Switcher: 8 months later

Around last August, I purchased a 27" iMac computer when they refreshed the line.

8 months later, I can say that I honestly, and truly, regret this purchase for a variety of reasons.

Recently, I've been using Windows (through Boot Camp) more and more since I use 3D Studio Max (and there is no OSX version).

With OSX, I feel so 'limited' in what I can do, especially in the Finder. When I'm organizing my files - mostly music, I often have to sort the songs by their length - which is easily done in Windows Explorer as you can add in many, many columns and sort by almost any variable you can think of. Not so with the Finder - very few choices and song length isn't one of them.

Also, I have some folders that are 8-10 layers deep, and if I have to move them around, Windows Explorer makes it easy, as it's 2 panes: One showing only folders and subfolders, the other showing files/folders within folders, so it's very easy to find and move files. Not so with Finder, as you have to either a) copy the files > find the destination folder and paste..or..click and hold while hovering over each folder until you get to the one you want, and often you have like 10 Finder windows open, really messy in my opinion. I find this very clunky, especially for an OS that is claimed to be more 'advanced' than Windows

For the higher resolution settings within OSX, there is no option to make the icons or text bigger, which basically rendered anything beyond 1080P absolutely unusable and unreadable. But guess what? in Windows 7, Icon size and text can be adjusted as it's resolution independent. Again..how is OSX more advanced when one feature renders everything unusable and no way to correct it?

For almost every application that I use on OSX, that also has a Windows variation (like Winrar vs UnrarX), I mostly find the Windows applications to be far easier to use and far more friendly. With Winrar - you can navigate inside the rar file and extract anything in there on it's own and to any folder you want. With UnrarX..no such luck, you have to unrar the entire thing into a temp folder..or, if there is an option to set it, you have to set the folder every time you unrar something, instead of a simple 'Extract to' option. That's the example I can come up with, but Windows programs are just more user friendly.

Same with anything in a zip file. OSX un-archives them in a pre-set folder that you can't change, and you have to go into the Finder and move stuff around, instead of a simple 'Unzip to' option.

iTunes (the music player)..hate it. By making it 'easier'..it makes it a lot harder to do almost anything I can do elsewhere like opening playlists!. Half of the playlists I have made within Winamp or Foobar don't work within iTunes. Because of this, I use Foobar for playing music, and Media Monkey for transferring music to my iPods. iTunes simply doesn't do the simplist tasks for me.

And here, here is the 'last straw'..that if I knew about this, I definatly wouldn't have purchased this iMac: the SMB file sharing from OSX is junk - at least for my purposes. Last year, I purchased a Dune Base 3.0 player (network media streamer). Using the SMB file sharing from OSX, a high-def episode of any show takes *2* minutes to load from the time I press 'play' on my streamer to the time it actually begins playing. 2 Minutes! Totally unaccecptable. That exact same file, but sharing from Windows 7? It takes 10..seconds. That's a huge difference, and since I play movies often enough, THIS was the final straw and enough to make me regret the purchase, to be honest.

With Apple trying to make things 'easier' on people, they made things harder, more frustrating and taking longer to adjust variables then it needs to be. I truly regret this purchase and if I wouldn't lose half of the value, I would have sold this computer.

The only positive thing: It's the most stable Windows computer I've had. Not a single crash/blue-screen.

well hey, some people have a "windows mind set", and this is the way they work, and changes are annoying. its exactly the same when i go into windows explorer: "Wheres my Sidebar? why is my external assigned a wierd letter?" and other such annoyances. but thats just me! some people like this stuff.

there are alternatives to the finder out there. the best one ive used is TotalFinder: a plug in that gives you tabbed windows, split screens etc.

however, if you like PCs, i say work on Windows. a lot of people will argue with you over this that Windows sucks, but i feel that its just the way some people are. stick with what you are comfortable with.

bear in mind though, that OSX is a very good OS. it may not suit your needs but it certainly suits alot of others alot better: it manages memory better, its far more stable, everything is "drag and drop" between apps, lets not forget the dock (Windows liked it so much they stole the idea ) and so on.

iTunes: im half with you. the idea of iTunes is that you only need one player. the "central hub" of all your media. it does a fine job of that. supporting Winamp playlists is hardly on the agenda for updates, and i can see why.

i cant comment about the streaming, it could be due to a compatibilty bug, not the OS.

for the ZIP files, you could try Stuffit Expander, it gives you a little more flexibility.

sorry to hear you dont like it, but hey, its a great PC too.

Looks like you should have taken carleymarie's advice in this thread, yet alone showing some appreciation for all the other input in the form a reply, not only in that thread, but in all of your threads
You were given many solutions and alternatives, but didn't bother to respond, take any of the recommendations, or give a simple thank you! hmmmm :/

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/115725-thinking-buying-mac.html#post691732

I think that for someone who would plan to use parallels extensively, this would be a situation where it would be better for you to stick to Windows.

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(see below)

(for some strange reason, the first half of my post went "poof" -- I can't write it all out again, but to summarize: most of what you're complaining about is directly attributable to one of two things:

1. You never bothered to really learn the program/OS. It didn't work the way you expected, so you just stopped there.

2. You're trying to make the Mac behave like Windows. This works about as well as trying to make an Aston-Martin behave like a Honda Civic. You never let go of your "Windows mindset."

Half of the playlists I have made within Winamp or Foobar don't work within iTunes.

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Well, duh.

Guess what ... my iTunes playlists don't work in Foobar either! What a POS!

Hey! Microsoft Word won't open my Pages documents!! Stupid Microsoft!

iTunes simply doesn't do the simplist tasks for me.

Click to expand...

Yes, those hundreds of millions of other iTunes users obviously can't get it to work either. Dunno why it's so popular. Oh wait -- hang on -- something about preconceived notions and self-fulfilling prophecies ...

the SMB file sharing from OSX is junk - at least for my purposes.

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I don't know anything about SMB networking -- any Windows machines on any network I join just "show up" (usually wide open, I might add) whenever I connect to the network in the Devices sidebar. It happens automatically so I've never had to deal with SMB. You may, for all I know, have a point on this one.

The only positive thing: It's the most stable Windows computer I've had. Not a single crash/blue-screen.

Click to expand...

Well, that's something!

Look, in my honest opinion, the problem here is mostly YOU, but I'm not hating on you (as the kids say). You just never let go of the Windows mind-set and you're trying to make your Mac behave like a Windows box. THIS DOESN'T WORK.

The Mac experience starts with the zen-like concept of letting go of what you knew and opening your mind to an alternative methodology. You don't seem to be able to do that, either because you can't or because you don't want to.

If you prefer the Windows way of doing things, that's fine. Owning a computer should make you (overall) happy and productive, not frustrated.*

*short periods of transitional frustration aside.

If you're "stuck" in the Windows mindset and you like it that way, great! Sell your Mac, get a Windows box and enjoy your life. We wish you well. No mass-produced product can ever be perfect for everyone, and the Mac is no exception.

Until recently, I've had to be an "expert" on both Windows and Mac. If I were to talk to you about Linux, I'd probably sound just like you do about Mac -- because I never "got inside Linux's head" so to speak. I can't figure out why anyone would use Linux when Windows already exists (and also why most people would use Windows when Mac already exists!). Windows I find very frustrating but doable, and I'm competent enough at it to help others (and get paid to do so), which is as far as I care to take it.

I'd suggest you part company with the Mac amicably and go back to Windows. It sounds like you'd do better for yourself that way, and as I say life's too short to be upset at stuff for long.

This is why when I made the switch last month that I was determined NOT to try and do things "like I did in Windows." I have even forced myself to use the trackpad and not get and external input device. I've avoided all "utility" programs that make things Windows like. For example a Finder replacement. That's just me. If I made the switch I was going to be all in. On the other hand I do use VMware Fusion for a Win 7 VM for too apps that I've not found a reasonable Mac replacement for. If I do the VM is gone.

So far I love my MBP and hope to never switch back. OP, good luck.

Some people just don't know how, that is all I can say. Windows works, but you need to make it to. Still many folks out there prefer to waste their time doing it just because they are used to it and they think that this is the way it should be.
And yes, I prefer Linux because I took my time to get to know the system.
My advice to you is: sell the problematic device and buy yourself a decent computer with an appropriate OS.

Some people just don't listen, take advice, or try to learn. Whining, complaining, and trolling are much easier.

I'm a switcher 8 months as well. I find OSX SL to be way more stable and efficient over Windows any day of the week. Let alone I don't have to worry about getting a virus through email, websites, and blinking. I run both Windows and Linux as VM's in Virutalbox, but only to test programs in Windows and write code in Linux. (another cool part about OSX is the built in ssh functionality of Terminal, but that's beside the point.) Honestly, I can't think of anything that windows can do better than OSX for the typical home based user. I'm very interested to see if Lion is going to be as awesome of an upgrade as it looks currently. If so, even more reason to stick with a Mac.

Also.. there are things that can be nitpicked about any system but as you say there is a huge reliability factor included with apple hardware and software that is way above what normal pc vendors offer currently. This is what is setting Apple apart from the competition and why everyone seems to have to copy and catch up to what they are doing.

I'm a switcher in my first month of blissful iMac ownership, so what I am about to say can be quickly written off by any of you wishing to by simply saying that my honeymoon phase will eventually end. But here is why I think it won't - in perhaps direct opposition to the OP's post (especially if you go back and read the OP's previous posts about no longer having a use for Windows)...

I started my IT career as a Macintosh support guy and was instantly hooked on macs. Over the years as my career evolved and the various corporations I worked for expanded their PC base, my skills and needs changed and I ended up requiring PCs and not macs to do my day to day. Right up until this year, 18 years of dealing with Wintel-based projects, deployments, support, migrations, etc etc. My own home office littered with Dell and IBM laptops, desktops running Vista, Windows 7 and even some old clunkers running XP or something less 'new'. Whatever. It served its purpose well for me. But truth be told, my personal time on a computer started to become more and more frustrating. As I got more interested in photography and video, I became more and more frustrated with getting things to WORK like I needed them to work on either Windows Vista or XP or lately, Windows 7. I bought editing software (Pinnacle Studio, Studio Max, Lightroom, etc) and had a multitude of problems with drivers, peripherals, and even something as completely mundane as burning a simple DVD became a feat of epic proportions for me most of the time. I can curse Microsoft all I want, but in many ways it is sort of biting the hand that feeds (I'm currently managing a Win7 migration at a major retail firm). But it wasnt until I overheard a colleague gushing about his iMac (and some of the work he produced and showed me really impressed me) - that I decided to dip my toes back in to all things Apple.

Again, in full disclosure, Ive done my share of Apple-bashing in the past. I had a first generation iPod that was a POS and went through the whole class action lawsuit thing to get a battery replacement. Years later my wife had many issues with her second generation iPhone and I would always leave the Apple store cursing under my breath at the "geniuses" and their snooty but oh-so-friendly advice on how they could help me with another proprietary cable or adapter I could buy just to make something work like I felt it should right from the start. So like I said, in many ways, the cards have been stacked both ways in terms of how I see it but in the long run? Hey, here's whats important - what works for you.

Like the OP, I know what I need to work when I make a new computer purchase. For me, it was largely multimedia and to just have sh*t hang together seamlessly. Thats why I'm gushing. Because I plopped the 27" i7 quad core down on my desk and set it up in minutes (seconds?) and I plugged in my externals and launched stuff and guess what happened? Everything freaking worked. It was a joy to see iPhoto index my 64,000 photos in a few minutes, and redraw the image thumbnails in real time as I scrolled to the last one. And to have DVDs rip and burn without any error, hiccups, or intervention on my part. And the screen just makes my jaw drop.

I guess unlike the OP, I first fully investigated my video editing options (Avid, Adobe, FCP, iMovie etc) first. Even did some hands-on at the store and a whole bunch of reading up and demos and tutorials online. Long story short, I love it, everything about it. Takes some getting used to, definitely. Things in different places, a different end user experience. Yes I'm still on honeymoon, but we have a shared past, and I know what to expect.

I won't get rid of Windows any time soon, but I also promise not to talk bad behind each other's back. I'm more mature now

Switched for more than a year now. The only problem I have is the other people still use Windows PC. Sharing Word files occasionally cause them to have compatibility issues. But that might be more with Microsoft than Mac OS. Mac OS is different, but there are similarity to Windows to make the switch a non-issue with me. Fantastic all around line of iMac and MBP.

If one of your main uses for a computer is 3DS Max, it doesn't make sense that you bought a Mac knowing that there is not a Mac version of that software. But going by the rest of your post, I suppose it is Apple's fault there is no version of that for the Mac.