[M3-FAST]

Hi folks, just writing my first post on my new xmas pressy to myself - An Apple IMAC

It's the 3.06GHz 24" model with 500GB HDD, 2GB RAM, NVidia GForce8800 graphics with 512MB & 8x Dual Layer Superdrive.

Main reason for the post is I was wondering how many of you guys are using Apple Macs?

I am looking into getting into some video and picture editing - Where is the best place 'to find ' some appropriate software such as CS4, etc..?

It is going to be a steep learning curve as I have had PC's all my life, and the quirky Mac seems to have quite a few differences! Going to spend some time over xmas sorting out Itunes and filling it full of many years worth of digital pics, before hooking it up to my Canon Pixma photo printer.

Any MAC hints and tips welcome

[chinoxs203]

nice purchase the 24" is amazing. hopefully the new ones next month dont differ much.

pirate bay for PShop =) or you could DL the trial (not sure if CS4 is up yet) from adobe and play with it for like 30 days.


i would love a new mac but not sure if i want to take the pludge for a imac or stick with the MBPs. currently have a second gen MBP and i would like an upgrade.

it will be a learning curve for sure but nothing you cant read up on and play around with. just remember mac DO have right clicks.

[M3-FAST]

Originally Posted by chinoxs203

nice purchase the 24" is amazing. hopefully the new ones next month dont differ much.

pirate bay for PShop =) or you could DL the trial (not sure if CS4 is up yet) from adobe and play with it for like 30 days.


i would love a new mac but not sure if i want to take the pludge for a imac or stick with the MBPs. currently have a second gen MBP and i would like an upgrade.

it will be a learning curve for sure but nothing you cant read up on and play around with. just remember mac DO have right clicks.

I thought of 'pirate-bay', lol. Will browse around there in a bit!

I could not get the right click to work? Am I missing something obvious!!

[Porscha!]

Whats piratebay?

As for Macs, hoping to get one in Jan (a laptop though) used to have a Clamshell one, had it for years too, really did me well, they've changed a bit since then!

[chinoxs203]

Originally Posted by redE93cab

I thought of 'pirate-bay', lol. Will browse around there in a bit!

I could not get the right click to work? Am I missing something obvious!!

application called Transmission i use for torrents.

hold ctrl + click the mouse or get a two button

[trixman]

Go to preferences>mouse, should be in there to select right click (the old macs never had right click so it usually comes auto-selected with it off).

I love Macs, macaholic, I have 3 powermacs (quad cores, 2 with 25" cinema HD screens and 1 fantastic 30" Dell screen), one powerbook G4 17" and of course an iphone 3G... so yea, could say I like them

Regarding software, depends on how often you want to use it. CS4 is good for high-level stuff but takes a while to learn. If you want standard stuff stick with imovie etc, the normal stuff the mac will come with, more than enough to get the effects most people want. What exactly you want to do with them (as in, what kind of editing?)

[EZ_TUR90]

Congrats on the Mac, I am new to macs also but Its pretty easy to use! Good Luck

[mach330]

got an imac as well. so far..learning curve is not bad, but then i don't really do anything fancy. yes, my two friends are transmission and mac the ripper.

[vivekk]

Hi Paul.

I've had the Macbook for a couple of years & I've had the iMac since January, finally deciding to 'move over' to the Mac after 15-odd years of PC use.

To be quite honest with you, I've never been happier using a computer- it makes life easier & it just gets things done in a far more relaxed way.

For example, take the Spotlight search- just tap the cmd key & spacebar, start typing something you're looking for & up it comes- no p*ssing about opening any applications to find someone's address.
You can just type in the likes of '335i' & it'll come up with a list of all your visited webpages that has that in there, without having to launch Safari to do it. It'll even search other locally-connected computers for something you're looking for.
You can search for applications in the same way, instead of messing about through a 'Start' menu.

I've been using a 1TB Time Capsule with the iMac, simply for complete & automatic data backup & wireless net access.
It's actually been switched on since February & hasn't had any problem whatsoever.

The bundled iLife suite is good, but you should try out iWork's Numbers, Pages & Keynote applications.

I've had a .Mac (now MobileMe) since getting the Macbook & use it for the likes of photo sharing & data syncing between the iMac, Macbook & iPhone 3G.
It has had problems, but it seems to work well now.

As Trixman asks, what applications are you wanting to use on the Mac?
There is a lot of stuff out there & it is affected by how much experience you've got.
For example, Photoshop CS3/4 is a great piece of kit, but would be completely useless for someone who doesn't edit or manipulate photos.

Come up with a list of applications you're interested in & I'm sure there's a few members who can help you out.

All the best.

Viv

[Irnbrukid]

Originally Posted by redE93cab

I am looking into getting into some video and picture editing - Where is the best place 'to find ' some appropriate software such as CS4, etc..?

http://thepiratebay.org/browse/302/0/7

Some stuff here may be useful.

http://btjunkie.org/search?q=mac

or here mostly the same.

[M3-FAST]

wow, cheers for the response guys.

Viv, similar to yourself, I have 20yrs of PC experience (Yes, I had a 286 processor once!!) so the MAC is a little alien like.

The main purpose is to learn how to video and picture edit. I have recently purchased a HD camcorder that still has my wedding/honeymoon stuff on from July and I also, more recently purchased a Sony A350 DSLR.

I would love to be able to compile nicely edited videos from the camcorder. Got a little 'un on the way (due in April) so want to capture some special early 'times of his life and also want to learn to not only take good SLR pic's but also be a bit creative with the editing afterwards

I think Photoshop CS3/4 will suffice for my DSLR editing needs and Ivideo for the vid editing.

Not had chance to use it today! - finished work at midday, retired to the pub and just managed to arrive home after a shandy or two

Happy xmas guys and cheers for the advice

[trixman]

Think Photoshop might be a bit too much if you've never used it before, but hey ho, go for it, always best to learn the top program! And happy christmas to you too!

[M3-FAST]

Originally Posted by trixman

Think Photoshop might be a bit too much if you've never used it before, but hey ho, go for it, always best to learn the top program! And happy christmas to you too!

What other programs would you recommend for some editing - just that everyone seems to use p'shop

[CV335]

I'm not sure how much advanced photo editing you need, but GIMP is an open-source (i.e., free) photo-editing software pretty similar to Adobe Photoshop. It is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.

[trixman]

From the sounds of it you want to organise your photos and do basic editing, this is a great program that has the basic editing software but organises all your shots... http://www.apple.com/aperture/

Otherwise just go for Photoshop and start picking up plenty of tutorials, the best thing about photoshop is that there are millions of tutorials all over the web. Lots of people use it but only use 10% of its capabilities, and in most cases the cheaper, easier programs can do that in a much simpler interface.

[steph.uk]

Hi and Welcome to the Mac world

Have been using Mac for the past three years now and what a joy.... cannot bear any more the PC I am using at work though

Mac are easy to use, cool and do probably as much if not in a better way what PC actually do.

I go a Imac - Although I am waiting for the New version coming out next year.

I got also two MacBook (the old white one and the New uni body one ).

As for Viv, I got a .Mac account (now MobileMe) since the start and it is very good for Sync between computers and for transferring files as well. MobileMe is getting upgraded on a regular basis so new functions are popping all the time.

Mac OsX is a real killer compare to Vista and the new version Snow Leopard out sometimes next year will make it even better.

I use Firefox as my first Browser - The latest 3.1 Version Beta 2 is brilliant.

I find Firefox quicker than Safari, but I think this is very subjective though!

I use iphoto for photo editing but will move to Aperture next year, more possibility!

And best of all, if you really need to use a piece of software that only run on Windows, then you can have windows running too on the Mac...

Enjoy you new Mac then

Stephan

[M3-FAST]

Originally Posted by steph.uk

Hi and Welcome to the Mac world

Have been using Mac for the past three years now and what a joy.... cannot bear any more the PC I am using at work though

Mac are easy to use, cool and do probably as much if not in a better way what PC actually do.

I go a Imac - Although I am waiting for the New version coming out next year.

I got also two MacBook (the old white one and the New uni body one ).

As for Viv, I got a .Mac account (now MobileMe) since the start and it is very good for Sync between computers and for transferring files as well. MobileMe is getting upgraded on a regular basis so new functions are popping all the time.

Mac OsX is a real killer compare to Vista and the new version Snow Leopard out sometimes next year will make it even better.

I use Firefox as my first Browser - The latest 3.1 Version Beta 2 is brilliant.

I find Firefox quicker than Safari, but I think this is very subjective though!

I use iphoto for photo editing but will move to Aperture next year, more possibility!

And best of all, if you really need to use a piece of software that only run on Windows, then you can have windows running too on the Mac...

Enjoy you new Mac then

Stephan

Cheers for that info Stephan - I have been having a mess about this afternoon with it and have learnt quite a lot of short cuts. It really is a world away from Vista!

At the moment still setting it up. Managed to install and set up my new Canon Pixma printer and also found a driver for my older 6x4" Samsung photo printer. Also swapped the wired mighty mouse for a bluetooth wireless version

(If anybody wants to buy a brand new usb mighty mouse )

I am torn between Firefox and Opera as a second browser, differing reviews on either - personal preference takes over I suppose?

I was going to wait for the newer IMac, they might even have LED screens but I think they will be hugely expensive so decided to take the plunge!

I will give aperture a try, already been recommended by Paul.

cheers, Paul

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by redE93cab

Cheers for that info Stephan - I have been having a mess about this afternoon with it and have learnt quite a lot of short cuts. It really is a world away from Vista!

At the moment still setting it up. Managed to install and set up my new Canon Pixma printer and also found a driver for my older 6x4" Samsung photo printer. Also swapped the wired mighty mouse for a bluetooth wireless version

(If anybody wants to buy a brand new usb mighty mouse )

I am torn between Firefox and Mozilla as a second browser, differing reviews on either - personal preference takes over I suppose?

I was going to wait for the newer IMac, they might even have LED screens but I think they will be hugely expensive so decided to take the plunge!

I will give aperture a try, already been recommended by Paul.

cheers, Paul

Paul, if you're going to be using the likes of Aperture or Photoshop, have you thought about swapping the mouse for a touch tablet?







I bought one earlier in the year & haven't looked back since- posted some info about it here.

Viv

[M3-FAST]

Hi Viv

I have browsed a couple of those today, defo a possible purchase

I guessed that they would make PS easier to use, and you have confirmed it. Cheers Viv

[Porscha!]

Just to confirm those things are fab, I hate mouses anyway, get one

[Z4 Beemer]

Originally Posted by vivekk

I've been using a 1TB Time Capsule with the iMac, simply for complete & automatic data backup & wireless net access.
It's actually been switched on since February & hasn't had any problem whatsoever.

Didn't you have some problem with your Time Capsule overheating and eventually had it replaced Viv? Maybe I'm thinking of someone else

I would certainly agree that the Time Capsule is a terrific piece of kit. It performs the hourly backups completely automatically and I actually have weekly backups that go as far back as March this year! Recently I did actually delete some files from the Windows XP virtual machine (VirtualBox software), but I just restored the contents of the virtual machine folder to get the files back, which was a completely pain-free process.

One thing that did fail recently was the wireless mighty mouse... the wee ball on the top for scrolling stopped scrolling down - left, right and up were ok, but I ended up buying a Logitech bluetooth replacement.

One useful dashboard widget I would recommend is istat pro: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashb.../istatpro.html

[trixman]

Originally Posted by Z4 Beemer

Didn't you have some problem with your Time Capsule overheating and eventually had it replaced Viv? Maybe I'm thinking of someone else

I would certainly agree that the Time Capsule is a terrific piece of kit. It performs the hourly backups completely automatically and I actually have weekly backups that go as far back as March this year! Recently I did actually delete some files from the Windows XP virtual machine (VirtualBox software), but I just restored the contents of the virtual machine folder to get the files back, which was a completely pain-free process.

One thing that did fail recently was the wireless mighty mouse... the wee ball on the top for scrolling stopped scrolling down - left, right and up were ok, but I ended up buying a Logitech bluetooth replacement.

One useful dashboard widget I would recommend is istat pro: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashb.../istatpro.html

Very common fault, gets dust in the switch... you need to press really, really hard down on it and roll at the same time... usually clears it up.