fightingthecage: (Gene - Boots)
[personal profile] fightingthecage

I have questions and conundrums! And no one to ask, except you lot.

Software:

Can someone recommend a video-making program that's around £100 or less? One that's a) easy to use, b) of decent quality and c) EASY TO USE. Because I want to make videos but I have no patience whatsoever with fiddly programs that make life awkward.

Writing:

Final Draft 8 or Movie Magic Screenwriter?

Final Draft is supposed to be the industry standard but the latest release is apparantly full of glitches, whereas MMS is...idk, not the standard (how different can these things be, I ask myself?) but is apparently great to use. It would be a drag to buy MMS and then have to buy FD8 when it came to sending stuff out though, right?


Nvm, went for MMS. Ran across a couple of comparison sites that unequivocally pointed to MMS, so. Yay!

Computers:

Using easy-to-understand words, can someone explain to me why MacBooks are so great? I'm looking for a new laptop and my uncle recommended them to me - he just got the new Air, and says it's amazing. But I look at the specs and it doesn't seem better than my current laptop, though I know it must be (probably doesn't help that I don't understand the specs).

I just want something fast - my current laptop has 4G of RAM and I love it, when my crap internet connection lets things move at speed, anyway - and someting fast, and did I mention fast? Because I always have tons of things operating at the same time and I can't bear waiting. And something cool, and easy to use - you have to learn different commands for Macs, don't you? And something widescreen and preferably with a Blu-Ray player and cool shit like that. My life would be made if Photoshop was included.

Idk. I am useless at this stuff. Recommend me things, people?



In other news, I love the way I thought my Student Loan was arriving on April 28th, only to open a bank statement this morning (which I never do! Open them, I mean) to find that it's been sitting, unmolested, in my account since March 28th. WIN! I am off to book a ticket to Download - damn that Festival, DAMN IT AND ITS DEF LEPPARD AND ALICE COOPER-SECURING WAYS - and then possibly clean some things. Or, y'know. Buy shit on the internet. :D I'm already four gneil books and a moleskine notebook and GROCERIES OMG to the good. And a DVD for Evie. I will stop now, though. Shit's gotta last me until October, yo.

But yes. HELP PLEASE. COMPUTER THINGS, IDEK.

Date: 2011-04-09 03:47 pm (UTC)
yakalskovich: (Default)
From: [personal profile] yakalskovich
I'd buy a Mac if I had twice the money to spend on gadgetry that I have. I sometimes use the Mac in the layout department at work, and returning to my regular PC after that is always like a reverse culture shock, like returning to my pre-space-flight planet from the USS Enterprise...

Macs deliver while PCs need fiddling and fuss. True multitasking and great speed? Is what you get there. Brilliant displays, easy user interfaces, lots of little gimmicks that seem to be superfluous, but in the end just help unobtrusively? That's Macs. Due to the way they are put together, they get much better results out of similar-sounding hardware, too. Fewer viruses, too, because the vast majority of computers is PCs, and there's no point in writing malware for the minority.

As for the MacBook in particular: runs much longer on battery power, you can just close it up and go without worrying about secret internal crashes happening while in dormant mode, is thin and light while powerful.

If you have the money for one, go for it!

Disadvantages: proprietary as hell. Apple controls almost everything about them. Not all standard software runs on them. You get regarded as this hipster wannabe creative, and/or yuppie with too much money, if you flout it too much. There are people that claim all Mac users are slightly insane and irrational. And the things are MAJORLY expensive!

Date: 2011-04-09 04:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fightingthecage.livejournal.com
Oooh, you make a compelling argument. *sits on hands* And I can definitely handle being thought of as a hipster wannabe creative (I am certainly the latter; am not entirely sure what a hipster is, so cannot claim the former but there are worse things to be thought of, I'm sure). I doubt anyone will mistake me as a yuppie but if they do, I'm alright with that as well.

Insane and irrational - probably not something I can deny after knowing me more than a day. So! All in all, this sounds like a win. I will look into them. Performance is what I'm after, ultimately. Everything else doesn't really matter. I'm just sick of messing about with computers that are 'alright'; I want something kickass that's actually going to handle what needs handling.

Thank you muchly! Appreciate the input. :)

Date: 2011-04-09 04:30 pm (UTC)
yakalskovich: (Oy! I win at silly!)
From: [personal profile] yakalskovich
Well, if you don't mind the image, then go for it! Pro writers do seem to like the things. I know that one lady, co-founder of my else!game, bought herself an iMac from the proceeds of her first professional sale of (romance) fiction, and has by now not only covered that genre quite lucratively, but has published her first 'real serious' novel which is very good. All written on her trusty iMac.

Oh, and if you make music, the Mac is the computer for you as well. Graphics, video, DTP -- all these artsy things that need performance like whoa, when the technology must not be allowed to cramp the creative process by slowness, cumbersome interfaces, or crashing, that's where the Mac comes into its own.


ETA: Oh, and hipsters. Here is a rather hands-on and funny example of what they are all about. Plus a rather more serious explanation. And I'll stop editing this comment already!
Edited Date: 2011-04-09 05:04 pm (UTC)

Date: 2011-04-16 05:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fightingthecage.livejournal.com
I do not mind the image! Even though, by that definition you have up there, there is already a term for them in this country - 'pretentious wankers'. :D

And yep, I like music. I like graphics and video and artsy stuff too - sounds like the Mac's for me!

Date: 2011-04-16 06:34 pm (UTC)
yakalskovich: (Default)
From: [personal profile] yakalskovich
Yep! Go for it, and tell me how you like it.

And if I had the money, I'd quite like to be a pretentious wanker that way, too...

**grins**

Date: 2011-04-09 10:04 pm (UTC)
ceitfianna: (feathered face)
From: [personal profile] ceitfianna
I plan on buying a Mac for my next laptop and using my student discount for all its worth.

Both my parents and brothers have them and I just love the ease of use. Maru did a really good job of explaining all the reasons they're lovely. So I want one too as while my current HP works, the screen acts up and I need to hit it so it works.

Date: 2011-04-16 05:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fightingthecage.livejournal.com
Thanks for the input! I'm pretty set on one now, I think. :)

Date: 2011-04-12 11:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mulefa.livejournal.com
i have a mac now and i'm never ever going back to a pc: NO viruses - ever

Date: 2011-04-16 05:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fightingthecage.livejournal.com
As I'm pretty sure my PC has just been infected with something - this is another tick mark for the Mac. :)

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