Why should I switch to a Mac?

[kaylee]

Hmmm, I'm not too sure I agree on these 3.

I believe it should be:

Cappuccino ==
1 Shot of Espresso; then the remainder is 50% Steamed Milk and 50% Froth.
(Cocoa dusting: Wierd Australian Tradition, leaning towards Mocha)

Macchiato ==
Long Espresso with unsteamed milk wave on the bottom created by pouring over a teaspoon. Perfect layer seperation, just like creating a cocktail.

Latté ==
1 Shot of Espresso with Frothed milk. Rich Brown crema with 1cm of froth at the top. (I prefer served Warm to help differentiate from a Flat White and it also seems to taste thicker when the milk hasn't achieved anywhere near boiling point.)

P.S. I'm not a Barrister so this is my interpretation only

ok, with the 50% milk, 50% froth on the cappuccino- its not how i make it at work, its actually probably closer to 3/4 milk 1/4 froth - especially given that customers will complain if you give them too much froth that they are "only getting half a cup of coffee" (even though the actual coffee is only a 30ml shot, and the point of a cappuccino is the froth i thought). also the cocoa dusting on the cappuccino is never to the same extent of how much you put in a mocha (its a whole spoonful in the mocha compared to a sprinkle from a shaker on the cappuccino). from what i've been told, traditionally a latte is meant to be a warm coffee, but with the way customers are you cant serve it like that - they will complain its not hot enough. we even get customers that complain that 80 degrees celsius (not sure on what that is in farenheit?) is not hot enough for their coffee, even though milk starts to boil and burn at 85, and the coffee will be bitter if we have to make it hotter than that (the milk at that temp burns the shot of coffee). as for macchiatos and affaghatos, we dont make them very often at work (in the year i've been there, its only been a handful of times), and whether they are made on a long black or short black seems to vary depending on where you buy your coffee.

 

[kaylee]

Apologies to my multitude of American friends, but after living in Riverside CA for 8 months in 2002 and visiting Star-bugs all over USA looking for an authentic coffee, I have yet to find one that rates above about 3-4 on the CQ (caffeine quality) scale. Several times I have leapt the counter to demonstrate to a "trained" Star-bugs employee how to make a proper cup of coffee, rule #1 being DON'T EVER PUT THE ESPRESSO INTO A STEEL JUG AND TRANSFER IT TO A CUP - YOU LOSE THE CREMA, BUFFHEAD!

Gloria Jean, now open in Australia (alongside Krispy Kreme) have taken bottom place in coffee standards, just dreadful.

on the putting the espresso in a steel jug and transfering it - yes it loses the crema, im not arguing that, but the reason they may have to do that is because they serve their coffee in tall paper cups and those may not fit under the handles on the coffee machine. i was also taught at a hospitality course that i did, to put the espresso into a jug and transfer it as a presentation thing - you dont end up with splashes all over the cup. at work however, the espresso goes straight into cups (we dont have time to stuff about with jugs even if we wanted to, plus we dont use paper cups except for takeaways).

and i have to agree that gloria jeans is really bad (and im not just saying that because they are the competition).

 

[ozimax]

Well said Kaylee, well said. Yes, good coffee (and BTW don't ever buy Australian produced coffee - we just don't have the right climate for Coffee) should only ever be warm, not hot and definitely not boiling.

I demonstrated to a Star-bugs employee one day that all they had to do was put the paper cup on an angle, there's not much coffee in a shot and it won't overflow! They were astounded. It makes you wonder what they teach at hospitality school!

As far as other coffee establishments, McCafe, Coffee Club, etc all terrible coffee. Jamaica Blue is OK, actually Donut King franchises have a very nice blend of coffee.

How to find a good coffee shop? Look for a (not bald) but completely shaven barista in a place filled with uni students - uni students complain about not having money but they would rather spend $3.50 on a good coffee than buy vegies etc...my sentiments exactly.

Best coffee blends? Lavazza and Grinders IMHO. Cheers, Max

 

[ozimax]

Almost 2 months with iBook...some thoughts etcetera

Thanks to all the helpful people at macrumors.

After almost 2 months with my little iBook here are a few observations:

1. Screen is sensational, definitely better than the very good Sony Vaio I sold

2. Applications included are almost too many, great value

3. iTunes application is unreal

4. Photoshop is a little slower than on the PC, even with 640MB ram, but it justs seems to run more smoothly, can't quite explain how.

5. CD buring is absolutely no-brainer-territory, as good as if not better than the excellent XP version (eg drag and drop)

6. I'm still working my way through the differences in the OS interfaces, will just take a little time

7. Just returned home from 3,500 km vacation to southern NSW, kids spent 3-4 hrs each day looking at DVD's in the car, the battery lasts forever.

Conclusion:

Even though I havn't got much work done in last month, (can't say I'm complaining), things are doing very well. Looking forward to some heavy productivity on the Pagemaker front this May with iBook.

Cheers, Max
Coffs Harbour
NSW

 

[Skeeball236]

del

 

[matthk]

Actually, "macchiato" means "to stain" (got that one from a chef), hence a short black or espresso is simply stained with a dollop of foam etc to form a macchiato. Max

[SIZE=-1]
Well Max, you're a bit right, or a bit wrong,
depending on your outlook.

Macchiato does indeed mean "stain" but it should
never be made with foam! That's what the
half-wits at Starbucks do (and what would they
know about coffee? Feck all!)

A proper macchiato is an espresso, in a glass,
with a tiny dash of cold milk, that never
reaches the bottom.

The milk, poured s-l-o-w-l-y makes a spidery stain
on the top of the coffee, which then settles on top,
giving the black coffee a caramel coloured top.

remember, it means "stain" If you used foam, it doesn't
stain, it just colours. (Maybe you should call you coffee a
"cafe colore!)

cheers,
matt
[/SIZE]

 

[varmit]

PC user for last 15 years, started with XT around 1989, have always had pc's, presently running a Sony Vaio, but am seriously considering switching to a G4 iBook. I use mainly pagemaker 6.5, photoshop elements, Finale (music software) and web browsing.

Considering the cost of changing software to Max OS, why should I make the switch?

Max
Brisbane, Australia

The only question is, what will keep you from switching. If you say that you love viruses, spyware, and Windows problems by all means, stay a Windows user. But if you want to be more productive and have more fun working with your computer than having it working against you, and all the programs that want to use have a Mac equavalent, then make the move.

Pagemaker is on the Mac: http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/pm_ind.html

Photoshop Elements is too: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelmac/main.html

Finale: Use Garageband, free with your new Mac or get Logic www.apple.com/software/pro/logic .

Web: Safari, Mozilla, Foxfire, Camio, even IE if you want to use that old piece of crap.

Now tell me, what is keeping you.

 

[munkle]

The only question is, what will keep you from switching. If you say that you love viruses, spyware, and Windows problems by all means, stay a Windows user. But if you want to be more productive and have more fun working with your computer than having it working against you, and all the programs that want to use have a Mac equavalent, then make the move.

Pagemaker is on the Mac: http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/pm_ind.html

Photoshop Elements is too: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelmac/main.html

Finale: Use Garageband, free with your new Mac or get Logic www.apple.com/software/pro/logic .

Web: Safari, Mozilla, Foxfire, Camio, even IE if you want to use that old piece of crap.

Now tell me, what is keeping you.

He made the switch, ooooh about two months ago! Little late on the uptake! Anyway I think the thread is about the intricacies of making the perfect cup of coffee now

 

[ozimax]

Actually I switched about 7 months ago now and very glad that I did, amazing little machine this iBook, especially the AE function, I now have AEBS which works very well for dialup web, have ordered ADSL for next week, will attempt to make wireless network with 2 other PC's in household.

I will eventually dump the PC and get a shiny new G5 iMac for the family, or maybe I should give them the iBook and get a shiny new G5 powerbook when they arrive!

As far as the macchiato goes, I think you're dead right, a little cold milk is the way to go but not many people out there know anything about coffee. Have just returned from a month in New Zealand. They have some wonderful independent coffee establishments with on-site roasting and grinding setups, and excellent coffee, especially Christchurch.

My only gripe - it's getting too exspensive, $3-4 per cup of coffee is way too much, but that's the world we live in, too many people have too much money...

Max

 

[iGary]

I went into the Apple Store last night with full intent to walk out with a 12" iBook.

1. The display sucks. Period. End of story. Even after playing with the settings I found it very dissapointing. In fact, it was the deal-breaker.

2. Although it only had the base RAM, it was DOG SLOW. Ran an X Bench and fiddled with a couple of apps. I was very dissapointed. Scored a 73. Half of what my 1.25 desktop scores (I know, apples to oranges, but still.)

3. That said, it's a beautfiully put together machine; very well thought out. Perhaps an additional gig of Ram would really make things fly.

4. I'm a proffessional photographer, and really want a utilitarian laptop to check e-mail, surf and download photos onto when I'm on assignments away from home, but even the 14 inch wasn't impressive, and the Powerbooks are just too expensive compared ot what you can buy in a PC.

I'll never buy a PC, but feel like Apple's portable line, especially their displays is sub-par when compared to a lot of the PC's out there. Admitted, none of them run OS X, so I won't be buying one.

My two cents.

 

[Jigglelicious]

I went into the Apple Store last night with full intent to walk out with a 12" iBook.

1. The display sucks. Period. End of story. Even after playing with the settings I found it very dissapointing. In fact, it was the deal-breaker.

2. Although it only had the base RAM, it was DOG SLOW. Ran an X Bench and fiddled with a couple of apps. I was very dissapointed. Scored a 73. Half of what my 1.25 desktop scores (I know, apples to oranges, but still.)

3. That said, it's a beautfiully put together machine; very well thought out. Perhaps an additional gig of Ram would really make things fly.

4. I'm a proffessional photographer, and really want a utilitarian laptop to check e-mail, surf and download photos onto when I'm on assignments away from home, but even the 14 inch wasn't impressive, and the Powerbooks are just too expensive compared ot what you can buy in a PC.

I'll never buy a PC, but feel like Apple's portable line, especially their displays is sub-par when compared to a lot of the PC's out there. Admitted, none of them run OS X, so I won't be buying one.

My two cents.

I'm actually pretty confused about the quality of displays in Apple's portables. Whenever I goto the Apple store, i'm completely in awe of the 20+ inch displays. But when I move over to the displays on the ibooks and Powerbooks, they look very very dark and the colors washed out, as if the backlight were half dead. ALL of the portables look like this, so its not one defective unit that i'm looking at. I always walked out of the store thinking that the display on the portables just suck.

Yet, i've seen several photo's online of people comparing their PC laptop to an Apple portable, and the ibook or powerbook's display almost always looks brighter and more colorful than the PC's.

I've only been able to come to one conclusion. I think the reason the displays on the portable's looks so bad in the Apple store has to do with the lighting in the store. The Apple stores have this very bright and harsh white lighting, which possibly makes the displays seem darker than they really are. However, in a "normal" environment, I believe the displays look just fine. This is all just speculation, though.

 

[ozimax]

I have had many laptops, mainly Toshibas and a very recent Sony Vaoi (read all of this post), this little iBook is better than the lot IMHO, just excellent. And for battery life, it is unbeatable.

Max

 

[dav]

I think the reason the displays on the portable's looks so bad in the Apple store has to do with the lighting in the store.

Confirmed..

The display is, in fact, very nice in a normal setting.. Not with 2000 wat lights beaming down on it.

 

[Zaty]

4. I'm a proffessional photographer, and really want a utilitarian laptop to check e-mail, surf and download photos onto when I'm on assignments away from home, but even the 14 inch wasn't impressive, and the Powerbooks are just too expensive compared ot what you can buy in a PC.

I don't entirely agree. You're right when comparing the 15" and 17" PBs to PC laptops. But why not have a lookt at the 12" PB? Again, you can get an equally powerful PC laptop for the same price but almost all PC laptops have 15" screens. There are a handful of 12" and 10" laptops out there in the PC world but those are (usually) more expensive than the 12" PB. Also, most of those PC laptops don't have an enternal optical drive to save weight.

 

[bdomz]

I'll vouch for apples ultraportable line, they are priced just right. Almost every other laptop manufacture charges more for their smaller laptops and less for the bigger desktop replacement models. I think the 12" ibook screen is decent, It certainly looks better than my 3 year old Thinkpads. Brightness is huge for me and I was hoping the screen would be a bit brighter, it is hard to guage brightness in a well lit store like that though.