A first time Mac user revealing his thoughts about the MBA

P

PraisiX-windows

macrumors regular
Hi, I come from a Windows only environment but decided to turn over to the dark side and get myself a Macbook Air 13" base about a week after the new version was released.
I like many others had been eagerly waiting since late May and finally got it at the very end of Juli.

So, my thoughts about this new product?
It's gorgeous for one thing :)

Well, it's pretty neat, although I must admit that OS X is not as flawless and some might call it. But it works pretty well.

Pros about this system compared to other things I've worked with:
- If your computer runs out of power suddenly, you don't lose any of your work.

- The size and especially the resolution is perfect!

- I love the 2 fingers tab back and forth in your browser history, and the 3 (or 4) finger swiping to go through spaces.

Cons about the system:

- Flash works horribly, I mean, it works as great as any other system, but it has some heavy bugs, for instance, in small games, sometimes it will repeat a sound for infinity or if playing a tower defense, once it gets really heated up the screen at the most harsh areas of the map will turn white, and as one progresses it will take up most of the screen.

- There's a website I used to frequently visit that I am unable to on this one because it runs javascript and for some reason my MBA just won't navigate the site.

- The finder really could use the same sort of 2 finger swipe gestures that safari uses, it would really be great, at the present it does not though.

- (minor glitch) When swiping through spaces with a pdf open in the picture viewer the picture might glitch (while swiping, stops after one ends on the page or obviously leaves the space)

- School work, there are some serious flaws in compatibility with Office from windows (perhaps Mac as well, haven't tried that though). No matter what I'm doing basically, there's always some compatibility issue when transferring the work from a friend at class to my own computer, or when receiving texts from my teacher, it might only display 1 page out of 10.

- Another thing with iWork is a huge issue that when it is used in conjunction with math, chemistry and physics classes it really lacks the features needed to create equations. - I've used math type to "fix" this issue, and it works well, it's just not a usable as Word's own thing, but it definitely works, I just can't seem to do anything with vectors though, which is a huge problem.

Other comments about it from my side:

Considering all the flaws with it, it is definitely something I can live with, I've been using Parallel's desktop to run windows for programming and electronic classes, and it's great.

The portability (weight, size, battery etc.) is LEGENDARY. :)
Really, being able to take it to school for the longest days we have (08-16), without having to bring my charger (Which I do anyway though) is great.
It weighs practically nothing and the trackpad is great, I also like the keyboard now that I've gotten acquainted with it, although I would love having a delete button and knowing how to use the f-buttons.

It took a long time for me to get to understand that I had to do cmd w in order to shut down certain windows in a program, whilst cmd q would only close the program but would open the same windows once the program was run again - But it's great now.


All in all though, I love it. - It's great, I've got no worries about bringing this baby with me for the next 5 years going to university (although, I think, I THINK that maybe I would have gotten an even newer one before that stay is over).
The MBA13" - If I were to get a new laptop, it would definitely be THE MBA again. Thanks for reading! :)
Emil, 19 - Denmark.
 
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Welcome to the Dark Side! The Force is strong on this one (plus its a lot more fun over here!) :D
 
Well, I figured since "The mac way is the right way" that iWork's pages would be as good or better. At equations however it fails horribly, but I do prefer pages to word when it comes to text editing, that's for sure, so it's not all bad.

However about the compatibility issues, if I had known of them before I bought iWork I might have gone office, I think I sort of expected 1337 compatibility in this day and age.

It works alright though, however I did wish that I could create my equations whilst still looking at my pages document, however, since I use fullscreen all the time I just can't, which sort of is a blow to the face, I just hope they'd introduce a thing like that in the long sought after "iWork 11", doubtful at best though, if it ever gets out here.

But I'll make do :)
- Especially since text editing has always been my achilleus heel it's actually a trade for the better, only I do spend more time needing equations, but my fix using Mathtype makes it a definite plus.
 
Yes, I would definitely suggest that you just get Office for Mac. It has all the functionality as the windows version, and none of the compatibility problems you mentioned... personally I've never had any problems with Pages myself, but who knows.

It is really pretty easy to get copies of either for cheap/free. Check online for resources, or contact the tech department at your university to see if they offer it for free. Mine does.

Ryan
 
divinemercy said:
Yes, I would definitely suggest that you just get Office for Mac. It has all the functionality as the windows version, and none of the compatibility problems you mentioned... personally I've never had any problems with Pages myself, but who knows.

It is really pretty easy to get copies of either for cheap/free. Check online for resources, or contact the tech department at your university to see if they offer it for free. Mine does.

Ryan
Click to expand...

one of the main drawbacks with the mac is that the MS Office experience is not as good as on a Windows machine. Let's get that clear.
 
Set up your preferences to do 3 finger swipes for back and forth, and 4 finger swipes for switching between spaces. Then you should have more standardization as other apps and the finder use 3 finger swipes to move back and forth.

----------

Also, which browser are you using? Try Google Chrome which performs better on some pages for me than Safari.
 
rmcnelly said:
Set up your preferences to do 3 finger swipes for back and forth, and 4 finger swipes for switching between spaces. Then you should have more standardization as other apps and the finder use 3 finger swipes to move back and forth.
Click to expand...

Hey, this is a great tip. Thanks.
 
Fn-Delete works the same as the Delete key on a PC. Hope that helps you out - it's not the most discoverable shortcut.
 
rmcnelly said:
Set up your preferences to do 3 finger swipes for back and forth, and 4 finger swipes for switching between spaces. Then you should have more standardization as other apps and the finder use 3 finger swipes to move back and forth.

----------

Also, which browser are you using? Try Google Chrome which performs better on some pages for me than Safari.
Click to expand...

I have just tried this out now, but I really can't seem to get the finder to I don't know, "obey"?
 
PraisiX-windows said:
- Another thing with iWork is a huge issue that when it is used in conjunction with math, chemistry and physics classes it really lacks the features needed to create equations. - I've used math type to "fix" this issue, and it works well, it's just not a usable as Word's own thing, but it definitely works, I just can't seem to do anything with vectors though, which is a huge problem.
Click to expand...

OS X includes Grapher which allows you to write and graph equations. You can find it /Applications/Utilities. I am not sure exactly which vector notation you need, but can handle vectors.
 
PraisiX-windows said:
I have just tried this out now, but I really can't seem to get the finder to I don't know, "obey"?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean. Navigate to the finder via the dock. When you navigate via the finder to different folders, 3 finger swipes will move you back and forth if you have your preferences set up that way.

It also helps to put the Mac's Hard Drive in the Favorites column of the finder window. One way to do this is to select "Computer" from the "Go" menu, then drag the Hard Drive icon into the Favorites column.
 
jahala said:
OS X includes Grapher which allows you to write and graph equations. You can find it /Applications/Utilities. I am not sure exactly which vector notation you need, but can handle vectors.
Click to expand...
Edit: It does seem to be great at graphing them, which means I might not always have to use graphmatica (which is a great program though), however Grapher doesn't seem to be able to write the equations the way they'd come up in a document, I mean, with the actual equation with all sorts of signs and stuff that follows. As in for instance. V = PI*Integral(x)^2dx

Wow, thank you, I didn't know that ! :)

Running office in Parallels is definitely a possibility, it's just, I hate how the shortcuts are configured, I don't suppose there's anyway to shut everything off from mac osx while running parallels in full screen? - Perhaps not the gestures but at least all the command functions.
 
PraisiX-windows said:
Wow, thank you, I didn't know that ! :)

Running office in Parallels is definitely a possibility, it's just, I hate how the shortcuts are configured, I don't suppose there's anyway to shut everything off from mac osx while running parallels in full screen? - Perhaps not the gestures but at least all the command functions.
Click to expand...

You can run Windows in Bootcamp, which basically boots native Windows and there is no OS X to be found. I did both - I installed Windows 7 using Bootcamp so I could boot native into Windows when I wanted to, but I also installed Parallels and that lets me run Windows in a Virtual Machine inside of OS X. That way I can do either depending on what I am doing, like running a Windows game vs. just using Quicken.

I also have Office for the Mac, and its not that bad... :D
 
EthanMiller said:
Fn-Delete works the same as the Delete key on a PC. Hope that helps you out - it's not the most discoverable shortcut.
Click to expand...

Not exactly. I use delete on windows to 'trash' things as well. It doesn't work on macs. If I can I'll replace/swap the backspace button with a delete because I never really use the backspace.
 
outphase said:
Trash is Cmd+Delete
Click to expand...

Is there a way, short of removing items from the trash and inserting only those that you want to delete, of completely deleting a single file? For instance, in Windows, even if there are items in the Recycle Bin, you can permanently delete a file by pressing Shift-Delete, or by holding down Shift as you drag the item to the Recycle Bin.
 
Personally, I don't find flash to be that bad on the system.

Let me go check real quick.... *runs and plays 720p flash videos from Vimeo*...

Ok so I played 3 flash videos. 2 were in HD and one was in SD.
The processor shot up from 10 percent to about 89 and stayed there. I could still use the computer as normal with no lag.

...Yea I think flash might be a bit of a CPU hog.

That was in Google's Canary by the way.
 
PraisiX-windows said:
Well, I figured since "The mac way is the right way" that iWork's pages would be as good or better. At equations however it fails horribly, but I do prefer pages to word when it comes to text editing, that's for sure, so it's not all bad.

However about the compatibility issues, if I had known of them before I bought iWork I might have gone office, I think I sort of expected 1337 compatibility in this day and age.

It works alright though, however I did wish that I could create my equations whilst still looking at my pages document, however, since I use fullscreen all the time I just can't, which sort of is a blow to the face, I just hope they'd introduce a thing like that in the long sought after "iWork 11", doubtful at best though, if it ever gets out here.

But I'll make do :)
- Especially since text editing has always been my achilleus heel it's actually a trade for the better, only I do spend more time needing equations, but my fix using Mathtype makes it a definite plus.
Click to expand...

Word is still the "standard" so while Pages is very easy to use and works nicely, if you need to exchange Word documents with anyone, you'd be much better served using Office.
 
iWork is not really a replacement for Office, especially when others you are sending docs to/from are using Office. Either get Office 2011 for Mac which isn't too bad or use 2010 for Windows under Parallels, which works great. You will just continue to have issues using Pages/Numbers/etc.
 
KPOM said:
Is there a way, short of removing items from the trash and inserting only those that you want to delete, of completely deleting a single file? For instance, in Windows, even if there are items in the Recycle Bin, you can permanently delete a file by pressing Shift-Delete, or by holding down Shift as you drag the item to the Recycle Bin.
Click to expand...

Not natively. There are various workarounds though. I miss Shift+Delete myself from the Linux world.
 
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