Going from PC to Mac

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pablob

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Paul
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Hi there,

Just bought a MBP 15" and will pick it up on Wednesday. My poor little Toshiba Laptop is giving me the "Sandtimer" busy logo a bit too much in Lghtroom and PS so looking forward to a real speed boost! :D

I will be looking into that fantastic looking Mac tip thread on here but having never used a Mac before what are the top resources in terms of sites/books etc to figure out how it all works!

Any other useful things to do/Proggies to get when you get your MBP home?

Cheers for any help and assistance?

Rgds

Paul
 
I formatted my Mac a week ago as I upgraded to Snow Leopard (didn't have to format I just fancied starting afresh) First thing to do is click the apple in the top left of the screen and run software update a few times until it's all up to date. This is the very rare occasion where you'll have to reboot your mac.

I've installed as I can't live without them....

Lightroom
Adium (Chat program, integrates multiple accounts, gmail, msn etc )
GarageSale - ebay auction software
AppZapper - 1 click remover
DropBox - Awesome if you have multiple machines
Google notifier - Gmail/Google Cal
Name Mangler - Great batch filename tool
Photomatix Pro - HDR
Snap n Drag - Great screenshot tool
Transmission - Torrents
VLC - Plays back pretty much all video formats
 
Another good prog - VisualHub will convert any media file into any other format.
 
What do you want to use your Mac for?

Tip wise, there is loads of info out there, I just tend to Google when I want to know something.

I found working through the system preferences was the best way to get things roughly how I wanted and gave me a better idea of what I could change. Expose and hot corners are great and you'll find them in this menu.

Lightroom should be easy to install, but Photoshop you will need to get a new license through Adobe.

The key thing to remember is not to expect it to behave like a Windows machine, allow yourself to be open to change to work the Apple way. Oh and have a look/search of this forum, there are loads of threads covering this topic.
 
TBH if you already have Lightroom, there isn't much point spending the cash to get Aperture, it does the same thing, just slightly differently.
 
pablob said:
Hi there,

Just bought a MBP 15" and will pick it up on Wednesday. My poor little Toshiba Laptop is giving me the "Sandtimer" busy logo a bit too much in Lghtroom and PS so looking forward to a real speed boost! :D

I will be looking into that fantastic looking Mac tip thread on here but having never used a Mac before what are the top resources in terms of sites/books etc to figure out how it all works!

Any other useful things to do/Proggies to get when you get your MBP home?

Cheers for any help and assistance?

Rgds

Paul
Click to expand...
I dont think just changing from PC to Mac will change anything It more about what proser and memory you have along with graphic and if it has shared memry or not.
How old was your laptop and what was its spec?
When was the last time you cleaned it up, with a check of the Reg. if you don’t do this then Any computer will slow up, this is with out the fact cameras are pumping out bigger files now.
 
Chaz Photos said:
I dont think just changing from PC to Mac will change anything It more about what proser and memory you have along with graphic and if it has shared memry or not.
How old was your laptop and what was its spec?
When was the last time you cleaned it up, with a check of the Reg. if you don’t do this then Any computer will slow up, this is with out the fact cameras are pumping out bigger files now.
Click to expand...

It's about 2 years old, 2 gb ram and the processor is 1.5ghz! It's an ok machine that's cleaned of crap and the HD is defragged frequently. Still pretty slow in ps and lightroom!
 
pablob said:
I will be looking into that fantastic looking Mac tip thread on here
Click to expand...

I'd watch out he's a bit dodgy :LOL:

I would stick to LR (in fact if you are switching you might find that the same serial number works under MacOS).

You'll find your new machine much quicker but then you would find a new PC much quicker too! Not having to run virus software etc also makes a difference.
 
cowasaki said:
I'd watch out he's a bit dodgy :LOL:

I would stick to LR (in fact if you are switching you might find that the same serial number works under MacOS).

You'll find your new machine much quicker but then you would find a new PC much quicker too! Not having to run virus software etc also makes a difference.
Click to expand...

Agree about a new pc also being faster,but I thought I'd like the opportunity to also try something different! If I don't like it I'm sure selling the mbp won't be hard and I can reinvest in another pc:D
 
pablob said:
Agree about a new pc also being faster,but I thought I'd like the opportunity to also try something different! If I don't like it I'm sure selling the mbp won't be hard and I can reinvest in another pc:D
Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to put you off just stop the multitude of thread spoilers coming in and saying it over and over. Make sure you have a look at my Mac Top Tips (see my sig)
 
pablob said:
Yeah I know fella!

It's probably in your tip thread but does 8GB improve performance to any great degree over 4GB?

Sorry for being lazy!

Cheers

Paul
Click to expand...

It is a law of diminishing returns

The increase from 512Mb to 1Gb Makes an absolutely massive difference.
The increase from 1Gb to 2Gb makes a big difference but not as big
The increase from 2Gb to 4Gb makes less of a difference but still worthwhile
The increase from 4Gb to 8Gb makes a difference but only in circumstances where you actually need lots of RAM such as running numerous programs at the same time....
 
cowasaki said:
It is a law of diminishing returns

The increase from 512Mb to 1Gb Makes and absolutely massive difference.
The increase from 1Gb to 2Gb makes and big difference but not as big
The increase from 2Gb to 4Gb makes less of a difference but still worthwhile
The increase from 4Gb to 8Gb makes a difference but only in circumstances where you actually need to RAM such running numerous programs at the same time....
Click to expand...
Good answer I'll save my 200 or so quid then and enjoy the 4gb goodness!
 
pablob said:
Good answer I'll save my 200 or so quid then and enjoy the 4gb goodness!
Click to expand...

I think I have word dyslexia and should read my posts before hitting the submit button :)

Seriously though, I am using 4Gb on my Macbook pro and currently running: photoshop, dreamweaver, remote, word, fetch, firefox, safari, preview, little snitch and notepad. I have a 2.5GHz 17" model and it does not feel any slower than the Mac Pro I have just been running the same software on prior to switching over. The Mac pro has twice as many processors and 6Gb of RAM! I would suggest that it might slow down using liquify and batch processing but even then I don't find I need the mac pro's extra horse power as MacOS is usually rather nippy. I actually sold a 1.3GHz, 1.5Mb, 12" iBook a while ago that I would happily run photoshop on whilst out and about.
 
cowasaki said:
It is a law of diminishing returns

The increase from 512Mb to 1Gb Makes and absolutely massive difference.
The increase from 1Gb to 2Gb makes and big difference but not as big
The increase from 2Gb to 4Gb makes less of a difference but still worthwhile
The increase from 4Gb to 8Gb makes a difference but only in circumstances where you actually need to RAM such running numerous programs at the same time....
Click to expand...
Good answer I'll save my 200 or so quid then and enjoy the 4gb goodness!
 
cowasaki said:
It is a law of diminishing returns

The increase from 512Mb to 1Gb Makes and absolutely massive difference.
The increase from 1Gb to 2Gb makes and big difference but not as big
The increase from 2Gb to 4Gb makes less of a difference but still worthwhile
The increase from 4Gb to 8Gb makes a difference but only in circumstances where you actually need to RAM such running numerous programs at the same time....
Click to expand...


my current poor laptop is only running 2x256mb so lookforward to the upgrade when i can (in hope of a macbook)
 
oh, i so wish i can persuade the other half to dump this huge p.o.s. desktop pc and peripherals and buy a nice huge 27" widescreen new mac............

Wonder if I went out and got one tomorrow - how long it would take her to notice??????

Having huge problems with IE8 crashing at the moment, and feel the ONLY solution is £1500 of mac..........
 
Welcome. You'll love it. James Pardon mentioned most (esp. Dropbox!) but there's a few more cool apps!

Skype (obviously, free)
NeoOffice (native OpenOffice version, does everything MS Office does for free)
Spotify (basically Internet radio where you get to choose the songs.. free with ads or 10 pound a month without)
localhostr (uploadr widget to quickly upload files to a free server and copy link to clipboard)
iStat menus (if you wanna keep track of cpu temps, mem usage etc.)
Little Snitch (monitors and blocks unwanted traffic, apps dialing home etc.)
Password Gorilla (save your passwords in an encrypted file, compatible with Passwordsafe for PC)
IceClean (maintenance stuff...)


But yeah... you'll learn that there really is everything, very little compatibility issues and almost no software that there's no mac version or alternative of. Also you'll discover the little things in the OS that really make working with it so much cooler like Exposé, Spaces, the Dashboard etc...
 
Pablob
Your Lightroom s/n will work for Mac or PC. no problem

If you have Photoshop you'll need to convert over to Mac.Adobe will do this as a once only event, and only for the current version of Photoshop. If you have CS3 they'll sell you an upgrdae, but you'll get a fully functional CS4 for Mac. If you already have CS4 they'll send you a new CD for Mac with a small service charge.

Contact Adobe's UK Customer service for help. Took me about 10 days ( including weekends )to sort things out, via email. Used the 30 day trial version whilst waiting. Just entered the s/n when the CD arrived.

Enjoy
 
Just noticed no one has mentioned backup, Mac's come with a fantastic backup solution called Time Machine. It creates entire images of your mac, so if it completely died and you had to get a new one under warranty you can restore a backup to exactly where you left off, as well as backing up revisions of files.

Go out and buy yourself a 1TB drive for about £50-60. Plug it in via USB and Time Machine will pop up asking if you want to use it for backups. Follow the prompts, it's probably the easiest backup solution out there but also one of the best. Plug it in as often as you can with your Macbook and it'll backup everything for you, it runs in the background so you don't have to physically start a backup, it'll just do it's job when its plugged in.

Alternatively spend a bit more on a Time Capsule (Apple) and backup wirelessly. It's saved my bacon more then once :)

http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/time-machine.html
http://www.apple.com/uk/timecapsule/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Dig...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258385815&sr=8-1
 
where can you get a 1TB for that money and do they need to plug into the mains?

i have an external hard drive maxtor old big block thing and needs mains, which is a pain.
i'm assume time machine is an app for backup?
 
p1tse said:
where can you get a 1TB for that money and do they need to plug into the mains?

i have an external hard drive maxtor old big block thing and needs mains, which is a pain.
i'm assume time machine is an app for backup?
Click to expand...

The £50-60 is a little optimistic but not much. There are often 1Tb drives for £45+vat at sellers like www.aria.co.uk plus an external drive box costing maybe £10-15+vat then the postage. You do get the occasional 1Tb external drive at a similar price too.
 
Guys,

Thanks for all the advice re tips and things to do with Serial numbers. Didn't know the half of it!

Well I have had my new toy for 4 days and it's fantastic! Everything seems seemless and easy to set up! No plethora of stupid 3rd party ties ins and apps waiting for you when you first turn it all on just a funky video to take in!!

In a word fantastic! I now understand why people rave about these machines!
 
Sorry, yes plus vat. £56 a piece. There quite nice design as well, very quiet and pretty quick.
neil_poulton.jpg


I'm using a Time Capsule myself for backups and using the Lacie drives for storing my photos. Then using ChronoSync to mirror the 2 drives, works great (y)
 
do you delete files off the computer once backed up?
 
p1tse said:
do you delete files off the computer once backed up?
Click to expand...

Thats a question down to your setup.

You could keep all your RAW files on 1 ext drive backed up to a 2nd and viewable jpegs on the computer for example. Personally I keep everything on the computer and then backup but I backup to four places. I have an external LACIE RAID ARRAY, mirror my documents directory between the Macbook pro and Mac pro, backup the data drive to the server and then keep another ext drive at work.
 
Not particularly essential but my main applications.

Lightroom
Photoshop
VLC
Appzapp
Audio Hijack Pro
Visualhub
Flickroom
Coconut Battery
Garagesale (If you eBay loads of stuff)
Flip4mac
iGetter
iBank
Onyx
Photomatix
Skype
Spotify
Tweetdeck
Unrar
Xslimmer

I also HIGHLY recommend a Time Capsule. Both our Macs get backed up hourly without having to do a thing, as someone said above, it can get you out of a pickle!
 
DMAN, what external drive do you use for time capsules

will google the above apps ;-)
 
p1tse said:
DMAN, what external drive do you use for time capsules

will google the above apps ;-)
Click to expand...

The Time Capsule is an external drive, and a wireless router all in one. Comes in either 500GB or 1TB.

For backup of backups so to speak I have a Seagate 750GB and the hard drive of my redundant PC. All in all I have four means of storage, plus the work PC for photos.

You can never be too careful :bonk:
 
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