I hate my mac :(

Spyral

I am not enjoying my mac..

after having it for 2 months I find it a little infuriating. Bundled software is useless - there is not even a decent image manipulating programs except the photo one which is totally rubbish. The GIMP or Seashore is also totally rubbish so I cannot understand why people say macs are better for media. A windows XP machine has windows movie maker so I am at a loss.

I cannot play any games on it whatsoever except for WoW which I despise anyway.

Short of its ergonomics/portability and long battery life I am rather annoyed by my mac. I find it doenst nothing that I couldn't do on a laptop running XP SP2 and infact probably less.
I would rather my pc except for the fact that its broken. I feel as if I have wasted quite a lot of money.

aidan_walsh

Research before purchasing in future. That is all.

Spyral

most reseach in that respect is called 'advertising' which is highly biased and most if not 99% of mac uses are in the cult of mac whereas I am a humble catholic.

Mr. Presentable

Spyral wrote: »

most reseach in that respect is called 'advertising' which is highly biased and most if not 99% of mac uses are in the cult of mac whereas I am a humble catholic.

You're not wrong. Macs are fine if either you want only basic internet function or specialised DTP stuff. For anything else (most normal usage) they're pathetic. And expensive. Pretty, though.

Dorsanty

May i suggest the listing what you trying to do and then people will help you out. Venting frustration doesn't get people to help you.

So what kind of photo editing you trying to pull off? Simple crop/resize/adjust etc or something more serious. For the light stuff try tools menu in preview app.

For movie stuff, I admit it took me longer to learn (to the basic level I have learnt) iMovie then the windows movie maker. But now I can pop out far better vids.

Try the ilife video tutorials. The one's for iMovie improved my knowledge a good bit, http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie

Games I can't really help with as I still have windows gaming rig for that.

cornbb

Horses for courses tbh. The bundled image manipulation software in Windows is MS Paint which is hardly a wonderful piece of work. Media professionals who buy Macs typically do not use the bundled software anyway, the same thing goes for Windows. Take a look at www.softpedia.com to find free software to suit your needs.

I need hardly point out the folly of buying a Mac for gaming purposes...

Just install Windows XP on your mac using Bootcamp or Parallels if Mac OS X annoys you that much.

Dorsanty

nipplenuts wrote: »

fine if either you want only basic internet function or specialised DTP stuff. For anything else (most normal usage) they're pathetic. And expensive. Pretty, though.

What's normal?

I personally only find the gaming lacking and that's purely down to game developers sticking with DirectX and not going down OpenGL route very often. Some do and you'll find those games will be available to run natively on OS X. As such I don't blame OS X for not being able to run the latest DirectX 10 game.

tomlau

advertising is not the same as research. If you google mac vs. pc (or specific models) you will get loads of articles fighting for both sides of the arguement.

Having tried both extensively, I currently use a Mac because it's handier for what I do. Yes, they're crap for games and have less software options but that can be a plus. My productivity is much better since I don't waste time on games and my hard drive is pretty clutter and virus free since my software options are more limited. It's a problem for some people AND THEY DON'T USE MACS.

What are you trying to do that so awkward? Have you tried simply googling for a solution?

aidan_walsh

most reseach in that respect is called 'advertising'

Only if you're being half-arsed about it. Research generally involves deciding what you want something to do and then finding out if it does it, or how you can go about doing it such as sourcing third party programs.

triple h

Spyral wrote: »

I am not enjoying my mac..

after having it for 2 months I find it a little infuriating.

When i read this two things hit me
A) you have not given your mac a chance. two reasons for this could be -- you have a lot of windows loving friends giving you grief or your patients might not be the best.

OR

you are a windows lover looking for trouble.

But i reckon it is option A.


Before i left windows for mac i did five months research, buying magazines and google--ing.........
It is tough at first, i know. But trust me on this one when i say that the more you use it the more you love it.
It took me 6 weeks to get my head around the whole mac thing i admit. And 5 months after buying my mac i swore i would never buy a windows pc again. You will be the same. I am sure of it.

Doctor DooM

I wasn't too fond of my mac after the first couple of weeks, but a few months down the line I have everything I need on it.

And no, you didnt do your research.

Culann

It sounds like you bought a laptop MAC. What made you buy one in the first place? Don't tell me because it looked good...

Velocitee

You could always install windows XP on it??

I reckon give it a good try though before you buy xp as you'll prob find some 'just as good' progs - all the more popular ones are ported on mac anyway.

just my 2c

V

Spyral

Culann wrote: »

It sounds like you bought a laptop MAC. What made you buy one in the first place? Don't tell me because it looked good...

because I needed a computer, I didn't want Aids, and I dont see the logic of paying dell more for XP than Vista.

When i read this two things hit me
A) you have not given your mac a chance. two reasons for this could be -- you have a lot of windows loving friends giving you grief or your patients might not be the best.

OR

you are a windows lover looking for trouble.

I do get stick but I get stick over lots of other more importatn things. Macs are supposed to be easier to learn. 2 months and I'm still not 100% used to it.. i think its lacking on ther entertainment front.. I dont have much free time due to uni so i didn't mind at the time.. now I'm feeling the pain from the lack of photoshop to be honest plus my PC was faster.

BanzaiBk

So you did half assed research and now have buyers remorse? Eh...what? You spent clearly a good bit of money on a machine that a) doesn't fit your needs (games LOL) and b) you don't even know the programme names after 2 months. Macs aren't for everybody, and noone forced you to buy it.

Edit/ why are you missing photoshop? You can get it for mac.

Humpty_Dumpty

Spyral wrote: »

there is not even a decent image manipulating programs except the photo one which is totally rubbish.

I agree, I don't like iPhoto either, but I don't ever remember getting a top quality image manipulating program for free with Windows either If you are serious about 'image manipulating' you'll get yourself Photoshop or a similar product.

Spyral wrote: »

I cannot understand why people say macs are better for media.

Because they are. By some distance.

Spyral wrote: »

A windows XP machine has windows movie maker so I am at a loss.

iMovie 08 comes free with Leopard and you can download iMovie HD (06) for free from the Apple website - it is similar in style but far superior to Windows Moviemaker.

Spyral wrote: »

I cannot play any games on it whatsoever except for WoW which I despise anyway.

You bought a Mac for games?

Spyral wrote: »

I feel as if I have wasted quite a lot of money.

Why don't you sell it and buy a PC Laptop?

Humpty_Dumpty

Spyral wrote: »

now I'm feeling the pain from the lack of photoshop to be honest plus my PC was faster.

I missed this first time. As the previous poster said: you are actually unaware that you can get Photoshop for the Mac?! Are you serious? Do you know anything about Macs, despite owning one?

Doctor DooM

Humpty_Dumpty wrote: »

I missed this first time. As the previous poster said: you are actually unaware that you can get Photoshop for the Mac?! Are you serious? Do you know anything about Macs, despite owning one?

I was lead to believe photoshop was actually designed for the mac...

Gordon

I think he means Paintshop, or whatever that free Paint software is that you get on XP.

DeBeere

Hmm I love my macs.

I use photoshop for image manipulation, preview is good too!

iMovie is a great program, very easy to use.

As for games, I have : Gta:San Andreas, NFS Carbon, Call of Duty 3, Battlefield 2142, Sim City 4, Age of Empires, WoW, Generals: Zero Hour.

So I really dont see where macs are lacking, plus I can run some windows games through boot camp!

But tbh I rarely play these games anymore.

triple h

spyral,

Yes your reasons for not having time for your mac are valid reason --- so please please ( 2 things ) ignore your windows loving friends bashing macs and get use to your mac during the summer and i gaurantee it, you will end up loving it.

also read the stickeys in this mac forum to get some good advice and tricks, your problems will be fixed.

tibor

Spyral wrote: »

now I'm feeling the pain from the lack of photoshop

You can get Photoshop for the Mac??

Spyral wrote: »

to be honest plus my PC was faster.

Interesting you should say that...

PC World Magazine wrote:

Fastest: Apple MacBook Pro
The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year (through 10/25/07) is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro's PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway's E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook's score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn't care less whether you run Windows

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136649-page,3-c,notebooks/article.html

Spyral

I agree, I don't like iPhoto either, but I don't ever remember getting a top quality image manipulating program for free with Windows either If you are serious about 'image manipulating' you'll get yourself Photoshop or a similar product.

well my mum's laptop (pc) had photoshop elements on it ...

I'm just felling a bit depressive as we had a Lan in my uni and I couldn't attend

I do agree maybe I should mess more with my mac but its a time issue.

challengemaster

Spyral wrote: »

because I needed a computer, I didn't want Aids, and I dont see the logic of paying dell more for XP than Vista.

Picked up my dell vostro with vista for 850€ inc taxes, no delivery costs.

On the Vostro's, its Vista business that comes with it, so afaik, you get a _FREE_ downgrade to XP option.

Oh and the spec of my vostro

• 17" Wide Screen WXGA+ (1440 x 900) Display with TrueLife™
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 @ 2.2GHz
• 3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
• 128MB nVidia® GeForce® 8400M GS
• 250GB HDD
• Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
• 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
• Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
• Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera

I looked up a macbook pro same spec.. was in the €3,000+ range.. rather silly if you ask me.

cbr954

Spyral wrote: »

well my mum's laptop (pc) had photoshop elements on it ...

When I changed from a pc to mac I contacted Adobe who changed my licence for CS2 from pc to mac for a small (€10) fee.

I use iView to catalog and preview photos. iView is now owned by Microsoft and is called expression media. This program isn't cheap but, if you want to catalog a large (250 gb) photo collection, it is hard to beat. Alternatives are Aperture and Lightroom.

If you want to run the pc version of elements on your mac install vmware fusion and it will run fine. Install xp on bootcamp for gaming.

iPhoto '08 is much improved and allows you to tag photos with keywords and put them into groups and folders. You can preview photos in a folder in iPhoto by running the cursor from left to right. Show this to your pc friends, they will be impressed.

The people on this forum are very knowledgeable and helpful. Ask for help with specific problems rather than the general, dramatic, sweeping condemnation of all things .

Slice

Is there anything pre-installed on macs that's the equivalent to the Paint programme on Windows?

triple h

Slice wrote: »

Is there anything pre-installed on macs that's the equivalent to the Paint programme on Windows?

No. but check this out, its free and absolutely amazing

http://plasq.com/skitch

conor2007

challengemaster wrote: »

Picked up my dell vostro with vista for 850€ inc taxes, no delivery costs.

On the Vostro's, its Vista business that comes with it, so afaik, you get a _FREE_ downgrade to XP option.

Oh and the spec of my vostro

• 17" Wide Screen WXGA+ (1440 x 900) Display with TrueLife™
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 @ 2.2GHz
• 3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
• 128MB nVidia® GeForce® 8400M GS
• 250GB HDD
• Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
• 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
• Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
• Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera

I looked up a macbook pro same spec.. was in the €3,000+ range.. rather silly if you ask me.

see the thing is - my mid range macbook would boot-shut down and do any task (obviously not play games) than that could and that was only 1100

BanzaiBk

Spyral wrote: »

well my mum's laptop (pc) had photoshop elements on it ...

I'm just felling a bit depressive as we had a Lan in my uni and I couldn't attend

I do agree maybe I should mess more with my mac but its a time issue.

I'm not trying to be an ass but did you actually research before you bought the machine? Whatever about people saying you need to mess with it more, I genuinely think the mac isn't for you anyway. Honestly if you'd looked at it properly you wouldn't be in this predicament.

babypink

cbr954 wrote: »

The people on this forum are very knowledgeable and helpful. Ask for help with specific problems rather than the general, dramatic, sweeping condemnation of all things .

QFT

Ham'nd'egger

challengemaster wrote: »

Picked up my dell vostro with vista for 850€ inc taxes, no delivery costs.

On the Vostro's, its Vista business that comes with it, so afaik, you get a _FREE_ downgrade to XP option.

Oh and the spec of my vostro

• 17" Wide Screen WXGA+ (1440 x 900) Display with TrueLife™
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 @ 2.2GHz
• 3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
• 128MB nVidia® GeForce® 8400M GS
• 250GB HDD
• Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
• 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
• Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
• Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera

I looked up a macbook pro same spec.. was in the €3,000+ range.. rather silly if you ask me.

Aside from the nVidia card, a Vostro is more comparable to a Macbook than a Macbook Pro. A Vostro with the specs you mention comes in at over €1,4000 VAT inclusive; far over your €850. Perhaps you got a deal on it of got work to skim the VAT for you; but a MBP it ain't.

ZENER

nipplenuts wrote: »

You're not wrong. Macs are fine if either you want only basic internet function or specialised DTP stuff. For anything else (most normal usage) they're pathetic. And expensive. Pretty, though.

Probably the most ill-informed post on this whole thread tbh. :rolleyes:

@Spyral: I think you should avail of adverts.ie - sell the Mac you have and buy a computer that suits your immediate needs, i.e. a PS3 or xbox.

Anyone who says a Mac doesn't have a movie editor obviously hasn't even tried to use the machine. iMovie and iDVD are two very powerful apps and integrate beautifully for the normal family holidays/parties type movies. I defy you to find a better suite on a vanilla PC. Of course you can add NERO but I've used it and to be honest I though it was terrible but that's because I expect a better integration between my apps.

Windows does not have anything to compare to iMovie, iDVD or iPhoto out of the box. OEMs add these apps to the bundle to make them more attractive and usually they are restricted or crippled in some way or are 30 day trials. Photoshop elements (isn't free by the way and is available for the Mac too !)) isn't much better than iPhoto - basic correction, editing and cataloging. What most people need. For those who need more there is of course Photoshop or CS.

Preview offers a lot in a small application, import and export - basic editing and screen grab facilities as well as .pdf import and export without any extra apps.

ZEN

Sad Professor

ZENER wrote: »

@Spyral: I think you should avail of adverts.ie - sell the Mac you have and buy a computer that suits your immediate needs, i.e. a PS3 or xbox.

hehe, good advice as always, zen.

deevey

Also if you do want freebie image manipulation, and hate gimp normally (like me) gimpshop ain't half bad.

As for the Lan at uni you mentioned, bootcamp is your only man most defiantly, unless you have the native mac versions (most of which are available) .

It's about the only thing I use bootcamp for - I use parallels the rest of the time booting from the bootcamp partition, which is a very handy option

I second that imovie / idvd is absolutely fantastic, and some of the plugin packs you can get for it (some even free) make movie editing and decent looking dvd authoring a breeze, and their integration with iphoto and itunes is ... just heaven !

Understand learning curve time is an issue, but the time you will save in the future is priceless.

It took my mom (and the rest of the family / and a few work people) a few weeks to adjust to the pure simplicity of doing things, once you crack it and realize you wont break by trying out the obvious you wont go back.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ZENER
@Spyral: I think you should avail of adverts.ie - sell the Mac you have and buy a computer that suits your immediate needs, i.e. a PS3 or xbox.
hehe, good advice as always, zen.

Ah now lads :P

Sad Professor

Okay, serious now...

The thing is when people say Macs are easier to use they mean for new computer users. For a Windows user anything that isn't Windows is going to seem very difficult at first because they have to unlearn the Windows way of doing things. This takes time and we've seen the frustration this can cause countless times on this board. A person can go from being a very experienced computer user on a Windows machine to being a total novice again on a Mac. As a result making the leap to Mac is a pretty big deal for a windows user but I think those who have successfully made the switch will say that it is worth it.

So, Spyral, I sympathise but if you want to learn how to use a mac you're going to have to make time to do so. It's you don't have time it's not your mac's fault. And you have to be open minded, if you've already decided that Macs suck and are too hard to use then it's only going to make the transition harder.

I hope you stick with it.

Dr_Teeth

Spyral, if you're a LAN gamer you should install Windows on your Mac and boot into that to play games..

whiterebel

Sell it, mate. You find it easier to blame advertising, the machine etc for you not doing your homework.

pandaboy

Spyral wrote: »

I am not enjoying my mac..

after having it for 2 months I find it a little infuriating. Bundled software is useless - there is not even a decent image manipulating programs except the photo one which is totally rubbish. The GIMP or Seashore is also totally rubbish so I cannot understand why people say macs are better for media. A windows XP machine has windows movie maker so I am at a loss.

I cannot play any games on it whatsoever except for WoW which I despise anyway.

Short of its ergonomics/portability and long battery life I am rather annoyed by my mac. I find it doenst nothing that I couldn't do on a laptop running XP SP2 and infact probably less.
I would rather my pc except for the fact that its broken. I feel as if I have wasted quite a lot of money.

which mac do you have? you should have checked the graphics specifications of the mac before making a blind purchase, which is what you've obviously done. Macs are designed for comfort and ease of use. Because Windows owns the larger part of the PC market it's hard to make the transition to mac. But when the change is made you need to put a lot of research into why you are purchasing one. Macs are so much more different than PC, that's why people enjoy them. Who wants a big block of a CPU when you can just put it into the display, I see HP are experimenting with this at the moment (the only PC company that's actually good).

seriously though, when purchasing a mac or any PC you need to figure out what you need it for and what you want to do with it. macs are **** for gaming unless you're prepared to fork out on a macbook pro or a mac pro.

that's my 2 cent......

Redhairedguy

At this stage I find it very hard to use the PCs in college.

I first used a mac about 4 years ago cause I was basically forced to. It took me a good 3 months to get the feel of it, and now I have purchased my own macbook which is fully customised. As a film and television student, I rely on my mac for everything. Pc's just don't cut it when it comes to film editing, and graphic design. As well as music editing, short cuts and, nicest of all.... internet security. NO ONE MAKES VIRUSES FOR MACS!!!!

su_dios

So from reading the thread.. basically the OP has bought a mac and hasn't bothered looking around the net to get the programs he needs ,which are for the most part free and instead has given up already. I know a good few people who have changed from pc to mac and have found it difficult but love it all the same. Do you know why they find it difficult?.. because they're trying to overcomplicate things and don't realise its that simple! Until they eventually come around that is. You're convincing yourself its really difficult and have given up because of that.

Photoshop elements is useless by the way. Look go to http://macapper.com/ and browse through the categories for the programs you need. They have a lot of reviews on nice programs .. a good few are free.

K.O.Kiki

I'd just like to interject for a moment, and thank all the boardsies here who gave me the ammo to prevent my sister from buying Photoshop Elements

challengemaster

Hamndegger wrote: »

Aside from the nVidia card, a Vostro is more comparable to a Macbook than a Macbook Pro. A Vostro with the specs you mention comes in at over €1,400 VAT inclusive; far over your €850. Perhaps you got a deal on it of got work to skim the VAT for you; but a MBP it ain't.

maybe it is, but it isnt possible to get a macbook with the same specs, you have to get a macbook pro to get the same spec level.

Also i've no idea where you're looking at that, I certainly had to pay VAT on it (was about 130€ VAT) and the total was €850.
Here's an almost identical spec (actually, better cpu, same price - only recent upgrade on the spec by dell)
Shipping is also _FREE_. So with VAT working out around €120.. I don't know where you got €1,400

440Hz

This thread is going seriously downhill now... Been keeping a watchful eye. I shall observe the next few posts while I look for my big thread locking key.

WUSBDesign

Agree - the OP has been disproportionately bashed up after a few replies. Thought the message has gotten through? We Mac users don't have to be seen as that trigger-happy.

ZENER

440Hz wrote: »

This thread is going seriously downhill now... Been keeping a watchful eye. I shall observe the next few posts while I look for my big thread locking key.

Agreed. Ban him and be DUNNE with it . . . heh heh!:D

ZEN

faceman

It sounds like the OP is quite frustrated but perhaps if he/she said what they wanted to do specifically we can give some better advice.

When I made the switch to mac's i havent looked back. I was a complete novice at first despite my (what i consider) excellent efficiency at windows. My first day on the mac was scary and i wondered if i had done the right thing. I do understand OP but like when you first started using windows, im sure you had similiar frustrations.

Give us specifics so we can help you better.

440Hz

ZENER wrote: »

Agreed. Ban him and be DUNNE with it . . . heh heh!:D

ZEN

heehee!!

Yup, let's see if we can turn this thread around with some helpful advice - like I said, watchful eye etc.

Oriel

Apart from games, my Mac does everything I need from a computer. Learn how to use it.

conor2007

ye

if you cant work the thing - obviously you wont like it - its fairly straight forward tho

K.O.Kiki

I also really wish people would stop comparing 17" Dells to 13" Macbooks.

whiterebel

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I also really wish people would stop comparing 17" Dells to 13" Macbooks.

He didn't really. Someone tried comparing the Macbook to the Vostro when its obviously up against a 17" MBP which comes in at €2400 versus the Vostro @€;850. The MBP whacks the nuts off the Dell with grpahics card, but there is some difference in price alright. Not that I'd ever buy a Dell......:D