Windows Guru Chooses a Mac — Permanently
It usually goes something like this: a Windows guy takes a temporary, half-hearted leap into Mac waters, goes through a series of certain gyrations to show that he’s really trying, and then goes back to Windows at the end of the experiment saying, “The Mac is nice for some things, but for real computing, you gotta have Windows.”
Not this time.
Computerworld’s Scot Finnie, at the end of a three-month experiment in which he switched his one and only computer from a PC to a 17″ MacBook Pro, has kissed Windows goodbye and is sticking with his Mac for his primary computer at work and home. His Windows OS for comparison — and ultimate decision — was both Windows XP and Windows Vista. In fact, Finnie is a hardened tester of Windows Vista, and has elaborated on the downsides of Vista before. So it’s not like he’s using a 5 year-old OS for comparison to OSX.
After living with the Mac for three months and comparing it to my Vista experiences, the choice is crystal clear. I’ve struggled to sort out my gut feeling about Windows Vista (see “The Trouble with Vista”), but the value and advantage of the Mac and OS X are difficult to miss. While I continue to work with Windows XP and Vista on a number of other machines, I am now recommending the Macintosh for business and home users.
So here we have a pretty much die-hard Windows guy, working for a predominantly Windows-centric publication, trying the Mac to see how it goes, and then choosing to switch his primary production machine to a Mac for good. Even over Vista.
No “Get a Mac” ad is as good as that.
Finnie isn’t without some remaining challenges, however. Chief among them is finding suitable Mac replacements for tried-and-true Windows applications. Such as:
- A good screenshot program. And yes, he knows about the OSX system commands and the Grab service and Snapz Pro X. He still needs something better. I happen to feel his pain here.
- A good, non-visual HTML editor. He’s a code-level sort of guy, and used to use HomeSite on Windows. He wants something similar. The closest thing so far is Dreamweaver 8, which has absorbed HomeSite’s technology via acquisition, but it costs, oh, $400, and that’s too much. So the search continues. Meanwhile, he uses HomeSite under Windows XP via Parallels.
- Email migration from Windows Eurdora to Mac Eudora.
- Mac browers. In short, Finnie finds Safari to be lightweight and fast, although missing features that next-gen browsers have (and, for some reason, he has little hope that Safari in OSX Leopard will be much better). Firefox 2, he finds, is clunky and unpolished. Surprisingly, he likes OmniWeb 5 the best, but can’t stand the visual tabs.
- FTP package.
- RSS reader and feed creation tool.
Overall, this is an amazing story. Things like this are sure signs that the Mac is making inroads into the computing world well beyond the tech elite, art/design crowd, and education market.
Go Scot. You go girl.
Technorati Tags: apple, osx, vista, windows, computerworld, switch, leopard
It’s like Vista cannot catch a break!
The reviews have been tepid, the ‘midnight madness’ sales were embarassing, and now a decidedly Windows-oriented guy publicly bails on it.
Oh, and Allchin left.
I have seen this happening around me lately more than ever. Kudos to Apple.
Please…don’t make me go and try a Mac…
I happen to find Transmit to be an excellent FTP program. Great to uploading content to several websites I maintain.
BBEdit is a good HTML editor.
Try a demo here:
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.shtml
OS X doesn’t capture snapshot of the an active window, which Windows does.
There’s a freeware called SnapNDrag which can snap any window, selection, or entire screen + more…
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12087
Have fun!
he should use Camino for his browser. All the power and compatibility of Firefox (since it is the same engine), but looks and works like a Mac app should.
I bought a mini when they first hit the market. I got it with 512 megs, found it really wanted a gig to work well. I love it! The only thing I have to have a PC for is to run Access. It’s a horrid program, but it is needed for work. That, and all the factory-provided lighting design packages are in PC/Windows.
When I get my next machine, it will be another Mac, with Parallels or Boot Camp. The coming of Vista was my breaking point.
Nando has it – after trying several ftp apps, Transmit finally hit me as the one that works the way I think.
Updates are regular but not annoyingly so, and the one time I needed support, it was fast, concise and also quite witty!
I’d ask if I could work there if I thought I’d be any use to them. What more do you want from an endorsement?
Me too! I had an iMac G3 with OS 9.2 on it given to me a few yeqars back, and I absolutely hated it. It felt clumsy and unintuitive to me. But two months ago I went out and bought a Mini and the difference is amazing. I haven’t switched my Windows PC on in over a month now!
I’m also a long time Windows user and was with Vista since the early beta. Mac OS has come on in a really big way in the past few years, and it surprised me just how professional and useful it’s become.
Well, for me, anyway. I know some people have been happily using Macs for years and good on them!
It surprises me a bit that Finnie found Firefox 2.o clunky and unpolished. I really love that browser.
It does not surprise me the least bit though that he prefers the Tiger to Win XP. After what I’ve read about Vista, it doesn’t really surprise me that Microsofts’ latest was no match for the OSX either…
Feeder is a great RSS feed creator, and NetNewsWire is a brilliant RSS reader. If these don’t do what he wants, then maybe he should ask whether he REALLY needs the extra features these apps are ‘missing’.
BTW, I agree about OmniWeb 5, although I love the visual tabs too.
I’ve done it recently and I must say it’s the better thing I’ve done in my entire live. I have to say that I wasn’t very happy with Windows, so I was using Linux and still do in my PC’s.
Mac + Linux is reliable and powerful combination.
My recent Mac experiences -:
- couldn’t export from mac address book into anything as useful as a spreadsheet without ALOT of hassle
- taking a macbook to an event and finding that it died after 2 hours of battery life (yeah, it was playing a dvd, but still) (and boy, does it get hot)
- trying to get our tech team to actually buy some software for the mac so we can actually do some things on it rather than look at it and go “aah!”
- Powerpoint, yep, I hate it, but I’m not going to go all Keynote on everyone and suddenly be non-compatible with the entire world.
- oh, and this is not macs fault, but needed to run a groupware product – i.e. Sharepoint – and find that neither safari or firefox for mac can deal with active x controls.
In other words, in a connected world, a mac’s still for loners, not collaborators.
You can try OpenOffice for the powerpoint problem. And there are lots of good freeware for the Mac…
I want a Mac!!
I went over to mac in mid 2006 and have never looked back – it is SO much better in so many ways. We bought an intel imac and a macbook for the office and an imac for home. I have retained my Vaio laptop with XP for two reasons – some very heavy excel work and for Frontpage. Couple of questions – does ‘Parallels’ work well (so I can use windows excel on the virtual PC) and is there a good mac alternative to Frontpage?
Shift-Command-4 (or shift-apple-4, if you prefer) will turn your cursor into crosshairs with which you can select any portion of the screen to take a screenshot of.
Try BBEdit as a HTML code editor (although HomeSite looks pretty cool; I’ll have to check that out under Parallels). Transmit’s a great FTP client. CrushFTP’s a great cross-platform FTP server.
I did the same thing a few months ago.
Switched to an IMAC and I’m never going back again! It’s computing at its finest, no stalls, no hang ups, no BSOD, and no viruses.
i recently bought my first mac, after a lifetime of using windows. i just love how seamlessly all of the programs fit together. although, i am fairly illiterate when it comes to computers, so i guess i’m really just living out the stereotype.
Juanjo — I’ve tried OO, and I just don’t like it. I really don’t.
Right now, I think the biggest glaring weakness of the Mac platform is the lack of a real, battle-tested, totally-compatible office suite that runs natively on Intel Macs. Office 2004 does OK under Rosetta, but I’m just not a Rosetta fan.
Once this issue is addressed, there one less reason to run Parallels, IMHO.
Office 2007 on Windows is outstanding. The Mac needs something competitive that’s a Universal Binary.
PT — SnapNDrag is very, very nice. I’ve used it before, forgot about it, and used it again last night. I literally forgot it was even on my machine.
Thanks.
I am a Microsoft SQL Server Database Administrator. I was a Microsoft Exchange Administrator and a Microsoft Windows Network Engineer. However, I have Mac Mini Intel Duo Core at home and love it. I run Parallels with Windows 2000 Professional Workstation so I can run my company’s VPN client. That way I can run my Database management tools as if I am work. However, everything else I do I do in OS X. I love it and am actively trying to get my boss to get me a Mac for my primary workstation.
I think the dam has broke.
Parallels works absolutely wonderfully. In some ways, it even feels like a better Windows than Windows. For example:
With Parallels, restarts on installs are “soft” – the virtual machine shuts down then comes up again – so there’s no power cycling the hardware and the bootup is super quick.
I can easily back up my entire Windows setup with Parallels, so if anything ever gets borked (as things sometimes do under Windows) I can just toss the current copy of the virtual machine out and start fresh from the pristine copy I have saved. I haven’t had to do this yet, but knowing I can makes using Windows much more comfortable.
All told, Parallels has continued to wow me – it’s hard to believe such a neat app can be had for 79$. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
I’ve used DOS and Windows since DOS 1.0 supported only floppy drives. And at that time I was a ten-year computer user in mid-career. I used Macs in the early 1990s in a large, all-Mac company (McCaw Cellular Communications).
Last month I had lunch with a friend who just bought a Mac notebook, a screaming fast system for under $900 brand new. I said to myself, that’s it, my next major purchase will be a Mac. My computers are old and in need of replacement.
I already had it figured out: I could purchase a Mac notebook and have no need to purchase any additional software – well, maybe Adobe Acrobat. Open Office or Star Office are great – I use them on my PCs today – no more paying tribute to M$ for Office, when other companies do it just as well for free. I used to use Dreamweaver, but I stopped using it last year when I moved my websites to WordPress. The simplicity has liberated me.
Then, a publisher asked me to write part of a book on Vista administration. For professional reasons I decided to take the job, and as a result had to download Vista Ultimate in order to write the book and get the necessary screen shots.
I really didn’t want to get Vista. But I’m a Windows guru, just out of having to solve every possible problem for the last fifteen years.
The guy who posted comments about Macs being for loners has a chip on his shoulder. What’s his problem, does he work for Microsoft? Sure laptops get hot, and yes if you play a CD for two hours you’ll drain your battery. No different from Windows laptops in that regard.
TextMate is also a good HTML editor. Not quite Homesite, but not as expensive as Dreamweaver.
Mike R — I think the dam has broke, too.
My anecdotal story: the company I work for just acquired another company. Both companies deal exclusively with Windows-based software for enterprises.
The CTO of the newly-acquired company — a brilliant man by just about any measure — totes around a MacBook Pro as his primary machine. He runs the software his company develops in either Parallels or Boot Camp. For everything else, he runs OSX. In other words: when he has his choice, it’s OSX for him.
Best thing he told me over beers the other night: “If it were up to me, I’d outfit every salesperson and sales engineer with a Mac. No other computer gets as many admiring looks and positive comments as my Mac does, and once they see OSX you can see it in their eyes: they want one so badly.”
No joke.
Jeff,
My son is in his last semester in Med School. He and I have built DOS and Windows computers together since he was old enough to talk. When he saw my Mac he “just had to have one.” My wife and I bought him a Macbook in August of last year. He loves it. It works for him just like mine does for me. My son-in-law is a graphics art designer for a News Service in OKC. All he knows is Apple. He’s the one that started the dam breaking in my family. Now I’m going full bore here at work to get a machine on my desk and all of the DBAs who report to me that just works.
I’ll add another nod for Transmit for FTP. I swear by it. I’ve been sold on Mac for many, many years. It’s nice to see more people giving it a try.
Yet more reasons for me to get a Mac… The whole Vista thing, I really don’t want Vista.
Mike — to me, there’s NO reason to buy any computer other than a Mac right now. Absolutely no reason.
Hear me out.
Macs run OSX, which is the killer app for Mac hardware. Now that they run Windows as well (in two modes, too: Boot Camp (native) and virtualized (Parallels, VMware), you have the best of both worlds in one machine. And, pursuant to Apple’s overall strategy (as I see it, of course), it’s a GOOD thing to run OSX and Windows side-by-side, because users (not unlike you and others who have commented in this thread) quickly realize how nice OSX is. Gradually, it becomes their environment of choice. Plus it drives Apple hardware unit sales, which, if you’re Apple and seeking market penetration, is a good thing. Windows, in this context, is the best trojan horse ever devised.
So yeah, buying a Mac these days, IF you’re a well informed and open-minded technology consumer, is pretty much a slam dunk. No reason not to.
This tickles me. I learned on an old Mac and have been a Mac enthusiast every since. Particularly since I knew absolutely zip about
computers and a Mac is very user friendly. I took a class in Windows but have always loved my Mac. I am selling my G4 (though its still a hummer) as I recently got a G5. Love it too. The graphics are great, no virus protection needed, just fantastic.
The instructor at the college went from Mac to Windows as those classes were more in demand. When we visited yesterday she showed me her new MacBook and raved about it. She said after all these years shewould still prefer to use a Mac afterall. They truly are great.
http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/microsoft_vista_released
Noone has mentioned Linux… software limitations aside, I would switch full-time (currently running OS X).
I’m a graphic and web designer by trade, and used a mac all through college. I hated it. These were supposed to be the computers that would never fail you and never get viruses, but even when we got brand new Macs in the lab, they’d freeze up and you’d loose everything. I think this was when G4’s were brand spanking new. I decided to stick with my PC at home and have all my design software there. Never had any of those severe freezes, and I learned to save often from my Mac experiences.
Now with Vista and Mac’s progress, Macs are starting to sound like the new hotness. I’m not keen on Vista, but Macs are really expensive. I’d almost be willing to pay for one, but then there’s the problem with software switching costs. I use Adobe Creative Suite (So that’s Photoshop & Imageready, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks). I also have Corel Painter IV. So I’m worried..will I still be able to run these Windows programs on BootCamp, or will I have to repurchase all of that software for the Mac?
Right now my big deterrent is cost of switching (and costs of upgrading in the future). If a fan or vid card died, I’d just go and buy a new one and plug it in myself. No labor costs. I hear if a mac has a component fail, you pretty much buy a new one or pay a tech a ransom to get things fixed. Any PC gurus able to tell me how easy it is to replace worn out hardware or install new hardware?
Surely this childish debate has been done to death by now?
For most mortals, at this stage, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Windows, Mac or Nintendo. So long as it does the job.
I’m convinced that this asinine Mac superiority complex is fed by the Apple marketing department, who must be pinching themselves that they have captured such a religiously devoted constituency.
Jeff, “So yeah, buying a Mac these days, IF you’re a well informed and open-minded technology consumer, is pretty much a slam dunk. No reason not to.” I think that is generally true, but Apple has a huge whole in their line-up, the mid range desktop. The iMacs are nice, but you pay for the form factor both in price and power. But to go sans monitor, there is really no choice for power hungry users on a budget. There is no $1k, $1.5k, or even $2k machine available from Apple.
—-
Gabriel, CS2 runs fine under Boot Camp (as would any windows app) and many reports indicate that it runs faster then CS2 in OS X (on Intel Macs) because it does not run natively. It is rumored that will be fixed for CS3.
—-
I find OO and Firefox to be excellent, use them in OS X and XP. The thing that keeps me in XP so much is a handful of free HTML editors. Otherwise, I would boot into OS X a whole lot more often.
I just found out about the browser Flock yesterday. I’ve been using Camino as my default for awhile now but I may end up changing it. It does some great things for blogging. Flock.com has a spotlight on a few features.
I love my Windows XP. I’m not very much of a computer tech savvy but it just works for me. It’s simple and I’m used to it. My husband is a Mac user and he says to me it’s really much better for the creatives like many of us who explore and swim through our dailies with our laptops. He too was a switcher some years ago. I don’t know…I feel sentimental about my Windows…but heck, who knows?
mac rules and windows drools very much
I swear by Transmit (www.panic.com) for my FTP. It really is a great program and has tabbed FTP for multiple sites. Best program I have ever used on Mac or on Windows.
It was in 2005 that my wife and I got our first OS X tiger and since then we have got rid of 2 more windows machines for Macbooks. It is hard to beat an Apple once you get past the first leap of faith.
No one wants to admit it, but every good thing is life is usually replaced by something better (or at least it exists). For now, I chose Mac until something better comes along.
Great article!
My family owns a G4 tower, which is 4 years old and runs like a beauty! We increased the memory to 1 gig and upgraded to OSX and that is all we have ever had to do to keep it running well. We also have a Mac Mini , and an Intel core duo imac. When my daughter goes to college her laptop of choice is a Macbook. Three years ago we owned 3 Windows computers and one Mac. Now it is just the opposite. The tide is indeed turning.
It’s a classic ‘you shouldn’t hang around with that kind of person’ drummed into you all your childhood by you mother … then suddenly you realise when you grow up ‘Hey! I can hang out with this person if I want, get some benefits but they don’t have to consume my whole life!’ and everyone wins.
As a graphic artist I still prefer to use a PC because sometimes it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks … or they are just too bothered to learn .. but I prefer to use a MAC for the simplicity and quality of movies that come out of Imovie and others. Still don’t like the horrendous rendering time for transitions, but hey.
It’s official .. I like to bat for both teams in the computer world.
I absolutely swore by OmniWeb for a few months up until a few weeks ago when I switched to Firefox once and for all. OmniWeb became so bogged down that it was eventually prohibitively annoying, a la Flock before it.
Is he aware that one can turn off the visual tabs, though? (It’s really pretty obvious.) Or is it the location of the tabs that gets him? It does take a while to get used to, admittedly.
Ben — it’s the location. He wants a “traditional” tab bar, not a drawer. I can understand that desire, as that’s the mainstream usage idiom. The drawer is novel and all that, but it’s not standard insofar as most browsers go. That leaves the drawer in something of a niche status.
Thats excellent to hear that a hardened Windows user moved to Mac OS X. I know it will be an everlong debate about which is better, and simply put, as long as there are both, the OS market will keep getting better. There is no stronger push for improvement than competition.
On the subject of software;
For browsing try the open source Camino
For FTP, Transmit is highly recommended, or the free Cyberduck
For HTML and coding, Smultron is great, and free
There’s plenty of good Mac software, and when its so easy to install and try, why not try them all!
glad you’re on board!
Why is it that Mac people are so focused on getting more Mac people converted from PC people??? Wouldn’t the fact that the Mac doesn’t have a huge market share be better? You know, fewer OS-specific attacks by trojans, worms, etc.
Don’t Ferrari people pride themselves as being in small numbers? The same with people who own Pink or Blue diamonds. Isn’t part of what’s special about owning a Mac the fact that you think you know/have something the rest of us don’t?
Lots of us Windows people realize that Macs are good machines, we just don’t want one for various reasons. For example, I like being able to open my machine and swap any part readily by going to the local Fry’s. It’s a little harder to do that on a Mac.
oh i soooo want a mac!
I have been looking into getting a Mac for my next computer but worry about switching since I’ve never used a Mac. This is such a helpful blog, thank you!
What about Opera browser for OS X? I’m surprised that nobody mentioned this.
FTP: does anyone use anything but Fetch?
I envy you techie people. I am still trying to find my way through window xp, now I hear vista, now talk about switching to Mac.
I take it one step at a time. Go! Mac users.
Ive been a fan of macs for about 3 or 4 years now, ever since i started working for a graphic design company that solely used them. Everyone keeps saying apple has a superiority complex but i think its more like loyal owners who stand by their macs because of the quality of it. Not so much the I’m better then you attitude. From my experience I find macs to be much more stable and easy to use.. Also I think a big reason the mac hasn’t become more compatible with PC software is because of all the viruses it is trying to stay away from. For the year or two I worked for that company i never had my mac crash at all on any of the machines. G5, G4, Imac and two macbooks. I still use a PC at home just haven’t gotten around to getting a mac but I will eventually. Mac’s are more expensive, but i would much rather pay a little extra and get a system more stable then have a PC that crashes, freezes, changes and needs to be updated far more often.
a lot of “converters” out there. switched to mac myself about two years ago. definitely no regrets! It’s a relationship…
Respectfully to passionate users of both OS X and the Windows flavours, I was a user of Windows since 1996, having used every single desktop release (3.0 to XP SP2) as well as NT and Windows 2000 – none of them come close to OS X. I switched a couple of months ago, and not without some fear of such a drastic switch. I work in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in a county with on-going violence – and some of my work is what can be called mission-critical. Windows, up until XP SP2, with its blue screens and all manner of problems (that you don’t sometimes really realise are problems until you switch) was increasingly stealing my productivity. My experiences of switching, akin to that which is written in the post above, can be found at http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/from-a-pc-to-a-mac-life-after-switching-to-os-x/
Macs are good if you have the money and don’t play online games much. I’d probably have one if I could afford it. $900 is a lot of money to me — my laptop cost $500 and my PC was upgraded for about $400.
Anonymous — Macs aren’t much more than equivalent PCs, unless you want to count building your own from Newegg parts, which 95% of people don’t do.
As for games, install Boot Camp and boot into Windows XP/Vista on your Mac. Bam. Instant games. Two computers in one.
Really — and this is merely my two cents — I do my gaming on an Xbox 360. For many intents and purposes, PC gaming is dead.
rock on.
Darned Mac! I turned off my Linux workstation for a week and didn’t notice!
I bit the bullet, bought a 17″MacBook Pro w/ 2GB RAM last summer. I used BootCamp to run professional projects in VMware, which I migrate between the MBP and a Linux workstation. As I used OS X more and more I’ve come to love it. Well-engineered hardare, UI, and *UNIX* under the hood. (It took a bit to get Japanese and Greek working correctly under bash, though.)
After VMWare Fusion (beta) was released, and I became used to its quirks (hey, it’s beta)), I repartitioned the drive and do not use BootCamp anymore. No machine in our business boots to any version of Windows natively anymore. Windows only exists in virtual machines.
Today I turned ON my Linux workstation after week because I needed a specific virtual machine. That was a sobering realization for me. I’m a die-hard Linux fan. But, my Linux apps (e-mail and the GIMP) run in virtual machines on my MBP. OS X is my desktop base OS of choice now. My conversion was stubborn and slow, and I’m still a little bashful about saying “Mac” over “Linux.” I’ll get over it.
(We still use Linux on the rack-mount servers and see no reason to go OS X there yet.)
As the to cost of Macs… HA! I tried to get a comparable PC laptop for less, but it’s just not possible. PC laptops that are comparable are *expensive*. The switch to the Intel Macs really tipped the price point away from PCs. This was the first big “naw, that can’t be right” I had. “Macs are expensive” and “You’re just paying for the logo” are now officially myths!
If you want “bare bones,” then yeah, PCs can be had cheaper. However, you’re no longer comparing apples to apples (no pun intended).
Rivalry and competition between operating systems seems fairly healthy to me as hopefully they get better. I would like to see a situation where there were three or four equally big players in the game who could all run each others programs. If only devices could be powered by a light long-lasting power source. As a writer I get fed up having to carry around a power supply and find an AC outlet after a couple of hours-it’s just not cricket.
Any manufacturer that can build a light slim 17 inch machine that can run all day without a recharge will get my money no matter what operating system it has under the bonnet (hood).
By the way mines a Thinkpad running Ubuntu or XP but the guy at the next table surrounded by three pouting angels is using a Powerbook. Lucky chap…….
I must not know about this!! Windows Forever!!! lol
Its great to hear this, windows guy truning to a mac! in my own team there are many who cant turn down the mac appeal. But frankly the os you choose helps you get your work done.. And that remains priority the day Mac delivers a bigger promise to most – it will become a default choice just like windows is today.
Mac’s are like feraris of Operating systems. They got such smooth styling, os features you are just left with an awe. But then there are so many things about ferarri that you would prefer it to remain the dream car.. Cheers!
mac for me, das kleinmentch
The usual brownnosing which I am about to do will, I hope, differ, from the flattering, jargon-filled, spec-specific, and totally elitist essays and op-eds written about switching to Apple.
I hardly use graphics. I’m a text guy. I hardly know this here Mac, and probably only use a small percentage of what the computer can do.
And I don’t know how to use plug-ins, update programs, and use all those fancy weird words which make me sound like I’m a Polish Jew in an Anton Checkov salon.
But, yet, I love my Mac. And this is why I recommend it. And here are ten reasons why you should switch from a PC to a Mac. Even if you are a computer chug like me.
1)
The built-in camera on the new MacBooks are great fun and easy to use. My face, in live video, popped up after I first bought the machine. Trip.
2)
IIf you would like to create a more complex website but have zero, and I mean zero, tech knowledge. You know how to use Blogger, but hey, that’s like knowing how to write an email. The Mac Iweb program is brilliant and allows you to so smoothly, and so easily, drag your own videos pics and songs right into your site. And it has that Metrocard machine feel (we are doing what you want. Chill).
3)
Copying and pasting. You know when you right-click on the PC and suddenly there are freezer-gear-ups. Your computer is telling you: we are now performing a major task. Whole windows become white.
Not so with the mac. The copying and pasting works so smoothly, and even between multiple programs, that it becomes like piano playing.
3)
It’s a very sexy machine.
4)
No viruses. That’s right, none. When I first got it, I went to Norton and the others to download an Anti-Virus Program. When I put in Mac and OSX in Google, I got a headline that no viruses exist on the mac. This almost brought me to tears.
5)
Using Limewire etc. How many times have I heard this from PC users: “I used to have Limewire, but it screwed up my computer”. Well, with frostwire (limewire for macs) downloading programs rock. And continue to rock without turning your computer into an Acid-Trip.
6)
Ichat. Using Aim and other chat programs are streamlined into your computer in a very splendid fashion. You don’t have to ever deal with AIM pop-ups. I know this is possible with PC’s as well, but you have to work for it. This is a top-ten for people who don’t work for it.
7)
Battery. It just kicks. At least twice as long as the leading PC’s. Mac, in this category, is like the USA playing basketball against Bangladesh.
Wireless Robustness. With the Mac I pick up signals which don’t even appear as possible hook-ups for PC’s. result: I, on my Mac, am online. You, with your PC, are not.
9)
No Microsoft whatsoever. Since I don’t use plug-ins or whatever you call them, I have zero Microsoft. No Word, which is a pure joy. Text edit and alternate writing programs for the Mac work great, and it doesn’t feel like my computer is implementing a coup…
10)
The keyboard and hardware, with magnetic Mac battery, which allows you to pull the wire without breaking the computer with a crash landing, is pure pleasure. Right now, I don’t feel like I’m typing. I’m making love.
http://radloh.wordpress.com/2007/02/10/mac-for-me-das-kleinmentch/
skedit ( http://www.skti.org/skEdit.php ) is a really good editing program for web-stuff . . . i haven’t used bbedit, but you can download a demo of skedit, and if you like, get a lifetime *yes lifetime* license for $25 and it’s got built in ftp *although i use CyberDuck for really big files*
i don’t regret leaving the windows world just over a year ago one bit. . .i love my little ibook ^_^
“Really — and this is merely my two cents — I do my gaming on an Xbox 360. For many intents and purposes, PC gaming is dead.”
Jeff,
PC gaming is not dead nor is it dieing. Neither PC’s or Consoles are dieing. They both have their strengths. The most played game in the world is World of Warcraft. Check out any gaming site and PC games are just as alive as any console games.
Zach — no, actually, PC gaming is indeed dying. More and more attention is being paid to console gaming, and that will only increase as time goes on. Increasingly, PC gaming will become a minority.
I know it’s been said, but I was just about to buy a MacBook when I found out it had no modem, but I could buy some dangling USB modem to hand from the back.
How stupid can Apple be? Maybe it works out to their advantage on paper, short term, but I can’t see how it’s smart to lose a $2500 sale over a $10 part. I have no choice but to use a modem and a notebook is supposed to be as flexible as possible, including as many connection options as possible. It makes no sense for Apple to expand into intel chips and immediately restrict users who only have dial up connections. I thought just having 2 USB ports and a 5400 rpm hard drive was dumb enough for a $2500 box, then find out I actually would only have one USB port. Crazy. Apples seems to forget how long it took them to dig out of that hole they dug by nickel and diming the customer like that in the past.
For every person who goes from a PC to a Mac, there’s another who goes from a Mac to a PC.
It’s really a personal choice as to which one you like better and what works for you.
For an average computing “consumer” like me and people around me, spending average 10-20 hours per week on home computering and 60 hours per week at office using you MS Windows at office, you find that it is almost no choice for this group of people. i.e. we HAVE to choose MS Windows at home too. Simply because of the overhead to switch, to learn Mac, to build another knowledge database in parallel to Windows. Lots of things are habits as basic as Ctrl-C and Crtl-V, left click for option… I have tried Mac twice in the last 10 years and every time I think the time for Mac has come, same as my friends and unfortunately ended up the same, we have put our Mac at storage or sell it at eBay at big lost. I don’t have faith on either Apple or MS, they are just like Sony or Philips to me. Yes, I like Max bacause of its OS and hardware. I have tried to put it at living home for internet browsing and I still have to give it up because of the compatibility with all my other files from office and at my other PC, especially like video files, music files with different codec, compatability with my other hardware of file servers (again, it is consumer product which built to better serve Windows platform). Yes, I can overcome them one by one, but adding all the tiny problems together, they are big and you don’t want to spend time on it everytime you do upgrade in either OS or hardware or some of the applications or media files codec. I think also many people like me are tempted by the hardware design and OS interface of Mac. One of my friend is going to upgrade his Mac hardware. Don’t get me wrong, he is giving up Mac OS but to use Apple hardware to operate Windows OS and application! Just let you know this is quite a typical views of an average “consumer” PC user.
Open Office on the Mac gets mixed reviews.
If your need to run Access databases is the only reason for still using Windows, use Base in OO and kiss Billy boy goodbye.
However, I had two problems trying to create business cards using Writer in OO. 1) It would not let me paste a graphic into any but the first card on the sheet. 2) It would not print in color.
Jeff,
That just isn’t true and there’s no proof of that. World of Warcraft hit over 8 million accounts and is still growing. The PC will always have the market on FPS & RPG’S. What makes you think more attention is being paid to consoles?
While we’re talking about markets, Apple should enjoy their time in the spotlight because if Linux keeps moving at the pace it has been in recent years I suspect that those who decide they are tired of Microsoft will turn to Linux because it will always be free or almost free.
^^
I highly doubt that linux will get that much recognition. I think that linux is too confusing for the average joe to understand
Zach — one game (WoW) does not a gaming market make. PC gaming has been on the decline for a few years now, and people have been saying it: me, Paul Thurrott, and others. Any way you cut it, with the power of the Xbox 360 and PS3 (and their successors), PC gaming will be less and less of a market. Almost everyone would rather spend $400 to play games on a 50″ HD plasma than $3000 to play on a much smaller monitor.
As for Linux, forget it. It will never, EVER see mainstream light of day. Never.
“No “Get a Mac” ad is as good as that.”
Gonna have to disagree with you there. the most recent one is, in my opinion, the greatest.
super post, as usual.
Jason 357
Although you said that you were on the verge buying a Macbook, it might be good for you to know that Macbooks dont’t cost $2500, go online to the Apple store and you’ll find it’s much less, the black Macbook being the costliest in the line start at $1499. A whole lot of options has to added to the base notebook before you can reach the cost of $2500.
Everyone has to make their own choices, but foregoing the acquisition of a fine computer over a USB modem, offered to you at no cost seems unwise. You might want to revisit your decision…
Incidentally, somebody misinformed you: Macbooks have 2 USB ports in them.
Good luck!
I take screenshots of individual windows all the time (equivalent to Alt-PrintScrn on Windows) using Command-Ctrl-Shift-4. This gives you a crosshair that you can use to select an area, or, if you press Spacebar, it will change to a camera icon. Hover over any screen element (window, dock, menu bar, etc.) and click the mouse button. This will take a snapshot of just that element. It’s dynamite!
Don’t even need the shift…the keystroke is “Cmd-Shift-4″. Didn’t know about the camera thing though…that is pretty damn cool.
tunegardener — true, but if you’re taking screenshots of active windows all the time, it’s a pain having to move to crosshair/free-select mode to choose what you want captured. It’s way better if you can just hit a button and the active window is captured. Real pro tools have this (such as Snag-It on Windows).
Last Spring I gave Apple, Dell, and Gateway the following requirements:
20 Laptops for teachers, 24 Student Desktops
Dual Core Processors
DVD Burners
They all knew who they were bidding against. Apple beat Dell by $50 per machine. Gateway was a no-show.
John — that’s a story you need to hear more. All this nonsense about Apple being so expensive, and it’s just not true. Not for what you get. Can you get a $500 laptop new from Apple? No, because Apple doesn’t make commodity, ultra-low margin machines. But component for component, Apple is VERY competitive price-wise.
someone introduce the idiot to the iFox, iPox, and jewelFox series of skins. they’re beautiful.
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