01-22-2008, 06:45 PM

This is a review that I placed on another forum I frequent where people were asking "Who Switched and what do you think now?"

I thought I would post it here in case anyone else can glean anything from it or potentially add to the thread if interested.

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Hi,

Got a 17" MacBook Pro 2.6 GHz system with 200G 7200 RPM drive running OS 10.5.1 (Leopard - the latest) 2GB Ram (Which I find barely sufficient and will upgrade to 4GB)

Okay - I'll tell you right up front - I am in no way an expert on this thing and there are likely many things I have yet to learn but here's my take on it so far over the last month of use;

Hardware
This is a Laptop with an Alloy case. Unlike other laptops, it does not breath through the bottom of the case (frankly I can't tell you where it breaths - there are no really evident vents) - You can use this on your lap or sofa or bed without overheating it. I use it on a portable lap-desk. It's better made than any of the IBM / Dell / HP / Compaq stuff I've ever had before. Just about everything about it exudes quality. Yes - I know it's made in China - what isn't??
Hardware / OS Bug - The first keystroke is not recognized a good 50% of the time. At first I chalked it up with not being firm enough in my keystrokes. I've come to read in the Mac forums that it is a known bug and that Apple has not yet addressed it.

Weird things -
1) I have heard that there is a "Right Click" and "Double-Click" with the new Macs. Beats the heck out of me where and how to do it. I have got a Kensington Bluetooth mouse that paired immediately with the Mac and both right click and double-click features work fine. How do you do it with just the mouse pad and big-@ss button?

2) I bought MS Office 2004 for the Mac thinking that I would have the standard suite of MS Office tools that I use daily;
A) Outlook
B) Word
C) Excel
D) Powerpoint

What I got was Entourage instead of Outlook (so far it's only mediocre as an integrated email application) Entourage will not convert your Outlook email to Entourage, nor will it convert your contacts. Instead you have to buy a 3rd party utility (I used O2M) and it only worked marginally well as it did convert the email from my PST file but so far any attempts at converting the contacts from Outlook 2003 have been met with failure.
Like Outlook - Entourage uses folders too but I haven't figured out how to "sort" by date, flags, etc..

Word - Works _okay_ but I've not used any of the extended features yet so I can't recommend for or against it.

Excel - This one really ticked me off. It is **not** the same Excel as in the MS Windows world. The key feature that I really miss is the Formula bar that always shows the contents of the currently selected cell. There is no way to turn it on - it's simply not there.

Powerpoint - Like Word, I've not used any of the extended features but it does open PPT's created on an IBM system.

3) I miss the Alt-Tab. Yes, I know there's a work-around using the Apple Key and Tilde ~ but it does not function the same way, nor does the clipboard always function in the same manner.

4) Backspace key - It's missing. Instead there's a big DELETE key in its place and it does a destructive backspace.

5) I miss a number of things that come standard in Windows XP like Notepad, Paint (I use it a lot)

6) If I'm on a website and I want to save an image, I can't figure out how to tell it to save it to a folder other than the default folder - let alone renaming the image in the process - both features I liked to use in Windows.

7) I like iPhoto - it seems to work well and integrated with my Canon PowerShot S3 camera right off the bat.

8) Mail - This built in email jumped right up to the task of pairing up with my gMail account and works flawlessly. I've not yet figured out how to make folders in it though and I am thoroughly spoiled by Outlooks ability to do that. Honestly - I've not spent a lot of time going into more depth with this software - it's probably got a lot more functionality than I'm aware of..

9) DOCK - The jury is still out on this.. All I can say is that I'm glad that I got the 17" version of this machine because a lot of real-estate is used by the dock.

10) Screen - When I change the resolution to something with larger fonts, they lose their crispness and harder o read than the smaller more crisp fonts. I got the high resolution screen (matte)..

11) Built in SuperDrive - I like the feature of feeding via the slot rather than a tray, but almost made the mistake of loading in a mini-CD. I stopped and then found others on the Mac Forums that have done the same and could not get the CD out of the drive..

12) I made my own website using iWeb that came free with the OS. It's a nice little piece of software but unless you pony up the $$$ for a .MAC account, it is not that nice and it's capabilities are restrained.. I've inquired on how to do sub-pages or sub-folders but so far no takers on advice..

13) MS Photo editor - This was free on XP and I used it to enhance and crop photos as well as resize them. If that ability exists within iPhoto, I've not yet found it.. I miss it..

14) Installing / Removing software - It is so slick on the Mac that it's silly.. Done using an application and want it off your machine? Drag it to the waste basket. Installing is just as easy.

15) WMV (yeah I know it's Windows Media Video) files do not work on my machine. You would think that they (Apple) would have built in a compatibility layer to get along with the rest of the world.

16) External HD. I have a 250G external USB drive that was formatted under NTFS. No soap. The Mac would not recognize it. I reformatted the drive under FAT32 using a shareware tool called SwissKnife and it works like a charm between Mac and PC.


As hard as I've resisted - I am going to have to buy VMWare to load Windows XP on this machine as well. I need the MS-Office utilities to function the same way at home as they do at work and have already paid dearly for what I thought was going to be that functionality. Also - I maintain a couple of other websites for friends using FrontPage. FrontPage will not run on a Mac under OS10x - you need Windows. I am thinking about buying Dreamweaver and the whole CS3 suite but it's super-expensive (over $1,600)..

This machine cost me almost $3,500 including the extended AppleCare warranty. So far I don't really feel that I've gotten my money's worth out of it - but then again it's the first time I've touched a Mac since 1985... I'm willing to give it a little more time. I'm pretty tech savvy and maybe some people think that this works against me - I don't...
Like most people though - I will take the path of least resistance once I determine that the fight is not worth it... VMWare / XP - Ultimately I may well end up spending most of my time in that world on this Mac than in the Mac world...

01-22-2008, 06:56 PM

1) Ctrl + Click = Right Click

2) Can i recommend you look at Neo-Office? Its a free alternative for office, supports all the major office formats and best of all, stable

3) Apple key and Tab... Alt tab

5) Notepad = Textedit... Paint is a bit of a miss in OSX

6) In most save dialogs where you can type a name for the file you will see an arrow pointing downwards... give that a click

9) You can resize the dock and its magnification settings by going to the apple logo and then Dock => Dock pref'

12) iWeb works with any other webhost, yes you dont get hit counter or some other add ons if you dont use .mac but most companies offer alternatives to replace these features anyway

13) Doube click the photo you like in iPhoto, then you can right click it and go "Edit in full screen editor"

15) Download software called Flip4Mac... should solve mosta your problems

16) OSX can READ NTFS but cannot write to it, this is can be rectified by the use of some third party apps

Hope this helps

~~ TS ~~

01-22-2008, 07:08 PM

1.) you may also change that in system preferences...under keyboard and mouse...

2.)click and drag the thing that divides the left and right side of the dock

01-22-2008, 08:09 PM

thanks for the candid review, esp. ms office.

01-22-2008, 09:36 PM

2) I bought MS Office 2004 for the Mac thinking that I would have the standard suite of MS Office tools that I use daily

I bought iWork. Numbers is better than Excel and can import Excel files.

5) I miss a number of things that come standard in Windows XP like Notepad, Paint (I use it a lot)

I agree. OS X needs a paint application.

8) Mail - This built in email jumped right up to the task of pairing up with my gMail account and works flawlessly. I've not yet figured out how to make folders in it though and I am thoroughly spoiled by Outlooks ability to do that. Honestly - I've not spent a lot of time going into more depth with this software - it's probably got a lot more functionality than I'm aware of..

Mail was a pleasant surprise for me. I love it. I hear you can link all your email accounts.

12) I made my own website using iWeb that came free with the OS. It's a nice little piece of software but unless you pony up the $$$ for a .MAC account, it is not that nice and it's capabilities are restrained.. I've inquired on how to do sub-pages or sub-folders but so far no takers on advice..

Again, I agree.

15) WMV (yeah I know it's Windows Media Video) files do not work on my machine. You would think that they (Apple) would have built in a compatibility layer to get along with the rest of the world.

Cry me a river. I had to rip all of my CDs to .m4a -- it took about a week.

As hard as I've resisted - I am going to have to buy VMWare to load Windows XP on this machine as well.

Use Boot Camp.

--

I bought an iMac nearly a month ago and I love it. So much so, I bought an Apple keyboard for my XP box at work. Oddly enough I haven't plugged in my home XP box since the switch. So maybe Apple is on to something. I don't know.

01-22-2008, 09:46 PM

I don't have time to read the whole review, but for now:

2) Excel - in the View menu, check Formula Bar. Easy peasy.

01-22-2008, 10:19 PM

I'm brand new to mac (one month) and I plan to write a review soon.... I will say that I've already become tired of reading "switcher" reviews where 90% of the negative stuff is just lack of knowledge. Especially when there are such great resources as the kind experts on this forum and... um... google.
Hey... I have like 3 posts.. what do I know????

01-22-2008, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by Big-Foot

4) Backspace key - It's missing. Instead there's a big DELETE key in its place and it does a destructive backspace.

A "destructive backspace?"

Is this what Microsoft calls "deleting" now?

01-23-2008, 06:21 AM

If you want to delete the previous character then hit the delete key, which you already know. To delete the next character, hold down the function key (fn key next the ctrl) and press delete.

The fn, crtl, alt (known as the option key) and the Apple key (known as the Command key) are filled with hidden functions depending on the combination of keys held down. For instance, if you want to type a # character, hold the alt (Option) key and press 3 (not sure if this is printed on the US keyboards anyway but on the UK keyboard 3 is the £ key. It took me ages to find the shortcut. Hopefully others will find this helpful even if you don't).

01-23-2008, 01:16 PM

" I'm pretty tech savvy and maybe some people think that this works against me - I don't...Like most people though... "

I'm sorry, but the OP has me flummoxed! You are "tech savvy"? With what? VCRs? CRTs? Fax Machines? I have never read a review so full of misplaced blame and non-existent basic knowledge.

I can see why you don't like most people...they must point out your ignorance quite a bit.

Mark

01-23-2008, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by Big-Foot

15) WMV (yeah I know it's Windows Media Video) files do not work on my machine. You would think that they (Apple) would have built in a compatibility layer to get along with the rest of the world.

Um.... last time I checked, Apple didn't build the WMV file format, Microsoft did. How exactly is this Apple's fault again?
If anyone was to build compatibility into something, it should be the company that produced it in the first place...no?

01-23-2008, 01:59 PM

It doesn't sound like you spend that much time with your Mac, before reviewing it. Remember, that Mac/OS X is not Windows and of course some things will be different. It's a learning process, but a lot of the shortcuts, for instance, are in fact the same, like Cmd + C, Cmd + A and so on.

01-23-2008, 02:01 PM

Looks like the OP needs to read this, Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual.

01-23-2008, 07:49 PM

Thanks for some of the pointers - Much appreciated!

Some of you obviously did not read all of what I said at the beginning of my review;

Okay - I'll tell you right up front - I am in no way an expert on this thing and there are likely many things I have yet to learn but here's my take on it so far over the last month of use;

Regarding my technical prowess - All I can offer is that I am degreed in Computer Sciences and have been part of what we now call Information Technology for the last 37 years. Starting out writing code in Assembler on an old Honeywell MF and then moving up to my first IBM mainframe (IBM 360/50 w/ 48k memory) in 1973. I can code in 12 different languages on a multitude of platforms and yes - Mac was one of them when I purchased a Lisa with 1MB Ram and a 10MB Hard drive back in 1984. Found out in 85 that Apple was in it's own world and required licensing of all software products through them with royalties I was unwilling to pay. Our tools and applications that were developed to run on the Mac platforms were then re-purposed to platforms more accepting of entrepreneurs and small business.
It was all good in that my thrust was more Systems and infrastructure related than it was GUI and Object related coding at the time. I won't bore you any further - I think it's sufficient to say that when you click that mouse or type on that keyboard - I know electrically what's happening behind the scenes and how the entire process comes together on a firmware level. Applications are now slave to me - if they work - they should work well - not half baked like so much of the fodder I find on the market these days thats not even to the point of being Alpha candidates leave alone Beta and GA...

Enjoy life - Don't expect miracles from man-made devices lest you be eternally disappointed.

Now - I believe I'll curl up with the owner's pamphlet one more time and give it another go.. This time I'll slow down enough to let some of it sink in. Something about working 70 hour weeks makes me rather impatient.. Go figure..

01-23-2008, 08:13 PM

I think someone already mentioned this but remember, its not Windows and its not trying to be Windows. Once you become more comfortable with the OS you will enjoy it. I see a lot of IT world converts around here. Guess its nice to know that after fixing Windows boxes all day you can come home and just "use" your computer without having to make it work.