New iMac and Buyer's Remorse - Do I have both?

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samoan_ridah

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Okay, so on Tuesday I went out and picked up a new 24" iMac. The thing is beautiful and looks like it belongs in an art gallery. Being a PC man since I reached the age of technical awareness (about 12 years old in the early 90's), the transition has been rough, to say the least.

I thought after a few days I would be loving this thing but instead I keep getting more and more frustrated. On a PC, I can do just about anything backward and forward faster than just about anyone I know. I have learned how to find different ways to perform any given task and use that to my advantage when trouble finds me. I know it may not always be the easiest way to do things but it works and I can do it pretty fast so who cares, right?

Well, now I get this iMac and I have this feeling like I'm too advanced for it. Is that possible or am I just being an arrogant Microsoft-loving techo-nerd? I just feel like everything is "dumbed down" and I hate it. I'll give you a perfect example, digital photos.

I have about 9,000 digital images stored on my PC that I meticulously organized into 12 different categories and then further sub-categorized by date or event. This system has worked perfectly for me when I would later need to pull them up for printing or for working with projects. Life was so great...and then there was iPhoto.

I can understand how this might be good for some non-techie person that doesn't know how to create folders and move files around but for me it is just irritating. To make things worse, Apple basically forces you to use it if you have any desire to use your photos with other programs such as iDVD or iMovie. Instead of having my pictures neatly organized in a simple hierarchical structure, it is now just one big messy hodge podge! Even when you go to save a file it only lets you choose a "main" directory instead of being able to go down a level or two.

Am I just frustrated because I'm a beginner or is this feeling going to stay? When I really think about it, I don't have a problem doing things the hard way, which is why I think I have been so successful with PC's. I just don't like feeling like I'm being held back from digging in deeper because everything has been idiot-proofed beyond recognition. I want to be able to customize and organize the way I want to, not the way Apple thinks I want to.

Maybe I'm feeling some sort of betrayal to my technical (read heavenly) father, Bill Gates. I just can't help feeling I'm going to regret not buying a nice kick-*** PC system with Vista on it for way less than the hefty $2500 chunk dropped on the Mac.

Okay, so the whole point of this thread was really to ask if anyone knows what the return policy is on these things...

TIA

-Brian
 

eric


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i hear you.

same boat. still work in wintel server support too.

got my macbook. felt great at first, then limited. then i found some nice third party software.

try audion for music - see if you like it better than itunes.
songbird is nice too.

for pics, try imageplus and xee.

if you need a nice newsreader, try unison


i still think i could do somethings faster in windows, but i've got years of experience with it, and only a couple months with the mac. i'm just trying to focus on learning as much as i can. some stuff is starting to become second nature. stick with it.
 
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The problem is you're trying to fit your Mac into your Windows paradigm. I think everyone does that at first. You have to break your Windows habits and learn to not expect the Mac to do things the way it worked on Windows.

When I first got a Mac about 4 or so years ago I had the same feelings, a little frustrated. Things just seemed easier and more powerful on a PC. I'll tell you what though, after 4 years, I feel the exact opposite.

I stopped expecting my Mac to act like Windows and I started to understand the power and beauty of OS X. Now I find my Windows machine at work to be frustrating, difficult, and just not elegant at all.

Give it time, the frustration will pass. :)
 
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BTW,
In iPhoto, under Advanced in the prefs you can uncheck the boxes under importing. This should allow you to add the pics to iPhoto and maintain them in the folder structure you want. There's similar functionality in iTunes.

While the Mac is designed to make things easy, it's normally just a click of a preference to allow you to have the power back.
 
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Am I just frustrated because I'm a beginner ...?
Yes. You are a beginner again and are in unfamiliar territory right now. It is going to take more than three days to get used to a Mac if you have been using Windows exclusively for close to a decade or longer.
samoan_ridah said:
When I really think about it, I don't have a problem doing things the hard way, which is why I think I have been so successful with PC's. I just don't like feeling like I'm being held back from digging in deeper because everything has been idiot-proofed beyond recognition.
It isn't a matter of things being easy vs. hard or anything being dumbed down. Again, it is simply different to what you have been accustomed to, that's all.
samoan_ridah said:
I want to be able to customize and organize the way I want to, not the way Apple thinks I want to.
There is a plethora of apps out there that will allow you to customize settings and such to your liking. Many of them have been discussed quite extensively on these very forums. I would suggest searching around for threads on customization.
samoan_ridah said:
Okay, so the whole point of this thread was really to ask if anyone knows what the return policy is on these things...
Simply put, you have 14 days with which to return your purchase. There is a 10% restocking fee that cannot be avoided. Also, keep in mind that BTO systems cannot be refunded or returned.
 
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You can customize and do things more but you need to become more familiar with unix. And terminal. unix terminal is as easy as MS-DOS, just different commands.

The thing is Apple makes computers for people to use.

Two, you need to check out the MacAddict Forums. There is a much more of a techie crowd there.

As for iPhoto, it is a simpler interface so that the average user, that just wants it to work, can just plug in the camera, and have it just work. There are more in depth tools like Adobe, and Aperture. And you can just use your already organized photo's. Assuming you just copied them over from your PC. You can use the finder to navigate them as you would in Windows. And you can drag and drop them from the finder to the other iApps. I know because I do it all the time. Apple practically invented drag-and-drop there is no reason it wouldn't work. You don't have to use the media browser, it's really there for people who don't want to navigate, or don't know how to navigate hierarchical organization systems. And I'm sure I don't need to remind you that the "File Manager" was kinda replaced by the "Start" button in windows for the same reason. Average users couldn't find anything.

In my opinion it should be simple to use. And after a while you might begin to get used to it. And see the benefit of just having things work.

I use, and have used both for a long time. And I use my Macintosh allot more than my PC, I mainly only use my PC for Games. Games that i admit are available for Mac, I just haven't gotten around to buying them, for it, I had the PC ones first. When I set down to complete a task, I don't want to fix it first. I don't know how many times I would go to do something in Windows, and find myself fixing it, and then forgetting what I was going to do. And then remembering when I have no time left. Or getting it going when it was too late.
 
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samoan_ridah

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Thanks for the all the advice and encouragement. I think you guys are all right. I have an appointment set on Sunday for my procare training so you can bet I will be using every minute of that hour!

As much as I am frustrated, I am also excited that I am learning something. It's just that it's been so long!

I will try and put in some effort though, you guys are all awesome and I thank you for your words of wisdom!
 
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I switched 18 months ago and am still learning little things like keyboard commands. Instead of feeling stressed because it's not like the system you're used to, relax and understand that in the long term it'll make your life a lot easier.
 
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When you cross over to Mac OS from Windows, there's a sort of debriefing period/cold turkey you need to go through on your own, although you're not really on your own as we are all here to help you along, all you need to do is just continue to use the Mac-Forums, search around a bit and you'll find others who are going through the same or similiar feelings.

On one hand it's good to discover that you can't perform a certain task as easily as you'd like to with Mac OS, as it motivates you to interact more with your Mac in order to discover the Mac way to do things.

While at first the Mac way might seem foreign, it doesn't take long before you realise you can work just as efficiently as you're accustomed to and possibly even more efficiently.

When you begin your Mac OS X experience it's day 1 again, just like when you first sat down in front of a Windows PC, the only difference is that there was more than likely no OS prior to XP for you to pine for.

Give it time and you won't regret it, Mac OS is the leading edge at the moment and it won't be long before you'll be totally at home with things and if you hang around here learning and helping others it only enhances the overall experience.
 
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I can understand how this might be good for some non-techie person that doesn't know how to create folders and move files around but for me it is just irritating. To make things worse, Apple basically forces you to use it if you have any desire to use your photos with other programs such as iDVD or iMovie. Instead of having my pictures neatly organized in a simple hierarchical structure, it is now just one big messy hodge podge! Even when you go to save a file it only lets you choose a "main" directory instead of being able to go down a level or two

OS X uses a standard folder method for all programs, so everything is consistent.

The file system doesn't seem that different from Windows to me (I use XP at home in the evening and at weekends, and OS X 9-5 Monday to Friday).

Are you clicking on the icons in the top left for the different listing views?

To be honest, not wanting sound conceited, but I've managed to crack every OS I've ever used pretty quickly. Starting with Amiga Workbench, through to Windows 95 - XP and then OS 9 and OS X. They all basically work in a similar way I find!
 
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when i switched i think i took the easy way. i still have my PC and my main system and i bought an older G4 that i upgraded and i played around with it to learn how the OSX system worked. that way i still have my gaming system (which is now kaput) and the mac.
 
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usabodyguard

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funny thing... i went out and bought a screaming fast, top of the line pc with 6 hdd's, twin 512mb video cards in a sli config, an antec 900 gaming case and 4gigs of ram... three weeks later i bought my first mac ->mbp 17" the flagship model... and i am glad i have both... the mbp is great to switch on but for everyday use i will probably continue with my pc unless i get more used to the mac, which i doubt... guess i should have gotten something a little cheaper to make the switch... ugh.
 
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stick with it. you will learn that it is as powerful or more powerful than windows. just stick with it. its like learning how to use a device again but once you do you will love it.
 
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You're getting a lot of good advice here. I'll only add a bit of hopeful encouragement to stick with it. I bought myu PowerBook G4 about 4 years ago and loved it though I still used my PC for a lot of things at home. As I got used to OS X and discovered some of its finer points I started to rely on my 15" laptop for the bulk of my work including image and audio managment.

It's not dumbed down so much as it's just different. As I've grown used to doing things on a Mac and PC simultaneously I've started to find the Mac more useful as well as easier to use.

Now that Macs are on Intel chips I have no reservations about purchasing an iMac for my next desktop. I like using a desktop for comfort reasons when I can and I am often finding myself missing OS X when I work on my PC.

My dad bought an iMac and kept it for four days before returning it because he was too stubborn to learn something new. I don't have as much sympathy these days when he struggles to accomplish things on his PC. He knows the computer is capable but he can't figure out how to do things without a significant amount of frustration and help. Had he given his iMac a few more weeks I think his initially high frustration level would have subsided and he would be better off today.
 
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I'm frustrated as well. Not finding an easy way to organize Iphotos (doesn't make sense), etc. I've put off downloading apps because I find it a hellish experience. So much more difficult/cumbersome and not intuitive.

There is no "Select Print" or "Print Selection" for mail, etc. without an app that doesn't work well. I also can't highlight the body & header of an email together. :) In some forums, I can't post a live link or a picture without having to store it on a webserver.

My "top problem" of the day fluctuates a bit but usually on the top of the list is things that just don't work. Selecting text to 'copy' works less often than it does. In both Safari & Firefox, 75% of the time, after only having perhaps 3 tabs open - when I open a new tab, I can't type in the address bar or google. My cursor is there, it just doesn't accept the keystrokes. Usually I have to open a whole new window.

Opening videos from the net often meets with failure. It keeps telling me that it can't open it without more Quicktime addons. It tells me 'click here to download' - then spits me to a page that lists about 15 with zero indication as to which one I need. Quicktime is a tiny window that won't allow me to supersize it. I just walked away from that one and avoided the whole thing as I felt I should have to work that hard to see a video.

I keep going back to this, but the fact that there is no manual is inexcusable. Finding 'Keyboard Commands' lists on the Apple site took WAY longer than it should. IDK - Maybe if I can get these bugs fixed, I'll be better, but to not be able to type in an address bar is pretty bad. I'm calling Apple today.
 
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What I got from the original post is that you really just wanted something new, you had no real need for a Mac and Windows was treating you quite well...

Why did you get a Mac in the first place if your PC was doing fine?
 
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I know how you feel. I'm a sys. admin. and have used pc's since I was 12 years old. Last week, I decided I wanted a mac. SO....I sold my pc, and lcd monitor, and went and bought an imac. I figured i'd just leave the mac in the house, and thus would not be able to compare it to the pc.

I have to admit, that it takes some time to adjust to the new o/s, but I just love the way os x works. No lock ups, no slow downs in my imac, no virus scan....no weekly patch updates...etc...

I'm still feeling a bit unexperienced with the mac....and being a techie, it's hard sometimes to admit that I don't know something about my computer, but
it's something that I'm enjoying, and I can almost guarantee, that this will not be the last mac I own!!
 
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What I got from the original post is that you really just wanted something new, you had no real need for a Mac and Windows was treating you quite well...

Why did you get a Mac in the first place if your PC was doing fine?

That's what I don't get about some people. They end up buying a Mac when their PC's did them fine then come on the forums just to complain about it.
 
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Quicktime is a tiny window that won't allow me to supersize it

I'ver been able to make mine bigger, but apparently you have to "upgrade" to get fullscreen, which I think is bull and a money-making scam on Apple's part. If they force you to use their product, you should be able to use all features without paying.

the fact that there is no manual is inexcusable

I found that very odd as well, but then realized I never got any manuals on how to use Windows, but never noticed because I already knew how.

That's what I don't get about some people. They end up buying a Mac when their PC's did them fine then come on the forums just to complain about it.

It's because they hear all this hype about how great the Macs are compared to PC's, how their so easy to use, etc. So they buy into the hype and find out those fanboys are talking up the product a little too much.

From everything I read about Macs I half-expected the dsarn thing to be glowing whne I pulled it out of the box! But then I came back to reality to understand it's just naother OS with it's own benefits and drawbacks. Luckily the overall benefits, along with the ability to use Windows as well, has kept me on the positive side of my purchase.
 

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