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Stick to Gmail or use Mac's Mail Application?

B

blueprint1983

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Can anyone give me the advantages of using the native application for Mail in Mac (Leopard) instead of web-based gmail?

I can think of only this:

Pro

-Mac's Mail App. would allow me to have access to all my old mail without connecting to the net.

-All my contacts would probably be stored

Con

-Mac's Mail App. doesn't sync properly

-Mac's Mail App. would eat up more HD space (correct me if I'm wrong) with all my old e-mails.


(I searched before posting😀)
 
Dont worry with harddrive space and emails. People I help at work get 70-80 emails a day for 5 years straight and only have on average 10gb -15gb used up. And thats with pics and sounds etc.

5 YEARS....so with harddrive space I think your safe. Also people in my building who have macs never seem to have mail synchro problems. (Most of the time you see this is when people for get to allow their gmail to sync)
 
Webmail? What's that?


Seriously, I have never relied on web mail. Mail does the job for me and makes since given my workflow. I mean, I could goto the post office directly to send and receive mail, but I usually walk 20 paces outside of my front door to my mailbox.

Give it a try there's nothing to lose.
 
I rely on both, actually. There are some really cool things you can do with gmail's web interface (their search functionality... oh and the calendar, too)

I just used IMAP to sync the two, rather than POP. My iPhone also syncs via IMAP, as well. It's nice, if I read a message in one place, it's reflected at all of them.

Guess your mileage may vary - I rather like the web interface... and I use it much more than Mail.app
 
thechidz said:
dude, no comparison. use apple mail
Click to expand...

I know Apple Mail is better and now with imap Gmail, it all works great with viewing and deleting on the iPhone as well as Mail.

BUT... I always revert back to Gmail- It remembers all the addresses of people not in my address book. And I use iGoogle so my mail is displayed on my homepage anyway.
 
I would not worry about hard drive space for emails.

If so, then setup the email client to automatically delete old emails off the computer after a certain length of time (you can still keep the emails stored on the server).

By using an email client, you will be notified of new mail when it comes in.

I certainly prefer a client email program over web-based email, but that is because of the numerous email accounts I have.

I do not go after my email. My email is brought to me.
 
I use GMail webmail pretty much exclusively. I do have the GMail IMAP connector setup in Apple Mail, but rarely use it. For me the GMail webmail client is just more convenient and I can get to it no matter where I am or what system I'm using.

With the GMail notifier up on my menu bar I know the second I get a new email and can launch a new GMail webmail session directly from GMail notifier. 🙂
 
blueprint1983 said:
Can anyone give me the advantages of using the native application for Mail in Mac (Leopard) instead of web-based gmail?
Click to expand...
For me, Mail.app's integration with the rest of OS X and iLife is why I use it.

If I'm doing something stupid in Photo Booth and want to email it, I simply click the email button. Same with iPhoto. I find that so much quicker than having to manually attach things via the web interface. iCal also uses Mail.app to send email alerts to calender events.
 
mrwizardno2 said:
I rely on both, actually. There are some really cool things you can do with gmail's web interface (their search functionality...
Click to expand...

I find the opposite; Mail.app's search is much better than gmail's. I'm surprised at this given that Google's web search engine is so good. Gmail's search is very limited;

  • No wild card or partial word search, so if I have an email from someone named George, and I type Geor in the search box, it won't find it! And no, Geor* doesn't work either. Mail.app will find George if I type "Geor".
  • Limited advanced searching. Gmail has an advanced search, but it's still very limited compared to Mail.app's. Mail.app supports the full spotlight syntax, including Boolean queries and querying different parts of a message, so I can search for things like "author:George AND (subject:cards OR subject:canasta)". Gmail has no such equivalent.

There are a few things I like better about Gmail's web interface, but if I use IMAP to connect to Gmail from Mail.app, and have Mail setup to cache complete messages on my hard drive, then I get the best of both worlds; I can read mail offline, take advantage of Mail.app's for the most part superior user interface, and if I need to access my email away from my computer or want to use some feature of Gmail's web interface, my mail is still all on Gmail's server too.
 
I use IMAP gmail with mail.app on my mac and my iphone. IMO the mail program is far easier and more user-friendly than the webmail interface. But it's really just a matter of personal preference and comfort, isn't it?
 
You might want to check out Fastmail as an IMAP provider too - I've been an "Enhanced" level member for years and have been very happy with the service.
 
bilboa said:
I find the opposite; Mail.app's search is much better than gmail's. I'm surprised at this given that Google's web search engine is so good. Gmail's search is very limited;

  • No wild card or partial word search, so if I have an email from someone named George, and I type Geor in the search box, it won't find it! And no, Geor* doesn't work either. Mail.app will find George if I type "Geor".
  • Limited advanced searching. Gmail has an advanced search, but it's still very limited compared to Mail.app's. Mail.app supports the full spotlight syntax, including Boolean queries and querying different parts of a message, so I can search for things like "author:George AND (subject:cards OR subject:canasta)". Gmail has no such equivalent.

There are a few things I like better about Gmail's web interface, but if I use IMAP to connect to Gmail from Mail.app, and have Mail setup to cache complete messages on my hard drive, then I get the best of both worlds; I can read mail offline, take advantage of Mail.app's for the most part superior user interface, and if I need to access my email away from my computer or want to use some feature of Gmail's web interface, my mail is still all on Gmail's server too.
Click to expand...

You're right about the partial search, but they do allow you to do complex queries like you stated in the advanced queries portion.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7190

I use it quite often
 
new MBP user...I'd like to use Apple mail but I can't get it to send out emails....just receives email. I use Time Warner and a new .Mac account. Anyone willing to help?
 
For me it comes down to two things:

1.) I paid good money for an Apple product, I should utilize their applications if they're worthy (and Mail is).

2.) I perform many searches through the course of a day. I'd much prefer the ease and speed of a native desktop application, rather than firing up a web browser and having to wait between server requests.
 
I use a combination of both Gmail and Mail app.

I Have the Gmail notifier notifying me when there is new mail, but when there is new mail I go to my mail app, whihc I have set up with iMap Gmail. It works pretty good. Reason i dont just go to gmail.com when the gmail notifyer says there is a new email, is even though safari is fast, and googles servers are fast, there is STILL that 5-10 second loading screen for gmail. But just simply clicking the mail app in my dock takes like .5 of a second.
 
Mail is convenient in the sense that it's all in in your computer. I liked the analogy that the other guy used(mailbox is to postoffice what mail is to web-based e-mail). I suggest you organize your Address Book(such as giving nick-names) and discovere rules(which are like filters for gmail) and you'll find that in Mail you can customize so many things to make it satisfy most of your needs and turn it into a very useful application.
 
One thing Gmail can do that no local mail program can. With Gmail I can read my mail from any computer. I move around a lot and use at least three different computers.
 
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