Buying my son's "old" Macbook, what do you think?

I am a Windows guy (oooouch) and love it.... My son upgraded and asked me if I am interested taking over his Macbook at a very good price.....

I said yes but first he should try to get Apple to change the top part as it cracked and small pieces even broke off. Well they did and it looks nearly new new... Specs are

2,1G Hz, Due 2 Core plus 2G RAM plus DVD burner build in.

CS3 installed plus lightroom 2 (Hmmm)

Will I ever be able to switch over?

Best

Siegfried

Siegfried,
My son - who only knew PCs at home and college - got himself a Mac laptop for home and he loves it. (But remember that his imaging work is minimal.)
Having played with various Macs at the Apple Store I love them and their simplified interface. (Let's be honest - where did Bill Gates/Microsoft copy their interface from anyways?)
As far as PSCS and LR - they are basically the same on both platforms. The only reason that I have not switched is that I have quite a bit of software (for personal and lodge use) that either won't run on a Mac or there is no equivalent program to use my existing files. (Have considered setting up a dual-boot system though.) Also, I am very familiar with the Windows environment and hardware.
Steve

Hello Siegfried..
I've always used PC and I'm very comfortable with it.My wife is an architect and they work mostly with Mac.She bought a new one and gave me the old one and now I'm trying to learn how to use it,but I think I will stick with the PC when editing pics and when mailing and surfing using the Mac.This also portable so I can travel with it.......
Erik

Siegfried, once you go Mac, you'll never look back (what would you expect me to say anyway?)

While the interface may seem deceptively simple, it is as powerful under the hood as any other system around. For basic photo editing I recommend trying GraphicConverter (Classic and OS X, 35.00 shareware, free to use with nag screen) and GIMP is also available for OS X as it is for Win and Linux. Many other 'Nix apps are pre-compiled for OS X and power users can also compile their own. About the only editing I use iPhoto for is it's simple blemish removal tool, works great for easily touching up blems in scans of old pictures.

There is a reason why most graphic designers and photoshop jockeys still use Macs today, Adobe launched their rise to the top of the software heap on the Mac platform so many years ago, which started the desktop publishing industry. Another little tidbit: Microsoft created Word for the Mac platform at Apple's request, it was ported to Windows later.

My two cents, and as I've offered before, we'll try to help with any Mac questions, tips and hints at Maclectic.com, serving the Macintosh community since 1986.

Good luck!

~ Rich ~

Hello Rich

Good to see you again. I enjoy the Mac and are still in a process of getting used to it. Its not a thoughtless switch over I find because my Windows background is good and I always enjoyed using Windows. I recently also started using Vista and Vista does hold onto its users, great platform to use.

My software base on Windows is also good and that also result in me hanging onto Windows. Will I ever switch over 100%.....?

Thanks for the offer to help those with questions...that's kind of you.

Siegfried

I can understand the software licensing issues, it's a shame that most commercial apps expect separate full licenses for each OS platform. It doesn't have to be that way, and a few developers cross-license their apps, but they seem to be few and far between. That is a shame for those who offer Mac and Win apps.

I picked up a "road-warrior" business class HP XP Pro laptop about a year and a half ago, and am dual booting it today, with Linux Fedora 11 as the primary system. It's pretty cool, and GIMP comes standard if you want it. (I do) It's really made for Excel and Outlook jockeys, and if I ever need XP it's also there for the asking.

I'd suggest that anyone check out x386 machines in Linux for giggles. Who knows, you might like it.