Disenchanted OSX noob needs Advice

I got a new 15" MBP AG and I like the machine in general but although I new quite a bit about OSX I expected less problems. The notebook is pretty nice although I thought it is less noisy.

On my first day of using the MBP under OSX I had one freeze and many many crashed applications. Is this normal that Flash is so bad under OSX that it is a pain to surf any Flash streaming clips website. I was on a page which managed to kill my Opera (and Safari) two within a few seconds of loading a movie.
Under Windows I never had a problem other than that my old Pentium M was too slow to much other stuff while powering flash.

Also I was hoping for a working divx 7/8 webplayer but that is even worse than windows. Aside from Chrome every Browser crashes instantly when loading the divx plug-in. You have the same?

I never was a big fan of the dock but I tried to get rid of all the unecessary apps but for some reason I cannot create a stack with Applications inside. Are stacks only for documents?
And is there a way to speed up this slow reappearance to instantly of the dock if you move it out. I am starting to miss the Win7 taskbar already.

I also prefer the switching speed of apps in Windows. Is there some superspeed way. I now some people like Expose but I think it is incredibly slow and inefficient to move the mouse all the time. Do you really use that or do you switch with cmd+tab alt+tab? Or do you have any tipps for app managment.

I also would like to know what Apple had in mind when they messed up the Germand keyboard even more than it already is. The @ at the L which is for no reason somewhere completely different and the brackets cannot stay there. But I am confident this can be changed.


After 3 days using it a little I am not to fond of OSX. The whole importing of pictures, movies and music is a pain that still takes forever. I thought iTunes and the likes only suck in Windows. It has some stuff you have to install in windows by default like spaces. There is a nice trackpad (that is awesome). But it feels a lot less stable than Windows 7. I never really had any problems with windows 7 or XP (never tried Vista) and even if OSX is supposed to be stable, that doesn't really help if the apps are not that you are running. Window never crashes on me either it is only some Apps.
It is also annoying having to restart everytime for gaming which I only do occasionally and in between some other work usually. Steam performance doesn't look to good under OSX.
The you switch in boot camp is also a little weird. I though you select on start up. Anyway under Windows 7 the MBP works fine but battery life sucks.

Am I complaining for no reason and I just don't know it enough yet or are those points somewhat true and I should consider returning this notebook in the next week and wait for an Envy 14?
The Envy is cheaper and faster but probably also not as perfectly looking. The MBP isn't perfect either the sharp edge is sharper than I thought. You never notice those things in store.

I hope people that switched or long time users can tell me honestly what the short comings of OSX really are and if it might actually be the wrong thing for me. I am an IT student I really never ever had problems with viruses or maintenance on Windows. Thus this it just works argument doesn't hold as Windows just works for me two.

My primary pros for OSX was that I like those MBPs (the screen is awesome) and I like to try new OS and always wanted to work with a unix system. I like the terminal and actually decided I wanted to switch when I was still using XP that really sucks in usability. I like when all I have to do to launch an App is press a button typ 3 letters and press enter. I just spent a lot of money on this machine and don't want to regret it after the 2 weeks I have to change my mind.

PS: My primary browser is Opera and it's philosophy I try to extend to the whole OS usually. I customize a lot and not so much the appearance but the behavior and I thought that OSX might be platform for this.

 

I made a folder dragged it to the dock and tried to move the icons in there. Didn't work for some reason. I also tried to move them to the folder first and than to the dock.

I did a lot of research. I also tried OSX every once in a while but never for more than an hour. I checked all the Apps I need all the time and if they are in OSX. Aside from Games they are but I am a very occasional gamer.
Well and with iTunes I expected it to be better under OSX. In Windows and with my old slow notebook it was just too slow. Compared to foobar2000 which could do everything in an instant or stuff in 2 minutes that took iTunes half a day.

I also don't need to buy Windows I get it for free. MSDNAA.

I installed also Flash 10.1 today and that seems to work better. At least it didn't crash on the website it kept crashing before. Must have been some bug.

You guys seem to think I hate OSX or anything. I just had some experiences that made me wonder and wanted to know if that is normal. My freeze was in OSX after I imported all my images and music at the same time watching a movie from my external drive on a second monitor and well doing this for about 1 hour at least. In windows gaming it gets loud but it never froze. In OSX I didn't do any heavy duty stuff since and it didn't freeze anymore.

I don't think I am too wrapped up in windows. I have been using all kinds of Apps that made my windows behave completely different than the average windows. And I also switched those often enough that I don't think ajusting to a new way of working with a machine is any problem. All I want and that is really important to me is that It can work (I hate when there is sometimes just no way to get something to work and I felt like flash was much worse than what I heard it was) and I want to do things with maximum efficiency. I don't like eyecandy too much if an icon, item, button doesn't serve a purpose I want it to dissapear. If a animation just slows down my workflow I want to shut it off. I think though that from what I have read about OSX that I should be able to reach an at least as high efficiency. What I really was worried about is that I spend all this money and the stuff I do needs Apps that crash all the time.

The thing about letting iTunes manage my music is valid, but I knew that before. I always liked foobar2000 because whatever you throw at it it did everything in an instant and it always did what I wanted it to do. When I got my iphone I was kind of pissed once because all I wanted to do is put a podcast from a teacher on the device from a library computer (In order to listen to it and take notes in a comfy armchair). That was impossible because it can only sync with one iTunes. The iphone is cool when it is jailbroken but otherwise it is just too annoying when you hit a barrier and cannot get any further. I only bought it because I needed a GPS smartphone in America that I can take home to Europe later. The iphone was actually the best deal I found and aside from the iTunes syncing issue it did everything I needed it to do.

OSX is completely different than itunes or the iphone as far as I read stuff about it and how many little apps and customizations there are. You should think my post is too negative. I don't wanted to tell you how bad OSX is but I wanted you too tell me that flash usually works and divx did too once maybe. DIVX btw works only in Chrome and there the full screen mode is beyond bad. It looks like there is zero post processing or some really buggy one. Do you have that too. In Windows it has great quality in full screen. Still kills some browsers sometimes. DIVX has good quality but I wonder if they ever test their software. I thought it was my old crappy notebook but the MBP behaves exactly the same under Windows 7.

 

Works now. I tried to drag the items(Applications) that I don't want in the Dock to the Stack I created but that didn't work. Now I made a folder in the finder and put it into the dock and from the finder I can drag everything there.
I do understand what the dock is, I simply assumed it wouldn't make a difference from where I drag the Applications as OSX might know which App alias it is.

My crashes were (except for the freeze which is not a crash) only due to plugins in the browser. They bothered me because it was on web pages I used to visit often or I wanted to use and not being able to use them is a problem. I have already 3 3rd party apps installed and aside from Better Touch Tool they all work fine. Better Touch Tool kind of messes up my 3 Finger Swipe in Opera. No Idea why but I will find out.

Exposé is quite nice I just have to figure out how I want to trigger it as the way it is set up right know doesn't work to good for me. In combination with cmd+tab and spaces which I put on alt+cursors apps switching works very well. Expose is great for many open apps but I usually only have few different apps open but many windows of one. Different pdfs look kind of the same. Spaces works better for switching then Exposé imo.

ad DIVX
I do have Perian installed because I like the Quicktime X design but how does this help me with the DIVX Webplayer. In Windows all I use DIVX for is the webplayer and that is the only divx I'd like to use in OSX too. Streams in Divx have good quality and it is the only way to get the stuff i want to watch in the original language and not some dubbed BS. I hope HTML5 shows up fast because this video plugins never worked too well.
I have VLC and QT now but afaik QT has the better hardware acceleration. I just want QT to behave like VLC. QT always pauses when I jump forward and I have to hit space again. That is unnecessary.

Anyway enjoy the world cup. Flash 10.1 seems to work fine now and divx is a pain in windows too. Linux gave me more troubles and I could work them out too. The notebook is pretty nice. I can sit outside in bright sunlight and the screen is still more than bright enough. For my gaming habits the 330M is also fast enough.