PC user in a strange new world...

[dmm96452]

I've heard so much about Macs here and in other places that I decided to check them out. I got a 17" PowerBook G4.

First impression...this is gonna be a long process. I am soooo Windows-centric in my thinking when on a pc it takes me forever to do the simplest tasks. They are easy enough on the Mac...just so different. Not being able to right-click is driving me nuts. (I haven't tried to add a mouse yet)

A few things I've noticed:
Many of the web pages out there don't like Safari much... I'll be trying others like FireFox or even (Yikes!) IE for Mac.

During initial setup I had to enter a lot more info then I would normally like. That is probably just basic Windows security paranoia.

It is fast. Especially considering what I thought to be a slow processor at 1.67GHZ. CS2 runs great. Since most of the books I have use Mac in the illustrations using them has become easier. I haven't connected my camera (20D) to it yet or tried to work with RAW images yet, but don't anticipate any problems.

I haven't used it enough to have any thoughts about reliability or stability.

I'll post more as I go, both for the benefit of dedicated pc users (a group I've long been a proud member of) and so that from time-to-time the Mac users can say I told you so! ;) I'm sure I'll also post a few questions over in the computer forum.

[livin4lax09]

check apple's website. They have a whole tutorial for windows users switching over to macs. THat should make it much clearer.

What pages have you found that don't like safari? None of the ones I visit seem to have a problem with it.

a simple rule. a command-click is the same thing as a right click. it's that little apple button next to the space bar. I have a mighty mouse, and it's a great mouse, and it allows right clicking.

I found the data you enter to be a little much, but it helps to assist you with any problems you could have with the computer, because they have all that info right there when they give you assistance. People say macs are much more confusing, but I actually think PC's are more confusing. Maybe that's because i've been apple loyal ever since I was about 10.

[Axle]

I wouldn't try IE for Mac, stick to FireFox.

[mjs1973]

I switched departments within my company in January of this year. With that switch, I went from a PC to a Mac. I found it rather easy to switch and had no problems. Then I went back to my home dept at the end of February and went back to a PC. Monday I just switched departments within my company and I'm now working on a Mac once again. The switch was silky smooth. I find both systems to be very similar and if you know one, you can work your way through the other. There is a learning curve, but I don't find it to be all that big of one.

I had thougth about switching to a Mac for my photography and digital imaging, but after looking at the prices for a Mac and an equally powerfull PC, I stuck with a PC. Perhaps someday, down the road, when the prices are more equal, I will make the change.

[dmm96452]

Thanks for the replies.

livin - Most of the sites I have trouble with are in the Senate (where I work). Many of the pages are only tested with IE since it is the standard here. I'll be sure to check the Mac web page out for help.

Penny - Because my experience is strictly pc (also dating back to early dos versions)many of the more routine tasks are so second nature that having to actually think before I do something is a bit new. Once I get past that I believe I'll be fine.

Axle - Noted and logged. IE for Mac is out.

mjs - I'm sure I'll get used to it. I haven't always had the most positive attitude about Mac. That may be getting in my way a little at this point. You did hit on one of my major complaints about Mac.

Mac prices are a bit high. The fact that I can't build one myself has also served to turn me off about them in the past. The first pc I bought cost me about $1500 back in 1993 or 94. Since then I have upgraded a part or two at a time and have never spent more than $300 or $400 at a time (usually quite a bit less) while always maintaining a fairly up to date pc. You just can't seem to do that with Mac. I honestly believe that, more than anything else, is what reduced them to a niche market.

[masdog]

DMM,

Macs are notorious for being locked into a specific hardware platform. Thats why the operating system is much more stable than Windows (although that depends on the hardware used...Windows can be very stable on platforms when they are built with a version of Windows in mind...as they say on Slashdot, your milage may vary.)

Having used both platforms, I think Macs are becoming very overrated for photo/video editing and desktop publishing since the software that made Macs great for this has been ported to Windows. I don't believe MacOSX provides any additional benefits over Windows now days.

[Sebastian]

Over a year since I switched, I have run intop exactly 2 websites that Safari didn't like, and both have been fixed since.

Right-clicking is present, hold down CTRL while clicking with a single-button mouse, or just plug in a two-button mouse.

OS X is all the benefits of a stable Unix platform with the best GUI made.

Masdog said: "I don't believe MacOSX provides any additional benefits over Windows now days."

Try using it for a while.

[livin4lax09]

Masdog said: "I don't believe MacOSX provides any additional benefits over Windows now days."

Try using it for a while.

exactly what I tell everyone who says macs suck.

My mac is far more reliable than any pc i've ever used. I've had it lock up two times in about 3 years now. Both of them when I was running about 10 programs at once. Plus, for about 600, sounds like a good deal to me ;) Macs are more expensive, but hey, you get what you pay for.

[Axle]

If I had the spare money I would first buy a dSLR, next on the list would be a mac. I've always been cross platform, I used Apples/Macs all through Elementry and Middle school, while having a PC at home (first one in 1988 running DOS 3.3), and then later on down the road Windows 3.1, 95, 98(se), ME (briefly), and now XP and 2000. I also run Linux for my servers and an iMac.

There's nothing wrong with Macs is what I'm trying to say, you can easy integrate them into a PC environment. Plus I love the fact that MacOS X is Unix based....I may run windows, but I'm anti-microsoft, hense why I run Linux on my server.

[dmm96452]

This is just an experiment on my part. I've never had the stability issues that Microsoft gets so heavily dinged for to badly. It's not for lack of use either. I frequently add and remove software and am not always as careful as I should be about where I web surf. Being a Systems Administrator does help minimize the annoyance when problems do arise.

I want to find out for myself if the Macs are more stable, user friendly, etc. or if the hardcore Mac users are that way out of hatred of the Evil Empire that is Microsoft. Or both?

I believe that Mac both suffers and benefits form being more of a niche player. Suffers in that there is not nearly as much software written for it or hardware compatible with it. Benefits in that it is not as big a target for hackers and malicious code writers.

I've read/heard many other opinions on both sides (including my own) and have just decided to try to develop a more informed (through personal exp.) opinion about Macs.

[Sebastian]

Whoever preaches about he increased stability of the Mac over the PC is full of it, or clueless, though usually both.

From well over a year now of using Apples full-time, the only thing I can say about stabilty is that I have not ONCE gotten the equivalent of a blue screen. Never, ever, have I had a system become totally unusable. Sure, software still crashes, things have bugs. But the difference in stability is not nearly as huge as the most vocal mac proponents here would like you to believe. When it comes down to it, I have had less major problems with Apple than with Windows, but the difference is so minor that it's totally irrelevant. Someone else might get a dud on the other side of the fence and swear how Windows was more stable.

The only reason for me using a Mac is OS X and the mentality it engenders in making software, and especially interacting with it. It is simply a much better way to compute.

[masdog]

Most stability issues are related to hardware, not software. Macs, by default, will always have a slight edge in stability because the hardware and operating system are controlled by the same company and can be designed to work with each other much better than most PCs (although this is starting to improve...).

If you look at most blue screens of death, it is often hardware related - either a physical fault in the device or a problem with the device driver. This was very common with Windows 9x/ME, but with 2000/XP, I haven't had a single BSOD that wasn't directly related to a fault in the physical hardware.

Its why I say that there isn't much difference between Windows and Macs. Zealots on both sides will claim that they're better than the other, but when you break it down, the operating systems have more similiarities than differences.

[ACArmstrong]

6 gigs in one hand, 6,000 mb in the other...

[Lionheart]

Nooooooo.......Once down the dark path you start, forever will it dominate your destiny. Apple, Macintosh, these lead to the dark side ;) ;)
I'm kidding of course. I've been tempted myself, but until the day arrives when I can build a Mac from scratch, I'm sticking to computers I can build and upgrade.

[dmm96452]

True dat Lionheart! What I'm getting from this thread and my own observations thus far is that it is close enough that being able to continue to build my own pc's will be the deciding factor.

I recall hearing, not long ago, that Mac was either going to port the OS to run on pc's or allow Windows to run on Mac hardware. I can't remember which. Can anyone else remember which it is and what are your thoughts?

[masdog]

It's kinda both. Darwin, which is the open-source kernel of MacOSX, has been available for the PC for about 4 years now. Apple is also moving to Intel processors for all their systems, and the first ones should be available in a month or two.

MacOS is still going to be limited to computers built by Apple, at least in theory. They're going to use some Trusted Computing/Hardware DRM feature to prevent anyone from installing MacOS on commodity hardware, but I give it a month before this feature is cracked and MacOS is available to anyone.

Apple also said they won't prevent anyone from running another operating system on the hardware. That means that you can run any flavor of Windows, Linux or Unix alongside MacOS.

[almo]

[QUOTE=dmm96452]I've heard so much about Macs here and in other places that I decided to check them out. I got a 17" PowerBook G4.

. They are easy enough on the Mac...just so different. Not being able to right-click is driving me nuts. (I haven't tried to add a mouse yet)

not different, better .... A two button mouse will work fine. I use one with my iBook.

A few things I've noticed:
Many of the web pages out there don't like Safari much... I'll be trying others like FireFox or even (Yikes!) IE for Mac.

Safari works 10 times better than IE. It's faster and a lot less buggy. The only thing that I have seen hat safari can't do is open Mediaplayer files. Fine with me...lol

During initial setup I had to enter a lot more info then I would normally like. That is probably just basic Windows security paranoia.

Yup

It is fast. Especially considering what I thought to be a slow processor at 1.67GHZ. CS2 runs great. Since most of the books I have use Mac in the illustrations using them has become easier. I haven't connected my camera (20D) to it yet or tried to work with RAW images yet, but don't anticipate any problems.

I use CS2 on an 800mhz iBook. It runs twice as fast as my desktop PeeCee with more than 3 times as much memory and running CS2 or 7.

I haven't used it enough to have any thoughts about reliability or stability.

Yes and Yes. PeeCee, would be No and No...lol

I'll post more as I go, both for the benefit of dedicated pc users (a group I've long been a proud member of) and so that from time-to-time the Mac users can say I told you so! ;) I'm sure I'll also post a few questions over in the computer forum.

I love to see new apple converts, but I prefer not to preach it to the masses. As I love to say, popularity kills creativity. And you may as well add good customer care to that. God I hope apple never catches on like IBM/MS computers. I'd have to go to linux then


LOVE MY APPLEs

[almo]

It's kinda both. Darwin, which is the open-source kernel of MacOSX, has been available for the PC for about 4 years now. Apple is also moving to Intel processors for all their systems, and the first ones should be available in a month or two.

MacOS is still going to be limited to computers built by Apple, at least in theory. They're going to use some Trusted Computing/Hardware DRM feature to prevent anyone from installing MacOS on commodity hardware, but I give it a month before this feature is cracked and MacOS is available to anyone.

I would love to run OS X on my PeeCee. MMMMM yummy.

[opus]

I'm far too lazy to hold a grudge against a company just for the principle of it. I choose what I use because I like it better. I'd also switch sides in a heartbeat if I had a reason to.


I was trained for two years in school on graphics programs on the PC. I had no gripe. Then I went into the work world and had to switch to mac. I thought it would be scary and hard, but it was a piece of cake. Learning curve was almost non-existent.

I've used macs ever since, although I still use PCs at school and at libraries, etc. I just love the mac because it does what I want the way I expect it to, so I don't have to think too hard to get things done.

[almo]

I'm far too lazy to hold a grudge against a company just for the principle of it. I choose what I use because I like it better. I'd also switch sides in a heartbeat if I had a reason to.


I was trained for two years in school on graphics programs on the PC. I had no gripe. Then I went into the work world and had to switch to mac. I thought it would be scary and hard, but it was a piece of cake. Learning curve was almost non-existent.

I've used macs ever since, although I still use PCs at school and at libraries, etc. I just love the mac because it does what I want the way I expect it to, so I don't have to think too hard to get things done.

You know Kelly, you make a very good point here. While I love to poke fun at windows, and make fun of windows problems, after some months on the Mac system I am coming to see your point of view. I admit that my dislike for windows and frustration with linux was a big part of the reason that i went over to Mac. But the more you use the OS the more you realize that it is just another flavor of the same ice cream. I mean lets be honest. Apple, windows, and linux are all derivatives of the original Xerox OS.

I prefer Mac. It is better, I truly believe this, but I can't really say that I hold a real grudge against windows. After all, I gotta get my shits and giggles from somewhere.