Switched... FINALLY

[Mik3]

After years I'll finally be officially switched from PC to Mac January 22nd. Starting off my Mac adventure with a Mac Mini ($800), Studio MX 2004 Mac, and Garageband 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!

MORE EXCITED THAN EVER

Afters years of going on the apple site and having an apple background with apple.com as my homepage...

Waldo Waldo Waldo Waldo Waldo Waldo Waldo Waldo Waldo Waldo
You thought you could find him with a search?

[Krilnon]

That's pretty cool. I'm guessing you got the pimped out Mac Mini? (Bigger HD, more RAM)

[dreeft]

Mac-tastic.

[FlashPlaya]

Mac-icious!!!
:thumb: can't wait to hear how you like GO_MAC!!!!!!!

[B3NKobe]

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuk! How could you let go of your trusty PC!! lol - Im also in the process of switching although it wont be for about another month or 2. Good luck with your new Mac!! :D:D

[Mik3]

That's pretty cool. I'm guessing you got the pimped out Mac Mini? (Bigger HD, more RAM)
Yeah pretty much, I'm so excited. I can't wait, garageband 2 will also rock hard.

[ya3]

Aaahhh:) Here we can directly see the immediate success of Apple's new 'grab the PC users with a cheap Mac' scheme ;)
I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, t3rminator. Apple fanatic!!! Mac-voyeur...

But the thing is, I don't think I'd ever switch. I've been using CorelDRAW for yonks, and they just discontinued their Mac support... plus I just got hooked on 3dsmax, which is a PC only thing. Plus a whole bunch of other software which I'd have to re-purchase... :(


garageband 2 will also rock hard
I beg to differ on that one. Propellerhead Reason all the way! :D

Enjoy the new Mac, and keep us updated on the switching process ;)

[Krilnon]

Plus a whole bunch of other software which I'd have to re-purchase... :(
Hah! You just snagged my problem... I wish all versions were multi-platform, or that Windows emulators actually worked decently.

[ya3]

Hah! You just snagged my problem... I wish all versions were multi-platform, or that Windows emulators actually worked decently.

You think Windows emulators are bad?? Try a Mac OS emulator! :lol:
Adobe and Macromedia do a good job with their hybrid packages, but yeah, why doesn't everyone do that? :|

[minimalistik]

You switching to Mac but keeping your PC for other uses yes?

[Vexir]

Garageband 2 < Reason

Reason OWNS.

[lostinbeta]

You think Windows emulators are bad?? Try a Mac OS emulator! :lol:
Adobe and Macromedia do a good job with their hybrid packages, but yeah, why doesn't everyone do that? :|

Actually with Macromedia, if you register your product on a PC, then switch to mac and go to install it on there, it won't allow you to register the product. You have to pay for like another license or some crap like that.

Just ask UNFLUX, it happened to him.

[Stratification]

Though on some Macromedia products you can choose to transfer the license from one machine to another (Flash MX 2004 for example) so you only have the one install still but it's now on another machine!

[Butters]

Heh, another Mac user eh, cool.

GarageBand 2 looks cool.

I really want a Mac Mini, they rock.

[McGuffin]

Garageband 2 < Reason

Reason OWNS.

Just out of curiousity, have you even used GarageBand2? Are you well versed in its uses?

[love police]

You switching to Mac but keeping your PC for other uses yes? thats what i'll be doing. i have a decent PC, so i'll definatly use that for things PC can do and i'll be gtting a 15" Powerbook, just for out of home and around the house wireless things.

[UNFLUX]

Though on some Macromedia products you can choose to transfer the license from one machine to another (Flash MX 2004 for example) so you only have the one install still but it's now on another machine!
that's what I did, but I had to call macromedia's support to get it done. I had to pay a fee for it as well. They allow a one-time switch of platforms, but again, you have to ask for it. otherwise they assume you are going to buy a whole new license. I got really lucky with it.

[ya3]

Just out of curiousity, have you even used GarageBand2? Are you well versed in its uses?

:lol:
I just get this slight feeling that Reason is a tad more professional than GaragaBand... after all, GB is the little brother of Soundtrack, right? Either way, I see a lot more mentions of Reason than I do GB/Soundtrack in pro audio mags like Sound On Sound (although it is dominated by Mac hardware/software). Although it is ultimatly a synthesis program, it's still up there with programs like ProTools or Logic...

meh, anyways, I get the impression that GB is solely a 'drag-&-drop-the-loops-together' music program... which I don't really have much respect for...

[iloveitaly]

:lol:
meh, anyways, I get the impression that GB is solely a 'drag-&-drop-the-loops-together' music program... which I don't really have much respect for...
CONGRATS! You will love your mac! The thing that i love about macs is there is SOOO many free programs you can download. Since you have the mac open source developers and you have the UNIX open source apps, there is just so much free software to choose from! (just take a look at http://versiontracker.com/)

I just bought garageband 1 before christmass and i have to say it totally rocks. it probobly isn't as good as reason, but then again can you get reason for 20$? (plus its cool since i have 0 music experience :cool: )

The one big dissapiontment for me was Flash mx2004 speed. Both the IDE and the player run wayyy to slow on my 1.3GHZ g4. Its bearable if you edit all you AS in a external editor, i use Xcode for all my AS editing.
Looks like the speed of FP will change dramatically with FP 8, i cant wait for it to come out! :angel:

Have fun with your new mac and enjoy a more productive crash free envorment! :azn:

[Mik3]

:lol:meh, anyways, I get the impression that GB is solely a 'drag-&-drop-the-loops-together' music program... which I don't really have much respect for...

I think the point of Garageband is exactly what you said. It's all in the title... Garageband... Not "pro music developers." This is for bands and independant music developers that know how to play music and do. Not for people that play some stuff then take it into a program, remix, edit, and change a ton.

Same thing when you said Garageband is better than Reason. They target totally different people. And the price difference is huge in that comparison.

[Mik3]

CONGRATS! You will love your mac! The thing that i love about macs is there is SOOO many free programs you can download. Since you have the mac open source developers and you have the UNIX open source apps, there is just so much free software to choose from! (just take a look at http://versiontracker.com/)

I just bought garageband 1 before christmass and i have to say it totally rocks. it probobly isn't as good as reason, but then again can you get reason for 20$? (plus its cool since i have 0 music experience :cool: )

The one big dissapiontment for me was Flash mx2004 speed. Both the IDE and the player run wayyy to slow on my 1.3GHZ g4. Its bearable if you edit all you AS in a external editor, i use Xcode for all my AS editing.
Looks like the speed of FP will change dramatically with FP 8, i cant wait for it to come out! :angel:

Have fun with your new mac and enjoy a more productive crash free envorment! :azn:

Good thing I don't use flash that much, I use fireworks, freehand, and dreamweaver. I stopped using flash years ago, it was too buggy and, in my opinion, not for me. I was always trying to create advanced programs with Flash, which I soon realized Java or C++ would be much better for. I like graphic design and programming, I'm not into all the frustrations of flash.

[ya3]

Good thing I don't use flash that much... I stopped using flash years ago... I'm not into all the frustrations of flash.

:cool::cop::cop::cop::cool::cool:
Excuse me sir, but you are in breach of clause 7, section 12, part 4 of the Kirupa Anti-Flash Propaganda Act 1958.




:P

[Butters]

GarageBand is not designed to be professional software, it's designed to be a bit of fun for people who don't have the time, money or skills to use a professional program like Cubase or Reason. It comes into that iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD catagory. Simple fun programs that are easy to use, for the whole family.

There is another whole side to Apple, which is their extremly professional software, such as Final Cut, Motion, Shake, Logic Pro, DVD Studio Pro etc...

Soundtrack comes somewhere between the amuter easy stuff and the professional software, its a bit of both (it's a great ap btw, I love it, much better than GarageBand).

Reason is odviosly better than GarageBand, how can you even compare them?

[Disco-Stu]

http://www.fineartscamp.org/2001digidoc/britney-web/Grave%20Stone%20With%20Cross%20Rose.jpg

R.I.P. t3h t3rminator

[λ]

Anybody who's not using M$ products gets a :thumb: from me ;)

[Mik3]

UMMM... WOW...

Okay, I just called Apple to change the ComboDrive I ordered on my Mac Mini to a SuperDrive... And apparently there are a few deals going on on the telephone. Get this... My mom and I ordered Mac Minis, we just got two free printers (something we needed.) But that's not all! We also got a copy of iWork for $19.00

[McGuffin]

Apple rocks. Simply put, at least.

[Mik3]

YAY! I just got an email from Apple saying they shipped my computer. Tomorrow I'll get it! I'll try and write an early review. ( I bought next day shipping not the free one)

EDIT: Hm, looks like it won't arrive until the 21st... So much for paying $22 for overnight shipping :a:

[Stratification]

Looking forward to the review. I've been interested to hear some hands on on these new machines. Thinking about one for some time in the future. I'd really like to have a Mac in the house.

[fatnslow]

Just saying grats to you t3h t3rminator..Going to buy my mac laptop as soon as tiger is out, cant wait :)

Whats iWork? Something like M$ g4y office?

btw; what is Garageband and Reason? I guess form what I've been reading that they are some sort of sound stuff..(?)...****, I remember when I used FruityLoops..good old times with lots of bad music :)

[Butters]

iWork is Apple's kind-of answer to MS Office, well, its Apple's answer to MS Word.

Yeh GarageBand and Reason are both music apps, GarageBand is a cheap easy to use program, and Reason is much more professional.

[Mik3]

iWork is Apple's kind-of answer to MS Office, well, its Apple's answer to MS Word.

Yeh GarageBand and Reason are both music apps, GarageBand is a cheap easy to use program, and Reason is much more professional.
Well, Pages is design based where as... Well, like Windows, Word tries to do a bit of everything but is not optimized for one strong thing.

[Mik3]

Okay, it apparently was delivered to my house. I'm at school right now and I couldn't wait so I checked my order... Whoohoo!

[Butters]

Bunk off and go home, that's what i'd do :P

[Mik3]

6 more minutes before I getta leave this place c'monn

[Stratification]

So what do you think? Don't leave us hanging!

[FlashPlaya]

I know!!! ^^

[Stratification]

I think the joy of the Mac Mini did him in.

[UNFLUX]

i'm really curious to know how the mini performs (not that I doubt it), but I have a phatty-boombalaty dell LCD monitor I would love to use. the mini is the perfect solution to that! well...how is it mahn!

[Mik3]

Sorry about that, I had studying for homework. (finals)

So here it is:

This thing is powerful! Everything works like a charm, today I started Cocoa development and I'm loving it all. This thing is so great. The only thing I've noticed, something you have probably heard about already, is window resizing is jagged and isn't smooth. (Everything else is... Transparency is smooth, shadows are smooth, window moving is smooth, I can't tell a difference between this and the G5s I've used at the Apple Store.) Is window resizing slow on most Macs? I don't know, all I know is that it could be due to the 32MB video card I have here. I find it very odd because movies and everything run more smooth than my 2.0Ghz PC (that is now my dad's) except the window resizing. It's not a big problem though, because I don't resize my windows often. Other than that, it's been great. I've been using this thing at 1600x1280 on my CRT moniter, and Apple's screen calibration software makes this old CRT look just like Apple's beautiful monitors. I've been crusing around on this thing. Backing up all my old documents only took about 10 minutes. (thanks iPod.) and then I installed XCode and I've been having lots of fun since. Everything so far works like a charm, but can you guys tell me about the window resizing... it's not bothering me but I've never had another OS X system as powerful as this and I don't know if it's a common thing or now.

Hardware:
This thing is a computer? This thing is a desktop?! It's small, what more can I say? Also, it's very, very quiet. It has holes on the bottom as well as the back for heat output. The power light is that of a G5 or the new monitors and it's bright and I like bright lights! :) The top is made of the same material as the iPod and has the Apple logo printed on grey with light shadowing around it. It's very lightweight and is made of the same material as the powerbook on the sides. (some titanium composition)

I'm having a great time, and not once did I regret my decision on buying a mac.

[Butters]

Sounds pretty bad *** :P

If only I had money, id buy one with one of those new Apple Cinema Displays (20"), they look so good next to each other.

[UNFLUX]

sounds good man, I'm gonna have to get one for me desk eventually. I love my powerbook, so I know how you feel about now. Just wait some months from now, you won't feel any different. Enjoy the mac ;)

[Mik3]

sounds good man, I'm gonna have to get one for me desk eventually. I love my powerbook, so I know how you feel about now. Just wait some months from now, you won't feel any different. Enjoy the mac ;)

thanks, i'm loving this so much! And the Mac fanbase is so friendly all the time. :love:

[Butters]

Yeah Mac users always buy software aswel, you hardly ever find any major Mac pirate people :)

[iloveitaly]

Everything so far works like a charm, but can you guys tell me about the window resizing...
Yeah... Window resizing really stinks in Mac os x, its normal. I tried it out on a 2.5GHZ g5 loaded with 3GB of ram and it still wasn't ultra smooth.
I think the reason that window resizing is slow is because of the drop shadow on all the windows. If you feel like expirimenting, make a window without a drop shadow in interface builder, and test the app. Window resizing is alot faster without the drop shadow.
As you said the transparence stuff is cool, but its also very functional. I use it alot when writing email and need to see stuff below by window. Check out setalphavalue (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16577)m i find it pretty usefull.
Good to hear you like cocoa! Over the summer i want to really start digging into Cocoa and objc.

[UNFLUX]

it's just something you will "get used to." and certainly isn't a reason to dislike it, it's not that big of a deal of you aren't resizing every window all the time anyway.

[Mik3]

it's just something you will "get used to." and certainly isn't a reason to dislike it, it's not that big of a deal of you aren't resizing every window all the time anyway.

Oh yeah I'm used to it. I wasn't complaining about it. I was more of pointing it out. I really wanted to say "This thing rocks and everything is perfect about it" but then you guys would be like "Yeah right! Give us a real review!" :beam:

[Mik3]

Yeah... Window resizing really stinks in Mac os x, its normal. I tried it out on a 2.5GHZ g5 loaded with 3GB of ram and it still wasn't ultra smooth.
I think the reason that window resizing is slow is because of the drop shadow on all the windows. If you feel like expirimenting, make a window without a drop shadow in interface builder, and test the app. Window resizing is alot faster without the drop shadow.
As you said the transparence stuff is cool, but its also very functional. I use it alot when writing email and need to see stuff below by window. Check out setalphavalue (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16577)m i find it pretty usefull.
Good to hear you like cocoa! Over the summer i want to really start digging into Cocoa and objc.

I think the reason it's slow is all of the background resizing and such. It only seems to be really slow on the brushedMetal windows.