What made you decide to switch?

[fragged3d]

I have been a pc person since I was 12 and I am 27 now. I am in my sophomore year in college for web design, I see a lot of designers using apple now and more and more businesses also! I started getting pulled in when they released the notebooks with the glowing apples. I started looking hard corp this semester for a laptop and I eneded up buying a macbook.

So after using my mac for the last couple weeks I can honestly say I switched because of looks, usability, secutriy, and organization. I love the fact that I don't have to wait for the system tray to load, get tons of pop-ups, have to update everytime I open a program, all the sudden internet windows erroring and having to restart, and I love installing new programs and devices without having to reboot!! I hate working in windows at work and when I'm elsewhere, I am an apple guy for life!! I do some IT at my current job and my supervisor tells me that a pretty bold statement coming from a person like me, take it for what it's worth!

<R>

 

[SoundsGood]

he means that when Windows installs a program it puts files and folders all over your HD

Out of curiosity only, how would this affect the user experience?

 

[ToddG]

One day, the voices in my head stopped shouting "kill!" and instead whispered "Buy a Mac." Using my Mac is much easier and I don't spend as much time hiding anymore. Voices FTW!

 

[TheCustomer99]

You know, Macs still have those keys :yinyang:

True, but I don't have to use them to close programs. My Dell just sits there and makes an annoying grinding noise when I try to close a program. That in turn forces me to use ctrl, alt, delete to close the program. Haven't had to force quit a program yet on my Mac.

 

[TheCustomer99]

had a fantastic 17" hp pavillion laptop. it melted it's onboard video card, and since i'd been considering a mac for some time, i took a serious look. the final decision came down to a 15" alienware notebook or a white macbook. guess what won out?

Uhhh... Alienware? (I just got done taking a test, my mind is too burned out for multiple choice questions)

 

[walkerj]

I've always wanted my own NeXT workstation since they first came out. When Apple produced a low cost entry level Mac (Mini) I got one. I knew it was essentially UNIX, but done right. I indeed did then finally have my NeXT workstation (albeit much updated and prettier.) Then my wife got her NeXT workstation (another Mac Mini) and loved it.

Now we have two Macbooks (NeXT machines in notebook form!) and for personal computing, we will never go back. I still have to use both Windows and Linux, have been working on them so long I will never forget how to use them, and really don't mind when I do, but for my own needs a Mac will always be what I have and use.

Don't try to take my wife's Macbook away from her. She will disembowel you with a spork, or whatever else might be handy.

 

[Nagger Pumper]

i am VERY prone to viruses, and i took a "gamble" with my money to see how macs really were since i kept getting viruses all the time. who knew this would be the os for the rest of my life ?

 

[iRye]

I hate the Luna/Aero interface. PC laptops are thick. I don't like thick. They are freakishly ugly. Bought an iMac. Rest is history.

 

[Brendan]

Out of curiosity only, how would this affect the user experience?

I'm very picky about where files are, and with files scattered around I can never feel organized. It's hard to explain, but I have used a Mac and it's much nicer!

 

[SoundsGood]

I'm very picky about where files are, and with files scattered around I can never feel organized. It's hard to explain, but I have used a Mac and it's much nicer!

Hmmmm.... okay.

 

[Dillinger-63]

Spam, Virus updates, Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad Aware, basically not ever needing to install this stuff on my Mac.

 

[BIG D 04]

It was mainly a way to chat up the girl at the Apple Store, boy you should of seen the look on my face when I realised it was a Man with Long Hair and just took my iMac and ran.

 

[fragged3d]

Quote:
Originally Posted by fragged3d
he means that when Windows installs a program it puts files and folders all over your HD
Out of curiosity only, how would this affect the user experience?

How would this effect a users experience? Well first when a program is installed in windows it scatters all these little files and associates itself with certain dll files. This effects a users experience when he/she wants rid of the program, the program is never fully gone and if the wrong dll's are trashed when you uninstall it creates problems elsewhere on the computer. The next thing is the fact that it fragments a hard drive and leaves a digital trail. When you do this a bunch of time you will notice the awefull slowdown associated from windows. When I install a program on my MB it doesn't take forever and when I'm finished with it I drag one file to the trash and I'm ridden of it. So OS X is more organized than Windows!

<R>

 

[HKphotographer]

I am still a Windows user but I will very soon switch to Mac due to better organization, stability and security of OSX

 

[SoundsGood]

How would this effect a users experience? Well first when a program is installed in windows it scatters all these little files and associates itself with certain dll files. This effects a users experience when he/she wants rid of the program, the program is never fully gone and if the wrong dll's are trashed when you uninstall it creates problems elsewhere on the computer. The next thing is the fact that it fragments a hard drive and leaves a digital trail. When you do this a bunch of time you will notice the awefull slowdown associated from windows. When I install a program on my MB it doesn't take forever and when I'm finished with it I drag one file to the trash and I'm ridden of it. So OS X is more organized than Windows!

Very good explanation. Thanks. This makes sense.

 

[Thundermoon1994]

I was possibly one of the least likely people to switch to Mac. I have been using Windows since at least before 3.1 and I always thought those Mac guys are dorks. Well...the university I attend charges you to print in the computer labs. You hit print and then go over to the printer and swipe your student ID card and select you print job. I found out from a friend that the 8 Macs in the lab I use were set up "incorrectly" and print for free. I like free. I started using the Macs and I never want to use another Windows computer as long as I live. I'm sure I'll have to, but I dont' wanna.

~Damien

PS. All that stuff that's been said about security, terrific aesthetics, and well-organized OS, too.

 

[Brendan]

How would this effect a users experience? Well first when a program is installed in windows it scatters all these little files and associates itself with certain dll files. This effects a users experience when he/she wants rid of the program, the program is never fully gone and if the wrong dll's are trashed when you uninstall it creates problems elsewhere on the computer. The next thing is the fact that it fragments a hard drive and leaves a digital trail. When you do this a bunch of time you will notice the awefull slowdown associated from windows. When I install a program on my MB it doesn't take forever and when I'm finished with it I drag one file to the trash and I'm ridden of it. So OS X is more organized than Windows!

<R>

That is exactly what I was talking about. I didn't want to go in details because I figured most would understand. It's just a mess. I know computers, and even repair them for cash a lot. Most of the time the issue is with "dll" errors, or spyware and viruses bogging the system down.

 

[moss918]

I didn't have any preconceptions about Macs or Mac users but just hadn't come across them before and knew absolutely nothing about them. I'd never really had any (major) issues with my PC aside from the day-to-day annoyances but would have liked to do more with it such as music editing. When I came to my current job one of my colleagues said he had a Mac and told me a little about them and showed me the G4's/5's on Apple.com. From there I was impressed. I was looking into getting an iBook to toy around with Garageband and iLife and then they brought out the Macbooks...and that was the decision made for me.
I still use a PC though, so I’m a half switcher I suppose - But I know which I prefer…

 

[indapino22]

for a couple years i wanted to try a mac, because its something different. and we could all learn new things and thats what i wanted to do. for the price of my mbp i could have gotten a similarly speced windows laptop but then i wouldnt know the joy that is mac. i still use my pc at home when i dont feel like warming up my lap with the laptop.

 

[nukemm]

I've wanted to try a Mac for a long time, but I also play games. When the Intel chips were introduced in the latest Macs, I actually started seriously considering the switch. While I was in Singapore last spring I spent hours in the Apple store and got convinced that I wanted a Mac. When I got back from deployment in August I wanted to buy a Mac immediately, but I had a wedding to pay for, and that took financial priority. After the wedding I had a some extra money, but my wife & I kept finding stupid things that needed money pretty frequently, so I didn't get to upgrade for a while. In December I got a surprise paycheck that had some back-pay in it, and I had been talking to a few guys at church that use Macs, including the media producer that broadcasts live via his Mac, and decided to get my feet wet with a Mini. I loved my Mini, but craved more, so with some of my tax return I bought my 17" MBP, which is also an upgrade on the PC side of things, allowing me to run my games even better. I was in the market for a laptop, because I spend so much time out to sea, and I didn't want to compromise. Now I run OS X and Windows XP on my MBP, and truly am enjoying the best of both worlds.