Forum menu
PC's are still not 'reliable'. the company I work for employs one of the usual big IT companies to provide and support our IT. We have the usual PC laptops rolled out. They are not reliable despite the support from the IT company. We keep our IT helpline busy. Ironically our visual comms team have a special dispensation to use iMacs, which are a good 5 years old now. They are supported by our IT company and connected to our network. They're fine, no issues whatsoever.
Wobbliscott, I wonder if that says more about the users behaviours than the systems themselves 😉
Wobbliscott, I wonder if that says more about the users behaviours than the systems themselves
Or the IT support company needing 'unreliable' computers to keep themselves in a job
I can't get my head around the usefulness of the touch bar, or otherwise. My laptop is used as a secondary display for toolbox/palettes and so on, to a larger display, and I use a separate keyboard and mouse/trackpad otherwise I'd be typing with my body twisted to one side. I cant see when I'd ever use it...
I'd be happy if Apple just produced a wireless keyboard with a numeric pad, or a wired one which worked... it's not the end of the world, I've got no problem with the Logitech one I'm using, I just can't understand why Apple have never addressed the basics of fixing their USB keyboard or releasing a wireless one with a numeric pad.
Part of the issue is that by saving all that money on PCs you might just be buying cheaper hardware in the first place. One of the advantages of the PC model is that you CAN produce and buy a £200 laptop that can do most things, but that doesn't mean everyone should of course. I wonder what the price premium is JUST on the OS? So like for like hardware and build quality?
So anyway, here's another thing regarding corporate uptake:
I went to a client a year or so ago who were completely MS. They had all the office productivity suite, and it was very impressive. Sharepoint, Lync, Office, the whole lot. We walked into a meeting room with a big projector and the documents were all up on the screen and shared in the virtual meeting with all the remote participants and it all worked instantly and perfectly. I was very impressed. Presumably Windows is tied into all this Office productivity suite - or is it available and as good on Mac?
Sharepoint
Which leads my train of thought onto...
What I've seen over the years - and is perhaps the big change in IT - is that it can be rolled out much more easily if the requirements are relatively basic, especially if provided as SaaS via a browser. Sharepoint is (not) a great example of this. It's a toolkit that, in the right hands, can build a great infrastructure for document creation, sharing, collaboration etc. However it's an infrastructure that is still needs "building" to get even the most basic of those requirements working as well as something out-of-the-box like Google Drive and Google Docs. I've worked at businesses that really struggle to get people to adopt Sharepoint because people want to use the tools that make their life easier, not harder.
Which comes back to the point some have made above, which is that for many small businesses, hardware and software is available that doesn't need extensive IT skills to deploy and support. Apple cottoned on to that benefit long before anyone else.
molgrips. We get all that with Google docs and Hangouts in our hetrogeneous company that has a mix of Windows/Linux/Macs.
It's hilarious that you quote Lync which is the worst most expensive pile of utter crap ever to grace a computer
Admittedly I don't know much about Sharepoint itself or Lync not being a user. But the impression I got in general was that a fully integrated Office/tech suite from a single provider (MS in this case) could work very well - in principle at least.
And Apple do not have anything like this offering AFAIK - or do they?
Which would make it Apple for very small businesses, and MS for bigger ones.
It's hilarious that you quote Lync which is the worst most expensive pile of utter crap ever to grace a computer
Surely can't be as bad as Lotus Notes?
As there are a lot of Mac users on this thread I would like to ask a question. Do you spend most of your time in the Mac native OS or do you use a Windows "emulator" such as Parallels or VMware Fusion?
If you do use these how well do they work?
I work for a Cisco partner and know many people who work for Cisco. They have a scheme where they can choose their PC and the majority (70%+) seem to go for Macs with those choosing PCs seeming to be the mavericks. A lot of them seem to run Windows on their Macs hence my question above.
I use VMWare Workstation which is the PC equivalent of Fusion.
It's not an emulator - it's a virtual machine running inside your Mac, which runs Windows natively. So apart from it being slightly slower and taking up a bit more battery time, you can't tell.
I went to a client a year or so ago who were completely MS. They had all the office productivity suite, and it was very impressive. Sharepoint, Lync, Office, the whole lot. We walked into a meeting room with a big projector and the documents were all up on the screen and shared in the virtual meeting with all the remote participants and it all worked instantly and perfectly.
[b]WOW![/b] Sounds, like.... [b]TOTES[/b] amazeballs dude!
*Goes back to colouring things in*
So apart from it being slightly slower and taking up a bit more battery time, you can't tell.
I use Fusion, it slows my Mac significantly and the VM is slow. I inherited a Mac a few months ago and gave up my Windows laptop for a bit. I will go back to Windows at some point at it is better and far more integrated with almost everything useful!
I went to a client a year or so ago who were completely MS. They had all the office productivity suite, and it was very impressive. Sharepoint, Lync, Office, the whole lot. We walked into a meeting room with a big projector and the documents were all up on the screen and shared in the virtual meeting with all the remote participants and it all worked instantly and perfectly. I was very impressed. Presumably Windows is tied into all this Office productivity suite - or is it available and as good on Mac?
To answer you question Molly, no. The O365 offering is still work in progress but is getting there.
It's a toolkit that, in the right hands, can build a great infrastructure for document creation, sharing, collaboration etc. However it's an infrastructure that is still needs "building" to get even the most basic of those requirements working as well as something out-of-the-box like Google Drive and Google Docs. I've worked at businesses that really struggle to get people to adopt Sharepoint because people want to use the tools that make their life easier, not harder.
Not quite, Sharepoint is a relatively easy tool to put in place. It offers collaboration which Apple has really struggled with. I am using a Mac but I am pretty agnostic about what device/operating platform I use each day. I manage on the Mac but there is no getting away from the fact it continues to feel "niche" and each time I want to share or collaborate it throws up small challenges.
Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox etc dont offer a manageable solution to Cloud based file sharing. Sharepoint solves this problem cheaply and with a minimum amount of development.
Never had any problems with Parallels, probably depends on the spec of the Mac though. I usually have 2 virtual machines running on my Mac Mini server and have had 3 with no problem (although nothing doing anything spectacularly difficult).I use Fusion, it slows my Mac significantly and the VM is slow
surfer, I agree about Apple when it comes to collaboration. It's a new thing for them and I can't see them making an impact against the likes of Google. As for Sharepoint, my experience of sharing and collaboration is poor compared to Google. Issues with incompatible browsers, incompatible software versions (e.g. Word) and an awful search tool make it a pain to use. Google Drive "just works".
use Fusion, it slows my Mac significantly and the VM is slow
Does have potential to do this. Do need to consider how much memory you allocate to the VM and where you place it (I.e. on which physical drive.) Works a lot better if you have a lot of memory and a separate physical drive for the virtual machine.
Isn't this why a lot of people grumbled about the new MacBook Pros i.e. the fact you could not upgrade them to the kind of RAM necessary for running multiple VMs?
I use Parallels, prior to that I tried boot camp but found it a pain to have to keep swapping between two operating systems. Parallels can be used within the Mac OS X with Windows within a window or Coherence mode which allows you to run Windows programs within OS X. I find Coherence mode most useful but not perfect as you can't drag and drop between OS X and Windows instead you need to open a folder to the Windows files within Finder and use that instead. I've tried other apps that supposed to overcome this problem but don't really work.
You get the odd crash which is usually from OS X rather than Windows but overall it works well.
Isn't this why a lot of people grumbled about the new MacBook Pros i.e. the fact you could not upgrade them to the kind of RAM necessary for running multiple VMs?
Yes I think so. My old MBP is great for this as I swapped out the hard drive and cd for two big SSD and loaded it with as much RAM as I could. If only it had a Retina display it'd be perfect.
You definitely can. Are you running the latest version?I find Coherence mode most useful but not perfect as you can't drag and drop between OS X and Windows
binners - Member
For instance the colour calibration on an Apple screen is far better than on a PC. And stuff like that really matters on a daily basis.
Better in what way?
Anyone doing work where colour is critical will have calibrated their display using a Spyder or similar and will be using a quality monitor, e.g. Dell Ultrasharp.
You definitely can. Are you running the latest version?
Parallels 11.2.2
ok, I'm still on 10 actually! What are you trying to drag from, and to? I've just dragged a JPG from Windows Explorer into Mac Photoshop, for example.
Pretty good article on the Apple laptop launch
[url= https://medium.com/charged-tech/apple-just-told-the-world-it-has-no-idea-who-the-mac-is-for-722a2438389b ]Apple just told the world it has no idea who the Mac is for[/url]
PDF's from a network windows folder into Outlook for Mac. You just get the file path rather than the document, same with copy and paste. Do the same folder from Finder and it copies the file into the email as you'd expect. I've got used to having two folders open to get round this.
I installed El Capitan some time ago and each time I restarted my Mac it came up with a message related to my SSD (something about an upgrade being successful) It wasn't a big issue and I only restart occasionally. The next time it happened I wasn't particularly busy so thought I would spend a few minutes getting rid of the message.
After a few minutes googling I eventually found a solution along the following lines (paraphrasing a little)
"I had the same message. I just reinstalled the OS and now it works perfectly"
Can you imagine the uproar if you told a Windows user to reinstall their operating system!! Fanboyism at its best!
To be fair reinstalling the OS is the nuclear option. Just because it worked doesn't mean there wasn't a much simpler solution. I've been using Macs for about 8 years now, have 7 at work and 2 at home and I've never had to reinstall the OS. Can't say that about the Windows machines I used to use!Can you imagine the uproar if you told a Windows user to reinstall their operating system!! Fanboyism at its best!
Possibly a problem with Outlook then, or some setting in Parallels I'm not aware of, as I've done just that with other applications (not Outlook).PDF's from a network windows folder into Outlook for Mac. You just get the file path rather than the document, same with copy and paste.
To be fair reinstalling the OS is the nuclear option
I didnt do it by the way, however when the inbuilt camera stopped working I was forced to after trying a number of other "solutions" The camera still doesn't work (it has worked previously for some time and it worked before El Capitan) and although I dont use it often I would like it to work. I am confident it is not a hardware issue.
So far no fix for that I have seen
What did you try? A quick google suggests typing this into the terminal
sudo killall VDCAssistant
To be fair reinstalling the OS is the nuclear option. Just because it worked doesn't mean there wasn't a much simpler solution.
If. You set up right on a pc it's a tiny issue, about 2hrs at most.
Dont work
Possibly a problem with Outlook then, or some setting in Parallels I'm not aware of, as I've done just that with other applications (not Outlook).
Same when you try doing it to Mail too so not an Outlook problem.
Anyone doing work where colour is critical will have calibrated their display using a Spyder or similar and will be using a quality monitor, e.g. Dell Ultrasharp.
You are aware this thread is about LAPTOPs, right?
Jesus! Listening to all you IT Spods droning on with all this totally incomprehensible giberish perfectly illustrates why 'normal' human beings just want to buy a machine they can plug in, turn on, and use, and are willing to pay a premium for that
Apple could just market their latest products with a link to this thread, and the strapline:
Buy a Mac! Then you'll never have to meet people like this!
😆
^ bingo. who cares about ‘enterprise sharing’ i have no idea what all that MBNA corporate crap is about.
‘sharing’ is nicking your colleagues biscuits while you upload a 4gb image to wetransfer.
Anyone doing work where colour is critical will have calibrated their display using a Spyder or similar and will be using a quality monitor, e.g. Dell Ultrasharp.
or an Eizo CG class. the Dell’s are not uniform enough.
who cares about ‘enterprise sharing’
A lot of people. Way more people work like this than like you do.
I can drag a file from Windows Explorer to make an attachment in OS X Mail just fine so I'd respectfully suggest it's you guys' setup that's the problem!Same when you try doing it to Mail too so not an Outlook problem.
Do you lot realise what you ACTUALLY sound like....?
Binners - don't worry if you don't understand. Just sit quietly now until break time ok? Would you like some crayons?
why 'normal' human beings just want to buy a machine they can plug in, turn on, and use
...right up until they have to open a terminal and type
sudo killall VDCAssistant
to fix the camera. Because that's user-friendly, right?
A lot of people. Way more people work like this than like you do.
Yep and Microsoft (Love them or hate them) get this.
Yes. One of the huge benefits of Macs is because the hardware is so tightly controlled GENERALLY what works to fix a problem on one will work on all of them. All you need to do in this instance is launch a program and copy-paste a line of text into it. Very, very easy. You don't have to figure it out for yourself or even know what it means.to fix the camera. Because that's user-friendly, right?
who cares about ‘enterprise sharing’?
You creative types aren't the only ones who want ease of use and lack of faff, you know 🙂 . In my line of work, sharing and collaborating on documents is important and, just like you, I want a machine I can plug in, turn on and use with minimal hassle. Apple are way behind the likes of Google and others when it comes to this kind of stuff. Will they catch up? Do they even want to? Are the "creative types" even a relevant market for Apple's growth anymore? Judging by this year's launches all their target market want is easier ways of using even more emojis.
For the record, I have Apple stuff cos it's nice looking hardware and it makes me smile when I use it. The software and OS itself are less and less relevant as most of my day to day stuff is done in a browser. Am I their target market?
All you need to do in this instance is launch a program and copy-paste a line of text into it.
Launching a terminal and typing a line of gibberish into it is user-friendly in Mac land? Amazing. It's like it's 1975 again. Do you have to de-frag the harddisk occasionally and install printer drivers too? (a quick google suggests yes and yes)