I still love my Mac (a newbies 1 month report)

[Udjamini]

I know that visitors here who are considering getting a Mac, often are a little suprised that each forum is frought with problems, because, well, why post if you don't have a problem?

I'm speaking up for those. I got my Mac over a month ago and I've had a couple of glitches, most of which were self-induced because I was trying to drive my Mac like it was a PC.

Here's what I've done with my Mac so far. Each of these things I was actually stressed out about and procrastinated expecting that I didn't know enough about Macs to make any of it work.

1. Plugged in Time Capsule (its a router/server/backup drive). It just worked. I didn't do anything. Now I have daily backups of my work with no effort. I did need to use it once and Time Machine just pulled out what I needed. The Time Capsule also needed to be set up as a router. It just did it itself, and didn't interfere with the rest of my network.
   
2. I ordered a Belkin Express Card card reader. Inserted it into the Express Card slot on my MBP. Put in my camera's memory card in that. Got my pictures. I didn't need to do anything.
   
3. Got a mighty mouse. Plugged it in. I don't like that you can't right click. But someone said all you need to do is change a setting. That daunted me too. But then I saw the setting and it was easy. Right click. Woot.
   
4. I heard that you can't use a lot of the same printers on a Mac that you can on a PC. I thought i would have to find the installation software to install my PCs printer onto my Mac. I didn't. I just searched for Printers, it found my other computer, and found the installation on that one. And then it just worked. I didn't have to do anything.
   
5. I learned how to install software. *Laugh*. You just drag a file over? And its installed? *laugh*
   
6. I don't think I could ever live without the Dashboard. PC users will argue "but you can do something like that on a PC" but I snort at this idea. I live in a foreign country - now I have a unit converter and translator INSTANTANEOUSLY on one click? And the weather! And my husbands flight information!
   
7. I imported ALL of my gmail and previous outlook files. I got the Address book to scan for all of the email addresses I use. Its not like Outlook contacts. Its BETTER. Simple, easy, but everything I need.

If you are new to Macs, come in here and tell people why you still love yours, even in transition. Of course, I still have loads of questions and wonder "can i do this...", but over all, I don't think I'll ever buy a PC ever again.

 

[CrimsonRequiem]

How do u drive a Mac like a PC? I'm confused about that part.

Wall of text is not fun to read. I stop reading before the listed stuff. >_<"

 

[Udjamini]

That's ok - it wasn't written for you. It was written for people like me, and its what I would have liked to have read right before I bought. ;D There's not many of "me" posting on this forum, but I know they are reading.

If you consider regular paragraphs "a wall of text", and are confused by simple concepts......well, yes, I guess that wouldn't be fun. Best to get your jollies in another thread, I suppose.

 

[Nevermore]

Yup

I am reading.

 

[jvetter18]

How do u drive a Mac like a PC? I'm confused about that part.

Wall of text is not fun to read. I stop reading before the listed stuff. >_<"

What an ignorant comment.

Very nice post, how dare you write a cohesive, well thought out post. But, the use of punctuation and proper spelling? How dare you.

 

[frazzm737]

Excellent Post! When I got my Mac three years ago, I worried needlessly about how to address the same issues you mention. I was amazed when I plugged the machine into the power and the router, I was instantly on the internet. How cool was that? Now I take this amazing machine for granted and know that it just works and works easily!

 

[maconvert]

i'm having quite a bit of problems but i still will never buy a pc again
i can't live without a dashboard anymore either

 

[maconvert]

[*]I don't think I could ever live without the Dashboard. PC users will argue "but you can do something like that on a PC" but I snort at this idea. I live in a foreign country - now I have a unit converter and translator INSTANTANEOUSLY on one click? And the weather! And my husbands flight information!
.

it's not even one click if you add it to expose it's a sliding of your finger to a corner of your desktop...
my dashboard is the lower right corner
how cool is that?

 

[James]

Nice post, it is good now and then to hear success stories instead of the endless stream of complaints, most of which are self inflicted or from people to lazy to read a manual or use a little common sense.

My Mac pro is two years old now and i have had no real problems with it, my wife's G5 iMac is about 5 years old and has served her well all that time with no problems. I just got her a new iMac intel model today and she loves it completely. Can't believe how easy it was to transfer programs, data, and configurations. Simply attach a firewire cable and tell it go. Comes up with everything just like it was all connected to internet and to the network. Amazing machine.

 

[RozzieJ]

Thank you, it was a wonderful post

I have had my 24" iMac for a week now and I am in love!! I think I must have always been meant for Macs lol

I have found everything so easy- it all just works! and quickly! We turned it on, and it just connected to our wireless internet!

I know there is SO much to learn and I am not even scraping the surface of it's potential, but I will never go back to PC.

 

[EdH]

That's ok - it wasn't written for you. It was written for people like me, and its what I would have liked to have read right before I bought. ;D There's not many of "me" posting on this forum, but I know they are reading.

If you consider regular paragraphs "a wall of text", and are confused by simple concepts......well, yes, I guess that wouldn't be fun. Best to get your jollies in another thread, I suppose.

Well said! A post that is thought out and well written is always worth reading.

I'm at the four month mark with my macbook, and I am 100% satisfied. I remember being surprised that my Epson printer drivers were already installed when I plugged it in the first time, and the first time I connected my digital camera... flawlessly imported pictures and deleted the originals (at my request, of course). The only downside is that now my daughter wants a macbook too

 

[KeithTeeple]

Congratulations. Come back in another month

 

[CrimsonRequiem]

What an ignorant comment.

Very nice post, how dare you write a cohesive, well thought out post. But, the use of punctuation and proper spelling? How dare you.

Yeah I'm rude for not reading something that hurts my eyes as a designer. >_>"

 

[QDaMan]

Yeah I'm rude for not reading something that hurts my eyes as a designer. >_>"

No, you're rude for bashing a post without reading it and on the grounds of its format rather than content. I consider replies like that a greater affront to my eyes than a "wall of text" (which the original post was not).

 

[Udjamini]

Thanks guys. I was going to say "apparently, designers don't like to read newspapers or books either", but as a former designer, I know that's just not true. Perhaps its just the designers that find the word "you" too cumbersome to type out in its entirety.

maconvert, thanks for the tip! (I love these hidden little tricks)

Keith, don't jinx me. I went to install my printer driver today and ran into a glitch and immediately thought I jinxed myself. (turned out it was, again, user error). I'm sure I still will be posting LOTS of issues/questions, either way.

 

[CrimsonRequiem]

Thanks guys. I was going to say "apparently, designers don't like to read newspapers or books either", but as a former designer, I know that's just not true. Perhaps its just the designers that find the word "you" too cumbersome to type out in its entirety.

This is a forum, I'm not writing an essay that is going to be published.

Maybe I should comment on how a designer that uses two spaces after a period doesn't know much about typography?

You also never answered my question about how you can drive a Mac like a PC.

 

[Forum Shark]

I think she means that she is used to a PC, and is getting used to the Mac way of things. I was the same way. It took me a few weeks to get used to the Finder, "drag and drop" etc. I think that's what she means, although I do a horrible job of explaining. I have had my Macbook since April, and I stil have questions. No real problems, though.

Also, you'll find you will become a little obsessed with Mac and Apple in general. It took me about... 2 weeks.

 

[S.SubZero]

This is a forum, I'm not writing an essay that is going to be published.

Specifically, this is a forum dedicated to pro-OS X, anti-Windows ranting, no matter how flimsy the arguments. If people need to feel that OS X is so special, this is the place they can apparently do it with no debate.

 

[Udjamini]

Specifically, this is a forum dedicated to pro-OS X, anti-Windows ranting, no matter how flimsy the arguments. If people need to feel that OS X is so special, this is the place they can apparently do it with no debate.

I think it can be debated, for sure. I'm just not sure how effective such a debate would be here, because everyone has their personal preferences right? I definitely don't think "Apples are the end all and be all and everything else should die", I'm just happy with this purchase for me. I still need my IBM for work/programming as I don't think the Mac will have the same capabilities as far as compilers go (but I really don't know yet).

 

[eric]

Specifically, this is a forum dedicated to pro-OS X, anti-Windows ranting, no matter how flimsy the arguments. If people need to feel that OS X is so special, this is the place they can apparently do it with no debate.

incorrect.

while this is a "mac" forum, and many discussions do obviously favor OS X in many ways to windows, i wouldn't say in any way these forums are "dedicated" to "anti-windows ranting", nor is that even supported by the staff or many of the members here.
actually many of us use both OS X and windows interchangeably in our work and home life.


and CrimsonRequiem, while generally i tend to agree with what you say in many posts, i agree with many here, that while you may have had some right to say what you did, you're coming off like a bit childish in this thread.