It's been an extremely frustrating and stressful week for me as my PC decided to finally bow out (Dont' worry, photos are all backed up :) I've been a Windows user for years, however thought I would take use the opportunity to take the plunge and switch over to Mac, considering they offer some of the best products for photography. After dropping nearly $3K on a new beautiful 24" iMac, I soon realized all the issues of having a Mac that I didn't think of. Many of the programs that I rely on to run business in an organized/timely fashion are no longer compatible, I can't print with my new laser printer, I've lost several emails of clients, and can't access many of the backup files I need as they aren't compatible with the way a Mac works. (Overall, a real nightmare) The problem here, lies in the fact that the new Windows Vista operating system seems to have some major issues and many are complaining of its performance..... not something I want to deal with after all of this. Of course to make things even more complicated, all the major computer stores have upgraded, and only sell computers that have Microsoft Windows Vista installed, so I've been in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't situation" all week.
Today, I completely packed up the Mac to return it (which I know is unheard of to have someone return a Mac!), only to change my mind as I was about to walk out the door and set it all back up again to try and find a solution to my problem. After hours of researching and trying to come up with a solution, I'm pretty much back to square one, and will need to return it tomorrow to go back to windows I think. I'd hate to be the poor guy at Best Buy or Circuit City in the morning that has to put up with a week's worth of frustration from me - only kidding :)
This whole issue has been a complete nightmare, and I look forward to getting things back to normal as quickly as possible, so I can get back to work. Due to my computer issues, I've lost emails and been horrible at getting back to people, so please bare with me while we get things fixed. Nothing of any importance here - just wanted to keep in touch and let people know what's going on. I know many are anxious to see samples from the Monica & Jake wedding, and promise to have things online as soon as possible - I hope everyone's having a better week than me - TGIF tomorrow!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Eeeek - Computer Nightmares This Week!
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8 comments:
Sorry to hear about all the tech woes you have been having this week! Tom has Vista installed on his laptop and his destop and so far says "It isn't as bad as all the Microsoft Naysayers are making it seem." He really hasn't had too many problems with it. He has had a little trouble updating drivers but if you're buying a machine with it on it rather than upgrading, it will have all the Vista drivers anyway. The graphical improvements are tremendous and it has a lot of cool features. Some programs are running much better with it!
But the most important thing: the new games (new version of solitaire, minesweep) are awesome! Kidding. The again, that could be what you're doing when you're waiting by the computer to answer emails in 30 seconds :-)
Haha.... I'm surprised I still respond to emails :)
I bought a new computer today, but won't have it for about 3 days since i'm having it souped up beyond belief for maximum speed, etc. I guess i will be stuck doing house/lawn work now :(
Thanks for the comment, and am really glad to hear the news about Vista since I'm so worried about it. I'm hoping all goes smooth and i can get back on track with things quickl! I hope all is well! :)
Hey Matt,
To expand upon what Jamie lynn was saying, I'm satisfied with Vista overall, any problems are fairly mild to someone who's more savvy than the common user. Of course there are always issues when a new operating system is released, but when it comes to Microsoft, people's innate rebelliousness against "the man" kicks in and blows it way out of proportion.
I think using 32 bit Vista is fairly safe. The issues aren't really with Vista per se, but with 3rd party support. That being said, new drivers are being released frequently. Within the past month I've probably had three different versions of my video drivers installed, and the performance improved significantly with each. It's best to stick with the 32 bit Vista for now, even if you have a 64 bit processor. I have very little experience with the 64 bit version. I toyed with a release candidate before it's release and at that time there was very little support, even when there was, it still didn't work as it was supposed to. Most software is still 32 bit, so although 64 bit Vista can emulate a 32 bit environment to run the software, you're not really reaping the benefit of 64 bit performance. I also hear that due to the extra security in 64 bit, if you get a driver or software who's publisher has not been signed by Microsoft, the operating system won't allow it to be installed at all, rather than the traditional driver signing warning you would get in the 32 bit windows. I'm not certain, but I think all the new PC's have the 32 bit version, and Microsoft offers an upgrade that you order from them for a nominal fee if you want 64 bit, so it's probably a moot point anyhow.
I can't speak for the software you intend to use, but as for my experience, any application that has given me problems has been corrected simply by right clicking on the program shortcut to bring up the menu, clicking "properties", then the "compatibility" tab. Check the box next to the line that says "run this program in compatibility mode for:" and in the drop down menu beneath that, make sure "Windows XP (service pack 2)" is selected. In that same tab check the box where it says "run this program as an administrator." Of course If you feel that you need help with anything, I'd be happy to look into it. Enjoy the new machine.
Tom...
Wow! Thanks for the feedback on this stuff as it's very reasurring of the whole Vista thing. I'll have to admit, you are much more computer savvy that me as I don't quite get all the bit stuff as I should, but I will certainly look into that, thanks.
I ended up getting a machine with Windows Vista Ultimate, and a 2 Quad 6600 quad core processor at 2.4. It has a pretty nice graphics card, and I maxed out the ram with 4 Gigs, rather than 2 to go along with it's 500 gig storage. Based on these stats, it should be a lightning fast and powerful machine (I'm hoping!) Anyway, I'll keep you posted, and again appreciate the feedback on this! :)
All I have to say is DAMN that is an awesome machine :-)
We shall see..... I've always said, "if you're gonna do it - do it right!" :)
P.S. I'll keep ya posted how she works!
By the way, LOVE the new categories you added to the instaproofs site! Forgot to tell you that when I noticed them.
We're gettin' smarter as we go I guess, and learning from experience how to make things as simple and easy for folks as possible :)
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