*************************************
Having spent too many years in the tech industry I feel that I am qualified to say that it takes a fair amount of hubris to insist that for personal use a PC is better than a Mac. There was a time when Microsoft Windows was superior to anything Apple offered, but that time has passed and people should begin to realize that it isn't in their best interest to blindly embrace the past. Instead we should strive to buy the best product on the market and right now there isn't anything better than what Apple offers.
Last year Anne and I decided that our next computer would be a MacBook Pro. This decision was born out of a frustration with Windows and my corporate experience with Apple products. We choose the MacBook Pro because a) we only buy laptops now and b) I needed to be able to use the laptop for work purposes.
My experience has been that what I want in a work computer is completely different than what I want in my home computer. As a Network Administrator I wanted a computer that I had complete control over as a home user I want a computer that works without any effort on my part. There is no question that Apple has a clear advantage as a home computer, because of their attention to details that really make their product shine.
So without further ado, here are a handful of those superior “details” found in a Mac.
Hardware:
1. Magsafe Power Adapter.
On a typical laptop the power jack uses a physical "pinch" method to hold the power cord in place. There are two problems with this method, first over time that "pinch" wears out and the jack no longer establishes a firm connection with the cord. Second, if you or your children should trip over the cord than the entire laptop crashes to the floor. The Macbook uses a magnet, all you have to do is bring the end of the power cord close enough to the side of the laptop and "presto" it snaps into place. The beauty of a magnet is that the "strength" does not fade and the magnet is strong enough to easily hold the power cord in place but weak enough that it releases before your computer is pulled off your desk.
2. Illuminated Keyboard
Once you have used a keyboard that gradually illuminates as your environment darkens, you'll never go back. Simple as that.
3. Two-finger Trackpad support
Drag one finger to move your cursor, tap one finger for a left click, drag two fingers to scroll a window, tap two fingers for a right click…never use your trackpad buttons again.
Software:
1. Stable
Because Apple doesn't have to worry about thousands of possible hardware configurations, they can design their operating system to work perfectly with their hardware. The result is no more crashes, no more restarts and no more hassle. Seriously.
2. Authority
Have you ever installed a spyware off the Internet, without even knowing it? Well if you had a Mac it wouldn't be a problem, because software can't install without a username and password! Why Windows didn't have this option before
3. Simplicity
Mac OS X is frankly far simpler than Windows. An example of this is plugging in a USB mouse. When I'm on my Windows laptop, I get three pop-up messages when I plug in my mouse "USB device detected", "USB Human Interface Device Detected" and "Your new hardware is installed and ready to use". When I plug the mouse into the Mac a grand total of 0 message are displayed…the only thing that happens is that the mouse works and that is all I care about! OS X does an excellent job of only alerting you if there is a PROBLEM. Not so for Windows, I can't even count how many messages you receive when you first use Windows that give you some pointless information plus the option to never display that message again. Apple has the mindset that if the information doesn't need to be displayed "ever again" than it didn't need to be displayed in the first place. Bravo!
4. Ease of Use
The location of everything on a Mac makes sense. Preferences are all stored under preferences. Applications are all stored under Applications. Documents are all stored under Documents. You are never left wondering where something could be. How about searching? Can't remember what you named that document with the chicken recipe? Begin typing recipe into the search field on the title bar and results begin to instantly appear, no more waiting for that timer to stop spinning…
Macs are far from perfect yet and some differences are particularly annoying if you are a Windows user (Hello, no delete key?!?), but the overall Mac experience is FAR superior to anything else available! In the past finding applications for the Mac was one of its biggest
detractions…that isn't an issue now, not only can you run Windows programs on a Mac there are also many MANY more native Mac applications available! (ie. there is a nifty recipe program that operates like iTunes, automatically scales any recipe for any size
group, creates custom shopping lists based off the recipes you choose, will export that shopping list to your ipod and will respond to voice commands by reading your recipes out loud to you while you are in the kitchen! Nice!)
Plus with the new version of OS X coming out October 26th, why waste your money on a Windows PC? Do yourself a favor and try something new!
5 comments:
Great, now I am wanting a Mac more than I was before!
so when am i gonna get MS Office for this thing??? ;-)
January...I don't want to spend money on an old version. I actually would rather not spend money at all :)
Wow...very persuasive! Since I'm typing on a new one-week old Dell, it'll be a while before I ever get a Mac, but perhaps the next one. But during the period when I was making the decision (the last six months or so of the life of the old one) I came across too many things I wanted to take advantage of that still said "not available for Mac" or something like that. When I stop seeing those notices is when I just may take the plunge. But MS Office 2007 wouldn't work on it? That again would clinch it for me since all the people we work with in business use MS Office and it's been bad enough working with two different versions of Word and Excel...I can't imagine the headaches it would cause if I didn't have either version.
Anyway, your post is the best I've ever read about the specifics. I've read too many posts by people who are convinced that the Macs are divinely inspired and the PC's are from the underworld but don't go to much pains to say why!
At work I have to use 6 different systems (all have varying levels of classification). The one system that never seems to require "the sys admin dudes" is one that is Mac based.
I would love to replace all four of our laptops and both our desktops w/ Macs, but for some reason Apple wants a lot of dollars.
Some day...
Post a Comment