Thinking about buying a Mac

[mcmurray]

If all goes to plan, I should have a spanking new 13" Macbook pro in a few days.

 

Now, the last time I used a mac was about 1995 when the first powermac's were made, so this should be quite interesting indeed!

 

Who has made the change from PC to Mac? How did you find it? Would you go back to Windows after using OSX?

[dem00n]

My school made a change of Mac to PC...i wonder why.

[Tman]

I work on a PC all day long and have Macs at home. Imac and a 13" Macbook that I use to travel and work when I travel.

You will think it is the best decision (or one of them) you've ever made. Especially when doing any kind of music related tasks and graphics. Congratulations!

Switch is easy because they are similar (use the command button instead of alt), wouldn't go to PC for home stuff, never have really, since 91.

[MrNylon]

I found the switch over easy. The Mac is more simple to use. More simple grab and drag.

[Shnate McDuanus]

Go for it.

 

I'm not against Macs on principle--but when I was buying a new laptop, I was profoundly disturbed by the fact that a MacBook would have run me $1,000.

 

I'm running off of a $600 laptop right now and, frankly, it's a great machine.

 

But yeah, the MacBook Pro is freaking awesome. I say go for it.

[EVOL!]

For what it's worth, here is my story.

 

I grew up a Mac guy. Outside of the Commodore 64 and Texas Instruments TI-99, my first computer experience was an Apple IIe. Did not see Windows until my senior year in high school with Windows workstation. After college I worked as an audio engineer and we *only* used Mac. In 1999 I started working for a 100% Windows shop so I learned WINNT, then WIN2000, then WINXP, and soon I'll learn Windows 7. Having seen what a mess Windows can be I only run Mac at home. Do not corrupt my home with a Windows machine.

 

A 13" Mac book pro with snow leopard OS is a great choice.

[Jantha]

I switched to a Mac full time for about 2 years.

 

I've since switched back to PC for the majority of my work... but all my graphics apps are on the Mac, so I still use as needed.

[damian]

I will switch when I can, and will use both for different reasons...

[rocketman]

Windows 7 is actually not that bad. I usually have nothing good to say about any Microsoft product, so what I just stated is a HUGE complement for them. The problem is that Windows 7 is essentially a MAC!

 

My wife got a MAC last year and she'll never go back to a PC. I still need a PC for a few things. As long as you aren't solving rocket equations, you'll be fine with a MAC and you'll love it.

[milod]

Frankly in ways I don't care for either. I only have one Mac to run one specific piece of hardware, a film scanner.

 

Win 7 lacks the degree of customization as XP. It's not "basically a Mac" in the underlying OS; it does make it easier to not know what you're doing and harder if you do.

 

Mac OS is nothing more than a messed-with and updated Xwindows Unix system. But you can't mess with the Unix base unless you have developer tools. In short the Mac hasn't really been "Mac" since OSX.

 

Both currently run on Intel CPU boxes with much the same peripherals. Apple makes its hardware with generally decent parts; some PC makers do the same with some levels of machine, some don't. The range of quality on the PC is a combined curse and blessing.

 

Bang for the buck, both hardware and software edge goes to the PC, although I'll agree that Win7 is following the lead of the Mac by offering fewer potentials for messing with the interface or much of anything else. But it's not at all the same OS, just interface. Both copy the concept from the old Xerox PARC.

 

Using the same software on both platforms, again the edge tends for me to go to the PC. That includes Quark Express up through version 6.5 and Photoshop since Ver. 2 to more or less current.

 

I've been involved with both platforms since 1981. I think if you got into "messing" with Dos machines, the original "PC" operating system, you had a super advantage over those who started with the Mac and had no idea what the thing was doing. I taught people how to use it when I'd only read about it and was using PCs. I could do much more work or play on the PC spending far, far less on store-bought software. I could even write my own.

 

Now? Both are designed so people can use them like they use their refrigerator or washing machine without having to understand how the equipment really works.

 

The major differences are not dissimilar to me from the Canon vs. Nikon argument in pro camera equipment. Both are exceptionally fine. I prefer Nikon 'cuz I've used Nikons for money off and on since the 1960s. I tend to "get" the mentality of the controls better than switching to the mentality of the Canon. Other folks are the other way around.

 

m

[BT Bob]

I use a W7 laptop for work, but have a Mac Mini at home (recently upgraded the DRAM as it was a bit "light"). I also have iPad & iPhone, so a bit of an Apple fan.

 

I do like W7 as an upgrade to XP (which I also like) - I won't talk about Vista... But it's becoming more and mores locked down (try changing the Firewall rules, for example).

 

The Mac OS is, for me, much more intuitive to use, and quicker to run (even on a relatively low-spec Mac Mini.

 

The downside of buying a Mac is, of course, the cost - but for me, the extra is worth it. If you absolutely have to run a windows application, then Parallels 6 is an outstanding VM environment. I currently run XP, Ubuntu Linux & Google Chromium, and they all run really well.

 

It never ceases to amaze me bow, 4 years old, my Mac Mini goes from power-on to full functionality in about 30 seconds. Anyone care to hazard a guess how long it would take for a 4 year old PC to boot?

[BT Bob]

Slightly off topic - but I'm reminded of this little gem:

 

Microsoft vs. General Motors

At a recent computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated “If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.

In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “General Protection Fault” warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

[milod]

As I've said before, I've had Macs lock up with both Mac OS and two OSX variations.

 

My two home PCs have never locked up and I'm using the same software plus more stuff on the PC.

 

m

[daveinspain]

Been using Macs since the early 80's... Love them. Just for the fact that Mac's don't get viruses is reason enough for me to own one. I have so many friends that wont even let anyone plug in a usb key for fear of get a virus. Not to mention Mac is the choice of pros for music and art related projects... I wonder why...

[retrosurfer1959]

I have A master in Information technology and was the CIO for a large municipal agency here in arizona until I retired this year, at work it was all PC but at home I switched over to the mac in 1984 with the original macintosh and never looked back I would never run a windoes machine in my house again in fact I wouldn't run a pc machine anywhere that was set up with server based tools for virus protection and upgrade support. The Mac is much easier to support with better tools one you change you'll never regret it and you'll never look back.

[Rocky4]

You'll love starting it up and actually getting to use it instead of being annoyed with Windows updates and anti virus updates.

[Rocky4]

I also have a"Dell"

 

[mcmurray]

I also have a"Dell"

 

 

hehe nice.

[ShredAstaire]

Do it Bubba! Do it!

[surfpup]

Who has made the change from PC to Mac? How did you find it? Would you go back to Windows after using OSX?

 

One tip that for Win users making the leap is a two-button mouse. If you are used to doing a lot of right-click actions this can prove helpful. (Of course you can always just control-click your Mac, as this will bring up the same contextual menus as right clicking).

[ShredAstaire]

One tip that for Win users making the leap is a two-button mouse. If you are used to doing a lot of right-click actions this can prove helpful. (Of course you can always just control-click your Mac, as this will bring up the same contextual menus as right clicking).

 

You can also set the mouse up for Right Click functionality...thats what I did after using PC's for years (and still using PC's at work).

[EVOL!]

Slightly off topic - but I'm reminded of this little gem:

 

Microsoft vs. General Motors

 

I remember reading this a few years ago and almost asphyxiated from laughing so hard. Thanks for posting it.

[surfpup]

You can also set the mouse up for Right Click functionality...thats what I did after using PC's for years (and still using PC's at work).

 

You can of course assign a variety of actions to the right button. But you don't need to. It will default to standard "right-click" parameters. I don't like to use a mouse since I am normally on my laptop. Control-click has become second nature to me. I'm all about keyboard shortcuts too. My wife always uses a mouse though.

[Notes_Norton]

I want to make it clear, I don't want to participate in an OS war. This is my personal preference, and it may or may not be better for anyone or everyone else.

 

I use both Mac and PC computers. Personally, I prefer Windows to MacOS.

 

It hasn't always been this way, in the past I liked Mac better, for a time I had no preference, but for the work I do, Windows OS is much faster and easier.

 

Little things like.

 

If I have two programs open, on Windows I can highlight and copy in one, then click and paste on the other. On the Mac its copy on one, click first on the Mac to change the focus, then click a second time to paste. When writing styles for Band-in-a-Box I may have to do this hundreds of times, and that means hundreds of extra mouse clicks on the Mac.

 

I can delete specific items from the PC recycle bin. Say I trashed a huge audio or video file and the trash is getting full. But there are some other things that I'm not ready to incinerate yet. On the Mac it's all or nothing, on the PC I can just nuke the huge audio file and leave everything else in there until I'm sure I want them gone.

 

I like the right-click, context sensitive Windows menus on a well written piece of software. If I have one hand on the synthesizer, I have to remove it to do the Mac's Option-click equivalent.

 

These are the most important things to me. If it wasn't for these two functions, they would be about equal. Then there are a number of other things that I prefer about Windows but are really not that important and a few things I like on the Mac better.

 

Plus, Macs are more expensive, have fewer software titles to choose from, and buying Mac-specific hardware is often more expensive too.

 

Admittedly, the Mac interface looks better, but I'm here to use the tool, and looks are secondary to function.

 

Of course, YMMV, so my advice is to pick the software that you want to work with, and choose the OS that it works better on.

 

Since I create aftermarket styles for Band-in-a-Box, and (1) BiaB works better on the PC and (2) when writing styles those hundreds of extra Mac clicks end up using up a lot of time and "mouseitis" of the index finger.

 

I have no brand loyalty to either OS.

 

Whichever way you go, you have a great OS.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[ShredAstaire]

^ Yup i can see that. Different tools for different jobs...like geetars...