Just bought a Dell Vostro instead of a MacBook -- Here's why

[MacHiavelli]

There's no right or wrong here - just opinions.

Some of the things SOME or A LOT of people want (a max button, a quit button) would be very easy to incorporate into OSX. Some people might not like them but they could choose not to use them (perhaps the buttons available for maxing and quitting could be set in user preferences: those that want them can have them and those that don't, don't have them).

Apple could also offer a two button mouse and people would buy and use what they want.

Seems "silly" for people to argue over such minor things but it also seems a little odd for Apple not to make some of these small changes available as configurable options. There's no great benefit in NOT having a max button, for example, so what harm is there in making it available to those who want to see it and use it? Billions of people clearly find it useful, so why not listen to them? You can still try to re-educate them if you want.

Far easier to push a car down hill than to push it up hill. So get the passengers on board (at the top of the hill) with some minor tweaks and then coast all the way to the bank with increased sales.

By making the changes optional, you can keep both camps happy and get a lot more people eating from the Apple pie ;-)

 

[DannyBres]

isnt the mighty mouse two button?

 

[macgruder]

why am i forced to use one of apple's black and white backgrounds to mask the fact that the new menu bar is translucent?

This is a good point. And many long term Mac users are complaining about it. Wait for it to be fixed soon, I guess.

sometimes i am willing to give up os x's prettiness for the ultimate control i have over win xp through the registry, msconfig, safe mode, etc. obviously an idiot can get his xp box messed up very quickly, but a properly setup and cared for XP system is so much more satisfying than os x, leopard or not.

You haven't found the Terminal yet? Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal
Take a trip to http://macports.org/
For example, I develop Japanese language websites that run on a Linux server completely on my Mac. I have installed MySQL 5, PHP 5, Apache 2 and some pretty esoteric Unix stuff like the Chasen parser. If this isn't ultimate control I don't know what is

 

[macgruder]

There's no right or wrong here - just opinions.

Actually, there's lots of wrong here

Some of the things SOME or A LOT of people want (a max button, a quit button) would be very easy to incorporate into OSX.

Clearly, you have a different sense of what is easy and what is not As someone who works in design, too much choice often leads to loss of productivity - this is a well-known design issue, and it is far from trivial to balance productivity and choice. The way things are is fine. Think of it like not letting kids eat what they want. The lack of choice makes people eat/work better.

If you want a Max button, then use Quicksilver plus Apple script like I have, and set a key like F6 for it, or put it in the dock. And you can expand that to have 2 windows side by side filling the Window or 2 windows top/bottom filling the Window. I find these 2 more useful. Perhaps Apple should put 2 more buttons in the Window to satisfy me. In fact, with my new 30" monitor I'm looking to have 3 windows side by side, and I hope Apple will add another button. You see the picture

Seems "silly" for people to argue over such minor things but it also seems a little odd for Apple not to make some of these small changes available as configurable options. There's no great benefit in NOT having a max button,

Yes there is. Too many options reduces speed.

for example, so what harm is there in making it available to those who want to see it and use it? Billions of people clearly find it useful, so why not listen to them? You can still try to re-educate them if you want.

By this argument, billions of people use Windows so OS X should be an exact copy of Windows.

Basically, a lot of issues of this thread boil down to the fact that people haven't discovered command-H (or something), and are unaware that the concept of a main application window doesn't exist in the Mac. And certain users like nice colorful buttons to click

 

[skyrider007]

isnt the mighty mouse two button?

There's just one button, however you can virtually do a right click my lifting up one finger.

 

[MacHiavelli]

Actually, there's lots of wrong here


Clearly, you have a different sense of what is easy and what is not As someone who works in design, too much choice often leads to loss of productivity - this is a well-known design issue, and it is far from trivial to balance productivity and choice. The way things are is fine. Think of it like not letting kids eat what they want. The lack of choice makes people eat/work better.

If you want a Max button, then use Quicksilver plus Apple script like I have, and set a key like F6 for it, or put it in the dock. And you can expand that to have 2 windows side by side filling the Window or 2 windows top/bottom filling the Window. I find these 2 more useful. Perhaps Apple should put 2 more buttons in the Window to satisfy me. In fact, with my new 30" monitor I'm looking to have 3 windows side by side, and I hope Apple will add another button. You see the picture


Yes there is. Too many options reduces speed.


By this argument, billions of people use Windows so OS X should be an exact copy of Windows.

Basically, a lot of issues of this thread boil down to the fact that people haven't discovered command-H (or something), and are unaware that the concept of a main application window doesn't exist in the Mac. And certain users like nice colorful buttons to click

Oh, dear - that's me shot out of the water. And I thought I was offering an olive branch solution

 

[garyoke]

Ya - just like buying a car..........

I mean, why buy a Lexus, even if it is a good deal, when someone is offering you a Ford Taurus for a few hundred less?

 

[WildPalms]

Oh, dear - that's me shot out of the water. And I thought I was offering an olive branch solution

Olive branch for what? Someone crying foul because he/she doesnt understand the paradigm of a operating system that is different to what he/she grew up with?

p.s. your menubar not being fixed statement: sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables' -dict 'CI_NO_BACKGROUND_IMAGE' 0.62

 

[MacHiavelli]

Olive branch for what? Someone crying foul because he/she doesnt understand the paradigm of a operating system that is different to what he/she grew up with?

p.s. your menubar not being fixed statement: sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables' -dict 'CI_NO_BACKGROUND_IMAGE' 0.62

You're right in many ways, of course ....

But in other ways, I can see the business case for adding small options that help people to make the Win to OSX leap. It might impact on the pure design integrity, but possibly better to move a little if it helps Apple to gain more market share. Being "right" isn't always the best option.

Thesis (Pure Apple)
Antithesis (Windows)
Synthesis - (the best for long-term business model for Apple - I think)

 

[macgruder]

Oh, dear - that's me shot out of the water. And I thought I was offering an olive branch solution

Quite the contrary I am sympathetic to moving to a new environment, and when ex-Windows users do complain about things like 'hey, where's the cut and paste in the Finder', I think 'yeah, there should be'. Hell, I replaced the window minimize function with the old OS 9 version and I paid for it! So no Mac users aren't resistant to change.

What we are resistant to is bad change or change that seems good to users who don't properly understand why things are the way they are. Take this attention to detail: when you click on a Folder name it doesn't highlight immediately but waits about half a second. What's the point of that I thought at first, until it was pointed out that the Finder is giving you that half a second in case you want to double click. Now if a user came to me and said 'hey, there should be an option to change this', I'd tell them the same thing. No there shouldn't because if we have options for everything then there is no system.

The close the button thing is an example of a change that some users want, not because it's better, but because despite it being worse for them in the long term, they are used to it. We are suggesting: learn command-Q and one day suddenly you'll be doing it without thinking, and you're productivity will increase. In other words, we are helping you by telling you the correct way to quit.

Generally, there are dozens of little things that you are not happy about at first. But often they make sense. For example, I didn't like the fact that Safari doesn't select the URL when I click it. Then I discovered that it does if you click the favicon or do command-L. I know that the green button shouldn't maximize but I'm not altogether happy with the default behaviour: it should remember the position of the Window, I feel. But when it comes to the fundamentals of actions that have stood the test of time for over 15 years of the OS, you ain't going to get much support asking for change

 

[K-Funk]

Quite the contrary I am sympathetic to moving to a new environment, and when ex-Windows users do complain about things like 'hey, where's the cut and paste in the Finder', I think 'yeah, there should be'. Hell, I replaced the window minimize function with the old OS 9 version and I paid for it! So no Mac users aren't resistant to change.

What we are resistant to is bad change or change that seems good to users who don't properly understand why things are the way they are. Take this attention to detail: when you click on a Folder name it doesn't highlight immediately but waits about half a second. What's the point of that I thought at first, until it was pointed out that the Finder is giving you that half a second in case you want to double click. Now if a user came to me and said 'hey, there should be an option to change this', I'd tell them the same thing. No there shouldn't because if we have options for everything then there is no system.

The close the button thing is an example of a change that some users want, not because it's better, but because despite it being worse for them in the long term, they are used to it. We are suggesting: learn command-Q and one day suddenly you'll be doing it without thinking, and you're productivity will increase. In other words, we are helping you by telling you the correct way to quit.

Generally, there are dozens of little things that you are not happy about at first. But often they make sense. For example, I didn't like the fact that Safari doesn't select the URL when I click it. Then I discovered that it does if you click the favicon or do command-L. I know that the green button shouldn't maximize but I'm not altogether happy with the default behaviour: it should remember the position of the Window, I feel. But when it comes to the fundamentals of actions that have stood the test of time for over 15 years of the OS, you ain't going to get much support asking for change

I'd prefer an OS that does what I want it to do rather than the OS telling me, "Trust me, you'll like it better this way in the long run."

 

[macgruder]

I'd prefer an OS that does what I want it to do rather than the OS telling me, "Trust me, you'll like it better this way in the long run."

In a run of meaningless statements that one takes the biscuit. You may want such an OS but unfortunately you are not the only OS X user on the planet. Such a system doesn't exist and can never exist.

It's like those people who say, 'Why do programming languages have all this complicated code, why can't I just tell the computer what I want to do?'.


It's like me saying where is the option in Windows to move the start menu to the top left and make it smaller - not there? 'Hey, I'd prefer an OS that does what I want it to do rather than the OS telling me.' See how silly it gets. You cannot make an OS have every option for every user, and I can tell you the OS X team are not going to waste time on a huge project to give options to people where a superior option already exists when those people refuse to learn how to use the system correctly.

And all because some people want a red fisher price X button in the top right. You may want to make your guitar out of marmalade but trust me, I've played the guitar for a number of years, wood works better, and hell those Yamaha dudes just refuse to release the marmalade one despite the cries of my neighbours 4 year old.

 

[K-Funk]

In a run of meaningless statements that one takes the biscuit. You may want such an OS but unfortunately you are not the only OS X user on the planet. Such a system doesn't exist and can never exist.
...
It's like me saying where is the option in Windows to move the start menu to the top left and make it smaller - not there? '

My point was that Windows comes closer to doing what I want than OS X does.

And by the way, in Windows, you CAN move the task bar (and thus the start button) to the left, top, or right and re-size it.

 

[mosx]

I'd prefer an OS that does what I want it to do rather than the OS telling me, "Trust me, you'll like it better this way in the long run."

I was going to respond to the other posts, but that right there sums it up perfectly.

The OS should work the way I want it to. Simple as that.

As for other things..

This thread is a perfect example of why many people do not switch to Apple. A couple of fanboys in this thread, namely those being immature and saying things like "YOU'RE NOT TAKING THE TIME TO LEARN THE OS!!" and calling people "beginners" when they already know everything about the OS.. those people turn others off from coming to the Mac.

If you're someone who is looking into trying a Mac for the first time and come to a forum such as this.... what are you going to think when you see someone saying "this should really work this way..." and then a bunch of fanboys attack that person and call them all kinds of immature names?

Why deal with people who will call you names and attack you for wanting something to work the way you want it to?

Though I do find it funny that the fanboys who continue to use pathetic excuses such as "you're a beginner" (when someone clearly isn't) or "you're confusing things" when they're clearly not, when Apple is, in fact, moving their applications to act in the way people here said they should act.

BTW, vm7118.. good to see another person here with some common sense

It's like me saying where is the option in Windows to move the start menu to the top left and make it smaller - not there? 'Hey, I'd prefer an OS that does what I want it to do rather than the OS telling me.' See how silly it gets.

Actually, that option is there in Windows. You can essentially change Windows to look and act however you'd like it to. But if you don't know how to do that, I'm certainly not going to waste my time explaining it for some "beginner" who can just go pick up a "Windows for Dummies" book and learn everything on their own

 

[macgruder]

If you're someone who is looking into trying a Mac for the first time and come to a forum such as this.... what are you going to think when you see someone saying "this should really work this way..." and then a bunch of fanboys attack that person and call them all kinds of immature names?

"Fanboy" is calling people names. "Beginner" is, in your case, a fact. You talked about the Main Window. There is no main application window in Mac OS like that in Windows. You talked about Minimizing applications, I seem to remember. This doesn't exist in the Mac - you mean 'Hiding' an application. Ergo, a beginner, and confusing things.

I would point out the irony of saying name calling is immature and the using the word fanboy, but I fear you won't get it.

when Apple is, in fact, moving their applications to act in the way people here said they should act.

No they are not. The red dot closing applications is a decision that is made by the individual developer. Not a system one: you see, confusing yourself again. Please find one Apple application where it is useful to have no windows opens, and clicking the red dot Quits it. You'll find that Apple only does this for simple applications like the calculator for the benefit of users who haven't learn to quit properly.

Actually, that option is there in Windows. (yes, I'm a Windows beginner because I never use it so you won't find me going to Windows forums and telling experts why their system is wrong - although ironically a lot of Windows users ask me for Windows help - wonder why). You can essentially change Windows to look and act however you'd like it to. But if you don't know how to do that, I'm certainly not going to waste my time explaining it for some "beginner" who can just go pick up a "Windows for Dummies" book and learn everything on their own

Use Windows then. If it is so perfect and you can make it work exactly how you want it, we'd prefer you didn't come here with your misunderstandings of OS X and tell us things that are based on a few months of use, and have been explained to you numerous times; like why it is important that applications don't quit when you close the last window.

 

[mosx]

Wow talk about complete arrogance and inability to admit being wrong

"Fanboy" is calling people names. "Beginner" is, in your case, a fact. You talked about the Main Window. There is no main application window in Mac OS like that in Windows. You talked about Minimizing applications, I seem to remember. This doesn't exist in the Mac - you mean 'Hiding' an application. Ergo, a beginner, and confusing things.

This is the definition of what I just said.

So let me get this straight.. when an application has ONE WINDOW in OS X.. that is NOT the main application window? I mean.. there is only ONE window and EVERYTHING takes place within that window.. if thats not a "main application window", then what is it?



Seriously, just admit you are wrong. All you're doing is making yourself look foolish. Not only that, but you're giving Apple's dedicated fans a bad reputation.

Anyway, when an application has a single window and all activity takes place within that window, THAT IS A MAIN APPLICATION WINDOW. Even my friend's 3 year old daughter who just started using a computer could tell you that!

Oh, and by the way.. when I press a button and the window scales down to the dock.. thats minimizing Even Apple calls it as such http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459 "Command-M Window Menu
Minimize Window"

I would point out the irony of saying name calling is immature and the using the word fanboy, but I fear you won't get it.

Oooh look at that.

Seriously, just admit you're wrong. You need to do that just as you need to quit calling people "beginners" who clearly have more experience in computing, and life in general, than you.

No they are not. The red dot closing applications is a decision that is made by the individual developer. Not a system one: you see, confusing yourself again. Please find one Apple application where it is useful to have no windows opens, and clicking the red dot Quits it. You'll find that Apple only does this for simple applications like the calculator for the benefit of users who haven't learn to quit properly.

"Learn to quit properly" .. what a joke, seriously. Again, you're giving Apple fans a bad reputation, so please just quit already. I'm sure theres plenty of dedicated Apple fans who are reading this thread who are quite ashamed to be associated with a person acting like you are at this moment. I know when I liked Apple I was ashamed to have people like you "attacking" those who felt the PC was a better platform.

we'd prefer you didn't come here with your misunderstandings of OS X and tell us things that are based on a few months of use, and have been explained to you numerous times; like why it is important that applications don't quit when you close the last window.

Misunderstandings. hah! Again, Apple never does any bad (just look at people defending the $20 ripoff upgrade for the iPod touch). No, never Seriously, you were wrong. Admit it. You would look a lot better and you wouldn't be taking the overall reputation of Mac fans down with you.

There was absolutely no "misunderstanding", just stating how applications should LOGICALLY work.

 

[beate]

There was absolutely no "misunderstanding", just stating how applications should LOGICALLY work.

What feels "logical" is a matter of what one is most comfortable with. Either from experience or simply the way the brain is wired.

I've used both PCs & Macs since 1984. For me, the Mac is way more logical.

It's like breathing fluidly as opposed to being all tense and rigid...(for me)!

Mac OS is effortless - Windows is pain (for me).

...and I use both - every day.

 

[macgruder]

So let me get this straight.. when an application has ONE WINDOW in OS X..
that is NOT the main application window? I mean.. there is only ONE window and EVERYTHING takes place within that window.. if thats not a "main application window", then what is it?

You're still confused. This is an OS X Window (Source: Arstechnica):

Note: it has a bar, at the top with no menu, and three colored buttons. When you click the red button it closes the window, because that is an action performed on the Window. It doesn't then Quit the application by default unless the developer over-rides that action (and he needs a good reason for that such as the application is so simple that no window is not useful - see the logic: window actions perform actions on the Window). It also has other qualities such as being movable, resizable and scollable, and it shows ONE concept.

The big thing that you keep on insisting is a Window has none of these qualities and is NOT a window. Here it is:

As you can see, it is not movable and doesn't have buttons and has none of the qualities that distinguish a Window. What is has at the top is a menu bar. Within the menu bar you perform actions that affect the application (or the front window if there is one). See the logic:

Window buttons etc --> Window actions

This is the logic you seem incapable of grasping. Within this area, you can often view the windows of many applications only one of which will be in the foreground.

For example this user is 'in' Safari. But he can see other apps. This is not the Main Application Window. If you want to give it a name, either the 'screen' or the 'viewport' (if you want to be pedantic) would be fine. We don't usually need to refer to it though because we refer to the the Application menu as where we perform actions.

It certainly is not a window. People generally refer to it as the screen .

Anyway, when an application has a single window and all activity takes place within that window, THAT IS A MAIN APPLICATION WINDOW. Even my friend's 3 year old daughter who just started using a computer could tell you that!

So this is why you're having problems. You are listening to your friend's 3 year old daughter. You keep on talking about a main application window. But most applications can have more than one window and that thing that surrounds them is not a window - it's the viewport/screen. See above.

Oh, and by the way.. when I press a button and the window scales down to the dock.. thats minimizing Even Apple calls it as such http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459 "Command-M Window Menu
Minimize Window"

Very good. But you didn't say 'minimizing the window'. You said minimizing the application. Of course, a window action affects the window. But you keep trying to change this logic by saying the window action should quit the application.

Seriously, just admit you're wrong. You need to do that just as you need to quit calling people "beginners" who clearly have more experience in computing, and life in general, than you.

Clearly, you live in a parallel universe because pretty much all the comments on this thread have been explaining to you the logic behind the red WINDOW button not quitting the APPLICATION by default (and when when it does quit, it is for simple applications that have no use for zero windows). So what you are saying that all Mac users and all Apple engineers fail to see the truth that only you seem to see despite it working that way consistently for over 15 years (and working that way in Photoshop in Windows for example) and despite the many users who have on this thread given you the reasons for the way it works.

There's no need for me to quit calling you a beginner because in OS X that's what you are, and I'll happily admit that although I design, program, and build Japanese language websites and Kanji conversion systems, in Windows, I'm a beginner. Which is why I don't go to Windows sites telling them why I might think the logic of their system is wrong.

"Learn to quit properly" .. what a joke, seriously. Again, you're giving Apple fans a bad reputation, so please just quit already. I'm sure theres plenty of dedicated Apple fans who are reading this thread who are quite ashamed to be associated with a person acting like you are at this moment.

What planet are you on? Pretty much every Apple user on this thread has explained to you why and yet you insist on arguing something you don't understand, and supported my position. Plus the one user who PM'ed me thanking me for the explanations, and saying that he was used to quitting with alt-F4 on Windows and was worried about switching to Mac but this discussion and my explanations had made him decide to buy a MBP.

Misunderstandings. hah! Again, Apple never does any bad (just look at people defending the $20 ripoff upgrade for the iPod touch).

You talk about logic but you then throw in the straw man logical fallacy. I never said Apple does no bad. What does this have to do with anything in this discussion? Yes, it is a ripoff.

There was absolutely no "misunderstanding", just stating how applications should LOGICALLY work.

And finished with the circular logic fallacy.

You don't understand the logic, so to make it easy and to help you understand. The nice diplomat that I am here goes:

Application Menu > Quit :::: Quit the Application.
Click Window Button (default) :::: Close the Window. Stop.
Click Window Button > (alt 1) :::: Close the Window and Quit the Application (e.g. calculator)
Click Window Button > (alt 2) :::: Close the Window and Hide the Application (e.g. iTunes)

Alt 1 and Alt 2 are at the discretion of programmers to help people who probably should have quit or used hide because closing the last window wouldn't serve much purpose.

Clearly, you are not interested in learning OS X, so I'll leave that up there for users who might be.

 

[Manda]

I have used windows for years until i switched to the mac back in 2006 and have found things had to be relearnt switching from one operating system to another. I can appreciate people saying they like the x button and taskbar i used to find these really easy and quick to use. I know found since using a mac much more to my liking and prefer the way it works. I have real difficulty going back to windows and find it frustrating trying to remember how certain things work. I think every person is entitled to which ever operating system they find the easiest.

 

[vm7118]

after being a part of this thread, i decided that i would take some time away from the forums here at macrumors because some of you are, to put it simply, not very friendly. the very point of this place, or mosx and i thought, is to gave good-natured discussion. yet the first thing some of you are thinking about typing through your keyboard in front of your viewport, while manipulating your numerous application windows inside said viewport, is probably "nobody is forcing you to come here. if you don't like it, stay gone."

the only thing we are trying to say is that some people are used to doing things a different way. and no, learning new methods apart from those we are intimately familiar with DOES NOT increase productivity. a learning curve, no matter how steep or not, doesn't make someone more efficient until the end.

you guys, instead of just saying that yes, os x is very different, and yes, some things in windows do make sense also, are just refusing to admit any flaws relative to microsoft.

os x, in terms of being polished and inherently functional, is a WAY better OS than windows. i have no problem saying that! but for some people, like the original poster, windows is the better choice due to reasons beyond apple's control. be it compatibility with work, saving a few hundred dollars (which DOES make a difference when it is 50% of the overall price, mr. lexus-or-ford-focus) or sometimes MUCH more, better access to informal tech support, game playability, more hardware options, or whatever.

beyond that, some people just like the way windows does some things. sure a lexus is nicer than a ford taurus. what if it was an expensive imported right-hand drive lexus from the u.k.? some people would rather get a cheap left-hand drive 1967 ford mustang, which is tempermental, but when you take care of it and set it up properly it far surpasses the enjoyment of driving any unfamiliar lexus that feels backwards to you for a long time.

what i am trying to say is that some people like doing things the way they want. telling us that we "just need to take the time to learn, and then we will see it's better" doesn't hold water, because in the next sentence you are already talking about how os x is naturally easier to use.

 

[gkarris]

Arghh, this post back up top?

I was hoping this post will quietly go away with the new announcments...

(holds up wooden cross...)

 

[macgruder]

after being a part of this thread, i decided that i would take some time away from the forums here at macrumors because some of you are, to put it simply, not very friendly.....
you guys, instead of just saying that yes, os x is very different, and yes, some things in windows do make sense also, are just refusing to admit any flaws relative to microsoft.

This is not the issue here, as well as "just refusing to admit any flaws relative to microsoft" being strawman but we'll let that pass.

OS X users are very aware of the flaws of the system but when people come to an OS forum and insist that method x is poor and not logical (shouted), despite people at first patiently explaining why it is that way and why if you take time to learn something that is extremely basic (but perhaps tricky at first). Then consistently refusing to budge from their stated position on a concept that has been part of OS X for over 15 years and thus has stood the test of time while constantly confusing concepts and explanations, then the person is no longer engaging in discussion but is trolling.

Welcome to OS X. Get in the command-Q, command-H, command-W habit, and your productivity will increase, and I'll give that advice for free.

 

[Manda]

This is not the issue here, as well as "just refusing to admit any flaws relative to microsoft" being strawman but we'll let that pass.

OS X users are very aware of the flaws of the system but when people come to an OS forum and insist that method x is poor and not logical (shouted), despite people at first patiently explaining why it is that way and why if you take time to learn something that is extremely basic (but perhaps tricky at first). Then consistently refusing to budge from their stated position on a concept that has been part of OS X for over 15 years and thus has stood the test of time while constantly confusing concepts and explanations, then the person is no longer engaging in discussion but is trolling.

Welcome to OS X. Get in the command-Q, command-H, command-W habit, and your productivity will increase, and I'll give that advice for free.

I gotta agree. Nice to see people with sense on here.

 

[heatmiser]

I've been fascinated with Macs for a while now (and in fact, I'm typing this post on my 7-year old PowerBook that I bought last year), and so I strongly considered getting a new MacBook. But in the end, I decided the Dell was a better use of my money, for the following reasons.

...

I don't have any interest in any of the "iLife" stuff. I just need to do word processing and internet browsing. In the end, I really liked the idea of getting a Mac, but there just didn't seem to be any compelling reason to spend the extra money. I realize that it seems like most computer experts prefer OS X to Windows, so I tried to keep an open mind, but I just don't "get" why Macs are supposed to be better.

Hey, props for making this thread. In the end, it doesn't really matter which OS one uses to get stuff done; they're just different ways of doing the same things. Personally, I wanted to try something new, so I hopped from XP to Tiger. I'm on a Macbook, but would probably be doing the same things on a Thinkpad or a Gateway. Whatever gets the job done. I like the idea of using a vintage Mac; they seem to age well, and it's cool to see people using them without paying attention to whatever's trendy at the moment. I still see people using iBooks in college; this past semester, I used one as my sole machine for a few weeks, and it was cool. I figure you should buy what makes sense to you, and use what makes you happy.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

I just don't "get" why Macs are supposed to be better.

They aren't. Nothing is inherently better than anything else (well, except for Frosties vs Corn flakes).

The Mac is only better for those who prefer OS X. I, for one, am far more productive in OS X than in Windows. Heck, I've been without Windows for so long that I simply cannot work with Vista. It's so radically different from the other Windows versions that I get lost in it fairly quickly. And that's when I don't get what people see in Windows.

It's just a matter of personal preference.