PC user wanting to swap to Mac has some queries.
Hi,
As the title suggests I have a few queries about swapping from PC to Mac. Firstly I've been informed that you can't directly compare speeds, processors, RAM etc of a PC with a Mac as MAcs run quicker, but is there a way of knowing what an equivalent mac is compared with a specific spec PC. I understand PC specs but not sure how they translate to Mac. For example, my current Laptop has Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz processor with 4GB RAM (I'm wanting to improve on this spec), what would the equivalent Mac be?
I use my laptop for Full HD video editing and use Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9, and have found out this is not compatible with Mac. The only equivalent software I've seen for Mac is Final Cut Pro X, but I'm not prepared to pay £199 for this, especially considering the fact you can get Sony Vegas..... Platinum 11 for £30. Therefore I would need to partition my Macbook and run windows 7 (unless someone can recommend a good video editor for Mac which is much cheaper). Is it free to install windows 7 on a Mac or do you have to buy software? If so how much is it? Would it still recognise AVCHD?
One issue I have with Sony vegas on my current laptop is that it takes ages to render HD video, it can take hours (literally) to render 10mins of video. I don't know if this is down to the OS, RAM, processor or Hard drive, or something else. When editing I only have this one program open as using any other program (even the internet) is painfully slow. Would having a quad core i7 processor and 8GB RAM speed up the rendering process? Do Macs speed this process up, or if you are running it in windows mode would it be exactly the same as running it on a PC?
When ripping music to the Mac can you only rip in AAC/ALAC or can you rip it as MP3 so it's more 'universal'? I have music systems that can't read AAC :-/
Finally, when having a quick 'play' with a MacBook in store (PC world) I noticed that when I opened new Windows/apps the window did not fill the entire screen, and when you opened up further windows/apps you could see them stacked over each other a bit randomly. Can you change the setting so that the windows fill the entire screen, and can you set it so that this happens as default?
Sorry for all the questions, but I want to make sure a Mac's right for me before forking out thousands of pounds.