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Switcher Hangout (Windows to Mac)
Fresh switcher's first impressions for MB
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<blockquote data-quote="bobisimo" data-source="post: 219462"><p>The OP has inspired me to share: I just switched, too! And, likewise, I've been using PC exclusively for about 8 or 9 years. But when I needed to get a new laptop, I found that the best option for me was a MacBook. I was nervous because I'm not familiar with Mac, but also excited to learn something new.</p><p></p><p>Overall, I'm greatly enjoying my new MacBook. I'll divide this post into three categories.</p><p></p><p><strong>Here's what I fell in love with right away:</strong></p><p></p><p>Portability is amazing. I have been leaving it in my backpack and I'm not really noticing it the way I was noticing my old 8-10 pound laptop. The wireless capabilities make it truly portable. I can connect to anything and the connection is strong.</p><p></p><p>Battery life is solid. I had it on at work all day yesterday. It would go into sleep mode often while I did real work, and then I'd wake it up fairly often to show off to a co-worker or such. At the end of a 9-hour work day, I was sitting around 30-40 per cent battery life.</p><p></p><p>I agree with the comment on the screen. I read so much about the glare that I was really nervous about it. But I haven't had any issues yet. Same thing on the heat. It gets warm, but probably not as warm as my Compaq laptop did. I leave it on my bare legs and never feel burned.</p><p></p><p>I love the desktop image - specifically, the fact that you can set it to rotate through images! I hooked that up with the abstract images folder that comes with the OS, and now every time I turn on my laptop I feel dreamy and happy.</p><p></p><p>I tried to rip a CD recently using iTunes and, despite having ripped 100s of CDs with no troubles, for some reason, this brand new CD wasn't working. Tracks were skipping, even with error correction on. I brought it to my girlfriend's house and tried it on her computer, and same thing. Now, maybe it was just a fluke, but I tried it on my MacBook and it worked perfectly the first try. You have to give props, even if it doesn't necessarily make sense.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and I had a crowd around my desk when one guy was showing off Photo Booth. We started taking turns having our pictures taken and making silly faces with the weird effects. Good stuff. I don't remember ever getting a crowd around my Windows PC. </p><p></p><p><strong>I do have some annoyances, though:</strong></p><p></p><p>I miss being able to maximize and minimize windows as you can do with Windows. I understand that you can re-size windows and they always stay that way - but Windows has that, plus the maximize and minimize. I think I am more sensitive to this because I like to quadrant up my screen, so that I can have four apps at the front. I am constantly re-sizing windows, and the lack of that functionality slows me down a little. Speaking of, can you really only re-size by grabbing the bottom-right corner? Eesh.</p><p></p><p>The pointer has inconsistent movement, some kind of acceleration thing is happening. I installed MouseFix or some utility like that and it definitely improved things, but it doesn't feel perfect. Someone else wrote that, maybe because of FPS, their precision with the mouse was spot on and the acceleration with the macs affected that. That's about how I feel.</p><p></p><p>Speaking of moving the pointer, only one button? Yeah, yeah. I'm getting used to holding down the button or ctrl-clicking. It's becoming natural. But I still think it's a little weird. </p><p></p><p>I'm in love with Open Source software, and with Windows there are TONS of options. My favorite new OS program covers screenplay writing. I love it. With Mac? Not really. I've found some decent OS sites and articles, and there's a great thread here that lists a lot of good software, but... good as it is, it's just not on par. I absolutely love OpenOffice, and had to try to get that running. Oddly enough, I got it fired up in minutes. It was pretty simple. But I'd like to try a Mac-specific version, like NeoOffice. I'll have to do that when it becomes available.</p><p></p><p><strong>And then there are things I just need to wrap my head around, things that are better with Mac but I still fumble with it:</strong></p><p></p><p>One example is installing files. When I downloaded Firefox, I was running it from the DMG and couldn't figure out why it didn't seem right. Someone at work said to "think of DMG as a ZIP file. You open the DMG and inside is the EXE. Put that EXE in your program folder and you're done." When I first tried it, I didn't think I was doing it right. I mean, OK, the "exe" is in the programs folder, but I still need to install it. Right? Nope. It's installed. And you just pull it out to uninstall it? Yep. That's it.</p><p></p><p>I'm actually not sure where this claim falls - with annoyances or things I need to wrap my head around - but with Windows, I got so used to the short-cuts that I never had to think about it. Now, I am constantly looking at the keys. If I want to go to the end of the line or the end of the document or the end of the next word or copy-and-paste and so on, I have to think about it. And usually mess up three times.</p><p></p><p>The "dock" confused the **** out of me when I first started playing with it. I dragged my erroneous Firefox install to it, deleted the DMG, and then had the icon disappear, or point to the DMG in the trash. It was confusing. Sometimes I would minimize a window and it would go into a second section of the dock, which made me think it was like the start bar in windows - but then other times I'd minimize and it would just disappear. I finally was told that the black arrows show you which programs are running, but I'm still slightly confused by the dock behavior. Suffice it to say, I love the dock and already think it's pretty powerful. I was a little bothered by the lack of functionality you get from the start bar in Windows, but now that I know about the F9 trick, I think I'm totally appeased - and happier with Mac.</p><p></p><p>The whole "No AV" thing is weird. I feel... mostly... safe... not using AV with my MacBook. I've read enough articles to know that I should feel safe. But, I'm just so used to Windows! Same goes for things like defrag and scan disk and disc clean up. Same thing goes for not shutting my MacBook down since I bought it. Don't these things need to reboot?! A friend told me he hasn't rebooted, aside from the occasional update, in about 2 years. Eesh!</p><p></p><p>Oh, and Finder! You mean I really can just throw every file into one spot, and never organize any of it, and Finder can instantly get it for me by narrowing a list of potential finds as I type? Neat. I'll probably still organize, but...</p><p></p><p><strong>Well, this turned out to be quite the post!</strong></p><p></p><p>I could probably go on but I think I'm putting every one to sleep. I'm really enjoying my Mac and the learning of a new OS. And the MacBook itself is just wonderful. I think I'd have been happier at 12 inches, but I don't know... widescreen is so in these days. Who wants to be without it? <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="bobisimo, post: 219462"] The OP has inspired me to share: I just switched, too! And, likewise, I've been using PC exclusively for about 8 or 9 years. But when I needed to get a new laptop, I found that the best option for me was a MacBook. I was nervous because I'm not familiar with Mac, but also excited to learn something new. Overall, I'm greatly enjoying my new MacBook. I'll divide this post into three categories. [B]Here's what I fell in love with right away:[/B] Portability is amazing. I have been leaving it in my backpack and I'm not really noticing it the way I was noticing my old 8-10 pound laptop. The wireless capabilities make it truly portable. I can connect to anything and the connection is strong. Battery life is solid. I had it on at work all day yesterday. It would go into sleep mode often while I did real work, and then I'd wake it up fairly often to show off to a co-worker or such. At the end of a 9-hour work day, I was sitting around 30-40 per cent battery life. I agree with the comment on the screen. I read so much about the glare that I was really nervous about it. But I haven't had any issues yet. Same thing on the heat. It gets warm, but probably not as warm as my Compaq laptop did. I leave it on my bare legs and never feel burned. I love the desktop image - specifically, the fact that you can set it to rotate through images! I hooked that up with the abstract images folder that comes with the OS, and now every time I turn on my laptop I feel dreamy and happy. I tried to rip a CD recently using iTunes and, despite having ripped 100s of CDs with no troubles, for some reason, this brand new CD wasn't working. Tracks were skipping, even with error correction on. I brought it to my girlfriend's house and tried it on her computer, and same thing. Now, maybe it was just a fluke, but I tried it on my MacBook and it worked perfectly the first try. You have to give props, even if it doesn't necessarily make sense. Oh, and I had a crowd around my desk when one guy was showing off Photo Booth. We started taking turns having our pictures taken and making silly faces with the weird effects. Good stuff. I don't remember ever getting a crowd around my Windows PC. [B]I do have some annoyances, though:[/B] I miss being able to maximize and minimize windows as you can do with Windows. I understand that you can re-size windows and they always stay that way - but Windows has that, plus the maximize and minimize. I think I am more sensitive to this because I like to quadrant up my screen, so that I can have four apps at the front. I am constantly re-sizing windows, and the lack of that functionality slows me down a little. Speaking of, can you really only re-size by grabbing the bottom-right corner? Eesh. The pointer has inconsistent movement, some kind of acceleration thing is happening. I installed MouseFix or some utility like that and it definitely improved things, but it doesn't feel perfect. Someone else wrote that, maybe because of FPS, their precision with the mouse was spot on and the acceleration with the macs affected that. That's about how I feel. Speaking of moving the pointer, only one button? Yeah, yeah. I'm getting used to holding down the button or ctrl-clicking. It's becoming natural. But I still think it's a little weird. I'm in love with Open Source software, and with Windows there are TONS of options. My favorite new OS program covers screenplay writing. I love it. With Mac? Not really. I've found some decent OS sites and articles, and there's a great thread here that lists a lot of good software, but... good as it is, it's just not on par. I absolutely love OpenOffice, and had to try to get that running. Oddly enough, I got it fired up in minutes. It was pretty simple. But I'd like to try a Mac-specific version, like NeoOffice. I'll have to do that when it becomes available. [B]And then there are things I just need to wrap my head around, things that are better with Mac but I still fumble with it:[/B] One example is installing files. When I downloaded Firefox, I was running it from the DMG and couldn't figure out why it didn't seem right. Someone at work said to "think of DMG as a ZIP file. You open the DMG and inside is the EXE. Put that EXE in your program folder and you're done." When I first tried it, I didn't think I was doing it right. I mean, OK, the "exe" is in the programs folder, but I still need to install it. Right? Nope. It's installed. And you just pull it out to uninstall it? Yep. That's it. I'm actually not sure where this claim falls - with annoyances or things I need to wrap my head around - but with Windows, I got so used to the short-cuts that I never had to think about it. Now, I am constantly looking at the keys. If I want to go to the end of the line or the end of the document or the end of the next word or copy-and-paste and so on, I have to think about it. And usually mess up three times. The "dock" confused the **** out of me when I first started playing with it. I dragged my erroneous Firefox install to it, deleted the DMG, and then had the icon disappear, or point to the DMG in the trash. It was confusing. Sometimes I would minimize a window and it would go into a second section of the dock, which made me think it was like the start bar in windows - but then other times I'd minimize and it would just disappear. I finally was told that the black arrows show you which programs are running, but I'm still slightly confused by the dock behavior. Suffice it to say, I love the dock and already think it's pretty powerful. I was a little bothered by the lack of functionality you get from the start bar in Windows, but now that I know about the F9 trick, I think I'm totally appeased - and happier with Mac. The whole "No AV" thing is weird. I feel... mostly... safe... not using AV with my MacBook. I've read enough articles to know that I should feel safe. But, I'm just so used to Windows! Same goes for things like defrag and scan disk and disc clean up. Same thing goes for not shutting my MacBook down since I bought it. Don't these things need to reboot?! A friend told me he hasn't rebooted, aside from the occasional update, in about 2 years. Eesh! Oh, and Finder! You mean I really can just throw every file into one spot, and never organize any of it, and Finder can instantly get it for me by narrowing a list of potential finds as I type? Neat. I'll probably still organize, but... [B]Well, this turned out to be quite the post![/B] I could probably go on but I think I'm putting every one to sleep. I'm really enjoying my Mac and the learning of a new OS. And the MacBook itself is just wonderful. I think I'd have been happier at 12 inches, but I don't know... widescreen is so in these days. Who wants to be without it? :) [/QUOTE]
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