Considering switching...

I think you'll be very happy with a Mac. A Macbook if you need portability or an iMac or maybe even a Mac Mini + monitor if you don't. iLife comes bundled with any Mac. With it, iMovie can run circles around Windows Live Movie Maker and GarageBand will be more than enough for messing with audio or music.

I switched to a Mac back 2007 when I bought a Macbook Pro and I haven't looked back to Windows since then. (Well maybe except to play games.) I switched mainly because I wanted to do some professional video editing and I heard great things about Final Cut Pro. Also, upgrading my PC tower to Vista brought me on the verge of insanity (probably had to reinstall it 10 times to get it working), and I was getting tired of upgrading the insides all the time (I was a gamer). I wanted a solution that was simple, clean, and unified. Nothing beats OS X + Mac hardware integration. Everything worked and did what I wanted.

I consider myself a heavy computer user. Often times I would download an obscure third party .exe or .dll to do something and it would break Windows or even install a virus. Never in OS X.

Being a heavy user (I rip/burn movies, encode audio files, edit videos/pics, play games...) I was also worried about finding the OS X equivalents of the programs i use. This never became an issue. You'll be in good hands with all the many OS X third party apps out there and how simple they are to install and uninstall. They will not break or corrupt OS X, unlike how easy it for a small program to screw Windows. Plus you've got a whole community of Mac users giving advice and suggesting apps all the time.

The biggest downside of Macs, is probably the cost/performance ratio. You can probably buy a decent PC that can out-spec'd a Mac for half the price of that Mac. But... you won't have OS X... legally. And also the build quality... and the aesthetics... and Apple's great customer service... etc. There's many more things to consider than hardware and price when choosing computers and platforms.

 

Carl Bildt, Sweden’s former Prime Minister, Switched to a Mac
http://obamapacman.com/2009/09/carl-bildt-sweden-former-prime-minister-switched-to-mac/

Former most wanted hacker uses mac
http://obamapacman.com/2009/09/kevi...minal-turned-security-consultant-is-mac-user/

Digg founder says: "it's faster to get things done on a mac." That's a major reason for most mac users.

 

I started using windows PC's when I was 8 at school, now at 22 i've switched to macs. Honestly, it wasn't a huge deal but i've enjoyed the change and i've actually recognised (within the first few weeks) how much better macs are functionally.

Sure things are different, the finder and dock interfaces in particular the biggest thing to get used to. But - like many others - I haven't looked back and don't plan on really ever buying anything other than a mac.

I'm not a huge computer guy, just use it miscellaneously and for university/work etc but everything about this computer is better than the myriad of toshiba's i've had. Even the shape and minor features (such as the magnetically closing lid) of the computer are things that make you identify that other pc's are just pumped out to the public, and mac's are really well thought out and researched with the implementation of original ideas.

In short, you might as well just change to give it a go, try something different and you'll probably never go back.

2 cents..

 

If you can, try one out for a few weeks. Maybe there is one at school where you can establish a temporary account. If you purchase from an Apple store I believe you have 30 days to return it, but they will charge a restocking fee of perhaps 15%. I think it definitely takes a week or so to get the feel of one.

My sense is that using OS X is very fluid and restful. The colors are muted, the fonts are rendered nicely, everything is easy on the eyes. The mouse motion is smooth. There are a lot of places where things don't just appear or disappear but the fade away or flow into or out of something. At first this just may seem like eye candy but after a while it helps humanize things. When you pull something out of the dock and it disappears in a puff of smoke you get it. There is confirmation about what happened. When I use windows I feel like I'm struggling with it, like I'm always a little off balance.

Anyway, take your time, enjoy.

 

Here is my opinion. If you can afford it, and don't play a lot of PC games, get a Mac. Unless you hate the Mac interface. If you play only a few PC games, get a Mac and run Boot Camp. I occasionally boot into Windows to play games, but I could live without it (I'm talking once a month sometimes). But if you like the look of the interface, don't play too many PC games, then a Mac is great.

 

I can tell you first hand that a Windows 7 PC will be a better choice. The W7 UI is much better than Snow Leopard and offers so much more in features. Snow Leopard is way too basic, you can't do anything with it. You can do so much more than what Apple's system can offer you. Go along with the masses, you'll be happier.

 

If you can afford it, I say go for a Mac. I'm 26 and using my first Mac, which I've had since June. Since about 2003 or so, I've desperately wanted to edit video on my computer. So in 2004, I bought a Sony Vaio, hoping to edit video from my JVC Mini-DV camcorder.

Well, a very long story short, it never worked. While on paper it seemed that the Sony had everything a Mac had - DVD creation studio with fancy themes, Windows Movie Maker, even a way to hook up my cable TV and watch/record it through my computer - none of it ever worked right.

I never got the computer to see my cable TV, and I never knew why. Windows Movie Maker crashed sometimes, making me lose work, and half the time, the computer wouldn't recognize my camera. Eventually, it stopped recognizing it at all. And that DVD creation studio thing? Nope, that never worked either - and it doesn't really matter, because I never finished editing a full video to burn onto a DVD.

I'm not trying to rag on Sony, really - when it worked, it was a nice computer. (It came with Windows XP Home.) It worked for 5 years, but had many hardware problems, and I had to deal with Geek Squad, which wasn't always fun. It all ended in an unfortunate loss-of-everything-on-my-hard-drive incident.

I mention all this, because most of these problems were "solved" when I switched to Mac.

- Time Machine now works in the background to save my stuff from disappearing forever
- iMovie is SO easy to use, has gorgeous effects, and saves automatically!
- iDVD is much less daunting than Sony's proprietary DVD-burning software.

(I haven't tried viewing cable through the Mac, but it never advertised that I could do that, either.)

Anyway, I guess this is rambly, but iLife was an amazing selling point to me. I take lots of photos and like to make websites, but even though I can code, I'm not great at it and it drives me nuts. With iWeb, I can at least poke around a bit with themes and get the site-making bug out of my system. GarageBand is cool, too, though I haven't had much use for it. But what I really love about iLife is how everything works together very well, how there are options to upload directly to YouTube or Facebook, etc. I even use Apple Mail, and I've never before used anything other than web-based email.

Even if the operating system wasn't beautiful and elegant... As neutrino23 said, it's kind of human, in a way. It's human-friendly. It seems like everything was actually designed to be used by a person - not just a techie, but a regular person.

And in the few months I've had my Mac, I've edited way more video than I ever got to on my old Sony - which was the entire reason I bought it in the first place.

So if money is no object, I say, buy a Mac, absolutely. The last time I saw a price comparison, Macs are actually cheaper than Sony computers, and probably were when I bought mine* - and it works a bit nicer.

*I literally went to the Apple website when I needed a new computer, expecting to buy an iMac and they weren't selling them! Something about how it was taking longer than they expected to get new chips in. My memory is bad, but I'm assuming this was the Intel switch (correct me if I'm wrong). To think, I would have been a switcher way back in 2004 if Apple hadn't had those delays. Oh well.

 

I’d say absolutely switch. I did about 2-3 years ago and would never go back.

My biggest advice would be to be open-minded and learn the differences in the OS. If you expect everything to work exactly as it does in Windows, you’ll just get frustrated, because it’s not Windows and it doesn’t try to be Windows. The fact is that OS X can do a ton, as long as you’re willing to learn how (and it’s usually not hard at all). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a recent switcher that’s still in the Windows mindset trying all the hard ways to get something done and asking how and then answer turns out to be as simple as drag and drop. A great way to learn is just to hang around these forums and ask questions when you have them.

And just enjoy! Using a Mac can be a much more pleasant experience than Windows!

 

i am both a windows and mac user. i started with windows first. honestly, i think the 'mac experience' is overrated. i bought my first macbook last year and i definitely have *not* been won over in any way. i think leopard/snow leopard's gui is extremely rudimentary and almost childish in a way. it simply gets in the way of my workflow and i just find it irritating to work with (simple things like not even being able to cut and paste in finder, cmd-tab being a very bad version of windows alt-tab, etc etc)

but for your needs, it sounds like you do very little with your computer. in which case leopard might actually suit you. despite macs 'premium' pricing, they seem to be made for the 'common' folk who do very little except web browsing, etc etc. this suits some people. but is definitely not for me. mac finder is simply the most awkward filesystem shell to use and i can't be thankful enough everytime i go back to windows explorer which is about 100000x better.

personally i think windows 7 is miles ahead of snow leopard. i initially bought my mac because i thought it would have sped up my workflow (i do web/graphic work) but honestly its now just my general usage computer while my windows machine is still my serious workhorse.

money-wise, you will obviously get more bang for your buck if you go pc/windows 7 route. and if you don't like windows movie maker/sound recorder, there are a billion different free windows apps to choose from instead.

 

just made the switch, I'm a casual user that just uses the computer for Internet, word processing, and music Programs like Finale and Pyware.

I had never even touched a mac before mine arrived at my doorstep but I had the hang of it after a few hours. I'm still flummoxed by the Finder and exactly what you use it for, and I don't understand why everytime I open up an app I have to eject the icon from the desktop even though I have quit it in the dock, but I'm sure those are things I will get a handle on.

I feel the Mac to be just a little more intuitive. Sometimes with the PC anything you have to do takes a long search, due the the PC jamming it in some random folder hidden deep within the bowels of the Mydocuments folder. Everything on Mac so far has been easy and simply drag and place.

My favorite feature of my Macbook Pro is the trackpad gestures. When I first got it I plugged in my usb mouse, but after spending a few minutes watching the gesture tutorials I never used the mouse again. Such a great feature that is so easy, resourceful, and natural that I can't believe I ever went without it. Worth the price of admission alone.

 

The Finder is basically just what you use to do basic things like browse through files and folders. It’s the Mac equivalent of Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer). Many people don’t even realize it, but when you browse files on Windows, you’re in something called Windows Explorer.

When you download an app, it’s usually on a “disk image” that is mounted (that mounted disk image is the icon you’re ejecting). A disk image is treated like external media, like a flash drive or CD or something. “Mounting” it is like actually plugging the flash drive in or inserting the CD, the opposite of ejecting. You can run the app right from there, but if you plan on keeping it, you’ll want to drag it to your Applications folder. Just like how you can run an app from a CD, but quitting the app won’t eject the actual CD, quitting an app inside of a mounted disk image will not eject the image. Once you drag it to your Applications folder, it’ll copy in, and you can eject the disk image and trash the .dmg file for good.

Glad you’ve been enjoying your Mac!

 

Remember when you switch to Mac you are actually making two changes. First, you are choosing a new hardware vendor. Second, you are choosing a new OS vendor. As a hardware vendor Apple has a smaller choice of hardware options, but in general they do choose higher end combinations (other than CPU, where they are behind some options from other vendors in raw power due to only using mobile processors and BluRay which is its own can of worms with Apple). If you find that one of their hardware options matches your needs you are in good shape; if you have needs outside of what they offer you can become frustrated. As an operating system OS X does a good job of bundling the kind of utilities you are looking for. iMovie is better than XP's Windows Movie Maker, although the one in 7 is probably better, too. Garage Band does all kinds of audio editing that I don't think Windows has a built-in counterpart to (though there are probably dozens of third party apps that are). The best part of choosing the Apple/OS X path is that you can still have Windows 7 as well, you just have to buy it separately and install it yourself. You can wait and use just OS X for a while and see if you really need to also add Windows before buying that, too. If you do, then you are really only making one change (hardware vendor) and getting a bonus operating system thrown in.

I happen to like that OS X is a full implementation of Unix and make use of that. Others would rather that terminal.app and Windows' cmd.exe didn't even exist. If you are at all comfortable in Unix or even Linux, that could be another plus for switching.

 

that took care of it....thanks a lot, so much more to learn!!

 

I switched in April after 10-15 years on Windows (and a Mac before that and Win 3 before that).
Pros
- On every previous Windows machine I've had, I always had crashes, blue screens, driver problems, whatever. On Mac, just one hang in 6 months that needed a reboot. It just works.
- No anti virus, no slowdowns due to it, no need to schedule defrags, clean or fix the registry, etc etc .. I was spending a lot of time just maintaining Windows. Dont do any of that now. Just USE the computer.
- When I did have a problem - (mighty mouse bluetooth bug ) it was fixed within weeks by Apple. I don't think Msft ever fixed anything that was broken, you just had to find a workaround.
- look at a documents contents directly without firing up an app
- Spaces - virtual screens so you dont have to have every single window within the same space
- Expose - very easy to sort through all open windows, see whats what
- Time Machine -very nice backup seamlessly integrated

Cons
-Fewer apps around for any given task, if there are 50 on Win there might be 5 on Apple - and contrary to the popular myth, they aren't necessarily all super duper ones that are better than the Win ones.
-Cant break the Region coding on DVDs easily like you can on Win.
-Finder has a few irritations but also does some nice things Explorer doesn't do
-No 'move' equivalent, you cant cut and paste files, you have to copy & delete

Summary
Would I switch again knowing then what I know now?
In a heartbeat.


One more thing- buying time is much more crucial with Apple. With Win, you buy a PC whenever you want. With Apple, new hardware is every 6-12 months, so you don't want to buy (say) an iMac 2 weeks before the new super duper iMac that's twice as fast for the same price comes out. Be more careful timing your purchase than you would with Win.

 

I must say, I have used Windows 7 Ultimate and it's a vast improvement over Vista. Most of it comes in the form of better memory management and startup time, a new taskbar implementation, home group networking, and "libraries" that keep common folders. It's actually fun to use. It'll revamp your Windows experience through the UI changes and it'll give your computer that clean, fresh feeling.

For a while.

I'll be happy to praise Windows 7 for its good points. It's a great improvement. But like you, as a 20 year + Windows user, I know what happens to Windows. Why, just the other day I put it on my girlfriend's computer. I was so pleased with the clean, fresh feeling. Then I searched for the free anti-virus program, as Windows will always need one. It asked me to install the "defender toolbar", the spyware suite, the paid upgrade. Then it threw a shortcut on my desktop and ran its little icon in the system tray. I rebooted - getting to a clean desktop was noticeably slower. Then I installed Yahoo Messenger. Asked me if I wanted another toolbar, something else, placed its shortcut on the desktop, and threw its little icon in the system tray. I tried telling it not to startup in the system tray, but it wouldn't cooperate, and started itself up on reboot. I noticed its little advertisement at the bottom of its window before deciding I'd tweak it later.

Well, now I needed to download iTunes, as my girlfriend has an iPod. I'm going to knock Apple's Windows software, to be fair - I wanted iTunes, so of course it downloaded Quicktime too. Well, maybe it needs that. But it also installed Apple Software Update for good measure, which ran and offered me Safari as a Software Update. As a Windows user intending to use iTunes, did I need all of that?

Well, to make a long story short (Windows is a long story) my beautiful Windows 7 desktop was soon cluttered with shortcuts, the system tray filled with applications whose function in the system tray I didn't need, and the computer slowed down considerably with antivirus and spyware monitoring and system tray doo-dahs.

Sure, I could change the preferences for each app so it doesn't run in the system tray. I could gain back ram by shutting off my anti-virus and spyware protection, but that's not wise on Windows. I can clean the desktop. I could maintain the system...

And that's what I'm trying to say. Windows 7 is a great leap forward as far as the UI goes, but under the hood, it's the same old Windows. You will spend a considerable time maintaining the system to keep it running smoothly. You will need to download Windows Live Essentials for simple productivity - there's no native calendar or e-mail program included. To be honest, Windows programs like Yahoo Messenger and AIM are quite intrusive with ads and "toolbars", the junk that slows down IE.

Using a mac is different. Like the other posters have said, it has a human interface. There's no system tray, mac equivalents of popular Windows apps are much cleaner and less intrusive. It comes with a fantastic suite of applications for photos, movies, and music. The UI has a learning curve if you've been using Windows forever, but once you get it down you'll probably like it. It has an excellent backup system, a clean interface, and an intuitive system preferences control panel.

And a big thing for me is it lets me just do things instead of spending time maintaining the system. Windows is fine for people who can maintain it, but even so, why spend so much time maintaining something rather than just using it? To be honest, sometimes I get bored on my mac because there's nothing to fix. And I'm sure I can argue for Windows being inherently more secure or vice-versa for mac, or that mac is secure because less people use it, blah blah blah see other posts - You won't get a virus. No viruses. Really. 'Nuff said. No anti-virus software eating up ram. Never had a spyware problem.

Here's the way I see it.

Windows: An excellent choice now that 7 is out, but still requires the same degree of vigilant maintenance, and the same investment in time maintaining it. The enterprise leader, no doubt the best gaming operating system, but bogs down even if you're good at keeping it healthy. Applications are powerful and feature rich, but they're intrusive, and run all over the place.

Mac: Seamless OS and hardware integration. Virtually no time spent maintaining it. It really just works. Doo-dah free; never installed a program that asked me to install knicknacks and toolbars. Each new itineration of the OS gets faster, even on older hardware. Apps are self-contained - If I wanted to get rid of Safari, the browser, I can just drag it into the trash can. Imagine doing that with Internet Explorer.

So I recommend a mac. This is coming from a computer nerd who still likes using Windows because I know how to maintain it. But getting work done requires a mac for me.

 

you say go for vista, but your signature says different.

I have windows 7, looks nice and such, but I like mac os x more. Why? It's because I get treated like a child. I don't need to know what my system can handle or what os I need (basic of ultimate etc), no, when I install just plug it and start it and see a movie. No problems with drivers, no problems with viruses. And no maintenance whatsoever. I believe it's the opposite from windows (defrag, register keys).

Hardware and software from one manufacturer makes everything really integrated with eachother. Apple thinks every idiot should be able to use their stuff. So they try to make it as easy as possible, where as windows is a workstation os. It's not meant for people but for offices. You need to maintain it (an administrator, which every office has). Most options are also hidden in windows, don't know why, for example "run, msconfig", you need to know this else you wont find it.

by the way, iPhoto is a great program for photo's. Nice options to edit the footage, and a great way to keep track of all your photos (organize it on faces on the picture, date etc).

 

Making a switch and liking one OS over the other is a personal choice so the only thing I would like to add is that with the Intel Macs you can also install Windows so the decision really isn't a tough one anymore. You can now have both on one computer. So instead of hearing second hand information about which OS is better you can install both and try them out for yourself.

 

Ha, make sure you turn on your sarcasm filter. My signature and forum pic alone should be enough to let you know how I feel about Windows. I sure wouldn't be so rude as to recommend it anyone unless I was kidding

 

I've been around here long enough to know that you prefer Macs, but that message you left sounded pretty convincing towards Windows for someone who really doesn't know much/anything about Macs and is considering switching...

Might wanna edit it a bit

 

Hey Dan, nice to meet you!

Politics and flame wars aside, the iMac is going to be plenty fast and powerful for you, but it won't have tons of storage- far from it, Apple's low end imac has a 320gb hard drive, where 640gb drives are pretty much standard on all desktops (save for $300 desktops)

Also, while OS X is VERY easy to use, it's hardly customizable. As much as everyone flames Windows here for being a piece of crap, it's a customizable piece of crap.

Price per spec, the iMac (which is arguably Apple's best bang for the buck) is just outdated... I can get blu-ray, a quad-core processor, a much better video card, and save over $500 if I go with a Dell over an iMac.

The biggest advantage that OS X has is iLife. You can create amazing home videos using the included software, where Windows Movie Maker isn't so amazing, but unless you have the extra $500 to spend, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

Been There Done That

Your description of yourself sounds like I'm looking in the mirror. I had a Sony Viao for about 5 years with Windows XP was very happy with it until I got a vicious virus that caused me to have to completely wipe out all my files and go back to the initial settings. Had no back up and so lost all of the photos I had installed, along with other documents. I went with a Mac Mini as cost was a consideration and I can say that I am very happy. I did add an external hard drive to take advantage of the time machine so hopefully I will never lose any thing of importance again. They are very intuitive and without trying to bash as they say once you go Mac you'll never go back. Good luck and also keep in mind that eventually you will be able to run windows 7 on a Mac as well if you really wanted to.

 

I wouldn’t agree at all about that being the only major advantage. The thing is, the OS as a whole is just so much…NICER. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s a joy to use next to Windows, in my opinion anyway. I could list off some benefits of a Mac versus Windows, but it wouldn’t capture it. You just have to start using it to get it. If you have some kind of rental program or anything available to you, I’d recommend that to try it out.