Once you go mac you never go back

I'm not trying to start another battle in the mac/pc war, but I just wanted to get thoughts from those who have made the conversion...

You see, with the exception of an old IIe back in the 80s, I've been using pc/windows ever since I've been using computers. And like many pc users, I always thought macs were a little goofy etc....

However, I was playing around with a friend's new powerbook and I really liked it. I'm going to be getting a new computer here in coming months and I'm thinking about gettin one of them...and as a matter of course, making the leap to the other side.

For those former pc users now on macs, was there anything you found that you missed about pcs or anything you could do on pcs that you couldn't do (or was harder) on mac? I mean, besides the right click thing (which you can do on the powerbooks btw). Conversely, what did you find was better on the macs than on the pcs?

I'm sitting on the fence. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Coco speaks truly - there are a lot of people in the Mac Users group who've switched over from PCs, and they probably have a lot of good info for you.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.


mac

You know, when I saw the thread title on the board page and then macbastard in parentheses, I figured he'd created a topic to offer himself.

Imagine my disappointment.

I use both PC and Mac. I have a desktop running Windows 2K, a laptop running XP, and a Power Book with OS X.

It really depends on your application which is "better". I used to hate the Mac UI, but OS X, with it's BSD base, is the shit. It is very stable, and has nice Unix things like a killer built in terminal app and the ability to run Apache/PHP/MySQL, as well as other Unix software. It's also nice to be able to use a command line.

The only real drawback is the price/performance trade-off. If you don't need to do video editing, and are experienced with PCs, it's hard to rationalize spending essentially twice as much for comparable power.

"But they're so cute!"

I have a pc but my roommate has a mac. I actually tend to use his mac more cause my pc breaks a lot. Mac is just a more stable machine.

a mac can't be cuter then a modded pc...

I build my pcs myself, I don't even know if you can do that with macs

I like macs but not for my field of work.

um, i have a pc but it uses redhat, so ....HAAA!!

i'm thinking of swiching. but i play the sims(i'm a dork) and don't want to bye them again

Oh hush.

I "switched" early this year and haven't looked back since. My only problems are a lack of suitable replacements for certain programs I was used to using heavily on Windows (namely Winamp, ACDSee 2.x, and Paint Shop Pro).

Also, Macs, especially laptops, aren't really much (if any) more expensive than comparable x86 machines.

I wish I could afford a mac just for OS/X. The BSD backend is admirable.

However, in my somewhat limited experience with macs there were a definately a few things I would miss:

1. No right mouse button, or scoll wheel (at least on the mice I used). I find them essential to most of what I do on a computer.
2. The ability to add, customize, and upgrade without paying a lot of money. I usually don't like buying all new, I just purchase parts from time to time that will eventually make-up a new machine.
3. Lack of online support. Even more pertinent with the move to a unix back-end. Granted, the O/S is a lot more stable and less likely to fail, but god help you when it does.
4. Far too much power for what I really need or can justify.

I admire Apple. I wish more companies would follow their lead in many of their business decisions and practises, and once I can afford too, I will definittely get a mac.

What did you get out of WinAmp that iTunes does not deliver? I don't know what ACDSee is (except a clever name for an app)... but PhotoShop Express is an affordable alternative to PSP. IMO. YMMV.

-r

1. No right mouse button, or scoll wheel (at least on the mice I used). I find them essential to most of what I do on a computer.
hehe. I use a Mac and my wireless mouse has seven buttons and a wheel. Logitech rules.

(Actually, I use a Mac and a PC and the same Logitech Keyboard and Mouse to control them.)

3. Lack of online support. Even more pertinent with the move to a unix back-end. Granted, the O/S is a lot more stable and less likely to fail, but god help you when it does.
Online support from whom? Apple? Third parties? the Mac community? If Apple, then do you think Microsoft has better support? For free? (please note, I'm not trying to argue.. these are honest questions. See, usually I've seen positive feedback on our support. Both AppleCare and the Mac Community.)

4. Far too much power for what I really need or can justify.
Huh. This may be the first "reason not to buy" that has ever made me happy about where I work.

-r

I was a total pc guy for years. I bought a mac. I bought a 2 button IBM mouse with a scroll wheel. Now I hate using windows.

I love my mac.

It's been 10 years since I switched and at the time I had built all of my machines. Here is my read on your concerns, hope that it helps.

1. I actually use a microsoft optical mouse on my mac. All four buttons mapped and a scroll wheel/button. the right button is contextual as on the PC.

2. All of my mac systems have had far more longevity than any PC system I ever had. Although not the same as on the PC side, I have upgraded processors, single and dual, graphics cards, hard drives, memory, pretty much everything but the motherboard. Firewire and usb make the additions very easy also.

3. My personal experience is that I rarely need support beyond apples online boards and support documents (we have 12 macs). But I know that not everyone is as (major) problem free as me. Phone support has been as good or better as the PC manufacturers. Don't get me started trying to get free microsoft support for the OS... Laptops do have to be sent in for major problems and that can be a major bitch.

4. I can't really help you with this one

[Edited on Oct 26, 2003 by monovox]

marquismark: good to hear you're thinking about the switch. i first used the mac in high school for a few classes and then in the college computer lab writing papers and doing homework or whatnot. i've worked on wintel and unix machines in the work place for nearly 5 years. in the spring of 2001 i bought a 15" powerbook. i was worried becasue i hadn't used a mac in a few years, so after buying the machine i picked up david pogue's mac os x: the missing manual. it made the transition a lot easier. is the switch your only concern?

there are definitely a number of benefits to going for the mac. their style and design can't be matched or compared to anything else. getting up and running out of the box is a breeze. you will be entertained by online viruses instead of worried about losing everything. you can participate and become a member of an active & enthusiastic community. in terms of support, i heard from a reliable source that their extended warranty/protection plan or whatever has won a major award for the last few years running. if there's a store nearby go in to take a test drive. happy shopping.

iPod/iTunes is as far as I go.

For what Apple offers, I don't need any of it. iTunes doesn't support oggs to the extent where I'd give a hoot about the software. I prefer to just have one big directory with lots of albums. 100% legal music... feels good.

I'd be interested more in the development environment on a Mac. I know that the version of GCC that Apple has out for their stuff has precompiled header support, and that speeds up a lot of compiles for huge-ass projects.

When I can build a 5-node Athlon-XP cluster for less than a new G5, I don't think that justifies the costs one bit.

One thing I'm definitely sure is superior to the PC counterpart from the Mac world is Apple's laptops. Longer battery life, better overall features, and better hardware reliability (I haven't met any x86 laptop user that hasn't had hardware problems in 2+ years of use). x86 hardware is pretty much commoditized and everyone tries to push out way too much stuff at the lowest cost possible, and I prefer my hardware to be considered a bit more thoughtfully before it's shipped out.

I can't wait to get a mac - it's definately going to be my next computer. They're great for design and the new OS is amazing! The only problem I'm having is affording a display since they are super expensive! Hopefully next year around this time I'll be buying a new Christmas present for myself

Easy playing of music across a network. I've tried iTunes and Audion and both insist on adding all available music to a "library"-type thing instead of just playing the ones I select. With 40+ GB (my entire CD collection) on my file server, neither one of them handle it gracefully. Audion simply cannot load the entire thing and I have to force-quit it and iTunes seems to only load part of it for some reason I haven't yet figured out, and then it's extremely slow to do things like edit ID3 tags. I don't want it all added to a permanent list because my computer is a laptop and as soon as I take it somewhere else, most of the music in my iTunes library is unavailable.

The cause of the slowness might be that iTunes absolutelly floods the network with traffic as soon as it's opened. The activity lights on my wireless access point go solid green until I close it. I have 'Look for shared music' and 'Share my music' both turned off, so I can't imagine what it's doing.

ACDSee is a small, fast (the 2.x versions, anyway; newer ones are pretty bloated) image viewer with a built-in file browser. Graphic Converter is close, but it's slow and kind of awkward to use, IMO. iPhoto has the same problem as iTunes: it insists on adding all images to a huge library. Even worse, iPhoto tries to copy everything over the network to my laptop. I don't want this.

I have regular Photoshop already. It's a great photo editing program but not much of a paint/drawing program, which is where Paint Shop Pro shines. Admittedly, I haven't tried any replacements for this, mainly because I don't really know what's available. Macromedia probably has something comparable (Fireworks maybe?)

[Edited on Oct 27, 2003 by kchrist]