- Joined
- Feb 10, 2015
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Central Indiana, USA
- Your Mac's Specs
- Macbook Pro 15" with Retina Display (2014), i7 2.5GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD, nVidia GT 750M
I've been using computers since my first (yes, I had more than one) Commodore-64 in the early 80's. My only PC experience since has been with Windows. In 1998 I was lucky enough to land my first job as a FoxPro programmer, and I've been working in various capacities as a Windows developer and systems analyst ever since. I've quite often dabbled in Linux, because I liked the blend of a Unix style OS with a functional desktop environment.
Like many a Windows user, I always thought that Macs were way over-priced cash cows for the folks at Apple, squeezing the trendy, hipster crowd for all they're worth. I thought it was all marketing and hype. However, I began to notice more and more .Net developers walking around with Macbooks, so, being the inquisitive type that I am, I began looking into why. I was surprised to find that Windows and Visual Studio run so well in a virtual machine (or with BootCamp). The more I read, the more intrigued I became by the hardware, itself. Current Intel processors? Check. High quality keyboard (this was of great importance to me, as I had been a long-time ThinkPad user)? Check, by most accounts. Pointing stick? Negative. I thought that might just be a show-stopper for me, quite honestly. I have always detested trackpads.
I decided to take a trip to the Apple store and play with a couple Macbook Pros. I immediately noticed two things: the all aluminum unibody is nice. I mean really nice, both sturdy and light. Secondly, the display was stunning. I had been toying with making the switch full time to my Surface Pro 3, and it has a pretty nice display, but with the Mac OS's ability to seamlessly and accurately scale at pretty much any resolution, the SP3 display just doesn't compare to the Retina display on the Macbooks. A week later I had sold my SP3. A week after that I was driving home with a brand new MBPr (rMPB?) 13.
I absolutely loved the size and weight of the 13, but after just a couple of days, it became apparent that I was going to want the quad-core, non-ULV processor (and, I'm not gonna lie, the discreet GT 750M GPU did appeal to me for some gaming). Compiling code and spinning up the local IIS web server in the Windows VM was just a little bit sluggish. Having been assured that I could return or exchange it within 14 days, no questions asked, I took it back to the Apple store, where they again took great care of me.
So, here I am with my MBPr 15 and VMWare Fusion VM's installed for both Windows 8.1 and Linux (Fedora 21 at the moment). This thing powers through everything I've thrown at it. I really can't say enough good things about it from a performance standpoint. Everything is snappy, probably due in large part to the 512GB PCIe SDD.
And the trackpad? Honestly, I never knew the trackpad experience could be this good. I immediately began making full use of the various gestures, and they just work great. It is really nice to simply be able to bounce back and forth between Mac OS and a couple of different running VM's with the mere swipe of my fingers. I don't know how to explain it, but tasks just seem more fluid in Mac OS. It's kind of funny, when I first booted into the OS, my first thought was, "Huh, this looks an awful lot like [insert distro] Linux." Everything from the system properties screen down to the individual window controls like buttons and text boxes looked extremely similar to what I've seen in several Linux distros. After using it for a week or so, I would have to say it looks more like Linux *done right*.
Lastly I want to address my initial misconceptions about Apple products. For starters, from now on, anyone I find looking to buy their first Apple product, I will advise them to buy it from an Apple store. I couldn't have asked for a more pleasant purchase experience. I know I spent an hour or more hemming and hawing and bugging the sales reps with questions - all of which they answered more than adequately with smiles on their faces. Prior to this, my experience was based on uninformed/apathetic employees at brick and mortar stores like BestBuy and Fry's. This was like a breath of fresh air. I really felt like my hand was held through this unnerving process of switching platforms. This in itself is worth a couple hundred bucks extra, as far as I'm concerned.
The "Apple ecosystem" was another aspect I never thought I would like. However, I've also just been accustomed to buying a new phone, downloading drivers and fiddling with it, so I could connect it to my PC and basically learning a new process for doing so with each phone I purchased. That was normal to me and I just expected it. I'm due for a cell phone upgrade in a couple weeks, and at this point I'm planning to try an iPhone for the first time (5S). It will be interesting to see how that interoperability is improved in the Apple space.
Long story short - I'm quite impressed with the Macbook Pro and Mac OS in general.
Like many a Windows user, I always thought that Macs were way over-priced cash cows for the folks at Apple, squeezing the trendy, hipster crowd for all they're worth. I thought it was all marketing and hype. However, I began to notice more and more .Net developers walking around with Macbooks, so, being the inquisitive type that I am, I began looking into why. I was surprised to find that Windows and Visual Studio run so well in a virtual machine (or with BootCamp). The more I read, the more intrigued I became by the hardware, itself. Current Intel processors? Check. High quality keyboard (this was of great importance to me, as I had been a long-time ThinkPad user)? Check, by most accounts. Pointing stick? Negative. I thought that might just be a show-stopper for me, quite honestly. I have always detested trackpads.
I decided to take a trip to the Apple store and play with a couple Macbook Pros. I immediately noticed two things: the all aluminum unibody is nice. I mean really nice, both sturdy and light. Secondly, the display was stunning. I had been toying with making the switch full time to my Surface Pro 3, and it has a pretty nice display, but with the Mac OS's ability to seamlessly and accurately scale at pretty much any resolution, the SP3 display just doesn't compare to the Retina display on the Macbooks. A week later I had sold my SP3. A week after that I was driving home with a brand new MBPr (rMPB?) 13.
I absolutely loved the size and weight of the 13, but after just a couple of days, it became apparent that I was going to want the quad-core, non-ULV processor (and, I'm not gonna lie, the discreet GT 750M GPU did appeal to me for some gaming). Compiling code and spinning up the local IIS web server in the Windows VM was just a little bit sluggish. Having been assured that I could return or exchange it within 14 days, no questions asked, I took it back to the Apple store, where they again took great care of me.
So, here I am with my MBPr 15 and VMWare Fusion VM's installed for both Windows 8.1 and Linux (Fedora 21 at the moment). This thing powers through everything I've thrown at it. I really can't say enough good things about it from a performance standpoint. Everything is snappy, probably due in large part to the 512GB PCIe SDD.
And the trackpad? Honestly, I never knew the trackpad experience could be this good. I immediately began making full use of the various gestures, and they just work great. It is really nice to simply be able to bounce back and forth between Mac OS and a couple of different running VM's with the mere swipe of my fingers. I don't know how to explain it, but tasks just seem more fluid in Mac OS. It's kind of funny, when I first booted into the OS, my first thought was, "Huh, this looks an awful lot like [insert distro] Linux." Everything from the system properties screen down to the individual window controls like buttons and text boxes looked extremely similar to what I've seen in several Linux distros. After using it for a week or so, I would have to say it looks more like Linux *done right*.
Lastly I want to address my initial misconceptions about Apple products. For starters, from now on, anyone I find looking to buy their first Apple product, I will advise them to buy it from an Apple store. I couldn't have asked for a more pleasant purchase experience. I know I spent an hour or more hemming and hawing and bugging the sales reps with questions - all of which they answered more than adequately with smiles on their faces. Prior to this, my experience was based on uninformed/apathetic employees at brick and mortar stores like BestBuy and Fry's. This was like a breath of fresh air. I really felt like my hand was held through this unnerving process of switching platforms. This in itself is worth a couple hundred bucks extra, as far as I'm concerned.
The "Apple ecosystem" was another aspect I never thought I would like. However, I've also just been accustomed to buying a new phone, downloading drivers and fiddling with it, so I could connect it to my PC and basically learning a new process for doing so with each phone I purchased. That was normal to me and I just expected it. I'm due for a cell phone upgrade in a couple weeks, and at this point I'm planning to try an iPhone for the first time (5S). It will be interesting to see how that interoperability is improved in the Apple space.
Long story short - I'm quite impressed with the Macbook Pro and Mac OS in general.
No sticky fingers here. . . .
