Thread: New Computer required... PC or iMac ???

check out the Dell Studio range of PC's we just bought a i5 version at work as a one-off its fantastic.

if your funds stretch to an i7 even better but this dell studio is really quick

Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon

Hi All,

Question. Is it easy within the Mac OS to move files from NTFS / FAT32 PC based partitions over to Mac and back again? And can a PC access any files sat on an iMac?

Software:
Canon Camera - Cant remember for sure, but I assume that the Canon CDs supplied with the camera (350D and 5D MkII) are PC only??? Are all the Canon apps & drivers available for Mac OS?

Land Rover - Rave & Microcat. Assume these will need to remain on a PC platform? This isnt a major issue because my tablet PC that acompanies me on trips runs Vista.


Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jon

Hi Jon,

Like some others here, we have a mixed Mac, Linux and Windows household, but biased towards Macs.

If I was on a very tight budget I would go generic hardware and Linux/Open source as it's very good now.

But if you want a machine that just works, and keeps working then the iMac's are great. Ours is a dual core white iMac and we run Aperture for photo management and an old version of MS Office for my sons school, work.

I have set up a FreeBSD home server on an old P4 running the ZFS file system with a big RAIDZpool to store all our files. Moving and managing files around the home network is much easier using a Mac than Windows - including reading and writing to Windows based partitions.

Once you set up the Mac (and it's easy) you'll find you spend less time on managing the computer and more time working. Software updates are much faster on a Mac too.

When you buy it, have a play with Aperture to manage and manipulate your photos (its brilliant) and think about extending the warrantee from 1 to 3 Yrs. It's not too pricey for desktop Macs (more for laptops). Oh and make sure you use the Mac Time Machine feature for backups.

Have fun !

Thanks guys, sounds like 99% of people love the mac's and it would appear that 99% of all my apps are available for Mac and those that arent will either run under windows emulation or from XP running off a dedicated XP partition. Ive more or less made my mind up that the iMac is the way forward for me...

But its still going to be a leap of faith as I dont want to buy a Mac to end up running XP/Windows 7 all the time!

This maybe silly question of the day but here goes:
Working on the basis that Windows will run on the iMac, will Snow Leopard run on a PC?? I have a spare HD that I can remove the current partition and would maybe like to play with the OS before spending $$$ on the proper hardware.

Jon

Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon

Thanks guys, sounds like 99% of people love the mac's and it would appear that 99% of all my apps are available for Mac and those that arent will either run under windows emulation or from XP running off a dedicated XP partition. Ive more or less made my mind up that the iMac is the way forward for me...

But its still going to be a leap of faith as I dont want to buy a Mac to end up running XP/Windows 7 all the time!

This maybe silly question of the day but here goes:
Working on the basis that Windows will run on the iMac, will Snow Leopard run on a PC?? I have a spare HD that I can remove the current partition and would maybe like to play with the OS before spending $$$ on the proper hardware.

Jon

Jon

You'll love OS X and be more than happy..
I've converted my Father, My mate & his wife (they both went to Macs.. 1 x 21.7" and 1x 27") and it took them less than 4 days to learn how do things the OS X way...
Now they're doing things that are complex on a PC in seconds on the Mac.

I run a MacBook Pro and have Linux, Win XP, Win 7 all running in Parallels so I can mess around... All run no problems...

You wont regret your purchase.

I bought my first imac four years ago and still use it,and since then i had no viruses no spyware no reboots it just hasnt had any problems and its just as quick when it was new.

Thanks Toombie,
Do you run Rovacom / Faultmate under emulation on the Mac or off a dedicted "PC"?

Any thoughts on being able to run the latyest Mac OS on an intel PC?

Jon

Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon

Thanks Toombie,
Do you run Rovacom / Faultmate under emulation on the Mac or off a dedicted "PC"?

Any thoughts on being able to run the latyest Mac OS on an intel PC?

Jon

Yes I run my diagnostic systems in parallels with no issues what so ever.

OS X on an intel PC is hit and miss as Apple spec their internal components and program to suit.
It has been done, but isn't worth the hassle of trying to make it work IMO.

The beauty of OS X is that by keeping tabs on the hardware they can guarantee comparability and stability. Something xyz abc manufacturers can not as most PCs are mix and match.

Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon

will Snow Leopard run on a PC?? I have a spare HD that I can remove the current partition and would maybe like to play with the OS before spending $$$ on the proper hardware.

Jon

With some effort on your part and dependent on your hardware yes, Snow Leopard will run on a PC (but not necessarily your PC). However, this is a violation of Apples licence conditions.

Look around for hackintosh/ and similar for further information.