoriously slow anyway, why slow it down further?

wraith808 · « **Reply #39 on:** January 20, 2011, 02:33 PM »

I'd do it, as long as the hard drive is quite large, and the hardware is better than my PC.

Then I'd make the mac partition as small as possible, install bootcamp, then install Windows, and make the OSX into OSX'd.

Ath · « **Reply #40 on:** January 20, 2011, 03:17 PM »

No. What for?

timns · « **Reply #41 on:** January 20, 2011, 04:12 PM »

No. What for?
-Ath (January 20, 2011, 03:17 PM)

I'm with Ath. Maybe a couple of years back I would have considered it, but I have a rock-solid, secure and pretty nice PC setup by now. Ok it took some effort, and it's very specific to my needs, but I think there's too much stuff I would miss moving to Mac.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #42 on:** January 20, 2011, 04:54 PM »

No. What for?
-Ath (January 20, 2011, 03:17 PM)

I'm with Ath. Maybe a couple of years back I would have considered it, but I have a rock-solid, secure and pretty nice PC setup by now. Ok it took some effort, and it's very specific to my needs, but I think there's too much stuff I would miss moving to Mac.
-timns (January 20, 2011, 04:12 PM)

Like your sanity, free will, and any semblance of self respect...

40hz · « **Reply #43 on:** January 20, 2011, 06:03 PM »

My PC costs considerably more than a Big Mac Cold Turkey sandwich.

So why would I want to swap? It's not even a Fun Meal!

Renegade · « **Reply #44 on:** January 20, 2011, 07:35 PM »

This is a bit old of a topic, but I have a Mac now and... I don't use it. It's simply not very good at anything in comparison to my desktop PC. They both cost about the same, and my desktop PC is simply far better at everything. Would I swap? Not a snowball's chance in Hell. And the only thing I need to do is move my hands from one keyboard and mouse to the other.