Buying an iMac

[Roth]

Hi,

I want to buy an iMac and already have a copy of CS2. Do i need to buy any more software, considering i have a PC for anything concerning Windows/Word etc?

Is all that Bill Gates stuff necessary just for design work?

Or are there any other programmes which are essential?

Thanks

[budafist]

I can live without word.

It depends on your clients though. If your clients like to give you files in word, exel and ppt, then you will need to be able to open their files. You can save them as pdfs on your PC and then transfer them over to your Mac if you need to.

[Patrick Shannon]

If you're planning to buy one of the newer Intel iMac, you may find you'll be wanting to pop for the CS3 upgrade. CS2 came out as a Power PC-only release (about a few months before the Mac Intel transition announcement) and while it will run on the iMac, it will run at slower speeds as the Intel processor has to translate PowerPC instructions.

If you're just wanting to read Word documents, Notepad can read them...although very basically. (In other words, sometimes don't expect it to look 'exactly' how it originally looked in Word.)

[CkretAjint]

Congrats on making the switch to the light-side of computers :) Make sure your software is compatable for MACs.

Personally I couldn't live without Word. So many clients of mine send me files in Word format, or request text in a Word document so that they may edit it quickly and easily....

I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign (sometimes), QuarkXPress 7, Acobat Professional, Acrobat Distiller, Stuffit, Stuffit Expander, and Toast Titanium 6. I have a multitude of other programs as well, but those are the most commonly used ones....

[urstwile]

I've found that the Text Edit program, which comes with the Mac OS, does a pretty darned good job handling Word files, unless there's really complex formatting in the original document. I usually try dragging Word files on top of the icon in my dock first, to see if it's suitable. If it looks like boodinky, then I'll launch Word, but I always try Text Edit first. :)

Why? Much smaller system hit, and much quicker load time.

[jessicam]

I have AppleWorks and between that and Text Edit I can read almost any Excel or Word file. If I run into problems I use Google Documents. None of them can output Office files with any kind of grace, though, so if there is a need to be able to output decent files I would go ahead and purchase Office.

[PrintDriver]

I use Word and Excel on almost a daily basis. PowerPoint, not so much.
Word because of clients and Excel is what we bid in.
You might want to see about getting Windows for Mac so you don't have to repurchase.

[Tea]

If you don't want to get Windows for Mac, just get Office for Mac. I have an iMac Intel Duo something or another and have no problems with running CS2 and can open all the documents have been sent to me so far. The new Macs come with Pages (Appleworks replacement) and I'm not sure how that works with Word documents. I haven't tried.

[captain spanky]

boodinky
:D

[pmkcreations]

download a copy of NeoOffice.

It's freeware and the latest version is optimized for the Intel Macs.

It works well and it's onew morw way to not support Microsoft.

[PrintDriver]

But does it open MS Word files any better than Text Edit?

[pmkcreations]

I don't usually use text edit for that. Especially since I have NeoOffice. I can copy and paste into other applications with it and it usually maintains the formatting.
It does work with excel and powerpoint files also.
I have had very little issue with it.

Now if they could only make something that will handle those crappy Publisher files.....

[Navian]

Just download Openoffice (http://download.openoffice.org/2.2.0/index.html?focus=download)

[Patrick Shannon]

OpenOffice requires the X11 environment...but they are working on a OS X native port and I think they just released a developer preview.

Until that time, NeoOffice is an OSX native port of OpenOffice and probably easier to go with.

[pmkcreations]

I found with the OpenOffice, you can't copy and paste into other applications.

NeoOffice is better in that regard.

[Navian]

Hum.. I have never had any problems with Openoffice. Then again I don't run a Mac.

Must be the platform. :p *runs off*

[rainbow2bryte]

hey roth-
i know your question was about software, but i got the new Intel iMac last spring and really wished I would have done more research before springing for my new computer. it's on the LOW end of upgradability, as far as adding RAM etc. THAT really tee'd me off and i wish i would have known that before making the purchase, would have sprung for a little more dough to get a MacPro or something along those lines.....

and get CS3... CS2 runs slower than spit.....
so the perfomance is in no way beating my 'ole G3!

<end iMac rant>

[urstwile]

I dunno, CS2 runs just fine on my Intel iMac, definitely not slower than spit. I've heard different people have had different results with different models of the Intels, however. Mine is only a few months old.

[rainbow2bryte]

I dunno, CS2 runs just fine on my Intel iMac, definitely not slower than spit. I've heard different people have had different results with different models of the Intels, however. Mine is only a few months old.

must be it... 'cause i got mine in 05/06
shucks.

[Roth]

Thanks for all the great responses.

I bought CS2 recently because of the cheap run-out before CS3's launch, with the intention of buying an iMac next year when my course finishes. I was just trying to be a bit clever and get ahead of the game. From what you've said seems like this could be either a good or bad thing. We ran CS2 (just upgeaded to 3) at college on iMacs, so I just assumed it would all be OK.

I am also keen to know if trying to get a good deal on a MAC is possible. Or because you either want one or you don't, they have you by the short and curlies. Once you start adding things like Word, the relatively affordable price for the 17" IG ram starts escalating. And if i then have to off load my CS2 and get CS3....

Buying in stages is an option, seeing if the downloads work before shelling out for Word.

The possibilities, the cost...

[urstwile]

It seems that one of the things to really consider is using the CS2 suite on an Intel iMac. As I already stated, I'm having no problems using it on my computer at work, the speed is definitely faster than what I was using before. I would definitely get more than 1G of RAM however, I'm using 2G for work, and that feels like a comfortable fit.

In terms of Word, etc. you could get the student version for $99 bucks (I couldn't quite tell if you were still in school or not). If you buy it now while you're still in school, you'd still be able to use it even after you were out of school, and when it comes to Office stuff, the student version does all the same things as the non-student version does. There are also open source and free versions of all the Office programs (I don't use them, but I've heard good things about them).

Since the Intels have been out for awhile now, there's also a fair amount of documentation on the Adobe forums regarding any weird glitches when using CS2. I so far haven't even had to implement any of those work arounds.

[pmkcreations]

To add to the defending of the iMac, CS2, CS1 both run fine on the iMac I'm using.
I'm lucky enough to have 2GB of RAM. After using this machine for at least six months now at work, I can't wait until I can get one for home. Here's the pluses:

All in one (it's not a bad thing)
It has a decent Superdrive
It has decent disk space
It's as fast as I would hope
Great screen
The few problems I do have are software specific
I really like the "mighty mouse"

I was really going to try and go the Mac Mini route until I started using the iMac full time. Actually I think I kind of helped in going this route. I argued that this is all we would really need in production. I couldn't see justifying the cost of a new tower that would be twice as much as this and do the same thing. We don't need to expand a whole lot. Our files reside on servers and we're not doing 3D or video.

[urstwile]

pmk, your situation sounds very much the same as mine at work. I got mine when my G4 coughed up its last furball, and after much research, I determined that we really didn't need to get a new tower, the iMac would be fine.

I'm very pleased with the decision so far, it's been a few months and it's working well, certainly much better than what I had before.

I'm recommending the same upgrade to the others in my group when the CEO gives our department the go-ahead for an across the board upgrade.