IMAC, can it run windows programs? [Sitemap] - Digital Grin Photography Forum

davev

Jul-08-2006, 01:06 PM

Not sure if this is the right spot, but here goes.

My windows based desktop is giving me fits, so I'm ready to move to MAC.

I have PSE4 for windows, and I'm wondering if I'll need to re-buy it and
other programs in MAC versions.

I think I've heard that MAC can run windows programs, but I really can't
find anything on the net to say for sure that in can.

Also, I have 2 Windows based laptops that I will want to network with
this computer through a cable internet modem and a D-Link router.

Can all of this work together in Harmony? Or will I take a hammer to the
IMAC like I did the HP desktop? Can you say anger management?

I can't afford the G5 or whatever it's call, so that's not an option.

Also, how is the Mac or IMac for NOT getting spam and the rest of the
problems that my windows based piece of crap has?

What browser does it use for the internet?

I have many more questions about it. But if anyone can help me out with
some of these, I'd be a happy camper.

Thanks.

DavidTO

Jul-08-2006, 01:15 PM

I have PSE4 for windows, and I'm wondering if I'll need to re-buy it and
other programs in MAC versions. Used to be that both came on the same disk. I'm not sure, but if you do need to buy, it's not that much money. Just be aware that the Mac version is a little different.

I think I've heard that MAC can run windows programs, but I really can't
find anything on the net to say for sure that in can.

Yes, any current iMac can run windows, just not out of the box. If you decide to do it you can ask specific questions here and those whom have done it can help. I have not.

Also, I have 2 Windows based laptops that I will want to network with
this computer through a cable internet modem and a D-Link router.

Can all of this work together in Harmony? Or will I take a hammer to the
IMAC like I did the HP desktop? Can you say anger management? Yes, it can all work harmoniously.
Also, how is the Mac or IMac for NOT getting spam and the rest of the
problems that my windows based piece of crap has?

Spam is spam, and will reach you no matter what. The built in Mail app has filtering and your ISP should too, but just because it's a Mac doesn't meant that spam will go away. As for spyware, and malware in general, it is only a tiny blip on the horizon, not really a concern at all on the Mac. Backup regularly, and don't be stupid, and you'll be fine.

What browser does it use for the internet? It comes with Safari, but you can use Firefox or several others.

photodoug

Jul-08-2006, 01:43 PM

Not sure if this is the right spot, but here goes.

My windows based desktop is giving me fits, so I'm ready to move to MAC.

Thanks.
dave, man, don't do it! take your hands off the mac and just step away.

Andy

Jul-08-2006, 02:06 PM

Smart move, Dave!
When you officially joint the enlightened ones, you get free lifetime tech suppor t :deal

pathfinder

Jul-08-2006, 02:38 PM

Come on in, the water's fine!:):

DavidTO

Jul-08-2006, 02:58 PM

DavidTO

Jul-08-2006, 02:59 PM

Smart move, Dave!
When you officially joint the enlightened ones, you get free lifetime tech suppor t :deal

You'll note, Dave, that only one of us gave you any useful advice. Sure, Andy's a great cheerleader, but show me the money! :D

Andy

Jul-08-2006, 03:19 PM

You'll note, Dave, that only one of us gave you any useful advice. Sure, Andy's a great cheerleader, but show me the money! :D
Right. Dave, pm me and I'll give you davidto's cell #, IM, home#, etc. Then you'll be all set :D

DavidTO

Jul-08-2006, 03:20 PM

Right. Dave, pm me and I'll give you davidto's cell #, IM, home#, etc. Then you'll be all set :D

And I'll give you all that for Andy, plus his social security and credit card numbers.

davev

Jul-08-2006, 08:05 PM

Another note: I wouldn't run windows on your mac unless you have to. It's just like any other PC at that point, as unstable and prone to malware as any other PC.

What is it that you want to run on windows? Chances are there's a good workaround for what you want to do, and you can keep your system simpler, easier to maintain, and you won't waste all that hard drive space loading two OSes.

Thanks guys. I like lifetime tech support.

I'm hoping to be able to run the windows version of PSE4 because I bought
it just before the shoot out, and I really don't like buying the same program
twice. I have one game that I like to play, Quake 3 Arena. It feels real good
to kill things after trying to get the old (2.5 years) HP working again.

I'm thinking the IMac 20". It comes with 512k. That's all I've had with
the HP, and for what I've been doing with it, it seems fine.

Right now, i'm using an old CTR 19" monitor. Would there be a way of
hooking that up to the IMac and run duel monitors?

Thanks again guys.
I'm thinking that I need to do a little more research before I put the trigger.

Deacon

Jul-08-2006, 08:06 PM

I just picked up a new Power Mac and I Mac with the Intel chipset. Moved the older powerbook and imac to the office. Since we use MS Office, the Mac's and PC's talk to each other with no problem and can link files. PS seems to work fine/if not Adobe will send you mac program to replace your pc version. Since both versions save in PS format the files can be read by either version, or at least my computers can...

Moving to Mac will free your soul. My accountant just switched from confirmed PC freak to Mac and finally he is admitting the ease of operation, lack of virus problems and pretty much total plug and play capabilities.

You won't be sorry!!!

Deacon

photodoug

Jul-08-2006, 08:09 PM

... before I pull the trigger.

put down the gun and step away from the ledge...it'll all be OK in the morning. We'll cold reboot your PC and apply all those critical patches...you'll be right as rain.

DavidTO

Jul-08-2006, 08:10 PM

DO NOT run your iMac on 512MB of RAM. At least a gig, mebbe 2. Buy the RAM at crucial.com, and put it in yourself. You'll see a major speed boost with a minimum of 1GB RAM. Especially if you're running any apps that are not yet native on the Intel chip. Then you're running the OS, the emulator and the app. Do yourself a favor and upgrade the RAM.

As for PSE4, $60 is a small price to pay to be free of windows. Seriously. Get over the fact that you just bought it and break free from the windows environment completely. If after a month or two you really miss your game, then *big sigh* put windows on your mac, if you *must*. But really, like Gus says, if you're gonna do that, why not just get a PC?

ian408

Jul-08-2006, 08:58 PM

davev

Jul-09-2006, 05:54 AM

my 2g kit came yesterday and made a HUGE difference.

don't spend $600 with apple. instead go crucial. they've got great customer
support, will keep you completely in the look with regard to your order, etc.
oh, and it's half the cost of apple's too :thumb

You must have a spare 512k lying around then. :D
( DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 )

Crucial has it for $59.39

Artur C.

Jul-09-2006, 05:55 AM

There is an apple store in the Mall of America, and I think one other. I'm not sure. The best way is to try it out is just to go there, ask a bunch of questions and play with a mac, there is every choice on display where you can try out all the standard aps, and I think they have Photoshop loaded on the high end machines. A mac might just be right for you.

My humble advice:
If you want to run windows, then simply get a windows machine. Apple does provide a lot of accesories and apps which are standard with their machines so price wise the difference is not that great unless you won't be using pre-loaded software from Apple, in which case a nice PC can be had for cheaper.

For gaming, PC's is where it's at. High end video cards, physics cards, liquid cooling and AMD (no offense to intel) processors are found only on PC's, also most games are written for windows, if you do want to play these games then you will have to load windows, on an iMac as well as opt for the 256MB video card. I don't know how well the drivers are supported within a mac, especially for games.

For photo editing, ease of use and generally trouble free computing, it's hard to beat a mac, they also are much easier to network and I've found that over time they don't slow down like windows. OSx doesn't give you the standard windows headaches of cleaning stuff out....registry/dll hell...shared files and so on, although the standard mouse sucks.

I think they both have their place, I use a PC without any problems, but I will say that when I used the iMac 20" with a gig of ram it was a joy to use.

Good Luck...

http://www.north-scapes.com

davev

Jul-09-2006, 06:03 AM

Thanks Artur.

There is an apple store in the Rosedale Mall a few miles from the house.

I'm not really looking to run windows programs, well, I would like to run 2
of them. PSE4, I know this comes in the mac version, I'm just cheap, and
don't really want to buy it again.

The other is Quake 3, which I do have on my laptop, so I could just kill
thing on it.

I played with mac for a few minutes yesterday, the one button mouse seems
strange. Can a 2 or 3 button mouse work on a Mac?

Artur C.

Jul-09-2006, 07:04 AM

Yes, you can plug in a regular mouse into a mac and it will work fine. The mouse on a mac is a big complaint thruout the Apple world. I think in that case Apple overstepped artistic design versus functionality. Since I'm on this topic, any USB type devices I've ever plugged into a mac, to include all printers have always worked flawlessly.

ian408

Jul-09-2006, 07:16 AM

You must have a spare 512k lying around then. :D
( DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 )

Crucial has it for $59.39

Not really "spare" because Apple will ask you to remove the Crucial memory
before they do any HW debug with you.

luckyrwe

Jul-09-2006, 07:21 AM

davev

Jul-09-2006, 07:25 AM

Ok, one more question, (well maybe more down the road)

Does the OS come with the computer, like on a disk, or does Apple just
load it on the computer.

I want the disks, not the phony "recovery" crap that the PC's have.
I remember the good old days, when you bought a PC and the only thing
that was on it was the OS, and you got an OS disk in case you wiped out
the hard drive.

Now, just like the Apple commercials, if I have to do a recovery on my HP,
I spend about an hour just trying to remove the junk that's preloaded.

Of course, I've used the recovery so offen in the last few months, I'm
getting good at removing all the junk. :huh

Thanks again folks for the help.

ian408

Jul-09-2006, 07:34 AM

davev

Jul-09-2006, 09:28 AM

OK I got another one, question that is.

Do I need the 3 year warranty for $169, or is the product so well built that
this is a waste of money? :dunno

I should say that in 20 years of playing with computers, I have never bought
an extended warranty. But I know nothing about Mac's. :dunno

I'm guessing that the "stuff" inside is basic computer parts, ie. DVD writer,
video card, and so on. That stuff doesn't scare me, the Apple motherboard
does. Of course, in 20 years using a computer, I have never had a MB fail.

What do you think, do I need it, or can I buy a couple of programs with that money instead?

Artur C.

Jul-09-2006, 09:47 AM

Dave,

As far as getting Apple care, I would say yes, and here are my reasons.

Apple computers were never really designed to be user serviced as far as hardware components. Some say it's a bad thing, others good. Regardless, it is what allows Apple components to run so smoothly. That being said, it's still a computer and they do have problems as with any electronics. Having a warranty and an apple store nearby will save you a lot of headaches in the event you have any problems.

Yes, apple makes great machines, and most likely you won't have any problems but Murphy is always watching. $169 is a small price to pay for peace of mind.. and for some where a living is made on a computer...it's essential.

pathfinder

Jul-09-2006, 09:57 AM

I thought I might not need AppleCare also, but I do buy it and I found that it was a good thinkg for my iPod which went belly up. They replaced it after almost 2 years without hesitaion due to my having coverage via Applecare for my pod.

I carry AppleCare for my PowerBook and my desktop. I sleep well at night.:dunno Depends on how much risk you wish to take with your images etc.

DavidTO

Jul-09-2006, 11:50 AM

I want to get a MacBook Pro for a few reasons. One is that I am bored and going through a divorce so I think that learning a new OS will be something new for me. Last time I was this bored I went to MCSE school.

The basic MacBook Pro is $1999 with 512k ram, the mid level is $2499 but I can get the 17" loaded for $2799. I also get a 5% discount. But which one to get! That's the confusing part. I don't now Mac from COBOL so I don't want to make an error and buy too much or too little. I even thought of the basic $1099 MacBook just to learn, but can I grow. Help!

The MacBook is really pretty good, the features that you'll not get that are available in the MBP include: better graphics card (MacBook shares system RAM, MBP does not), better case (IMO), ambient light sensor and backlit keyboard, larger screen, and some other stuff I can't think of right now.

Set a budget and get the Mac that fits it. You don't NEED this, so any of them will accomplish your basic goal of getting to know the system.

I *don't know*, but I would wager that the MBP will be 64 bit by September. May not matter to you, but something to think about.

Whatever you do, upgrade the RAM (crucial.com), and avoid installing Windows on it. Once you get it you're going to want to calibrate your monitor and set the gamma to 2.2.

Aside from that, it's a great machine, great system, and Leopard (10.5, which will be previewed in August, most likely) is only going to make it better.

Andy

Jul-09-2006, 12:55 PM

You can also buy AppleCare on day 364 if you wish :deal

DavidTO

Jul-09-2006, 01:21 PM

You can also buy AppleCare on day 364 if you wish :deal

Just make sure you do not forget and are not late.

davev

Jul-10-2006, 07:05 PM

Well, Thanks to you folks I'm $1800 poorer.
This is the last post from the Hp to dgrin. Although it hasn't been nice to me
lately, it has done it's job well for the past 3 years.
If I can get the network up and running on the Imac without any headaches,
life will be good.

davev

Jul-10-2006, 08:55 PM

DavidTO

Jul-10-2006, 10:06 PM

Ok. The wide screen seems a little weird right now.

I had an ext. drive on the windows XP machine that the Mac either doesn't
read, or I just don't know how to find it. What do I do?

USB, 300gig, I think FAT 32.

Dave,

I can't answer your drive question, but I will tell you this:

One of the first things you should do on your mac is to calibrate the monitor and set the gamma to 2.2.

Apple Menu>System Preferences>Displays>Color>Calibrate.

Make sure you select expert mode, and go through the resulting screens to adjust the screen to make the little apples disappear. You'll need to squint your eyes. At the end, set the white point to native (or different if you want to), and make sure you set the gamma to 2.2. Your screen will be much richer than it was before. Save the profile, and have fun!

colourbox

Jul-11-2006, 12:20 AM

I had an ext. drive on the windows XP machine that the Mac either doesn't read, or I just don't know how to find it. What do I do?
USB, 300gig, I think FAT 32.

It should work...I connected a friend's Windows-formatted 200GB USB drive to my Mac once and it worked fine. In fact, the iPod Shuffles are actually formatted FAT32 so that they can be plugged into Mac or Windows computers as a flash drive.

If you don't see it appear on the desktop, it's possible that external drive icons are set to not show up there (set in Finder>Preferences when in the Finder). Try opening a new window in the Finder (File>New Finder Window) and see if the drive is visible there. Also, if you can't see the USB drive in your Disk Utility (in your Utilities folder), something is wrong.

DavidTO

Jul-11-2006, 06:42 AM

If you don't see it appear on the desktop, it's possible that external drive icons are set to not show up there (set in Finder>Preferences when in the Finder). Try opening a new window in the Finder (File>New Finder Window) and see if the drive is visible there. Also, if you can't see the USB drive in your Disk Utility (in your Utilities folder), something is wrong.

Totally sage advice except for the fact that this machine is fresh out of the box. He was asking this question within minutes of turning the thing on.

colourbox

Jul-11-2006, 08:57 AM

Totally sage advice except for the fact that this machine is fresh out of the box. He was asking this question within minutes of turning the thing on.

Well, I keep a spare user account on my machine for testing purposes, so my spare user doesn't have all the customizations and hacks that my main user account does. I fast-user-switched over there to see what the default setting for hard disk display might be, and when I chose Finder>Preferences and clicked the General tab, the setting for "Show these items on the desktop" had "Hard disks" unchecked. That surprised me, because I didn't think I'd ever changed it in that account. Is it on for everybody else?

StevenV

Jul-11-2006, 10:25 AM

All three are checked on my PowerBook, and I don't remember changing 'em.

DavidTO

Jul-11-2006, 10:29 AM

They're checked by default.

davev

Jul-11-2006, 02:36 PM

Well, basically I jumped the gun. The USB ext. drive is pretty new also, I just
wasn't giving it enough time to get ready. Everything thing is working well
so far.

I'm sure that more questions will come up over time. I'll try to be a bit
more patient, and try to find a cure before panicking.

Thanks everyone.

photobug

Jul-19-2006, 08:52 AM

Used to be that both came on the same disk. I'm not sure, but if you do need to buy, it's not that much money. Just be aware that the Mac version is a little different. If you do require a new disc, don't buy one at the store. Call Adobe -- they are very good about transferring existing licenses to software and probably would provide a Mac CD (if it was different) for a nominal fee if you're already a registered PC user. Transferring a license from machine (PC) to machine (Mac) should be easy. Adobe will even transfer the license if you sell your software to someone else.

binghott

Jul-19-2006, 06:13 PM

just call 1-800-my-apple
or go to your nearest apple store, they're really helpful there

W.W. Webster

Jul-19-2006, 06:40 PM

I'm hoping to be able to run the windows version of PSE4 because I bought it just before the shoot out, and I really don't like buying the same program twice.You could always sell it and buy the Mac version, then you'd be Windows-free (oh, what a feeling)! :thumb

davev

Jul-31-2006, 03:43 PM

Thanks for the suggestions for PSE4. The fact is that I still use PSE4 on my old computer and on a windows laptop. So I did the right thing and bought the Mac version for $90. It comes with a $20 rebate if you own some other program by Adobe, so the final cost will be $70. I use it a lot, so why not just buy it.

I had a strange thing happen last night. I went to the Itunes store to just look and see what it was. When I left and closed Itunes, about 2 minutes later it started itself up again. So I closed it. It started itself up again.
So I looked at the preferences and found it had "Check for new songs" or something like that. So I turned that off, and closed Itunes again. It started itself up again. So, I though back to my windows days and tried a reboot.
Problem solved.
I guess there isn't that much difference between the 2 machines after all. :D

Stay tuned for more questions. And by the way, thanks again.

wxwax

Jul-31-2006, 03:54 PM

Macbook Pro is rumored for an upgrade in the next month or so.

DavidTO

Jul-31-2006, 04:05 PM

I had a strange thing happen last night. I went to the Itunes store to just look and see what it was. When I left and closed Itunes, about 2 minutes later it started itself up again. So I closed it. It started itself up again.
So I looked at the preferences and found it had "Check for new songs" or something like that. So I turned that off, and closed Itunes again. It started itself up again. So, I though back to my windows days and tried a reboot.
Problem solved.
I guess there isn't that much difference between the 2 machines after all. :D

Stay tuned for more questions. And by the way, thanks again.

Most likely you turned off check for new updates. I doubt that turning that off had anything to do with it. The restart was most likely the answer.

DavidTO

Jul-31-2006, 04:39 PM

Most likely you turned off check for new updates. I doubt that turning that off had anything to do with it. The restart was most likely the answer.

Another thought: have you installed an iTunes related widget? Could be that the widget is initiating the start up of iTunes. Restarting closed the widget, effectively, and if you restarted the widget you'd have the same issue. That would make it "expected" behavior, just not what *YOU* expected. :D