Change from Windows to Mac

[Mike Reed]

Hi All

I am so fed up with windows continually crashing despite all the cleanups and Defrags I am seriously thinking of going over to Apple Mac. Does any body have any experience of such a change over and how does PTE work in that environment?

Mike

[JEB]

Hi,

I have been giving some thought to this recently but have come to the conclusion that it is not worth the bother or perhaps more importantly the cost.

My conclusion has been based on the fact that a Mac may look very smart and with it but that you pay a price for that image. Talking of image it does appear that a Mac screen is generally much better than the average PC screen, though I suspect that that differential may be diminishing as we speak. Also you pay a premium price for a Mac which some argue is worth it for its reliability. That may be true but you have to consider what happens when it does go wrong. As I understand it you are VERY limited in where you take it for repairs and I understand the time and cost can be both be high.

The answer to your main question regarding PTE is that at this point in time is no and yes.

No in that there is only a Windows version of PTE available today all being that it can produce an equivalent .exe file for running on a Mac.

Yes in that with the new Macs as you will know it is possible to run 2 operating systems on the same machine ie Windows and Snow Leopard, however, that only adds considerably to the capital cost of your investment.

I came to the conclusion that as I would not want to also purchase replacement Mac software (Photoshop etc) I would run my existing Windows versions of that s/w on the Windows o/s side of a mac machine. I then considered that there could be possible operating restrictions (RAM) running PSCS on what for all I know (not a techie) would effectively be a machine with limited expansion potential I was better sticking with the devil I know.

My final consideration was discussed on the forum recently the outcome of which was the fact that there is no difference in projected image quality between the two systems. Perhaps calibration is marginally easier on a Mac but that was all.

Hope this helps.

[Carol Steele]

I would have to agree with what JEB just said - and also add that if you don't wish to run the Windows emulator on the Mac, you will also be stuck with buying replacement software for all your Windows based applications, which could double the price of the Mac hardware.

However, what you should be asking is "Why does my system crash so often?????". Personally I have not had a system crash for probably over 4 years (i.e. where it blue screened) except for when I was deliberately crashing the system to find my best overclocking parameters. Windows Vista x64 was extremely stable as is Windows 7 x64. The most common suspect for system crashes is poor quality hardware in the system which can also be allied with poor quality drivers (and poor quality drivers will even make good quality hardware peripherals become unstable). That is one reason I build my own systems, that way I can purchase all the peripherals separately (eg RAM, Video card, cooling, motherboard etc) and make sure that only the highest quality stuff goes into the system. Yes, it can be a lot more expensive than buying a pre-built system from the likes of PC World or Dell - but at least you don't get the headaches associated with these low cost systems. Sometimes more is much, much better .

[8321]

I wonder whether it is helpful to compare an old (continually crashing) Win box with a spanking new Apple?

Wouldn't a better question be: should I buy a spanking new (Carol built) Win box or an Apple? Compare apples with apples!

Touch wood, I don't have crashing problems but then I am a few Win OS's behind the bleeding edge.

Jeff

[cjdnzl]

I would have to agree with what JEB just said - and also add that if you don't wish to run the Windows emulator on the Mac, you will also be stuck with buying replacement software for all your Windows based applications, which could double the price of the Mac hardware.

However, what you should be asking is "Why does my system crash so often?????". Personally I have not had a system crash for probably over 4 years (i.e. where it blue screened) except for when I was deliberately crashing the system to find my best overclocking parameters. Windows Vista x64 was extremely stable as is Windows 7 x64. The most common suspect for system crashes is poor quality hardware in the system which can also be allied with poor quality drivers (and poor quality drivers will even make good quality hardware peripherals become unstable). That is one reason I build my own systems, that way I can purchase all the peripherals separately (eg RAM, Video card, cooling, motherboard etc) and make sure that only the highest quality stuff goes into the system. Yes, it can be a lot more expensive than buying a pre-built system from the likes of PC World or Dell - but at least you don't get the headaches associated with these low cost systems. Sometimes more is much, much better .

I would like to second Carole's comments about your frequent crashes. Windows per sé does not crash as often as you are experiencing. It's likely you have a hardware problem lurking somewhere in your system.

Recently I installed new ram in my Intel P4 machine running XP SP3, and began to experience random crashes and reboots. I downloaded and ran the top memory tester available, Memtest 86 ver.3.5, and ran it. This program rapidly found errors in the memory. I changed the memory sticks around, hoping to pinpoint the faulty stick, but the faults were random and numerous. These new and expensive sticks used chips named Elpida, which googling found to be suspect, so I returned the ram to the supplier with printouts of the faults, and got a refund, $NZ 258, not cheap. I then bought 4 GB of Hynix ram which under test with Memtest ran perfectly over a 12-hour period. I have not had a computer crash since, the machine is rock stable.

Could I advise you to download Memtest 86 - http://www.memtest86.com/ - choose Free download and get the ISO version which you can burn straight to a CD, then boot your computer from the CD, and let the test run for at least 4 or 5 cycles. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you find faulty memory in your machine.