01.03.07
5 Reasons to Move to Mac NOW!
There has been quite a bit of hype about Microsoft’s Vista being compared to Apple MacOS 10.4 Tiger. Having used both I can safely say that Apple is far ahead of Microsoft in virtually every area. Putting aside the insane systems requirements for Vista to run well, MacOS is still a much better experience. MacOS has it’s quirks, and there are a few things Apple could learn simply by listening to the users more and the designers less. A couple quick things, the 1 button mouse/trackpad. Don’t want to argue this one, but c’mon Apple, get into the 21st century, the number one complaint I see is this issue. Listen to the users already and quit being arrogant, I want 2 buttons, without having to buy another damn mouse. That’s it. Nothing fancy, no other special stuff, just what I can get on every other computer except yours. Also, fix the keys. The delete button not working the way I have come to expect on every other computer is almost but not quite a deal breaker. It requires me to pay more attention to a delete operation that I would like, but that’s not necessarily the worst thing when you’re a bit absent-minded… Enough with the personal rants, on to the reasons to switch.
- Vista is not proven in the wild.
That’s right. Vista is brand new and quite probably filled with thousands of bugs. Once it filters out to the real end users, and they get done kicking it around, there will be a large amount of “workarounds” that get found. This is classic Microsoft, release a barely tested product to end users, and then patch the hell out of it. I realize that almost all software gets revised and updated and patched, but truly Microsoft seems to have the worst track record for what I consider an “enterprise class” piece of software. Apple has a huge edge here since their OS has been out in the while for over a year now, and they’ve patched most of the worst flaws already. That means if you get a Mac, you are at least year ahead of anyone getting a new PC with Vista installed. When it comes to getting things done, being ahead of everyone else by such a large margin will pay of huge dividends quite quickly. I’m talking about productivity here, not money.
- MacOS just works
This is not surprising, it has been a benefit and feature of MacOS for a very long time. I can’t begin to explain the difference this one thing has on my productivity. When you plug a peripheral into your Mac, most of the time, it just works. With Windows, you never know if it will just work or whether you’ll have to spend valuable time getting it to work before you can use it. Not having to track down errors and drivers and such on a new peripheral saves huge amounts of time. While those Vista users are searching around madly for drivers and chasing down vague errors, you’ll be using your peripheral, happily getting things done. As a side benefit to users, this reduces stress in a big way. When things just work, you don’t get stressed out about it. When things don’t just work, you get stress, and you spend (too much) time getting to the point where you can use your peripheral, much less get your actual work done.
- Virtualization means you can run Windows apps on your Mac
Everyone that I’ve shown Parallels Desktop for Mac to has been very impressed. When I show them the coherency mode, and run Excel or Outlook on my mac desktop, I see a lot of smiles, and nods. This bodes well for the Mac’s future. One of the main things that stops people from switching is losing all their windows software. With Parallels they can use just about any Windows software they like and not worry about compatibility. You can easily drag and drop files between the Mac and Windows with Parallels, as well as just use a shared folder so the data is accessible to either OS. Being able to run Windows only apps on a Mac without having to reboot into Windows via BootCamp is simply the best mix of OSes I have seen to date.
- The Mac Laptops are Simply the Best You Can Get Right Now
The MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops are the best of the best. Stylish, user-friendly, high performance, and a highly portable. Apple now has the standard that other laptop manufacturers are going to be held to in the future. Owning my own Macbook, I can say without a doubt it has been the best laptop I have owned to date. The laptops I’ve had in the past from other manufacturer’s like Toshiba, Compaq, IBM, and HP pale in comparison to the experience I’ve had with my Macbook. The price is reasonable, and competitive to other similar laptops, with the added bonus of MacOS X. News reports abound of analysts claiming Apple’s market share is once again slowly climbing upwards after a long plateau, and I’m betting a growing number of those people will be buying laptops with the Apple logo on them.
- They Just Look Good!
Yeah, that’s right, I said it. They are sleek and stylish and look great. They are designed to not only perform well, but also to be pleasing to look at. I know many hardcore geeks will disagree with me, that form should follow function and the utter flexibility of the PC form factor appeals to a real geek more than some pretty little piece of plastic. I say they just haven’t had a computer that was useful and pleasant to the eyes. It is a small benefit to be sure, but I enjoy that my computer finally doesn’t have to be ugly to be a powerhouse. Apple pays at least as much attention to how the computer looks as they do to the performance of the machine, and I think it adds something to an Apple that I find severely lacking in virtually every other manufacturer out there. Apple products are simple and elegant in form as well as function.
And there you have it, 5 reasons to move to a Mac. Nothing too fancy or technical, just some good solid reasons to make the move to Mac now instead of later. Obviously this is all my opinion, but I’d argue it over a couple beers any day.