Roseyland

Let me warn you ahead of time, this is going to be controversial. You may be offended. Last October I did something dramatic. I switched to Mac. This was a big deal for me, because I have always been a PC guy. My first computer was an Apple IIc way back in the day, but in high school I got a Packard Bell with Windows 3.1. It had a 100 MHz Intel 486 CPU and a 200 MB hard drive. Ever since then I have had Windows PCs. I built my last computer myself, which I absolutely loved. I researched and hand picked every component, ordered them from Newegg, and put it all together. It was so much fun that I talked my Dad into letting me build his next computer. So why switch to Mac? A lot of it had to do with my iPhone. I love my iPhone, which led me to love going to the Apple store, which led me to consider getting a Mac. Beyond that, I just like trying new things, especially computery gadgetty things.

So after five months, I’ve had time to reflect on switching to Mac. I’ve found things I like, and things I don’t. First, the things I like:

• Design - There is no doubt that Macs are well designed and engineered products. Everything from the enclosure, to the hardware, to the software, and even the packaging it comes in is all designed and integrated together perfectly.
• The Included Software - After installing Windows on my old computer, I still had to install WinZip for zip files, Acrobat for pdf files, an NVIDIA codec to view DVDs, and lots of other little programs here and there. With my Mac, everything I need is included. I’m sure I paid for it in the price of the computer, but it is nice to have what I need out of the box. I also like they way these programs feel integrated into the OS. On Windows, it’s like you have a patchwork of a million little programs to do a million little things.
• No Crapware - This goes with the item above. No matter how hard I tried to keep crapware off my Windows computer, it always found a way in. Every time you install a new program, 10 other programs try to come along with it. Sometimes these programs try to take over your computer, and sometimes they fight with each other. It’s so annoying.
• It’s Pretty - I have the 13-inch unibody MacBook, and it is beautiful. Plus, it’s solid as a rock.
• Time Capsule - I also bought a time capsule. I don’t even have to think about backing up anymore. I have automatic archival backups of all my files. I remember the backup utility in Windows XP. It sucked, and because it sucked, I never used it.
• Track Pad - My new Mac is also my first notebook computer. I was a little worried about giving up a mouse, but the trackpad is incredible. One finger moves the cursor, two fingers scroll (Awesome!), four fingers help you navigate between windows and programs (hard to describe, but cool), and you can tap to click. The MacBook trackpad makes a mouse feel like some type of crude instrument the cavemen used.

Now, the things I don’t like:

• iPhoto - iPhoto and I are learning to get along, but iPhoto doesn’t seem to understand that I don’t always want to organize things the way it wants me to organize them. iPhoto insist on organizing your pictures by “events”, which makes sense most of the time, but not always. For example, I have a bunch of pictures from college, so I had to create an event called “College”. College is sort of an event, but not really. Another example, I have a bunch of pictures of my cat (shut up!), so I have an event named “Earl”. Earl is not an event. Sure you can create libraries, but you are forced to assign each picture to an event anyways, and I don’t really see the need to have libraries and events. It also used to be a pain to export a picture to a file, but this has improved in iPhoto 09′.
• Moving iTunes from PC to Mac - Overall, the process of moving my data from my PC to my new Mac was ridiculously easy. I was worried that moving from Outlook to Mac Mail, Address Book, and iCal would be hard, but it was easy. Moving from MS Money to Quicken was a little tricky, but not too bad. Moving my iTunes data though, pure hell. Sure, I could move the files and import them into iTunes on my Mac, but I lost all my playlist, ratings, podcast subscriptions, and everything else. I did find a way to keep all of the data here, but it was too complicated to be worth it. Also, I could not get my iPhone to sync with iTunes on my Mac. After hours of trying, I had to restore my iPhone to factory settings. Basically, I had to format my iPhone and start over with it on my Mac as if it was a new iPhone. I am still shocked that the worst part of switching to Mac was with my Apple products. Not cool Apple.
• Apple is Quirky - On one hand they make beautiful and superbly designed products, on the other hand, they sometimes leave out basic functionality. In addition, once you go Apple, you are stuck with Apple. If Apple doesn’t provide the product you want, there really isn’t a third party alternative.
• Tap to Click Issues - I love tap to click, but once a week, it just stops working. This is the only reason I am ever forced to reboot my MacBook (Well, this and software updates).

The verdict? I absolutely love my new MacBook and I’m glad I switched. What I love the most though is finally having a notebook computer. Being able to use my computer on the couch and take it with me when I travel is huge, I don’t know why I waited so long to get a notebook. For a fair comparison, I would have to compare my MacBook to a PC notebook, but I can’t really do that. Regardless, the Mac experience has been great. It’s not a dramatic change from a PC, it just feels nicer. It’s like a well designed kitchen. It’s clean and simple, but powerful. Everything you need is there and right where you would expect it to be. What they say is true, it just works.

I know many people criticize Macs as being computers for people who don’t know how to use computers, but I don’t see why that is a bad thing. In 5 months, I haven’t found one thing that I can’t do on my Mac that I used to do on my PC, but I have found that my Mac is easier to work with and maintain. If I can get a better computing experience for less effort, why not? Do I really want to try and impress people with my ability to install drivers and manage my Windows registry? So now I have a question for you. What should I do with my old PC? Anybody want it?