Post: #26

(03-10-2012 04:54 AM)Rurik Wrote:  So I've had a macbook pro for a year and a half, and I honestly haven't really figured out how to use it.

I feel really ADD with it.

My previous laptop had vista, which was also confusing.

I actually had my old laptop fixed, so I'm now thinking about ditching the apple and then going back to a version of windows before vista.

Life was so much easier on the old windows system. Apple software confuses the hell out of me.

Any thoughts? Anybody here make the switch from windows to mac?

I've been an IT pro and Windows user since Windows 2.1 (yes, v2.1 Circa 1988) and began using OSX about four years ago. I continue to use both platforms.

From a usability standpoint, I don't find a lot of difference between Windows and OSX. I can move a little faster on Windows due to years of muscle-memory and memorized keyboard shortcuts. I find them more alike than different.

For my personal and creative uses, I prefer OSX and would use it exclusively but I'm stuck with the Microsoft platform at work.

Post: #27

(03-10-2012 03:39 PM)porscheguy Wrote:  

(03-10-2012 05:00 AM)oldnemesis Wrote:  Apple builds great hardware, but its software is designed for complete retards. I only survived OS X for less than a week, and I ditched all the iPhones I got withing a year.
There is a bunch of things you can do with Windows which you cannot do with Mac. Much less (any?) vice versa. Go for it.

Could you list some of these things you can do with windows, but not a Mac?

I'd be curious to know that as well, please elaborate on exactly what one can do on the Windows platform that is not possible on OSX. Most users spend their time working in the app rather than the OS, so other than the windows and file dialog widgets, you'd be hard-pressed to know which you're using.

I will say that I don't find the OSX Finder particularly friendly and tend to prefer Windows Explorer, but that's due to my personal preference and long history with Windows.

Post: #28

If we're discussing hardware quality, dont buy a Mac, or you're going to over pay like crazy. Build your own system and boot whatever OS you prefer. Both Mac and the high end PC companies (Alienware, Velvety Micro, ect) will over charge you like crazy, by like 150%, relative to building the box yourself. The last computer I built cost me $2k, I priced a rig with the exact same specs on Alienware and it would've been over $6k.

Chef In Jeans
A culinary website for men

Post: #29

I was a windows user for many years (had XP, Vista, Windows 7) . I switched over and bought a MacBook Pro, after much hesitation about forking over the extra price. For me, the Mac like someone else said is light years ahead of Windows in technology, user friendliness,durability,reliability and resistance to virus. Every single laptop or tower is owned with Windows got at least 1 virus or maybe 2 and every time it cost me hundreds of dollars to repair.Also, the hard drives in the Apple are built to last much longer. On several of my non Mac hardware computers, many of them had the hard drive or power supply crash, and you sometimes cannot recapture the lost data. You will have to generally pay someone to transfer the data to a new computer if this happens, what a nightmare. My Mac has never gone down, got a virus, and the processor won't have to be upgraded for at least 3 to 4 years, at which time I will just buy more Ram and increase hard drive space. If you are surfing the web, it is very simple to start up. For those of you who are worried it won't operate some Windows based software, you can add buy a simple program made by Parallels Software called" Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac", and it allows you to run your Mac in Windows. This only costs about $60 to $70 and I found the best price on Amazon.com I will never go back to Windows or computers that run on windows. NO WAY !

Post: #30

(03-10-2012 11:13 AM)Menace Wrote:  I would say Windows 7 and Mac OS X are similar in terms of initial stability, but I find that all windows systems tend to slow down over time, whereas my Mac laptop feels as fast as the day I got it.

OP you do know about Spaces/Expose, right? Hit F3 to see everything you have open, then click on the thing you want.

GREAT POINT Menace, windows tends to have a lot more software issues and the systems do slow down. They are much more delicate and much more susceptible to virus. My Mac is so much faster than any Windows computer i have, and does not freeze up and have to be rebooted like my Windows based computers (I have like 6 computers between work, home). Read also my comparison thread above this one.

Post: #31

(03-10-2012 03:39 PM)porscheguy Wrote:  Could you list some of these things you can do with windows, but not a Mac?

Right mouse click

If you're serious? Gaming. Note I was talking about Mac OS X, not just Mac as hardware (which can run Windows).

Post: #32

(03-10-2012 08:30 AM)Moma Wrote:  Please explain what you mean. From a simple end user perspective, I think the Mac is better off.

That's what I said above: Apple builds great hardware, but its software is designed for complete retards. As soon as you're up that level, you don't need it anymore.

But let's make it the opposite: what a Windows laptop - which generally is much cheaper comparing to Apple hardware - cannot do which Mac can? Why pay more?

Quote:Yes there are compatibility issues in terms of certain games

Not just with games, but this was important enough to forget about the whole OS X experience. And development tools sucked too.

Post: #33

(03-11-2012 01:07 AM)oldnemesis Wrote:  That's what I said above: Apple builds great hardware, but its software is designed for complete retards. As soon as you're up that level, you don't need it anymore.

But let's make it the opposite: what a Windows laptop - which generally is much cheaper comparing to Apple hardware - cannot do which Mac can? Why pay more?

Well first off I can browse the web, anywhere, without fearing a malware attack.

Secondly, SSH. The development tools on a Mac are better than on a PC, imo - but that point is moot since I prefer third party applications anyways (NetBeans).

Go without a reboot for months on end.

Open up my laptop, and be surfing the web/writing an email/watching a movie in 5 seconds.

All that being said, Macs are ridiculously over priced, but I prefer them to Windows.

Post: #34

Agree with Golden Boy on the emulation part. If you already have a Mac and sometimes want to use Windows on it, get Parallels. You'll be running Windows on OS X, so you can use both at the same time.

Or use bootcamp and partition your drive so that your computer dual boots Windows 7 and OX X. If you don't know how to do this, have someone who knows how do it for you. You'll end up with both Windows and Mac OS X on your Apple computer, 2 in 1.

Post: #35

(03-11-2012 04:01 AM)MHaes Wrote:  Well first off I can browse the web, anywhere, without fearing a malware attack.

There is indeed malware for Mac OS X, so your "without fearing" is obvious misunderstanding caused by the lower number of infections on Mac OS X platform. This is however not because the platform is more secure, it is just Mac OS X has very low market share on the desktop computers. Keep in mind though that the whole classes of very popular attack vectors (like phishing or SE) works on any platform, and the major infection route is the users downloading the applications from some unknown sources.

On Windows don't use *cough* Internet Explorer and you should be fine.

Quote:Secondly, SSH. The development tools on a Mac are better than on a PC, imo - but that point is moot since I prefer third party applications anyways (NetBeans).

I disagree that the development tools on a Mac are better than on Windows or Linux. I had to use XCode a few years ago, and it is a typical piece of Apple crap. OTOH even on Windows you can install Cygwin and develop pretty comfortably, I've been cross-compiling everything for the last few years.

Quote:Go without a reboot for months on end.

This is hardly a selling point. How long does the reboot take, 30 seconds?

Quote:Open up my laptop, and be surfing the web/writing an email/watching a movie in 5 seconds.

Same with Windows if it was in a sleep mode. Even my Linux running laptop wakes up in 5 seconds from the sleep. Not sure what's the point here.

Post: #36

Honestly these days your choice of browser makes more of a difference than operating system, but in these cases I like to think "What would Patrick Bateman do?", and I can't imagine him having anything other than a Macbook.

Post: #37

(03-11-2012 06:35 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  I disagree that the development tools on a Mac are better than on Windows or Linux. I had to use XCode a few years ago, and it is a typical piece of Apple crap. OTOH even on Windows you can install Cygwin and develop pretty comfortably, I've been cross-compiling everything for the last few years.

The new XCode is fairly good, but like I said, I use third party dev apps. As do you...

Also, I find it ironic that your third party dev app is a Unix-simulator. Why not just get Linux or Apple?

Quote:This is hardly a selling point. How long does the reboot take, 30 seconds?

The brand new PCs at my school take around 2-3 minutes to reboot. Ridiculous.

Post: #38

Windows 7 is rock solid. Go with Pro or Ultimate. You can get a pretty damn decent Dell XPS 8300 for $899. Price doesn't include monitor but with Win 7 64bit, 8GB Ram, 1TB hard drive and that default AMD video card in there, that box could easily run your entertainment center.

Post: #39

(03-11-2012 11:50 PM)MHaes Wrote:  

(03-11-2012 06:35 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  I disagree that the development tools on a Mac are better than on Windows or Linux. I had to use XCode a few years ago, and it is a typical piece of Apple crap. OTOH even on Windows you can install Cygwin and develop pretty comfortably, I've been cross-compiling everything for the last few years.

The new XCode is fairly good, but like I said, I use third party dev apps. As do you...

Also, I find it ironic that your third party dev app is a Unix-simulator. Why not just get Linux or Apple?

Quote:This is hardly a selling point. How long does the reboot take, 30 seconds?

The brand new PCs at my school take around 2-3 minutes to reboot. Ridiculous.

Oh man, that takes me back. Majoring in CS at a school heavily subsidized by Microsoft, so the professors had to use Windows and cygwin for everything instead of UNIX.

Post: #40

can install windows xp on a mac if I remember. Media center 2005 was good. Then everything went derp.

Post: #41

Windows 8 beta being released soon

Post: #42

(03-11-2012 11:50 PM)MHaes Wrote:  Also, I find it ironic that your third party dev app is a Unix-simulator. Why not just get Linux or Apple?

I've been using Linux for last ten or so years. However I wouldn't recommend it to an average Windows user.

Post: #43

apparently there is a program called bootcamp that allows you to run windows on the mac. I think I'm going to get that, and run windows on this thing, just to see how I like it.

Post: #44

Hey, what's wrong with Windows 7? It has all the dependability of Windows XP and innovations of Vista, only this time working and highly polished. I was skeptical about making the transfer to it at first, but it's really awesome.

Post: #45

(06-04-2012 02:43 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  Hey, what's wrong with Windows 7? It has all the dependability of Windows XP and innovations of Vista, only this time working and highly polished. I was skeptical about making the transfer to it at first, but it's really awesome.

Yeah, I'm going to try and run windows 7 on this mac.

Post: #46

(03-10-2012 02:12 PM)Kitsune Wrote:  

(03-10-2012 12:03 PM)SimonRierdon Wrote:  

(03-10-2012 09:09 AM)Aliblahba Wrote:  I'm using Window 7 and Office 10. Vista and Office 7 were train wrecks. So far 7 has been great. Linux Mint is another great alternative. It's set up and feels like Windows.

^This^

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit and Office 10 are what I'm currently running. When you're a traveling professional, however, Windows is the way to go for worldwide compatibility.

Gotta echo the sentiments here.

I love Windows 7.

thirded, i hate the whole apple ecosystem , its the reason i chose my blackberry bold over the iphone and its the reason i use windows 7 at the moment.

piracy on windows = ftw

Post: #47

Just get Windows 7 from the torrent sites and install it. Message me after for an activation crack. It's easy.
I've messed around with building Hackintoshes. It's one way to get a Mac on the cheap. You can also install
VMWare Workstation and get the Mac OSX VMWare images from the torrent sites. No install needed.

Post: #48

My biggest problem with learning linux is I dont know what to do once OS is installed.

Post: #49

(06-05-2012 01:02 PM)chyamor Wrote:  My biggest problem with learning linux is I dont know what to do once OS is installed.

Well what do you do with computers? Programming, video editing, audio production, graphics, basic web surfing?

Post: #50

surf the web and admin windows 2k8 domain. I would like to learn both networking and linux as its better job security but just have trouble not sleeping on linux and getting the hardware for networking. I tried some network sims but they only give you basic layer 3 devices