From a PC to a Mac (questions)

[whitelightening]

Okay, I know this has always been a matter of preference, but I'm working on a PC with an Athlon 64 3200, XP Home SP2, 1.5GB RAM, etc., etc. I'm considering buying a G4 Powerbook (17", 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD) more or less fully loaded with the exception of the RAM (which can be bumped up to 2GB). My question is, I haven't used a Mac since roughly 1990 and thus all I've ever had experience with since then is Windows in its many crappy versions.

My main questions are these:

How compatible would the Mac be with all of the stuff I've done on my PC (ie., Word files, Mbox files, etc.)? How long would it take me to get used to OS X and what type of peripherals do you use as add-ons? Say I want to grab an external HDD and max out the RAM, are there special types for Mac or can I buy from the same places I get my PC stuff?

More or less, would it be worth it for me to jump ship from a PC for a Mac, or should I stay in the family and try to find a good XP Notebook?

I'm sure I could come up with another hundred questions, but I think that's a good start for now.

[Rexx]

I jumped from using a laughable Atari 1040ste to a Mac G3 B&W 450
I'm still working on getting OS X because all software has gone to that OS.

I never used a PC.
If and when I have the money I'll buy a faster Mac, I wouldn't even concider PC.
I look at music and computing like this.
Mac users:
Jordan Rudess
Derek Sherinian
Steve Vai
Riot/Westworld
The late Frank Zappa!
David Bowie
Jonathan Cain
Christopher Cross
Jan Hammer
Trent Reznor
Nikki Sixx
Gene Simmon$
Roger Taylor
Trevor Rabin
Eddie Van Halen
Yes
the list go on & on... :arrow: :lol:

[GregC]

i made the switch to a 15 " PowerBook ( from a Windows PC) in May and haven't looked back once.

All your " Office " files will work on the PB. Obviously you will have to purchase Office for the Mac or have a friend burn a temporary copy.

I don't know about mbox files. There are few games for OSX, in comparison to PC. For example, the new Doom is not available for Mac.

OSX is pretty easy. You can get the basics in a day or 2. Within a month you will be zipping around. The wireless setup is fantastic. You would need the Airport device for wireless.

I suggest a PC card adapter and compact flash. I also have the M-audio Firewire 410 audio/midi interface. Eventually I will purchase a 22 " Studio Display. A fast Firewire hard drive is on my list, too.

The PowerBook is computer happiness, IMO

[whitelightening]

Good to hear. Thanks for the reply. I just don't have anywhere or personally know of anyone with a Powerbook who would let me try it out. I just want to make sure I get all my facts straight before I throw a few thousand dollars down. Can anyone answer the rest of my questions? Please? Anyone?

By the way Greg, I've already got Doom 3 and I'm still going to keep my PC. I wouldn't be using the powerbook for gaming anyway. Laptops could never compare to destops in that category!

[MoonDark]

Macs are great I use mac too , and I will never go to PC, OSX is just amazing...

PS: Pat metheny uses Mac too :D

[Luca_Capozzi]

sorry for this small ot.. just my 2 cents :)

I moved from a Windows-based pc to a Linux-based system and seems to be very kick ass :) Just for testing purposes i've runned 3 softsynths (ALSA Modular, ZynAddSubFX and qSynth) together connected via Jack. As controller i've used vKeybd (a small virtual keyboard). Also i've connected my Micro Modular via an usb midi interface and i've tried to sound all four synths. well.. without using additional sound cards (just my onboard one) i've not got any latency :)

I'll make some other stress test and, hopefully, I will finally write an article about it (and maybe a tutorial for who's interested).

I can't wait to test Ardour for multitrack recording and Rosegarden (or Muse) for midi sequencing.

see ya

[Ibanezrocks!]

Well my dad has a powerbook g4 and i have a crappy pc (not that is low or something pc's are just crappy :wink: )

When i go on my dad's comp for something everything seems easier you can find everything in 3 seconds almost everyrhing is better except for sharing files on a lan network but i think that is getting better each version of OSX.

so that's something from me.

[whitelightening]

I seem to be leaning more and more towards the G4 with every post. With the obvious lack of posts defending PC's it seems more and more evident that it would be worth my time to learn a whole new system with OSX. Still not 100% convinced, but getting closer (and the money is really starting to burn a hole in my pocket now).

My other option was to go with a Area-51m 7700 from Alienware. It's essentially a super-powered desktop in a notebook. For the same price as the G4 Powerbook with 1GB RAM I could get:

Area-51m 7700

P4 3.2ghz
1GB PC-3200 RAM(upgradable to 4GB)
DVD-RW/Superdrive (with another slot for an additional optical drive)
100GB HDD 7200rpm (with room for another HDD)
nVidia go 6800 video card

blah, blah, blah. Let me know what you think!

[Ibanezrocks!]

and what do you mean by the same price :wink:

i mean how much will it cost?

[whitelightening]

The best price I've found the G4 is for $2800.00. That's for the 17" version because the Area-51m 7700 is also 17".

[Ibanezrocks!]

I would go for the mac if i were you.. but i'm not you.
But you never used mac since 1990 so maybe you have a friend who has a mac where you can check it out or something.
i will take the mac but since i use mac since i was born it's easy for me to use it maybe it's a good idea to check it out somewhere.
I never had a pc until i was 8 years old so i growed up with mac
:wink:

[maestrophillips]

I was a staunch PC person until OS X came out a few years ago. I then got curious about the mac and now I have three Macs in my house. I have been completely converted. It feels great.