huh? Did Jane mean to write "But the flip side of that is that the
Mac, because of its Unix background, has way more keyboard shortcuts
than the PC. If you care to learn them, you can do almost everything
with the keyboard"?
In reality, there is no difference. It doesn't really have anything
to do with a previous operating system. It's how the OS and
applications are coded. You can add keyboard shortcuts in both systems.
Yes, we have strayed into minutiae regarding the original question
which, I believe, has been answered satisfactorily. Let's bow out
gracefully.
Neal
On Aug 18, 2008, at 4:52 PM, Jane Shevtsov wrote:
But the flip side of that is that the PC, because of its DOS
background, has
way more keyboard shortcuts than the Mac. If you care to learn them,
you can
do almost everything with the keyboard.
Jane Shevtsov
On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 11:24 AM, Robert Scheller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>wrote:
Thanks for all the great information, Scott.
I have been considering switching from Mac to PC up until I
discovered a
significant hardware compatibility issue: the keyboard. Our office
is
mostly PC, including my primary computer. I work at home 2 or 3
days a week
and use remote desktop to connect to the office computer. Although
a Mac
should have no problem connecting, I would lose all of the keyboard
shortcuts that I have learned over the past 20 years: Shift-arrow,
Shift-end, Alt-tab, and all the other little things I do to use the
mouse
less and the keyboard more. And constantly switching between the two
keyboard styles would be difficult and inefficient. So, if you will
be
connecting to a PC frequently or for long stretches of time, take the
keyboard and keyboard shortcuts into consideration.
Cheers,
Rob
Scott D Lapoint wrote:
Hello all again,
About a week ago I posted a message asking for input on whether I
should
move from a PC to a Mac. I was particularly concerned with the
higher costs
of a Mac and if one can run Windows programs such as ArcGIS and some
statistics packages. I received ~200 e-mailed responses from Ecolog
alone,
not to mention the dozens that I received from my additional efforts.
So this is what I?ve decided: Buy a MacbookPro (if you want a
laptop),
put at least 2GB of in it (more memory means that ArcGIS will run
more
smoothly), and install Windows XP on the Mac. Apparently, you can run
Windows on a Mac by either booting directly into Windows on your
Mac via
Bootcamp, or you can run it simultaneously through Parallels or
Fusion. That
means, apparently, that you can install and run any Windows-based
programs
on your Mac (but only if you have an Intel processor on your Mac,
which all
the new laptops seem to have).
Cost- It looks like a Mac is not that much more expensive than a
comparably equipped PC. Mac offers substantial discounts to
students and it
is rumored that the prices of their Macbooks and MacbookPros will be
dropping this fall as Apple is releasing new versions of both
systems. Even
though most people agree that Macs are a bit more expensive than a
PC, they
all seem to agree that they are well worth the extra money; less
viruses,
more stable OS, less maintenance, etc.
But, if you?re scared of Vista and you?re not sure you want to
learn how
to use a Mac (many responses mentioned the learning curve when
switching to
a Mac), you can still buy new PCs with Windows XP on them.
So that?s the summary. In case I did a poor job, I?ve pasted a few
tidbits of advice that some of the responders had below:
??to a PC as far as speed, stability, boot up time, lack of
viruses, and
openness go. It is especially good if you are going towards open
source
software such as Grass for GIS or R.?
?macs tend to last longer.?
?pages is better than word and keynote is better than powerpoint.?
?Excel is better than Mac?s equivalent, but you shouldn?t be using
Excel
for stats when there are superior packages out there that will run
on Macs.?
??should also take a look at Linux -- keep the Dell just ditch
Vista.?
?I bought a new Dell and paid $99 for it to come with XP rather than
Vista. They call it Genuine Windows Vista Downgrade, XP Pro
Installed."
?I saw that about 1/4 to 1/3 of all laptops the ESA meeting last
week were
Macs.?
??cost is actually quite similar, and macs have a higher resale
value.?
?I just don't really support apple as a serious counterpart - they
seem
more bent on finding the next trend than supplying reliable work
solutions,
especially for scientific endeavors.?
??get the extra memory, especially for GIS if you?ll have to
install XP
too.?
Here are a bunch of links sent to me in responses for those of us
thinking
about making the switch:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/
http://www.opensourcemac.org/
http://www.freemacware.com/
http://macspecialist.org/content/articles/essential_apps/
http://grass.itc.it
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/apple-mac-leopard-windows-vista,1985.html
http://www.macworld.com/article/134373/2008/07/laptop_price.html?lsrc=mwweek
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/article/9853b173c0a800060058871f78388129/pg0.htm
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/08/04/new-peeks-at-a-post-windows-future/
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
Thanks again to all that responded. I?m sure all of your responses
will
help me and many others in our decisions.
Scott
Scott D. LaPoint
Graduate Student
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
243 Illick Hall
Syracuse, NY 13210
--
Robert M. Scheller, Ph.D.
Senior Ecologist
Conservation Biology Institute
136 SW Washington Ave., Suite 202
Corvallis, OR 97333
office: (541) 757-0687 (ext 3)
cell: (541) 207-6947
--
-------------
Jane Shevtsov
Ecology Ph.D. student, University of Georgia
co-founder, <a href="http://www.worldbeyondborders.org";>World Beyond
Borders</a>
Check out my blog, <a href="http://
perceivingwholes.blogspot.com">Perceiving
Wholes</a>
"But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul
of the
sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been
born into
the world to enjoy." --Plutarch, c.46-c.120 AD
