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A fair analysis of the Macbook Pro from a recent switcher to all future switchers
- Thread starter jbg232
- Start date
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Also a recent switcher....
And I have to say I've so far been quite lucky. My Macbook is without a single flaw on the screen or the computer itself. The thing feels really sturdy yet at 5 pounds it's really light to me. It makes zero noise; it looks like by the Santa Rosa revision they finally got the temperature thing right, under normal use it's between 40-55°C. I have to say I absolutely LOVE the chicklet keyboard....I was skeptical but quickly got addicted to it, when I type in PCs now...they feel terrible. All in all, my Macbook experience has been flawless.
As far as speed, I found Leopard to very fast and snappy compared to my old computer; granted it was a Pentium 4 with 512mb of RAM but my brother has abrand new Dell XPS M1330 and I find OS X to be far faster than Vista on his machine. I still can't get over the fact that when you put the computer to sleep it takes less than 2 seconds, and boot time is 35 seconds! My old XP laptop took about 4 minutes to boot up from start.
I do hate the mac office and I have '08. I plan on using Fusion to run office '07. All the bugs people talk about in Leopard have not affected me, and my wireless connection hasn't once gone bad for a cause other than the fault of the modem or router. All in all, I am supremely satisfied with my purchase and the way the OS runs!
And I have to say I've so far been quite lucky. My Macbook is without a single flaw on the screen or the computer itself. The thing feels really sturdy yet at 5 pounds it's really light to me. It makes zero noise; it looks like by the Santa Rosa revision they finally got the temperature thing right, under normal use it's between 40-55°C. I have to say I absolutely LOVE the chicklet keyboard....I was skeptical but quickly got addicted to it, when I type in PCs now...they feel terrible. All in all, my Macbook experience has been flawless.
As far as speed, I found Leopard to very fast and snappy compared to my old computer; granted it was a Pentium 4 with 512mb of RAM but my brother has abrand new Dell XPS M1330 and I find OS X to be far faster than Vista on his machine. I still can't get over the fact that when you put the computer to sleep it takes less than 2 seconds, and boot time is 35 seconds! My old XP laptop took about 4 minutes to boot up from start.
I do hate the mac office and I have '08. I plan on using Fusion to run office '07. All the bugs people talk about in Leopard have not affected me, and my wireless connection hasn't once gone bad for a cause other than the fault of the modem or router. All in all, I am supremely satisfied with my purchase and the way the OS runs!
I agree that XP feels faster. I have the same opinion of other UNIX based OSes with a GUI built on top (Linux).
Overall, I prefer OS X for general computing tasks because of the keyboard shortcuts and things like Exposé.
I still like to keep XP around for gaming, I don't really need it for any other applications, but being able to keep a bootcamp partition for that has been a great plus for me.
Overall, I prefer OS X for general computing tasks because of the keyboard shortcuts and things like Exposé.
I still like to keep XP around for gaming, I don't really need it for any other applications, but being able to keep a bootcamp partition for that has been a great plus for me.
Not to be a jerk, but pretty much every major PC brand offers a 200GB 7200 rpm drive. In fact, Dell offers 2 x 200GB 7200 rpm drives in RAID configuration for its 17" notebook (which is considerably bulkier/less attractive), so you get 400GB at 7200 rpm. Dell even offers the 200GB 7200 rpm drive in the m1330, which is a pretty slick 13". The correct answer as to where else you can find them - answer: everywhere.
-Ado
While waiting for ichat to sort itself ( i had problems with it too) you could just install Skype on your machines and it'll video chat 'out of the box'
Quote from the starter of this thread:
"First of all, if you make any changes iPhoto makes a duplicate. Second, if you import from a file, iPhoto makes a duplicate. In the end I'm undecided on iPhoto."
I actually love this feature. If I make a crapy edit to the photo it at least keeps the first one. Always better to be safe than sorry. And with the duplicating when moving to iphoto, its because its not like moving a file from one folder to another. iphoto is a program. And is it really that hard to delete the folder after you import it. Lazy generation are we.
I've never had that happen. That's interesting you mention that. When does it index? Mine only indexed when I first booted my computer up.I actually love spotlight as it allows me to find things in seconds instead of minutes on our old XP.
"First of all, if you make any changes iPhoto makes a duplicate. Second, if you import from a file, iPhoto makes a duplicate. In the end I'm undecided on iPhoto."
I actually love this feature. If I make a crapy edit to the photo it at least keeps the first one. Always better to be safe than sorry. And with the duplicating when moving to iphoto, its because its not like moving a file from one folder to another. iphoto is a program. And is it really that hard to delete the folder after you import it. Lazy generation are we.
I've never had that happen. That's interesting you mention that. When does it index? Mine only indexed when I first booted my computer up.
I actually love spotlight as it allows me to find things in seconds instead of minutes on our old XP.Safari and Flash on OSX are both a disgrace imho.
Collections of bookmarks that will open without a single system slowdown on a PC, and using an MB with Safari - I get spinning rainbows for 5-10 seconds. Im fairly sure it's adobe's implementation of Flash that's the root cause.
Doug
Collections of bookmarks that will open without a single system slowdown on a PC, and using an MB with Safari - I get spinning rainbows for 5-10 seconds. Im fairly sure it's adobe's implementation of Flash that's the root cause.
Doug
To the OP: Well done on weighing out the pros and cons for your particular experience. Note that each of us has our particular likes and dislikes, and what matters in your decision is what works best for you. I'm glad you made the switch, and I appreciate your sharing the experience with us. I wish I had been a member of MR before and during my switch. It would have helped tremendously, and changed many of the trial and error decisions I made in the process.
Good luck to you with your new system. I'm guessing you will enjoy it more and more as you have more time to explore.
Good luck to you with your new system. I'm guessing you will enjoy it more and more as you have more time to explore.
this is by far the most pessmistic thread i have read. i am plannin to get a macbook 2.2 and now i am using sony vaio with xp. the reason between my switch is i want to try something different but i have heard and read that mac os is so great and way better than any other os not to mention winows. i thought mac os is much faster than windows but after reading through this thred it makes me think if i shell switch. the thing is i want to upgarde my laptop cos i want something better and it does not make me any differenc who is going to get money for that bill or stive. i just want a good laptop and mac sounded like a good option.
cudo
cudo
I can't agree with everything posted here, but there are valid points made.
I've been using my first Mac computer since December - 98% of the time it has blown all our previous XP computer off the map, in terms of speed, browser load time, etc etc.
Once in a blue moon I'll get an app that crashes - but I regularly have open five or six at a time and none are even slowing down. On my previous XP machine, I couldn't have YIM open at the same time as Photoshop because it would get dog slow not to mentioned Photoshop freezing up and crashing the durn system. Regularly, on my previous three computers (running XP) Windows Explorer would crash within an hour of starting up.
On all my former XP computers, the shut down process has failed, the printers have crashed (when once they worked fine), and half the time external drives either won't be recognized or won't disconnect.
Not to mention that my Logitech mouse took :45 minutes before it would function and I plug it in to my Mac and it works in, literally, two seconds.
The bottom line is, yes, Macintosh does have problems - it's a piece of electronics after all, and it's entirely possible to get a lemon once in a while. - but does it compare to Windows? I don't think they're even on the same chart. If you want Windows get Windows; if you want a fast, reliable and easy to use computer for everything else besides intense gaming, get a Mac.
m2c...
I've been using my first Mac computer since December - 98% of the time it has blown all our previous XP computer off the map, in terms of speed, browser load time, etc etc.
Once in a blue moon I'll get an app that crashes - but I regularly have open five or six at a time and none are even slowing down. On my previous XP machine, I couldn't have YIM open at the same time as Photoshop because it would get dog slow not to mentioned Photoshop freezing up and crashing the durn system. Regularly, on my previous three computers (running XP) Windows Explorer would crash within an hour of starting up.
On all my former XP computers, the shut down process has failed, the printers have crashed (when once they worked fine), and half the time external drives either won't be recognized or won't disconnect.
Not to mention that my Logitech mouse took :45 minutes before it would function and I plug it in to my Mac and it works in, literally, two seconds.
The bottom line is, yes, Macintosh does have problems - it's a piece of electronics after all, and it's entirely possible to get a lemon once in a while. - but does it compare to Windows? I don't think they're even on the same chart. If you want Windows get Windows; if you want a fast, reliable and easy to use computer for everything else besides intense gaming, get a Mac.
m2c...
Some very good points made by the OP, but there are a few points (not necessarily in order):
1. I admin a Windows network for a living (from a Mac, yet )and I would have to disagree that even XP (let alone Vista!) are faster than OS X. Elements of the interface _feel_ a little snappier due to the fact that OS X animates more smoothly, but when running heavy-duty software, Windows tends to bog down a lot more rapidly than OS X does.
2. Yes, Office 2004 is a POS. Office 2008 is better, but still rather buggy and Entourage is still a long way short of Outlook. I'll confess, however, that my opinion of Office 2007 for windows is rather lower than yours - in many ways Office XP and 2003 leave it for dead, performance-wise, and have a less pretty, but far more functional UI. Most of the time I use NeoOffice (an OpenOffice derivative) at work, and have yet to have a major compatibility problem with our Windows users. I do, however, tend to use Office XP in Windows a fair amount too - if only to be absolutely sure that there won't be any problems.
3. Glad to hear you like Mail - I'll admit that I still think Outlook is the more powerful client of the two, but Mail is certainly a lot nicer to use. I just wish that Mail/iCal were more closely integrated.
4. Sorry to hear of the problems you've had with Parallels. As others have pointed out, VMWare Fusion tends to be a lot more reliable. With Parallels, if you get one of the better builds, you'll be fine, but some are downright flaky (I use VMWare on my own machines, but am stuck with Parallels at work).
5. Networking. That's an odd one. In general I have more issues with wireless access under Windows than I ever have with Macs. There must be something a little peculiar about your setup, but it's impossible to shed much light on it from this distance, I'm afraid.
6. iChat. This has gotta be related to your router/networking issues. I've set iChat up more times than I can count and have _never_ seen the issue you're having.
7. Mini CDs. Yes, they're a pain, but this affects any computer with a slot-load drive - including Windows PCs.
8. Safari - yeah, I could never get along with it either. I jumped ship to other browsers very early on.
9. Firefox - no argument, although the FF3 beta is a lot better.
Darned good analysis, though, and a very interesting read.
1. I admin a Windows network for a living (from a Mac, yet
)and I would have to disagree that even XP (let alone Vista!) are faster than OS X. Elements of the interface _feel_ a little snappier due to the fact that OS X animates more smoothly, but when running heavy-duty software, Windows tends to bog down a lot more rapidly than OS X does.2. Yes, Office 2004 is a POS. Office 2008 is better, but still rather buggy and Entourage is still a long way short of Outlook. I'll confess, however, that my opinion of Office 2007 for windows is rather lower than yours - in many ways Office XP and 2003 leave it for dead, performance-wise, and have a less pretty, but far more functional UI. Most of the time I use NeoOffice (an OpenOffice derivative) at work, and have yet to have a major compatibility problem with our Windows users. I do, however, tend to use Office XP in Windows a fair amount too - if only to be absolutely sure that there won't be any problems.
3. Glad to hear you like Mail - I'll admit that I still think Outlook is the more powerful client of the two, but Mail is certainly a lot nicer to use. I just wish that Mail/iCal were more closely integrated.
4. Sorry to hear of the problems you've had with Parallels. As others have pointed out, VMWare Fusion tends to be a lot more reliable. With Parallels, if you get one of the better builds, you'll be fine, but some are downright flaky (I use VMWare on my own machines, but am stuck with Parallels at work).
5. Networking. That's an odd one. In general I have more issues with wireless access under Windows than I ever have with Macs. There must be something a little peculiar about your setup, but it's impossible to shed much light on it from this distance, I'm afraid.
6. iChat. This has gotta be related to your router/networking issues. I've set iChat up more times than I can count and have _never_ seen the issue you're having.
7. Mini CDs. Yes, they're a pain, but this affects any computer with a slot-load drive - including Windows PCs.
8. Safari - yeah, I could never get along with it either. I jumped ship to other browsers very early on.
9. Firefox - no argument, although the FF3 beta is a lot better.
Darned good analysis, though, and a very interesting read.
I have what you're trying to get and I can assure you it's LIGHTYEARS ahead of my old windows xp laptop...you'll be happy with your purchase
it is not about what it compares to old win xp machines but how it compers to the new one. cos if it is only about getting mac with lover possibilites and perfromance than curren pc machines than i woudl rather sick with the batter one for money i will spend .
cudo
cudo
I have about 850 Gb on my iMac 2.8 and am amazed at how Time Machine doesn't slow it down. Not sure why yours is. And I use Safari all the time. Only page that seems to slow down load time is IGN which has too much content IMO on each platforms front page.
Heh heh. Are you guys kidding? I might have to install XP (heck, Vista) on my machine to try this out.
Heh. I feel so alone in my love for Safari (on a Mac!). I'm on my Vista laptop right now (work), using Firefox, and it seems like a huge resource hog. I tried installing the Windows version of Safari, and well... just no. No. The Windows version sucks oh so much. I can't wait to get back to my MBP where Safari works like a dream.
To cudo: While researching, and reviewing others opinions on laptops is wise, nothing compares to trying them out yourself. I hope you find the time to go to an Apple Store or authorized reseller to try one out and see what you think. It's what secured my decision when purchasing, and I have no regrets. Good luck on finding the laptop that best suits your needs.
To cudo: While researching, and reviewing others opinions on laptops is wise, nothing compares to trying them out yourself. I hope you find the time to go to an Apple Store or authorized reseller to try one out and see what you think. It's what secured my decision when purchasing, and I have no regrets. Good luck on finding the laptop that best suits your needs.
Could you please elaborate? Other than Safari and Office 2004, what else do you find that is noticeably less snappy in Leopard than Windows XP?
The first thing is called "non-destructive editing", designed to allow you to go back to the original if you make a real hash of things. I think it's an essential feature personally. As for the imports, the idea is that, like iTunes with music, you let iPhoto manage your photos and don't keep another copy outside the iPhoto library. Once you've imported the easiest thing to do is delete the original (or archive it offline if you're really paranoid).
Please run a spell check on your posts. That said, I suppose "lover possibilities" and "sick with the batter" would still probably slip through
OP: Thanks for the detailed, well written review! Very helpful.
Been using macs at work for ages but without Leopard or bootcamp (tiger) and am going to be getting one of the new MBP's when they are eventually released (5th?)
Been using macs at work for ages but without Leopard or bootcamp (tiger) and am going to be getting one of the new MBP's when they are eventually released (5th?)
Cudo,
I am a former windows user and for a long time use to make fun of my friend and his family for using a mac. I must of had this dumb idea that what I hadn't tried was stupid or something because without having even used them much I made fun of them. The finally started telling me all the advantages of Mac and I actually used it for a change. It won me over and since I've switched I'll never go back. OSX seems much faster to me on all sorts of applications than windows. I have an older Mac (ibook G4 1.33 Ghz, 512mb ram, 60G HDD) and it still runs applications fast and smoothly. Does it have occasional errors? Yes, but what doesn't. Another advantage of OSX I've noticed over Xp is you can actually take advantage of your hard drive real estate. When our family PC hard drive started to fill up, the computer slowed. My ibook's hard drive is quite packed and still my machine works as fast as day one. Also, OSX responds much quicker after waking your machine or turning it on. My laptop comes out of sleep in 2-3 seconds then is immediately ready to use! I don't have to wait for it load or anything. On a PC it seems you often have to turn it on then come back in 10 minutes before using.
As far as the hardware goes. You can definitly get a PC with equal hardware to a mac for MUCH cheaper. BUT, the operating system is so much better you will actually get to take advantage of the hardware.
In summary, Is OSX without its flaws? Absolutely not. Is apple without its flaws? Again, absolutely not. But problems with a Mac are fewer and farther in between than a PC. I feel that a mac works faster. I feel I can get on my computer and actually use it, rather than waiting for it to boot up for minutes each time. But your going to have to check it out for yourself. As someone said above, you need to go to an apple store and try the machine your looking at for yourself. Then try a brand new PC in a store and see what you think. But I know you won't be sorry if you switch to Apple. Best wishes with your decision.
I am a former windows user and for a long time use to make fun of my friend and his family for using a mac. I must of had this dumb idea that what I hadn't tried was stupid or something because without having even used them much I made fun of them. The finally started telling me all the advantages of Mac and I actually used it for a change. It won me over and since I've switched I'll never go back. OSX seems much faster to me on all sorts of applications than windows. I have an older Mac (ibook G4 1.33 Ghz, 512mb ram, 60G HDD) and it still runs applications fast and smoothly. Does it have occasional errors? Yes, but what doesn't. Another advantage of OSX I've noticed over Xp is you can actually take advantage of your hard drive real estate. When our family PC hard drive started to fill up, the computer slowed. My ibook's hard drive is quite packed and still my machine works as fast as day one. Also, OSX responds much quicker after waking your machine or turning it on. My laptop comes out of sleep in 2-3 seconds then is immediately ready to use! I don't have to wait for it load or anything. On a PC it seems you often have to turn it on then come back in 10 minutes before using.
As far as the hardware goes. You can definitly get a PC with equal hardware to a mac for MUCH cheaper. BUT, the operating system is so much better you will actually get to take advantage of the hardware.
In summary, Is OSX without its flaws? Absolutely not. Is apple without its flaws? Again, absolutely not. But problems with a Mac are fewer and farther in between than a PC. I feel that a mac works faster. I feel I can get on my computer and actually use it, rather than waiting for it to boot up for minutes each time. But your going to have to check it out for yourself. As someone said above, you need to go to an apple store and try the machine your looking at for yourself. Then try a brand new PC in a store and see what you think. But I know you won't be sorry if you switch to Apple. Best wishes with your decision.
Cudo,
I am a former windows user and for a long time use to make fun of my friend and his family for using a mac. I must of had this dumb idea that what I hadn't tried was stupid or something because without having even used them much I made fun of them. The finally started telling me all the advantages of Mac and I actually used it for a change. It won me over and since I've switched I'll never go back. OSX seems much faster to me on all sorts of applications than windows. I have an older Mac (ibook G4 1.33 Ghz, 512mb ram, 60G HDD) and it still runs applications fast and smoothly. Does it have occasional errors? Yes, but what doesn't. Another advantage of OSX I've noticed over Xp is you can actually take advantage of your hard drive real estate. When our family PC hard drive started to fill up, the computer slowed. My ibook's hard drive is quite packed and still my machine works as fast as day one. Also, OSX responds much quicker after waking your machine or turning it on. My laptop comes out of sleep in 2-3 seconds then is immediately ready to use! I don't have to wait for it load or anything. On a PC it seems you often have to turn it on then come back in 10 minutes before using.
As far as the hardware goes. You can definitly get a PC with equal hardware to a mac for MUCH cheaper. BUT, the operating system is so much better you will actually get to take advantage of the hardware.
In summary, Is OSX without its flaws? Absolutely not. Is apple without its flaws? Again, absolutely not. But problems with a Mac are fewer and farther in between than a PC. I feel that a mac works faster. I feel I can get on my computer and actually use it, rather than waiting for it to boot up for minutes each time. But your going to have to check it out for yourself. As someone said above, you need to go to an apple store and try the machine your looking at for yourself. Then try a brand new PC in a store and see what you think. But I know you won't be sorry if you switch to Apple. Best wishes with your decision.
thank u very much it cleared things a bit up
im going to have a go with mac anyway as i just want to do it and i did try a mac at apple store but using it for 10 minut with no purpose of excutaly doing something in particular did not help me. it is decided i am getting a macbook as someone said i just need to find out for myself cos at the moment is it like seying i dont like caviar without even tasting it.
I didn't expect to have this many people read this post but hopefully it has helped a few people in similar situations getting ready to buy a new computer. I wanted to explain some things and answer a few questions.
One of the problems with these forums is that people are way too black and white about things be it Leopard, Parallels, the macbook air name, keyboard design, etc - it's always "This is great" or "This is the worst POS ever." My goal was to provide a very level-headed middle of the road analysis of what I felt to be owning a mac's strengths and weaknesses based on my experiences without any extra fanboyism or pessimism. I tried to call it as I saw it and this is what came out.
I really appreciate this comment because this is exactly the problem with these sites and hopefully other future switchers will be a little more level-headed about their purchase of a mac. I think for the most part if you build it up too high in your mind there is no way it can live up to the expectations, but this post was meant to put some reality back in that decision.
There were a lot of comments on Windows Bootcamp and I think I should clarify my experience with it. I used windows because I have programs that only run in windows and office 2004 doesn't work well. Thus I NEEDED windows. Bootcamp worked perfectly when I installed it alone. However I found it incredibly annoying to restart the system to use that program or office. Thus I installed parallels to mitigate that process and make it easier. Installing parallels corrupted the bootcamp partition multiple times in multiple configurations. So I think that bootcamp is great and works well on its own but is incredibly flaky when using it with parallels. On my next computer I will install just parallels and give up that speed advantage of running windows natively. Hopefully if I install just parallels it will not corrupt but either way I don't trust it.
I find the entire experience slower. Opening programs, going to websites with any browser, doing basic tasks in microsoft office are just much slower to me and much more laggy on leopard. I should admit that I am a resource perfectionist in that I use msconfig to disable almost all things on windows startup so I run a very bloat-free system that is very streamlined but this experience was just much faster in XP than Leopard. I agree with the poster who wrote that XP is designed for older systems so it should be faster - my comment would be that I agree but if it does what you need why would you give up speed? This is the problem with vista - sure it's flashier, but it doesn't add to the experience of using the os and is much slower with more incompatible products. I like leopard's looks, features, integration and navigation, but it definitely comes with a speed cost in my experience. I should also note that I find it much harder to precisely control what starts up on leopard than on mac. Using terminal is fine, but it is easier (at least for me) to fine tune windows (but that could change).
No, I expect the fastest browser available on mac to be equal to the fastest browser available for windows. I tried out Safari, Camino, Firefox, and Opera, all of them "mac programs" and none of them were as fast as Firefox in XP. Also, its ridiculous to claim that MS Office for Mac is not a "Mac Program." Of course it is, it is designed by mac users, for macintosh. It's not just ported in, it is a completely different program written for mac so it should be as fast as MS Office for windows. It sadly is far from being so but hopefully with Office 2008 it will come closer to the speed and function bar that Office 2007 has set.
It would be, point well taken, a mistake on my part that was overlooked inadvertently.
One of the problems with these forums is that people are way too black and white about things be it Leopard, Parallels, the macbook air name, keyboard design, etc - it's always "This is great" or "This is the worst POS ever." My goal was to provide a very level-headed middle of the road analysis of what I felt to be owning a mac's strengths and weaknesses based on my experiences without any extra fanboyism or pessimism. I tried to call it as I saw it and this is what came out.
aiterum said:
I really appreciate this comment because this is exactly the problem with these sites and hopefully other future switchers will be a little more level-headed about their purchase of a mac. I think for the most part if you build it up too high in your mind there is no way it can live up to the expectations, but this post was meant to put some reality back in that decision.
eba said:
jayeskreezy said:
There were a lot of comments on Windows Bootcamp and I think I should clarify my experience with it. I used windows because I have programs that only run in windows and office 2004 doesn't work well. Thus I NEEDED windows. Bootcamp worked perfectly when I installed it alone. However I found it incredibly annoying to restart the system to use that program or office. Thus I installed parallels to mitigate that process and make it easier. Installing parallels corrupted the bootcamp partition multiple times in multiple configurations. So I think that bootcamp is great and works well on its own but is incredibly flaky when using it with parallels. On my next computer I will install just parallels and give up that speed advantage of running windows natively. Hopefully if I install just parallels it will not corrupt but either way I don't trust it.
akadmon said:
I find the entire experience slower. Opening programs, going to websites with any browser, doing basic tasks in microsoft office are just much slower to me and much more laggy on leopard. I should admit that I am a resource perfectionist in that I use msconfig to disable almost all things on windows startup so I run a very bloat-free system that is very streamlined but this experience was just much faster in XP than Leopard. I agree with the poster who wrote that XP is designed for older systems so it should be faster - my comment would be that I agree but if it does what you need why would you give up speed? This is the problem with vista - sure it's flashier, but it doesn't add to the experience of using the os and is much slower with more incompatible products. I like leopard's looks, features, integration and navigation, but it definitely comes with a speed cost in my experience. I should also note that I find it much harder to precisely control what starts up on leopard than on mac. Using terminal is fine, but it is easier (at least for me) to fine tune windows (but that could change).
BrokenE said:
No, I expect the fastest browser available on mac to be equal to the fastest browser available for windows. I tried out Safari, Camino, Firefox, and Opera, all of them "mac programs" and none of them were as fast as Firefox in XP. Also, its ridiculous to claim that MS Office for Mac is not a "Mac Program." Of course it is, it is designed by mac users, for macintosh. It's not just ported in, it is a completely different program written for mac so it should be as fast as MS Office for windows. It sadly is far from being so but hopefully with Office 2008 it will come closer to the speed and function bar that Office 2007 has set.
CalBoy said:
It would be, point well taken, a mistake on my part that was overlooked inadvertently.
i've been using ichat since they intro'd the first isight camera, and set up the program on my parents' computer and it was an out-of-the-box easy-as-pie implementation. i've now got everything from a tibook, ibook, mbp's, powermac G5 and imac G5 all running ichat, and we've never had a problem.
i don't know what you're finding so difficult about it: pretty much go to aim.com, sign up a free account and enter the account name into ichat and run. bingo, you're up and running. if you're having network related problems, you'll get crap video and/or audio, but seriously, 10 hours? there's not 10 hours of complexity in the set up of that program, which to me has always been one of the osx "for dummies" suite of programs (like itunes, imovie, etc.). i'm guessing the problem is either in your or your folks' not having entered the proper aim/.mac address in the program, or one of the parties isn't running the program when the other calls. if it's not one of those, it probably isn't ichat.
i share your frustration with that safari "wait til its fully loaded" thing - it pisses me off too, although mine does open the banner ads before the text much of the time on certain newspaper sites. it would be great to choose the manner of page-loading that it uses in preferences.
i don't know what you're finding so difficult about it: pretty much go to aim.com, sign up a free account and enter the account name into ichat and run. bingo, you're up and running. if you're having network related problems, you'll get crap video and/or audio, but seriously, 10 hours? there's not 10 hours of complexity in the set up of that program, which to me has always been one of the osx "for dummies" suite of programs (like itunes, imovie, etc.). i'm guessing the problem is either in your or your folks' not having entered the proper aim/.mac address in the program, or one of the parties isn't running the program when the other calls. if it's not one of those, it probably isn't ichat.
i share your frustration with that safari "wait til its fully loaded" thing - it pisses me off too, although mine does open the banner ads before the text much of the time on certain newspaper sites. it would be great to choose the manner of page-loading that it uses in preferences.
Oh I wish it would've been that easy. I can guarantee you that after a full weekend of troubleshooting the steps you listed above and all permutations of those steps were tried ad infinatum to no success. I thought it might be the hardware or the network, but as I noted, I rebuilt three brand new networks with three different routers and none of them worked. Also, direct connecting to the line didn't work either. In short, I tried much more than you listed here and even talking to an ichat "specialist" at apple tech support they weren't able to fix it. In the end they think it might have been a hardware problem because one of my keyboard defects was over the network card - we'll probably never know, but I do agree with you that ichat is a pretty basic program that should've worked no questions asked.