Information on Macs

[Mathew Ker]

At the risk of being ostracised, can anyone provide personal experiences of working with recent releases of the Apple I-Mac. I'm looking to replace our home computer which our two sons use primarily for their homeschooling work.

 

The easy option would be to buy another generic box and install vista. With sufficient resources, Vista seems to run reasonably well and I've had a basic FSX install running on my Toshiba notebook for about twelve months now. The problem is I don't particularly like any variant of windows as an operating system. If you spend any time trolling through the files after a few months, there are a myriad of new files that 'just appear'. They seem to be created by the OS as various programmes are run from time to time.

 

I toyed around with a couple of Linux systems and like the concept, just not fluent enough to make them work really well. I don't really want to spend hours upon hours learning new commands just to get simple things to work like wireless internet.

 

This leaves me considering buying an apple with Leopard installed as the OS. I'd really appreciate any feedback and whether anyone has run FSX on a Mac.

 

Regards,

 

Mathew

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

The 24" iMac (and likely the 20" too) is a wonderful machine, both my brother and mum have one. (I have a Mac Pro and a MacBook Pro) I can't recommend Mac OS X highly enough. And if you do need to run Windows stuff (I do for work) you can using dual-boot or Parallels/VMWare. (I do the latter) If you do want to run windows as a virtual machine, make sure you get at least 2GB of RAM. Actually, I would recommend 2GB at least in any case.

 

There will be a little learning to do when you switch to Mac and finding some Mac-equivalents for software you used to run on Windows, but it is all pretty painless.

 

As for simulation: there is X-Plane (http://www.x-plane.com/) of which the new version 9 is just out. (not tried it yet, I use 8) It is not always as pretty or slick as FSX but when it comes to realism, it is second to none. And it is pretty cheap too.

 

FSX will of course run fine in Windows if you dual-boot your Mac, but like any game it won't be great when using Parallels or VMWare.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Bas.

 

 

[prwood]

Hi Matthew. I switched from pc to 24" imac & love it & Leopard. I fly Xplane 9 in Leopard & Fsx in Windows XP running under bootcamp. I find myself flying 99% Xplane as I get far better frame rate & quite frankly the terrain looks fantastic. Drawbacks of Xplane would be far fewer 3rd party aircraft & scenery than Fsx, but I have found enough for my satisfaction. The latest imac top spec machine has the otion of an Nvidia graphics card which I would recommend for consideration over the ATI card in my machine.

 

Good luck

 

Regards Pete

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

x-plane.org

 

Drawbacks of Xplane would be far fewer 3rd party aircraft & scenery than Fsx, but I have found enough for my satisfaction.

Have you discovered X-Plane.org? There seems to be quite a bit, though of varying quality. And of course most are still for v8.

Now if someone were to create a Sportstar, that would be terrific.

 

 

[prwood]

I visit the site every couple of days & usually find new a/c & scenery available. Many of the a/c I have downloaded are for v8 but most work ok in v9. I tend now to download only those a/c with a v/c as I can then pan round in the cockpit using the mouse. Great fun & great site.

 

Rgds Pete

 

 

[Ultralights]

I have a 24 Inch Imac, before this i have only ever had PCs, with the new mac, i had it figured out within a few hrs, they are not that dissimilar to Windows OS.

 

I have Xplane, though havnt actually played it yet, but i still use FSX via parallels

 

just last week i purchased a new macbook as well to take with me to the flying school and at work, now everyone at work wants one, so much easier to use, and no more stuffing around with OS issues, oh, and not to mention, no need for antivirus software!

 

another little feature i love is the RSS feed visualiser for the screensaver, just add the link to these forums RSS feed, and all the new threads are right there on the screensaver!

 

 

[Paul Willett]

Have just returned from some time in the US where I (along with evryeone else it seems) was using the new IMac 24".

 

Wow.

 

It is basically a Desktop using Advanced Notebook Technology. No Box, no cables, an OS that doesnt crash.

 

I use my computers for work, not so much gaming - mostly Internet, and I found adapting to Safari easy.

 

As it happens my monitor on my PC is about to give up the ghost - the perfect excuse to become a Mac convert. A little pricey I suppose, but since Vista and the amount of bloatware and crashes, along with the constant huge updates, I consider it will be worth it.

 

Out of interest about 80% of the notebooks I saw in Canada & the US in Internet Cafes were Macs. This must say something.

 

 

[Yenn]

I keep hearing that Mac can't run the same programs as a PC and it will cost a lot more to get equivalent programs. Not being computer literate I have doubts about changing over to Mac when either my or my wife's computer turn up their toes.

 

I use Flight sim 2004 and X-Plane ver 6.9, plus photoshop, autocad and the usual home programs. Does anyone know if they can be transferred from a PC to a Mac?

 

 

[prwood]

Ian, there is quite a lot of good free software for macs. Gimp is supposed to be very good for photo editing, I use Neo Office for word processing, spreadsheets etc I'm not sure what's available to replace autocad. You can always use bootcamp which comes with osx to install Windows which will allow you to keep using your existing software, see my post above re FSX. X-plane will run under either os.

 

Rgds Pete

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

Technically, you can now run Windows inside your Mac and still run Windows programs that way. But that is of course missing the point as you are then still running windows! What you want to do is either switch to the Mac version of the program or find a Mac equivalent.

 

And you can certainly transfer your files. (documents, photos, music, movies, etc)

 

To be honest, if money for software is the issue, you will likely face the same problem if you were to buy a new computer running Vista as a lot of older software runs poorly or not at all - time to upgrade regardless! On the whole, Mac software tends to be cheaper than Windows equivalents.

 

X-Plane has Mac versions. In fact, it is the main platform for X-Plane as it is developed on Macs. That said, you might want to buy a newer version anyway, it will run better with better planes and better scenery.

 

For Photoshop, Mac is also a very important platform and Mac versions are easy to get hold of. (Realistically, I do not know anybody other than those whose profession it is that pays a grand for Photoshop...)

 

There are various options for Office applications: first of all there is Office 2008, of which the home edition is very affordable. Even more affordable is Apple's own iWork (which is very nice to use) and for free there is NeoOffice (a Mac port of OpenOffice) and OpenOffice themselves are working on a Mac version also. All of these will open (and save) Microsoft Office file formats.

 

The only "iffy" one for me is AutoCAD. There are certainly CAD packages available, the question is wether they are as good and/or they can open your existing AutoCAD files.

 

People always have doubts, which is natural. In my experience, people that embrace the new platform find the software and get their work done. Those that keep running their Windows machine as well "for things I can't do on the Mac" will tell you it is hard to switch but I think that is only because they still have Windows they have never actually tried to find an alternative for Mac!

 

 

[Ultralights]

professional photo software for mac is Aperture, very similar to adobe lightroom,

 

I have yet to find a piece of software there wasnt a mac equivalent for, and if there isnt, the mac can still run microsoft based software through parrellels, of if you have enough hard drive space, you can install microsoft vista/xp on a hard drive partition, and have 2 computers!!

 

a good site for software available on macs is here

 

http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/

 

 

[Guest airsick]

I have yet to find a piece of software there wasnt a mac equivalent for

I will give you some - GEMPACK, @Risk, pretty much everything that Deltek writes... :)

 

Try doing any mathematical modelling or serious project management with a Mac and you will soon fall over.

 

Having said this I think that a Mac would be fine for schoolwork.

 

As for OS's being unstable I think it is what people do to their PC's that makes them unstable. My work laptop is rock solid, runs Vista and runs it fast. I only have a limited amount of software on it and there are no conflicts crashes or moments. Most problems arise when people begin installing everything under the sun on their machine (like my home machine :)). You get conflicts, bad apps can hog resoruces, etc. and then it all goes pear shaped (like my home machine :confused:).

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

To be honest, if money for software is the issue ...

If money is the issue surely one of the Linux varieties would be the solution - cheap PC hardware & free software ?

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[Admin]

I will give you some - GEMPACK, @Risk, pretty much everything that Deltek writes... :)Try doing any mathematical modelling or serious project management with a Mac and you will soon fall over.

I remember @Risk - still got a couple of versions sitting in the draw here - wasn't cheap software 15 years ago

 

 

[Guest airsick]

wasn't cheap software 15 years ago

There is a good probability () it will still cost you about $2k - $3k a seat.

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

Try doing any mathematical modelling or serious project management with a Mac and you will soon fall over.

What about Matlab! Like I said, you may have to find an *equivalent*, which doesn't have to mean "Mac version of product X".

I'll give you the project management thing, though. Business software in general is a bit of a pain. If I could find the time I'd write an ACT! clone for Mac - everyone seems to be hanging out for it. I use MYOB for accounts and that is fine, so no worries running a small business on it. Even our book keeper (who does not use a mac normally) has no issues working on mine, MYOB is that similar on both platforms.

 

As for OS's being unstable I think it is what people do to their PC's that makes them unstable.

I agree, the main problem is cheap hardware with crap drivers and installing everything under the sun. That said, the temptation to do that on Mac is a lot less and far few programs do things like keeping themselves resident when you are not actually using them.

 

 

[Guest airsick]

What about Matlab! Like I said, you may have to find an *equivalent*, which doesn't have to mean "Mac version of product X".

I run Mathematica which is an equivalent of MatLab (sort of) and can run it on a Mac so I didn't mention it. It isn't really an equivalent for most other things though including the two programs I mentioned.

 

I'll give you the project management thing, though.

In light of my above Mathematica/MatLab vs GEMPACK and @Risk you have to give me this one too.

 

I agree, the main problem is cheap hardware with crap drivers and installing everything under the sun. That said, the temptation to do that on Mac is a lot less and far few programs do things like keeping themselves resident when you are not actually using them.

Yup! :)

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

In light of my above Mathematica/MatLab vs GEMPACK and @Risk you have to give me this one too.

GEMPACK works! Well, you miss the Windows GUI things, which may or may not be important to you. There is some risk management software for Macs, but I have no idea how they compare to @Risk, which seems pretty comprehensive and works right inside Excel.

But yeah, this kind of financial software isn't very well supported, unfortunately.

 

Going back to the AutoCAD question, on Mac, TurboCAD, VectorWorks and ArchiCAD seem to be the main packages. Not being a designer, architect or engineer, I have never used any CAD package, so no idea how good they are. The latest version of VectorWorks is said to have support for AutoCAD files.

 

 

[Guest airsick]

GEMPACK works![/url] Well, you miss the Windows GUI things, which may or may not be important to you.

That's a really good point. We have some Unix gear to run our larger models on and given the Mac OS is built around Unix it should run.

 

Do I want to try it? No.

 

Do I see any advantage? No.

 

Do I stand corrected? Yes. i_dunno

 

 

[Yenn]

Thanks for all that info. I tried Turbo Cad and found it abysmal and of course I would be biased because I used to use Autocad when I worked.

 

It would appear that a change over to Mac would be costly, not only for the prime cost of the computer but also all the peripherals.

 

My PC is at last going fairly well and that is because I have removed a load of programs that I never use. If I double up on memory I should be good for long while, considering I have a new motherboard, video card and in fact just about everything else except hard drive.