Any Mac users on here??

[pangster]

Recently shelled out for a brand new mid 2010 27" Apple iMac - anyone else on here using them??.. as a recent convert and having not used them since their very early iterations at school - is there any apps that people recommend?.. I already have iLife 11 (FREE upgrade from the pre-installed iLife 09) and MS Office for Mac 2011 (FREE upgrade from Office 2008)..

They threw in a free full board keyboard (with number pad):

[Gazza]

I've never used one but heard good reports

[pangster]

I've never used one but heard good reports

yep that's what I found as well Gary! - I done a lot of reading up on it before buying.. when you're shelling out decent money for a new PC you want to make sure it's the right decision!.. my old P4 3.6 Ghz Windows XP machine had seen better days to be honest - so that got retired in favour of the iMac. I wanted my new PC to be an all in one to cut down the clutter somewhat - I looked at quite a few different Windows machines i.e. HP and Sony touchscreen systems - but when compared to the iMac and Mac X then the decision was fairly easy.

The 27" screen is outstanding and the overall, look quality and feel of the system is very good.. the "magic mouse" is pretty cool as well.. it kind of works like a trackpad with you being able to do gestures over the top shell of the mouse i.e. 4 way scrolling and flicking back and forward web pages etc..

I'm also thinking of getting more into photography - so the screen and apps available on the Mac will probably come into their own then... overall very happy and highly recommended for anyone else looking for a new system..

my iMac specs are as follows:

27" Apple iMac 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3
4Gb RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5670 with 512Mb
1TB HDD (internal)
1TB Seagate FreeAgent external HDD (configured as a Time Machine)
Running Snow Leopard 10.6.4

[Gazza]

A friend of mine owns a Digital print company and all the corrections they do to the original image are done on a Mac, which type I don't know.


Dario has recently converted to a Mac (I think it's a dirty brown one with the pocket linings taken out lol)

[pangster]

A friend of mine owns a Digital print company and all the corrections they do to the original image are done on a Mac, which type I don't know.

It's probably a Mac Pro with a calibrated screen.. those are serious bits of kit! - my wallet would need to be bulging at the seems before I contemplated on of those!.. in my current use it would be like using a sledgehammer to crack open a walnut!...

if anyone is on the lookout for a new machine though - I thoroughly recommend the new iMacs - great design and performance (a bit like a Z3! )

Dario has recently converted to a Mac (I think it's a dirty brown one with the pocket linings taken out lol)

[Simmer]

been running a Macbook for 4 years, never looked back Dario's heavily into Mac now too

[pangster]

been running a Macbook for 4 years, never looked back Dario's heavily into Mac now too

yep - I don't think I'll look back either!!.. fantastic machines and their customer service is EXCELLENT!! - I still have a Win XP laptop for work and a Win 7 notebook and a Win XP desktop when I'm in the office- but it really feels as though I'm stepping back when I use them.. Apple seem to have built everything around the user and everything just seems to work.. (as it should) - fast and efficient!

my inlaws machine is due for a renewal as well and we're giving serious thought to investing in a Mac Mini for them.. which IMHO would be ideal for what they use it for!

[PeteH]

I've been using Macs for about 4 years now too. I have NEVER looked back once & I work in IT and am surrounded by MS based shite all day long! (sorry Neil )

As they say.... once you've had Mac you never look back!

[pangster]

I've been using Macs for about 4 years now too. I have NEVER looked back once & I work in IT and am surrounded by MS based shite all day long! (sorry Neil )

As they say.... once you've had Mac you never look back!

I've just found 'MagicPrefs' which make using the MagicMouse even better.. enables a lot of the features/usability that should have been there from the factory!.. and it's FREE!

[pangster]

A few programmes that I've installed and find very useful which I thought I'd share in case anyone else was looking for recommendations:

MusicBrainz Picard: not had much chance to use this but it allows you to tidy up your music library - i.e. sorts out album,track and artist names etc in iTunes
iPhone Explorer: great app for letting me browse my iPhone - make it easy to transfer data to and from it
The Unarchiver: another great programme that allows you to pretty much compress/uncompress data between any formats - a lot like WinRar for Windows but a lot easier to use
GIMP: graphics programme pretty much the same as the windows version
Cyberduck: very good FTP programme / very easy to use and very intuitive
Adium: good multi-client chat/IM utility
Perian 1.2.1: this adds pretty much every codec to Quicktime player so you can watch DivX, WMVs, AVI's etc

Some of the other programmes I've used that came free with the Mac and I've been very impressed with are iMovies, iWeb and iPhoto - which even has facial recognition built in!!