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Anyone considering the Switch?
- Thread starter amac4me
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Not at my Best Buy
I asked a guy in the computer department how they were doing and he said in a really snide voice, "They're NOT. It's a totally foreign operating system, they don't play mp3s with the amount of RAM they come with and no one knows what to do with them becuase there is no software." After I told him that I had heard they were pretty good and that I loved my ibook he told me that at least they ran Virtual PC (he called it Power PC... ???) -- and that I must have a lot of experience running that program to use windows programs. I told him that I never had any use to run Windows programs. He seemed befuddled and said something about them running "as smooth as a baby's ass" once they got an extra 256mb of ram. Why would a salesman at a best buy say "ass" to a customer? Anyway... he was a schmuck and it's no wonder they aren't selling.
amac4me said:
I asked a guy in the computer department how they were doing and he said in a really snide voice, "They're NOT. It's a totally foreign operating system, they don't play mp3s with the amount of RAM they come with and no one knows what to do with them becuase there is no software." After I told him that I had heard they were pretty good and that I loved my ibook he told me that at least they ran Virtual PC (he called it Power PC... ???) -- and that I must have a lot of experience running that program to use windows programs. I told him that I never had any use to run Windows programs. He seemed befuddled and said something about them running "as smooth as a baby's ass" once they got an extra 256mb of ram. Why would a salesman at a best buy say "ass" to a customer? Anyway... he was a schmuck and it's no wonder they aren't selling.
Mechcozmo said:Well, the Mac will be perfect for you. It does a lot automatically, but in a way that you'd expect. In a very nice way too.
And all you have to do is come here for help, or read the help files in programs. I've never seen a Windows switcher use the Mac help. Apparently, they still have some things burned into their memory...
What do you use your computer for? Let us know and we can help you from there.
Nothing too complicated - web browsing, word processing, and the like. I don't play games much, the only graphics intensive one I play on a semi-regular basis is The Sims 2, and if I was switching, I doubt I'd be upset to see it go - just one less thing to waste my time with.
Portability is another issue - right now, I wouldn't need it, but at university, I'm not so sure. Nobody uses it to take notes in class or anything, so it would be more if I wanted to take it home for the weekend. However, I wouldn't have to, so it might be more worthwhile to get a desktop for less.
On a somewhat unrelated note, I've been reading about Spotlight (which is tricky to follow considering I don't have a mac), and I had a question. Do you never use folders, or organization in general, and just rely on Spotlight to find what you need? And how does it do it so fast? Searches on windows aren't exactly speedy.
Hilary
What will you do with your Windows System?
For all you switchers out there ... what have you done with your Windows system after you made the switch.
When I switched last year, I ended up installing Linux on my Dell Desktop.
Any interesting stories to share?
For all you switchers out there ... what have you done with your Windows system after you made the switch.
When I switched last year, I ended up installing Linux on my Dell Desktop.
Any interesting stories to share?
Heheh, I think the figures you found are, erm, not quite right. The 8104wlmi weighs 2.9kgs (6.4 lbs), versus the Powerbook which weighs 2.5kgs. It's a difference of only 400g which I won't notice in my backpack.tuartboy said:
I took my Powerbook back to the store yesterday. The staff were understanding of my situation and after a quick checkover of the computer, gave me a full refund. I'm very happy with their customer service approach, and hope that I'll get to buy another computer from them in the future.
amac4me said:
I use my Dell laptop at work, so it has to stay a Windows box, unfortunately. I also have three other desktops in the house. Two are WinXP and one is running SuSE 9.2 as a server. I am going to leave the Windows machines alone. My wife uses one for her job and the other Windows box has several learning games for my 6 year old son.
amac4me said:
I literally tossed mine in the trash. Well, sort of. The garbage picking crazies came by and took the PC before the trashmen came. Mine was so freaking obsolete though. 700 mhz AMD Thunderbird, SLOT A beotches! 384 mb sdram. It surfed sort of well, and did word processing though. That was until one day I booted it up and the BIOS screen said "You have no hard drive installed" wha? Yeah, the hard drive was smoking (literally)...and that was the end of that.
That's not my switcher story, as prior to the wintel box I had the original icebook.
and here I am again on another icebook ( which is now on eBay) and then going to buy a brand new iBook G4.
Hooked for life...whew!
Still considering...
As you can see in my previous posts, I was thinking about switching to a Powerbook. But I'll probably switch to an iMac and for portability I'll check out the 12'' iBook. I think, thats a much more valuable combination.
My Windows-Box will only be used for playing CounterSrike:Source. That's the only game I will miss.
As you can see in my previous posts, I was thinking about switching to a Powerbook. But I'll probably switch to an iMac and for portability I'll check out the 12'' iBook. I think, thats a much more valuable combination.
My Windows-Box will only be used for playing CounterSrike:Source. That's the only game I will miss.
I just got an 80 GB Mac Mini (from one of those get-things-for-free sites, no less!) and I have it now all nicely set up talking with my XP box. I figure, this is a good introduction for me -- I've moved my email over and tonight I'll probably tackle getting my bookmarks moved. Just need to find a few replacement programs I like, but I'm going to try to immerse myself and see how I do. I'm still suffering some adjustment pangs, and the fact that my wireless mouse runs a bit sluggishly through the KVM switch doesn't help. This is the first mac I've had since the Mac Classic I had in college. I last used that thing 10 years ago.
All that said, I've planned for a while to have my next laptop be a 15-inch powerbook. This is at least a year out, after other bills are paid, so I'm not worried. I just admire from afar until I can afford it (or I go crazy and decide to back to school.)
As for my old PC? Well, it was recently upgraded, and I do have some games I play on it as well as some software I don't see any replacement for. It's a good machine and it runs perfectly for me (it helps that I fix them for a living and know how to keep one running cleanly). It's being used as a server for MP3s as it has a larger hard drive and I'll likely use it for some of my other applications and my Sims2 addiction. It's a seriously sweet gaming PC for the stuff I do.
All that said, I've planned for a while to have my next laptop be a 15-inch powerbook. This is at least a year out, after other bills are paid, so I'm not worried. I just admire from afar until I can afford it (or I go crazy and decide to back to school.)
As for my old PC? Well, it was recently upgraded, and I do have some games I play on it as well as some software I don't see any replacement for. It's a good machine and it runs perfectly for me (it helps that I fix them for a living and know how to keep one running cleanly). It's being used as a server for MP3s as it has a larger hard drive and I'll likely use it for some of my other applications and my Sims2 addiction. It's a seriously sweet gaming PC for the stuff I do.
Switched.. at birth
My first Mac was a Plus, I think 1987? My mom bought it for me after using a Apple II in school (plus my handwriting sux). In the `90's, gaming was all the rage, and you had to have a PC, so I built one, and ran them side-by-side. I still have both PC's and Mac's, they each have their niche in my home. One PC for TiVo, until a real, quality PVR solution for my Mini. Two PC's for Domain Auth. and storage (1TB), until I can justify the cost of Xserve and Xsan. But I don't go anywhere without my Powerbook, and my Mini runs 24/7 in my room, waiting silently (wish I could say that for ANY of my PC's) for any command. I love OSX, everything is truly easier, and now I'm learning to use the Terminal to run open source apps. This makes the posibilities endless if your willing to dig into the core of the OS.
I have spent most of my life fixing computers, profesionally for the last 5 years. PC's freak out on people for the most random things, they loose data, BSOD, or just get Hijacked by spyware and viruses. Not to say Macs don't have problems- my mom's G4/400 PB was a little buggy, but well past the warrenty, and I have crashed OSX twice. Both times I had seriously damaged the file system messing around in terminal (installing GNOME, and some other random apps.). Right now I'm saving my pennies for a iMac "20, I need more power. I will (hopefully) never need to buy another PC, I will rather find a alternative for the Mac.
My first Mac was a Plus, I think 1987? My mom bought it for me after using a Apple II in school (plus my handwriting sux). In the `90's, gaming was all the rage, and you had to have a PC, so I built one, and ran them side-by-side. I still have both PC's and Mac's, they each have their niche in my home. One PC for TiVo, until a real, quality PVR solution for my Mini. Two PC's for Domain Auth. and storage (1TB), until I can justify the cost of Xserve and Xsan. But I don't go anywhere without my Powerbook, and my Mini runs 24/7 in my room, waiting silently (wish I could say that for ANY of my PC's) for any command. I love OSX, everything is truly easier, and now I'm learning to use the Terminal to run open source apps. This makes the posibilities endless if your willing to dig into the core of the OS.
I have spent most of my life fixing computers, profesionally for the last 5 years. PC's freak out on people for the most random things, they loose data, BSOD, or just get Hijacked by spyware and viruses. Not to say Macs don't have problems- my mom's G4/400 PB was a little buggy, but well past the warrenty, and I have crashed OSX twice. Both times I had seriously damaged the file system messing around in terminal (installing GNOME, and some other random apps.). Right now I'm saving my pennies for a iMac "20, I need more power. I will (hopefully) never need to buy another PC, I will rather find a alternative for the Mac.
I am impatiently looking forward to switching...unfortunately it will be months, maybe a year or longer before I can afford a mac. But I am still always checking the website for a good deal especially after each paycheck. I started using macs in college - I went to an Art Institute school and we used g5 machines and I fell in love with OS X. After I make the switch I will probably use my Dell as an additional test machine (I do web development) but it will more likely end up being for the occasional web surfing, burning cds/dvds, and playing video games since it's pretty good, has 2gb ram and has an awesome video card. I will probably end up buying a powerbook for now, furthur in the future a powermac, because I would love the portability factor as I do freelance work and am so tired of using less than superior clients computers when I have to do work at other sites (tho I can't decide between 15" or 17", I want it to be portable but it's not like I plan on cracking it open on planes or anything - it would all be mostly office work just being taken from one office to home to another office, etc). And I already have the Dell display so I can use that with the powerbook with no added expense. So not a switcher yet but if I could I would definately have started using a mac a couple years ago!
PCMacUser said:
Hmm..what discs are giving you trouble because I have ripped RCE discs without any problem, if you go to ripdifferent.com and check out the forum, the developer is very helpful with any problems you may have.
All day at work I'm on a Dell Junkie running XP...and I hate it. I hate the taskbar, I hate the blocky, super outdated in your face GUI, I hate the banshee fan that comes on when I use Word Veiwer (Truly a processor intensive program!)...I hate...wait, you get the picture. I have hot corners on my mac, and all day smack the corners on this Dell box, to no avail. I have apps that freeze and need restarting...oh, and End Program? What a joke!! Everytime I have to End a Program via task manager, I just have to rehit End about 30 times before it finally actually ends the program!
Anyways...OS X is gorgeous, regardless of the hardware you have it on...whatever you can afford or buy, OS X is the main reason...everyone has hardware, only Apple has OS X. Everything works so amazingly happy together. Some people here were all excited because they learned to use Alt+Printscreen to "only" take a picture of the window you had open....well...try Shift+Apple+4 and draw for yourself what YOU want to take a picture of, don't let the OS decide. Oh yeah, and how about it show up on your desktop instantaneously, instead of having to open a graphic program and copy it, and then save it...etc.
OS X is the reason, hands down no contest.
Anyways...OS X is gorgeous, regardless of the hardware you have it on...whatever you can afford or buy, OS X is the main reason...everyone has hardware, only Apple has OS X. Everything works so amazingly happy together. Some people here were all excited because they learned to use Alt+Printscreen to "only" take a picture of the window you had open....well...try Shift+Apple+4 and draw for yourself what YOU want to take a picture of, don't let the OS decide. Oh yeah, and how about it show up on your desktop instantaneously, instead of having to open a graphic program and copy it, and then save it...etc.
OS X is the reason, hands down no contest.
Thanks - but unfortunately it's too late for me. I took my Powerbook back on Saturday and got a refund.norinradd said:
Oh yeah - the RCE dvd it wouldn't extract was a Region 1 disc of The Big Lebowski. It also wouldn't extract a non-RCE Region 4 disc of Zoolander. I pretty much gave up trying foreign region discs after that. Local region (2) discs extracted perfectly using MactheRipper, and D-Vision was superb for encoding into MPEG4.
Yep I'd love to have OS X dual booting with XP on a single computer. I must admit though, that I found the apps in OS X just as flakey as Windows apps - it's just that most crashes that occurred didn't require a reboot (although some did). However, I can verify that I NEVER encountered a crash in OS X during a Printscreen ;-)wheezy said:
PCMacUser said:
Single Machine eh? Wouldn't that be peachy....I mean, Appley. Although, I'm not a gamer and don't see much use for a PC anymore, other than something to irritate me and swear at
So....single boot me all day long! HeheReady to switch
I'll be switching over just as soon as the powerbook line is updated (hopefully before school starts again in september). I'm sick of windows always crashing at the worst possible moment, and I want a stable machine with a stable OS to write my dissertation.
I'll be switching over just as soon as the powerbook line is updated (hopefully before school starts again in september). I'm sick of windows always crashing at the worst possible moment, and I want a stable machine with a stable OS to write my dissertation.
amac4me said:
Well, I'll bite the bullet at least until macworld paris. I don't need it until then.