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When is the right time to switch to Mac?

combataran

combataran

macrumors member
Original poster
May 9, 2011
86
0
I have a 1 year old Acer, a 15"er with core i5, 4GB ram, GT 320m graphics. It's been a year or so since I've been thinking of switching to a Mac, with their nice lineup of systems and all. However, there is nothing wrong with the Acer, except for the occasional freezes which I find really annoying. I'm not in a hurry to get a Mac, just felt like getting a shiny machine.

So tell me people, should I switch, or not?
 
If you want to use a Mac now, the switch time is NOW! You can sell your current computer before or after you buy a Mac, depending on your financial circumstance and need of a computer.
 
Switch

When I switched, I had a less than 1 year-old Gateway 64-bit 6GB ram and was a general powerhouse. My problems started with the occasional freezes and then my program icons disappeared and were replaced with the blank document icons. Both Gateway and Microsoft provided solutions were to reinstall the OS, reset everything, and then re-register everything. Seeing that this happened more than once, I got tired of it and finally decided to to do what I had been thinking about doing for well over 2 years.

Basically, if you're thinking about switching, do it . I did in 2009 and haven't regretted it once. And I have had ZERO problems with my iMac. the only thing that went wrong was the WD hard drive that was failing. And since it was still under warranty, someone came to my home and replaced the hard drive for me and everything was perfect again.
 
RedCroissant said:
When I switched, I had a less than 1 year-old Gateway 64-bit 6GB ram and was a general powerhouse. My problems started with the occasional freezes and then my program icons disappeared and were replaced with the blank document icons. Both Gateway and Microsoft provided solutions were to reinstall the OS, reset everything, and then re-register everything. Seeing that this happened more than once, I got tired of it and finally decided to to do what I had been thinking about doing for well over 2 years.

Basically, if you're thinking about switching, do it . I did in 2009 and haven't regretted it once. And I have had ZERO problems with my iMac. the only thing that went wrong was the WD hard drive that was failing. And since it was still under warranty, someone came to my home and replaced the hard drive for me and everything was perfect again.
Click to expand...

Wow, really, no problems at all? That might just be the deal clincher for me!

The freezes really get on my nerves, and I can't seem to find any problems in the Event Viewer utility.(All I get is the warning when I forced it to shut down) I've even lost a great deal of work due to the freezes, and honestly, I can't take it anymore.
 
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It is now.
 
it's nice on the mac side

yeah, none at all. The fact that I was problem free made my wife want to switch and she get her own iMac as well. Then I got an iPhone and then a wireless extreme base station and then an iPad2, and then AppleTv.
 
RedCroissant said:
yeah, none at all. The fact that I was problem free made my wife want to switch and she get her own iMac as well. Then I got an iPhone and then a wireless extreme base station and then an iPad2, and then AppleTv.
Click to expand...
I'm getting an iPhone and iPad as well, just trying to find an excuse to justify a 'Switch Now' to the Mac.
 
I switched in 2004 with an iBook G4
Early 2008 a MacBook Pro
And I'm about to buy a new MacBook Pro

Experiences: the iBook crashed just once, it still works. The MBP never crashed. The only thing to crash now and then is ...
...microsoft office ;)
But due to the good filesystem, I've never lost work, only the last few minutes (autosave and pressing save a lot)

Very happy, I never go back
When switching the only thing I had to learn was to do less (I was used to do all kind of sys admin thingies and configuration etc etc) That is not necessary.

Good choice
 
For more than 20 years, I have seen people switch over to a Mac and in almost every case, people were happy overall.

Unless you have a very expensive type of PC, going to a Mac will cost more but the savings in time and aggravation are worth it. Sure today's Macs are shiny and nice to look at but what is really great about Apple, and has been their strong point in the computer business, is the operating system.

You can find issues about Tiger, Leopard, or Lion, but they are nothing compared to using Windows. I think the cat family of OS X has started to get somewhat bloated like Windows and has made machines a little slower and less stable, but when I pine for Tiger or Jaguar when things were at their finest as far as OS issues, I just think of all those poor souls working with Windows Vista. :)

If you get a Mac, maybe try by starting small with a lower priced Mac laptop or a Mac mini. This is what I did and along with external storage, an anti-virus program, and MS Office for Mac, I am pretty much set up nicely. I still use my PC sometimes for other tasks and for gaming and business apps (Excel, Lexis), the PC is easier for me.
 
It's great!

Like other people here, I don't see myself switching back to a Windows based computer. I disagree with 63dot though saying that the OS is getting bloated and making machines slower. I have a 2.66 GHz iMac and running Lion has not done anything to my computer in regards to speed. I also wouldn't start out with something lower priced like the mac mini b/c then you have to go and get the accessories from somewhere else or get really expensive accessories (like the cinema display). Just look at the Apple Online Store and loom at the refurbished or clearance products. they come with the same warranty as everything else does and the stuff is great.

And like Richard the 4th, the software I have the most trouble with is Microsoft Office for Mac 2008.

Switch now and forever hold your piece of electronic awesomeness.
 
Anytime you want but the best time is after a refresh as you can decide to buy the previous generation as a refurb or with reduced prices or buy the new one
 
Apart from the looks :cool: and the stability :)

The thing I like most about the mac, and that is what you have to experience to really appreciate, is the user orientation

I still work with windows at clients, and the thing still is (although win7 is quite good actually), you have to adapt to the computer, the logic to operate the thing is still computer logic. The mac hides that and the operating logic is more a human kind of logic. That is the biggest advantage together with the almost no-crash thing
 
combataran said:
Wow, really, no problems at all? That might just be the deal clincher for me!

The freezes really get on my nerves, and I can't seem to find any problems in the Event Viewer utility.(All I get is the warning when I forced it to shut down) I've even lost a great deal of work due to the freezes, and honestly, I can't take it anymore.
Click to expand...

I too have never had any problems with my Macs, and I own....

seven. Thats just actual computers, not counting iDevices 0_0

I switched about 3.5 years ago, when Vista was out. It simply was not capable of doing what I needed due to a pre-service pack 1 issue so I got rid of my brand new Vista machine, ordered a Mac and never looked back.
 
I got a Mac Mini when the first came out and I simply tinkered with the thing. In early 2008 I got a Macbook for my primary machine and haven't looked back. I use Windows 7 at work and every day I have to put up with:

1 - After resume there is a period of 30 seconds where the USB mouse stops working. Sometimes the mouse wheel stops working without explanation then starts working again 2 minutes later. Sometimes even plugging in a USB mouse doesn't help and I simply have no pointer until Windows is finally ready to listen to me. This alone is enough reason to ditch an OS, but there's more...

2 - There are prolonged "freezes" where the PC falls 20 characters behind as I type. Windows 7 is better than XP ever was but it's not OS X.

3 - While the machine geekbenches about the same as my Macbook and has more RAM, it is so much slower that you'd think it was a generation older hardware. It is 3 years newer than my Macbook. Pathetic.

4 - When I want to view a document in any MS format, I'm faced with a 15 to 90 second "loading" dialog while Word, Excel or Powerpoint struggles to load. Every document I ever open has "esc to cancel" on the screen long enough for me to consider hitting escape. Where is quick view? Windows zealots claim there is quickview in Windows Explorer. Let me assure you there is no such thing.

5 - Windows goes into brain vapor lock over the most trivial things like joining a wireless network or enabling or disabling bluetooth. It's to the point I try not to touch anything when I'm doing something critical so I can avoid the risk of having to sart over. And Windows zealots try to claim some equivalence between Windows 7 and OS X? Really?

6 - When I want to put the machine to sleep, sure the screen goes dark right away but it's still binging and bonging as I stuff it into my bag. I've never owned a Mac that behaved like a spoiled toddler when it was time to go to bed.

Many of these things are made worse by the strangleware the IT people put on PCs at work. I look forward to sitting down at my Mac when I get home. When is the right time to switch? It depends on whether you need Windows for something. A properly set up Windows box can run better than that pathetic PC I have at work but never nearly as nice as OS X.

Still, it's a good idea to go through the software you use and decide whether you want to get the Mac version, keep using it under Parallels or Crossover or simply let it go. For me, one program I wanted to keep was Paint Shop Pro. I tried it under Crossover and it didn't work. I wasn't willing to put Windows on my Mac using Parallels or Bootcamp so I found other programs to fill the gap. I use gimp (freeware), Acorn (shareware) and Sketchbook Express (shareware) now and I no longer miss PSP.
 
I keep seeing comments on how Windows 7 is actually quite good. As a Windows Vista user who is considering trying a Mac for the very time, it really makes me wonder if maybe I should just try Windows 7.

Just sort of thinking outloud here, I guess.
 
Sounds Good said:
I keep seeing comments on how Windows 7 is actually quite good. As a Windows Vista user who is considering trying a Mac for the very time, it really makes me wonder if maybe I should just try Windows 7.

Just sort of thinking outloud here, I guess.
Click to expand...

Win 7 is not nearly as good as OS X. The instances of "are you sure?" are greatly reduced in Win 7. They have been gone from OS X for close to 10 years now. Nuisance dialogs pop up every day in 7 and sit there waiting for me to interrupt my work flow and click "OK." I never see them in OS X. You can buy a book on OS X if you want to but if you have ever used Windows or Linux, you really won't need one.

The other day, I was looking for a setting in system preferences. I couldn't remember where it was. I went to search, typed two characters and every instance of that setting lit up and was easy to find. The whole OS is like that. Online help is helpful and things are logically laid out.

If you want to get some idea what it is like, spend some time at an Apple store or Best Buy and "do something real" on a Mac such as type up a short paragraph in iWork or create a spreadsheet in Numbers. You can't get the full appreciation for "the difference" in only a few minutes but you can begin to see if it would work for you. In fact, I'd say the user transition from XP or Vista to OS X is easier than the transition from XP or Vista to Win 7. Sure there are some new things to learn, but the way the OS gets out of your way and lets you work more than makes up for it.
 
I've had a few minor problems with my macbook but considering I bought it refurbed, it was about a year old at the time and I've had it for 2 years that's not bad. It's an early 2008 model and still runs about as well as any brand new PC (although not quite as well as a brand new mac)

I just upgraded to an iMac yesterday myself. Trust me, once you go mac you really never go back. No viruses to worry about, screen freezes are rare and rarer still if you don't force your computer to do above it's capabilities like I normally have done (admittedly, AE on an early 2008 macbook is a bad idea).

Basically, if you want a mac and have the money, do it. You won't regret it. Make sure to check the buyer's guide on here first though. When I bought my refurbbed macbook I spent 1200 on it only for apple to release the 13" MBP (same size as mine) with higher specs, brand new, for the same price a few months later. Most of the line is recently updated though so as long as you don't go with the mac pro you should be safe to upgrade today.
 
Sounds Good said:
Really? How so? Why is that?
Click to expand...

The start menu went through several changes going from xp to 7. My Computer is gone from the desktop and can be brought back with minor effort but control panel is a disorganized mess compared to OSX system preferences. These are small by comparison of going to the dock and spotlight, but I find the online help in OSX to be better. For the "average" user, I stand by my assertion that going to OSX is easier than going to Win anything.
 
Last edited:
XP and Vista to Windows 7

From what I have noticed and experienced, Vista is simply a GUI upgrade to XP to make it seem newer and more capable, but the fact that Vista was much larger than XP ever was simply made the OS unstable. Windows 7 makes it seem that Microsoft is trying to improve their OS(which they did by eliminating a lot of code). They also shrank the size of the OS and made the security much better. The only problem is, now they keep offering so many updates that the size of the OS is going to be huge again.

----------

The only program a lot of people still need Windows for is internet explorer. Even though Safari, Firefox, and Chrome do a good job of rendering most websites, there are still some websites and databases that require the use of a Windows-based OS or at the least IE. My wife's works at a place whose HR stuff is all done online and requires Internet Explorer. It's stupid, but they do and so I went ahead and put Windows 7 on her boot camp partition. I had a copy of XP, but I wasn't going to instal an OS that was no longer going to be supported. Anyway, MAC OS X is awesome, and OS X Lion is another great reason to switch right now.
 
Well, personally, I'll still need/want to use Windows for running some of my existing software (too much typing to explain why I need to use Windows, but trust me ;)). So I would need Bootcamp or Parallels/vmware.

And... believe it or not, I really really like having dedicated buttons for Home, End and Backspace. Yeah, I know there are keyboard "shortcuts" by using both hands and pressing two keys, but I much prefer using just one hand/finger for these buttons. Might sound silly to some here, but it's pretty important to me. I'm still struggling with whether or not I'll be happy with the changes on a Mac. Just being honest.
 
Sounds Good said:
Well, personally, I'll still need/want to use Windows for running some of my existing software (too much typing to explain why I need to use Windows, but trust me ;)). So I would need Bootcamp or Parallels/vmware.

And... believe it or not, I really really like having dedicated buttons for Home, End and Backspace. Yeah, I know there are keyboard "shortcuts" by using both hands and pressing two keys, but I much prefer using just one hand/finger for these buttons. Might sound silly to some here, but it's pretty important to me. I'm still struggling with whether or not I'll be happy with the changes on a Mac. Just being honest.
Click to expand...

I just upgraded to IE 9 at work. It's slightly less painful than IE 8 but why oh why are all those corporate intranet web sites designed so they only work in IE? I have mixed feelings about the buttons. Fn+delete for delete seems a bit awkward compared to simply having separate delete and backspace keys (rather than a single key that says delete but is really backspace). Goodness knows there's one extra key on every keyboard that needs to go: caps lock. It's a lot easier to turn off the caps lock key in OS X than in Windows. It's a quick trip to system preferences versus a .reg file and a reboot (from what I remember).

I'm a fairweather fan. If Apple screws up big time, I have no hesitation to use the alternative product from Microsoft, Google or whoever. I think Apple knows this which is why they maintain such tight control over their product. They know their products sell at a premium price point and people aren't going to pay extra for a product that doesn't work as well no matter how many commercials they see on TV.

But for now I like what Apple is doing... a lot. I've got mixed feelings about Lion but in my mind Lion promises to someday bring full OS X to a tablet and as an iPad user I can say that is not a bad thing at all. Lion brought an important new capability which is a full remote virtual display. This is something I've grown accustomed to in Unix and Linux over the years and sorely missed in OS X. Lion has brought this feature to the table and it's a big win when I can remotely log in to the kids machines and change settings without disturbing whatever they are doing. I do find myself fighting the whole versions and missing "save as" issue. Maybe I'll be able to make peace with it or maybe I'll have to find a workaround.

You mention needing Windows but before resorting to Parellels or Vmware, take a look at Crossover which lets you use a handful of Windows programs under "wine" emulation in OS X. I recently upgraded my HDD and I now have room to run Parallels but I'm biding my time looking for a way to avoid giving Windows its own partition. I'd rather have it run out of a dmg file or sparsebundle so its files would get backed up automagically by Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner. BTW, Time Machine is nice but it should never be your only backup.
 
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