what type of computer do you have?

I have a Dell XPS desktop and a Sony Vaio laptop. The Dell has XP and the Sony has Vista so I'm having lots of problems trying to get my two computers to share anything. Some programs won't work with my vista. What a pain.

Anyhow I have OfficeLive for my website and have their store. Don't care much for it, but I couldn't pass up the cost. Any software for the website should be included in the purchase price from the host (or whatever they're called). As far as design software, most of the people here use Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, or CorelDraw. I have the last two, but find coreldraw to be easier to work with (that is after I bought an instuctional CD on it).

My problem is coming up with designs. I don't have much of an imagination and I'm definitely not artistically inclined.

To run a website, i ALWAYS suggest a MAC only because they are the easiest to deal with when it comes to the internet. They never freeze up or bog down and you can work very fast online without having to download a "local" copy.

I have a mac book pro from about 2 years ago and i LOVE IT.. i also have a power mac G4 which is 10 years old and I use that for web design too.. I dont know ANYONE with a PC that is 10 years old that runs that fast! A mac is a long term investment..

I have adobe illustrator, photoshop, macromedia create suite package that includes dreamweaver and fireworks.. Those are my core programs and i LOVE illustrator.

I have QuickBooks Pro for my book keeping, and the entire Microsoft Ofiice Suite for other stuff.

I have a PC at work. it was the highest consumer reports rated PC - an HP something or other.. it is exactly 10 months old and it is driving me CRAZY!!.. it bogs down with loads of "security tasks" and i have to "allow" everything to happen.. I cant just click PRINT and walk away.. i have to click 10 thinks before the computer can speak with the printer..

Robert - I guess it is hard to tell what I am talking about. I have a crappy Acer laptop that runs out of memory every day. When reading the e-commerce threads - people ask about which software is the best to use and such - so I just figured if I start up a site and need to download software - I can just envision my laptop going up in flames. Plus, the art files are large - even if I don't design the images, but have the files sent to me, I need more memory - since I need more memory, I'd rather start the business off right with a great computer. Considering that I will be conducting my sales through an e-commerce site and having my design files and everything else involved with a fledging apparel company stored on my computer, I better get a good one. It will be my lifeline. Does that make sense?

Cheryl

There is always the eternal debate about what is better, Mac or PCs, it is just like Coke or Pepsi, and I could go on and on.
Much of it also depends on what OS you are using.
I don't know much about Macs, but I feel very comfortable with PCs, I can tweak them in a way I can't (or couldn't) do it in a Mac.
I have a several months old Dell inspiron 530, 1Gb RAM running windows xp, and it works wonderfully. No problems at all.
Now I have a newer laptop Dell Inspiron 1525, 2 Gb RAM, running Vista Premium Edition, and I kind of hate it.
For no reasons sometimes the cursor gets crazy, jumping around the screen, moving the task bar around.
It does several other things that just renew my hate toward windows vista.
I have tried several Macs over the years, and I don't like them.
WHICH by no means I am saying PCs are better (I can see the Macs users coming after me ) .

I don't know much about Macs, but I feel very comfortable with PCs, I can tweak them in a way I can't (or couldn't) do it in a Mac.

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i find this kinda funny because i was exactly where you were about 3 years ago.. Up until 3 years ago, i have NEVER in my life touched a mac.. I was scared of them. Then i met my husband who was a graphics designer/photographer/video editor.. So naturally, he had only macs. We only had two computers in our house at the time, his mac G4 that was 10 years old that he used, and my HP laptop that i used.. Well, my apartment got robbed and they stole my laptop.. THANK GOD.. well, when it came time to buy a new laptop, my husband refused to let me get a PC. I was seriously DEAD SET on the fact that i was not goint to be able to use it.. Boy was I wrong.> what took me years to figure out how to tweek on a PC took me just 2 days to figure out on a mac.. ANd now since all macs have an intel processor, they are even more like a pc in that way.

I LOVE my mac, and once oyu go mac, you will never go back

On another note.. heres some food for thought.

We have a mac G4. It is 10 years old exactly. It runs just as good as my brand new $2500 macbook pro as far as file processing and internet speed. Its AWESOME. It's onyl issue is with super large image files, but that is to be expected.. there were no image files that were over 4 mp 10 years ago.. But surfing the net and opening large, complex programs is no slower than my new macbook. ITS AMAZING.. DO you know anyone with a PC that has lasted more than 3 years??? I dont.

The other thing to think about is, when you purchase a new PC, you are getting VISTA!! I dont care what he commercials say, vista is HORRIBLE. You buy a computer and before you even connect it to the net its asking you a thousand security questions, stopping you from doing things.. ect.. My work computer has vista.. I cant even PRINT something without getting a pop up that asks to "Allow" ITS A PRINTER!!!!

Not to mention, a brand new PC comes with a million other "little" programs that you dont know if you can delete or not and are always running in the back ground, bogging down your computer.. Have you ever opened your TASK MANAGER to see a whole load of stuff going on,a nd you click STOP and it basically tells you that your computer will blow up if oyu stop that program..

guess what. Macs do not have a TASK MANAGER because nothing runs in the background. it only has a running programs list which literally shows you the programs that YOU turned on.. THATS IT.

I can give you a load more reasons to get a mac over a pc.. And what i can tell you is that to decide not to go with a mac because you are scared of the "unknown" dont be.. Its not that different.

lindsayanng said:

I can give you a load more reasons to get a mac over a pc.. And what i can tell you is that to decide not to go with a mac because you are scared of the "unknown" don't be.. Its not that different.

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I think that is an over statement, I am not saying PCs are better than MACs, and that's something lot of people love to do.
I am not in any ways scared of Macs.
Years ago someone give me a power pc, when they still were kind of new, in exchange for a job. I played around with it, for some months, but I didn't like it.
When I had to learn Linux, well I was not scared of it.
I did learn Linux. I feel comfortable installing, configuring and running my server.
Even when I like Linux more than Windows, I will not say it is better than a MAc, or a PC, even when there are a lot of reason for it. A LOT.
But sadly there is not Quickbooks for Linux, as well as a lot of other software I am familiar with.
Mac or PC is just a matters of taste. I could also give a lot of reason I like more PCs than Macs. But we will be just wasting our time engaging on it back and forth.
It reminds me of what are better american car or european cars (or japanese cars).

Yes and no.. You SHOULD always have at least 3 copies of your store on your computer.. I can tell you that my backup copy is 344 MB ZIPPED. So when you unzip it, its HUGE.. and you are going to want an unzipped backup, and an unzipped current on your hard drive.

So yes, you do need a lot of diskspace on your computer. I have a 2G memory with 2.16 GHz processor in it.. I have had no memory issues with my computer..

When you edit an e-commerce site, which is done in php code, you will need to either edit it from your host's control panel online OR download your individual files and change them and save and upload.. Either way, you should always have a copy of your site BEFORE you made changes, randomly throughout WHILE you made changes, and AFTER you make changes.

You also now will have a database on your server that you will periodically want to backup to your local disk. the database will vary based on how many products and customers you will ahve.