Apples and Aperture

[René]

Hey guys, this is definitely not an advertisement for Apple, but if you are serious about your photography, switch to the Mac's. I decided back in December to finally do away with my old Windows Vista Laptop. Now dont get me wrong, I never had problems with Vista, apparently a lot of people did but not me. I watched the video on the Apple website for their new range of Mac Books and was hooked. I went and got one and as they joke, once you go Mac, you never go back! I would never use windows again! The Mac has made my photography so much better, Aperture is brilliant and just €199 for the full version, best photo program I used hands down, I also had Adobe CS3 and Lightroom. Aperture beats them all.

iPhoto which is like a folder like My Pictures on a PC except you have a great editor, stores all your images, you dont have to look in every album for one picture, the search facility is super fast. Has facial recognition in the lastest models, also GPS Data showing the location on a map where you took the photo! You can also make excellent books and calenders with iPhoto.

Finally the one I used for today for the first time. TIME MACHINE. Bought an external hard-drive and switched it on, self installing. On a windows machine if I ever deleted a file, I was f*cked! If I empty the recycle bin, its completely gone, unless I do a system restore which means losing any new info I added since I deleted said item. Also its not guaranteed to work.

Apples Time Machine makes a complete copy of your computer drive, it updates it every hour for changes and if I delete and image also from the recycle bin, I just use time machine, go back to the day I last saw the folder and restore to desktop. Whole process, about 1 minute, no other files deleted or lost. Considering my laptop which is only 4 months old has over 9000 images on it, if you have more, you need to get this to protect your work!!!!

I will make a video this weekend showing how it works just because its that impressive.

If you are serious about photography, get a serious machine!

[Antarctican]

Interesting! I have both Windows and a Mac. Am only now exploring more of the Mac's abilities, since I was a longtime Windows user, so I look forward to seeing your video (that is, if you can post it).

[Terri]

I've always used Windows for no particular reason other than lack of interest in pursuing other options. :lol: Sad but true.

However, I'm not married to it and would certainly be interested in a look at your video. Your enthusiasm speaks well for the product. :) Go for it!

[René]

I will do a video tomorrow and put on you tube. I have to say, like most windows users, the biggest fear is change. But I found if you know your way around a PC. Within 2 weeks you will be flying on MAC, even within the first hour I was doing great. Apple have a lot of video's on their site showing you how to do stuff and the new MacBook is just brilliant. I can find anything on my laptop straight from the desktop. No need for defrag, apparently, the folder you download and install programs is where it stays, you simply delete and its gone, no system reg to clean or slow down your MAC after years of broken links, they run the same speed years later as they do from day 1! Now onto Photo Progams. I use 2 mainly on the Mac. Aperture and Adobe Elements 6. Aperture I found is so much better then CS3.
Keywording is simple, you can even add your own, star ratings, light tables, its just brilliant!

See for yourself: http://www.apple.com/aperture/tutorials/

Well I am actually in work as I do this, so better get back to it. Will make the DVD tomorrow, and who knows, I might even appear in it myself!!!! At least you will definitely get to hear my Irish accent!

[ann]

Interesting thoughts.

when i got a new computer last year, i did a lot of research and was very serious about changing to a mac. However, when i talked to apple directly about my needs and what i wanted to do they advised staying with a pc.

[René]

Thats the good thing about Apple Ann, they seem to rather lose a sale and make sure you walk away happy, then sell you a computer you dont need. I mostly surf, process images and store them and use my Mac for music and movies, thats it, the odd game, so this is the perfect system for me.

[ann]

I was very surprised about their recommendation, but apprciated their honesty.

The most driving issue for myself, software, software , software. They, (APPLE) told me that altho i could use bootcamp or another program to use the software, that by the time i got finished i would basically lose the wonders of a MAC.

[thorhammer]

I think Apple is fantastic, they make excellent products. Apple has its place and so does PC, mostly back end server support, production and high power rendering, but in some areas they overlap, like end user home environment (me and you)

I wouldn't go as far as to say your not serious about photography if you don't own a mac, that's just out the window wrong. Lightroom works the same on both platforms and I'd argue it can do a lot more then aperature. But to each his own. Many pros would tell you that if you dont use LR instead of aperature your not serious, but again to each his own....

Now I will admit ease of use is greater with the Mac, and some people dont want to worry about the little details that you have to worry about with the PC, personally I like the details cause I can customize more on the PC, and pay a lot less, but one is not better then the other, to each his own. I also spend more time working on the PC then I would on a Mac, but I know what im doing so its not that much time.... maybe it comes out to an extra 20 minutes a week, Im a power user.

I love the simplicity of the Iphone, I own 2, but I will always use a PC for a desktop, maybe a mac for a laptop someday ? If they come down to earth with their prices....

I built a dual core 2.5 with 6 GB of ram for 300$ (Intel) and had enough money left over to get a 22 inch monitor for the same price you'd pay for just the CPU's in the store. I run Vista 64 and have LR/PS 64 bit. My entire setup cost me 650.00, I couldnt get the same horsepower in Mac form for under 1500.00.

No issues whatsoever, flawless rendering and performance. I think LR takes 2.5 seconds to load and PS is 4 seconds. It took me an hour to build the system and another hour to source the parts. But then again I've been building systems since Quake was new. I am not the average netizen. My point is, Apple is great, but there are people like me who make PC's do what they are supposed to do, and that is work like horses... lol

[René]

Thor your right, I dont mean it that, if you dont own a Mac, your not serious, I just mean from my point of view, I went from a multi purpose PC that I hard every used except for gaming, to a MAC simply dedicated exclusively for my photo work and videos and I would never go back to a PC ever again... The only difference stopping more people from owning a MAC I think is price, but if you want quality you pay for it. PC's are made from different bits from around the world, they dont work seamlessly which is why PCs always have problems, Macs are made by Apple, everything is made to work together with everything else and it does just that. So yeah, you pay a little more, but you get what you pay for.....

[René]

Ok, here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8osm6MJnQUk

[Hertz van Rental]

The most driving issue for myself, software, software , software. They, (APPLE) told me that altho i could use bootcamp or another program to use the software, that by the time i got finished i would basically lose the wonders of a MAC.

You don't have to use Bootcamp.
You can partition your drive and put the Mac OS on one part and Windows on the other and boot up from whichever OS you need (this only works with Intel Macs). If you don't want to partition your drive then buy a cheap external, put Windows on that and use it as your boot drive.
You can even create another partition/drive and use Linux.
Bootcamp is only used for running Windows programs from inside the Mac OS. The Intel chip-sets (and Mac using a Unix-based OS) means that the Mac hardware is not very much different from a standard PC.
Interestingly, I understand that it is possible to run the Mac OS on an Intel based PC.
The main advantages of the Mac OS is that it does self-diagnostics and maintenance (a Unix feature) overnight if you leave it running. And it is very resistant to viruses. Most viruses are aimed at Microsoft products. In some 19 years of using the Internet with a Mac I have had only one virus problem (a Word macro virus that actually had no effect on the Mac) and no ad ware/spy ware attacks.
Macs themselves tend to come with far better screens than equivalent PC's.
And the build quality is better - hence the higher price tag.
I have a Mac that is almost 20 years old that still runs. It's slow by modern standards but will word process, web surf and even run PhotoShop.
The original Macintosh Classic from the 80's still functions and they are still sought after.
What PC has a working life that long? ;)

[ann]

well, it is too late for that option. no one sugguested that as an option, and frankly my eyes would be glazing over . However, that is what paying an expert can do for one.

[thorhammer]

You got me on the 20 years old thing, PC users are more likely to cannibalize inner parts after a few years to build another faster PC. So there are much fewer complete systems sitting around from the 80's. Whereas you generally don't open up your Mac.

I think its pretty cool that they last so long. that is definitely a testament to their quality.

Sadly, with digital photography, gaming, or just surfing the web computers have a shelf life nowadays.

[Antarctican]

Ok, here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8osm6MJnQUkGood job on the video! Very clear.

[Your accent isn't nearly as heavy as I thought it might be!]

[René]

LOL, We dont all talk like the Leprechaun from those really bad movies!

[MissMia]

I love your accent! Thanks for the video too. I would love to switch to Mac, but I have tons of PC software that would be expense to repurchase for Mac in addition to the price of the Mac.

[René]

Thanks Mia, I had a similar issue when I wanted to switch, but then I just decided, what do I use really, and how much do I use it. I know some people who use a PC but also have a MacBook, I guess it's just down to - how much do I really want it, can I afford it and do I really need it?