Concerns about Macs

[jdsjane]

We are switching to Macs in my school and have concerns that all the flip charts we are using will not work the same. Can you tell us if they will? The Apple salesman says all the tools are there but they just "look" a little different and may be in a different place. True? Are there potential problems we should be aware of? Is it a lot different? Will it be hard to switch??? We'd love to hear an opinion from someone who's switched. Thanks!

[LisaD]

I use both Mac and PC. I think it is very easy to go from PC to Mac! The tools look basically the same althought I think the Mac ones are a little prettier.

There are some things I have found though:

Import from Powerpoint isn't available on Mac.
But...you have import from pdf which is WONDERFUL and that is Mac ONLY!

Also you cannot have the spotlight or reveal tool show on arriving at a certain page but...if that was set already on the PC, I think it works on the Mac.

There should be a Promethean Learning course specifically for Mac users. Try going to:

http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=nav.2015

And look for the Mac course. (Foundation Level)

Hope this helps!

Lisa

[Josh]

you guys are going to be thrilled to get macs, they are a lot more user friendly, you will not have to worry about crashing, or restarts, or viruses. Everything just works, so that is why as long as you have to latest Software and Drivers installed on your new macs your flip charts and lessons with be fine. You will be a lot happier on mac once you learn how easy it is.

[bpeskin]

Just to pointout and to add to the mac plusses:

You can save a Powerpoint as a pdf on a mac by going to Print>Save As PDF. You can save anything as a PDF easily and so can easily import PowerPoint as a static image or image object. You can save web pages as PDF (sometimes you want a whole page that the camera tool can't capture). There are some other tricks to playin powerpoints, too.

There are a number of mac friendly built in features that enhance working with flipcharts. Like:

you can augment the color palette with some mac color picker tools
you can drag and drop duplicates/copies simply by holding the option key down when you drag (this is great when building flipcharts)
you can hold the option key down when moving an object to page selector by the hand, and that saves the copy/move choice step- it knows to copy
you can take screen shots of anything (even things the camera tool doesn't pick up) with apple-shift-4 --and you can copy and paste the screen shot by holding the control key down after you apple-shift-4 and surround the image. (I use this all the time for training screen shots.)
your mac will come with imovie that will let you edit and save videos you download into .mov format for easy use with flip
you'll get itunes! and garage band to make it easy to convert sound files.
and of course you can have a handy dandy user defined tool border maker (see other thread) and/or apple key board shortcuts for locking and unlocking and more.


Lucky you -- you get macs!

[cvj]

It would be nice to have something like a "Translator List" for the differences in the terminology used for PC's and Macs.

While following directions for a new trick I found on the forum, I spent two whole days searching and searching for my Studio Settings. As I read and reread everything I could find about Studio Settings and what they could do for me the fog slowly lifted and I realized that on my Mac they are the Preferences.

I find that I often have to translate information in PC terminology to Mac terminology before the directions I am trying to follow work. It probably happens the same way for PC users reading Mac users' directions...hence, a chart that gives the translation for the different terminology would be helpful.

Not to worry, though. AS is very easy (and fun) to use on a Mac!

[Jes2G]

We are switching to Macs in my school and have concerns that all the flip charts we are using will not work the same. Can you tell us if they will? The Apple salesman says all the tools are there but they just "look" a little different and may be in a different place. True? Are there potential problems we should be aware of? Is it a lot different? Will it be hard to switch??? We'd love to hear an opinion from someone who's switched. Thanks!

As with any document that is translated between a Mac and a Windows computer, there's almost always formatting issues. The fonts may not be the same (the most common issue) or not in the same format (which is why sticking to the "basics" is a good idea), but that's just the nature of dealing with cross-platform programs & documents. Other than, you should be fine. There are subtle differences with both versions, but as far as your flipcharts "working," I wouldn't be terribly concerned about it.