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IT Professional Switching to Mac

I'm the Director of IT for my company, and I too have just switched to a brand new 17" MPB at home. Some reasons include MS VISTA (it's beyond horrid), the quality of Dell/HP/Toshiba hardware getting worse IMHO (cost cutting), and the simple fact that I believe in the holistic approach Apple is taking, even after the switch to Intel machines. They control the hardware and the OS, and as a result, they have a tremendous advantage.

I'm also a Linux/Unix guy, so I believe in the underpinnings of Mac OS X. My experience so far has been terrific, and I have faith that Apple will continue to improve / fix Leopard.

This is good stuff. I'm glad to be a part of it.
 
Web Development - Some other editors (if you don't need wysiwyg):

TextMate & Aptana are good too. I have yet to use Coda, although I am tempted.



I definitely recommend VMWare Fusion over Parallels. So smooth, and so much faster in my opinion, but not always. Parallels is fast for XP, but I like Fusion better.


I look forward to your review.

What RAM are you waiting for or do you recommend (not to hijack your post or anything)? I'm just surprised you'd be waiting for a specific brand. Any reason? I do know some people have favorites. I'm not that much of a hardware jockey anymore. Mostly software and web development, so always on the lookout for hardware tips.
 
I was a Systems Engineer with a an IT consultancy for 10 years. full MCSE, CCNA etc. When I began the web-site I invested in a MacBook thinking I could 'play' with OS X and still use Windows.

Three years later and the only PC I have in the house is my daughters laptop, and this is only given house room because her School IT is PC based.

Never looked back, now have three Macs and have 'converted one of my business partners to Mac! I love OS X, the Apple philosophy, the reliability, design, I could go on......
 
Funny to see how many people are in the same boat as I am.
I've been using Windows since 3.1 (WfW anyone?) and DOS before and am now awaiting my first Mac (MBP) tomorrow or the day after. I plan on replacing my complete desktop environment by the end of the month. After spending well probably days now, looking for alternative software, guides, informations, even some video tutorials, I'm pretty confident the switch will go smooth. I'm really looking forward to tools like iCal or Things and iWork. Now I just have to find someone to buy my one-year old PC and Vista Ultimate license (bought right after the release.. used for maybe a month since then.. always went back to XP).

Looking forward to the OP's review and to compare it with my own experiences.
 
The best way I have found to understand OSX is don't look at it like Windows and don't over complicate your thinking...OSX is really simple just don't go into it with windows thinking!

Impulz said:
Funny to see how many people are in the same boat as I am.
I've been using Windows since 3.1 (WfW anyone?) and DOS before and am now awaiting my first Mac (MBP) tomorrow or the day after. I plan on replacing my complete desktop environment by the end of the month. After spending well probably days now, looking for alternative software, guides, informations, even some video tutorials, I'm pretty confident the switch will go smooth. I'm really looking forward to tools like iCal or Things and iWork. Now I just have to find someone to buy my one-year old PC and Vista Ultimate license (bought right after the release.. used for maybe a month since then.. always went back to XP).

Looking forward to the OP's review and to compare it with my own experiences.
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scott9s said:
What RAM are you waiting for or do you recommend (not to hijack your post or anything)? I'm just surprised you'd be waiting for a specific brand. Any reason? I do know some people have favorites. I'm not that much of a hardware jockey anymore. Mostly software and web development, so always on the lookout for hardware tips.
Click to expand...
Newegg had a great deal on Kingston ram. $80 for 4gigs. No rebates etc to fill out, cant go wrong, its a brand name for a great price. I will probably sell my extra 2x 1gig Apple chips to my buddy (who I mentioned bought the MB earlier) because he only has a gig and they are compatible. So everyone wins there.

I am amazed at how many IT people work with Linux and Windows at work every day then come home and use a Mac. I have no windows machines in my house at the moment :)D I know I should be proud) Just 2 linux servers and a machine running ubuntu (the one im on now) I might have to install XP on a box here "just in case" or if I need to run some sorta background app at home. Heh, even my xbox is running linux! Now if only apple would come out with a new iphone (and get onto verizon!) then I could ditch this Windows mobile phone(i760) and really get into the apple lifestyle. I am really excited to be part of the Mac community. I am thrilled with all of the positive responses my posts have already received.

I just wonder how clients will react when I go to consult them on future hardware purchases and I am showing them Windows PC's on a Mac laptop! I will definitely try out VM Fusion, if not to test it for my own amusement then at least as a backup for running XP apps. My MBP is in Alaska at the moment. It should be here thursday morning. I might have to take a "lunch break" and go check to see if its there!
 
If you are wanting to run windoes apps. along side with mac then VM fusion is the way to go, if you want to have your own partition with XP on it look into boot camp (from apple, already installed on macbook) then that is the best option for that!

pcmofo said:
Newegg had a great deal on Kingston ram. $80 for 4gigs. No rebates etc to fill out, cant go wrong, its a brand name for a great price. I will probably sell my extra 2x 1gig Apple chips to my buddy (who I mentioned bought the MB earlier) because he only has a gig and they are compatible. So everyone wins there.

I am amazed at how many IT people work with Linux and Windows at work every day then come home and use a Mac. I have no windows machines in my house at the moment :)D I know I should be proud) Just 2 linux servers and a machine running ubuntu (the one im on now) I might have to install XP on a box here "just in case" or if I need to run some sorta background app at home. Heh, even my xbox is running linux! Now if only apple would come out with a new iphone (and get onto verizon!) then I could ditch this Windows mobile phone(i760) and really get into the apple lifestyle. I am really excited to be part of the Mac community. I am thrilled with all of the positive responses my posts have already received.

I just wonder how clients will react when I go to consult them on future hardware purchases and I am showing them Windows PC's on a Mac laptop! I will definitely try out VM Fusion, if not to test it for my own amusement then at least as a backup for running XP apps. My MBP is in Alaska at the moment. It should be here thursday morning. I might have to take a "lunch break" and go check to see if its there!
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I am an MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) and I teach and write courses. I have been doing this for many years. I have always said that teaching MS has paid the bills. I also switched to a Mac a couple years back. This made some people in my profession mad. I guess speaking at a MS conference while using my Mac was an insult to them....I thought it was down right hilarious!!!! Actually my Windows laptop crashed so I had to use my Mac. So many people made a huge thing over it...I decided to just use the Mac at all the conferences I speak at.
As far as being an IT Administrator, everything I can do on a Windows machine, I can do on my Mac. I feel that I am more productive using a Mac over a Windows machine. The look of the hardware and the ease of use of the OS makes a work day WAY better than using a Windows machine. I don't dread getting on my Mac like I use to on the other computers. For me, having a Mac is a way of life. Not just the laptop, iPhone, too many iPods, and soon Mac Pro, but the people and the Mac community.
As far as IT is concerned, ask a Mac user about their machine or about the OS and they will tell you how much they enjoy it. Ask a Windows users about their machine and they will try and challenge you on their knowledge and certification (I'm not saying certification are bad...they are very good....it is what puts food on my table.)

Off my soap box. :D
 
I am a Network Engineer for a large healthcare system and we of course use Windows throughout most of our environment. I bought my first Mac about 4 years ago, and about 2 years ago got rid of all of my Windows boxes and run Mac or FreeBSD exclusively now at home.

I just recently converted a hard core Windows user over to Mac and he's never looked back. The initial switch is a little 'different', but afterwords it becomes so comfortable and you begin to wonder what took you so long to switch.

It feels so nice to get home from work and just have a machine that works. When you deal with problems all day at work, it is refreshing to get home and be able to check your e-mail without some cryptic error that takes 6 hours to fix.
 
I'm getting a BS in comp sci with a concentration in IT this may. Been a pc user forever finally made the switch coming from the dell inspiron XPS (kind of like the beta m1210) never been happier. Absolutely love the terminal for mac!!! (except the delete key is kind of like always on insert mode type deal, i'm sure theres a way to change the options just haven't cared to look how yet) I know I'll never go back :D:apple:
 
pcmofo said:
Newegg had a great deal on Kingston ram. $80 for 4gigs. No rebates etc to fill out, cant go wrong, its a brand name for a great price. I will probably sell my extra 2x 1gig Apple chips to my buddy (who I mentioned bought the MB earlier) because he only has a gig and they are compatible. So everyone wins there.
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Thanks. I am just wondering does someone have to buy "mac" memory, or is that just marketing humbo jumble.

It seems that "mac" memory is 20 to 30% more expensive. Yet, I don't see why I couldn't just buy "pc" memory with the same specs.

I posted more follow-up with questions about CAS Latency timings at recent another MacForums Memory Discussion.

suprajoe said:
I am an MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) and I teach and write courses. I have been doing this for many years. I have always said that teaching MS has paid the bills. I also switched to a Mac a couple years back. ........
As far as IT is concerned, ask a Mac user about their machine or about the OS and they will tell you how much they enjoy it. Ask a Windows users about their machine and they will try and challenge you on their knowledge and certification (I'm not saying certification are bad...they are very good....it is what puts food on my table.)

Off my soap box. :D
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That's so true about Windows Users and Challenging knowledge vs. Mac Users and Evangelism. I wonder when it became like that.!
 
scott9s said:
Thanks. I am just wondering does someone have to buy "mac" memory, or is that just marketing humbo jumble.
It seems that "mac" memory is 20 to 30% more expensive. Yet, I don't see why I couldn't just buy "pc" memory with the same specs. [/URL].
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Yeah. I looked into the specs and checked Crucial.com All they say is get DDR2 pc5300 ram with I think 200 pins? and thats what I got. If you look at the comments for the kingston ram lots of people put it in apples. Kingston has the exact same spec'd ram for 'mac' thats $20 more.

I just checked. My ram is out on a delivery truck on its way to my house today(its great to live in upstate NY, close to newegg's shipping center, 1-2 day shipping while only paying for normal shipping. My MBP is now in Tenn. and departed at 4am. I would imagine that it would have to get to syracuse (largest city near me) by tonight so that it can get on a truck in my city by tomorrow morning.

PS. I love www.Packagemapping.com where i get to watch my packages progress
 
I switched from a PC to an iMac a couple of months ago running Leopard. I have to use Windows a lot for compatibility with clients and to use Access databases.

One 'missing' element in Fusion is that you can’t associate a file type to open with a set piece of software. For example, you can see an Outlook file on your Mac but if you click it, it can’t be told to open in Outlook. Similar with Word – it will default to Word for Mac, rather than Word for PC. If this feature was in Fusion it would make it miles easier to use.

So far, I haven’t been that impressed with the Mac and OSX – they work fine but the expectation of them was greater than the actual experience so far. Both Windows and OSX have their good and bad points. XP Pro is – in my experience – more stable than OSX. Both crash from time to time – OSX crashes a little more often, but nothing horrendous.

The packaged software in OSX is okay at best.

We’ll probably switch the rest of the office to Mac just to keep away from Vista.
 
MacHiavelli said:
I switched from a PC to an iMac a couple of months ago running Leopard. I have to use Windows a lot for compatibility with clients and to use Access databases.

One 'missing' element in Fusion is that you can’t associate a file type to open with a set piece of software. For example, you can see an Outlook file on your Mac but if you click it, it can’t be told to open in Outlook. Similar with Word – it will default to Word for Mac, rather than Word for PC. If this feature was in Fusion it would make it miles easier to use.

So far, I haven’t been that impressed with the Mac and OSX – they work fine but the expectation of them was greater than the actual experience so far. Both Windows and OSX have their good and bad points. XP Pro is – in my experience – more stable than OSX. Both crash from time to time – OSX crashes a little more often, but nothing horrendous.

The packaged software in OSX is okay at best.

We’ll probably switch the rest of the office to Mac just to keep away from Vista.
Click to expand...

You haven't spent enough time on OS X yet. At around the 6 month mark, you start to forget all about those ingrained PC expectations. I wasn't overly thrilled with it at first, but I appreciate it so much more now. File associations and the Explorer were my two biggest hurdles.

I was at a Doctors office a couple of weeks ago and he found out I was a computer guy. He starts asking me all these questions of why it slows down, how can he stop this crazy crapware from loading (he tried to uninstall it), etc.. That's the first time I truly realized how I don't miss my PC. I haven't had to deal with anything like that since I switched. I still have a handful of PC's, but they'll go when its time.

I actually felt bad for the guy and told him I switched a long time ago and didn't do any of that stuff anymore. I think he was a little surprised... (Plant that seed!)
 
I love reading stories like this. They're inspiring, for the most part ;)

I changed back in April 2006, wen't for one of those shiny 20" Core Duo iMacs. Back then I had a Acer Aspire laptop bought in July 2004, hasn't failed me yet, and a fugly black PC box.

I'm studying graphics design here in Iceland and usually around an all-PC (except for one classroom) environment and I love to hear some of the people talk about how they're PC's are acting up and full of viruses/adware and they had to reformat and lost all they'r music etc.

When there's a problem with a PC in the family they usually call me to come and fix it. I know my way around the Windows environment quite a bit and love to fix computers. There's just something about a good challange :D This really makes me realize how easy it is to use a Mac. I've already converted 7 of my friends to the light side.

I also noticed criticism about Mac's from quite a lot of people. Some of them base they're view maybe from an experience 6 years ago with an Orange CRT iMac or maybe they're friend tried it once and hated it and they are juse using his views instead of trying it for themselves and forming an educated view on it.

I'm certain you will love it and congratulations on your brand new MacBook Pro! I'll be keeping an eye out on this thread for the reviews :cool:
 
I just got notified it has been delivered to my house! It's here a day early. Work cant end soon enough.... I WAS going to go to the gym after work... hah... I also WAS planning on sleeping tonight.... so much for plans!
 
MacHiavelli said:
XP Pro is – in my experience – more stable than OSX. Both crash from time to time – OSX crashes a little more often, but nothing horrendous.

The packaged software in OSX is okay at best.

We’ll probably switch the rest of the office to Mac just to keep away from Vista.
Click to expand...

Hmm. Are you talking kernel panic type OS crashes? If so I'd be looking into whether this is a hardware problem or not. You shouldn't be having any crashes unless you're mucking about with low level stuff which it doesn't sound like you are.
 
scott9s said:
Thanks. I am just wondering does someone have to buy "mac" memory, or is that just marketing humbo jumble.

It seems that "mac" memory is 20 to 30% more expensive. Yet, I don't see why I couldn't just buy "pc" memory with the same specs.
Click to expand...

There is no such thing as "Mac" memory. It's either it works or it doesn't. Some RAM does work on Macs and some don't on other laptops. It's not a Mac/non-Mac thing.
 
this should really help your consulting business too

Hi pcmofo,

It's very interesting how you learned PC repair... by dealing with Gateway's way of shifting the burden back on you for tech support.

I'm guessing by virtue of it being a Pentium I 75Mhz, this would've been around 1994-1995.

At that time, forcing users to repair their own computers (especially users that had paid extra to upgrade to on-site service) ruffled a lot of feathers... probably creating a few million Mac users just on the bad-will those policies created.

But it sounds like you did a great job of making lemonade from a lemon (literally) and built a computer consulting business from the tech skills you've acquired.

I think bolstering your skills to get to know Macs better can really help what you do for your clients at Ctrl Tech.

It's still relatively rare, even in 2008, to find computer consultants for small businesses who are well versed on both Windows and Mac platforms.

This should definitely open up additional opportunities for you.

Good luck
 
alphaod said:
There is no such thing as "Mac" memory. It's either it works or it doesn't. Some RAM does work on Macs and some don't on other laptops. It's not a Mac/non-Mac thing.
Click to expand...

Well, after more research, I realized that Mac Memory, means you've gone to apple to pass the apple memory benchmarks, and I guess certain memory modules although they pass windows benchmarks, they don't pass mac benchmarks.

Having said that, I agree with you. There should be no reason that the Windows memory won't work in a Mac as long as the specs are the same.
 
Congrats! A few of the IT guys at my work have switched their personal machines to Macs. One of them after seeing how easy it was to get my Mac hooked up to everything at work has brought his iMac into the office. Sadly the purchasing department still will not buy people Macs.
 
Ok, that was yesterday you said it arrived at the house. Put that dang MBP down and give us an update... I feel like I'm waiting for the next episode of some TV show here. Don't make me bookmark this page. Or better yet, use my handy dandy web widget scissors and make a widget out of this thread.
 
Parallel lives with mac, windows, solaris, aix, irix

I've been in the biz for over 16 years from entry level techie to head of information security for a corporation. I've worked for unix shops, mac shops, windows shops and every mixture in between. Heck I even worked for a company that bought the NeXT koolaid.

x86 Macs are my machine of choice, bar none.
 
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