The decision has been taken — after 26 years of owning PCs, and 24 years of using MS operating systems I’ve just placed the order to replace my kit with Mac equipment.
I am bored by crashes, things not working and the sheer difficulty of some multimedia interaction that I want to do.
I cam to the conclusion there is only one way forward — and that’s Mac.
It’s a painful up front cost.
And no doubt a bit of a learning curve. But I don’t want to replace kit as often as I do — and people tell me I won’t — and I do want things to all work. And I’ve never yet heard tale of someone who has regretted it.
Of course there’s always a first but I admit the geek in me is just a bit excited about my early Christmas present.
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I am an IT professional and started going Mac a few years ago but found it to be a false economy. I expected it to be low maintenance, but when you get a problem – boy do you get a problem! The updates are often bug ridden and Apple just ignores you.
I only have a MacBook Pro left and it has a dodgy “superdrive” and poor battery – the cost of repairs would buy me a new Toshiba laptop with Windows 7, which OSX in the dust.
Good Luck – I hope you have a better experience.
Wise choice.
You will soon wonder why you put up with MSOS for so long!
Maybe you could have considered Ubuntu again? It’s free and most of the issues you had in the past have now been ironed out.
The leap from PC to Mac is greater than from PC to Linux, but best of luck!
We all know you like mapping softwares, here is an open-source one for Windows, Mac and Linux:
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Did the same thing about 2 years back. Everything is now so easy and intuitive.
BIG difference you’ll enjoy us the facility to close your MacBook lid during a meeting and then just lift the lid and start blogging without any delays for booting up or waking up the old PC. It’s magic!
Enjoy.
I’ve been waiting for a Christmas opportunity to agree 100% with one of your posts, and here it is.
@Hum…
I looked
But I want what Mark Lee notes is available
Not wanting to enter into any debate here 🙂 but linux and mac have a common DNA and you would have been able to do just that
@Hum…
Try as I might – I could not see that in Linux
If I’m wrong, so be it
By a strange coincidence I’ve recently made the same decision, Richard, and I’m currently awaiting the arrival of a MacBook Pro. My decision was also based on weight and battery life as I’ll be working on the move a lot in 2011. I just hope I don’t fall foul of the gremlins Maddog mentions 😥
“BIG difference you’ll enjoy us the facility to close your MacBook lid during a meeting and then just lift the lid …..etc”
Er… that’s how my Windows laptops work now. Simple change in ‘Settings’. Takes about 30 seconds.
Which just about sums-up Mac users. If they rode bicycles they’d still have the training wheels on. It’s only the picture of fruit on the lid you know. The guts are almost the same as a PC these days. Here you are: http://www.emulators.com/softmac.htm Save yourself a couple of grand if you really must use a crap operating system.
Richard,
Doing the very same this Christmas (iMac). From my usage of Apple products in the past, the products are about being able to do whatever it is you want to be doing and are NOT about computing.
We shall *both* see.
Georges
I’ve been considering this recently – some might say procastinating. It would be useful to read about your experience Richard, so a few updates along the way would be appreciated.
Oops – procrastinating
@peter
I used to work in IT support, used to mess around all the time with configurations, settings, customisations, hacks and finally realised that it’s a waste of time. Far better to use my lovely MacBook Pro with a few minor customisations, use great, highly productive apps (Things on the Mac is amazing) and have lots of time left over for enjoying life.
Do let us know how it works out
The macbook air looks absolutely amazing, but sadly the up-front cost keeps me on my windows 7 lenovo!
@Jon
Up front cost is high – I agree
But I am getting through PCs at a rate of 2.5 years a time
And I have seen clients in the past and others now making Macs last a lot longer
That’s one part of the equation
The other is I spend a lot of my life in front of these things…..
I have decided in that case I need to pay for what works
I work with both every single day.
For general usability Macs are *way* less frustrating to use and I use that whenever I can.
But there are a couple of drawbacks for a finance person:
– excel shortcuts on a Mac are different and there are fewer of them. That is a huge productivity problem.
– many finance apps and accounts packages simply aren’t available on the mac platform.
@Colman Stephenson
Thankfully that is pretty much in my past!
Timely:
http://www.theonion.com/video/new-apple-friend-bar-gives-customers-someone-to-ta,17693/
😆
[…] they really need the ‘bricking treatment’ leave them to decide whether they sup. Today I hear that Richard is indeed supping from the Apple cup. He says: The decision has been taken — after 26 years of owning PCs, and 24 years of using MS […]
My take on this is that I hate Steve Jobs – he seems to be a total egomaniac who would have fitted right in in the Soviet Politburo. Hence I find it difficult to consider Apple products on merit – in a rational light. We do have an Apple iPod because I got it free with an Android phone (oh the irony) – looks fantastic, interface on the iPod itself is good but Apple’s iTunes software (which they FORCE you to use – total Stalinist approach) isn’t that good IMHO.
Most people I know with a Mac really like it – but then that could be sample selection bias (i.e. people who didn’t like their Mac got rid of it pretty quickly.)
For my part I run a 4-year old laptop running Linux – runs like a dream, no issues whatsoever. (And this was a machine where Windows had slowed to a crawl before I wiped it and installed Linux instead…) I do use my main desktop (running Windows XP) for most of my day-to-day work but Linux works fine for email, web and reading and editing documents, etc.
I am going to upgrade the laptop next year, mainly because the battery life is down to about 35 minutes(!) and I think I’ll go with something like a Samsung Q330 – relatively cheap, portable, and Samsung gear has never let me down in the past. It’ll be dual boot with Linux/Windows 7. I like Microsoft about as much I like Apple, but Windows 7 is a huge improvement on Vista (not very hard to be sure!)