Alas I have gone to the Dark Side.....

[azkaisr]

Got home to a dead HP Pavilion Desktop. Swapped out Power Supply with one from the scrap heap of Desktops here at the house and just got mad. So off I went and bought a MacBook Pro "15inch" Laptop. The 17 inch one didn't wow me enough to get.

 

Sorry Killer, I guess I never should have gotten the Ipod..........

 

 

Kaisr

[ghaverkamp]

Dark? It couldn't be more enlightened.

[smiller]

Now you will be immune from power supply failures.

[tallman]

Be very afraid.

You know who is watching.

[Bheckel169]

My wife must have bought the first Apple computer for her technical illustration. In the textbook arena, Apple was the recommended computer by the publishing companies for the illustration and art side. I, on the other hand, used an IBM and eventually, PC clones for my work. 20 years later, my wife has never had a crash, a s**t storm of activity or operating system glitches to slow her down. She has progressed to all of the Apple products including laptops and it never ceases to amaze me how the plug and play works in seamless perfection. It's on and it runs. Simple as that. On the other hand, I live with a hell hole of problems which I will experience until my dying day with the Microsoft "FU" system which basically gives you a small window of reasonable performance surrounded by a large envelope of disaster waiting to happen at any moment. Bill Gates has found a market niche like weather men on tv who are allowed to be 50% right and still make huge amounts of money!

Bruce

[StuGotz]

Welcome aboard Tommy.

 

Yer gonna love what you can do. And it'll run till ya get tired of it.

 

ya gets what ya pay for.

 

MB>

[ghaverkamp]

Yer gonna love what you can do. And it'll run till ya get tired of it.

 

I think folks are maybe being a little too positive. Macs fail. Components may not fail at the same rate as components used in the cheapest PCs, but I doubt they fail at a rate any lower than those of PCs of comparable quality.

 

As Seth implied, even Macs have failing power supplies. (A few months ago, my desktop iMac at work had to have its logic board replaced at $700 for parts & labor.)

[azkaisr]

I just have loaded Aperture (Apples Adobe Light Room Clone) and will load Elements once I figure out how to eject the DVD. I am amazed at how easy it found my big monitor and set itself up for two screens. It is cool so far

[KMG_365]

Would you prefer Grape, Cherry or Hawaiian Punch flavo(u)r?

 

 

 

[ . . . adding this thread to my "Watched Topics" . . . ]

[AZKomet]

Well...me too. I got tired of my PC's and laptops getting freaking viruses and running so sloooow that i had a fit of rage and bought a iMac and iMAc laptop last week. So far...a week and running I am really happy!!!!!

 

 

BTW Tom, I hear those GT's are not a match for macs so you should give them to a friend who lives north of you...just the other side of the mountain. So...anytime ya want just let me know and I will come get it!!

[bakerzdosen]

Well, I'm living proof that Mac's fail. I've owned and used Macs since 1984. I've got 6 Macs at home (in addition to two Solaris boxes and one Wintel game machine), 3 of which are still used. Suffice it to say, I'm a Mac fan.

 

With that said, one of those is a MacBook Pro - my work machine. I have had it for probably two months, replacing a wonderful 3 year old Powerbook G4. However, it's had a bunch of problems since updating to 10.5.3. Why? I dunno. It sucks. I've re-installed. I've run hardware tests. Still got the problem of kernel panicking once or twice a day. I'll get it worked out - even if I have to completely re-install and re-format the drive, but it's still annoying.

 

Mac's aren't immune from problems. And they're not nearly as good at virus production and distribution.

 

Regardless Tom, I think you made a great choice. Keep us updated.

[stubble!]

how to eject the DVD.

Drag it to the trash. I don't get it either. It's only the start of the brainwashing!

 

Tips from another recent convert. The following eased my transition:

 

F9 and F10 are your new best friends. Coming from a windows world where application windows fill up your taskbar (and they're all easy to find), the mac is different. Command-Tab works like Alt-tab, but for whole apps, not individual windows of the same app. This is where F9 (show all windows) and F10 (show windows of the current application) come in handy. I almost NEVER alt-tab anymore.

 

Next: Spotlight searching. Command-Space and start typing. Nice fast way to run applications or open documents.

 

You DO have a right-click on the trackpad: In system prefs you can configure a two-fingered tap for "right-clicking" on the track pad.

 

Also F8 (desktop switching in Spaces), F11 (show desktop) are handy.

 

Enjoy. Be nice to your power cable.

 

 

[KMG_365]

With that said, one of those is a MacBook Pro - my work machine. I have had it for probably two months, replacing a wonderful 3 year old Powerbook G4.

Hmmmm, the MacBook "Pro" . . . that's the one with the wintel chip and can run windoze, right? Just checkin' . . .

 

 

 

 

[posted from my completely trouble free PowerBook G4 . . . the last of the REAL Mac's. Dave was there when I bought it and tried to steal it first . . . but I strapped it down to my bike and rode off before he could draw on me! ]

[bakerzdosen]

With that said, one of those is a MacBook Pro - my work machine. I have had it for probably two months, replacing a wonderful 3 year old Powerbook G4.

Hmmmm, the MacBook "Pro" . . . that's the one with the wintel chip and can run windoze, right? Just checkin' . . .

You are correct sir. I tried Vista for the first time on this machine. It sucked (SP1 even). It's gone now. If I find myself forced to install Windows on this thing again, it'll be XP.

[sgendler]

how to eject the DVD.

Drag it to the trash. I don't get it either. It's only the start of the brainwashing!

 

Tips from another recent convert. The following eased my transition:

 

F9 and F10 are your new best friends. Coming from a windows world where application windows fill up your taskbar (and they're all easy to find), the mac is different. Command-Tab works like Alt-tab, but for whole apps, not individual windows of the same app. This is where F9 (show all windows) and F10 (show windows of the current application) come in handy. I almost NEVER alt-tab anymore.

 

command-backtick (above the tab key) rotates through windows of the current app, while command tab rotates through apps. This is somtimes (often?) easier than using expose. But expose kicks ass, too.

[BFish]

just acquired 2 macbooks similar to yours. daughter will be using one (as well as her dell) at college and i've just wanted one for a while. so far so good.

[Francois_Dumas]

Who cares.... as long as the thing has Internet access.....

[russell_bynum]

I just have loaded Aperture (Apples Adobe Light Room Clone) and will load Elements once I figure out how to eject the DVD.

 

Aperture is a pretty cool app.

 

Drag the DVD to the trash to eject it. (and people bitch that clicking "Start" to start the shutdown process doesn't make sense)

 

I am amazed at how easy it found my big monitor and set itself up for two screens. It is cool so far

 

Good thing you switched to a Mac. Setting up multiple monitors is a real pain in the ass on a PC...what with the plugging them in and having to press their power buttons and all.

[ghaverkamp]

Drag the DVD to the trash to eject it. (and people bitch that clicking "Start" to start the shutdown process doesn't make sense)

 

Yes, so hard to see the distinction. On one, I press "Start" to shut down (only getting stranger when talking notebooks.) On the other, I drag an item to to get rid of it.

 

So illogical.

 

(Every modern Mac has an eject button on its keyboard, as well.)

[russell_bynum]

Drag the DVD to the trash to eject it. (and people bitch that clicking "Start" to start the shutdown process doesn't make sense)

 

Yes, so hard to see the distinction. On one, I press "Start" to shut down (only getting stranger when talking notebooks.) On the other, I drag an item to to get rid of it.

 

So illogical.

 

(Every modern Mac has an eject button on its keyboard, as well.)

 

You're starting the shutdown process.

 

I agree that's a stretch, but I really dislike the idea of doing the same thing to delete a file that I don't want anymore (ever) as if I just want to eject a CD. If I want to get rid of a paper file, I put it in the trash can. If I want to eject a CD from my CD player, I press the eject button, I don't put the CD player in the trash can.

 

Not a big deal once you figure it out, but IMO not Apple's best work.

 

 

[azkaisr]

I just have loaded Aperture (Apples Adobe Light Room Clone) and will load Elements once I figure out how to eject the DVD.

 

Aperture is a pretty cool app.

 

Drag the DVD to the trash to eject it. (and people bitch that clicking "Start" to start the shutdown process doesn't make sense)

 

I am amazed at how easy it found my big monitor and set itself up for two screens. It is cool so far

 

Good thing you switched to a Mac. Setting up multiple monitors is a real pain in the ass on a PC...what with the plugging them in and having to press their power buttons and all.

 

You forgot about 4 steps amigo.

[russell_bynum]

You forgot about 4 steps amigo.

 

Uuh...I guess you gotta pick a resolution if you don't like whatever it defaults to, and you gotta tell Winderz where the monitors are relative to each other so that it can render the desktop correctly. That's about it. I can't imagine that would be any different.

 

 

[stubble!]

I've spent a lot of time configuring multi-head in Windows w/ NVidia. Even MORE time under Linux. A lot more. Ugh. So I continue to be blown away by the way OSX manages multi-head. It's just plain slick.

 

"Start" button? Yeah, I never got that. Equally as lame as Apple's drag-to-trash-to-eject. Both very legacy artifacts by now.

[ghaverkamp]

"Start" button? Yeah, I never got that. Equally as lame as Apple's drag-to-trash-to-eject. Both very legacy artifacts by now.

 

Equally? Hardly. There's a logic in Apple's -- plus, in OS X, it changes from the trash can now when you're dragging. There's no discernable logic to Microsoft's, other than that they'd apparently already signed up the Rolling Stones before they'd finished designing Windows 95.

[stubble!]

Oh man, I'd forgotten about the Stones tie in! Yeah, corn

 

[russell_bynum]

I've spent a lot of time configuring multi-head in Windows w/ NVidia. Even MORE time under Linux. A lot more. Ugh. So I continue to be blown away by the way OSX manages multi-head. It's just plain slick.

 

"Start" button? Yeah, I never got that. Equally as lame as Apple's drag-to-trash-to-eject. Both very legacy artifacts by now.

 

Got details?

 

I've never done it on a Mac. It's pretty easy on my XP systems. I'm having trouble imagining how it could be easier.

 

 

[leikam]

I had an easy time adding another monitor to my XP system. Just plugged it in and it worked.

 

As for the "start" button in xp, if the cognitive dissonance is too much to bear, you can move that whole toolbar so it has a vertical orientation and resize it so that it only has the windows icon but doesn't say "start" at all. This is how I have my work computer set up.

[stubble!]

The Mac detects the monitors, and when you open Display Prefs, a window appears on each screen allowing you to set the resolution, color, etc independently.

 

The the arrangement panel is great. You can drag each screen around relative to the other(s), even placing them offset to each other, so that your mouse then flows evenly between no matter how they're aligned (eg laptop below-right of desktop screen). I would kill for this on Linux.

 

Each screen has its own wallpaper, configured much the same.

 

Here's a howto with screenshots: http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/Mac-OS-X-Tiger-Timesaver-Using-Multiple-Displays.id-3130.html

 

More commentary: http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/11/15/os-x-multi-monitor-setup

[stubble!]

Windows does do the alignment thing, but the trouble I had was that using my dual-dvi nvidia card, setting the primary monitor and relationship was fiddly, especially if you wanted your taskbar on the right, and the secondary monitor on the left. The nvidia drivers themselves are just awful from a UI perspective (not a fault against windows)

 

[JJs]

I have been considering Apple for my next Laptop. You guys are pushing me over the edge. I have heard alot of good things about these machines

[Selden]

I have been considering Apple for my next Laptop. You guys are pushing me over the edge. I have heard alot of good things about these machines

 

I have my doubts about the veracity of this purported this e-mail from Bill Gates, but it's quite funny.

 

I use PCs at work, but have not been willing to spend money on one since 1984, when I bought my first Mac. In 24 years of ownership, I have not had a single hardware failure. The last time I saw a virus on a Mac was 1992.

 

I took a 2-year old 12" iBook on an 11,000 mile motorcycle ride to Alaska two summers ago. It survived heat, vibration, and someone spilling a beer on the keyboard, and is still going strong. I never had an internet connectivity problem on the entire trip, unlike someone who made a similar ride last year, and reported wireless connectivity problems seemingly at every other stop with his new Vista laptop.

 

I currently use a MacBook Pro, have Windows XP installed on a partition of the hard disk. I have used the Windows side for perhaps 2 hours in the past 6 months.

 

With all this said, hold off on buying a Mac laptop at this time, unless you get a tremendous discount. The rumor mill is predicting imminent release of a re-designed line of Mac laptops real soon now. They will probably switch to aluminum cases throughout the line, and make them slightly slimmer (but without the hardware trade-offs of the MacBook Air). If you like the new ones, fine; if price is more important, existing models are likely to be available at good discounts in a few months.

 

If you're a geek, Mac OS X is Unix under the surface, so you can do cool things like ps -ef | grep from the command line.

 

[russell_bynum]

I have my doubts about the veracity of this purported this e-mail from Bill Gates, but it's quite funny.

 

The email is real, by all accounts. Gates has been asked about it in interviews. It's also worth noting that it is several years old, so it doesn't necessarily represent what's going on today.

 

 

I use PCs at work, but have not been willing to spend money on one since 1984, when I bought my first Mac. In 24 years of ownership, I have not had a single hardware failure. The last time I saw a virus on a Mac was 1992.

 

Hardware failures: Given that, for the most part, everyone uses the same hardware, that's just been luck. In that same time period, for example, I've lost one hard drive (which could have just as easily been installed in a Mac when it left the factory).

 

The last time I encountered a virus on a PC was about 1992 as well....but I do take certain precautions (like running virus scanner and keeping it up to date) which are less critical on the Mac given the fact that its smaller installed base makes it a less worthwhile target.

 

 

For me personally..the Apple UI grates on my nerves. I can't really pinpoint why, but that's just how it is and has always been. That's my own personal thing, though and not an objective reason that someone should use to make their own decision.

 

I really like the high-end Mac laptops from a build quality perspective. I'm not sure why none of the PC guys are willing (able?) to make something comparable, but Apple definitely has the market cornered there. If I had to buy my own laptop, I'd seriously consider a mac because of that. I'd run mostly Windows on it because that's what I like better and that's what makes the most sense for my job, but I do dig the Mac hardware.

 

If you're a geek, Mac OS X is Unix under the surface, so you can do cool things like ps -ef | grep from the command line.

 

Yep, and you can run the Windows Remote desktop client and connect to Windows file shares and such, so if you're in an environment where you need to interact with different types of systems (Unix/Linux/Mac/Windows), the Mac could have an advantage depending what percentage of time you spend with each of those systems.

[skinny_tom (aka boney)]

For me personally..the Apple UI grates on my nerves. I can't really pinpoint why, but that's just how it is and has always been. That's my own personal thing, though and not an objective reason that someone should use to make their own decision.

 

I've always viewed the UIs of the systems as an artist/engineer dichotomy. At Apple, the artists design the UI. That's why they're so cool and easily used for the general population. At Microsoft the engineers design the UI, which is why they're so formatted and logical, which works for the rest of the population.

 

I have a hard time with the Apple interfaces, generally because things aren't where they "should" be. As Russell said, not a reason for someone else to base their decisions, just an observation.

 

IMO, both the PC and Mac will eventually become so alike that a person will be able to choose their hardware and software separately.

[ghaverkamp]

I've always viewed the UIs of the systems as an artist/engineer dichotomy. At Apple, the artists design the UI. That's why they're so cool and easily used for the general population. At Microsoft the engineers design the UI, which is why they're so formatted and logical, which works for the rest of the population.

 

"Formatted and logical?"

 

The problem with the Windows UIs is that they're not engineered, at least not as discrete bits. There is no uniformity. There is no logic.

 

I have a hard time with the Apple interfaces, generally because things aren't where they "should" be.

 

The "should" should flow from consistency and engineering, not from memory. In that respect, Macintosh UIs have always excelled over Windows UIs. Just watch how pedantic Macintosh software developers can get over UI peculiarities of certain application programs. You never see the same from Windows developers; after all, who could ever tell?

[bakerzdosen]

See, and for me, the Mac makes perfect sense to me. Admittedly, the older MacOS made more sense for a first timer IMHO, but compared to Windows, OS X still makes more sense to me.

 

However, much like Greg, I'm a Unix (Solaris) guy as well. I can make sense of most Unix-based OS's (eg. Linux, HP-UX, BSD, but not so much AIX). However, Windows isn't intuitive to me. Oh, I've had to learn it, but it's not a simple matter of sitting down and having it just work for me. Also, Vista seemed to change everything around just for the sake of change.

 

Again, just my opinion of how things work for me. Besides, all real work gets done in a shell anyway.

[ghaverkamp]

Again, just my opinion of how things work for me. Besides, all real work gets done in a shell anyway.

 

Even on Windows. I had to mount a share the other day, and the quickest way I could figure out how to do it was going back to what I used to know: net use. Back in the dark days (i.e., when one of my full-time jobs was running an NT-based shop) I used to dole out NET commands to people left and right, because it was far more sensible to email around.

 

I'm always amazed when I bump into a Mac user who doesn't have at least Terminal (though I'm an iTerm user) in the Dock.