SWITCHERS ONLY: What might we NOT like about switching?

[Jayomat]

Hi guys,

I realize that this is a Mac forum, so chances are good that everyone here is happy with their decision to switch from Windows to Mac. But since there's no sub-forum on a Windows forum called "I tried a Mac but didn't like it" I'll ask here.

As someone that has used Windows since before Windows (DOS) and has never used a Mac, what might I NOT like about it?

What might be uncomfortable or difficult?

What major learning curves should I expect? Etc., etc...


I'm sure you get what I'm asking here so please share whatever info you can.

Thanks in advance!

If you are happy with windows stick with it. if you don't "have" to switch because you need a specifitc application, just don't do it. It's not "THAT MUCH" better as everyone wants to make you believe. I still like to use my macbook though

You might not like the lack of customization, the need to drag and drop to move files (most cases), windows resizing, the dock, finder in general, graphics performance, lack of games, lack of professional software other than audio/video etc... the list goes on...

 

[appleguy123]

Things I miss from Windows:

Select an item, push shift, and select another to select those two items and everything between them.

Mac OS X does do this. Did you even try it?

 

[eleven59]

This must be me but I've never cared to have a program maximized on my Mac... Not even games. I always prefer to see multiple programs so I can click easily on any when needed.... It's also nice that just hovering over one let's you scroll thru it without actually clicking on it....

And resizing.. That takes me less than a second to drag and resize a window to what I want it to be.. if I even have to

 

[appleguy123]

Can't just hit Delete? Can't move up a level in the directory structure? Yikes.
Delete works in the same way as windows. You can move back and forth in Finder with three finger swipes on the trackpad.
Ya know what? These may all be little things individually, but collectively as a whole I think they'd drive me nuts.

I'm still on Vista... maybe going to Windows 7 might be the smarter move in my particular case.
Mac OS X and Windows are different operating systems. It seems like what you really want is for Mac OS to be a pretty skin onto Windows. If you want to try a new OS, minor discrepancies shouldn't annoy you too much.
Thanks for your help everyone, I sincerely appreciate your input.

Gotta do some serious thinking about this...

I switched from Windows to Mac 2 years ago. Best decision I ever made. I watched all of Apple's switch videos and committed the differences to memory. Switching to Mac didn't even feel weird then. Switching back to Windows however, I couldn't do.

 

[Sounds Good]

If you are happy with windows stick with it. if you don't "have" to switch because you need a specifitc application, just don't do it. It's not "THAT MUCH" better as everyone wants to make you believe.

Ya know what? This is good advice. After doing a LOT of thinking about this, I realize that I'm probably best off sticking with Windows.

When it comes right down to it, I'm really just "curious" about trying a Mac. I don't actually have a particular reason, and I don't have any problems with Windows (believe it or not).

It looks like both operating systems have a few advantages and both operating systems have their share of annoyances. Truth is, I'm having a hard time finding a real advantage to switching.

If I were starting out today I'd most likely go with a Mac. But I'm an old dude, not a kid. I'm very comfortable with Windows and I really LIKE certain things about it. In fact, the first thing I'd do on a Mac is try to set it up so the Dock works just like the Start button in Windows. A rational person would have realized long ago that this is crazy. If I want a Mac to work like Windows I should just use Windows. Duh. But my curiosity along with the attractive cosmetic looks of the Mac got the best of me.

I won't lie, I'll forever be curious about "the other side"... but in my case I think I'd just be asking for a lot of headaches figuring out how to do all of these things differently than I'm used to.

Anyway...

Thanks to everyone that helped by adding your thoughts, I really appreciate it. And since I can't be the only one out there with similar feelings maybe this thread will help them too. Some will choose to switch to Mac, some will choose to stick with Windows.

And that's the way it goes.

 

[appleguy123]

Ya know what? This is good advice. After doing a LOT of thinking about this, I realize that I'm probably best off sticking with Windows.

When it comes right down to it, I'm really just "curious" about trying a Mac. I don't actually have a particular reason, and I don't have any problems with Windows (believe it or not).

It looks like both operating systems have a few advantages and both operating systems have their share of annoyances. Truth is, I'm having a hard time finding a real advantage to switching.

If I were starting out today I'd most likely go with a Mac. But I'm an old dude, not a kid. I'm very comfortable with Windows and I really LIKE certain things about it. In fact, the first thing I'd do on a Mac is try to set it up so the Dock works just like the Start button in Windows. A rational person would have realized long ago that this is crazy. If I want a Mac to work like Windows I should just use Windows. Duh. But my curiosity along with the attractive cosmetic looks of the Mac got the best of me.

I won't lie, I'll forever be curious about "the other side"... but in my case I think I'd just be asking for a lot of headaches figuring out how to do all of these things differently than I'm used to.

Anyway...

Thanks to everyone that helped by adding your thoughts, I really appreciate it. And since I can't be the only one out there with similar feelings maybe this thread will help them too. Some will choose to switch to Mac, some will choose to stick with Windows.

And that's the way it goes.

You could always buy a Mac and run windows on it. It would let you satisfy your curiosity, and have a safe fallback to the OS you know. And a beautiful computer.

 

[GGJstudios]

For switchers in particular I do think it is worthwhile to leave the defaults as they are and understand what the defaults are and why before they try to impose something else.

I agree with you, in general principle. When I switched to Mac, I decided to learn the "Mac way" of doing things, rather than trying to make Mac work like Windows. For those who may not have a large or well organized music library, using the defaults may be fine. However, I had spent years building my library, ripping CDs and vinyl records, editing tags. All file names were exactly as I needed them and I had them well organized, much better than iTunes organizes them. For me (and for those who have a very specific music file organization), leaving those boxes unchecked gives us all the advantages of using iTunes, plus the advantages of well-organized music files.

 

[balamw]

It looks like both operating systems have a few advantages and both operating systems have their share of annoyances. Truth is, I'm having a hard time finding a real advantage to switching.

That's why true "switchers" are rare. Those who have a need for Windows will continue to run Windows, in a VM, via Boot Camp or on a separate Windows machine.

However many of us who live in both OSes prefer Mac OS X on a Mac where it is appropriate.

The only "advantage" is being able to use OS X for the things it is good at.

I agree with you, in general principle. When I switched to Mac, I decided to learn the "Mac way" of doing things, rather than trying to make Mac work like Windows.

That's what I mean. Making Mac OS X work like Windows is a sure fire recipe for frustration. It's not Windows. Just like Windows 7 and Vista can still confuse hardcore XP users. It's just different.

For me, I have a huge music library and letting iTunes manage it for me is a huge load off of me. I ripped all of my ~1000 CDs to FLAC with EAC as the source of my iTunes AAC library, and am in the process of converting that all to ALAC so it can live in iTunes.

B

 

[braddouglass]

however

If you use keyboard shortcuts a lot - e.g. window switching, copy& paste, start+anything, you may find it different when first using it.

They're mostly the same, just replace [ctrl]+ with [command] ie [ctrl]+[c] is just [command]+[c]

 

[braddouglass]

soo

If you are happy with windows stick with it. if you don't "have" to switch because you need a specifitc application, just don't do it. It's not "THAT MUCH" better as everyone wants to make you believe. I still like to use my macbook though

You might not like the lack of customization, the need to drag and drop to move files (most cases), windows resizing, the dock, finder in general, graphics performance, lack of games, lack of professional software other than audio/video etc... the list goes on...

So.. You can customize a mac pro just as much as any PC. There are plenty of games for mac, the good ones anyways. and they run them beautifully if your machine is equipped for it. and the gfx cards are good you just have to get a mac with a good gfx card. you cant buy a low end mac and expect it to run everything at HQ settings, nor a windows. There is tons of pro software but it is a little spendy, but what software isn't?

 

[chown33]

-No Directory path... Well there is. inside of finder you can turn on 2 options. One to show the folder structure at the bottom of the finder window (like a status bar) and navigate up/down a folder tree. open up finder, go to View> select show PAth bar.
2. customize the finder tool bar and add a path icon. This adds a trop down button which shows the path and lets you jump back.
3. Terminal command which shows the directory path right at the top of a finder window. This replaces the current directory name with the path.

4. Cmd-click on the title in the title-bar. A drop-down appears showing the entire path to the folder. You can then select any item in the drop-down and that folder will show. Or click anywhere else and the drop-down disappears.

As of 10.5 Leopard a right-click (secondary click) does the same thing. Cmd-click has existed since 10.0.

Oh, and it works in many applications, too. Cmd-click or right-click the title in the title-bar, and the path drop-down appears. Choose a folder and it opens in Finder.

 

[Sounds Good]

However many of us who live in both OSes prefer Mac OS X on a Mac where it is appropriate.

The only "advantage" is being able to use OS X for the things it is good at.

I'm not sure sure what you mean when you say "for the things it is good at." What do you mean? What things?

 

[chown33]

What if I just want my top 10 favorites? In Windows I just drag the icon (of whatever I want) to the Start button, then drop it into the list of my favorites (I'm not sure of the actual term for this). Can this be done on a Mac?

Two ways come to mind:

1. Make a folder called "Favorite Apps" or whatever.
Add it to the Dock by dragging it there.
Put aliases to your favorite apps there.

You can do this with any number of folders, so you can make collections of related tools (e.g. Video Favorites, Writing Favorites, whatever). You can also arrange the tools in sub-folders. I've done this for years with a DevTools folder of development-tool applications.

2. System Preferences > Appearance pane.
At "Number of recent items" make sure 10 or 15 or whatever Applications is enabled.
Apple menu > Recent Items > Applications
The designated number of recently opened applications will be listed.

 

[DemSpursBro]

I'm not sure sure what you mean when you say "for the things it is good at." What do you mean? What things?

The only real advantage, aside from aesthetics, macs have over PC is more user friendly video/music editing. Speaking from experience here,
you can do the same on a PC, but it's slightly more difficult.

Unless you're buying some old/bad brand, a PC will normally give you greater hardware capabilities and you can always dual boot or just only use the Mac OS.

I would like to show this picture that I threw together a couple of months ago.




Of course, it's speaking about games, but that also doubles as video/music editing capability.

 

[balamw]

I'm not sure sure what you mean when you say "for the things it is good at." What do you mean? What things?

They've been all over this thread, but you've been focused on the negatives.

Mac hardware: Multi-touch gestures. Yes, some PCs have "multi-touch" trackpads, but none are as smooth (literally and operationally) as that on a MacBook. Macs generally value quietness. This is a plus for anyone who works with audio or requires concentration. Minimal fan noise and such. Magsafe. It's a dumb little thing, but I've dumped my laptop plenty of times with the power cord before. It's nice to know I have some protection and it's saved me many times. You pretty much have to try a unibody machine to feel how different they feel than a typical plastic OEM box. Whether it's in your bag, on your lap or on your desk they feel solid with no little pieces to break and fall off. While YMMV, the glass over the display has been great for me with kids who love to poke at the screen. A micro fiber cloth brings it back to mint condition. I've also gotten so used to the darn MBP keyboard that I had to get one for my iMac and also use an Apple KB on my desktop PC. (Sad I know).

OS X: Display PDF is built in. This allows all apps to generate PDFs trivially, WYSIWYG works far better than on Windows and the Preview.app tool can edit PDFs in ways that require tons of software on a PC. Expose. Spaces. Xcode. Each of these has a near equivalent on the PC, but for many of us the advantage is to OS X's implementation. If you want to develop iOS apps, you should really do that on a Mac. Time Machine. Not perfect, but really nice for unattended wireless backup. Unix inside. For those of us who are technical at any level or who also appreciate Linux it's nice to be able to have a fully functional Unix environment just under the surface. iTunes works 100% better under OS X than the Windows port. For those of use with large libraries that matters. System wide scripting. Most Mac OS X apps can be scripted using Applescript or automated using Automator.. It's far simpler and more pervasive than under Windows.

The whole package. Battery life. Mac laptops running OS X tend to last a whole lot longer than their Windows counterparts. Power management just works. (I've had tons of problems with start up, sleep, wake, hibernate, shut down, etc... in Windows for years, and I see it hasn't improved with my wife's one year old Lenovo from work). I've also had PC notebook batteries that won't even last a year, but have never had to replace a battery in any of my Macs.

That's just off the top of my head and what is important to me.

If you gave it a chance you might find something that is important to you. If you don't you certainly won't.

B

 

[Sounds Good]

Not that this really matters much, but just for the record:

I was one of the first to own the original iPhone and have an iPhone 4 now. I bought an iPhone 4 for my wife and an iPod Touch for my son. I got my mom an iPad and I'm about to buy one for myself. So I'm certainly not anti-Apple. I'm just not sure I see a clear advantage FOR ME to get a Mac computer over a Windows machine.

But, who knows... maybe some day.

 

[2ndname]

I like to run both. I love Apple due to their simplicity. IMO it just focuses on working. You want to edit photos, get an Apple that is powerful enough to do that and it just works. You want to just surf the web, get an entry level Apple based on your preference (iPhone/iPad/Notebooks/etc.) and it just works. I'm actually waiting on the iMac refresh to set my fiance up with her first Apple desktop. I got her an iPad 2 and she loves it. For her, it's great to have a product that will work based on what she needs it for (Movie watching, surfing the web, editing photos). The fact that it looks clean and modern is a plus.

As for myself, I work in the IT field and our shop runs Windows. I love building my own rig every year and it keeps me current with the ever evolving computer technology. I'm glad that we have options.

 

[DemSpursBro]

I love building my own rig every year and it keeps me current with the ever evolving computer technology.

Just out of curiosity, why do you build one each year?

 

[balamw]

But, who knows... maybe some day.

So what is it that you and your family like about the iOS devices? Why did you choose them over a WinMo device? Why haven't you gone over to Windows Phone 7?

Why is it all or nothing? Mac or Windows and not Mac and Windows.

B

 

[r0k]

Not that this really matters much, but just for the record:

I was one of the first to own the original iPhone and have an iPhone 4 now. I bought an iPhone 4 for my wife and an iPod Touch for my son. I got my mom an iPad and I'm about to buy one for myself. So I'm certainly not anti-Apple. I'm just not sure I see a clear advantage FOR ME to get a Mac computer over a Windows machine.

But, who knows... maybe some day.

We started with Windows and Linux. Windows was buggy, crashy and the opposite of trouble free while Linux "just works." I had a Palm smartphone and it worked equally well with Windows, Linux. Because I liked Linux, I decided to try OS X. I found that my Palm smartphone worked as well with OS X as it had worked with Linux. One thing I remembered through this process is that Windows phones would only work natively with Windows and I had already decided to put that OS in my rear view mirror.

Then I got a Blackberry phone and had all kinds of sync problems. To be honest, I blame those sync problems on Apple and iSync but I knew that if I went to an iThing my sync problems would go away. Sure enough, I carried an iPod Touch and a Blackberry for about a year and my iPod Touch was always in sync but it was a knock down drag out fight to keep my BB in sync. I was relying on MobileMe to keep things in sync and the only down side is that it is a paid service versus google which is free.

When it came time to replace my aging BB, I considered Android but settled on iPhone so I could bring all my apps and data over from my iPod Touch. Bottom line: I could have chosen to live with a multi platform environment but living in an all Apple environment has provided a flawless end to end user experience for me.

If you like your iPhone and have a desire for an Apple computer, I can tell you the two play very well together. In fact, I can testify from experience that Apple is better at making any two Apple devices play well together than is Microsoft. Heck I remember the days when I was hosting lan parties that WinME, Win2K and WinXP couldn't see one another on a network because of incompatibilities in MS implementation of networking across the 3 OS. And these were similar devices.

When I picked up my iPad, and later my iPhone 4, I had all my contacts and calendar on the devices before walking out of the Apple store. I was not only impressed. I was delighted and I remain delighted in the way my iThings work. I think you can get Mobile Me free on windows (buy purchasing a $99 annual subscription) but as I've never tried it, I don't know how well it works. I don't dislike Outlook but I do resent the fact that unlike Contact.app and Mail.app it is not included with the OS.

BTW, while I've taken an "all Apple" approach, I don't think that's necessary but I do think it is better because of Apple's dedication to a quality end to end user experience.

 

[Sounds Good]

So what is it that you and your family like about the iOS devices? Why did you choose them over a WinMo device? Why haven't you gone over to Windows Phone 7?

Because I had never used a smart-phone before the original iPhone came out. So I was pretty blown away by what a smart-phone could do, and over the years I got accustomed to iOS. Now it would be weird to switch to a Windows phone -- or even an Android phone for that matter.

Same thing with the computer, I guess. I used Windows first, got accustomed to how everything works, and I happen to LIKE the way it works.

Believe me, the temptation to try a Mac hasn't gone away. But so far I honestly can't seem to find a true advantage to doing it -- other than to satisfy a curiosity.

 

[Liquinn]

I'm getting the 2010 mac mini Monday (and switching to OSX) but kinda worried what my dad will say about me getting one... I guess he can't do anything about it since it's my money

 

[zap2]

I'm getting the 2010 mac mini Monday (and switching to OSX) but kinda worried what my dad will say about me getting one... I guess he can't do anything about it since it's my money

I think you'll love your Mac mini, I'm a big fan of the form factor.

As far as you father, I expect he'll be impressed with it if he's not a tech person. I know people always seemed impressed the Mac mini was a full computer, and OS X makes it even cool.

If he is a tech person, he might insist that PCs are cheaper, but not in the same form factor(its rather hard to find a simiar PC with Intel chip...Dell makes the Zino HD, but it runs on AMD) And you can always run XP/Windows 7 to make him happy.

 

[Liquinn]

I think you'll love your Mac mini, I'm a big fan of the form factor.

As far as you father, I expect he'll be impressed with it if he's not a tech person. I know people always seemed impressed the Mac mini was a full computer, and OS X makes it even cool.

If he is a tech person, he might insist that PCs are cheaper, but not in the same form factor(its rather hard to find a simiar PC with Intel chip...Dell makes the Zino HD, but it runs on AMD) And you can always run XP/Windows 7 to make him happy.

True true. It seems like a lot of money but it should be worth it. I've wanted this a long time.

Would it be possible/legal to create a Virtual machine on my mac mini running OSX Lion (when it's released) if I don't want to upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion on my mini (when I get it/lion is out)?

 

[balamw]

Would it be possible/legal to create a Virtual machine on my mac mini running OSX Lion (when it's released) if I don't want to upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion on my mini (when I get it/lion is out)?

Unlikely, but you can install Lion on an external drive and boot from that when you want to.

B