Posted on 08/04/2010 12:09:11 PM PDT by Swordmaker
On June 20th, I declared that I was going to try A Month of Mac. I took my Macbook Pro (an older model from about 18 months ago) up to Alaska, left my Lenovo x300 in Boulder, and went native Mac.
I’m typing this on my brand new spiffy MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8GB RAM, with a 500GB solid state hard drive. I can’t figure out why I’ve been so stubborn about really switching to the Mac. This is a beautiful computer.
The key to this switch was that the native mac apps (Mail, iCal, and Address Book) sync seamlessly with Exchange. So I don’t have to deal with the abortion that is Entourage but at the same time I don’t have to mess around with our email server and impact everyone else in our organization. That’s sweet. I had a feeling this would work this time since it works flawlessly on my iPhone and iPad, and it did. The only thing missing is Tasks, but I started using Evernote instead which actually worked even better than the Outlook Task manager.
So – no Parallels or Fusion – I don’t even have a Windows image on this machine at this point. I didn’t use Windows a single time in the last month and now that I’ve rewired my brain for Mac shortcut keys I think it’d be a pretty amusing thing to watch.
I’ve found peace and happiness with iWork as a replacement for Microsoft Office – it’s more than adequate for what I do. MarsEdit is a spectacular blog post editor, Chrome works happily on the Mac as does Skype and TweetDeck, and Adium replaced Digsby. Pogoplug works just like it did before – all my files are where I want them to be. Best of all, my iPhone actually does what it’s supposed to with iTunes.
Did I say that this is a beautiful piece of hardware? Sleep mode – check. Flawless super high resolution screen – check. Super fast everything – check. Find a piece of software you want to play around with – download and run.
The most remarkable thing was the transfer of all my data, applications, and settings from my old MacBook Pro to my new MacBook Pro. I connected them by Firewire. I restarted my old MacBook and held down the T key. After the transfer started, I went and had a meeting for a hour. I came back and my new Mac was set up exactly like my old Mac. Perfect.
Ross – you owe me $100.
Brad Feld is a managing director at Foundry Group who lives in Boulder, Color\ado. He invests in software and Internet companies around the US, runs marathons and reads a lot.
I wonder how long I can hold out?
I'm about to acquire an Android wireless unit too!!!
So the author not only has a Macbook Pro “(an older model from about 18 months ago)” but also an iPhone and iPad.
Yet he’s a long time Windows user who was “won over”...
That’s humorous.
Exactly! If they went through and priced everything they had to upgrade n that new cheap Pc to get it to do what they wanted many times they spend more than what a mac that cam standard built like that would cost them.
Not true at all. All the good titles are eventually ported for Mac. But if you can't wait, you can set up a windows partition.
I will say this. If you want to really scream, go Hackintosh. It is truly the best of both worlds.
I read all the pro-Apple stuff here for years. So I figured out how to load OS/X (Tiger, Leopard) on a PC. I was quite unimpressed. Used it for a day, that was all I could take. It looked ugly compared to Ubuntu Linux. It looked ridiculous. I can’t see why Apple is so great for computers and laptops. iPads and iPhones may have an advantage over competitors....don’t know.
That hard drive that I used for OS/X has been wiped and using it for something else
I recently picked up a used Mac Mini (1.83 GHz core-2 duo, 4GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive) on EBay for a special project I was starting. Upon using it I found it was substantially faster than my PC (which has a fast 4-core 3.2GHZ processor, 4GB RAM, fast SATA drives, etc). At that point I figured that since I was going to need to go through some pain to move to Windows 7 from my XP PC, why not go through the pain and switch to a Mac. So I did.
Now, after several months I have found 2 things that the PC does better than the Mac:
1. Quicken
2. Webcams
Everything else I did on the PC: MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, video editing (vacation footage, etc), photo editing, photo effects (photo mosaics, panoramas), web design/development, and so on - I can do on the Mac - and it boots to a ready-to-use state in 90 seconds.
Just my experience - “your milage may vary”.
I’m on my I-pad right now. I only have an I-pad because hubby got it for me for mother’s day and and I just couldnt take it back! But apple has always rubbed me the wrong way. When I was in college every computer in the computer lab was a Mac. The guy that ran the computer lab said that apple practically gave macs away to colleges and high schools to get kids hooked on the brand. This was in the early 90’s. Not until I met my husband and he had a decent PC did I realize macs weren’t that great and cost way to much. Plus no adobe reader on my iPad. But this thing is good for reading free republic while watching the news! Oh and I hate how the kids iPods have to get everything from iTunes and iTunes just seems very intrusive on my PC.
OS Wars are always amusing ... Hmmm ...
RT11, VAX/VMS, MVS, VM, CP/M, MS-DOS, PC-DOS, TRS-DOS, Xenix, Irix, SunOS, Solaris, Ultrix, Linux, OS/2, Apple-DOS, MacOS, Windows ...
Geesh ...
I bought Beta.Therefore,I’ll never even *consider* buying Mac.There are many reasons for that decision but the one I’ve mentioned is good enough all by itself.
Macs are far superior to pc’s in the area of pro-sound/studio recording also. Logic Studio 9 is an incredible product. I’ve recorded & released CD’s using pc’s & Mac’s over the years. For the money I have invested in Logic & my Mini, there is no comparison in quality.
When it comes to games there are a LOT of choices now. Personally I play Warhammer Online on my Mac Mini and it looks & plays great! Online Game Content provider, Steam is also selling many good games for the Mac platform now.
Once you go Mac, you don’t go back! :P
I doubt anyone can cobble together a usable laptop. But a desktop unit can be done easily. It’ll look like crap, but perform every bit as good as a top of the line Mac Pro.
I’ve looked at building a Hackintosh for a couple of years now. Can’t seem to find the right hardware combination that will work 100% of the time without fiddling and tweaking with this and that. Not gonna spend the $$$ on the hardware unless I know to a certainty it’s all going to work out of the box.
I’ve had an iMac for about 2 yrs. now. I got tired of all the maintenance I had to do on the pc.
Let my wife play around with the Mac a month or so ago. Guess what.
This is tax free weekend and I’ve reserved a spanking new Mac to be picked up Fri. Replaces her Dell.
We will be a 100% Mac family .
BTW, a relative was here last weekend w/ his new super Dell laptop. Nice machine but I think my Mac laptop has a superior display.
Standby......
Surely Dell, HP, Sony or somebody can cobble together a usable laptop. Maybe not though.
In the past Mac Pros were very price competitive with the offerings of other manufacturers. I would assume that is still the case. A home built computer is going to be cheaper than having someone else make it for you no matter who makes it.
TOTAL FUD !
It has been posted 100s of times. Mac are CHEAPER than any comparable hardware or software. The OS is cheaper. The hardware configurations are cheaper. The built is more solid. The screens bigger and brighter. And the resale value is significantly better.
300% more? Not even. The fact is Mac is 10 - 15% LESS costly.
And none of that price reflects the user experience or convenience or time savings of use.
Yeah, I was thinking desktops. I’ll grant you that the price differential on Macs and PCs is much closer in the laptop market. Heck, I’d love a Macbook. I think those are where Apple has done their best work.
With desktops, if you’re willing to buy the components and assemble it yourself (which, granted, not everybody is), then you can easily undercut an equivalent Mac.
Almost $3900 is mighty steep even for a good laptop like that one, though. Is it the 500GB SSD that runs the price up?
}:-)4
And Warcraft.
I don’t consider myself much of a gamer, but it seems to me the serious gamers are playing on systems like Playstation and Wii.
I don’t think there’s much difference between Macs and PC’s in terms of gaming experience. Except of course, the installation of games. (I’ve never had problems installing games on a Mac)
Also it seems to me the newer PC games all have a Mac counterpart.
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