Windows user considering MacBook Air

[rchapman80]

Hello,

I am currently in the market for a new laptop. I have grown up using windows but I am no loyalist. I am currently considering a few different options both windows and Mac but I have a few questions that I'm hoping the good people here can help me with.

1) I currently have a windows desktop with an USB shared drive across me network. Would I be able to access this and the files on it from the Mac or would the file structure differences cause me problems?

2) I enjoy taking pictures with my DSLR, what is the Mac photo software like? I don't do a lot of post processing, sometimes non. Is the software easy to use and any good.

3) Same question for video as photos above.

4) I intend to install boot camp and windows 8.1. While it will not be used all the time, I still have some software on windows that is unavailable or too expensive for me to just go out and get the Mac version. How seemless is this process? How is the usability, does it stutter or hang up, etc?

5) While I'm initially thinking MacBook Air 11" due to the extreme portability, do any of you believe that the retina MacBook Pro 13" would be a better purchase due to my photography habit and video?

My use cases:
Email, web browsing, photography, small video editing (around 5 minute clips), office, music

thank you all for your answers.

 

[Mike Alessi]

Hello,

I am currently in the market for a new laptop. I have grown up using windows but I am no loyalist. I am currently considering a few different options both windows and Mac but I have a few questions that I'm hoping the good people here can help me with.

1) I currently have a windows desktop with an USB shared drive across me network. Would I be able to access this and the files on it from the Mac or would the file structure differences cause me problems?

2) I enjoy taking pictures with my DSLR, what is the Mac photo software like? I don't do a lot of post processing, sometimes non. Is the software easy to use and any good.

3) Same question for video as photos above.

4) I intend to install boot camp and windows 8.1. While it will not be used all the time, I still have some software on windows that is unavailable or too expensive for me to just go out and get the Mac version. How seemless is this process? How is the usability, does it stutter or hang up, etc?

5) While I'm initially thinking MacBook Air 11" due to the extreme portability, do any of you believe that the retina MacBook Pro 13" would be a better purchase due to my photography habit and video?

My use cases:
Email, web browsing, photography, small video editing (around 5 minute clips), office, music

thank you all for your answers.

1) You would be able to access the drive to move or copy files as you see fit. However, Mac OS cannot write to an NTFS formatted drive without 3rd party software, so the drive would appear as read only. You could format the drive as ExFat (or even FAT) to get full functionality with both Windows and OS X.

2) New Macs come with Photos, a new application for viewing and editing photos. It's very easy to use, and has some limited editing features built in as well.

3) Macs come with iMovie built in for editing video, which is fairly lighwteight, free, and easy to use. Final Cut Pro, arguably the industry standard for professional video editing, is Mac only and made by Apple. This obviously doesn't come installed, but it's an option if you want to purchase it.

4) Boot camp is a free option that comes with your Mac, but it does require you to reboot to use Windows. There are other options, such as Parallels and VMWare Fusion, that would allow you to run Windows side-by-side with the Mac OS. These options are not free in most cases that I am aware of, except for perhaps Virtual Box.

5) I carry my MBPr with me everywhere. It's light, powerful, and has a beautiful screen. If you're going to be doing a lot of work with photos and any video editing, I would definitely suggest a MacBook Pro.

Hope this helps! Hopefully you make the right choice and come join us in Apple land.

--Mike

 

[Ledsteplin]

Go for it! I would if I could.




 

[BlackBerry Guy]

If you're installing Windows via Boot Camp, your Mac becomes a Windows PC. There's no virtualization involved, so everything runs as it would natively on the hardware.

 

[rchapman80]

So I did it. I decided on a Mac today. Although I decided on the Retina Macbook Pro 13 with 256gb HD. I have gotten a chance to play with it for few hours and I must say that I am really impressed so far with the hardware and user experience. The screen is amazing and the computer is very fast and snappy. So far I am happy with my purchase.

Thank you all for your help. I will probably be on the forums more as I learn my way around OS X.