I hate Mac's - but I just got one...

Zascar

I've said it before many times, I really just don't get what everyone thinks is so special about Mac's - every time I use one it just infuriates me how things just don't work the way I think they should - how other think they are easy is a real head scratcher for me - however I know its just cause I'm soo used to PC's and anything different is going to seem weird.

Anyway, I just got one! My sister has had a mac for ages but never uses it and wants to buy a netbook instead, she owed me some money so she gave me the Mac in trade, dam good deal so I'm happy. Now that I'm going to be gigging a lot I thought it best I have a mac, I have been having some sound issues with my current setup which were bugging me so hopefully this won't be a problem any more.

Haven't even started playing with it yet but looking forward to figuring it all out.

Has anyone here got a Mac after being a big pc head like me?

rcaz

I found the switch pretty easy. I had never made music in any sort of intense way before, only recording acoustic guitar stuff onto a PC, and I got a MacBook when I left school for programming with Pure Data and eventually Ableton, and I think it's brilliant.

As far as things not working as you think they should, I think that's just a case of being sorta institutionalised by Microsoft. I got over it pretty quick, and I really like the simplicity of it. I enjoy being geeky and learning the ins and outs of stuff like I did on Windows, but I kinda started thinking that I don't need to do that, I just need to be able to make sounds. I get enough of the geeky stuff with Pure Data anyway

If you had issues with your current setup, and if your new computer puts an end to those problems, I think you should stop being infuriated by Macs

There was a cool Autechre interview where they were asked "PC or Mac?", and the answer was pretty good I thought

Rob Brown wrote:

Both. Mostly Mac, just for convenience and quality. The build is better. But it’s not as customisable. With a PC, if you're a real geek you can get ahead of everyone with loads of components. Apple is cased in concrete, but it is concrete nonetheless and you can rely on that sometimes.

I don't like when people get all "MAC IS THE BEST ONLY IDIOTS USE PC" about stuff. I think Rob sums it up well. Mac suits what I want to do well.

electrogrimey

Zascar wrote: »

I hate Mac's - but I just got one...

Welcome aboard



I got one there at the end of the summer. You get used to them pretty quickly. I generally find things go wrong a lot less regularly than PCs. They're also amazing for external devices, with PCs you have to faff around installing drivers and making it recognise the thing, but with a Mac, you can plug nearly anything in and it will run straight away.

Zascar

Hahah yeah apart from the fact that I plugged in my external hard drive and I cannot even copy anything to it. Apparently mac's can't write to NTFS - only FAT32 so I'll have to reformat - grrrrrrrrr.

There are so many things that are driving me nuts already. There just seems to be only one way to do many tasks, whereas with windows you can achieve the same thing many different ways.

Jev/N

Wait wait! NO need to reformat ....

Download NTFS 3G and Macfuse to read/write

links:

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

electrogrimey

I'm 90% sure my HD was NTFS and it took all my music (which in fairness was in iTunes format) straight on...

Zascar

It was itunes I was trying to move actually - gave me an error which I googled and it told me about the ntfs thing. Thanks Jev I'll give them a look

seannash

ah in a few months youll be wondering how you ever used a pc:D

Chairman Meow

seannash wrote: »

ah in a few months youll be wondering how you ever used a pc:D

or holding his head in his hands and sobbing, lamenting the monent he bought one of those glorified fisher price toys

seannash

Chairman Meow wrote: »

or holding his head in his hands and sobbing, lamenting the monent he bought one of those glorified fisher price toys

says the PC user


(j/k)

Scubadevils

Ah you'll get used to it very quickly and wonder why you didn't move sooner. I still have a few minor issues with the Mac but nothing I can't get over... and soon forget about them when it rarely crashes, boots up in seconds etc etc.

Click2Click

i was the same when i started using a mac, hated it, or at least hated the idea of switching from pc to mac but honest to god give it a few weeks/months and you'll never want to get anything else!
I switched solely for production/playing purposes and I havent had any problems with any software im using!

Zascar

I'm liking it more and more already - but still lots to get used to. Going on holidays tomorrow and bringing it with me.

Has anyone seen the iPad released today? Such a pity they did not include midi in it, it would have made an awesome music production/live device

ED E

Zascar wrote: »

I'm liking it more and more already - but still lots to get used to. Going on holidays tomorrow and bringing it with me.

Has anyone seen the iPad released today? Such a pity they did not include midi in it, it would have made an awesome music production/live device

Like a useable version of that Wacom thingy...if somebody wrote software to do it you could link it to a Macbook...

Can I patent that idea?

jtsuited

Zascar wrote: »

I'm liking it more and more already - but still lots to get used to. Going on holidays tomorrow and bringing it with me.

Has anyone seen the iPad released today? Such a pity they did not include midi in it, it would have made an awesome music production/live device

for everyday normal use there's not that much of a difference between mac and pc.
but when it comes to video editing, photo stuff, design, and most importantly music production/djing, the mac is a genuine joy to use.

give it a good while to get used to and trust me you'll love all the small little things, and windows machines will drive you proper nuts!!

have a nice holiday! use that time to mess around with imovie, iphoto and all that and you'll be a fanboy in no time.

BaZmO*

I'm actually thinking of getting a Mac myself. Been thinking about it for a while. Gonna be turning the spare room into a bit of a studio. Reckon I'll probably go with a Mac rather than a Macbook as I don't really need the portability.

Quick question though, how often do Apple update their specs on their puters? I have a terrible habit of buying PCs just before a new operating system or upgrade is released.

electrogrimey

BaZmO* wrote: »

I'm actually thinking of getting a Mac myself. Been thinking about it for a while. Gonna be turning the spare room into a bit of a studio. Reckon I'll probably go with a Mac rather than a Macbook as I don't really need the portability.

Quick question though, how often do Apple update their specs on their puters? I have a terrible habit of buying PCs just before a new operating system or upgrade is released.

Snow Leopard was just released a few months ago, so you should be fine for a while. Don't know much about Macs, but the new Macbook was only released a month or two ago too.

rcaz

The current iMacs are pretty new, too, if anything's due an update it'll be the MacBook Pro or Mac Pro, right?

Zascar wrote:

Has anyone seen the iPad released today? Such a pity they did not include midi in it, it would have made an awesome music production/live device

The iPad is a total joke! It's a more expensive, bigger iPhone that can't make phone calls and doesn't have a camera. It can't multitask!!

SteveDon

Im a windows fiend myself, im not totally against owning a mac, but my god do the people that own macs ever shut up about it?

Im not doubting that a mac laptop may be initially more stable for running programs that require a high cpu usuage, but if you configure your windows laptop to suit your needs you should enjoy the same stability.

Its just that Mac fanboys seem to jump on every new mac product claiming it to be a gift from the divine. A lot of it is down to the savvy marketing done by Apple.


http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

Zascar

SteveDon wrote: »

All of it is down to the savvy marketing done by Apple.

fyp

milltown

Jev/N

I was once a windows user and have never looked back since. I did like windows and in fairness, XP was very solid.

The thing is though, Macs have small little things that make them that easier to use. Things like the ability to delete or move files while using them, very handy with new tracks which have been downloaded. The ease of installing programs as well, although this can tend to cause a bit of hassle to PC users due to how simple it is, which is funny.

Also, I couldn't live without spaces and exposé now!

ED E

BTW, Vista lets you move(delete) files that are in use, it'll reappear for a sec while still held, but as soon as your app releases it the old file dissapears.

acman

Zascar, odds are you will be back to rename this thread to something much more "Mac appreciative" in the not so distant future!

Jay D

Have to agree with acman on this one.

I was once a normal person. A person who, just like you had Windows and could not for the life of me tell nerdy individuals enough to get over themselves and their like for the Mac and so what if they preferred a Mac, like Chrome/Firefox etc....

Then one day, I had a calling. Not a calling from above but more so a pushing from a friend telling me of a bargain and I went for it.

I have to say I fcuking HATE Windows now. Having not had the use of my Mac for some time I can really see how slow, needlessly awkward among many other negative points, Windows is compared to Mac system. Fair enough was a little awkward navigating around at first because let's face it they are different systems but once over the basics the sheer simplicity of them is excellent.

Restart crap, freezing, java problems etc are non existent.

This is coming from someone who 3 months or so ago had only ever owned a windows system.

Zascar

acman wrote: »

Zascar, odds are you will be back to rename this thread to something much more "Mac appreciative" in the not so distant future!

You know in one way, I kinda hope so. I've shelled out for a mac and I hope I grow to love it like man others do. But still its driving me nuts how some things are done. Yesterday I connected m camera to get some photos and video off the camera onto the mac. Photos were easy enough, the iPhoto app worked kinda ke the MS Picture and photo viewer thing, but more smooth. It nicely groups your photos by date/event - and i'm assuming you can re-group them easily enough. The videos however were a different story, I just could not do it. Perhaps its due to the format that my canon records in vs the preferred apple format, but it would not work. They appeared as blank icons along with the photos on my camera, but would not play or transfer. I tried iMovie too and no joy

I just want to simply open the camera and drag and drop photos/movies into another directory, but it does not work that way grrrr

I did not have time to play around with it or google I just got a windows laptop and copied them over, I'l transfer them by usb key later and play around some more. It just currently seems ike there is only one way of doing things for most tasks, unlike windows where there are several ways to do almost everything, depending on what is easiest or most appropriate at the time.

I know I'm just being a 'Windows Retard' kinda like people do not like any non-nokia phones, but I'm sure once I properly sit down and go through the tutorials and youtube etc, I'll get it eventually. Can't do that right now though, it's currently 27 degrees outside and I've got more sunbathing to do

milltown

Zascar wrote: »

You know in one way, I kinda hope so. I've shelled out for a mac and I hope I grow to love it like man others do. But still its driving me nuts how some things are done. Yesterday I connected m camera to get some photos and video off the camera onto the mac. Photos were easy enough, the iPhoto app worked kinda ke the MS Picture and photo viewer thing, but more smooth. It nicely groups your photos by date/event - and i'm assuming you can re-group them easily enough. The videos however were a different story, I just could not do it. Perhaps its due to the format that my canon records in vs the preferred apple format, but it would not work. They appeared as blank icons along with the photos on my camera, but would not play or transfer. I tried iMovie too and no joy

I just want to simply open the camera and drag and drop photos/movies into another directory, but it does not work that way grrrr

You'll be needing the €1200 iCamera for that sort of functionality sir.

Zascar wrote:

it's currently 27 degrees outside and I've got more sunbathing to do

Pr1ck! :mad:

acman

Zascar wrote: »

You know in one way, I kinda hope so. I've shelled out for a mac and I hope I grow to love it like man others do. But still its driving me nuts how some things are done. Yesterday I connected m camera to get some photos and video off the camera onto the mac. Photos were easy enough, the iPhoto app worked kinda ke the MS Picture and photo viewer thing, but more smooth. It nicely groups your photos by date/event - and i'm assuming you can re-group them easily enough. The videos however were a different story, I just could not do it. Perhaps its due to the format that my canon records in vs the preferred apple format, but it would not work. They appeared as blank icons along with the photos on my camera, but would not play or transfer. I tried iMovie too and no joy

Any device you attach should appear on your desktop as an icon, or at least in the "Devices" drop down list in your finder window. You can access a device manually from there and do what you need to do...

On another note, check out this open-source MAC software website, you will find it very handy! http://www.opensourcemac.org/

Scubadevils

acman wrote: »

Any device you attach should appear on your desktop as an icon, or at least in the "Devices" drop down list in your finder window. You can access a device manually from there and do what you need to do...

On another note, check out this open-source MAC software website, you will find it very handy! http://www.opensourcemac.org/

Thanks for that link, looks like a lot of good stuff in there.