Making the move to Mac

Jase

Jase

Jase

Soldato
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Pembrokeshire
I'm thinking of making the move from PC (Windows) to Mac but having had little experience of Macs I'm not 100% sure it's the best route.

A few years ago I wouldn't have considered a Mac as I used the PC for gaming etc. These days I mainly use the PC for Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere and After Effects but do have a couple of games that I like such as Assetto Corsa.

The first thing on my list is a laptop and I'm pretty much decided that if I go the Mac route I'll get a 15" MacBook Pro with Retina display and luckily my folks have said they'd buy it as a Christmas present.

Where I'm undecided is a computer for home. I had a look at the iMac 5K today and was amazed by the quality of the screen but unfortunately I couldn't see anything running on it. I really don't understand the performance on Mac's so how would this compare to my present computer with an Intel i7 @ 3.2Ghz and GTX 780Ti?

Also what is the main difference between this and the Mac Pro which is much more expensive and doesn't come with a monitor etc?

The other thing is I presently pay monthly for Lightroom and Photoshop CC, I guess I can use the same agreement if I swap to Mac? The other issue for me is I have the Adobe CS6 Master Collection which I purchased for the PC and I guess that is then not usable on the Mac? this could be the sticking point as I can't afford to buy that again (due to losing my job a few weeks ago).

On top of this how easy will the transition from Windows to Mac be? are there disadvantages (other than listed above) to making the move?

Thanks
 
The Macbook Pro Retina will do all the things you want.
Not sure what you want from a home computer but any of the iMacs should suffice for nearly everything you throw at it.
I mave a Mac Mini 2012 and it does pretty much anything with a Dell 29" Ultra Wide monitor.

The MacPro is mainly for CPU intensive programs like video/3D processing.

Not sure about the Adobe montly agreement so maybe calling them to find out would be something to do.
http://prodesigntools.com/adobe-creative-cloud-faq-frequently-asked-questions-cs6.html#howmany

I would goto Apple store and check out the computers see which you prefer.
 
To be honest I don't see a reason to purchase the iMac. It seems like a very expensive investment into something that you're not sure about, especially seeing as you've just lost your job. Upgrading your current machine's processor, motherboard and buying a new display would be the more sensible choice IMO.

Then again, the rMBP would be a fair bit more powerful than your current machine (in terms of CPU performance). So it really depends on which you are going to use as your primary machine. The only issue with the rMBP would be for playing games at higher settings (quite a step down of course from a GTX780Ti).
 
lamboman said:
To be honest I don't see a reason to purchase the iMac. It seems like a very expensive investment into something that you're not sure about, especially seeing as you've just lost your job. Upgrading your current machine's processor, motherboard and buying a new display would be the more sensible choice IMO.

Then again, the rMBP would be a fair bit more powerful than your current machine (in terms of CPU performance). So it really depends on which you are going to use as your primary machine. The only issue with the rMBP would be for playing games at higher settings (quite a step down of course from a GTX780Ti).
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Thanks, I really don't use my PC for gaming very often these days apart from Assetto Corsa occasionally so this is really for photo/video editing etc. I'm 99.9% decided on the MacBook Pro as I need a good laptop while travelling and I figured for ease of workflow it would be a good idea to work on the same systems at home and away.

My current computer in terms of power does what I need it to although I need a new monitor and I don't want to go down the upgrade path on this PC.

I guess a good idea would be to get the MacBook Pro now and see how I get on with it, I have the option of dual boot into windows also I think. After using it for a while I'll be in a better position to judge the need/want to change the home PC.

With reference the MacBook Pro, is it worth upgrading the "2.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz" to a "2.8GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz"?? the difference is £150
 
Not really worth the CPU upgrade, unless you really really must have that 10% extra CPU power. Aside from video processing times you won't notice it in daily use.
 
If that's the case, aside from the gaming side of things, the rMBP 15" will do everything you want to do. It's more powerful than what you currently have (i7 960 it seems?).

I'm guessing you're playing Assetto Corsa on a single display? You may be able to get with it at lower settings if that's the case.

As MagicBoy said, CPU upgrade isn't really worth it.
 
glen8 said:
why the roll eyes?

You do realise that the macbook line won the 'best windows laptop award' a few months back

It's a great laptop for both operating systems, so why limit yourself to just one :confused:
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I don't. I have both OS X and Windows 7 installed (for gaming). I've been boot camping and running parallels since 2006.

There's a few compromises that take the edge of running Windows. I'd sell the Mac and buy a Windows laptop if that was it's primary use.

The hardware and OS X integration make the platform.
 
MagicBoy said:
There's a few compromises that take the edge of running Windows. I'd sell the Mac and buy a Windows laptop if that was it's primary use..
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Hardware at the Mac price range is much better in the windows range these days and I would agree it makes more sense to just get a Windows laptop if you dislike OSX.
 
Well Santa delivered as promised :)

mac.jpg



I'm more than happy with it and really impressed by the quality of the laptop and screen. It's going to take some getting used to but I love it!

I am now 99% sure I'm going to get a desktop Mac just need to decide if it's going to be an iMac for Mac Pro.


May as well ask now as I'm not sure, how do you uninstall stuff? is it just a case of deleting it??

Also what good antivirus software is there on the Mac?? on the PC I use NOD32 which I think is great.
 
Jase said:
May as well ask now as I'm not sure, how do you uninstall stuff? is it just a case of deleting it??

Also what good antivirus software is there on the Mac?? on the PC I use NOD32 which I think is great.
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Removing the app is just a case of dragging it to the trash. Personally don't like apps leaving stuff behind, so the way to properly uninstall stuff is to trawl through the Library folders and delete related files (though of course you need to be careful to make sure you don't delete anything important).

As for Mac anti-virus, same as Windows, common sense works well ;) Don't run anything myself so I'll let someone else answer that one.
 
Try Sophos - it's free. I've installed it for a periodic check, but run without AV 99.9% of the time.

Aside from a couple of bits of cack handed malware which Apple patched out within a few days, there's no viruses in the wild for OS X.
 
Honestly getting a virus is normally the users fault, even on windows I've had my last windows laptop for 3 years without a single AV and it never got infected once. Every time one of my friends would claim it has to have a virus we would run every scan under the sun and it turns up empty.

Also you could look at getting a hackintosh running, might be a lot cheaper as I believe a lot of your hardware should be supported. A few friends run them and have had no real issue, you just wait behind a bit for software updates. I personally don't need desktop power so I just hook my laptop up to a monitor and call it a day.
 
Thanks for the info guys.

Having worked a few things out I've decided that I am definitely going to get a Desktop Mac.

A couple of questions :

1) If I got the Mac Pro is it at all upgradable in the future ie Memory and Storage?
2) What would be the ideal monitor to get with it (27 inch).. I am quite surprised there is no apple 4K/Retina type monitor
 
Jase said:
Thanks for the info guys.

Having worked a few things out I've decided that I am definitely going to get a Desktop Mac.

A couple of questions :

1) If I got the Mac Pro is it at all upgradable in the future ie Memory and Storage?
2) What would be the ideal monitor to get with it (27 inch).. I am quite surprised there is no apple 4K/Retina type monitor
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1) Upgradable officially, RAM only. Unofficially, basically everything apart from the graphics cards (so that's CPUs, RAM, SSD). The latter two are easy to do.
2) We'll likely see a 5K monitor from Apple once official support arrives for such a resolution (DisplayPort), however right now that doesn't exist (and the 5K iMac is the only 5K display you can get).
 
Firstly from what I've read the retina iMac is better a good few work loads, the biggest appeal for the Mac Pro is the 2 GPUs, not really sure if your will really need that?
 
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