Things you HATE about Macs...

[mithrilfox]

Make sure not to confused a corrupted system with "problems with Macs." I wouldn't consider it a problem unless a large section of the Mac using population runs into the problem with some degree of regularity. If the general experience doesn't match a particular one, it's probably an individual issue.

For those who having spinning beach ball problems, boot your computer while holding down the SHIFT key. You're now in safe mode. It just rebuilt some of the directory structure information, which should help. Also, in safe mode, run Disk Utility and do repairs. Check the disk while you're at it, too, and if there is a problem there, it may require replacing the HDD. On a MacBook, no problem! You can easily replace it with a cheap, larger HDD. I replaced mine, though the old wasn't broken or anything, just wanted more space.

Also, never upgrade from one OS to another version (like 10.4 to 10.5); always do a fresh install, that's the best way to go. Never do any major updates, like the 10.5.3 update, while running other programs or without first doing the safe mode boot + permissions repair. Never force your machine to shut down unless absolutely necessary (give it time if it seems to be locked up). Always leave plenty of available HDD space (I think you should consider your HDD "outgrown" if you have less than 4 gigabytes).

Other than those types of issues, which rarely happen, I have a couple complaints:

#1 Give us a REAL maximize button! Somehow, each program has its own idea of maximize, and it usually doesn't actually maximize the window.

#2 Let us right click on items within dialog windows. I don't use it much, but when I want to, it's annoying I can't.

#3 Spaces isn't as useful if I can't tell which "space" I'm in! Let me define a unique environment for each space, including a different wallpaper, Dock, and desktop icons.

#4 Make editing file's attributes easier by giving us a fully functional graphical interface to do it. Why force me into the terminal just to set or unset the invisibility of a file?

#5 Although it's less of an issue now then before, I hated opening up a folder or CD-ROM and finding all the icon files spread all over the place (when in icon view in the Finder). Having to go and click "Clean up" was silly.

#6 How about linking an application to its preference and other files in the Library folder? That why, when the app is deleted, it would automatically trash the preference file. It's nicer than manually going in and finding such files to delete.

#7 Get rid of the "downloaded from the internet" nag screen; Apple, they made fun of Microsoft for doing it, and then turn around and do it themselves.

and... the biggest one of all ...

#8 Stop with the plastic white theme! White plastic looks cheap, and it shows dirt and other damage better than many other colors. I love the new iMac design -- silver is the thing. Sure, maybe it'll fade and look stupid to later generations, but it's been in for some time now, and it doesn't appear to be getting dated anytime soon. Silver is cool, and maybe always will be! My satellite receiver is silver, my dvd player is silver, my PS2 is silver, my DS is silver, my iMac is silver, my Griffin Powermate is silver, my mouse is silver, ... everything is silver. Well, actually not my cell phone, but I wish it were.

OK, that's all.

 

[mithrilfox]

what annoys me about macs? not to be rude and these are my opinions (dont want people to think im trying to push my views on other people) but mac owners and the whole entirety(sp?) of the mac computer. Sure macs have "never had viruses" but that is because macs were never targeted for viruses, who wants to target a company which is smaller in comparison to microsoft all the hacker $$$ are in microsoft.

fact is macs had to start using intel processing units to run there "latest and greatest operating system" also not having a standar right click button on your mac mouse (meaning you usualy had to get a "right click" mouse seperately) is dumb.

IMO mac = waste of time and money and anything else that can be wasted

Hi Acronym!

I don't understand. You didn't explain how it was a waste of time or money. I can understand the money point, because Macs are somewhat more expensive than equivalent hardware on a standard tower. However, compared to other all-in-one units, or designer laptops, they are very much comparable in price (compare the iMac's specs and price to a Dell All-in-One or the Sony Vaio all-in-one units). I very much love the design, and really want the OS, so it's worth it for me.

Also, in terms of time, I spend infinitely less time fixing or figuring out my Mac... there just aren't driver issues, hardware conflicts, registry problems, DLL errors, PCI cards needing to be moved to a different slot, lagging shutdowns, etc. I know, some people do get some of these issues occasionally, but many of them are impossible for a Mac because it doesn't apply (DLL errors, for instance). I love not worrying about malware, which just infected my XP partition two weeks ago.

Therefore, it's a valuable savings in time for me. Although, I gotta admit, I miss the geekiness of playing with Windows trying to force it to do what it's supposed to do.

As for the switch from PowerPC to Intel, that has nothing to do with any problem in the OS. From my understanding, it's entirely an issue of what kind of chips IBM is going to be focusing on versus the direction Apple is going. Particularly, running temperature issues were prevalent if my sources are correct.

I do wish there were a cheaper, customizable tower option for the Mac lineup, but that is probably not going to happen (at least, not for a LONG time, and not under Jobs reign).

Have you been particularly disillusioned with a specific machine that you purchased? As in, did you feel you got a bum deal at some point with a Mac? If not, I'm not sure where your thinking comes from.

 

[BlakTornado]

I hate the fact I want to buy more!

They're like Pokémon! I wanna buy them all!

 

[mogzieee]

Ok, all you 14 ****s who voted "Microsoft PC's are better" come here so I can spit on you.

 

[ghoztman]

I never have this problem (although on a MB), there is a setting in system preferences to ignore accidental inputs on the trackpad, try turning that on.

This forum should have a thanks button.

 

[26139]

Good god

I would really like to be able to organize by file/folder instead of ID3. This way both the library i see in itunes and the actual itunes library folder are consistent with each other and organized.

That's because you're anal-retentively organized. I wish you and the other 100 people like you good luck, the thousands of us just fine with ID3 are humming along just fine.

 

[26139]

Good god

please guys lets not forget that mac had to use an "intel™®©" proccessing unit to run its OS if macs were clearly better then PC thn they would not have to do so.

The type of processor has absolutely nothing to do with anything. The switch to Intel was because of the limitations of the PowerPC chips, but Apple certainly had nothing to do with that.

also the right click topic? i never said you couldnt get a mouse withright click for macs i simply said over the years (up until recently) you had to purchase a right click mouse seperatelyhck im noteven sure if they come with right click mice.

Holy christ, enough with the right click. A well designed UI shouldn't require it. Mighty Mice come standard now and all laptops have two-finger on the trackpad right click, which is friggin' awesome.

dont even try to deny the ambiquity(sp?) of macs if hackers had actualy wasted there time on macs then macs would have viruses.

First of all, if you had a mac, you could use spell check for the word ubiquity. Or you're lazy.

On a more serious note, any hacker able to write a successful mac virus would be an absolute GOD right now. I mean, really, wouldn't they be?

PS...I just spent an entire morning reinstalling Windows on a Dell 8300. It took me two hours to find the correct goddamn DRIVER FOR THE SOUND CARD. How ridiculously stupid is that?

 

[GroovyLinuxGuy]

The Finder. I love all things OS X. But frankly, Windows Explorer is FAR superior for file management. WHY can't we have an explorer like view.

Oh, and the ability to CUT in the finder as well. REALLY annoying not having that option. I mean jeez, even Linux GUI offers this. (As well as an explorer like interface depending on the window system you are using).

Linux has a GUI???
....real men do file management through vi
Actually I really like the way OS X handles this...not a big fan of Explorer.

My pet peeve about OS X has only surfaced since moving from 10.4.x to 10.5.x. It now takes twice as long to actually shut my machine down...hmm wait, that's not really a pet peeve...just a statement really.

I think I just love my Mac!

 

[adesigner]

What's a Mac?

We all know that Macs are tonnes better than PCs, but hating things about something is the way they get better. Here are some things that really bug me (and I hoped would not be present in 10.5).

- The low battery warning will pop up six or seven times before the battery dies - and needs to be CLICKED to go each time.

- The green 'plus' button in the top corner of windows is very inconsistent - can't it simply make the window as big as the screen?

- When you shut down a notebook, you can't close the lid or it will go to sleep mid shut down.

- When resizing a finder window, the coverflow gets bigger rather than the list of files getting longer (10.5).


- eBay never works properly with Safari!

- The sleep light cannot be disabled. I like not shutting down my Power Book but, in a dark bedroom, that light gets annoying.


If Macs were perfect, Steve Jobs would have retired, so what annoys you about Apple products? It's just a bit of fun...

I can't complain, I never owned a Mac/Apple unit. My PC's run great. I still have 3 custom made units, 2 HP units and Toshiba, no issues. Why? With HP, uninstall the update manager and it will run just fine for example. Really, just stay off the porn sites. But after reading all that is posted here, I would say the Mac is not any better. If a PC is is built for the user, with quality parts, you shouldn't have any issues. I'm not crazy about Vista and why Gates jump the gun on putting this to market but it has more pro's than con's. Like file management, it works fast and you can see your thumbnails all the time. Look, I'm not knocking a Mac, never used one but send me one to test drive and I'll run my CAD on it to see if it's any better. OK?

 

[kuwisdelu]

I can't complain, I never owned a Mac/Apple unit. My PC's run great. I still have 3 custom made units, 2 HP units and Toshiba, no issues. Why? With HP, uninstall the update manager and it will run just fine for example. Really, just stay off the porn sites. But after reading all that is posted here, I would say the Mac is not any better. If a PC is is built for the user, with quality parts, you shouldn't have any issues. I'm not crazy about Vista and why Gates jump the gun on putting this to market but it has more pro's than con's. Like file management, it works fast and you can see your thumbnails all the time. Look, I'm not knocking a Mac, never used one but send me one to test drive and I'll run my CAD on it to see if it's any better. OK?

With a Mac, you can visit the porn sites, and everything still runs just fine

 

[Acronym]

you all missed my wonderful video of macs that i happened to find on youtube a couple years back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtZKp8_jOHo

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

you all missed my wonderful video of macs that i happened to find on youtube a couple years back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtZKp8_jOHo

Acronym are you here to have an intelligent conversation or are you here to be a troll?

Post scriptum: your youtube video link is dead.

 

[TH-Gunner]

The no manual eject cause the disc drive in my old 17" MBP to be replaced. I was burning a CD, Leopard crashed and wouldn't eject the CD, I rebooted, since the CD was still in the drive it kept trying to boot off it. Had to send it to the local Apple store and they had to replace the drive. Would of had no problem had it been equipped with a manual disc eject like PC laptops have.

Wow, so neither you nor the boys at the apple store knew how to hold the mouse button for ~1 min at boot up to get the disk to eject?

 

[shinchook]

Wow, so neither you nor the boys at the apple store knew how to hold the mouse button for ~1 min at boot up to get the disk to eject?

The only thing that doesn't work for is if you have a wireless mouse. Those who opted to be wireless can't hold the mouse button in for eject. I don't want to have a wired mouse lying around just in case I want to eject a disk on startup...

With that said, in this specific situation it looks like this person got scammed and was charged to change out a drive that didn't really need it.

 

[cliveports]

The Way the Mouse acceleration works. I'm an ex pc user and find it really hard to use the Apple mouse. I've tried Steermouse, mousefix and usbmouse none give me the PC mouse emulation. Come on Apple, it cant be that hard can it!!!

 

[Ti_Poussin]

Here's my list:

- two button on the portable (I know, cmd click, two finger click, but still so)
- Indeed, the wait for shutdown when the lid close is annoying
- The iMac screen can't be shutdown right away and let the computer running (sleep display.app to do soo)
- The networking browsing still not the best, it's the real bummer of OS X
- The instability over airport (with belkin router)
- Theme could be fun but not essential (nice to have category)
- MSN support in iChat, AIM outside USA is not really great (the jabber is not that great too)
- TextEdit and clipping revision is about time (worth less, both of them)
- Triple boot a la rEFIt
- Time machine, where you can select what you want to backup (invert logic option, I know why they did it this way, but that would be nice)
- Multiple copy/cut/paste a la PTHPasteboard, 1 isn't just enough (option to make many of them, use cmd+alt+v to choose from the last selection is so sweet)
- More hardware choice, all-in-one is beautifull, but a pain too, I would like a bigger screen with my iMac, ohh, sorry you have to change the whole computer !! no video card upgrade either.
- Quicktime not pro, it's so uselessssssss, please a pro version with OS X, no more crap about it. It so late in video player, we have seem the lightning many year ago, and finally eared the thunder of full screen in quicktime lol

 

[saltyzoo]

The Way the Mouse acceleration works. I'm an ex pc user and find it really hard to use the Apple mouse. I've tried Steermouse, mousefix and usbmouse none give me the PC mouse emulation. Come on Apple, it cant be that hard can it!!!

I guess I'm a stone-age mouse user or something. I switch between windows and mac all day via KVM using the same mouse in both and I have never once noticed a difference in mouse acceleration between the two.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I guess I'm a stone-age mouse user or something. I switch between windows and mac all day via KVM using the same mouse in both and I have never once noticed a difference in mouse acceleration between the two.

I also switch between Windows and Mac OS X all day, but via different methods. Sometimes I use Windows at work. Sometimes I fire up Parallels on my MBP. Other times I use my Windows PC. Not once have I noticed a difference in the mouse acceleration.

 

[br0adband]

The type of processor has absolutely nothing to do with anything. The switch to Intel was because of the limitations of the PowerPC chips, but Apple certainly had nothing to do with that.

Actually the switch to Intel was forced because Motorola finally came to their senses and realized, "Hey, we're spending a ton of capital keeping this one huge fab plant open and only one customer for the CPUs we're making: Apple. They'll never do much better than they're doing, and we're starting to make bazillions from cellphones, so that's where our focus needs to point."

And so it was, from the coffers of Motorola on a day way back in 1997 that the decision was handed down to spread the word that they were simply going to stop making CPUs for desktop computers - any desktop computers, and that left Apple standing with their talleywackers just a-swingin' in the wind. Of course, Intel was waiting with open arms, and the rest as they say is now computer history.

Holy christ, enough with the right click. A well designed UI shouldn't require it. Mighty Mice come standard now and all laptops have two-finger on the trackpad right click, which is friggin' awesome.

Wow, that's friggin' awesome, but even so, some people prefer the enhanced usability of two mouse buttons, or even more. The UI has nothing to do with it, as you put it.

First of all, if you had a mac, you could use spell check for the word ubiquity. Or you're lazy.

Ok, that's just rude, by any definition of the word. And owning a Mac just to get spellcheck? That's absurd. I read stuff all the time from this website, and even Apple.com itself with spelling errors, so don't go there. It's no excuse and most certainly not a substitute for being edjumicated in the first place.

On a more serious note, any hacker able to write a successful mac virus would be an absolute GOD right now. I mean, really, wouldn't they be?

It's been done, many times, but, as the saying goes: no one cares about Macs enough to bother releasing one in the wild.

PS...I just spent an entire morning reinstalling Windows on a Dell 8300. It took me two hours to find the correct goddamn DRIVER FOR THE SOUND CARD. How ridiculously stupid is that?

Sounds like a personal problem to me considering I just went to support.dell.com and found the driver(s) for Windows in about 9 seconds flat. Perhaps you're just not spelling the searches correctly, who knows. Or you're lazy, as you put it.

The biggest gripe I have about this poll itself is the last item on the list:

"I prefer Microsoft PCs."

If that doesn't promote elitism and just downright ignorance, I don't know what does. Hopefully I won't have to explain precisely why it's a bit stupid in the first place.

 

[br0adband]

Ok, all you 14 ****s who voted "Microsoft PC's are better" come here so I can spit on you.

It doesn't say anything about them being better, it says "I prefer Microsoft PCs" which is of course a ridiculous option in the first place and promotes elitism. The option on the poll - aside from being wholly inaccurate - is an expression of personal preference to which hardware the person answering the poll would choose or continues to use, not which is better.

Hell, nothing on the poll itself says "Which one is betterererer..." so get your head outta your keister and work on that comprehension, ok?

And as for spitting, these days that's almost attempted homicide considering all those nasty real viruses and stuff you could spread around committing such a heathen act. Shame on you...

 

[26139]

Rebuttal

Actually the switch to Intel was forced because Motorola finally came to their senses and realized, "Hey, we're spending a ton of capital keeping this one huge fab plant open and only one customer for the CPUs we're making: Apple. They'll never do much better than they're doing, and we're starting to make bazillions from cellphones, so that's where our focus needs to point."

And so it was, from the coffers of Motorola on a day way back in 1997 that the decision was handed down to spread the word that they were simply going to stop making CPUs for desktop computers - any desktop computers, and that left Apple standing with their talleywackers just a-swingin' in the wind. Of course, Intel was waiting with open arms, and the rest as they say is now computer history.

So you're saying you can't blame the limitations of the PowerPC chip on Apple? Gotcha.

Wow, that's friggin' awesome, but even so, some people prefer the enhanced usability of two mouse buttons, or even more. The UI has nothing to do with it, as you put it.

Uh...what's the difference between two mouse buttons and two finger clicking on mac laptops? Not a whole lot.
Not many PCs come with more than two mouse buttons, either. In fact, the might mouse has four clickable inputs plus the trackball.

Ok, that's just rude, by any definition of the word. And owning a Mac just to get spellcheck? That's absurd. I read stuff all the time from this website, and even Apple.com itself with spelling errors, so don't go there. It's no excuse and most certainly not a substitute for being edjumicated in the first place.

I was pointing out that it's easier to spellcheck on a Mac. Nothing wrong with expecting people to have proper grammar and be educated, is it?

It's been done, many times, but, as the saying goes: no one cares about Macs enough to bother releasing one in the wild.

There's no chance either of us can prove our points on this one, but I think you're still wrong. Agree to disagree, I suppose.

Sounds like a personal problem to me considering I just went to support.dell.com and found the driver(s) for Windows in about 9 seconds flat. Perhaps you're just not spelling the searches correctly, who knows. Or you're lazy, as you put it.

Did you then install those drivers and have them not work? Did you then find the CD with the exact same drivers, have to install those twice while being forced to wait through restarts?

All I'm saying is that this type of stuff is almost never an issue with Macs. Mac owners are spoiled, I guess. I get made when I ever have to install a driver for something new.

The biggest gripe I have about this poll itself is the last item on the list:

"I prefer Microsoft PCs."

If that doesn't promote elitism and just downright ignorance, I don't know what does. Hopefully I won't have to explain precisely why it's a bit stupid in the first place.

Nothing wrong with being elitist. It gives the common folk something strive for, right?

 

[saltyzoo]

Nothing wrong with expecting people to have proper grammar and be educated, is it?

Not as long as you don't mind being disappointed a lot.

Oh, and your sentence is not grammatically correct. "It" does not properly refer to any noun in your sentence.

 

[26139]

Ya caught me

Not as long as you don't mind being disappointed a lot.

Oh, and your sentence is not grammatically correct. "It" does not properly refer to any noun in your sentence.

True. Is now when I'm supposed to get mad and yell at you?

 

[shinchook]

Alrighty then,

Anyway back to the topic at hand.
I hate the fact that there is no video card available between the 8800 and 1.5 GB model (can't remember the name) I vote for a 1GB model as a mid-point for those that do a lot of 3d rendering or gaming (like me)

Just upset about the lack of video card availability and possible multi card ability

 

[DaveF]

I recently been using an external monitor with my MBP for dual monitors. I'm experiencing what others have said: the top-of-screen menu bar is not well suited for mutiple monitors. Placing e.g. my Numbers window on the second bar, and then having to mouse back across to the primary monitor to access the menu is simply cumbersome.

For this situation, I miss the Windows design of having the menu in the application window itself.

I hope Apple makes some changes -- perhaps just having the menu bar follow the application to different displays would do it. Or have the menu bar duplicated on all displays.