Chepooka

Hi, I’m not a mac.

A couple of years ago I bought a really nice Dell to replace the one I bought 5 or so years ago. Unfortunately, it had some weird conflict with Adobe CS2, which, for all intents and purposes, rendered said computer virtually useless to me—I live and work in photoshop and illustrator. Bottom line, I tried everything known to man to fix the conflict, including hiring 4 different techs to try to figure it out to no avail. Dell blamed Adobe, Adobe blamed Dell, so forget warranty.

I’ve not used it much since, which frustrates the hell out of me. I’ve had to wait to buy a new one because in the meantime, I had to eat, live, buy a home, such things.

It’s time, though, for me to upgrade. For years I’ve wanted to convert to Mac but could never afford it. It’s more than the cost of the system after all—it’s all the “stuff”. I figured after the last fiasco, I can’t really afford not to buy a top-of-the-line system either. And if I’m ever going to do it, now is the time. I trotted down to the Mac store to ask a whole boatload of questions about what would happen to me if I convert my business from PC to mac.

There was some serious drooling going on, I won’t lie. These machines are sleek; very, very sexy. The 24” monitor was in a word, beautiful. I didn’t even finish my introduction to the sales clerk before I made a beeline to it. I asked about fonts, he couldn’t answer. I have a lot of $$$ invested in these types of things. In fonts, icons, stock imagery, stuff I’ve collected over the years. I can’t lose that. The software is the other thing. Adobe CS3 is like $1,800.

I really wanted to find a way to buy a Mac. I tried. But if I were to get exactly what I wanted, in my dreamworld, I calculated that it would cost me about $8,000. I can’t afford that. I could finance it I suppose, and I didn’t end the conversation there, but then the kicker—if something were to happen to my shiny new mac, even under warranty, I would have had to take it in to their shop for repair. “It’s only a 7-day turnaround!” the Mac guy says. I can’t be without my business for 7 days, this IS my business.

At least when something happens on my PC, I have backup computers AND, any Tom, Dick or Harry in town can fix a PC, there are options.

I took the spec sheet home with me, felt a little sad that it probably wasn’t going to happen. I would never be one of those cool, hip mac people.

I went to the Dell site and put together my “dream computer”—which included a 30” monitor. All total, it will cost me about $5,000 less than my mac dream computer. I’m thinking this is not a bad consolation prize. I will need to buy a bigger desk for this, though.

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Posted by chepooka on 06/18 at 08:25 AM

Comments

If I thought it would influence your decision at all, I’d put you in touch with my own Mac guru, who has run his own signs-and-graphics business almost exclusively on Macs for about 15 years now, upgrading his equipment on a fairly regular basis as his business has grown. He tends to know more about Macs than anyone manning the sales floors of the local computer shops and has even built computers from spare parts he had lying around his office. He could probably set your mind at ease about your font and software app concerns, among other things. I’m Shepcat, and I’m a Mac.

Posted by Shepcat on 06/18 at 10:44 AM

Do you already have CS3 for a PC? If so, you should be able to just call Adobe and have your license converted to the Mac version. http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/05/cs3_switching_p.html

Also, Boot Camp will be included with Leopard so you can boot up in either XP or Vista if for some reason you need to use Windows. (Must have your own copy of XP or Vista of course.)

When I switched from PC to Mac, all of my fonts came with me. They all work seamlessly. I dunno what file types of stock imagery you have but odds are there is a compatible program that will allow you to open them on a Mac and… worst case scenario, there’s Boot Camp or Parallels that will let you open Windows.

You might find help at http://www.myfirstmac.com

Also, there are independent shops that do Mac repairs… but if you buy the Apple Care program you will have to use the Apple store for problems. I’ve had my iMac for a year now and haven’t had any problems if that makes you feel better?

Posted by Betty on 06/18 at 11:07 AM

wow guys, thanks. I guess I have a little more research to do before I completely give up hope. Thanks for the links Betty, I haven’t yet upgraded to CS3 which is one reason I thought hey, if I make the switch might as well do it all at once. Looks like I can do the upgrade/switch at the same time - wow. That makes a difference. I’ll keep ya’ll posted as to what I decide. Macs sure are preeety. :D

Posted by chepooka on 06/18 at 02:18 PM