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Why is Mac better than Windows?
- Thread starter johnny123
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It's one of those things..You get fed up with Windows, and you go, "I've heard Macs are pretty good...let me try them out." Then you get one and as you explore through the Operating system, all the little things really hit you, as well as the solid foundation of the OS as a whole as compared to Windows. You find all these little things that improve your work experience, and you just go, "Wow, I'm sold." and you don't go back. Of course, that's not true for everyone, and I've met people who genuinely hate OS X (to be fair, they didn't actually try it, they just looked at it
), but it is a beautiful, solid operating system built for beautiful, solid computers, for ugly, not-so-solid people like me. The final thing for me was when I went to visit my mom's girlfriend's family for Thanksgiving and played on their 4-year-old Powerbook (and a little bit on her brother's MBP, but not as much), and was amazed at the fact that it was doing pretty much everything I wanted quickly, efficiently, even after being used for so long, which, needless to say, has never been accomplished on any of the WinPCs I've owned. By this past Thanksgiving, I had already decided I was getting my Macbook, though I wasn't going to get it 'til January. My mom's girlfriends family convinced my mom to help me out and get it early with all of our mac-gushing, and here I am
Though it won't give you the full experience, atleast go to an apple store and give it a try, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
It's very hard to explain until you have a mac in your hands for a few days. I was asking myself the same question before I got my first mac(mbp) a week ago. The UI will blow you away. The commercial where they say it just works has been nothing but the truth since I got mine. The customer service with apple is usually above all. I have bought two apple products in the past couple of months. They both have been nothing but a joy to use. So make the switch and I know you will not be disappointed.
I am a recent switcher, been using windows PCs for 10+ years. The mac is much better mainly because of OS X (the operating system). Right now I am using an older 24" imac 2.1ghz core 2 duo 2.5gb ram... and this thing flies. I have photoshop + 4-6 other programs open all the time, no slow down (there was b it of slowdown with 1gb ram) You will just fall in love with using os x Leopard.
It took me about 2 weeks to get used to a different keyboard (the control key is where the windows logo key is), keyboard shortcuts (control+q is sweet!), how to find files, new way to install/uninstall programs and the little things most mac user know by heart.
Quick Look is awesome. Spaces is awesome. Finder works great. Spotlight search is great. Expose is actually useful, unlike windows flip. I just get things done faster... I feel more efficient.
I feel like I control os x. With vista/xp, it felt more like they controlled me!
It took me about 2 weeks to get used to a different keyboard (the control key is where the windows logo key is), keyboard shortcuts (control+q is sweet!), how to find files, new way to install/uninstall programs and the little things most mac user know by heart.
Quick Look is awesome. Spaces is awesome. Finder works great. Spotlight search is great. Expose is actually useful, unlike windows flip. I just get things done faster... I feel more efficient.
I feel like I control os x. With vista/xp, it felt more like they controlled me!
these two tidbits are what stand out to me. i have a pc and a mac and i hardly use the pc because it feels more cumbersome in that everything takes an extra click or two (or three). everything is more streamlined in the mac world.
lasts longer
comes with great apps (iLife)
more reliable
no viruses
when you do end up getting a mac, look at the refurbished ones on the apple website. theyre cheaper and as good as the new ones.
comes with great apps (iLife)
more reliable
no viruses
when you do end up getting a mac
, look at the refurbished ones on the apple website. theyre cheaper and as good as the new ones.As someone in the process of completing migration from Win to Mac:
- the hardware looks the part suggesting that thought has gone into its design and production which builds confidence in
- the OS. Generally speaking it is consistent in look and feel, relatively intuitive (one or two niggles as an ex-Win user), stable and secure (though Apple do need to be on the ball with the latter)
- stability - an app crashes on the Mac everything else carries on as if nothing had happened whereas have never had the same experience with Win - an app fails bringin the whole sytem down in all versions of Win used
- multi-tasking - OS X does it very well, Win doesn't (see next point)
- you appear to be able to do more with less. Still use my iBook 600 which is quite happy running Word and DVD player together - typing in W and watching vid. My much higher spec Win machine allows you to hear the DVD but only intermittently see anything whilst typing in Word
There are some things that bug me about OS X - changing filenames, setting up printers (bizarre considering the Mac's roots in DTP but has yet to be as good as Win imo), and the move from 10.4 to 10.5 which for many was neither smooth nor beneficial. However 5 mins of poor multitasking, crashed Win media player forcing a Ctrl-Alt-Del restart reminds my of why I moving platforms.
- the hardware looks the part suggesting that thought has gone into its design and production which builds confidence in
- the OS. Generally speaking it is consistent in look and feel, relatively intuitive (one or two niggles as an ex-Win user), stable and secure (though Apple do need to be on the ball with the latter)
- stability - an app crashes on the Mac everything else carries on as if nothing had happened whereas have never had the same experience with Win - an app fails bringin the whole sytem down in all versions of Win used
- multi-tasking - OS X does it very well, Win doesn't (see next point)
- you appear to be able to do more with less. Still use my iBook 600 which is quite happy running Word and DVD player together - typing in W and watching vid. My much higher spec Win machine allows you to hear the DVD but only intermittently see anything whilst typing in Word
There are some things that bug me about OS X - changing filenames, setting up printers (bizarre considering the Mac's roots in DTP but has yet to be as good as Win imo), and the move from 10.4 to 10.5 which for many was neither smooth nor beneficial. However 5 mins of poor multitasking, crashed Win media player forcing a Ctrl-Alt-Del restart reminds my of why I moving platforms.
Highlight the file and press the Enter button on the number part of your keyboard.
Hope that helps you out.Mac is universal machine, you may use both OS in one time and it's legal. For example, I use windows progs only via Parallels. PC can't do this legally. I love mac, it's very comfortable to use, I like design else.
I mean i put XP Pro on my MacBook Pro just for my office stuff and hook it up to my office KB, Screen, Mouse when in office.. It logs on to the domain in the office.
Only use it for absolute minimum
Exchange mail
Office documents for work, excel, word etc.
PDF viewing
Downloading pictures that i have to take of proof of things when away on business trip then dump em onto server..
VPNing onto server when on business trips...
And a few other things
Every morning I turn on my computer to be faced with
Username:
Password:
Log on to:
I mean the thing doesnt even remember that my domain user account is the only account on the domain which logs onto my machine, apart from if my boss is in my room and needs to check something on the server, or something which he only has access rights to.
Then in the evening when i get home while having dinner i log into Mac OS and everything just feels so beautiful..
My IT consultant refuses to configure my Mac to see the servers or for mail.app on the exchange account it really does make me mad. He says he cant support it if something goes wrong and therefore will not configure it.. MAD :-(
So now i love OSX but i can only use it for 75% of my life.. Its so much better, folders are so organized, doesnt show me the trash i need to see.
Only use it for absolute minimum
Exchange mail
Office documents for work, excel, word etc.
PDF viewing
Downloading pictures that i have to take of proof of things when away on business trip then dump em onto server..
VPNing onto server when on business trips...
And a few other things
Every morning I turn on my computer to be faced with
Username:
Password:
Log on to:
I mean the thing doesnt even remember that my domain user account is the only account on the domain which logs onto my machine, apart from if my boss is in my room and needs to check something on the server, or something which he only has access rights to.
Then in the evening when i get home while having dinner i log into Mac OS and everything just feels so beautiful..
My IT consultant refuses to configure my Mac to see the servers or for mail.app on the exchange account it really does make me mad. He says he cant support it if something goes wrong and therefore will not configure it.. MAD :-(
So now i love OSX but i can only use it for 75% of my life.. Its so much better, folders are so organized, doesnt show me the trash i need to see.
I recently switched to the wonderful world of Mac in January. My experience with my MacBook in the few months that I've had it have been better than all my years of PC usage. The UI of OS X is 100x better than XP or Vista, the default apps that come with it are awesome like spaces and time machine, and the aesthetics aren't something to leave out. Macs, in general, are just cooler
Hehe, as a former Exchange and Windows 2k/2k3 domain admin I feel his pain. Macs can be a huge PITA to function properly in a windows world so don't get mad at him
. Instead, encourage him to play with one sometime, he might might switch over too. Many windows guys know nothing about macs because they aren't prevelant in the business world and quite frankly the mac users can be the snooty holyer than thou types. This only encourages the windows guys to ignore them. I've done various flavors of windows from 3.1 on. I steadfastly refused Win95 until a game came out that required it, I preferred dos. And even though I've made a living supporting windows boxes I'm convinced macs are the way to go. I expiremented with a couple hackintoshes first and those, even with their issues, convinced me to move from the pc. Vista kind of pushed me over the edge too. I believe in efficiency, which Vista most certainly is not.
Make the switch, I have little doubt you'll be happier in the long run.
Maybe have your Administrator remove the Group Policy setting that causes this to blank after each logoff. ;-) If it's doing it on one machine, it should be doing it on all of them (depending on how the GPO is set up) - you're certainly not alone.
I will ask the ICT consultant to remove the policy on server, and then ask him for all the settings i need to get my MBP leopard accessing all the resources on the server i wish, dont care what he says.
I will then backup my MacBook Pro onto my network Drive on server and format it and pick up a copy of office 07 for mac. job done
I will then backup my MacBook Pro onto my network Drive on server and format it and pick up a copy of office 07 for mac. job done
I recently switched from my HP to a MB...one of the few great decisions I have ever made. With the mac, I can easily and quickly log in after it has been in sleep mode vs. my HP taking ages to just come on and then forever to log in. And whenever I could get on, all these start up things would pop up; of course i'm sure there is some way to stop them but I never really found out. I also like how I can hide my icons on my Mac in the "dock" so my desktop has a clean look to it... oh! and I love how I can change backgrounds every 5 sec to an hour and more. All in all, completely love my macbook. =]
There are several aspects of switching to a Mac and OS X that are appealing.
1) It's different. Simply put, I've used Windows computers for about 15 years and I wanted a change for home use. OS X is different. Even if it isn't better, the change in computing style can be welcome.
2) OS X has some real improvements over Windows. Expose, Time Machine, Quick Look, Dashboard are all significant user-interface tools that I miss when on my work PC.
3) Unique, affordable, useful applications. iLife is a quality set of "creative" tools. If you're interested in starting out in web design, digital photography, video editing, or music creation this is the tool for you. iWork offers a replacement for Office for the home and casual user at one-third the price.
4) Good style. I'm human, and I'm affected by aesthetics. Though it's not a deal-maker, the fact that my MBP is -- to me -- is best looking laptop on the market is appealing. I see normal PC laptops and they're just ugly. I don't by just for "beauty" but it's a nice thing.
5) No risk in switching. When I got my first MBP last year, I also bought WinXP Home and installed BootCamp and Parallels. I still do my finances in Windows and game in Windows. But there's no risk in going with a Mac now. You can always fall back to Windows if you hit a roadblock with your Mac tools.
There are a few reasons to not switch:
1) You're really into PC gaming.
2) Cost is the only important detail when you're shopping for a computer (e.g. you need a $500 PC)
3) Your "mission critical" software is Windows only. For me, I use Win-only engineering software. Moving to Mac professionally isn't a good idea in my case.
Happy shopping!
1) It's different. Simply put, I've used Windows computers for about 15 years and I wanted a change for home use. OS X is different. Even if it isn't better, the change in computing style can be welcome.
2) OS X has some real improvements over Windows. Expose, Time Machine, Quick Look, Dashboard are all significant user-interface tools that I miss when on my work PC.
3) Unique, affordable, useful applications. iLife is a quality set of "creative" tools. If you're interested in starting out in web design, digital photography, video editing, or music creation this is the tool for you. iWork offers a replacement for Office for the home and casual user at one-third the price.
4) Good style. I'm human, and I'm affected by aesthetics. Though it's not a deal-maker, the fact that my MBP is -- to me -- is best looking laptop on the market is appealing. I see normal PC laptops and they're just ugly. I don't by just for "beauty" but it's a nice thing.
5) No risk in switching. When I got my first MBP last year, I also bought WinXP Home and installed BootCamp and Parallels. I still do my finances in Windows and game in Windows. But there's no risk in going with a Mac now. You can always fall back to Windows if you hit a roadblock with your Mac tools.
There are a few reasons to not switch:
1) You're really into PC gaming.
2) Cost is the only important detail when you're shopping for a computer (e.g. you need a $500 PC)
3) Your "mission critical" software is Windows only. For me, I use Win-only engineering software. Moving to Mac professionally isn't a good idea in my case.
Happy shopping!
All of the points made in this thread are excellent, but it's actually much harder to explain. I suggest going to a local Apple Store or even Best Buy to check them out. The machines are really beautiful, and OS X just works. Everytime I get a new Apple product, i'm still amazed at how beautiful they are. No point of me explaining why OS X is better since it has been summarized in this thread, but I would go check one out first before making a decision.
It takes about two weeks to get used to OSX and once you are in you are hooked. Dont get me wrong the two weeks are the hardest.
Learning how to install a program DL of the net was the hardest one for me. I didnt know i had to drag the file to Applications folder. I was used to XP doing it for me. In XP i didnt know where the program files were.
Learning how to install a program DL of the net was the hardest one for me. I didnt know i had to drag the file to Applications folder. I was used to XP doing it for me. In XP i didnt know where the program files were.
A co-worker of mine asked me the same question, what makes Macs so much better? I spent about twenty minutes trying to explain it to him, but I could tell I was not getting anywhere. The next day I brought him a G4 iBook that I had left over from an upgrade for my son ( C2D MacBook with Superdrive) to let him try. The next day he tells me two of his neighbors had open wi-fi and was astonished at how easy it was for him to go online with the iBook. He kept for a week and then returned it to me the following Monday. His reason for returning it? He bought a MacBook of his own over the weekend at the Apple store
During a presentation by a software vendor, their laptop acted up. My co-worker turned to me and with no irony at all in his voice said " that would not happen if he was using a Mac!" Here was an old school PC user who tried using OS X and has never looked back. He told me the other day he has convinced two of his friends to buy Macs!
Just try one for a while, you will know.
During a presentation by a software vendor, their laptop acted up. My co-worker turned to me and with no irony at all in his voice said " that would not happen if he was using a Mac!" Here was an old school PC user who tried using OS X and has never looked back. He told me the other day he has convinced two of his friends to buy Macs!
Just try one for a while, you will know.
I bought my first mac in August 2007. I was getting tired of the hassles of windows (BSOD, hang ups, etc.) and wanted to give mac a try. I love it. Since then, I bought a MBP in January. My wife had to go out of town last week and took the MBP with her, leaving me with a Tablet PC to due portable computing on. I can't tell you how difficult it is to use the Tablet PC compared to my MBP.
I've been using a Mac for about 3 weeks now. Needed a new home PC, and bought a 20"/2.0 iMac w/3GB Ram [1GB installed, and bought a 2GB stick for $90 and installed it myself. Took 5 minutes].
I can't agree more with the others here. It's easier to use. A pleasure to use, and it just works. Want a new MBP for myself [work and travel]. Unless you're a heavy duty gamer, then any Mac is good. PC users will say you can't expand, or add drives, etc. But that's crap. You can get a 500GB external, USB drive for $149 now. Memory is cheap [unless you get it pre-installed by Apple]. Just because you can't take a big case off of a tower doesn't mean it's not expandable...
Go for it, you won't regret it!
I can't agree more with the others here. It's easier to use. A pleasure to use, and it just works. Want a new MBP for myself [work and travel]. Unless you're a heavy duty gamer, then any Mac is good. PC users will say you can't expand, or add drives, etc. But that's crap. You can get a 500GB external, USB drive for $149 now. Memory is cheap [unless you get it pre-installed by Apple]. Just because you can't take a big case off of a tower doesn't mean it's not expandable...
Go for it, you won't regret it!
Relatively recent switcher here, owner of a 20" aluminum iMac since November, and quite impressed with the overall experience.
After the short "learning curve" as stated earlier in this thread, you'll find OS X quite intuitive. Unlike XP/Vista, OS X really allows you to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"-- because Apple controls both hardware and OS code, there's not a lot of driver tweaking just to get a standard app to work. Installing an app is as simple as dragging it from its source into the Applications area. No registry settings, no weird configurations, and no annoying "Cancel or Allow".
Viruses tend not to affect Macs-- yet. (Once the user base reaches a certain critical mass, that may change, though.) So there's little or no need for resource-hogging antivirus/antispyware that slows down Windows machines.
I must admit that I do use Bootcamp on mine to use XP, for two specific reasons: to do on-call IT administration for work, and for Cakewalk SONAR, a Windows-only pro audio app in which I've done too much work to simply replace with a Mac-friendly rival. For everything else, I flip back to OS X.
The earlier suggestions for visiting an Apple Store are spot-on. It's where I got mine, and it's the only computer store I know of that encourages full hands-on usage. Yes, you can even Web-surf for free at the Apple Store, on any piece of hardware on display-- even an iPhone.
After the short "learning curve" as stated earlier in this thread, you'll find OS X quite intuitive. Unlike XP/Vista, OS X really allows you to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"-- because Apple controls both hardware and OS code, there's not a lot of driver tweaking just to get a standard app to work. Installing an app is as simple as dragging it from its source into the Applications area. No registry settings, no weird configurations, and no annoying "Cancel or Allow".
Viruses tend not to affect Macs-- yet. (Once the user base reaches a certain critical mass, that may change, though.) So there's little or no need for resource-hogging antivirus/antispyware that slows down Windows machines.
I must admit that I do use Bootcamp on mine to use XP, for two specific reasons: to do on-call IT administration for work, and for Cakewalk SONAR, a Windows-only pro audio app in which I've done too much work to simply replace with a Mac-friendly rival. For everything else, I flip back to OS X.
The earlier suggestions for visiting an Apple Store are spot-on. It's where I got mine, and it's the only computer store I know of that encourages full hands-on usage. Yes, you can even Web-surf for free at the Apple Store, on any piece of hardware on display-- even an iPhone.
Something that hasn't been mentioned yet that I think is rather noteworthy...
The hardware and software are designed by the same company. Part of why I think Macs are so efficient and capable is because they are built specifically to run their own software. Sure, PC's are also "built" to run Windows, but you have multiple different companies (Dell, HP, IBM, Toshiba, etc) producing machines to run the same crappy software that they didn't design themselves. Simply by having the same company be able to reference their own software when designing and building a machine makes for a much more stable and well-designed product.
The hardware and software are designed by the same company. Part of why I think Macs are so efficient and capable is because they are built specifically to run their own software. Sure, PC's are also "built" to run Windows, but you have multiple different companies (Dell, HP, IBM, Toshiba, etc) producing machines to run the same crappy software that they didn't design themselves. Simply by having the same company be able to reference their own software when designing and building a machine makes for a much more stable and well-designed product.