If I go Mac, will I want to go back?

[katestine]

I'm writing this on a Dell Dimension 8300. I can't find the original receipt, but I bet it's 7 years old. I know I keep saying I'll buy a new computer, but this time I mean it, I really do

Comments

[arashinomoui]

Probably not Diablo 3 - looks to be online only, and a few other "Really Blizzard, really?" things - though for you it may not be a dealbreaker - they aren't for me as well; however, I would pick it up to play with friends, and they are deal breakers for them.

I can't discuss hotrods, I'm more of a large sedan with the v6 kinda guy for my computer; however, there are times I want to be casual on my couch poking at the internet and my RSS feeds, and there are times I want to be focused on computing (which I'd put photo editing) - Laptop for me is the worst of both worlds - not light and convenient enough for the couch, and too expensive per power versus a desktop.

You could buy your hot rod at 1600 (apparently) and then spend another 600-700 for an iPad 2 and still end up cheaper than the single laptop.

[katestine]

Can't read that article at work, but I don't really like playing videogames with other people.

The problem with desktop + iPad is that I want to encourage myself to do computer-type things more and discourage iPad/iPod-type things. iPad is also not very good for writing, for example.

[jadia]

Desktops are more upgradeable than laptops, if you are someone who tends to upgrade things (ie, more RAM, more hard drive, better video card, etc

[katestine]

These days, I only upgrade my memory: last time I tried to upgrade my hard drive was a nightmare and schrathe's stories about his video card were awful.

My computer through college was a laptop; Pongo's MacBook Pro was only a little annoying to use, mostly bc the OS and controls are so different.

If an SSD means faster access times, it might be worth it. Or it might just be that I'm really frustrated from having to wait for files to load in Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.

Not terribly worried about gaming: I'm okay with waiting several months for most games. I should check if Mosby's Confederacy is available for Mac.

[jadia]

I suspect that with a 7-year-old machine you're running up against RAM, not hard drive speed. But I don't really know....

It's also not that Mac gamers need to wait for games, it's that many games aren't available at all for Mac, ever. Blizzard's changing this, of course, as we discussed, so you may not care. :-) But that's why a Mac can't be my main machine.

[katestine]

Interesting about gaming vs. photo machines... although I wonder how much that matters if I'm simply buying something Alienware/Apple put together.

Oh, I was always going to get 2x4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM.

Looking at the Mac, for example, the 256GB SSD is $470 more than the 750GB Serial ATA Drive. Which might be worth it to work with RAW photos.

[coraline]

i've heard SSD is all that and a bag of chips for access times... but if you get one, you want FREQUENT backups, because when they fail, they fail 100%, no data recovery, no warning.
i do RAW editing, and i'm perfectly happy with more RAM and not an SSD -- the price difference isn't worth it for me, and i just don't trust them yet.

[katestine]

Yikes! Ok, between that and mrcairo's comments below, I think I've been talked out of the SSD. Ken ayin hara, I've never had a hard drive failure, but I don't really want to find out...

[sgtkane]

I had a Dellware M17x R2 and its an experience I wouldn't care to repeat. Shipped with teh wrong drive configuration (which Dell eventually corrected), shipped with unstable drivers, had constant over heating problems, and it wasn't very couchable. Think of it as more of a portable desktop than a laptop

[sgtkane]

Oh and I ordered it through Amazon and had it in two days. I really should go back and see if I can find the post I made on it.

[katestine]

What's with Amazon selling computers for Dell etc. these days??

Is tech support through ASUS or some benighted version of Amazon? I have to say, I just started clicking on ASUS and I'm impressed how much computing power you can get for <$1.5K with free shipping.

[sgtkane]

I haven't had to use ASUS tech support, but from everything thing I've found on the web it is very hit or miss. Which still places it above my experiences with Dell and their support.

My ROG rig, was not only cheaper than my M17x, but it was far more of a laptop, meaning I was more than happy to take it with me places, as opposed to lugging my Dellware brick around. And it was cheaper, though other than memory I don't think it was more bang for the buck than the M17X R3 would have been.

[gmpe]

I've not used lightroom, only Aperture and iPhoto. Aperture is worlds better. It also has a great video frame to still interface, which matters a lot with the FlipHD. :) I might have to check out lightroom, although we already own Aperture.

I find two big screens better than one HUGE one for photo editing, FWIW. Context in one screen and photo large on the other.

[katestine]

Ooh, this is just the perspective I needed. Thanks.

Come to think of it, Bbro mocked me for wanting a second screen at home too. What a poopyhead.

[mrcairo]

My impression is that Bbro just mocks you.
You seem to think there are always specific reasons for it.

I'm not convinced that you understand how this "brother" thing works yet.