Whoa, I definitely started this response in the morning and kept getting busy ....
I'm currently searching for a new notebook and have a few on my list - the Macbook pro is currently on top. I'm a life-long Windows user and have been using Vista without any issues...happy user here.
I've played with the Macbook pro at the store...it's a great machine. A couple of things irk me, however...
1. Is there really no way to maximize windows w/ 1-click? In Windows, I can maximize a window to take up the entire screen. If I click the "+" icon on a Mac, it doesn't maximize the window....what's worse, if I'm in a browser, it sometimes shrinks the window to the width of the webpage...this drives me nuts. I realize websites have a bunch of unused white space, but if I want to maximize the screen, let me ***** maximize without having to manually resize.
This remains one of the most inconsistently behaving features of Mac OS, and it has been since at least Mac OS 9 and probably before. I've been using OS X since DPs of 10.0, and I still am annoyed by this constantly.
2. In the short time I was playing with the computer, I wasn't able to figure out how to re-locate my docs, my music, etc. On my Vista machine, I have multiple hard drive partitions, with my documents located on a non-os partition. I can re-point Vista's default location of my docs/music/pics/contacts etc. to the partitioned drive. Can this be done on OSX?
So while it probably can be done with some trickery - either by some aforementioned method or using CLI tools like symbolic links, I agree with those that say it's time to get modern. There are two issues at least going on here. The first is the OS integration -- at absolutely every level, the concept of home (~/) is integrated, so apps automatically know where they should look for various types of data. While my ~/Documents folder is very well organized inside itself, I still do use it for docs because it helps me communicate with the OS better. I *hated* that ridiculous Documents\ and\ Settings folder in Windows because the spaces were so friggin unncessary, and the actual folder, if I recall, was kind of buried. The OS X home folder is, within the Unix path, at /Users/darwinian for a short user name of 'darwinian'. Or even better at ~/. Or $HOME .... It's very much a part of the way Unix is "done."
Now, old time Linux folks often had partitions to deal with swap and home folders etc. but that's pretty limiting space-wise. I am very happy these days with 1 partition systems on a modern FS.
If you really want physical separation, do a proper backup of your drive. In your current two drive configuration (with you "home" folder on a separate physical drive), there's no good reason to believe either drive will fail first. So if your home drive happens to fail, then yes, you have an OS still, but you've still lost all your important stuff. Mixed media redundancy is still the best solution for this.
3. There are things that I REALLY REALLY like about the MBP, but I'm hesitant to drop $2500 on a new computer to gain some cool new features, but lose some basic ones that I've grown accustomed to. What other things bother you about OSX?
Two things immediately come to mind when I think of OS X v. Windows. (The last Win I used regularly was Windows 98. I have some experience with 2k, Me, Vista, Server 2003, and of course XP.)
I should note that OS X in nearly everything else but these two areas are far superior (in my opinion) to Windows.
However ...
The first is font rendering. I am a ClearType fan. I don't really know a lot about subpixel rendering and all that, but I do know that I prefer ClearType to OS X's anti-aliasing method.
The second is, actually, keyboard navigation. There are several windows in OS X that often are not accessible easily via keyboard (license agreements upon mounting disk images or installation, almost any small-title bar window such as some About dialogs and help dialogs). I recall about Windows that everything was easily accessible via kbd. Even the default kbd method of accessing the menu in OS X is cumbersome - ctrl+fn+F2 (this is configurable).
I generally belittle the customization claim (Windows is more customizable but trades off stability, UI consistency) and the compatibility claims (OS X documents not compatible with Windows and vice versa). I find more often than not that quality software on OS X isn't available on Windows and not the other way around (Skim and BibDesk, for instance).
[/QUOTE]
... will I have any limitations (from a vista user's perspective) if I make the switch?
Thanks for your thoughts.
When I switched in 99, I made a list of things I couldn't sacrifice and researched the solutions one by one. I decided that the sacrifices were worthwhile for the ones where a solution wasn't directly analogous.
Thanks for the responses.
1. I'm glad to see that many agree that they first missed the issue of non-maximizable windows, but learned to love it. I'm hopeful that I'll get used to the new treatment, but it still perplexes the hell out of me that with such a strong window management system (spaces, expose, touchpad gestures) that Apple wouldn't even allow the option of easily maximizing windows. You would think that the fact that it has such great options for multitasking that having maximized windows would work great because it's so easy to switch between programs. I don't understand the point of not even having the option...
munkery - thanks for the trick on how to set the default screen size for safari. this will come in handy, should i take the plunge.
For me, I actually prefer the window mode of Windows, even after all these years. Though Leopard has taken additional steps to really highlight the active window, I still get lost sometimes in a workflow of several windows and forget which one has focus.
