Hi Krista,

I would suggest making a list of all the software that you are planning on using and research if it runs on both systems.

At Crystal Bridges we have some people who are assigned Macs because of their primary function (such as me, since I do a lot of media production work), but then others have Windows.

There are a number of programs that I need to use occasionally that only run on Windows (for instance our financial software and, until recently, MS OneNote).  Thus I have a virtual machine running Windows that I have to log into for those very few programs.

I will also say that a number of the MS programs do not behave the same way on the Mac as they do one a Windows machine.  Particularly, Outlook is very different and we sometimes run into difficulties sharing Outlook calendars (surprisingly it's mostly between Macs and not so much Mac to Windows).

Just a few things to consider and think through.

Good luck,
Heather Marie

Heather Marie Wells
Digital Media Specialist

600 Museum Way
Bentonville, AR 72712
479-418-5700 (main)
CrystalBridges.org<http://crystalbridges.org/>



From: Krista Miller <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Monday, April 21, 2014 3:03 PM
To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Mac Vs PC for museum databases and scanning

Hello all,

I work for a small museum in upstate New York and we are in the process of replacing our old desktop for a newer (and hopefully faster) computer. We are thinking about purchasing a laptop which would be much more portable and take up less space in the office but aren't sure if we should stay with a PC or take the MAC plunge. We currently use Microsoft Access for our collections database, but are also in the process of possibly switching to a different database program. PastPerfect would be ideal. Is there any big difference in performance between a MAC or a PC when it concerns database programs such as PastPerfect? Is one more preferable over the other when it concerns photo and document scanning? I personally don't have much experience with using a MAC so I'm just trying to research as much as possible before we make a decision.

Any suggestions or information would be most appreciated!

Krista

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