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Making the Transition from Windows to Mac

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Kim88

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 4, 2009
1
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I'm new to these forums because I am considering making the switch from HP to Mac. I am sick and tired of having to buy a new computer every 2 years (if I"m lucky) because mine gets a virus or whatever (and I have a virus scan thing). My desktop computer loses the internet ALL THE TIME, but I admit that if I used my laptop, which is at school, then I probably wouldn't lose the signal.

So..tell me, what do you like most about your MacBook? Has anyone else made the transition from Windows to Mac. I use Mac sometimes at school, and I find it kind of confusing, haha. I figure it probably just takes some getting used to.

Thanks!
Kim
 
Kim88 said:
:pI'm new to these forums because I am considering making the switch from HP to Mac. I am sick and tired of having to buy a new computer every 2 years (if I"m lucky) because mine gets a virus or whatever (and I have a virus scan thing). My desktop computer loses the internet ALL THE TIME, but I admit that if I used my laptop, which is at school, then I probably wouldn't lose the signal.

So..tell me, what do you like most about your MacBook? Has anyone else made the transition from Windows to Mac. I use Mac sometimes at school, and I find it kind of confusing, haha. I figure it probably just takes some getting used to.

Thanks!
Kim
Click to expand...
I made the switch 9 years ago because I had to for a job. I have grown to appreciate the OS so much that we now have 4 at home.

The interesting thing is that where I work, has been switched back to almost all PC except for my area... whew!

I would never return to the headaches of constant maintenance, virus updates, registry headaches etc. That's not to say there isn't maintenance with a Mac, just much less cumbersome and much less stress.
 
What I like the most is that the operating system is very organized, and therefore, once you get the hang of a couple things, very intuitive and nice to use. Many aspects of the operating system are standardized and well thought out. This reason is on par with the OS being presently secure from all viruses and worms (it is so nice not to worry about virus or spyware scans anymore). In addition, it doesn't always "just work" as they say, but from someone who uses windows about the same as a mac, I can tell you it works a whole lot more often. With my work windows computer I find it does random weird, very irritating, things from time to time, that never happens on my mac, and it's 6 years old. You might not even notice them much until you use a computer when they don't occur. Really when it comes down to it it's the small things, things i can't think of that I notice day to day that make a large difference too.

When I got mine, I got the hang of using it after an hour or two just by playing around. A good place to start is System Preferences, under the Apple on the top left of the screen, which is equivalent to Control Panel in windows. Have fun, I know many people who hated computers before switching, and now love them.
 
I am more productive and less frustrated on a Mac.

You don't have a big selection of hardware but what's there is reliable and well designed. The OS interface and visual nature takes some getting used to but is far more stable, reliable, and requires much less maintenance. Its not glitch free but you'll encounter a lot fewer of them and recover faster from them.

The application software is generally less feature rich but smaller, faster, less buggy, more consistent, and more elegant. I much prefer native Mac applications. You can get get a lot of PC applications ported to the Mac and sometimes they can be as nice as native Mac apps but often they are just the same bloated buggy PC app, repackaged to run on a Mac. And through Bootcamp or Parallels or VMWare you can run Windows and Windows apps if you need to (and it seems less frustrating at least with Parallels because its leaner faster, and when its glitching or updating you can be productive in OS X until its done).

Good luck in your choices.
 
Even though there is a premium, Apple makes their products very well, and in the end you get what you payed for.

Get the Mac
 
Kim88 said:
So..tell me, what do you like most about your MacBook?
Click to expand...

The fact that it's over 2 years old and still runs as fast as the day I got it. My macbook should easily last me a few more years.
 
mslide said:
The fact that it's over 2 years old and still runs as fast as the day I got it. My macbook should easily last me a few more years.
Click to expand...

I hear that a lot from people I work with who have them. That became a selling point for me. I was seeing these people with Macs that were 2-4 years old that ran great, i couldn't believe it.
 
Primejimbo said:
I hear that a lot from people I work with who have them. That became a selling point for me. I was seeing these people with Macs that were 2-4 years old that ran great, i couldn't believe it.
Click to expand...

Same here. When I got mine back in 2003 my brother's was 4 years old, with no problems (my parents are still using it btw, with only a replaced hard drive). My PB is now 6 years old, and the only thing it's had done is a new larger HDD and 2 new batteries.
 
I have used pcs in my school since I started going. I have also used macs all my life, so I grew up on both but I am biased because the macs were at home and used them alot more often. I think macs are so much simpler and easier to do things, such as shortcuts, and tons of other things.
 
As someone who's only very recently made the switch (a month today) from the world of windoze I cant reccommend OS X and my macbook highly enough. It took a very short time to get used to the way a mac works and even already i find PCs fairly confusing and non-sensical. Everything in OS X is well thought out and very easily accessible.



As regards the favorite features on my MB...id have to say pretty much everthing, the multi-touch is great, looks fantastic and runs like a charm.
 
Kim88 said:
I'm new to these forums because I am considering making the switch from HP to Mac. I am sick and tired of having to buy a new computer every 2 years (if I"m lucky) because mine gets a virus or whatever (and I have a virus scan thing). My desktop computer loses the internet ALL THE TIME, but I admit that if I used my laptop, which is at school, then I probably wouldn't lose the signal.

So..tell me, what do you like most about your MacBook? Has anyone else made the transition from Windows to Mac. I use Mac sometimes at school, and I find it kind of confusing, haha. I figure it probably just takes some getting used to.

Thanks!
Kim
Click to expand...

This doesn't work for everyone, but if you don't want to plunge into a 2000 dollar macintosh, but want to try the operating system

look up Kalyway, its a hack that lets you run Macintosh on a PC computer, its not for beginners though.

There are a lot of problems and not every piece of hardware is supported. so only do it if you have a spare computer that may be a couple years old that you dont care about, or has a virus. this way you can try the system out, and decide for yourself with all the free time you want :D
 
my transition has just finished, took little over 6 months. with the purchase of a uni-macbook. and i never look back. if your really need windows, buy VM Fusion, the stupid thing is windows is actually better on a mac.

i will never go back to windows. no anymore. :apple::apple:
 
So..tell me, what do you like most about your MacBook? Has anyone else made the transition from Windows to Mac.
Click to expand...

You will just love it. I find most usful on my macbook is actually the multi-touch trackpad. very handy and just increases the usability for 10. Also the OS in general is a lot more stable, and nice to use. no errors, viruses, crashes. everything just works.

I don't know if like me on windows u ever tryed to share printers, or screen share. its a bitch to get to work. and if u restart your PC that it... all the settings are lost forever. Macs just work. Just do what u want them too. its brilliant. Get one, seriously.
 
Hi Kim!

I made the switch to mac about a year ago now and never looked back, now when i use a PC i have the biggest headache and get so irritated because using a mac is so much easier and elegant than a PC. Making the move was easy, any necessary files i just backed up onto an external hard drive, love the macbook and i am going to buy an imac this summer hopefully, they really are a dream to use and it is a million times faster than my old Dell laptop, boots up really quickly and i am never going to go back to buying PCs
 
the family PC we have downstairs is a nightmare, i hardly touch it anymore and whenever i do use it i always think "where is the finder" or "damn i keep forgetting this stupid thing dosnt have a dock" the most annoying one though is when i am always looking for the expose button and then remember that it hasnt got it, pure hell it is
 
I was using windows vista on a laptop and it was okay. Never really had any problems so I can't bash on vista. It was pretty good. But then I bought an alu MacBook and this was my first mac. I only had an iPhone and I love it. The MacBook is so sick and I got use to it rather quickly and it's so easy to use. The trackpad is great and love the fnger gestures. Don't hesistate to buy a mac, it'll be well worth it. It is a great machine and well worth the money for me. Peace.
 
I was a Windoze user for as long as I can remember, then in one of my college classes I was introduced to the wonderful world of UNIX/Linux which took a bit to get used to but once I did I fell in love with it. Then this past December I got an iPhone and fell in love with it which led me to buy a Mac Mini and I instantly fell in love with the ease of use and interface of OS X. Needless to say, once my HP notebook (w/ Vista Home Premium) bit the dust it wasn't 3 days later I was out buying myself my 2.4GHz MacBook and all I gotta say is WOW. There's not a thing about this notebook that I don't like and would recommend it to anyone.
 
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