PC to Mac: My Not-So-Genius Switch
Dec 31, 2008 at 3:50 PM Post #31 of 637
Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif
LOL, sorry I couldn't better talk you out of getting a Mac, Jude.
evil_smiley.gif


Contrary to popular belief, LED backlighting is not superior to cold cathode tube lighting. LED's have their benefits, but superior lighting is not one of them. LED's offer more light for less energy, but they are single spot light sources, so lighting is often uneven. It requires a larger diffuser and more LED's, which negates the space saving and energy saving benefits. Also, the part that is hard on the eyes, is the process in which most LED's are dimmed. PWM. Pulse Width Modulation. Basically, the LED's are flickered on and off to reduce the appearance of their brightness. But some people can actually see this effect. The best way to check for it, is to wave your hand in front of the screen. So, for LED bases displays, they look the best with the screen brightness cranked all the way up.

My Fujitsu P1610 has LED lighting, and the dimming circuit is not done with poorly executed PWM, but the inverter makes an annoying high pitched whine when I dim the screen. But I'd rather have the high pitched whine I can only hear when it's in a very quiet room, vs. eye strain inducing PWM.

Anyways, glad to hear you like your new 17" Macbook. Are you bringing it to CES?
biggrin.gif


-Ed



I disagree with that, Ed. CCFL backlighting is prone to hotspots and screen bleed, much more so than any LED screen should be, and especially with age.
 
Dec 31, 2008 at 11:00 PM Post #33 of 637
Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif
LOL, sorry I couldn't better talk you out of getting a Mac, Jude.
evil_smiley.gif


Contrary to popular belief, LED backlighting is not superior to cold cathode tube lighting. LED's have their benefits, but superior lighting is not one of them. LED's offer more light for less energy, but they are single spot light sources, so lighting is often uneven. It requires a larger diffuser and more LED's, which negates the space saving and energy saving benefits. Also, the part that is hard on the eyes, is the process in which most LED's are dimmed. PWM. Pulse Width Modulation. Basically, the LED's are flickered on and off to reduce the appearance of their brightness. But some people can actually see this effect. The best way to check for it, is to wave your hand in front of the screen. So, for LED bases displays, they look the best with the screen brightness cranked all the way up.

My Fujitsu P1610 has LED lighting, and the dimming circuit is not done with poorly executed PWM, but the inverter makes an annoying high pitched whine when I dim the screen. But I'd rather have the high pitched whine I can only hear when it's in a very quiet room, vs. eye strain inducing PWM.

Anyways, glad to hear you like your new 17" Macbook. Are you bringing it to CES?
biggrin.gif


-Ed



I'm not so sure about that. I've compared several 20"-24" LCD's side by side, and LED backlit models consistently remain the brightest, sharpest, and most accurate in terms of color. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've also never noticed a flickering picture regardless of the brightness setting; and I'm typing on a new Macbook as we speak.
 
Jan 1, 2009 at 3:25 AM Post #34 of 637
I still don't understand why people are so hung-up about Vista. The only argument available is "it's not pretty enough". In terms of stability fixes and balanced performance it's everything MS wanted to accomplish. Windows 7 will change the GUI, lower "actual" memory footprint, and allow customizable UAC. It will still be based on the Vista kernel heavily.

Regardless, in terms of customer service the grass will always be greener on the other side. Dell Business sucked for getting a measly HDD sent to me. I was on a trip for school and had to do some remote access projects states away for finals. The HDD died in transit. I called them and told them I needed the HDD overnighted according to my service plan (next day parts or labor). They proceeded to argue claiming it was RAM. Needless to say, I failed said finals. It also took a total of a month of pulling teeth to even get the replacement, which just to spit in my face was sent standard ground -_-
 
Jan 1, 2009 at 6:03 PM Post #35 of 637
Today I saw for the first time what is a Mac O:
I mean I saw YouTube reviews and stuff but I've hadn't any experience with it...
It's really cool! I think that whenever I buy a laptop (I currently don't need one) a Mac solution would be thought of.
Only one thing bothers me, is there any good C# compiler? Preferably similar to the Microsoft Visual C# Express Edition.

Thanks
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Jan 1, 2009 at 7:26 PM Post #36 of 637
Quote:

Originally Posted by guyx1992 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Only one thing bothers me, is there any good C# compiler? Preferably similar to the Microsoft Visual C# Express Edition.


Never used it myself, as I stick with GCC, but Mono is said to be the way to have C# on Mac OS X.
Main Page - Mono
 
Jan 1, 2009 at 8:12 PM Post #37 of 637
Quote:

Originally Posted by guyx1992 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Today I saw for the first time what is a Mac O:
I mean I saw YouTube reviews and stuff but I've hadn't any experience with it...
It's really cool! I think that whenever I buy a laptop (I currently don't need one) a Mac solution would be though of.
Only one thing bothers me, is there any good C# compiler? Preferably similar to the Microsoft Visual C# Express Edition.

Thanks
smily_headphones1.gif



The Mac Os is based on the Mach Os. The Mach OS is a variant of the UNIX OS. I have been dealing with UNIX on Sun Serves and HP Server for years. UNIX is a very robust operating system. In terms of reliability and security it is much better than Windoze.

Have you considered coding in the Java Programming language. Supposedly C# is M$ version of Java. Here is the link for Java on the Mac Java .

When I get a new PC a year (or two) from now I am going to upgrade to a Mac. I decided to start research what I need to do to make the switch. I saw the following book on Amazon dot com -
"Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition" by David Pogue .
I have not read it yet but it looks interest.

Al
 
Jan 1, 2009 at 8:16 PM Post #38 of 637
Quote:

Originally Posted by ajstark /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The Mac Os is based on the Mach Os. The Mach OS is a variant of the UNIX OS. I have been dealing with UNIX on Sun Serves and HP Server for years. UNIX is a very robust operating system. In terms of reliability and security it is much better than Windoze.

Have you considered coding in the Java Programming language. Supposedly C# is M$ version of Java. Here is the link for Java on the Mac Java .

When I get a new PC a year (or two) from now I am going to upgrade to a Mac. I decided to start research what I need to do to make the switch. I saw the following book on Amazon dot com -
"Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition" by David Pogue .
I have not read it yet but it looks interest.

Al



I didn't decide to learn C#. I'm currently at the 11th Grade and I learn C# at school so I suppose I'll just continue with this language at least until I finish school.
 
Jan 1, 2009 at 9:30 PM Post #39 of 637
Quote:

Originally Posted by guyx1992 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I didn't decide to learn C#. I'm currently at the 11th Grade and I learn C# at school so I suppose I'll just continue with this language at least until I finish school.


May be the best solution is to have a copy of windows on the Mac. With bootcamp you can run the PC under the Mac OS or the Windows OS. Use the Windows OS for your C# homework and use Mac OS for everything else.

Al
 
Jan 1, 2009 at 9:43 PM Post #40 of 637
I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro and I love everything about it. It's my 5th mac so my expectations are high when I upgrade.

One thing that everyone should understand is that the audio line out sounds the best compared to other laptops. For those of you who are DAC users, this is key since its the cleanest source I have heard so far (referring to laptops).

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!
 
Jan 1, 2009 at 10:03 PM Post #41 of 637
krmathis and Big Shot have been saying the audio out (optical) has been
the trick for a while and I have said this but am fairly new to Mac only
been using it for 2.5 years so far and love it the PC has not been fired up
in so long not even sure everything is ok with it and really don't care if not.
 
Jan 2, 2009 at 3:39 AM Post #43 of 637
Quote:

Originally Posted by SACD-Man /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro and I love everything about it. It's my 5th mac so my expectations are high when I upgrade.

One thing that everyone should understand is that the audio line out sounds the best compared to other laptops. For those of you who are DAC users, this is key since its the cleanest source I have heard so far (referring to laptops).



Which is interesting, since what's inside is basically a bog standard low-end soundcard with the same (or in some cases even worse) electronics between the codec and the sockets certainly in terms of analog output as any number of other notebooks. (digital isn't actually that hot either, but that's another argument and really not that important as it *is* quite convenient) One aspect of Mac 'fanboyism' is that many people imbue Apple gear with superior function for no logically discernible reason. I see it everywhere since I started using them again in earnest.


There are situations in which Apple OS or hardware can clearly work better. Most of these situations however, if I were to be a little brutal, involves users who don't quite know what they're doing but you need them to be productive. For me Linux is an OS nerding too far, and I'm not a huge hardware nerd in that if I'm going to have a high-performance system, etc I'm going to get someone else to build it: But I do absolutely believe in nerding out on software, to search out and to buy what really works best for me. I know for many people the three or four-digit spend ends with the computer: Not for me.


And in that respect while I find the uniform elegance of Apple solutions beguiling, in comparison to Windows in general I find it too limiting in terms of the applications I can run on it: There is basically everyone else's slightly dumbed-down, easy to use, good enough way to do it... or no way. And while some of those solutions may even be de facto industry standards, I ended up being surprised by how often this was true even in quite mainstream areas once I started looking. As a result there are a limited number of things I do which I like to keep to Apple but interestingly, anything to do with Audio is not... and my media setup is now back to being predominantly Windows.


And Jude, your experiences aren't unique. That's the other problem... the actual build quality of Apple equipment, not just the surface look & feel which they are masters of. The two issues for me ended up also undermining the theoretical advantage of a Boot Campable Mac (which isn't actually that convenient or compatible, and virtualisation isn't for everyone who has 'heavy lifting' Windows uses). As much as I depend on my iPods, I have to say I have a more ambivalent relationship with the Macs.
 
Jan 2, 2009 at 8:48 AM Post #44 of 637
If you need a good screen, sony vaios have usually.
Especially the FW model which has option for fullHD screen
and bluray writer. Vaio Z 13,1" is also very nice, alots of power
in a package that weghts same that most 10" netbooks,
and very nice highrez screen and also bluray.
 
Jan 2, 2009 at 10:04 AM Post #45 of 637
Quote:

Originally Posted by ozz /img/forum/go_quote.gif
krmathis and Big Shot have been saying the audio out (optical) has been the trick for a while and I have said this but am fairly new to Mac only been using it for 2.5 years so far and love it the PC has not been fired up in so long not even sure everything is ok with it and really don't care if not.


Yeah, the optical out is great.
Together with Core Audio it makes a bit-perfect way to feed an external DAC.
smile.gif
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top