[edgedemon]

Not sure whether I will like it, but Im willing to give it a go for a while.
As someone who was firmly embedded in the MS world, I have no idea what are the must have programs?
Im installing office and capture one pro, what else is good in the apple world?

[normhead]

These days most of what I use comes free on the machine.
Aperture is my most used program, but it's no longer available.

[W412ren]

Office is good, I tend to use that more than pages and numbers. <br />
Photography wise. Lightroom but also Exif Editor to add lens info for all those A,M &amp; K lenses. Then there's Hug-in for panos, StarStax for startrails and Lynkeos as an alternative to DSS (not as good though). <br />
Batch renaming? Name Mangler works well. <br />
Music - lyrics. MusicXmatch. <br />
Anti virus etc - Avast seems to work well and be fairly unobtrusive at the same time.<br />
Not keen on Mail? - give Mailbox a go. <br />
These are the ones I tend to use regularly.

[6BQ5]

Look up Affinity. It's a replacement for Photoshop and it is only available for the Mac. Same with Pixelmator.

[Kerrowdown]

Not sure whether I will like it, but Im willing to give it a go for a while.

Give it time... you will learn to love just how intuitive it all is.

[reeftool]

I'm kicking around a Mac also. I really like my iPad and have grown quite comfortable using it. I'm interested in hearing how a long time Windows user is adapting. For my own use, I browse the internet and edit photos in Lightroom so it wouldn't really affect me much but my wife uses Office a lot so I would likely have to purchase the Mac version along with tax software we use every spring. The only other thing I regularly do is a newsletter for my motorcycle ride group, that done using Microsoft Publish, also part of office but only the professional version.

[boriscleto]

The only other thing I regularly do is a newsletter for my motorcycle ride group, that done using Microsoft Publish, also part of office but only the professional version.

No M$ Publisher for Mac...

But you can of course install Windows on a Mac with Boot Camp, or run it in a virtual machine like VirtualBox/VMWare/Parallels.

@edgedemon

The only non-free third party software that I really use these days are Lightroom & Pixelmator. Even though I have Photoshop CC I still use Pixelmator, it's just more Mac like...Still very sad about Aperture

Pixelmator

I have some of the Autodesk programs installed, like Pixlr, but those are Freemium apps and I won't pay for the extra features...

https://pixlr.com/desktop

I'm not really an M@ Office person, I use iWork. The iWork apps are all part of iCloud now so you can use them anywhere.

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Last edited by boriscleto; 09-21-2015 at 11:33 AM.

[reeftool]

No M$ Publisher for Mac..

That's odd. They have an iPad version. It's not a big deal as there are plenty of alternatives I'm sure for the Mac. I'm still undecided. Windows 10 does not impress me at all and my current Win 7 computer is going on 5 now and not worth upgrading.

[clockworkrat]

Darktable is a free alternative to Lightroom that is available on Mac. It's very good.

[kadajawi]

Give it time... you will learn to love just how intuitive it all is.

Hm. I loved how intuitive the Mac is when I switched from XP to OS X. However Vista IMHO has caught up, and now I am happily using 10. Once in a while I use a Mac, and I find it less intuitive... also it seems to slow me down.

I did like Pages... less powerful than Word, but really nice to use.

[AggieDad]

I use a Mac mostly because the hardware is superior to PC hardware which is basically a commodity. It seemed as though PC laptops (no matter the make) lasted about 2 to 2-1/2 years. I saw my son-in-law with a 5 year old Macbook, and said, "Why not me?" So far, so good. The one problem I had with my hard drive was fixed at the Apple store in 1/2 hour and no charge. Either operating system (OS-X or Windows) is nice once you adjust to it.

If you are looking for photo software, take a look at some of the specialty programs from MacPhun. I find them very nice. I also use Lighroom and Pixelmator.

[kadajawi]

I use a Mac mostly because the hardware is superior to PC hardware which is basically a commodity. It seemed as though PC laptops (no matter the make) lasted about 2 to 2-1/2 years. I saw my son-in-law with a 5 year old Macbook, and said, "Why not me?" So far, so good. The one problem I had with my hard drive was fixed at the Apple store in 1/2 hour and no charge. Either operating system (OS-X or Windows) is nice once you adjust to it.

If you are looking for photo software, take a look at some of the specialty programs from MacPhun. I find them very nice. I also use Lighroom and Pixelmator.

Apple uses the same hardware that other manufacturers use. My Dell is now 7 years old, still in a reasonably good condition. Some cracks in the area around the touchpad, but that comes from excessive drumming on those areas, and it has no effect on the machine. Even the rubber feet held on until recently. The performance is also fine, it is certainly usable (running Windows 10). It cost me 1/2 as much as even an entry level Mac would have cost me, and that would have been a lesser device with way worse warranty. I had 4 years next business day local service... (not sure what it's called in English... basically on the next day they send a technician to your house or wherever you are, almost anywhere in the world). And yes, it works. And they come for things that aren't even problems yet. Screen flickers once in a while? Sure, no problem, where are you tomorrow? And is there anything else that should be fixed? Ah, the keyboard doesn't look like new anymore, sure thing, it will be replaced. They will even send you the parts that you need to fix it, if it is an easy fix and you prefer it that way. From experience Apple won't even fix things that are actually defect... DVD drive isn't working? That'll be $200. What do you mean, there's still warranty? Nah, that issue isn't covered. Or something like that, can't remember exactly anymore.

If you want a long lasting laptop, don't buy consumer crap. Go for business laptops. They come with WAY better service and are built to last. If you buy a good Lenovo ThinkPad that thing should last you centuries. If you buy a cheap Acer laptop, well, 2 years if you're lucky. Heck, even if you buy an expensive consumer laptop you can get screwed in many, many ways.

[haycyn]

I am in the same boat, and actually came over to see what the Pentaxians thought of the Mac world. I love my Win 7, could care less if Win8 and 10 went to way side.
But I have the task of editing hours and hours and hours of mind numbing "action" camera footage. Which is a whole lot of nothing for 5 minutes of action.
The system I have is super slow, so I am trying to figure out what on earth to do to speed it up.
I hate shopping for anything especially something so expensive over the internet, and something like this that may really be better- but I have no idea.

Yea, anyone with insight here- feel free to jump right on in!

[mattb123]

Lightroom and Photoshop!

I got an iPad Mini from my employer last Christmas and recently gave it to my wife. I just didn't find myself using it much and she was coveting it.
It is too slow and cumbersome for photo editing as I found in Hawaii last winter and if I'm just surfing or emailing why not use the phone I always have in my pocket?

Seems like a phone and a laptop suit me better. I'm on Win10 and Android and for me they are fine.

[haycyn]

Apple uses the same hardware that other manufacturers use. My Dell is now 7 years old, still in a reasonably good condition. Some cracks in the area around the touchpad, but that comes from excessive drumming on those areas, and it has no effect on the machine. Even the rubber feet held on until recently. The performance is also fine, it is certainly usable (running Windows 10). It cost me 1/2 as much as even an entry level Mac would have cost me, and that would have been a lesser device with way worse warranty. I had 4 years next business day local service... (not sure what it's called in English... basically on the next day they send a technician to your house or wherever you are, almost anywhere in the world). And yes, it works. And they come for things that aren't even problems yet. Screen flickers once in a while? Sure, no problem, where are you tomorrow? And is there anything else that should be fixed? Ah, the keyboard doesn't look like new anymore, sure thing, it will be replaced. They will even send you the parts that you need to fix it, if it is an easy fix and you prefer it that way. From experience Apple won't even fix things that are actually defect... DVD drive isn't working? That'll be $200. What do you mean, there's still warranty? Nah, that issue isn't covered. Or something like that, can't remember exactly anymore.

If you want a long lasting laptop, don't buy consumer crap. Go for business laptops. They come with WAY better service and are built to last. If you buy a good Lenovo ThinkPad that thing should last you centuries. If you buy a cheap Acer laptop, well, 2 years if you're lucky. Heck, even if you buy an expensive consumer laptop you can get screwed in many, many ways.

It just seems like the lines are so blurred these days, in what is prosumer, and what is professional, and what is trying hard to look like a Mac, but is still the same ole bloatware crap pot that cost 2K but lasts the same length of time. Then there are real workhorses out there, and I am able to identify those by, "out of my budget $3-4k." Is that really what one has to spend to get out of the prosumer market, and to be certain they have bought a good strong PC suitable for a business (ie reliable for whatever specific task it is bought for- my case video editing).

I have been scouring over reviews, and benchmarks, and Mac vs PC threads for weeks. I am still lost as a goose

It is like in a effort to sell these prosumer PCs, they disguise them as business PC's and then you dig and find out the opposite.

I just wish it were clear somehow! It is so much money when you look at if from a work aspect- money in, money lost with time deciding and troubleshooting a faulty product, etc.