Apple Macs, opinions from the Internet

[rainbowmagik]

I like the Metro interface. I find launching apps off a fullscreen menu (known as the Start Screen) much easier than navigating the tiny Start Menus we had before. I highly doubt Microsoft will be returning to the Start Menu. The Start Screen is far superior and with some luck, 8.2 will include drag and drop support which is just about the only feature it lacks.

I also doubt we'll be seeing Windows 9 anytime soon since we're getting incremental updates every year. Fail to see how Windows 8 is a scam though. It works perfectly for me. As I said, once you've learned how to use it (put more than half an hour toying around and actually put some effort getting to grips with how the tablet and desktop interfaces work together), you find it actually isn't as bad as anybody is making out and if much much faster and more stable than Windows 7.

Honestly I don't have a massive problem with metro personally since I am used to it, but I think a lot of people feel they never asked for it and m$ wont listen to their concerns. And maybe they wont release a windows 9 any time soon but a lot of people are downgrading to windows 7 by buying retail copies of it. In fact just last week someone asked me to install windows 7 on her new laptop because she can't adapt to metro and is afraid to try downgrading herself. I also really don't like this dualism between desktop and metro apps, 8.1 made it easier to multitask but I still think they need to go back to drawing board, after all its a touch screen interface being run mostly on non touch screen devices, imagine if apple suddenly decided to have the same interface for ios and osx, the point is that the interface should be designed in a way that takes into account the method someone is using to control the system, for example to close an app in windows 8 you drag it down but a lot of laptops touchpads are not sensitive enough to drag it far enough, my own laptop and three others i have seen are like this. Sorry for the rather long post.

 

[rainbowmagik]

1. Alt-3 = #. It really isn't a big deal.
2. This could be a quirk of the battery, try a different manufacturer. Failing that, sounds like the mouse was duff, so take it back?
3. Yes, no Cmd on a windows pc. But what's with the windows key...?
4. I've not seen anything better personally. I have less frustration on my mac than on my work pc (windows 7) moving files around.

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Apols... I think I would agree with you re dashboard. It has been reducing in visibility in the OS over various iterations and I think it will disappear soon. I don't know anyone who uses it.

yes alt-3 gives us a # but I would like it to be somewhere on the keyboard. I've actually been looking for a while now for a mac compatible keyboard that feels like my cherry one, don't really have enough time to properly look though

Apparently its a common fault with the mouse. It works fine with cardboard so I'm not that bothered.

my point with cmd/ctrl is really that that cmd does alot of things that IMO ctrl should do, cmd basically does too much and ctrl does very little really, it seem I only ever use ctrl on the terminal or for some wild key combo.

I suppose my dislike for the file manager is just my personal preference.

 

[roadbloc]

Honestly I don't have a massive problem with metro personally since I am used to it, but I think a lot of people feel they never asked for it and m$ wont listen to their concerns. And maybe they wont release a windows 9 any time soon but a lot of people are downgrading to windows 7 by buying retail copies of it. In fact just last week someone asked me to install windows 7 on her new laptop because she can't adapt to metro and is afraid to try downgrading herself. I also really don't like this dualism between desktop and metro apps, 8.1 made it easier to multitask but I still think they need to go back to drawing board, after all its a touch screen interface being run mostly on non touch screen devices, imagine if apple suddenly decided to have the same interface for ios and osx, the point is that the interface should be designed in a way that takes into account the method someone is using to control the system, for example to close an app in windows 8 you drag it down but a lot of laptops touchpads are not sensitive enough to drag it far enough, my own laptop and three others i have seen are like this. Sorry for the rather long post.

I understand the concerns. Since Windows 7 will be supported until 2020 (and probably beyond if it end up being loved by users as much as XP was), I doubt Microsoft care that much about downgraders. Windows 7 is still their OS and they are still supporting it.

One thing does need to be made clear that Microsoft have failed to do. Upgraders don't have to adapt to metro. I rarely see it on my Windows 8 computers other than to launch a desktop app. Remove all the Metro apps and all you have left is a leaner and faster Windows 7 with a fullscreen Start Menu. Since I've never actually used Windows 8 on a tablet, I can't comment on how good the metro interface and apps are for a touchscreen and honestly, I don't really care since I will probably never have use for a tablet. Multitasking between the desktop and metro apps certainly does look cluncky, but it is something I would never do or recommend people do unless they knew what they were doing. Use and pin the apps that suit your device and you will find that Windows 8 is a breeze.

 

[Sym0]

As an example case:
A 13" MBP retails at £999
An Acer Aspire V5-552P retails at £599

The MBP is a third of the thickness of the acer but the acer does have better specs thanks to the amd A10, the acer also has more ram.
Stylistically they seem fairly equivalent to me.

I actually have a better spec version of the acer I bought last year for I think £450 but it must have been reduced in price at the time.
The point I was making is that amd powered laptops right now are a lot cheaper and pretty powerful. The intels on the other hand are fairly equivalent price wise to macs but you have to pay a lot for anything approaching capable graphics hardware.
The amd A series on the other hand has integrated graphics approaching the performance of a mid range graphics card.

I often run cad and simulation software on an amd A10 laptop, I would not be able to do the same on a mbp that would have cost twice as much at the time.

I don't agree that apple laptops are in a class of their own, there are other premium laptops out there of good build quality, some of them with better hardware, and depending on what your using it for may be more ideal for some application like my previous example.

Of course price isn't the only factor that will influence which laptop you use, but if I wanted to use an apple laptop right now for this I would have to go for the £2199 15" MBP and also purchase some windows to run on it, since most of the software I need to run doesn't have a mac version. Which really defeats the point of using a mac.

Anyway I stand by my original argument on laptops.

I searched high and low for the highest performance lap top with the most amount of ram and highest CPU available and found only two options that cam close. Custom build metabox with 2.8GHz Haswell i7, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and 750m graphics, only 1080p screen. It was $500 more than the rMBP, twice as thick, twice as heavy, made of cheap plastic and had an ENOURMOUS power brick. I still wanted it because specs mattered more than looks. But Haswell was not available for a month or more, I had to upgrade then and there for work.

The Apple full spec 15" as per my signature was $500 cheaper and gave up a few % CPU and half the RAM (16GB was enough *just* - I use about 14GB when processing in W8.1) but the form factor and battery life is WOW!

I would never pull the other beast above out at all ever, except on a desk with 240v - the Mac comes out when ever and lasts nearly all day on office duties. Then when its processing time the fans come on and she churns away at the high work load for many hours and cools down again in minutes when done.

And the screen, WOW! Still have not seen a PC alternative that can pull together the OS, build quality, design, specs and battery for the same money let alone less.

I ended up buying that custom built laptop, so I know for sure what I was getting (for another employee) and I am so glad I have the mac. No one believes me this silver sliver packs 95% of the same specs as the metabox and eats it alive for battery and build quality.

This is my first mac. Ever.

 

[talmy]

yes alt-3 gives us a # but I would like it to be somewhere on the keyboard. I've actually been looking for a while now for a mac compatible keyboard that feels like my cherry one, don't really have enough time to properly look though

All PC keyboards should be Mac compatible. The Windows key is the Command key. But you can switch those keys around. I noticed that there is a Keyboard layout selection for "British - PC"

 

[rainbowmagik]

I understand the concerns. Since Windows 7 will be supported until 2020 (and probably beyond if it end up being loved by users as much as XP was), I doubt Microsoft care that much about downgraders. Windows 7 is still their OS and they are still supporting it.

One thing does need to be made clear that Microsoft have failed to do. Upgraders don't have to adapt to metro. I rarely see it on my Windows 8 computers other than to launch a desktop app. Remove all the Metro apps and all you have left is a leaner and faster Windows 7 with a fullscreen Start Menu. Since I've never actually used Windows 8 on a tablet, I can't comment on how good the metro interface and apps are for a touchscreen and honestly, I don't really care since I will probably never have use for a tablet. Multitasking between the desktop and metro apps certainly does look cluncky, but it is something I would never do or recommend people do unless they knew what they were doing. Use and pin the apps that suit your device and you will find that Windows 8 is a breeze.

It's fine on a desktop with a mouse, but like I said some laptop touchpads only move less than a third of the screen on max sensitivity so some windows 8 controls can't be done, I think 8.2 should take these things into consideration and provide more interface controls for different devices rather than a one size fits all policy.

I searched high and low for the highest performance lap top with the most amount of ram and highest CPU available and found only two options that cam close. Custom build metabox with 2.8GHz Haswell i7, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and 750m graphics, only 1080p screen. It was $500 more than the rMBP, twice as thick, twice as heavy, made of cheap plastic and had an ENOURMOUS power brick. I still wanted it because specs mattered more than looks. But Haswell was not available for a month or more, I had to upgrade then and there for work.

The Apple full spec 15" as per my signature was $500 cheaper and gave up a few % CPU and half the RAM (16GB was enough *just* - I use about 14GB when processing in W8.1) but the form factor and battery life is WOW!

I would never pull the other beast above out at all ever, except on a desk with 240v - the Mac comes out when ever and lasts nearly all day on office duties. Then when its processing time the fans come on and she churns away at the high work load for many hours and cools down again in minutes when done.

And the screen, WOW! Still have not seen a PC alternative that can pull together the OS, build quality, design, specs and battery for the same money let alone less.

I ended up buying that custom built laptop, so I know for sure what I was getting (for another employee) and I am so glad I have the mac. No one believes me this silver sliver packs 95% of the same specs as the metabox and eats it alive for battery and build quality.

This is my first mac. Ever.

Apple laptops are good, and I'm not saying that they are inferior or anything. But different applications require different hardware and performance in different areas. I don't know what your using it for, if you need the full power of an i7 then maybe the top mbp is for you, but if you can do with less computational power and more graphical capability then a mid range amd laptop with maybe upgraded ram might be better. I think most of the advantages of running a mac pc is not hardware but software so I wouldn't spend money on a mac just to run windows since I can see loads of laptops at least £400 cheaper with similar specs to the top mbp. Most of them look like they can be upgraded to 32gb ram. Maybe not all of them look as nice as the mac but I think the vaios look pretty decent. Anyway I'm not saying that apple laptops are a waste of money or that amd laptops will not expire after 2 years but that usually you need a laptop to run some application all over the place and that there are cheaper alternatives that may not be for everyone but might be more suitable for some.

All PC keyboards should be Mac compatible. The Windows key is the Command key. But you can switch those keys around. I noticed that there is a Keyboard layout selection for "British - PC"

Some of my nicer keyboards only have a ctrl button for some reason this must mess things up on mac. It's a little annoying that they don't work right but after using the mac keyboard for so long and complaining about it I think I'm just going to buy a new keyboard that's mac specific with my preferred layout.

 

[talmy]

Some of my nicer keyboards only have a ctrl button for some reason this must mess things up on mac. It's a little annoying that they don't work right but after using the mac keyboard for so long and complaining about it I think I'm just going to buy a new keyboard that's mac specific with my preferred layout.

I use a 1989 Northgate OmniKey/102 which has no Windows key, but it does have a Caps Lock key which IMHO is totally useless. OS X allows mapping it to be the Command key.