Any OSX first-timers / microsoft fan boys?

[hereyago]

Hey guys,

I've been using microsoft products since before windows 3.1. I've always been satisfied with Windows, MS Office, and MS Visual Studio (Although I hate zune, windows phone, internet explorer, and all other crap that they make). Never bought a mac os laptop/desktop because I thought they were expensive compared to PCs and I used to play a lot of games.

Recently bought the new 2011 MBA 11 inch i5 so I can develop apps for the iphone/ipad/osx.

I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the new mba + lion. Fast. Easy to use. Sleek mba design. Great visual effects + eye candy. Clean user interface. XCode is also pretty amazing (been using MS visual studio till now). There are some bugs/compatibility issues that I've seen but I'm guessing it's only because lion is in its early stages.


Does anyone use/have used both visual studio 2010 and xcode 4.1? Which one do you like more?

I still have a PC with windows 7 as my primary computer. Anyone have a primary PC and use MBA as secondary? Problems/issues with doing this?


tl;dr - Just wanted to see what other first-timers or ms fan boys thought about the new mba and osx compared to windows. Or maybe you old-timers can give some input.

 

[bp1000]

Yes it is a lovely combination. Sure it is a bit more expensive but who else can pack all this power into a beautiful chassis, with 7 hours battery life and a first class OS.

Samsung came close, but they can't achieve the same battery, slightly slow current model and they are still charging more even with windows.


To be fair windows 7 isn't too bad, they did a pretty good job this time.

However i'm so glad i switched to mac, i had to install windows xp in virtualbox to run some hd camcorder software. What a f-in nightmare. Constantly notifying me of errors, or not being protected or updates available, and updating my computer ever 6 seconds, its just a nightmare.


You will like OS X even more if you haven't discovered all the shortcuts and gestures.

Like command spacebar, type program/email/app/doc press enter and bam there it is. You can email filter your email in spotlight (command + space). Then easily and quickly switch back and forth between apps with command + tab (yes you can do this on windows), then all the gestures too. It's an awesome development machine.

Ubuntu was awesome, this is on another level.

 

[warfed]

Does anyone use/have used both visual studio 2010 and xcode 4.1? Which one do you like more?

IMO visual studio is the best IDE out there (but I use it the least because I don't like .NET ). Obviously you need different IDEs for different tasks but I don't think anything beats Visual Studio's intellisense. XCode 4 is a huge improvement over 3 IMO. I hated the separate windows, especially in interface builder when you have a few different screens open. I haven't used 4.1 because I haven't done any iOS development in a few months.

 

[PraisiX-windows]

I received my 2011 13" i5 today, I must say, it's a bit hard to figure out at first, at least for me. I mean, I wanted to close a program and I had to figure out that the close/minimize/maximize buttons were in the top left corner.

Anyway, I'll be writing about my experiences with the OS once I get accustomed to my new pc

 

[Ubuntu]

Hey guys,

I've been using microsoft products since before windows 3.1. I've always been satisfied with Windows, MS Office, and MS Visual Studio (Although I hate zune, windows phone, internet explorer, and all other crap that they make). Never bought a mac os laptop/desktop because I thought they were expensive compared to PCs and I used to play a lot of games.

Recently bought the new 2011 MBA 11 inch i5 so I can develop apps for the iphone/ipad/osx.

I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the new mba + lion. Fast. Easy to use. Sleek mba design. Great visual effects + eye candy. Clean user interface. XCode is also pretty amazing (been using MS visual studio till now). There are some bugs/compatibility issues that I've seen but I'm guessing it's only because lion is in its early stages.


Does anyone use/have used both visual studio 2010 and xcode 4.1? Which one do you like more?

I still have a PC with windows 7 as my primary computer. Anyone have a primary PC and use MBA as secondary? Problems/issues with doing this?


tl;dr - Just wanted to see what other first-timers or ms fan boys thought about the new mba and osx compared to windows. Or maybe you old-timers can give some input.

I'm starting out with Xcode now, I do quite like it. How do you find it on the 11 inch? Is the screen size okay for the work? I've got the 13 inch MBA here (got it yesterday) and I've ordered the 11 inch now because I think it might be fine for me really. I like the 13 inch but it might be overkill, I have a 27 inch iMac anyway. I also got an extra £65 iTunes card without asking... so far with the iMac and the MBA I've got 4 of these cards... they sent me two for the iMac and said I could keep them.

With the PC and MBA you might have issues with external HDs - you'd need to format them to ExFat if you would want both computers to access the files properly. But otherwise in my experience PCs and Macs have gotten on quite well (I still have my netbook which I used before I got the MBA).

Congrats!

 

[Ubuntu]

Ubuntu was awesome, this is on another level.

Why, thank you!

 

[hereyago]

Yes it is a lovely combination. Sure it is a bit more expensive but who else can pack all this power into a beautiful chassis, with 7 hours battery life and a first class OS.

Samsung came close, but they can't achieve the same battery, slightly slow current model and they are still charging more even with windows.


To be fair windows 7 isn't too bad, they did a pretty good job this time.

However i'm so glad i switched to mac, i had to install windows xp in virtualbox to run some hd camcorder software. What a f-in nightmare. Constantly notifying me of errors, or not being protected or updates available, and updating my computer ever 6 seconds, its just a nightmare.


You will like OS X even more if you haven't discovered all the shortcuts and gestures.

Like command spacebar, type program/email/app/doc press enter and bam there it is. You can email filter your email in spotlight (command + space). Then easily and quickly switch back and forth between apps with command + tab (yes you can do this on windows), then all the gestures too. It's an awesome development machine.

Ubuntu was awesome, this is on another level.

I have already use a lot of the keyboard shortcuts. I am a very keyboard-heavy user, especially on laptops.

Yes I do agree that it is an awesome development machine. I have used the recent unbuntu as well. They got so much cleaner since the last time I used them !

IMO visual studio is the best IDE out there (but I use it the least because I don't like .NET ). Obviously you need different IDEs for different tasks but I don't think anything beats Visual Studio's intellisense. XCode 4 is a huge improvement over 3 IMO. I hated the separate windows, especially in interface builder when you have a few different screens open. I haven't used 4.1 because I haven't done any iOS development in a few months.

Hell yeah VS is the best. Makes coding so much easier.

Was xcode 3 pretty bad? I'm really liking 4.1.

I received my 2011 13" i5 today, I must say, it's a bit hard to figure out at first, at least for me. I mean, I wanted to close a program and I had to figure out that the close/minimize/maximize buttons were in the top left corner.

Anyway, I'll be writing about my experiences with the OS once I get accustomed to my new pc

Doesn't it feel like Christmas when you first get your MBA?

I use command + q to close a program and I never really minimize/maximize, just alt + tab so I didn't have trouble with that UI stuff.

Were you a windows user before? Windows 7?

I'm starting out with Xcode now, I do quite like it. How do you find it on the 11 inch? Is the screen size okay for the work? I've got the 13 inch MBA here (got it yesterday) and I've ordered the 11 inch now because I think it might be fine for me really. I like the 13 inch but it might be overkill, I have a 27 inch iMac anyway. I also got an extra £65 iTunes card without asking... so far with the iMac and the MBA I've got 4 of these cards... they sent me two for the iMac and said I could keep them.

With the PC and MBA you might have issues with external HDs - you'd need to format them to ExFat if you would want both computers to access the files properly. But otherwise in my experience PCs and Macs have gotten on quite well (I still have my netbook which I used before I got the MBA).

Congrats!

screensize isn't too small. I use xcode in fullscreen. I used to have a 10 inch netbook before and my main monitor is 22 inches. I love the 11 inch, but I have never used the 13 inch one so I don't know what to tell you

Have you bought anything with the itunes cards yet? my account has around $2 . I wish they gave me giftcards.

yeah and about the external HD... I don't know what I should do. thinking about getting another one just for my mba

Why, thank you!

do you ever get flamed by apple fanboys for your username?

 

[NutsNGum]

I'm starting out with Xcode now, I do quite like it. How do you find it on the 11 inch? Is the screen size okay for the work? I've got the 13 inch MBA here (got it yesterday) and I've ordered the 11 inch now because I think it might be fine for me really. I like the 13 inch but it might be overkill, I have a 27 inch iMac anyway.

With the PC and MBA you might have issues with external HDs - you'd need to format them to ExFat if you would want both computers to access the files properly. But otherwise in my experience PCs and Macs have gotten on quite well (I still have my netbook which I used before I got the MBA).

Congrats!

I had the both the new 11 and 13 inch. Xcode on the 11" was a bit too short for me to be honest. I returned it and kept the 13", it felt much more comfortable to use, if I was using it for any length of time.

I also have a 27 inch iMac, though I felt that this was a pretty moot point in the decision as I bought the laptop in order that I didn't have to sit at the iMac screen when doing work.

Having said this, I did love the 11", though I think I loved the form factor more than anything else. Battery life is pretty atrocious and it doesn't feel as comfortable sitting in your lap, these are just my opinions of course. But they're two of the primary reasons that I took it back. If they could have found a way to shoehorn the 13's battery into the 11, I'd probably have kept both of them.

 

[hereyago]

I had the both the new 11 and 13 inch. Xcode on the 11" was a bit too short for me to be honest. I returned it and kept the 13", it felt much more comfortable to use, if I was using it for any length of time.

I also have a 27 inch iMac, though I felt that this was a pretty moot point in the decision as I bought the laptop in order that I didn't have to sit at the iMac screen when doing work.

Having said this, I did love the 11", though I think I loved the form factor more than anything else. Battery life is pretty atrocious and it doesn't feel as comfortable sitting in your lap, these are just my opinions of course. But they're two of the primary reasons that I took it back. If they could have found a way to shoehorn the 13's battery into the 11, I'd probably have kept both of them.

ugh the battery life on the 11 inch
seriously feels like it lasts about 3 hours. someone on this thread said that he thinks he can get it to last about 5 hours though. have you seen it?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1199948/

im hoping it can because 5 hours would be plenty good enough for me.

 

[johnc22]

I'm a VS/.NET developer but while Windows 7 is a vast improvement over Vista, I don't like being pigeon-holed as Windows only. Because the new MBA offers unmatched mix of performance and portability I had to have one (thought about holding out for next year's MBP but I think this will do nicely for my needs).

I've installed XCode 4.1 and gone through an iPhone tutorial, but Objective-C is going to be like learning a completely new language.

But, I still have to access Windows-based stuff so I'm about to set up bootcamp with Win7 x64. If that works at as it should this little laptop will be an excellent replacement for my 7lb. Asus gaming notebook that's never seen a single game.

 

[hereyago]

I'm a VS/.NET developer but while Windows 7 is a vast improvement over Vista, I don't like being pigeon-holed as Windows only. Because the new MBA offers unmatched mix of performance and portability I had to have one (thought about holding out for next year's MBP but I think this will do nicely for my needs).

I've installed XCode 4.1 and gone through an iPhone tutorial, but Objective-C is going to be like learning a completely new language.

But, I still have to access Windows-based stuff so I'm about to set up bootcamp with Win7 x64. If that works at as it should this little laptop will be an excellent replacement for my 7lb. Asus gaming notebook that's never seen a single game.

I really like windows 7 too. Way more than xp and vista. I know some people like xp a lot but 7 is definitely better. But I'm really liking lion. I hate the fact that windows doesn't have Spaces (or Desktops in lion). It's sooooo useful. I used to use it a lot when I used ubuntu and really missed it when I switched back to windows.

I've been learning objective-c as well. The syntax really confuses me . But I don't think learning it will be too bad.

Can you tell me how the bootcamp goes? I'm thinking about setting up bootcamp on mine as well but my ssd is 128gbs and I don't know if I'll have enough room. I am debating parallels too.

 

[Ubuntu]

screensize isn't too small. I use xcode in fullscreen. I used to have a 10 inch netbook before and my main monitor is 22 inches. I love the 11 inch, but I have never used the 13 inch one so I don't know what to tell you

Have you bought anything with the itunes cards yet? my account has around $2 . I wish they gave me giftcards.

yeah and about the external HD... I don't know what I should do. thinking about getting another one just for my mba




do you ever get flamed by apple fanboys for your username?

Ah, see I'm totally ignoring the resolution on the 11 inch MBA. My netbook is 1024 by whatever and using Netbeans etc on that wasn't too great. I mean, Xcode on the 13 inch is great but I was thinking the 11 inch would be just fine, too, so cheers for reassuring me!

I've actually not used the iTunes card at all. I've only loaded one onto my account so far, I plan to give one to my dad as I just purchased an iPad for him.

And thankfully not flamed, as I guess Linux and OS X are sort of on the same side... but considering I don't really use Ubuntu anymore (did have it on the netbook with Windows but now I might be giving that to a friend so it'll end up with Windows only probably) so its a bit embarrassing when people are like "Oh you use Ubuntu?! COOL! How are you finding it?!"

I had the both the new 11 and 13 inch. Xcode on the 11" was a bit too short for me to be honest. I returned it and kept the 13", it felt much more comfortable to use, if I was using it for any length of time.

I also have a 27 inch iMac, though I felt that this was a pretty moot point in the decision as I bought the laptop in order that I didn't have to sit at the iMac screen when doing work.

Having said this, I did love the 11", though I think I loved the form factor more than anything else. Battery life is pretty atrocious and it doesn't feel as comfortable sitting in your lap, these are just my opinions of course. But they're two of the primary reasons that I took it back. If they could have found a way to shoehorn the 13's battery into the 11, I'd probably have kept both of them.

You see this is my worst fear, I'd much prefer the smaller 11 inch model but I guess I'll have to wait and see. The apple rep offered to ship out the 11 inch model and refund the difference (as I had the printer and iTunes card, would've been a hassle to get all that sorted too) but I felt it was best to simply try both side by side, with Xcode especially. And yes, battery life too is an issue. My MBA's been quite nice so far, but I'm thinking I could probably handle the 11 inch's shorter battery life and maybe get an external battery back if my needs change in the future. I'll be sure to test them both out a lot!

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Ubuntu]

I really like windows 7 too. Way more than xp and vista. I know some people like xp a lot but 7 is definitely better. But I'm really liking lion. I hate the fact that windows doesn't have Spaces (or Desktops in lion). It's sooooo useful. I used to use it a lot when I used ubuntu and really missed it when I switched back to windows.

I've been learning objective-c as well. The syntax really confuses me . But I don't think learning it will be too bad.

Can you tell me how the bootcamp goes? I'm thinking about setting up bootcamp on mine as well but my ssd is 128gbs and I don't know if I'll have enough room. I am debating parallels too.

I may as well give my two cents on this although I've only installed Windows 7 on my iMac. It works perfectly if thats what you were wondering about, once you install the Bootcamp drivers it works great, the brightness/volume keys still work fine etc, I was really impressed by it. I have Parallels also which works well because of its cohesive/cohesion feature where it simply becomes part of your OS X layout. You have an icon on the menu bar that opens the start menu and when you run the Windows applications they appear alongside your OS X ones and can be manipulated in the same way. I've heard you can even drag and drop files between the two. Its also good because you can use your Bootcamp partition (if you do install it) which is nice when you need to open a program on Windows but cannot be assed to switch over.

Do note that the Boot Camp Assistant on the MBA allows you to format a bootable Windows 7 USB stick, by the way.

 

[hereyago]

Ah, see I'm totally ignoring the resolution on the 11 inch MBA. My netbook is 1024 by whatever and using Netbeans etc on that wasn't too great. I mean, Xcode on the 13 inch is great but I was thinking the 11 inch would be just fine, too, so cheers for reassuring me!

I've actually not used the iTunes card at all. I've only loaded one onto my account so far, I plan to give one to my dad as I just purchased an iPad for him.

And thankfully not flamed, as I guess Linux and OS X are sort of on the same side... but considering I don't really use Ubuntu anymore (did have it on the netbook with Windows but now I might be giving that to a friend so it'll end up with Windows only probably) so its a bit embarrassing when people are like "Oh you use Ubuntu?! COOL! How are you finding it?!"

If you can handle slow-ass netbeans + netbook screen, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the 11inch mba.

But I have to warn you, I haven't done anything large-scale with the 11inch mba yet since I'm just starting to learn obj-c.

Are you looking for more portability or the wow-factor or what? In terms of computing power, 11 and 13 a pretty similar. Just battery life, screen resolution, screen size. Most of my friends have the 11 inch one so that's what I got.

 

[Ubuntu]

If you can handle slow-ass netbeans + netbook screen, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the 11inch mba.

But I have to warn you, I haven't done anything large-scale with the 11inch mba yet since I'm just starting to learn obj-c.

Are you looking for more portability or the wow-factor or what? In terms of computing power, 11 and 13 a pretty similar. Just battery life, screen resolution, screen size. Most of my friends have the 11 inch one so that's what I got.

Its mainly the size. I know that sounds stupid because a 13 inch laptop is a 13 inch laptop after all, but this would be replacing my netbook and while its a light machine I just wished I had gone with the cheaper option first to make sure. I did that with my iMac, I got the 2.7 Ghz i5 first to see how it was for gaming, but decided to get the 3.1 Ghz version instead. Was just glad I tried both.


EDIT: Just found my Windows discs I used for my iMac's bootcamp. Going to give them a try on the MBA with my Samsung's external DVD drive. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[hereyago]

Its mainly the size. I know that sounds stupid because a 13 inch laptop is a 13 inch laptop after all, but this would be replacing my netbook and while its a light machine I just wished I had gone with the cheaper option first to make sure. I did that with my iMac, I got the 2.7 Ghz i5 first to see how it was for gaming, but decided to get the 3.1 Ghz version instead. Was just glad I tried both.

If you have an iMac + decent-size monitor, 11 inch might be better for you

of course that's coming from a person biased towards the 11 inch mba

 

[oBMTo]

I hate OSX. All the simple things are fine with OSX, but anything more advanced and I have to go through 10x more steps than I would need to compared to Windows 7.

 

[hereyago]

I hate OSX. All the simple things are fine with OSX, but anything more advanced and I have to go through 10x more steps than I would need to compared to Windows 7.

Like what? What do you consider more advanced?

 

[oBMTo]

Like what? What do you consider more advanced?

Something as simple as mapping my NAS onto the desktop takes 3 clicks on Windows 7. On OSX? Can't even count the number of steps it took.

 

[hereyago]

Something as simple as mapping my NAS onto the desktop takes 3 clicks on Windows 7. On OSX? Can't even count the number of steps it took.

Oh I never had to do that and prob won't have to do that kind of stuff on my osx either. I don't own many computers so I just use a thumb drive or extern hd

 

[oBMTo]

Oh I never had to do that and prob won't have to do that kind of stuff on my osx either. I don't own many computers so I just use a thumb drive or extern hd

You can imagine how frustrating it can be when you can not access 3.5 terabytes of media.

I aslo find the process of installing a program on OSX incredibly moronic.

 

[warfed]

Hell yeah VS is the best. Makes coding so much easier.

Was xcode 3 pretty bad? I'm really liking 4.1.

I really didn't like 3. All the toolbars were separate windows with space in between (like photoshop on a mac). If you accidently clicked on the background everything but the main window would disappear... very annoying.

But worst of all was when working with 2 different views in interface builder. Each view had its own set of toolbars and if you had more than one open there would be no way to easily (or quickly) tell which toolbar belongs to which view.

 

[hereyago]

You can imagine how frustrating it can be when you can not access 3.5 terabytes of media.

I aslo find the process of installing a program on OSX incredibly moronic.

3.5 terabytes of porn

I thought the installation process was pretty similar to windows though.

I really didn't like 3. All the toolbars were separate windows with space in between (like photoshop on a mac). If you accidently clicked on the background everything but the main window would disappear... very annoying.

But worst of all was when working with 2 different views in interface builder. Each view had its own set of toolbars and if you had more than one open there would be no way to easily (or quickly) tell which toolbar belongs to which view.

i have no idea what you just described.

Glad I don't have to use xcode 3 then

 

[warfed]

i have no idea what you just described.

Glad I don't have to use xcode 3 then

Yeah, it's kinda hard to describe without showing it.

 

[hereyago]

Yeah, it's kinda hard to describe without showing it.

Did you have the make the transition of c/c++ to obj-c or anything? What languges did you use with VS and what languages are you using now in xcode?

I'm coming from a c++ background and now I'm learning obj-c. Syntax is confusing me. Trying to see if anyone who has made the transtion had some tips.