Is a Mac better than a pc.

[Admin]

Yes and No.

My sony will run mac OS X but I cannot get drivers for wireless or graphics cards. If you are choosing your own hardware then just check the osx86 project pages to get a list of working hardware, then choose hardware that is supported.

So.... I have built.....assembled.....put together......... quite a few tower PC systems, and am thinking of upgrading our home tower to cope with HD video files. From what I have read here, I think that if I rebuild with a new motherboard, a dual core processor, good graphics board and lots of ram, I can then install a Mac OS and after scrounging some software, end up with a machine that can edit High Def footage from my camcorder without going tits up every ten minutes. Is that correct Mr Admin?

 

[Norris]

Anyone tell me if I can convert my Spectrum ZX to electricity, the coal nowadays is very expensive.
ZZ

I had a couple of ZX 81's and a couple of Speckies, but never heard of a Spectrum ZX ????

 

[barryd]

I had a couple of ZX 81's and a couple of Speckies, but never heard of a Spectrum ZX ????

You wanna hang onto them, they will be worth something in around 50 years time!

 

[dependencies]

One more Mac vote here.

I've had six or so PC in last decade, Two of which were 'brand new out the box'
and despite the best AVG can offer they all got buggy probably as a result of this wide range of programs available to PC owners,

Three years ago I bought my first Mac-mini as I don't play games, visit iffy sites etc, I only need a browser with some image manipulation for my camera hobby & its been great,
in fact I recently bought a small windows laptop specifically to take away on holiday to pick up mail and browse in dull moments but that lasted a month,

after which a combination of error messages-Bluescreen of death-and hanging screens prompted me to go out and buy an earlier powerbook just so i could guarantee completing a reply on these forums I visit,

without it shutting itself down and sending MS yet another error report,

I know I'll never buy another PC, my blackberry's a more reliable device

 

[Slither]

One more Mac vote here.

I've had six or so PC in last decade, Two of which were 'brand new out the box'
and despite the best AVG can offer they all got buggy probably as a result of this wide range of programs available to PC owners,

Three years ago I bought my first Mac-mini as I don't play games, visit iffy sites etc, I only need a browser with some image manipulation for my camera hobby & its been great,
in fact I recently bought a small windows laptop specifically to take away on holiday to pick up mail and browse in dull moments but that lasted a month,

after which a combination of error messages-Bluescreen of death-and hanging screens prompted me to go out and buy an earlier powerbook just so i could guarantee completing a reply on these forums I visit,

without it shutting itself down and sending MS yet another error report,

I know I'll never buy another PC, my blackberry's a more reliable device

I've found that the PC's I build, with quality hardware (still miles cheaper than a low end Mac) don't bug out. It's always the laptops or the prebuilt machines (like dell etc) that just up and die or need to be sent away because laptop parts can't be easily bought. It's pathetic.

Now that all the software is basically the same on both systems (especially the Adobe suite being so damn good) you just go with personal preference, and I personally love the raw power and ability to do anything I want on the PC.

Plus I don't approve of Apple's terms of conditions and ownership of everything, whether you paid for it or not. But that's a different story.

 

[growlinson]

macs

Once you get a Mac you will wonder why you suffered all those years will the PC. The Microsoft OS is one of the most disgraceful cons of the past 15 years!

It is not user friendly, it looks ugly and it contradicts most of the reasons for what computers are supposed to be about - ease of use! If I use a tool like a computer every day I want it to be a pleasurable experience - not be confronted with inexplicable error messages that only a geek can understand. With a Mac, things just work, out of the box. You can run Windows and MS Office on one if you want to. Photos and music etc are totally interchangeable across platforms.

Get an iMac and an iPhone and you will not look back. Promise !

Geoff

 

[Belgian]

Aren't they all made in China ????

 

[barryd]

Once you get a Mac you will wonder why you suffered all those years will the PC. The Microsoft OS is one of the most disgraceful cons of the past 15 years!

It is not user friendly, it looks ugly and it contradicts most of the reasons for what computers are supposed to be about - ease of use! If I use a tool like a computer every day I want it to be a pleasurable experience - not be confronted with inexplicable error messages that only a geek can understand. With a Mac, things just work, out of the box. You can run Windows and MS Office on one if you want to. Photos and music etc are totally interchangeable across platforms.

Get an iMac and an iPhone and you will not look back. Promise !

Geoff

Hmmmm! I just did a job in central London where we relocated a business to new offices. 7 PC's and 3 Macs. Two of the macs would not see the new network switch and it took ages to get three of the printer drivers to work on the network. I spent as much time configuring them as I did the 7 PC's. On the train on the way home my "Wonderful" Iphone crashed 3 times and itunes decided all my apps were illegal and stopped them running.

Apart from that and the fact they are double the price, not much difference really.

 

[Norris]

Well, I just bought a brand new PC. I want it so I can edit HD files from my Canon video camera. The PC is a quad core AMD processor driven machine with 1.5GB of ram and an Nvidia graphics card and the software is PowerDirector8, brand new. Thirty minutes into editing and I get the message "PowerDirector8 has encountered a problem and needs to close". Had the same message a dozen times now and have yet to finish a video file. Gutted? Yes. Very. Seller of the PC says "Ahh it is a software problem mate". Software engineer says "Ahh, compatibility issue" wife says "Should have known better".

 

[barryd]

Well, I just bought a brand new PC. I want it so I can edit HD files from my Canon video camera. The PC is a quad core AMD processor driven machine with 1.5GB of ram and an Nvidia graphics card and the software is PowerDirector8, brand new. Thirty minutes into editing and I get the message "PowerDirector8 has encountered a problem and needs to close". Had the same message a dozen times now and have yet to finish a video file. Gutted? Yes. Very. Seller of the PC says "Ahh it is a software problem mate". Software engineer says "Ahh, compatibility issue" wife says "Should have known better".

1.5 Gb of memory is an unusual configuration for a PC of that sort of power. I would be putting in the max amount thats possible for the PC and checking whats currently in it. Go to RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, flash cards, SSD at Crucial.com and scan the machine to find out whats in it and what you can upgrade it to.

 

[kangooroo]

The PC is a quad core AMD processor driven machine with 1.5GB of ram and an Nvidia graphics card and the software is PowerDirector8, brand new. Thirty minutes into editing and I get the message "PowerDirector8 has encountered a problem and needs to close". Had the same message a dozen times now and have yet to finish a video file.

I have a 3.4ghz, 4GB RAM, Radeo 4650 graphics card and have rebuilt my PC twice within the last 6 months. I also use PD8 amongst other video packages and can get the same error.

I get around it by saving the file every minute or so. It's tedious but it means I seldom lose anything and after restarting the program I continue where I left off. Sometimes it will crash 3x in 10 minutes; other times once every few days - there's no pattern. On a plus note, I've found PD8 is one of the few packages where I can actually play a preview of the video without it stuttering and losing audio/video synchronisation. I've also found it to be one of the most stable - and I've used most packages as I review them for Amazon!

 

[growlinson]

get a mac

Of course Windows OS works - it is just a miserable experience! Most people use it at work and so on because they have to. Comments on here reveal that many people don't know the difference in experience between good Design - and plodding Design. The fact that Microsoft eventually copies most of the Mac innovations speaks for itself.

I use both platforms and it is clear which is best - the one that is most user friendly.

Regards
Geoff

 

[biggirafe]

Of course Windows OS works - it is just a miserable experience! Most people use it at work and so on because they have to. Comments on here reveal that many people don't know the difference in experience between good Design - and plodding Design. The fact that Microsoft eventually copies most of the Mac innovations speaks for itself.

I use both platforms and it is clear which is best - the one that is most user friendly.

Regards
Geoff

Being the most 'user Friendly' does not in my opinion make a computer the best, personally I'm happy working in a command line on a unix machine.

Windows is just the O/S you can run Linux on a PC if you want, can you run Linux on an apple or free bsd ?

Where PC wins handsdown (imho) is the fact they are half the cost of a mac and will run a free O/S such as Unbuntu is you want, i can't see them sending Apple Macs to the third world for the schools out there to use at 1 grand a throw.

They won't ever bring the price down until people stop paying the hyked up price they ask

 

[Powertrain]

Mac vs PC

The greatest joy I had on the day I retired was to give my work supplied PC and Laptop back to the IT department and tell them to stick them!
I have an iMac and a macbook and I no longer have to worry about crashes or viruses and if I want to run Microsoft office software I use 'Office for Mac' but the only software that I might want to run ever is Excel when doing multi-layered spreadsheets. The display on the iMac is wonderful and best of all when you buy a Mc you can purchase for £78 a year's worth of weekly One-to-One training sessions on any Mac subject you want - I attended about 26 last year. The conversion to using a Mac can be quite a shock as you have to forget much of the Microsoft geek stuff and work much more intuitively.
When I first bought my machine I thought my emails etc would be off-line for a week while I fought my way through the usual PC set-up agro but I just plugged it in and switched it on and it figured everything out without 'help' from me.
Several times a month I have to run Windows on my laptop because some of the Open University software I use is too old to be open-source. I had to buy a pc emulator from a company called VM and it works fine - I just have to remember to switch off the network when running windows to isolate it from all the virus and malware stuff and each time I run it I remember why I bought Apple equipment and software

 

[biggirafe]

The greatest joy I had on the day I retired was to give my work supplied PC and Laptop back to the IT department and tell them to stick them!
I have an iMac and a macbook and I no longer have to worry about crashes or viruses and if I want to run Microsoft office software I use 'Office for Mac' but the only software that I might want to run ever is Excel when doing multi-layered spreadsheets. The display on the iMac is wonderful and best of all when you buy a Mc you can purchase for £78 a year's worth of weekly One-to-One training sessions on any Mac subject you want - I attended about 26 last year. The conversion to using a Mac can be quite a shock as you have to forget much of the Microsoft geek stuff and work much more intuitively.
When I first bought my machine I thought my emails etc would be off-line for a week while I fought my way through the usual PC set-up agro but I just plugged it in and switched it on and it figured everything out without 'help' from me.
Several times a month I have to run Windows on my laptop because some of the Open University software I use is too old to be open-source. I had to buy a pc emulator from a company called VM and it works fine - I just have to remember to switch off the network when running windows to isolate it from all the virus and malware stuff and each time I run it I remember why I bought Apple equipment and software

But thats comparing MAC OS against Microsoft Windows. That does not make the MAC better than than a PC, it just makes (in your opinion) MAC OS better than Windows. Its a shame whenever people think about PC's they think of windows. Something that PC's are great for is the fact they run many operating systems many of which are free, thats something that Apple can't do, apple have always been very good at ensuring they only allow there OS to run on their machines, just like iTunes only sell music in apples format although 90% of us use MP3 files to listen to music

 

[Norris]

I get around it by saving the file every minute or so. It's tedious but it means I seldom lose anything and after restarting the program I continue where I left off. Sometimes it will crash 3x in 10 minutes; other times once every few days - there's no pattern. On a plus note, I've found PD8 is one of the few packages where I can actually play a preview of the video without it stuttering and losing audio/video synchronisation. I've also found it to be one of the most stable - and I've used most packages as I review them for Amazon!

Yes mate, that is what I do, save the file after every single operation, it soon became habit and now I do not even notice it. Like you I find that the program crashes apparently at random, sometimes going for ages without, and then crashing two or three times on the trot. I downloaded a patch for the program which was supposed to stop the crashing but didn't, instead it now occasionally freezes!! I have completed a couple of video files and am very happy with the system and the results, although I think I will have to start and take the tripod out with me, High Def shows up the shakes very much compared to ordinary video. Only other things I need to sort out now are some way of muffling the wind noise, and making a mount so I can stick the camera on my leg whilst flying!!! And I bought it from Amazon too, cheapest I could find. (I just started a sentence with "And", now that I am retired my standards are slipping!!!)

 

[ajs]

I have a 3.4ghz, 4GB RAM, Radeo 4650 graphics card and have rebuilt my PC twice within the last 6 months. I also use PD8 amongst other video packages and can get the same error.

I get around it by saving the file every minute or so. It's tedious but it means I seldom lose anything and after restarting the program I continue where I left off. Sometimes it will crash 3x in 10 minutes; other times once every few days - there's no pattern. On a plus note, I've found PD8 is one of the few packages where I can actually play a preview of the video without it stuttering and losing audio/video synchronisation. I've also found it to be one of the most stable - and I've used most packages as I review them for Amazon!

OI.. roopranger.... i have a PC that keeps going to blue screen ..
yep we've changed everything including the case..

cure this i and i'll marry you..

regards
aj

 

[biggirafe]

I have a 3.4ghz, 4GB RAM, Radeo 4650 graphics card and have rebuilt my PC twice within the last 6 months. I also use PD8 amongst other video packages and can get the same error.

I get around it by saving the file every minute or so. It's tedious but it means I seldom lose anything and after restarting the program I continue where I left off. Sometimes it will crash 3x in 10 minutes; other times once every few days - there's no pattern. On a plus note, I've found PD8 is one of the few packages where I can actually play a preview of the video without it stuttering and losing audio/video synchronisation. I've also found it to be one of the most stable - and I've used most packages as I review them for Amazon!

Hi Roo, Norris
A trick I was taught by a profesional video editor I did some networking for is to break the video file down into small chunks and then work on the small chunks 1 at a time and only bring them together at the end when finished. By this I mean open the whole file and save as chunks of max 5 mins. Then open each chunk as a new project closing all the others until you are going to work upon them.

If you leave the file as a single large block the application will use too much memory which then causes memory locks. Try to keep at least 50% of your memory free when working on Video or Sound files to allow the application space to swop memory between the paging file and ram. It also pays to manually increase the size of the paging file.

Likewise with the hardrive when working on large files you will use massive amounts of hardrive where the application keeps several copies of the video so that you can undo changes. The samller the chuncks the faster the drive can deal with it and then the less chance of a lock up.

I have a nearly empty 250 gig drive I use for video editing which means there is plenty of space for the application to work on the file. By default most of these programs will save their files onto the same drive as the operating system which means the computer is trying to read and write to the same drive at the same time to run the O/S and the video editing. It also means that the OS will have to break down the file into bits and you will get defragmentation, the os will have to rebuild the fragments each time you access the file. If you move the video onto a seperate drive and change the defaults in the appliacation to use the seperate drive this allows the hardware too cache and read write the video independant of the O/S (windows or apple) and also means it can store the video as whole files and not fragments.

After finishing any video its important to run disk clean up to remove any restore files and also defrag the drive you were using.

Of course none of this will help if the video editing suite is no good though, I use power director and have never had it crash using this technique but I do occasionally get a lock if I try to apply too many changes at the same time to a large file, going and getting a coffee then coming back usually finds it unlocked.

Now off to work, does anyone want to help me compile dodgy C code from the 1980's on a new Unix machine????, no I thought not

Mark

 

[barryd]

Hi Roo, Norris
Now off to work, does anyone want to help me compile dodgy C code from the 1980's on a new Unix machine????, no I thought not

Mark

Only if you provide the Cross Compiler and paravirtualization method, Ill provide the Flux capacitor and some beer.

(I made up the Flux Capacitor bit)

Bet you cant wait to get away from all that!!!!

Hank the Tank is Back and looks about a foot taller!

 

[biggirafe]

Only if you provide the Cross Compiler and paravirtualization method, Ill provide the Flux capacitor and some beer.

(I made up the Flux Capacitor bit)

Bet you cant wait to get away from all that!!!!

Hank the Tank is Back and looks about a foot taller!

Good news, I bet you will be out as soon as you can

No flux capacitors but some dodgey c compiler from the 1980's that requires a string of parameters that know one understands anymore.