Real switch stories?

Vista Business actually has most of the multimedia tools... just not DVD Maker or the HD version of Movie Maker. (Media Center, which lets you record TV, is also missing.) Instead of upgrading to Ultimate, look at Adobe Premiere Elements instead. I haven't used it personally but I would expect it to fill the gap reasonably nicely. The photo program I believe comes with all Vista versions, or you can download Picasa for free.

 

I truly don't mean to be rude but it's painfully obvious you have really never used Apple's current iLife suite. I also see that you don't use a Mac. Too many times I have read forums on the web as well as my own experience that people WISH Vista's DVD maker had half of the features and templates of iDVD. They are not similar and you can't do a damn thing with DVD Maker. You can't tweek it, it's very basic. iDVD integrates with iTunes and iMovie and it comes with tons more themes and it's very customizable for a very professional look.
iMovieHD works with the most professional Firewire cams and it offers more than enough to satisfy demanding users. The OP didn't ask which app was better for studio post production, he just wanted to know if it was worth investing money to upgrade his version of Vista to use Microsoft's media apps over his current Mac Tiger set up with iLife.

 

Actually, I owned and used a MBP for everything for quite a while and *did* look into the iLife apps quite thoroughly.

As I said, people's preferences differ and that's perfectly fine.

No rudeness taken.

 

::Background::
I switched...to PC! I had a Titanium G4 Rev. A and it was/is (my dad uses it for email) a great computer. However, when the firewire died (4 years after purchase) I didn't want to spend $800 fixing the old girl. I thought about getting a cardbus adapter, but it seemed troublesome and, in the end, I really just wanted a new computer. The new AlBooks were larger and less elegantly designed than the TiBook (the screen had/has a very limited range of movement) and it just wasn't my cup of tea. I considered the 12" i/powerbooks, but the screen thing was kind of annoying AND they lacked pcmcia slots (imagine if the ports went out...what remedy then?). In any event, I went with a ginormous Dell 8600 which was a welcomed upgrade. It was much faster than my G4 and it had a great 128mb Ati video card.
::OS observations::
OSX is better suited to mobile computing. Period. Instantaneous wake-from-sleep is a feature that I missed dearly (and I still do). It's so frustrating to push the powerbutton just to sit through both the Dell wake-up screen AND the Windows wake-up screen, whereas with the TiBook I'd just open the screen and there would be my desktop, just as I left it. Wireless networking is also better on the Mac, at least for a newb. PCs (Thinkpads, Dell) have manufacturer-specific wireless drivers that compete with window's management of wireless networks in a very confusing manner. It works, but it's just weird and, when things go wrong, very troublesome. In any event, I am familiar with Windows since I have kept Windows and Mac desktops since System 7/DOS/Windows3.11 .
: roblems::
PCs are difficult, at times, so when my mom needed a laptop I directed her towards a MacBook. Well, that was a mistake. I get calls all the time about iPhoto this or random shutdowns that. When she brings the laptop over, I have a hell of a time troubleshooting. Especially when I found out that the Macbook has no hardware eject button. It was scary trying to jam the drive so that it would eject the disk. PCs have tons of compatibility/driver issues, but they are fairly easy to resolve if you're not a total idiot.

 

Well it's not that linear. Both operating systems have great quality in the products available for them, the difference is the kind of quality.
You get a good program that is easy to use in a mac and you have the option to use many more specific professional grade applications in a pc.
For instance, when I have to edit a video I would never use iMovie or Movie Maker, I find them very limiting. Instead I use Adobe Premiere. I know it's available for both platforms, but that's not usually the case, particularly in the field I work.

 

See at this point switching (since that's the topic of the thread) concerns that people have are mostly in terms of gaming and that has been addressed from Apple by allowing Windows to be installed on the Mac as well as other non-Windows ways of running Windows software. But when it comes to consumer post production software Apple's offerings are better. iMovie may not cut it but Final Cut Express rivals Adobe's offerings and since Apple makes it FCE will undoubtedly offer more Mac specific features.
Final Cut Pro takes it to the max if needed.
I can use Adobe, Apple and many other 3rd party software offerings which will do the job. You have to look past what's on Windows as if it's the only solution and open your mind that there's tons of Mac offerings for post production. Avid is another one.

 

True, avidness is what I lack in this case. Right now my only struggle with macs are the plugins for sketchup and not being able to have autocad and foobar2000. I also find that bootcamp is not that good of a solution. It's like patching up for what os x lacks and you have to reboot to use certain programs wich is kind of a pain in the ass when you can have everything in one operating system. Besides I don't have the option at work because I use an ancient g4 350mhz.

 

One app that has me hesitating on the MBP is OneNote. I was really looking forward to an x61 tablet with OneNote, for class. I'm not sure that Parallels or BootCamp will be able to satisfy my OneNote desires...

 

Well, you still can't write on the MBP no matter what OS you're using...

I'm going to use OneNote through Parallels and/or Boot Camp as well. I figure no matter what problems Parallels will have, it should be able to handle at least office apps just fine right?

 

It's quite disappointing how spoiled the world gets once you satisfy their salivation. Before bootcamp people were planning and plotting ways to make the Mac dual boot. So many Windows users kept saying, "if the Mac could dual boot I wouldn't want anything else but a Mac". Now Apple has granted their wishes all I read about is people complaining about having to dual boot. The Mac is still the only machine that offers the best of both worlds and it's still not good enough.
I would much rather have the dual boot option than to deal with 2 separate computers. I need certain Apple apps for my productivity and the security and I like certain Windows games. I have a PowerPC Mac, I wish I had the capability of some you guys with Intel based Macs but you don't appreciate what you have that others don't. Just use Windows only if it's too much trouble for you.