04-14-2007, 09:02 PM

Three weeks ago, I finally took the plunge and bought a 20" iMac. I guess I should preface this by saying that the last time I actively used Macs was in middle and high school (1992-1997), back in the OS 7 days. In fact, I grew up using Apple computers, starting with the II/IIe/IIgs, etc in elementary school and then moving onto the Macintosh when I moved onto middle school and no longer needed my parents or the Apple II. Even venerable old system 7 was light years ahead of Windows 95.

At some point (1998 or 1999), I bought an LCIII off of eBay, more as a matter of nostalgia. After a couple of months, it became a closet dust collector until I finally pitched it in the trash in 2005. In retrospect, I should have held onto it.

At any rate, I decided that with this year's tax refund, I was going to buy a new PC. I've got a Gateway M675 notebook that I've had for about 3 years, which runs XP Professional. It's plenty fast (P4 3.0ghz/512mb RAM/etc) and has an awesome widescreen display. It also is aging physically, partially because the **** thing is so big that it kind of self-destructs. The other thing is that I've been pretty rough on it and it's got several hours of use every day for the past 3 years.

So, on an impulse, I went to the Apple Store in the Mall at Millennia in Orlando and plunked down $1500. As I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself that I'd made a mistake spending that much money on a computer. I rationalized it because I'd spent more than that on the M675, which was pretty impressive and worth the money.

So, here I sit. Three weeks have passed and I can honestly say that this is the best computer of any sort that I've ever owned. I actually wonder why the word doesn't spread faster of OS X's superiority. I mean, XP is a pretty mature OS and it's the most stable version of Windows that I've ever used, but OS X just works. It's also more visually appealing, but not at the price of performance.

At first I hated the keyboard and mouse. Tonight, I connected my old Microsoft Wireless keyboard/mouse set to the iMac and after about 5 minutes, I realized that I actually preferred the Apple keyboard and the Mighty Mouse. I think the scroll ball is pretty **** cool, although after seeing what the floor models at the Apple store looked like, I wonder how long it will actually work.

So, if you've read this far, I thank you. I just figured I'd post and let everyone know that I love my iMac.

Now, if I can just convince myself that I need a MacBook, I'll be set. I actually prefer the MB to the MBP simply due to size. After having a monstrous notebook for so long, the size of the MB would be welcome.

04-14-2007, 09:09 PM

good post!

congrats on the imac! and welcome to the forums!

04-14-2007, 09:19 PM

Welcome aboard, having moved to a MacBook Pro just a few months ago myself, it's hard not to become an OS X evangelist after enjoying this fine OS for just a short while. My fellow IT coworkers are getting tired of hearing about it from me.

Anyway, you've stumbled onto a great and friendly forum. Be sure to stop back as you have questions. There's a ton of great info on here, ripe for the plucking. Don't forget to search first as many typical 'switcher' questions have been covered.

04-14-2007, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by cwa107

Welcome aboard, having moved to a MacBook Pro just a few months ago myself, it's hard not to become an OS X evangelist after enjoying this fine OS for just a short while. My fellow IT coworkers are getting tired of hearing about it from me.

Anyway, you've stumbled onto a great and friendly forum. Be sure to stop back as you have questions. There's a ton of great info on here, ripe for the plucking. Don't forget to search first as many typical 'switcher' questions have been covered.

Thanks. Yeah, I just read the thread you started when you were preparing to switch. I, too, was bored with Windows. There was nothing remarkable anymore. The comment you made about Vista being lipstick on a pig is spot-on.

04-14-2007, 09:31 PM

Originally Posted by MattGiaco

Thanks. Yeah, I just read the thread you started when you were preparing to switch. I, too, was bored with Windows. There was nothing remarkable anymore. The comment you made about Vista being lipstick on a pig is spot-on.

Wow - and you stuck with me? That was me being long-winded (as usual)

Anyway, glad you found that thread - there are a number of good tips in the pages following my initial post.

04-15-2007, 01:49 AM

Hey Matt, Welcome to Mac-forums! Glad to hear you're more than happy with your new iMac, but I'm not a bit surprised!

You wrote a nice post, enjoyable read. Come back often, you'll probably like it here.

04-15-2007, 10:37 AM

Great Post, as I am always interested in what brings people over the Mac. I am sure you will only like the computer more and more.......

04-15-2007, 10:55 AM

Congrats and welcome aboard! Great place here.
I really considered the Mighty Mouse, but finally passed on it. Between people saying it wasn't that great for games and hearing so many stories on scroll ball wear and breaking down, I just stuck with my old Logitech mouse for now. I tried to see if there were drivers for it for the Mac to customize the thumb button, but apparently Logitech no longer supports that mouse. So I'll wait for now.

Otherwise, OS X and the Mac World is pretty darn cool, eh? Installing and uninstalling things is a real breeze. Moving things on and off the dock is easy. Everything is so darn easy! I haven't even gotten into a lot of the iLife programs yet. I'm waiting until I get my external HD setup for the computer at home so I can transfer a bunch of my Windows files to that.

04-15-2007, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by Smell The Glove

I just stuck with my old Logitech mouse for now. I tried to see if there were drivers for it for the Mac to customize the thumb button, but apparently Logitech no longer supports that mouse. So I'll wait for now.

Did you check this page? If you don't see your mouse, click on "other products" at the bottom. My Logitech has to be 10 years old, but the "other products" driver for OS X, and another "other products" driver for OS 9 work fine.

There are a couple of mouse-driver shareware apps, SteerMouse and USB Overdrive.

SteerMouse:

SteerMouse is an advanced driver for USB and Bluetooth mice. It also supports Apple Mighty Mouse very well.

SteerMouse can assign various functions to buttons that Apple's software does not allow, including double-clicks, modifier clicks, application switching, assignment of shortcut keys, "snap to" cursor movement, which moves the cursor to target (such as an OK button), and more.

SteerMouse lets you control the cursor's Sensitivity on top of the Tracking Speed. (Apple's software only allows adjustment for the Tracking Speed.) By adjusting both configurations, you can customize the ideal setting for the cursor to fit the movements of your hand.

USB Overdrive:

The USB Overdrive is a universal USB driver that handles all USB mice and trackballs from any manufacturer and lets you configure them either globally or on an application-specific basis. It reads all kinds of wheels, buttons, switches and controls and supports scrolling, keyboard emulation, launching and complex actions as well as all the usual stuff like clicking, control-clicking and so forth. The USB Overdrive can easily handle several USB devices at once.

04-15-2007, 11:23 AM

Oh, duh!!! I completely forgot about Steer Mouse. I've read quite a bit about it and have it bookmarked with all the other recommended Mac software I've heard about from this and other boards. I just haven't fully gone through chasing after and installing everything completely. Thanks for the reminder though. I did have Steer Mouse on the list of things I wanted to add.

04-15-2007, 11:24 AM

Welcome to Mac-Forums, MattGiaco! I think you'll love your iMac more and more as time goes by, it's an impressive machine!

04-15-2007, 06:49 PM

iMacs are so awesome, welcome to your new internet home.

I havn't been to the Mall of Melinia, but it is one of my lifes goals to go there, I'm in Daytona BTW. I got my mac from compusa. I love my mini!

04-15-2007, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by captainmac

iMacs are so awesome, welcome to your new internet home.

I havn't been to the Mall of Melinia, but it is one of my lifes goals to go there, I'm in Daytona BTW. I got my mac from compusa. I love my mini!

Eh, I wouldn't waste the gas to drive from Daytona to Orlando to go to that Mall. It's nice, but it's not THAT nice. The Apple Store there is slightly less ghetto than the one in Florida Mall.

Is it just me or does the Apple Store in every mall become a MySpace Internet cafe for people that probably don't have Internet access at home?

Nice to see a local on here, though.

04-15-2007, 07:16 PM

Hmm, a three year old P4 3.0 Ghz? Been swapping CPUs or is time flying THAT fast?

04-15-2007, 07:21 PM

No swapping. I was a bit shocked when I realized that it was March of 2004 when I bought it.