Posted on 03/07/2009 6:44:52 PM PST by Swordmaker
"Apple's compelling advertisements may have you believing that moving from a Windows computer to a Mac is both a simple and a rewarding experience. I certainly believed it. In my circle of friends and co-workers, I observed that Mac users were to a large extent happier with their equipment and software than the Windows users. Most people I know who have moved from PCs to Macs never regretted the decision," CNET's Rafe Needleman reports for CBSNews.com.
"So figuring that I was going to be in good company, I made the switch. In December, I bought a new MacBook for myself, and a second one for my wife. We both needed new computers, and I thought it'd be a good time to move up to what everyone told me would be a superior experience," Needleman reports.
"Here's what we found: In many ways, the Mac experience is indeed superior. But the process of moving from the PC to the Mac is not nearly as easy or as straightforward as the advertising leads you to believe," Needleman reports.
"Before making the switch, I studied the Mac, read blogs, talked to friends, and learned about the changes I'd be forcing on myself. Going contrary to popular advice, which recommends running the new Mac and the old PC side-by-side for a while, I decided that the best way to make the switch would be to go cold turkey," Needleman reports. "In practice, I couldn't do it. There's only so much immersion a person can take in a day before he or she gets fatigued. And when your income relies on using a computer, you cannot afford to mess around with a new platform all the time. Sometimes, you just need to work. "
MacDailyNews Take: Don't ignore the advice, potential switchers. Windows-only sufferers have been steeped in the warped world of "upside-down and backwards fake Mac" for up to well over a decade. It'll take you a bit of time to unlearn poorly-conceived UI kludges that Microsoft's imposed upon you. Back in 2005, SearchSecurity.com's Winn Schwartau explained the issues of switching from an inferior OS with a mishmash UI to a superior OS designed by people who actually think and care about minute details when he admitted there was still much to learn about his newly adopted Apple Mac OS X operating system and wrote that Windows had made him "too stupid to use Macs." Don't worry, it wears off; you won't be a Microsoft Windows dullard forever.
Schwartau explained: After battling the WinTel world for 15 years, I am still overthinking my computer usage, and that is a sin. So, in front of the world, I confess my newly recognized sins:
• I assume the computer is going to fail. There are so many problems, my first reaction is the technology has failed yet again. I confess to this sin.
• The network is to blame. Other than a lightening strike the other day which did in fact fry the main router, our network is highly reliable. (Yes, I do have UPS and surge protection. But crap happens, OK?) So why do I blame the network? Some WinTel wireless and LAN and dial-up networking configurations are a nightmare (read: less than automatic). For some unknown reason I could never decipher how DHCP, and other advanced networking configurations get changed by the office Poltergeist. He seems to have gone away since we switched to Mac. (Saves a bunch of time, I'll tell you!)
• I have not run antivirus software in more than three months.
• I have not run any spyware software in three months.
• I have not defragged.
• I have only checked the integrity of my firewall three or four times.
• I forget that there is a simpler way than I am used to. Somewhere, there is an easy button to do 99% of what I need.
• We're good now. Mac is my office.
Needleman continues with his story, but there's no need to bother slogging through it now since we know why he's having his problems. He didn't listen to basic advice. So, learn from his mistakes instead before you embark on improving your computing life by dumping Windows for Apple's superior Macintosh:
Things every Windows to Mac switcher should know upfront:
• Apple Mac came first, Windows came a distant second.
• Microsoft copied Apple's Mac, but couldn't copy exactly due to legal concerns, so they made everything upside-down and backwards.
- It will take time to unlearn Microsoft's poorly-conceived, legal-inspired bad habits.
- It's not your fault; it's not Apple's fault; it's Microsoft's fault.
• Microsoft is a company that, at its very best, strives for and achieves mediocrity. It's rare, but it does happen.
• Apple strives for and often delivers "insanely great."
• Don't over-think on the Mac. Drag and drop instead! (You'll understand this one soon after you make the switch.)
• The "Help" feature actually works on a Mac. Use it frequently. You'll become a very good Mac user if you do.
• The Mac community is the strongest tech community in the world. We and millions more Mac users will be happy to help you. Just ask.
• Microsoft knows they are outclassed, so they invent file formats and manufacture convoluted traps to try to keep their sheep in the pen.
- Let Apple do it. If you buy a Mac at the Apple Retail Store and bring in your old Mac or PC, a Genius can move all your files for you.
- If you want or have to do it yourself, one good hint is to use Little Machines' $10 Outlook2Mac (O2M) to transfer your Windows Outlook Mail and folders to your Mac.
- Read and use Apple support document: How to transfer data from a PC to a Macintosh
• You have no right to utter one word of complaint if you haven't first used Apple's excellent free online guides:
- Switch 101
- Mac 101
• Use you local Apple Retail Store. Become a One to One member and you get a year’s worth of personal training sessions for just $99. Sit down for in-depth, face-to-face sessions with your very own personal trainer. Experts in all things Apple, our Trainers help you get the most out of your Apple products. Just tell them what you want to be able to do, and they’ll teach you how.
Don't be a Rafe, er... naif. Don't "go cold turkey." With a modicum of preparation and some basic knowledge/common sense you'll be able to switch from Windows to Mac much, much easier than the Needlemans of the world.
Oh, that might actually be the problem. Reason why I mentioned the whole pointing device issue is...a mouse that’s even slightly flakey, registering motion in error, will prevent the machine from going into screen saver. Wireless mice are pretty notorious for doing exactly that!
Test this please...set your screen saver up, give it a one minute timer, then pull the batteries out of the mouse. See if it goes into screen saver then. If it does, then you know the mouse is simply fooling the machine into thinking it’s being moved.
Owning a particular piece of hardware causes narcissism, etc? What a pantload.
I do want you to know that I am very impressed that you have a dual Nehalem Xeon CPU running in your computer that costs over $2000.00/ sure that it goes well with your IPOD Touch and your IPhone.
So, then, I guess owning PC hardware makes people sarcastic smarta$$es.
Besides the fact that nobody really cares that you chose Apple.
You do, or you wouldn't have bothered posting about it. Geez.
My best guess: It was a "Chinese wall," to protect against lawsuits. If you have the guys who've seen the innards of the Mac OS writing Windows, the writs write themselves.
“Xerox Windows? No such animal.”
Wrong. I worked at Xerox back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. They had windowing systems on their computers as early as 1973 - way, way before IBM/Microsoft and Apple conceived of any sort of windowing environment. The Apple Lisa was a blatant ripoff of the Xerox Dandelion and Alto. Microsoft copied a lot of the ideas present in the Lisa for their earliest versions of windows.
Fact - Xerox invented the mouse.
Fact - Xerox invented ethernet.
For a fun time and a bit of interesting history, google “xerox alto”. There’s a good wikipedia page on the Alto. Xerox was way ahead of it’s time and unfortunately didn’t capitalize on it.
Apple paid Xerox handsomely for its tour of Xerox PARC. They gave Xerox stock and obtained their permission. M$ did neither.
Anyone know if Mac emulation programs for running Windows programs on a Mac work well?
It's not an emulator. Windows software runs natively on the Mac's Intel Core2 Duo or Quad-core processors. Boot Camp, which sets up a dual boot to Windows or Mac, works better than most Windows machines; with Apple's control over the hardware, you don't have issues with badly-written drivers.
The other option is a virtual machine, for which there are a couple of different products. There's a bit of a performance hit in running a virtual machine, because the system's resources are shared by two operating systems.
Do you have to buy a copy of Windows for the Mac?
If you want to run Windows on the Mac, you need a license. If you already have one, you can use it; Boot Camp and the virtual machines use out-of-the-box Windows (or Linux, or maybe even Solaris), not a special version for the Mac.
Ubuntu is nice. No doubt about that. But “Windows-looking and acting” is a bug, not a feature. Ubuntu is good, lean, tight OS for a netbook or internet appliance, and it’s definitely a step beyond the typical X11-on-Llinux kludge, but I’d like a cleaner interface.
I’m waiting for my SSHD upgrade to arrive, and then I’m going to Hackintosh my little Dell Mini. Of course, with my luck, but the time I’ve had that running for a month or two Apple will come out with a netbook.
I haven’t experimented with different shells for Ubuntu. There might be an interface out there that suits me better. But what I want in a laptop is something to download photos from my camera and sync my iPhone, in addition to the basic e-mail and Web browsing, when I’m on the road; I doubt I’ll find anything on Ubuntu that’s better than iPhoto, iTunes and Safari.
Now I'm cracking myself up with the mental image of someone at a computer saying, "I need an old geek and a young geek."
The story of Apple gaining inspiration from Xerox is recounted on every Mac thread, including this one.
that Apple made major blunders throughout the 80s and 90s that put them in a distant second (it wasn’t mean ol’ MS)
Even the most die-hard Mac fan will tell you that the '90s were a pretty dark time for Apple. The Mac era can be divided into two epochs: AS (Anno Steve) and BS (Between Steve). But even at that time, the Mac was a better mousetrap. Apple failed to continue innovating, and allowed Windows (which wasn't better than barely usable until Win98 at the earliest) to come close to catching up.
and that Apple would be a footnote in computer history right now had MicroSoft not bailed them out when Steve Jobs came back?
Microsoft didn't bail out jack squat. M$ bought 150M in non-voting stock, which it subsequently sold at a healthy profit, and promised to continue developing Office for Mac (a profitable line for them). In exchange, Apple settled several pending intellectual property lawsuits.
Apple had $2 billion cash on hand at the time; Microsoft's $150B wasn't a "bailout" by any stretch of the imagination. Far more important was the symbolic value of Office availability and Gates' backing of the Mac, which helped with the widespread FUD that Apple was about to tank.
Not that I have any animosity either way, I actually think the Windows/Mac wars are stupid. I just think that Apple constantly gets a pass on valid criticism from its rabid fanbase.
I have no problem with valid criticism. What you've offered is a hodgepodge of standard-issue urban legends about Apple.
Better unload it before the next leap year.
Are you planning to delete the software and operating system when you take delivery?
Also by learning to build your own computer you will find that for the most part retail computers are poor preforming junk, since they are into maximizing profits while keeping the price down.
Also by building your own computer and then peeking inside a Mac Pro, you'll learn to appreciate the build quality of Macs.
lol
Nice case, Wooly... but the Aluminum at 8/100 of an inch is not as sturdy or nice as the Mac Pro's 1/8" thick Aircraft grade Aluminum skin... but I'll accept it as close to equivalent. At least it's not plastic.COOLER MASTER UCP RS700-AAAAA3 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Power Supply
Why are you using a $180 700W power supply to match the Mac Pro's 1440 Watt? I would think that you should use at least a 1000 Watt.Since you like the Cooler Master, let's use the COOLER MASTER UCP RSB00-AAAAA3 1100W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Power Supply - Retail $350 - Add $170.00
Retail, Intel Core i7 940 Nehalem Quad Core 2.93GHz 4.8GT/s 8MB L3 Cache LGA1366 CPU Processor.
Not anywhere near the same processor, Wooly.Intel Core i7 940 Nehalem 2.93GHz 8MB L2 Cache 1366 MHz 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail $559.99
The Nahelem model being used in the single chip Mac Pro is rumored to come in a bit less expensive than the over $2500 for the current 2.93GHz Xeon... it is $1,386 for the Intel Xeon EP X5570 6.4GT/s 8MB L3 Cache, 1366, designed for single socket Motherboards..
The ones included in the dual Mac Pro are the Intel Xeon MP X5570 (MP for multi-processor) 6.4GT/s 8MB L3 Cache, for Dual socket mother boards and will be more expensive but not as expensive as the current Xeon listed above. I could not find a retail price quote for the unreleased MP model. It also requires an entirely different and more expensive Motherboard, ECC memory, and different cooling.
Using the EP's price of $1,386, it is still $827 more expensive than the one you've selected. Add $827
ASUS Rampage II Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $399
Nice Motherboard. I notice it supports ECC FB RAM even though your selected CPU doesn't. OK.
OCZ Special Ops 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3SOE10664GK Times 2 - Retail $142
This RAM is OK for your selected CPU, but not for the Upgrade to match the Mac Pro's Xeon which requires Fully Buffered ECC RAM. I'm partial to Crucial memory... New Egg has Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) ECC Fully Buffered Dual Channel Kits for $121 X 2 - Retail $242 - Add $100
Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - Retail $105 X 2 = $210
Let's not get two drives for this comparison... which you selected because you know that Apple does charge more for such peripherals. Let's get just one. We can add more later to both systems from any source. Minus $105Since were dropping to one drive, on the Mac Pro Minus $300
ASUS EAH4870X2 Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail $455
OK
2 - LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30 - OEM - $26 X 2 = $52
I have never seen a user who needed two DVD burners... and these can be added to either system from any source after the purchase, so let's get just one apiece. Yours: Minus $26 Mac Pro, Minus $100
Hanns·G HG-281DPB Black 27.5" 3ms Widescreen LCD HDMI Monitor - Retail $360
Since the Mac Pro and your computer can drive the same monitors, let's leave them out. They are irrelevant to the discussion. Besides, your monitor is not equivalent to the Mac LED Cinema Display in contrast ratio or candelas. Yours, Minus $360, Mac Pro, Minus $899Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 - Retail - $116
Hey, you're building this... you can use the OEM price - Minus $26
You will notice that there is no software or operating system (on the Mac).
Yes, there is, Wooly. It's included in the base price. Apple does not sell Macs without OS X and its suite of iLife software. It's included. To match the OS X complete operating system, you have to add Windows Vista Ultimate OEM 64bit: Add $180I am going to assume that you can find Apple iLife equivalent Windows apps for the same price Apple retails them for (you can't but we'll assume it anyway), so Add $79
So, using those figures modified to better compare the computers and not the extras you added in to pad the costs, your unassembled computer, now more equivalent, would cost you $3,397
Making similar deductions for unnecessary extras that can be purchased from 3rd parties,the completely assembled, tested, Mac Pro, with a one year warranty, and world class support, would RETAIL for $3,599. The Mac's shipping is free.
Let's see. The complete upgraded Mac Pro, with software loaded, is being sold and supported for just $205 more than your box of unassembled parts... and that's not counting shipping. That's 6% more for the Mac Pro.
Where is that $2100 differential???
Uh, not a fact. Douglas Engelbart invented the computer mouse in 1964 while working in his own lab at the Augmentation Research Center, Stanford Research Institute. For this invention, Engelbart was awarded U.S. Patent # 3,541,541. By the way, the number on that patent is a Prime Number.
PARC's Robert Metcalfe is credited with inventing Ethernet.
Not really. The Alto and Star were very crude compared to the Lisa. Xerox deserves great credit for inspring the concept for the modern graphical user interface, but any claim that the Lisa was a "blatant ripoff" of Xerox can be easily debunked by comparing the screens.
Fact - Xerox invented the mouse.
Wrong, but at least you don't believe that Microsoft invented the mouse, as some people do.
Fact - Xerox invented ethernet.
Yes, we can agree on that.
Ted Nelson's new book gives a good factual history of this stuff.
Game, Set and Match: Mr. Swordmaker...
Day 3 of my new iMAC 24” w/2.66mhz/640GigHD. After three years, the FIRST GRRRRR iMac is going to the daughter to keep her MBPro company.
Starting up this beast was pure pleasure. I keep all my data stored on external drives and renamed them, just for fun. There was no problem with the iMac connecting to the three DaisyChained 500Gig LaCie drives via FW800. I was worried that going to new drive names, chained would be a problem...NOPE!
It even recognized that my wife’s MacBook was allowed access to iPhoto and carried that access onto iMac24...AMAZING!
What do you find lacking in Finder? I enjoy its streamlined ease-of-use-ness.
Macs are good enough for Chloe. That’s good enough for me.
I don’t know how in depth you go with pic editing but iPhoto is terrific.(comes with OSX)
You can’t add a head to a body or anything like that but normal highlighting, sharpening, color enhancement, etc, it’s superior to most I’ve used.
You are working with the original, full screen in real time as opposed to comparison thumbnails.
And it keeps the original that you can change at any time.
Great organization also.
I love it.
Thanks for all of the suggestions and information.
TPD
I...tend to doubt these assertions.
It has been my experience that Windows wireless networking setup is the most automatic of any I have used. I've set up vast numbers of laptops with wireless...and once you get the device manufacturer's interface out of the way and let Windows manage the wireless setup, all that is needed is to choose a wireless network and then enter the passphrase for that network.
Also, I have also NEVER seen a machine's IP setting spontaneously change from DHCP to static on its own. That requires intervention from a human.
I don't claim to have seen it all...but I've been around the block a few times and have seen a lot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.