Does This Mean I Switched?

I've had my Mac mini for about 2 months now. I had no plan to switch. Rather, my plan was to "try a Mac". I don't hate Windows. In fact, there's a lot about Windows that I like. But now, nearly two months later, I've used my Windows 3.4 GHZ Pentium 4 HT Media Center PC, just a very few times.

A few thoughts I've had (pro and con Windows, and pro and con Mac):

I wish I could get better quality *small* fonts on the Mac (running 1280 X 1024 on a Samsung 730B with DVI cable).
I'm thrilled that I don't have to run an A/V app that drains resources.
I created a great slide show with music without even trying.
I created a great looking web site with iWeb in a few clicks.
Mac the Ripper & Toast are a great combination.
I still feel more comfortable with Windows Explorer than with Finder.
Other than the for the update to OS X 10.4.5, the Mac was up for 30 days.
With Windows, many more apps require that I re-start.
Acronis Drive Image is a great app for Windows.
Using Disc Utility, I copied my Mac drive to an external bootable drive with no additional third party software.
Entourage on my Mac beats Outlook hands down (I use PocoMail on the Windows machines). Why can't MS make Entourage for Windows?
I love the dock.
I don't need WindowBlinds to make my Mac look like a Mac.

After reviewing my list, of all the things I like most about Windows, it's the quality of small fonts that I can't quiet seem to replicate on the Mac.
But, as time goes by, I care less and less about that, and was just looking at an iMac, thinking, "Must have that".

Perhaps my switch won't be complete until my Windows box (and laptops) go up in smoke, but I *do* feel that my next machine will be a Mac.

So, have I switched? Will I?

Switcher in progress,
Mark

I believe, yes, that is a switch. It's not complete yet, but soon you'll be addicted.

For kicks, there's this program called Mac Explorer that tries to look like Window's Explorer. You should at least check it out. :mac:

Have you gone to view show view options? you can change your icon size on that and i think the quality of the Icons are great. if your on the finder hit apple key+ j to get to view options. I run at 44x44 for my icon desk size on my powerbook and my icons look sharp and great.

Hi, this may or may not help you with the fonts, it's just something I remember seeing and having actually used it.

There is a program called TinkerTool (freeware) that lets you mess around with various preferences, one of them is the fonts (and the font sizes) for various things in the OS (ie, labels, window title bars etc) and will even generate a little preview window to show what the new sizes are like.

Also in tinkertool is something called font smoothing, apparently, OSX does not use font smoothing on anything less than font size 8, but you can change it with tinkertool.

Hopefully you can have a play with it and see if you get any improvement!

PS. Check out pathfinder, it's a kind of finder on steriods, you have to pay for it but there is a 30-day demo, the new version only came out a while back too, maybe you'll like that better than finder.

surfwax95 said:

I believe, yes, that is a switch. It's not complete yet, but soon you'll be addicted.

For kicks, there's this program called Mac Explorer that tries to look like Window's Explorer. You should at least check it out. :mac:

Click to expand...

I think I am addicted, so I guess that does make the switch all but complete.

Thanks for the tip regarding Mac Explorer. I've downloaded it, and wil give it a look.

Mark

Biturbo V12 AMG said:

Have you gone to view show view options? you can change your icon size on that and i think the quality of the Icons are great. if your on the finder hit apple key+ j to get to view options. I run at 44x44 for my icon desk size on my powerbook and my icons look sharp and great.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes, I have tweaked icons sizes, and overall I'm pleased with the look of the desktop icon and font quality. In my case, it's more the quality of fonts on web pages, Finder, e-mail messages, etc, that has me just a bit frustrated. That's not to say they don't look good, but it seems (at least to me) that MS's Clear Type has a bit of an edge over Mac's Font Smoothing when it comes to small fonts.
As an aside, I have also noticed that most flat panel/LCD screens do not have a protective/enhancing shield over them. My two laptops do, and the Mac Cinema displays also seem to have that. I'm not certain that it technically makes the fonts better, but I think overall, things look better on that type of display. Anyway, I've about driven myself nuts tweaking things, but that doesn't mean I'm done yet.

Mark

zeta101 said:

Hi, this may or may not help you with the fonts, it's just something I remember seeing and having actually used it.

There is a program called TinkerTool (freeware) that lets you mess around with various preferences, one of them is the fonts (and the font sizes) for various things in the OS (ie, labels, window title bars etc) and will even generate a little preview window to show what the new sizes are like.

Also in tinkertool is something called font smoothing, apparently, OSX does not use font smoothing on anything less than font size 8, but you can change it with tinkertool.

Hopefully you can have a play with it and see if you get any improvement!

Click to expand...

Yes, I have Tinkertool, and it has helped make a significant improvement. There might still be room for more tinkering though.

zeta101 said:

PS. Check out pathfinder, it's a kind of finder on steriods, you have to pay for it but there is a 30-day demo, the new version only came out a while back too, maybe you'll like that better than finder.

Click to expand...

Headed off to grab it now. Thanks for the recommendation!

Mark