Jerry - How is the file management on the Mac?

[Hulk]

Jerry,

After a long time struggling to help my Mom with file management on the PC it still eludes her. All she uses the computer for is Photoshop, e-mail, and web browsing.

She has a lot of problems with file management. All of her artsy friends have Macs and they are trying to push her into buying one.

Do you think there is enough difference in the logic of the file managment of the Mac versus the PC for it to make a difference for? I'm ready to try anything if it will help her be more productive. All she wants to do is load her photos onto the computer, move them into the right place, edit in photoshop, saved edited photos to the right place, and print on her wide format Epson printer.

She's good with Photoshop itself, it's the file management.

If the Mac will really help I'll tell her to just buy one.

[Jerry Jones]

Mark,

I love my mini.

I got the low cost one because I knew it was fast enough for me and I didn't care about having the Apple "SuperDrive" (DVD burner).

Why not?

Because I have a high definition Sony DVD disc camcorder and I needed a drive that could read the 8cm discs and the slot-loading Apple drives can't take 8cm discs... yet.

There's some talk on the Web that Apple might have some type of adapter in the works.

Anyway, I bought an external Sony drive (black, sleek, and ultra slim/fast).

My mini shipped with the "Tiger" operating system and the "Leopard" operating system was also included on a disc for me to install.

So I had great success loading Leopard, but it was necessary to be kind of careful during the installation to make sure that I had chosen the option to basically reformat the drive and do a clean installation of Leopard. I've heard people who skip this option sometimes run into difficulties.

OK. So I got Leopard installed.

Next, you simply run the Apple updater, which works many times better, in my opinion, than Microsoft's update feature.

FILE MANAGEMENT:

What's incredible about file management is how Apple has designed the way files display so that you can get a thumbnail image -- instantly -- that reveals the contents of the file.

And each file beautifully -- and I mean this is cool -- just responds to your mouse's commands so wonderfully.

I'm using my mini with a "Gyration" ultra small wireless keyboard and mouse combination.

That's the beauty of the mini.

You can choose whichever keyboard, mouse, monitor that you like best.

I'm running my mini with an Acer Ferrari.

So this low-cost Mac performs like a champ with its Intel Core 2 Duo chip.

And file management is helped immensely by the included software.

I've been using iPhoto and I have to say I'm stunned by how wonderful and simple and functional it is.

I especially love the unbelievably nice tool they have to remove imperfections.

You have to see it to believe it.

Let's say you see a speck of dust on your otherwise perfect blue sky.

You just grab the tool and "touch" this dust and it literally disappears and the background automatically transforms in such a way that the place where the dust was located now blends perfectly into the photo.

I know you can do this on the PC, but the tools I've used in the past for this are much more clumsy.

But file management... yes... you are presented with an icon on your screen that says "Macintosh HD (hard drive)."

You simply click on that icon.

Then you get access to all files on the computer.

Don't know where to look?

No problem.

Just double click on that hard drive icon.

A pop-up menu appears.

It includes a search field.

And you can type in the name of the file and the search is blazing fast.

The pop-up also shows a list of places you can look on the left hand side.

Just click on the word "documents" to access your document files.

It's just really simple either way.

I realize the situation could change as the Macintosh becomes more popular.

But most of the virus issues these days still relate to the Windows platform.

So I would say the Mac is just far more secure.

Stability?

I haven't had a single crash.

Not a single crash.

And I've been playing around a lot in iMovie 08 and Final Cut Express 4.

So I have to admit I'm now an enthusiastic Mac "fan boy."

I use my Athlon 64 - Windows XP - Gateway notebook computer less often these days.

And I do not have any desire to return to the Windows platform.

File management... one other very important thing that amazes me is how photos are handled.

I just finished getting 1,000 35mm slides professionally scanned with dust removal.

The job was done very well.

But I still had to crop and rotate the scanned images using iPhoto and I also corrected a few imperfections here and there that the Nikon "Digital Ice" software missed.

OK.

So I'm able to do this amazingly fast in iPhoto and I'm a happy camper.

But the amazing part is Apple's "Front Row" media interface:

http://www.apple.com/imac/software/frontrow.html

Microsoft has tried to come up with something similar with "Windows Media Center."

But, in my opinion, Apple gets it right.

Because after I edited my photos, the "Front Row" interface allowed me to browse to my photos and they were automatically -- instantly -- in a slide show with Ken Burns zooms in and out and a music track.

Browsing to the individual photo files -- using "Front Row" -- is just so easy and beautiful.

Everything on the Mac is designed to be as simple as possible.

Drag and drop.

Click and go.

Do and finish.

And don't even get me started on how much easier it is to manage drivers for devices.

That's another Apple victory, in my humble opinion.

I'm just really happy with this platform.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Link to the mini Web page:

http://www.apple.com/macmini/accessories.html

The mini may not be right for everybody.

So Apple offers many other models, including the incredible iMacs with their built-in Webcams and gorgeous screens:

http://www.apple.com/imac/

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Sasq]

wall of text crits admin for 5000 hit points.

I am assuming that your mother has trouble with storing files in an easily findable place etc.
on the mac - although I suspect there are similar photo gallery programs for win, not looked recently...
My sugestion would be to activate the mac photo gallery, upon plugging in the camera - or just activating it via the usb/memory card - import.
it loads photos into a subtree off the iphoto main dir, photos then go into year¥month
I believe there is an extra option there for seperating into rolls as well.

That might help your mother, at least in terms of putting photo's in the right place to begin with.

the thumbnail feature is nice btw

[dmlaborde]

In response to you question on the Mac.

Mark,

I might add a comment to go with Jerry's. I work a large percentage of the time overseas. My wife is not very computer literate - she uses it for emails, MS office and pictures. Over the years I routinely spent time over the phone having to help her sort through some sort of operating system glitch, problems with a particular program or simply walk her through the use of particular programs. About a year ago I got her a 17inch iMac (intel). Since switching her to the Mac I haven't had one question from her with regards to the computer – never a discussion - nada. It just runs (all the time). It is very intuitive. When we first got it, she loaded photos and even figured out how to make an automated slide show with music – it was that simple. As a result I got a 24inch iMac - I do a small amount of video editing with Final Cut Express and a lot of graphics work. Never a glitch – it just runs – all the time. I loaded Parallels on mine thinking I would need to use Windows programs. In actaulity, I hardly ever load up Windows (via Parallels).

Dave

[Hulk]

I appreciate the advice. Like I said it's file management that is ruining her productivity. She just doesn't get it no matter how many times I teach her. I've even tried flash cards that I made! There is no problem with drivers or viruses or things like that. Once I get her set up the computer is solid. But it's the same thing over and over again with loading photos, finding them, how to know where she saved them, etc...

I am ready to tell her to go with the Mac at this point. It WILL be a big investment. She needs a pretty powerful system with a large, 24' monitor for what she does. She is a photographer and actually has a darkroom in her work area but as you can imagine she has switched to digital and is struggling to make the switch productive.

It will be a big investment because the computer will cost quite a bit I'm sure, plus I think she'll have to buy Photoshop CS3 again because she's upgraded so many times I don't know if you can move it over to the Mac. And by upgraded I mean she started at version 4 I think.

Like I said all she really does besides internet and e-mail is Photoshop work and printing on her Epson 2200.

I guess I'll go out and have a look at some Apple computers with her. I just hope she actually is more productive if we do this.

Thanks again.

Mark

[Jerry Jones]

The iMacs with 24-inch screens have $1800 and $2300 price points, depending on how much processor power you need.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&node=home/desktop/imac

But that includes a boat load of software applications that actually work.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

Jerry,

Looks like the $1799 model would be good for her. Do you think more than 1GB of memory is needed for Photoshop work? How many memory slots are in this thing? Even if there are two it seems it would be cheaper to pull out the factory memory and buy the 2GB.

Also I don't see the option for a wireless network card? Is that something you can buy outside of Apple?

I guess those items plus Photoshop CS3 would do it for her.

Also is there an e-mail/internet application included? We could never get her to use Outlook so she's been using MSN or something like that.

Thanks,

[Sasq]

The Airport Extreeme is your wifi and bluetooth connectivity
as for the memory its half a dozen of one/six of the other if you get it aftermarket or installed.

I just went aftermarket on my macbook pro

[Jerry Jones]

Apple Airport Extreme works great:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=7C143442&fnode=standard/home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/airport_wireless&nplm=MB053LL/A

Apple has also just come out with a new product called "Time Capsule."

Here:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=3CFDBA81&fnode=home&nplm=MB277LL/A

I'm using Airport Extreme at home.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jessterw]

Jerry,

Looks like the $1799 model would be good for her. Do you think more than 1GB of memory is needed for Photoshop work? How many memory slots are in this thing? Even if there are two it seems it would be cheaper to pull out the factory memory and buy the 2GB.

Also I don't see the option for a wireless network card? Is that something you can buy outside of Apple?

I guess those items plus Photoshop CS3 would do it for her.

Also is there an e-mail/internet application included? We could never get her to use Outlook so she's been using MSN or something like that.

Thanks,

With Leopard, I'd say it would be a safe bet to get more than 1GB memory if she's going to be running Photoshop CS3. You'll probably save a decent amount if you get after market memory instead of what Apple will sell you (just in terms of cost).

As Dan said, every current Mac comes with wireless and Bluetooth built-in, so no need to worry about that.

As far as an e-mail application, OS X comes with (Apple) Mail, which is more like Outlook Express than Outlook proper, but integrates very nicely with other Mac apps like iCal. For web browsing needs there is Apple's own Safari, as well as Firefox, Camino (think native Firefox), Opera, and OmniWeb. There used to be a version of the MSN client for OS X, though I couldn't say if it still exists or not.