Apple Mac Pro 15" info req:

[kerbside]

Ok, question to anyone out there with a Mac Pro laptop, what should I look for.

Only going to use it for pics, post production and internet so was looking at the 15" Mac Pro WITHOUT retina.

What does it come with programme wise?

It's a lot of £'s but is it worth it asI am fed up with Microsoft driven things and I have an iPhone plus iPad so thought this would be a good move.

Feedback required urgently as main desktop has crashed with a virus once again although it has protection.

Thanks

Jeff

[donoreo]

Ok, question to anyone out there with a Mac Pro laptop, what should I look for.

Only going to use it for pics, post production and internet so was looking at the 15" Mac Pro WITHOUT retina.

What does it come with programme wise?

It's a lot of £'s but is it worth it asI am fed up with Microsoft driven things and I have an iPhone plus iPad so thought this would be a good move.

Feedback required urgently as main desktop has crashed with a virus once again although it has protection.

Thanks

Jeff

New Macbooks were just announced today!  Go take a look at Apple's site.   However, to answer your question you get a bunch of Apple software with any Mac.  You get Mail, iLife which includes iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand.  The new ones today include iWork now which includes iPages, Numbers, etc.   Short answer: you can use it right away out of the box.  On the upside many Adobe products are good for Windows and Mac (ie Elements has both versions in the box with same serial number). 

[kerbside]

Thanks for the input, will take a look but expect that a brand new one from apple will be too dear, was looking at buying from Amazon.

[spikeyjen]

Sorry, can't help, I have a son who works in IT and I'm not allowed to consider Apple....   

[donoreo]

Sorry, can't help, I have a son who works in IT and I'm not allowed to consider Apple....   

he should not have to worry, you will not need support from him. .

[Hinfrance]

Sorry, can't help, I have a son who works in IT and I'm not allowed to consider Apple....   

You're not alone in that Jen. One of my best friends is senior IT product manager for an insurance company and he detests Apple. He has a bin at the entrance to his home where visitors who might be wont to disport their Apply products are required to deposit them before entering the house. Another runs a software company in SA and although he has a MacBook Pro (two failed hard drives in les than 18 months, BTW) he runs a Windows virtual machine almost exclusively because of the very real limitations of the Mac OS in the commercial world.

As you know I spend a lot of time with music on my PC. I am constantly told that Macs do this better, but they don't. My daughter's best friend's father has one of those big all in one Macs and using the same software he has higher latency (his is acceptable, but worse than mine on the PC, which is less than 9ms in and out) and because of the Mac one button mouse he has to press a combination of  buttons to access context menus where I just right click. The user manual is full of '*not available in Mac version' notes.

That said, if you don't want to do anything too demanding, or anything Apple don't want you to do, don't mind paying Apple for everything, don't mind relearning how the OS works, don't really want to communicate effectively with the 90% of the world that runs Windows, and have lots of spare cash, then Macs are perfect for the undemanding user, which most people tend to be.

As for viruses, so far, touch wood, in more than 25 years of PC ownership I've never acquired one. And crashing, since the passing of the much loved by everyone except me XP, has been a thing of the past. My daughter has our 6 year old Vista machine, which, now I have removed the more demanding software from, runs like lightning.

But the two main reasons I will never buy a Mac are 1) I'm really tight, and 2) I hate shiny screens. But 1) is far more important 

In the meantime, happy hunting Jeff, I hope you manage to get the machine you want at the right price.

[kerbside]

Duh! now I am really confused I thought that now would be the time to spend my hard earnt on a Mac thinking that these were the dogs danglers but reading above you have put doubt in my mind.

TBH and it is not being flash, the actual cost is not the issue here, I am looking for the best bang for my buck so to speak. I have, as said I pad and phone and thought that this would be a natural progression, however maybe it is not, looks like a bit more research is required.

Trouble is I don't like the windows 8 and prefer 7 which I believe you cannot get anymore, want a computer that processes things before I press go, does not crash or get viruses (must be the sites I am on) and just does what it is meant to do.

Thanks for the input, looks like another day reading specs on computers as I no techie.

jeff

[2Beers]

Windows 8 has just been updated to Windows 8.1 and it's ok when you get used to it

[spikeyjen]

A couple of additional comments Jeff, our camera club has just received funding to purchase a new laptop. The person who uses it most (competition secretary) is threatening to resign if said laptop has Windows 8, and his comments are supported by IT son (who will most likely have to be the one to take Windows 8 off and load Windows 7). I dare not suggest that Windows 8.1 will be better!!
We do have some member who swear by Mac's, and recently I did some Photoshop training (nice teacher, woeful student!!) and we had to use Mac's as this was all provided. They seemed pretty user friendly for image manipulation when you get used to it.
Perhaps you can ask around and play on someone Mac to see if you like it.

[Hinfrance]

Jeff, Macs look great, have very good build quality (my mate in SA could break anything, and frequently does), they're fast and they're stylish.

They are also very good with Photoshop, because that was designed for them originally. So unless you want to poke around the workings you could do a lot worse.

As for the Windows 7 versus 8 debate, I have 7 on my home build PC, and on the family laptop. Another very good friend of mine is the coder for a web design and database company. He runs 8 on his machines (and Linux and Mac OS), but like most of the rest of the world he doesn't like the TIFKAM* tiles, so he has a 3rd party overlay that makes it look like 7. He says that it is really quick and reliable, it's only that awful start up interface that's ghastly, and it is in Windows that he does the bulk of his work.

I should get down to the store and try a few before parting with your hard earned, and like everything else in life, get the thing you like because it's what YOU want.

*The Interface Formerly Known As Metro

PS, you can still get Windows 7, but I believe only as a system builder licence - which is what I bought.

[Reinardina]

Getting more and more difficult to decide, isn't it?

[kerbside]

Well bit the bullet today and purchased a Mac Pro 15" retina screen OMG what have I done.

New OS and new programmes but I'm all up for learning, should be fun or a new lounge window, one if the two.

I have already overplayed an 8 operating system to look as near as pos: to a 7 but I have gone with the Mac.

Thank you to everyone that has given me their point of view, much appreciated.

Jeff

[Hinfrance]

Congrats.

Let us know how you get on with it.

[kerbside]

Howard, think it will be a while before I master anything on it, got to get a few programmes so most prob Lightroom 6 to start with and we will see where we go from there.

[Hinfrance]

I didn't know LR 6 was out. Still running on 4. Better hop over to the Adobe tax site and see if it's worth paying for the probably marginal improvements on offer.