Trying to get my company to switch

[SwiftLives]

I'm currently a graphic designer at a software company in the marketing department. The problem is, we use Windows. Everyone. Even us designers.

So, obviously, I want to find a way to get the designers Macs. The problem is, I need to present a detailed cost-benefit analysis to our already overworked and understaffed IT department. And that's going to take a long time and a lot of convincing.

Honestly, I'm expecting this process to take 12-18months.

Now, I have plenty of arguments about how Macs are better for designers (specifically the OS interface and color management). What I don't have are detailed, concrete financial reasons to switch.

I know the price to own a Mac is more up front, and less for overall maintenance.

The only software we use is Adobe CS3 and Microsoft Office.

I'm hoping to get us to switch to 24inch iMacs at best. If the Mac Mini gets significantly improved in the future, I may push for those as a last result, or for a trial run. Not looking to get laptops or even Mac Pros.

Does anyone know of any resources where I can further research this? Or does anyone have any insight they can share with me?

Specific Concerns:
We use Microsoft Outlook a lot. Calendar and meeting requests are integral. How well does Entourage play with Outlook?

How about Microsoft Office Communicator? Is there a Mac equivalent that will play nicely with it?

Rather than sending files for people to preview, we send links to the files on the server. Oddly, I cannot figure out how to do this on a Mac. Is there a way to copy and paste an entire path to a file rather than the file?

Finally, as I said, out IT staff is understaffed. Since, at most, we'd be switching 5 of us to Mac, I'm willing to get certified in Apple general tech support. My concern is how much time that will take away from my job. Is that even feasible?

Thanks for your help, folks.

 

[Muncher]

I'm currently a graphic designer at a software company in the marketing department. The problem is, we use Windows. Everyone. Even us designers.

So, obviously, I want to find a way to get the designers Macs. The problem is, I need to present a detailed cost-benefit analysis to our already overworked and understaffed IT department. And that's going to take a long time and a lot of convincing.

Honestly, I'm expecting this process to take 12-18months.

Now, I have plenty of arguments about how Macs are better for designers (specifically the OS interface and color management). What I don't have are detailed, concrete financial reasons to switch.

I know the price to own a Mac is more up front, and less for overall maintenance.

The only software we use is Adobe CS3 and Microsoft Office.

I'm hoping to get us to switch to 24inch iMacs at best. If the Mac Mini gets significantly improved in the future, I may push for those as a last result, or for a trial run. Not looking to get laptops or even Mac Pros.

Does anyone know of any resources where I can further research this? Or does anyone have any insight they can share with me?

Specific Concerns:
We use Microsoft Outlook a lot. Calendar and meeting requests are integral. How well does Entourage play with Outlook?

How about Microsoft Office Communicator? Is there a Mac equivalent that will play nicely with it?

Rather than sending files for people to preview, we send links to the files on the server. Oddly, I cannot figure out how to do this on a Mac. Is there a way to copy and paste an entire path to a file rather than the file?

Finally, as I said, out IT staff is understaffed. Since, at most, we'd be switching 5 of us to Mac, I'm willing to get certified in Apple general tech support. My concern is how much time that will take away from my job. Is that even feasible?

Thanks for your help, folks.

Do you absolutely need MS Communicator? iChat has screen sharing and I think it still has a feature for showing presentations. It can do voice chats with up to 10 people (video 4 max). Granted, your net needs to be fast for high quality screen sharing. 10.5.2 is fairly stable, there have been airport problems for some, but if you're gonna be the tech guy for 5 people it shouldn't be to bad. My recommendation if you're getting macs is to get one with a dedicated video card at the least, and if you'll be using CS3 at least 2.4Ghz processor. Do not get a 20" imac, or at least get another screen. It has a 6 bit lcd panel.

Good luck!

 

[7on]

If you work with Printers mention that they use Macintosh. And matching colors with ColorSYNC would improve as opposed to Windows oriented design.

If it'll help your cause, go with the Mac Mini. Believe it or not people once did graphic design on G3s! A Mac Mini would not impact your workflow because it's too slow. Though more RAM is good.

If not the Mac Mini, mention that your work quality would improve with more RAM and Windows limits you to 3GB. Even if you went to the 64-Bit version of VISTA, I wouldn't expect most of IT's apps to work.

Also don't forget to mention that even if the Machines turn out to be bust, just throw Windows on them and you haven't lost the company any money.

Always talk up the saving money and increased productivity.

 

[Consultant]

Open 50 10MB files (or a few 500MB files) in windows, and switch between different programs (Outlook, etc), and see it slows down to a crawl.

Do the same on Mac and doesn't slow down.

Try to find the correct image out of the 50 portraits that are open in windows. Try to find the correct image on a Mac using Expose.