So....this mac thing

Thusie · March 20, 2006

Gus,

Don't have mac LT and are you saying it looks washed out? The native Mac 'what ever its called' is 1.8 and PC is 2.2. Change that and the LCD will look much better. The other is the resolution, if the LCD is set to a lower res than max it will look fuzzy. Macs have a pretty fair monitor calibration tool that makes a world of difference in how the LCD looks.

Just a thought:):

Justiceiro · March 20, 2006

Thusie wrote:

Gus,

Don't have mac LT and are you saying it looks washed out? The native Mac 'what ever its called' is 1.8 and PC is 2.2. Change that and the LCD will look much better. The other is the resolution, if the LCD is set to a lower res than max it will look fuzzy. Macs have a pretty far monitor calibration tool that makes a world of difference in how the LCD looks.

Just a thought:):

Have you guys been to the apple.com site and looked at what's available refurbished? And the prices? Nice.

I paid for my 5 year old Sony Vaio desktop about what an iMac g5 costs now.

bwg · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

Today ...for the 2nd time 'ever' i went into a macburger shop & even played with one. I feel (cough) somewhat grubby.

I was looking at this new laptop that has the intel core duo (sorta like having to put a chevy donk in a ford to get the ford working properly 'eh )

What is the attraction here ? Great power & size But that screen detracts from the whole computer. It would have to be the worst on the market for resolution & that dusty look. We dropped a P100 toshiba next to it & the mac guy just said at the end that it was chalk & cheese. Also said there was an announcement due in a few weeks from macburger...is it a screen worth looking at possibly ?

Get someone to put a toshiba screen on that thing & i will buy one tomorrow !

gus, the screen on mine is great...i've never had another lappy to compare it to though, so maybe i'm just inexperienced.

also, from a lot of reviews i've read, previous powerbook owners have said the displays on the new macbooks are far and away brighter and sharper than the old iBook/powerbooks.

DavidTO · March 20, 2006

Thusie wrote:

Gus,

Don't have mac LT and are you saying it looks washed out? The native Mac 'what ever its called' is 1.8 and PC is 2.2. Change that and the LCD will look much better. The other is the resolution, if the LCD is set to a lower res than max it will look fuzzy. Macs have a pretty fair monitor calibration tool that makes a world of difference in how the LCD looks.

Just a thought:):

Gus, Thusie is most likely right. Mac's heritage is in print--pre-press stuff, and for some reason the gamma ended up at 1.8. You're used to 2.2. Heck, I'm used to it, because all my Macs are set to it. At 1.8 it looks washed out and "chalky". But trust me, the screen's fine.

wxwax · March 20, 2006

They all do that.

pathfinder · March 20, 2006

I am inclined to agree with David and Thusie.

The screen on my PowerBook 15 in LCD is not as good as the 23 in Cinema display ( which you can also run from a PB....:):), but when you calibrate the screen using their included screen calibration routine, or better, with an optical colorimeter like the SPyder2Pro, the difference between my PB and my desktop screeens is minimal, sitting side by side.

And I agree that the gamma of 1.8 looks washed out, so both of my machines run with a gamma of 2.2 also.

The brighter, higher contrast screens of Toshiba, HP, Dell look appealing at first, my wife has a new HP 17in laptop, but for editing images, the PowerBooks screen is fine and resembles my desktop display which almost all reviewers rank as superb ( Apple 23 in Cinema Display )

One of the things I love about the Apples, is that with a .MAC account, I can synch all of my machines so the calender, bookmarks, security settings, and address books are the same and all are up to date.

Synching things via .MAC is just one more reason I like the Apple world better. I am about to replace the Windows box I am writing this on right now, with a new MiniMAC partially for that reason. The new Mini's with the DuoCore Intel Processors look to be reall useful devices and they look great with the 20 in LCDs from Apple. I think the new Minis are going to slowly be accepted as real, powerful machines.

DavidTO · March 20, 2006

wxwax wrote:

They all do that.

Do what?

pathfinder · March 20, 2006

You know!

NO, I don't know either!

DavidTO · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

Today ...for the 2nd time 'ever' i went into a macburger shop & even played with one. I feel (cough) somewhat grubby.

I was looking at this new laptop that has the intel core duo (sorta like having to put a chevy donk in a ford to get the ford working properly 'eh )

What is the attraction here ? Great power & size But that screen detracts from the whole computer. It would have to be the worst on the market for resolution & that dusty look. We dropped a P100 toshiba next to it & the mac guy just said at the end that it was chalk & cheese. Also said there was an announcement due in a few weeks from macburger...is it a screen worth looking at possibly ?

Get someone to put a toshiba screen on that thing & i will buy one tomorrow !

Gus, I simply can't keep up with you. Between talking trash and drooling over the Macs, who knows where you stand?

If you go back in the shop or have a chance to play with one again, go to the Apple Menu (top left) and pull down to System Preferences. In there is a button for Displays. Click on the Color tab, then calibrate and go through the calibration steps (advanced mode), and see what you think of the display after that. Make sure that when you're calibrating that you set the gamma to 2.2.

wxwax · March 20, 2006

DavidTO wrote:

Do what?

It's a motorcycle thing. Your bike has a problem (say, a chalky screen) and the dealer says "they all do that."

It's a nice way of excusing a fault.

Andy · March 20, 2006

wxwax wrote:

It's a motorcycle thing. Your bike has a problem (say, a chalky screen) and the dealer says "they all do that."

It's a nice way of excusing a fault.

You'll never get it....

Thusie · March 20, 2006

wxwax wrote:

It's a motorcycle thing. Your bike has a problem (say, a chalky screen)

Bikes have screens???

Wow Sid I learn something new everyday from you.

gus · March 20, 2006

Andy · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

I stand where i get the most value for money & i will always look to see the enemys weapons. Mate he tried everything with that screen...changed it left, right & center to get it looking anywhere near the toshiba as he could see $4k going down the drain. Im serious here...a beautifull powerfull ultra slim machine that has a screen worse than my '91 Amiga. It is a dog of a screen plain & simple.

To turn the table here for a min....have you seen a toshiba P100 or qosmio's screen ?

Gus, I have a very expensive Apple 23" Cinema Display, if I want to make it look like a dog, I can do that. Gamma for one, contrast / brightness buttons for two, etc. You were looking at a lappy which was poorly adjusted. And the saleskid probably didn't know that, either.

Enjoy that new Qosmio, it looks sweet!

DavidTO · March 20, 2006

Andy wrote:

Enjoy that new Qosmio, it looks sweet!

Quosimodo?

DavidTO · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

To turn the table here for a min....have you seen a toshiba P100 or qosmio's screen ?

Come on, Gus. Get serious. You know I never give the other side a fair shake.

gus · March 20, 2006

Andy · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

Im not talking about a $4K screen here...i saw those & they look great . Im talking about the new core duo maclaptop.

I can do the same exact thing to the maclaptop, Gus. They're settings, and if they're not set right, well, it's all facacta and you buy the Qosmidio jobby

gus · March 20, 2006

colourbox · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

Man ...im giving up. Its like telling a parent their kid is ugly....you have all been implanted with the controller 2b45X. If any of you mcburger users ever walk past a higher end toshiba...just have a quick look at what your missing out on.

I agree, newer PC screens look great. But attractive, bright, glossy color does not necessarily equal accurate color representation. How come photography guru Rob Galbraith, who has long complained about how slow Macs have been compared to PCs, says "the 1280 x 854 pixel screen in several generations of 15 inch Powerbook has been our gold standard for notebook displays."

gus · March 20, 2006

DavidTO · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

How come it looks like a bit of crap then ? That plain & simple...it is dull & ordinary.

It's the gamma, Gus.

Dee · March 20, 2006

Gus, Gus
What on earth attracts you to the Mac side?

Don't you know you can probably put any monitor you like on the Mac... there's usually a plug for an external or second monitor.

PC monitors are usually set up to knock your eyes out and rot the eye cells... I get a headache looking at them too long, and wind up adjusting them... (just kiddin' you here).

The reasons Mac monitors are set a little "faded" is because of the dot gain when things are offset printed. When you print your colors look darker than the monitor. So some production artists will look at an optimized file on the screen, then the printed piece to acclimate themselves to the printing world. Sort of like adjusting your photos and when the print looks good out of your inkjet, that's what you aim for in the future...

That's how I discovered that the inkjets are optimized for Windows machines and SRGB... Huge difference once I had to turn my poor Mac into a Windows Monitor....

I have sensitive eyes anyway... it was great when we printed our own black and white photos in the darkroom, I could easily see subtle nuances. Hubby would argue with me until the prints were out of the chemicals and all dry...then he had to admit my timing was better than his. Of course, that meant I had to make all the prints from then on (so being right can sometimes be bad!)

If you're not planning to do production work for graphic arts -- then by all means turn your Mac monitor into a "PC monitor" or buy a separate PC monitor and use the Mac monitor to hold your software pallets, giving you more room to mess with your pictures!

But the question is, if you're such a happy Windows user, why even bother with a Mac?

My theory is happy Windows users don't deserve a Mac! Don't all flame me here at once now! But really... if you love Windows and love what Windows entails, why bother switching?

My daughter just got the 20 inch iMac -- I have to say, what a beauty! And you can easily carry it around.

I'm still stuck with my 21 inch CRT (which I love! But it weighs a ton) and a Mac G4 Multi-processor...

And I've been forced to play with Windows and I didn't like it... things made deliberately difficult to ensure the employment of IT personnel!

And yes, I moaned and groaned at OS X -- WAY too Windows like for me! Permissions, users, UGH what a royal pain! Fonts all over the place, I hate it!

But, it rarely crashes (note I didn't say never) and dashboard is cute...

So why are you looking at Macs?????

Thusie · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

How come it looks like a bit of crap then ? That plain & simple...it is dull & ordinary.

Could be a defective screen, video card, that can happen, poor calibration, that can def happen. What ever the reason it didn't work for you and you got what you liked. Thats what makes the world go round.

Andy · March 20, 2006

Dee wrote:

So why are you looking at Macs?????

He knows he wants one - he can't resist the Siren Song. Why do you think he keeps bringing it up every month or so? And now, he's looking at them in the store!

It's like a 13year old boy - says he HATES girls, but secretly...he loves them!

Bob Bell · March 20, 2006

Big Mac or Whopper. I think that is more interesting than all of the mac n cheese threads.

gus · March 20, 2006

Justiceiro · March 20, 2006

Humungus wrote:

Man ...im giving up. Its like telling a parent their kid is ugly....you have all been implanted with the controller 2b45X. If any of you mcburger users ever walk past a higher end toshiba...just have a quick look at what your missing out on.

I use a pretty high end toshiba laptop at work- It just can't handle the big images the way that a Mac can.

replacing a laptop doesn't really make sense to me, however. What do you use your laptop for, other than a field lab or a sort of glorified huge storage tank? I do post processing at home on my Ancient Sony Vaio. I would never consider making a laptop my principal work station, because you get much more performance for your dollar in a desktop.

Seriously, refurbished 2.1ghz iMac G5s for $1300 or so? That's incredible.

Dee · March 20, 2006

So that explains it

Andy wrote:

He knows he wants one - he can't resist the Siren Song. Why do you think he keeps bringing it up every month or so? And now, he's looking at them in the store!

It's like a 13year old boy - says he HATES girls, but secretly...he loves them!

On many different levels here Andy.... I had to think a minute or two there!:):

Andy · March 20, 2006

Dee wrote:

On many different levels here Andy.... I had to think a minute or two there!:):

But secretly he loves them!
Gus' assimilation is just taking a bit longer - but that's to be expected

So....this mac thing

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