What's different about a Mac vs. a PC?

If I have the money, my next computer will be a Mac. However, I do not understand why Mac machines are twice the price of a PC with same hardware specs. Now that basically Mac uses the same hardware as PC does, besides the OS, what justifies twice as expensive as a PC?

direwolf8 wrote:
I don't agree with your premise at all. There aren't any low end Macs to compete with low end PC's. But price a machine that's exactly comparable to the Mac Pro from Dell or HP and you won't find it cheaper.
"Joe Public" obviously agrees with you. Well the American "JP" anyway!
Because, according to recent surveys, carried out by market analysts in the USA and reported in both MacWorld UK and MacFormat UK, 9 out of 10 of all personal computers sold costing $1,000 or more there are Apple Macs. Actually, to split hairs, in one report the figure was 91%.
So either 90/91% of all Americans purchasing personal computers costing $1,000 or more are idiots with more money than sense, or they realise and appreciate that the Mac is in fact excellent value for money.
Why should Apple drop its standards to compete in the sub $1,000 sector when it dominates the higher quality market?
I just wish that the British "Joe Public" had as much sense as its American counterpart, and then we would have access to the much wider range of Mac related accessories that you enjoy in the States.
Apple's share of the market here is increasing steadily, as more and more people are realising that £ for £ Macs are better value than their PC imitators when you compare like for like.
When you also consider the longevity of most Macs compared to PCs, that there are fewer problems with the hardware, and that generally maintenance costs are considerably lower, then buying a Mac makes even more sense.
Add the superior Mac OS to the equation, and the decision of whether to buy a Mac or a PC is a "No Brainer", especially as the Mac will even accommodate those users who still need to use "Dimdows". Sorry, I meant "Windows"!

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What is different about the new Airport Extreme?

I've been waiting for a refresh of the Airport line before I buy a new one; I can't tell if the new one is available or not. What is different about the Airport Extreme that the FCC listed in June 2011 from the October 2009 model? I currently have the UFO-shaped Airport from 2003 and it doesn't have enough ports on the back, so it's time to upgrade.
So... what's different? Is it out yet?

What is different about the Airport Extreme that the FCC listed in June 2011 from the October 2009 model?
We don't have any official announcement or specifications from Apple regarding this so called June 2011 model. At any given time there are dozens of rumors floating around on the Internet regarding new products.
The terms of use agreement of the forum.....which we all agreed to.....do not permit us to discuss a product that has not been officially announced from Apple.
When/if that occurs, and Apple has provided us some specifications to look at.....we can talk about the "new" product.

FAQ: Why is Photoshop Elements cheaper? What's different about Photoshop?

What is Photoshop CS/CC (PSCS/PSCC)?
Photoshop is a professional tool used throughout many industries as the standard for digital image manipulation and painting. It has very rich, and often complex, tools and options. As such, it comes with a professional price tag.
What is Photoshop Elements (PSE)?
Photosohp Elements is a consumer product. It's made for users who don't need as many features and complex options. It has a simpler design, guided workflows, and an organizer to help you manage your files.
What are the some of the specific differences?
Here is a list of some of the major differences between Photoshop Elements and Photoshop:
Adobe Camera Raw differences between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements
Photoshop Elements comes with a database driven Digital Asset Management application called Elements Organizer. Photoshop comes with Bridge, a file navigation system that operates much like Windows Explorer or Macintosh Finder. While there are several functions that both Organizer and Bridge use, they are fundamentally different applications and serve different purposes.
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There is very little 16-bit support in Photshop Elements. You cannot create or convert an image to 16-bit, only open images that are already 16-bit. While working with a 16-bit image you cannot work with layers. The following tools do not work: Magic Wand, Selection Brush, the family of Type tools, Recompose, Cookie Cutter, Straighten, the brush based tools (Paint Brush, Eraser, Dodge, Blur, etc), or the shape based tools (Rectangle, Ellipse, Custom Shape, etc). Many filters do not work, mainly those featured in the Filter Gallery.
Photoshop Elements does not fully support Smart Objects. While you can open files that already have Smart Object layers, you cannot create Smart Objects nor open the files embedded as Smart Objects.
Photoshop Elements does not have a Channels panel. Nor does it have the Channel Mixer Adjustment/Enhancement.
Photoshop Elements cannot merge multiple/bracketed photo exposures into an HDR image. There is no support for 32-bit images. However, Photoshop Elements does offer Photomerge Exposure as a similar function.
Photoshop Elements does not use the same range of Content-Aware functions. While the Spot Healing Brush includes the Content-Aware option in both applications, Photoshop Elements does not have Conent-Aware as an option in the Edit > Fill Layer command (known simply as Edit > Fill in Photoshop). However, Photoshop Elements does use a Content-Aware Fill option when creating a Photomerge Panorama, this is not an option in Photoshop. Photoshop CS6 introduced the Content-Aware Extend and Move tools, which are not available in Photoshop Elements.
Photoshop Elements has fewer vector based tools. The Pen family of tools are not available. The Shape tools do create a vector shape layer, but the vector points cannot be edited individually. There is no Paths panel.
The licence from a boxed purchase of Photoshop Elements is multi-platform (as of version 9). This means you can install on either Windows or Macintosh or both without having to purchase a separate version. This was not true with Photoshop. However, with Creative Cloud we no longer sell boxed products and all licenses are multi-platform.
Photoshop Elements does not have the Subtract or Divide blending modes that were introduced in Photoshop CS5.
Photoshop and Photoshop Elements can both Transform selected pixels in the following ways: Scale, Rotate, Skew, Distort, and Perspective. Photoshop Elements does not have the Warp Transform option.
The Photoshop Elements Color Picker does not include the following options available in Photoshop's Color Picker: the Not a web-safe color alert icon, the Add to Swatches and Color Libraries buttons, and the Lab and CMYK models.
Photoshop Extended CS6 has the following panels that Photoshop Elements 11 does not: 3D*, Brush, Brush Presets, Channels, Character, Character Styles, Clone Source, Color, Layer Comps, Measurement Log*, Notes, Paragraph, Paragraph Styles, Paths, Properties, Styles, Timeline, and Tool Presets.
Photoshop Elements does not support Extensions such as Mini Bridge and Kuler.
*In some release versions of Photoshop, there Standard and Extended variants. Marked features are only available in Photoshop Extended, where applicable.
[EDITORS NOTE: This is a work in progress, this list is not yet comprehensive]

I found 3 crashes under your name. 2 of them are uncommon, but occur in the ExtensisFontManagement plugin and appear to be due to a bug in the plugin. The first is a crash on quit, and the second is Extensis attempting to override Alerts for some odd reason, and their override fails.
The third crash cause happens more frequently, cause unknown, but it looks very, very similar to the Extensis Alert override bug.
So, try disabling the ExtensisFontManagement plugin, and I suspect your Photoshop CS4 experience will be a lot happier.

What's different about the CC version?

I'm getting completely confused about the CC version. Is it still possible to work on a standalone machine (i.e. not connected to the internet) or does one have to be connected to the internet to do any work? My problem is that I do a lot of work while traveling in trains, planes, etc.. and if I need to be connected then, that's it - I can't upgrade to the new range of Adobe design suite, which would be a shame!! Any help would be appreciated.

No disrespect intended but you must have been in hiding for the past year and especially since June.
Adobe have dropped the CS products with CS6 being the last, they have promised some bug fixes but users are not holding their breath waiting. The great thing about the CS range has been that they have perpetual licenses, that is pay once and use forever.
The CC is a subscription based "service" where users pay a monthly fee, users need to log in once per month to validate the license to ensure the software continues to work. Cease subscribing and the software stops working.
Please do not start a rant, that has been done to death, the situation is what Adobe have given users, take it or leave it.
As you appear to be a CS user do the math and you will see that the CC is way the heck more expensive than the previous upgrade route.
Many CS users are actively looking or have moved to other manufacturers.
In my view the CC subscribers have thieir heads stuck so far up their own cloud that the sun is shining. Meekly submitting to Adobe, if we all stood firm and said no give us CS7 they would soon have to change their working practice
If your CS is not broke, take my advice and do not fix it.
Col

What's different about the pc card slot

i thought it was the same as before?
and do pc cards have to be made for mac. or could i go buy any pc card type expansion thing and put it in my powerbook?
i think i understand from the thread that just got locked away that i couldn't with a macbook. right?
i saw a FW 800 pc card earlier today on the internet and though 'oh, you could just put one of those in' but it sounds like i'm in the techno dark here.
thanks for any clarity,
joey

With serial, the data is transferred digital-bit-by-digital-bit down a single wire (actually, a pair of wires is needed to complete the electrical circuit). With parallel, multiple bits are sent over multiple wires at the same time. The advantage to serial is that it can operate at higher speeds than parallel because it doesn't have to wait for a whole group of bits to get to the destination before the next group of bits is sent.
Serial-ATA is just a particular serial communication standard, analogous to USB or Firewire.

CC 2014, Illustrator, type with Drop Shadows what's different about them?

I just tried to give a line of type a drop shadow, using Creative Cloud Illustrator CC 2014. When I first apply the drop shadow a blur shows up and the only what I can give it a shape is and by going to O inches blur. What on earth is going on...do I have a bad copy of Illustrator?
I'm using Illustrator on a PC running Windows 7 Professional, has an Haswell i5 processor and 16 GB of memory. I'm using the 64 bit version of CC 2014
When I've gone to Help it won't accept drop shadow and type for illustrator at all.
Thank you very much, in advance. Any help would really be appreciated appreciated.

This is what I get: Mode: Normal; Opacity: 75%; X Offset: 0.1 in; Y offset: 0.1 in; Blur: 0.1in Color: Black

Can you explain what's different about 3.7 captive runtime?

I noticed one of the features for Android is captive runtime. Isn't that already supported? What's changed? Is it just captive runtime is enabled by default? I read somewhere where you say it's supported by more targets but what does that mean?

In AIR 3.6 you would either have had to install the AIR 3.6 runtime APK onto your device yourself, or you would have to get it from one of the Android stores. If you did neither of those things, then the app would not run.

This is what I hate about Mac...

This is what bugs me about running mac! I have sent various crash reports to this forum (A support forum hosted by APPLE).
No one has ever pointed me in the right direction. I don't know who else to ask? Is there anyone?
Lots of people seem to think their Mac is great.
Mine keeps crashing!
If I want to run Logic 9 I have to spend $2500 because I would need a New Mac pro.
If my Mac didn't give me so much grief I would spend the money on a new one.
I am convinced that I should get a PC! It must be more stable!
grrrr

I only see one post about crashing, and it got responses but you never followed up.
Like pancenter said, try reinstalling the latest version of 10.5 from the combo updater. I would do whatever hardware tests you have available, it's possible you have bad memory or a hard drive starting to fail.
If that doesn't help, I'd try running Logic with no hardware hooked up and no third party plugins. If you still get crashes that points to a problem with Logic, if not start adding those back in a little at a time since one of those may be causing the crashes.
In your other post you mentioned switching to Cubase. They don't support G5 any more with their latest versions, only intel. I don't who if any of the audio devs is still supporting PPC, if you want the latest software you may need to get a new machine at some point. The good news is that even an iMac or laptop will probably run circles around the machine you have now.

H.264/ACC mp4s for iPhone - What's different?

I want to learn how to MANUALLY set up my own H.264 videos for iPhone, but
I'm having trouble determining why I can't custom encode video as H.264/ACC mp4 and get this onto iPhone.
from the tech specs (just H.264 stuff):
Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
When I use QuickTime presets to encode to iPhone, works great. Same with most 3rd party apps... encode to iPhone, works good. But none of these options even allow me to see exactly how the video is being encoded (detail summaries are available, but I want to see how to set this up MANUALLY without using the preset).
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VLC has transcoding ablities (nice software!), and encodes H.264 w/ ACC mp4s, and I have now tried dozens of times to get anything out of VLC in H.264 onto the iPhone (again, result works in QT, and iT, but refuses to sync to iPhone).
What, exactly, is special about encoding for iPhone, that one can't just follow the specs and expect it to work (like it works well for mp4v?) If my video is encoded properly (AFAIK), even if I match the specs when encoding custom, say, with QT, using what QT would use with its iPhone setting, it still doesn't work.
What is different about the videos that work with iPhone, and the videos that, by all appearances and specs, should work, but don't? What is special about iPhone video encoding that isn't obvious from the specs Apple advertises?

If you want to encode video with H.264 for playback in Flash Player on the Web, consider rendering and exporting to an F4V container.
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Alternatively, if you are going to use a separate, third-party encoder to create your H.264 files, then don't encode to H.264 from After Effects; rather, create a losslessly compressed master movie that you then run through your encoder.

HT1750 What about TWO different numbers in MacOs (about this mac window) and on the bottom of the foot of the iMac ???

What about TWO different serial numbers in macOs (about this mac window) and on the foot of the mac. This mac was not purchased as a refurbished nor has been sent for servicing on any time since purchasing...
The one in MacOs is answering : "This is not a valid Apple Product serial number" when i try to check the iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program...

You will need to check with Apple - might be a good idea to take it to a Genius Bar so they can see it for themselves (and the diagnosis is free).

I received a memory warning on my 2010 MacBook pro. When I open up the about my mac box I see a lot of memory being conumed with "other". However, when i go into finder and look whjat I have stored, i have difficulty in seeing what is eating up my comput

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1. When I open finder, I can't seem to see where/why my computer's memory is almost exhausted.
2. What is the best way to focus on where my memory is being consumed.
3. What is the safest way of deleting programs/files that are not needed.
4. In my mail account I see hundreds of messages for email, but they have an OLK designator, if I delete these, does that erase the same message from Microsofy outlook for Mac or is it a redundant file. These messages do not consume much memory though.
5. I know there will be a new operating system available this summer, and I am trying to make sure that if I pursue it, I will have sufficient memory available.
many thanks,

there is an app called daisydisk on mac app store which will help you see exactly where the memory is focused and consumed try using that app and see which folders are using more memory

When I go to About This Mac and click on Storage it shows 421.93GB as Other. This only leaves 46.85GB of 499.25GB free. How do I find out what this "Other" is so I can remove the stuff I don't need?

When I go to About This Mac and click on Storage it shows 421.93GB as Other. This only leaves 46.85GB of 499.25GB free. How do I find out what this "Other" is so I can remove the stuff I don't need?

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A good source of external drives at a reasonable price is the Mac specialist, OWC, http://www.macsales.com
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Why would it state under the "more about this mac" that i already have10.8.3 and then in the app store say i need to "resume" do you know what i mean? is it possible i already did download mountain lion entirely once? I am confused and don't want it twice

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This is cause by the way the App Store checks to see if an application is installed on your system.
Basically when an app is installed it is in the Applications folder and this is where the MAS looks for them. So it looks at your purchase history for the apps you bought and looks in the Applications folder to see if they are installed. If an app is in your purchase history but not in the Applications folder the MAS says you need to install it.
For normal apps this works fine but the OS doesn;t install into the Applications folder. So the MAS sees you have Mountain Lion in your purchase history but it's not in the Applications folder and so it says you need to download it.
Hopefully one of these days Apple wil fix this.
regards

When I click "about this mac" to check on my storage, I get a number of different sections music, movies, etc. but also I get a section called backups, where can I find the files in this section?

When I click "about this mac" to check on my storage, I get a number of different sections music, movies, etc. but also I get a section called backups, where can I find the files in this section?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
All the storage in "Backups" is taken up by local snapshots, which are made automatically in all MacBooks, MacBooks Pro and MacBooks Air with OS X Lion or newer and Time Machine turned on.
See > http://pondini.org/TM/30.html I recommend you to leave them there, because they will be removed automatically. However, if you want, you can disable or remove them manually if you want, even if there's no reason to do this. Have a look at the link above for more information

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Read through the links here, calm down and take your time.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

What's different about a Mac vs. a PC?

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