why did you REALLY do it?

Why did you guys really switch? Was is because of how OSX or the machine looks? That was my first impression on Mac. How bout you?

hmm... it was definitely a combination. I was in the market for a laptop after having a PC that I'd built myself. I was fed up with Windows being terrible, and had heard that OSX had been named "the best operating system ever" by several sources. It's completely fact that apple makes the best looking hardware on the market, and that only added to my desire.

Also a combination of things. I was in the market for a notebook, I've been down and out lately since my GF took a job 1700+ miles away, I'm jumping ship from MS before Longhorn is released, and I found out Panther was based off BSD/Unix which I'm an avid user of Linux myself. Also as mentioned above the hardware design is amazing. Best looking machines available. It's got the power, stability, and security of *nix but extremely easy to lean. It suits me perfect.

Looks/useability. My PC is constantly infected with 2-3 worms, McAffee doesn't help at all. I was also tired of Windows' crappability. And the 12" PowerBook is just so cool-looking...

Hmm...Well...I guess I covered this already

http://www.bamerige.com/Apple-Just-Works.jpg


Also, anyone wanting to know the true meaning to my name...see this...it explains its..reason

A lot of things...

An ancient curiosity since using Classics in school about 12 years ago
The great looks of the hardware and software
The Unix core and general 'way of thinking' (Quite a bit of Linux tinkering experience teaches you the joys of this)
The common theory (well, fact really) that they 'just work' and burnout from years of tweaking and tinkering.. reaching the peak of all that, losing interest and wanting a computer that just does a job rather than wanting or needing to know how it does it...

I think the 'spark' that set it all off was the iPod. That is a good way to 'dip your toe' in the world of Apple as it's comparitavely affordable. Realising how wonderfully built it was, simple to operate and just followed every usability guideline you can think of... excellent.

I get the impression from the way the subject's put that you'd also like to see some common things that *weren't* a factor in the decision even though they often factored into others':
Viruses/spyware. I had tight control over that on the PC anyway with PandaAV, Spybot/AdawarePlus, Firefox etc.
Power capabilities. To be honest I couldn't care less that it's capable of rendering some scene out of FFX or whatever 4x faster than the PC - I do more than the Average Joe "word processing and surfing for car insurance" crowd, but the requirements aren't far off.

I am looking at them for something different, I don't really have a problem with Windows XP or Linux.

Ya... most mac machines are eye catching. Favourite is the Powermac G4 and iMac G4.Thats why i first wanted to switch, because of the look. Then i learned alot more and know i WANT ONE! Any other reasons?

(oooo just noticed i got 100 posts )

For me, I needed something of a workhorse for my editing. I am a photographer and need the processing power of the Dual G5 with 100-150 images open in PS at once. I played with the G5 one time and I was hooked!

Besides, they are sexy as **** and they JUST WORK! that, and I no longer have to clean my computer from spyware and malware every 6 hours.

I switched because...

1) I've admired the lightweight, gorgeous aluminum 12" Powerbook for a while. I also have a Sony Vaio laptop, but that thing is a beast to carry around. It weighs over 7 pounds, has an AC power supply the size of a brick, and nearly as heavy. It's also loud.

2) I'm bored with Windows, and SP2 didn't do my Sony laptop any favors. It takes forever to wake up from standby...like 30 seconds or more. Sometimes it won't wake up at all, and I have to shut it off and restart.

3) It may sound funny, but I'm also attracted to Apple because I think Steve Jobs is a better pitchman than Bill Gates. Steve Jobs is an entertaining, dynamic speaker, and you can tell he really is passionate about Apple products. I'd rather go to the dentist than listen to one of Bill Gates' dull presentations.

I switched because I needed to do graphics work that wouldn't be supported on a PC. I started out on a mac though. I had a Performa in college. Then when I hit the work world, I used a PC. Now that I am back in school, I purchased a gateway laptop for my first year, because I was very anti-mac. I used one at a temp job and realized that a mac wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I eventually realized that there was no way around getting one if I wanted to be good at my studies. So I bought my 12 inch pb and I love it. I still use my PC regularly. It's a desktop replacement laptop, so now it truly is my desktop computer, and my mac is my portable, cute, fun computer. Is there a word for us people that use both OS and haven't fully taken up residence on one side of the fence?

For me it was the realization that the endless chase after new worm and virus definitions was not gonna end. When I traced that back to the indefensible registry that I used to hack on my own wintel 95 I knew windows was over, and Linux has a little more to go - Hello Mac!

iPod and GarageBand

I bought the very first IBM PC (5150) the day it came out. I have been a PC user since, well, day one. I have owend about a dozen PCs over time. I currently have four PCs (in various states of life).

The first Apple product I ever bought as an Apple Newton 2000. Today's Palm Pilots and Pocket PCs are finally better than it - took a long time to catch up.

I then bought an iPod. The interface and integration with iTunes made it so simple to use and download new music. I purchase more music today that I used to, for sure. I purchase different music that I used to as well. $0.99 to try something that I might like seems worth it. The music that is on my iPod today is quite different than my CD collection, mostly from trying new genres of music.

Then came iLife. My hobby is writing music. I always had the perception of Apple being better than a PC for hooking up MIDI stuff and the like. I never got into "hard drive recording" because it was too expensive and a bit complicated (I would have to have a dedicated machine and wouldn't be able to run it on the same machine I use for normal tasks).

I had always wanted to cut and paste pieces of music like a word processor. I enjoy the writing of music much more than the actual playing. I saw Garage Band and said I had to have it. I went to an Apple Store and bought a PowerBook 12" G4 for the sole purpose of writing music. Yes, I thought of it as a dedicated machine, and I also thought of it as more of a toy than a computer at the time.

I was then giving a presentation with my Toshiba laptop, which decided it no longer wanted to live. I started using a PC desktop more and my PowerBook on the road to give presentations. Things slowly evolved to me using my PowerBook as my sole computer which is what it is today.

I have since bought the Apple AirPort Express for iTunes and use it all the time (something also that I wanted to do with my PC but I saw PC implementations as unstable and expensive).

I like the basic applications that come with the box (although I wish Mail sorted lots of mail easier - like with grouping boxes), I have the latest version of Office, and the full Adobe Creative Suite. I use iChat with my iSight when I am on the road to communicate with love ones. Things you plug in to the machine work with little to no hassle and usually on the first try.

The only thing that still struggles is iSync. iSync just doesn't work. I'm an avid fan of .Mac (makes it easy for my assistant to see my Address Book and my Mail etc.) but iSync is awful. It hangs all the time and takes about 60 minutes to process everything.

So consider me 98% satisfied. I still somedays wish I had a PC for applications that just don't run on the Mac (i.e. things that integrate with Outlook only).

To get girls with....

"oooh that's cute, a white computer, can I look?"

Yes, I noticed the laptops do turn a number of female eyes It's a nice bonus.

That was my problem then.. I got a powerbook.. it always seemed like guys were coming up to me and saying, "wow, nice screen!" no women *hehe* The reason I switched..

I was doing graphics at the time and Macs were the thing to use.. I got used to Macs, liked them, but they didn't have the power of the PC, so I had to use both, and the PC just crashed all the time.. man it was annoying. When OS X came out, I really wasnt sure about it, and then finally upgraded when Jaguar came out.. oh man I loved it and it could do everything I wanted, and had the power, so I dumped the PC once and for all.

I bought a Mac because, quite simply, I realized that Apple reignited my passion towards computing. I loved PCs for a decade, and just dealt with Windows as needed. Eventually the hardware got boring, and I turned to software...where the real innovation was. This in turn, led me to Linux, which led me to BSD, which eventually led to OS X. After 20 minutes of playing with it, I was hooked. Consequently, I became interested in hardware again, after a few months...something about the design of Apple's hardware is just undeniable....the Frank Lloyd Wright of computers.

So, this wasn't just a minor change for me...it was a change of mindset, and a conduit that brought back my passion for personal computing and technology.

I really have to say, the reason I'm switching is because windows as of late just really pisses me off, I don't do close to as much gaming as I used to on windows either. I love doing graphics and music, and really those are other reasons why I'm switching... Really these days windows doesn't do anything for me... I'm still keeping my windows machine for half life 2 and all (I did buy a 6800 GT for it). But I really plan on my new powerbook being my main machine. They do look nice too :closed:

I didn't really switched 'cause I still use my PC laptop as a desktop at home. But I think the reason for me was the look of Apple products and how many good things I've heard of them.
I started out with the Apple 3G iPod, and I fell in love with it immediately. so ya... getting a powerbook G4 is just the next step for me.