New Mac

[computerguru3190]

I'm buying a new Mac for graduation and switching from Windows. I was wondering what accessories you people find key and love to have.

[Double Negative]

Nice, congrats!

You should consider two things. First, a colorimeter to calibrate your display. For example, a Pantone Huey or similar. Secondly, a FireWire CF card reader such as the SanDisk. Both will make digital editing of your photos a better experience.

You may also want to consider an external hard drive. Every now and then copy your photos to it and disconnect it, preferably moving it to another location (house, safe deposit box, etc.) in case of fire or theft. Burning DVD-Rs also works, if you don't do a lot of volume.

[Zerimar]

You may also be interested in Aperture 2 for it as well, I find it a good way to manage/edit photos.

You can get a free trial of it from Apple.com

[crn3371]

A good firewire external hard drive to run Time Machine on.

[Luminodio]

i suggest you look into virtual machine technology if you're considering converting. it will save an immense amount of money as far as software is concerned. that is, of course, if you already had a huge library of software on windows to begin with.

it basically allows you to install windows (or any other operating system, for that matter)virtually onto your computer. the only con with this is that you must dedicate a portion of your hard-drive in the installation process and this portion cannot be changed further down the road. however, with this being a virtual machine, it's easy as moving the icon from applications folder into the trash can on your dock.

as a photographer, trail and error should be nothing new to you. ;)

a good way around that con is to utilize a separate hard-drive and dedicate it entirely to the virtual machine.

vmware fusion is an incredible piece of software and it's the most efficient virtual machine application out. however, you will need a need extra cores to run it smoothly and to it's fullest potential. i have a mac pro with two intel xeon processors so i'm not sure how it will fare on the lower-end mac books and desktops.

the operating system when in your virtual machine runs at 95% of it's performance on it's native platform (which is superb for a virtual machine).

so, if you're like me and practically bought out all of adobe on windows, but have come to notice that only your lightroom can cross-platform, you will GREATLY appreciate this piece of software.

you can buy it sixty bucks or just register and keep abusing the trail version each month. your choice. :)

hope this was helpful.

[randomlinh]

I'd argue to get the Sandisk Extreme USB card reader... CF/SDHC/MS. It's FAR cheaper than the FW, and does the job. FW will be faster, yes, but it's not worth it IMO unless this is your livelihood (and if it is, well, then get the FW :)).

What Mac are you getting? If not a mac pro, then I'd second the FW external drive. If it's a mac pro, get a second internal drive... AND the external :) backup backup backup!

a USB hub as a docking station-esq solution if you're getting a laptop. Spend the money on a good bag if you're getting a laptop too. It's worth it IMO.

And I love Aperture 2. I nearly switched to Lightroom so I could use it on mac and windows (to cover my bases in case I switched back, or had to buy a windows based laptop). I had invested too much time to switch.. and then 2 came out, and I really like the upgrades and refinement they put into it.

[Mitch529]

Great choice making the switch, you will not regret it! All of the suggestions here are great. As for 'Virtual Machine' since all apple computers run on Intel X86 chips now there is no need to emulate architecture look into http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html if you still find the need to boot windows.

[Christian M]

applecare... Sorry to those who think otherwise. Two powerbooks and a macbook pro and applecare has saved me a lot of cash for what would otherwise have been out of warranty repairs.

Oh, and +1 on an external HDD. :)

[Luminodio]

oh, okay...:cough:: virtual machines::cough::
i will retort later.

[JC4]

vmware fusion is an incredible piece of software and it's the most efficient virtual machine application out. however, you will need a need extra cores to run it smoothly and to it's fullest potential. i have a mac pro with two intel xeon processors so i'm not sure how it will fare on the lower-end mac books and desktops.

the operating system when in your virtual machine runs at 95% of it's performance on it's native platform (which is superb for a virtual machine).


Kinda contradicting your self here. :) If you get 95% performance(I agree), you don't need a hyped up machine to make it work well. My iMacs(both intel) work VERY well as VM's running XP. Memory is a different matter, but we need plenty of that for CS3 anyway. I own VMware and Parallels. Both run Windows VERY well(games excluded)

Things you need.
Plenty of Memory. No different than Windows, more is petter for CS3 and other intense apps.

TimeMachine(backup software included with OS X), is wonderful. Get an external drive, and dedicate it to TimeMachine.

Other stuff mentioned above is good too, firewire accessories, color sync tool....

Enjoy. I made the switch a couple years ago, and not regrets. Especially when my friends describe their latest struggle with viruses or anti-virus software :)

[Steve Beck]

Unless you have a specific need for windows or a specific windows application dont worry about virtualization. I have made my personal life a total switch over to Mac with much ease. Mac Mail, iwork, everything just integrates and works.

If you do need windows for some strange reason, then just make sure you slap 4gbs of ram in it for $80 from newegg and your good(if its a notebook). If its a Mac Pro then get as much ram as you can afford from macsales.com. Install fusion or parallels and you can run all the windblows you want.

[Double Negative]

There's really very little you need Windows for, if anything. There are Mac versions of just about anything you'd need, but as mentioned sometimes there's a particular piece of Windows software that's unique and useful, or paid for already, etc. that warrants running a virtualized Windows. Personally, I don't use it but have one on hand in case I ever need it. I use it on both a Mac Pro and an MBP and performance is outstanding. Both have 4GB of RAM, but even 2GB worked before upgrading.

What I *do* run virtualized is Solaris and Linux of various flavors. It's pretty useful - and cool - to me.

[stathunter]

I made the change to Mac about a month or so ago. I love it! I am VERY glad I personally made the change. I need windows to run my business on Microsoft Outlook---so I use parallels and love the way it works. That is the only reason for me to have windows on the machine.
I really love Mac and am learning Aperture 2 alongside CS3. Mac simply works. In my opinion I am not sure I will go back to PC's.
You will be very happy with your Mac. Learn it and enjoy it. (it took me a week to figure out how to shut down the Mac. :) )

[Double Negative]

I haven't used a Windows PC since NT 4.0. :p

[randomlinh]

applecare... Sorry to those who think otherwise. Two powerbooks and a macbook pro and applecare has saved me a lot of cash for what would otherwise have been out of warranty repairs.

Oh, and +1 on an external HDD. :)
ah yes, i agree with this too. It saved my ibook display way back. and just laptops in general, i've seen the extended warranty save plenty of ppl's asses.

i got it for my imac too, since it basically is a laptop w/ a full sized HDD, and not mobile, heh.

[nadtz]

<snip>
Mac simply works. <snip>

Cept of course for when they don't! After doing IT as long as I have I honestly don't even care about the OS anymore, can i get my work done on it is all I care about. Id happily use FreeBsd or OSX or linsux if it had a decent exchange client and office replacement, but since they dontwindows works just fine.

That aside, congrats, if it werent for the non replaceable battery thing on the macbook air's I think Id get one of those, I think its time for a new laptop.

[Luminodio]

Kinda contradicting your self here. :) If you get 95% performance(I agree), you don't need a hyped up machine to make it work well. My iMacs(both intel) work VERY well as VM's running XP. Memory is a different matter, but we need plenty of that for CS3 anyway. I own VMware and Parallels. Both run Windows VERY well(games excluded)

Things you need.
Plenty of Memory. No different than Windows, more is petter for CS3 and other intense apps.

TimeMachine(backup software included with OS X), is wonderful. Get an external drive, and dedicate it to TimeMachine.

ifOther stuff mentioned above is good too, firewire accessories, color sync tool....

Enjoy. I made the switch a couple years ago, and not regrets. Especially when my friends describe their latest struggle with viruses or anti-virus software :)

when i made mention of the cores and utilizing vmware fusion to it's full potential, i meant having multiple operating systems installed virtually (being it's potential).

i will agree you on the memory. over and over again.

my apologies for not being more clear.

i only spoke of virtualization because he was crossing over. i understand there's little "need" for it, but it can prove itself useful.

[argyle]

About 6 months ago, I switched from PC to an iMac...wish I made the switch much, much sooner. I have the 2.4 Ghz version, with the 320Gb hard drive. I went with the 1Gig RAM and upgraded to 4Gig on my own (much cheaper that way). Apple wanted an additional $600 for the RAM upgrade...you can get RAM chips anywhere on the net for a whole lot less. I have two 500 Gb hard drives at this point...one dedicated as the Time Machine backup, and one for image files. Using the basic Sandisk USB card reader. The hard drives are FW 800 and 400 (IIRC).

I got the wireless mouse, but opted for the wired keyboard. The wireless kb just looked too small to me...

The only PC software programs that I miss are Access and MSProject. Microsoft doesn't include them in their Mac office suite, just the basics (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Entourage, which is the Mac version of Outlook).