Buying a new (refurbished) Mac – which one?

Caroline Giguère wrote:

Hello everyone,

I have been translating on a MacBook Pro 2018 15" for some years, and it is time to change it. One BIG issue for me is the fact that I'm not able to open WordFast anymore since the Mac update in March. At first, I thought that the best option was to buy a Mac with an M chip to be able to use WordFast, but I've learned that even with an M chip, it sometimes doesn't open or if it does, it can be slow. I had in the past considered switching to Trados, and I'm thinking now would be a good time. I've learned that the most stable Macs for Trados are the older Intel models, and that the ones with M chips might not offer all plugins and functionalities. Of course, I realize i will need Parallels or something similar.

I would be most grateful to hear of other people's experiences with Trados on Macs, with and without M chips.

Thank you in advance,

Caroline

Hans Lenting wrote:

I have a powerful 27-inch iMac with Parallels and Trados 2022, which I use to receive and send GroupShare and WorldServer projects, which I like to translate in the much faster CafeTran Espresso.

While CafeTran Espresso's interface is easy on the eyes, Trados has a lot of tiny buttons and fonts. Scrolling through the segments makes me a little seasick because of the lag.

I have an Intel iMac 27" 2020 and gave the new M3 iMacs a thought. But given the cost, it's a no no.
So I traded my MBP 2019 in with my wife who wasn't happy with the MiniMac M2 I bought last summer and I took the MiniMac over as a second machine on which Wordfast runs quite happily. The MiniMac is not very powerful storagewise so I installed Sequoia OS on an external 1 TB SSD, migrated the internal SSD of the MiniMac to the external SSD so as to have plenty of storage space.
On my Intel iMac I run Parallels with Studio (no problems), MemoQ (no problems). I think refurbished Intel iMacs should be affordable these days as AFAIK Apple is not producing Intel Macs anymore.

Mario Chávez wrote:
My questions: Are you open to trying other CAT applications outside of WordFast? How about memoQ 11? Have you found out the specific issue with WordFast regarding which Mac OSX update you installed? I have no experience with CafeTrans Expresso.

Olivier Vasseur wrote:
I use Trados Studio 2022 on my 2019 iMac, with Parallels, and it works fine. I'm thinking of buying a new Mac too.
According to this :
https://www.proz.com/forum/apple_mac_operating_systems/367316-trados_2021_on_m2_or_m3_macbook.html
Parallels works on M1 so it should work on all M chips.
This is how Parallels works : for technical reasons, you cannot run 2 operating systems (macOS and Windows) at the same time on the same computer. So Parallels creates a "virtual machine," which is a program that mimics a real computer. You now have 2 computers, a real one with macOS and a virtual one with Windows.
2 consequences:
- your Windows programs work on Windows, which works on a virtual machine, which works on macOS. That means they need more resources than programs that run directly on macOS. Speed should not be a problem because M1 chips are fast, but I wouldn't buy a Mac with 8gb memory. M chips use "unified memory" which allowed Apple to ship Macs with only 8Gb of RAM until the recent M4 chips, but with Parallels you need memory for the virtual machine and for Windows that runs on it. Also, since Apple unified memory is part of the M chip, you can't add memory later. So you definitely need 16 Gb.
- since you run a real version of Windows (I use Windows 10), any compatibility problem would be with Windows, not with the Mac part. So M2, M3 and M4 should work if M1 works. Parallels needs a special version of Windows that works on ARM processors because the M chips are based on ARM. According to the post I included above, this is not a problem, so any Mac with an M chip should work.
I wouldn't buy a macIntel because M chips gave Macs an impressive boost in performance and battery life.
You can find MacBooks Air M1 at discount prices, but it might be hard to find one with 16GB memory.
My advice would be to use the "certified refurbished" page on the Apple website. The trouble with refurbished devices is that many vendors are, in fact, marketplaces that connect buyers with the real vendor, who may or may not be reliable (or honest). If you buy a refurbished mac on the Apple website, you may have to wait a few weeks before finding what you want, but you will have a refurbished Mac M2 or M3 sold by Apple with the same warranty as a new one and, of course, cheaper. Some Mac websites have an alert system that can check the Apple official site and tell you when refurbished Macs are available. For instance, I get an automatic mail when new refurbished iMacs or MacMinis are available.
You probably want another laptop, so that would be a M2 or M3 MacBook Air.
If you want a desktop Mac, the MacMini is definitely cheaper, though you have to buy a keyboard, a mouse and a screen (NOT an Apple monitor, Apple only sells very expensive high-end monitors). Also, since the recently available M4 MacMini is about half the size of the previous one (which was already very small), refurbished MacMinis with big discounts may be soon available.
The iMac is more expensive, but it comes with a very good screen with a built-in webcam and a decent sound system, and has a great design. Unfortunately, M chip iMacs only have 24 inch screens instead of 27.
The basic configurations of all Macs have very low storage (256 Go), so I would recommend at least 512Go. To use Parallels, my advice is to buy an external SSD disk and install the virtual machine with Windows (and Windows programs) on it.
Also, if you want to change CAT, you may consider OmegaT. It's light, portable (macOS/Windows/Linux) and free. I used it exclusively for years before a client insisted on the use of TRADOS. It works with TMX files, which other cat tools use for importing and exporting TMs. It takes a few seconds to start, but is very fast afterwards, and easy to use.

Caroline Giguère wrote:

I had not heard of OmegaT, and will check it out. I'm still leaning towards Trados, mostly because so many people use it, and I have actually lost job opportunities in the past because I didn't use it.

Hans Lenting wrote:

If compatibility with Trados is your main concern, let me assure you that CafeTran Espresso has excellent compatibility with Trados. CafeTran Espresso seamlessly opens Trados packages and uses the included terminology and translation memories.

CafeTran Espresso is fully integrated in macOS. It has the look and feel of macOS to a very high standard. It is a mature CAT tool with tons of user wishes implemented.

Mario Chávez wrote:

It seems that CafeTran Espresso is a one-man operation. I've read that it offers free support, which I consider a fatal weakness that has already doomed Atril's Déjà Vu to obsolescence. From their website:

“CafeTran is known for its outstanding support, often provided personally by the developer, Igor Kmitowski.”

The fact that this application is directly linked to Proz.com users gives me pause for a number of reasons. The visitor or potential user is gently forced to download the application in order to see the full list of features. And the only more or less official review of the company is found here, a rather scant profile: https://www.nimdzi.com/language-technology-radar/cafetran/

As you can see, the above objections are not about the application per se or how it performs in a translation environment. Its very low cost is also a red flag: how is the developer supporting the development of future versions?

Mario Chávez wrote:

...about things such as free support or that a product is a one-man show. Thanks for confirming that CafeTrans Espresso is the property of Proz.com. It seems that CafeTrans Espresso's future growth is contingent on Proz.com's growth and prospects of success.

Thanks for your thoughts, Michael. CAT applications are different strokes for different folks. For instance, Déjà Vu X was never as popular among Latin America-based translators as other products, such as Trados. As for CafeTrans Espresso being faster than memoQ or Trados, well, that's an opinion influenced by whatever PC, operating system, RAM memory, file type, job size and overall configuration the user has at the time.

I know consultancies such as Nimdzi and CSA Research run some numbers as to how many users of a particular CAT application there are there. Experience has taught me that knowing which CAT application is best for the task at hand is more important than loyalty to a particular CAT tool.