Apple - Some advice please

[rom828]

I run both Mac and Windows OS, have both iPad and Samsung devices for various reasons. Personally I'd stay on the Windows platform, although I understand your dislike Win8. If it's any help, you can downgrade to Win7 without buying a licence, although I guess it is step backwards for some(http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en-gb/l...de_rights.aspx).
I agree Apple devices have amazing build/design quality and yes everything 'just works' to some degree. My Windows/Android set-up 'just works' too and even better than Apple set-up in my opinion.
What I dislike about the Apple environment is the iTunes gateway, I find it somewhat limiting and also the costs incurred to run Windows applications. The Apple products are overpriced in RSA and de-value rapidly.
Also if you want to "keep up" with technology, then Apple is going to keep you make sure you do that frequently, with their annual device upgrade and OS changes.

I don't know this helps much but just my R0.02 worth.

[ians]

I just find that you are too restricted with apple. If you don't have all apple devices you might as well not have any.

The only reason I got an iphone was because of the Telkom deal and boy am I regretting it, the signal is absolute crap, battles to get signal never mind 3 G and it doesn't get LTE yet even though it works on MTN, but I can get LTE if I change my sim card over to the MTN one. They have only just repaired the sms issues with the new ios software, they gave me 10 free sms per month but you couldn't send or receive an sms because the ios system wouldn't work with Telkom.

I bought an ipad mini because they where the cheapest for what you got. Personally I I doubt I would by any other apple products, unless I was a graphic designer or the like, which I am not.

One thing I can say for iphone, we watched the same movie clip on an iphone and a S4 from the same adsl router, the picture quality on the iphone is way better than the S4, I don't know if the S4 was setup correctly.

[league_of_ordinary_men]

My Laptop is starting to get old. Quite a large one and heavy to lug around. Also starting to give one or two hassles. I have always believed in trying to "keep up" with technology otherwise you do fall behind and things are not compatible anymore, new printers don't work because of "issues"

So my question is - Do I look at the Mac laptop - I think its the air or the pro or do I go for another HP normal computer ?
My problem is - I do NOT like the new Windows 8 !

I quite like the Mac's - they are lightweight and quite thin and I have an Apple phone and ipad.

Would it make sense to keep apple or is the Mac not really suited for business.

Any opinions/advice would be appreciated - thank you

This is what you should get http://www.dell.com/za/p/inspiron-15-7537/pd a customer preordered it. It has better specs then the mac book pro and its a few grand cheaper with us and if you don't like windows 8 just down grade to windows 7.

[irneb]

I think we need a bit further info on what you actually want. Are you referring to the MacBook Pro or the Air? Also what programs are you using on your "WinBook" at present? Are you set on OSX as your new operating system, or would you be willing to look at others too (excepting Win8)? The "just-works" idea only happens if you do everything through Apple, if you have a different phone, pad, media server / NAS, etc. you might not find it as easy as you did with Windows.

1. Which programs can you not do without? This to check if they have non-windows versions or clones.
2. Which programs are you using occasionally and/or might be accepting of alternatives?
3. Is there any single program you simply "cannot" do without which you know to only work on windows? If so can you provide its recommended system requirements - since you'll need to run it through a virtual machine (such as Parallels / VirtualBox / VMWare) and this would take up some of the base CPU & RAM.
4. Are you doing a lot of on-line stuff?
5. Can you achieve your usage through cloud-based programs? E.g. Google+, Drive, Docs, etc.
6. Are you using the laptop for video viewing? If so do you want to be able to insert DVD/BR discs, or play from a media server, or save onto an internal hard drive, or only via on-line streaming?
7. Are you doing any graphics intensive stuff? E.g. photoshop, cad, 3d design and/or rendering?
8. Do you "want" a touch screen or are you fine with a normal keyboard & touch-pad?

Only with these answers (and possibly some others) can we have any hope of giving you a decent suggestion.

If you want to do your own research on the non-Apple laptops, then this might be a good place to start: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/

Especially since your choices at Apple ranges from old stock MacBook (R8500) to the Air (R11k), Pro (R15k), or Pro Retina (R16500). Unless you're thinking of the Mac (all-in-one-screen for R7500), or the mini (i.e. no keyboard or screen - R7500), though both these options don't really conform to being a portable device, never mind a laptop.

So for an Air you can look for anything up to around $1000 (to allow for import / local sales deduct about 30%-40% from that - unfortunately our government wants their protection-racket-money). But that type of price is already quite a good laptop (at least), some of them would even be surpassing the Air's specs. Same goes for the Pro.

[HR Solutions]

Hi irneb - thanks for your input. I have not yet made a decision on a new laptop yet, what with all the festive season celebrations etc, but I would really like to look at it shortly.

I am able to find my way around a comp, feel I know quite a lot, but am by no means a comp bof.

I do have an apple Mini and do have an apple I phone 5, enjoy them and know my way around them, therefore was thinking of going the mac route. I am looking for a laptop (no touch screen). I cannot give you names at the mo, but like the thin lightweight look to them and being light it is easier to transport. I do not like the new windows 8, therefore my looking at apple.

One of my most important programs on my current laptop is office, therefore I would need the same or compatible and it must be compatible with other computers in the office. I do not want anyone having to "convert" anything. I currently travel between JHB and CT quite extensively as we have a branch in both cities. I link up to both systems either via wifi or network cable. I do use an online package which I access at both branches. I do not need graphics or media or music packages although I do download pics from my phone etc.

I understand that the mac laptop is pretty similar operating to the I pad mini.

Hope this helps you. Is there a apple office system compatible ?

[irneb]

I do not like the new windows 8, therefore my looking at apple.

I'm with you on this. IMO anything is better than W8, I'd even be willing to go back to XP/NT (perhaps not 98/95/Vista though). But W7 seems to work reasonably for me still, it does have issues, but from my testing (since around 2010-2011) no major insurmountable pains. I've not had extensive experience with OSX, though I have tried it out in a VM. Just found it a bit not to my liking, and I'm not willing to buy into the whole Apple train for the foreseeable future (only my own feeling). My favourite OS at the moment is KDE on Fedora/Ubuntu, second Gnome3 on Fedora, and then Unity (the default for Ubuntu). At present I'm trying to learn BSD as I've heard even better robustness & lightness as compared to most Linuxes, fortunately it's not that different as it also grew out of Unix, and actually it's the system on which OSX is built. Major difference is OSX uses Quartz as the graphics engine through which their Aqua desktop runs, while BSD uses XWindows with your choice of Desktop (Gnome/KDE/LXDE/Xfce/etc.) - same as Linux does.

One of my most important programs on my current laptop is office, therefore I would need the same or compatible and it must be compatible with other computers in the office. I do not want anyone having to "convert" anything. I currently travel between JHB and CT quite extensively as we have a branch in both cities. I link up to both systems either via wifi or network cable.

You do get a Microsoft Office for MAC, but I've never used it so can't say much about compatibility. Though I'd guess it should be quite decent: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/m...5-a3506889b3ca

Only issue I can see is you might need to upgrade the PC MSO's to at least 2010 to ensure "perfect" compatibility and the 2011 for MAC. There's a noted issue (though minor) between 2007 & 2008. How well the two work on legacy files (i.e. DOC/XLS instead of Docx/Xlsx) is up for grabs - so if you need to send to people still using 2003 (or earlier) you might see some issues. I've even seen some hairy stuff between 2003 and 2007 (both for PC), so I'd not expect the MAC version to be any better.

Alternatively, you can even use Open Office or LibreOffice (my favourite) on OSX as well as nearly any other operating system you can shake a stick at. Though the Docx/Xlsx compatibility is not exactly "perfect", I have found that formatting gets corrupted in some cases - though I've never "lost data". The Doc/Xls compatibility (on the other hand) I've found to be better than MSO 2007 and later ... strange, but that's my experience.

Else you could opt for Office 360 - MS's on-line Office package, which they're trying to compete with Google. For any on-line stuff, you'd probably simply need a compatible browser. And I know that both Chrome and Firefox have Mac versions, if you find the built-in Safari browser not working as well as you'd like. Seems most people opt for Chrome/FF: http://web-browsers.findthebest.com/d/a/Mac-OS-X

I understand that the mac laptop is pretty similar operating to the I pad mini.

Well, both run OSX. Whether the versions are the same is a different matter. But fortunately Apple is known for reasonable consistency of UI, so I'd not expect any major differences.

Other stuff you may need to consider: What about contacts and emails on your current laptop? You should check about how you're going to re-use them or import them into whatever new program(s) you're going to use. If you find the Lion mail app not sufficient, then you could always go with something like ThunderBird - both should be able to import your Outlook PST files (at least I know ThunderBird does this perfectly). Some discussion as to which is better: http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/wha...a-thunderbird/

For me, I'd go with ThunderBird as moving your mail between PC/Mac/Linux/BSD is a simple matter of copying the files. Lion is only available on Mac, though you do get an Outlook for Mac.

I do not need graphics or media or music packages although I do download pics from my phone etc.

This greatly reduces the required specs. You thus don't need a dedicated graphics card - so the integrated Intel stuff should be sufficient.

[irneb]

I cannot give you names at the mo, but like the thin lightweight look to them and being light it is easier to transport. I do not like the new windows 8, therefore my looking at apple.

If this is your main reason for going to Apple, then remember that you can overwrite the W8 installation (if the laptop comes pre-installed with such). You can either choose W7 or a Linux. And thin-ness & light-weight isn't an Apple bastion:
http://www.lptps.com/best-ultra-thin-laptops-2013/

[Upstairs]

I use Ubuntu with a kde desktop. Playing with Linux Mint and I like it. I have not tried it, but I believe you can run windows in virtualbox or just load office on wine. I will never go back to Microsoft. Apple locks you in. They decide what you can use on your computer. With opensource you can run what you want. When using a laptop make sure you get a Linux compatible dongle. Get a live disc and play around. There is a learning curve. The latest distros make it easy to install software. A new kid on the block is Makulu Linux.

[irneb]

I use Ubuntu with a kde desktop.

I'm with you there. I've used KDE on both Ubuntu and Fedora, tended to find Fedora working faster, but Ubuntu more compatible (at least with 64bit).

VM's work reasonably well. I've been using my old installations of Win98, WinNT, Win2k, WinXP and even W7 inside of the VM - they all work well (to a point - graphics is usually the issue as a VM introduces a software layer between the graphics card and the client OS so DirectX is not as performant as a "on-the-bone" installation).

One thing I've done before is use a hybrid setup: Dual boot of W7 and KDE/Fedora on the same PC, then install VirtualBox in both OS's and link to the other OS as a client VM. That way I can choose which OS to boot up and get the best performing graphics from while still being able to run the other OS in seamless mode so its programs "look" as if they're running locally. The reason I'm not doing it any-more is due to Windows' licensing: When I run W7 inside the VM it sees the hardware as a "new" PC thus wanting to re-register itself, then if I later dual boot direct into W7 it again wants to re-register.

[HR Solutions]

If this is your main reason for going to Apple,

No, I have an apple pad mini and an I phone 5, therefore are an apple fan at the mo and the mac air 13inch is a very nice machine that is super thin.