“I’m a switcher. My main personal computer system is now an Apple Macintosh. It began innocently enough. Over a period of several months after Apple’s new OS X Jaguar operating system was released last year, I tested a variety of iBooks, iMacs and G4s. I was playing with fire.” Read the confession of a Detroit Free Press columnist who switches to the Mac.
Apple’s Looks, Functions Convert this PC Devotee
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
i think that guy should try Zeta when available
> Frankly, it’s not as fast as my Windows machine.
Aha! Eugenia is posting heretical statements from Mac users! Oh, the pain!!!!
Just kidding.
Reason #34,234
The mouse cursor disappears when you start typing on the keyboard.
Sure, its a very little thing but being able to see if a character is an ‘i’ or an ‘l’ without having to touch my mouse is a nice touch.
Its all these little details that make you love a Mac.
The writer states that this dual processor G4 is slower than his windows machine, but it’s ok because it’s pretty! I mean, that just makes little sense to me. But I am not him.. so…
What I do is just use the Stardock applications that make my computer look pretty and yet it’s a CHEAP PC that is still faster than the dual G4 macs!
Osnews managed to dig up the last remaining Mac user.. 😉
You can set the mouse pointer to dissapear while typing on a Windows box too, IIRC.
“I applaud…”
Yes, but who are you?
“Osnews managed to dig up the last remaining Mac user.. ;-)”
What planet do you live on?
i believe he’s being both saracstic and realistic. There /are/ very few Mac users these days…
I’m buying soon, sometimes its not just about speed, more so if you don’t need it, why waste your money*? I want to do college work and keep MY (i own it because i bought it) music collection tidy.
* Also lets not forget that with Windows Longhorn on the way all hardware at this moment will be useless because MS deem it sensible for everybody to re-purchase whole computer systems again since current hardware will be incompatible. Probably to go inline with the TCPA.
But people should go with whatever they think is best.
“There /are/ very few Mac users these days…”
Again, what planet do YOU live on?
The mouse cursor disappears when you start typing on the keyboard.
Hallelujah and pass the gravy, of all the nit picky whiny petty things, I just LOVE this feature. It is just simply wonderful.
I remember sending hate mail to the makers of a NeXT application that didn’t follow this simple guideline.
You can set the mouse pointer to dissapear while typing on a Windows box too, IIRC.
Really?? REALLY???? Can you tell me how? Please please please please please?? Pretty please even?
The writer states that this dual processor G4 is slower than his windows machine, but it’s ok because it’s pretty! I mean, that just makes little sense to me. But I am not him.. so…
Nope, you are not.
What this is really saying is that for most computer users and the tasks that they use them for today, computers are “fast enough”. While Apple would no doubt love to be running super fast machines, it clearly can not for all sorts of reasons.
However, not every machine sold on the planet is the fastest machine available. Many folks by slower machines for assorted reasons. In this case, this guy felt that the loss of performance was worth it for the gain he found in the new environment.
Apple is therefore striving to make the machines more attractive to lower end users where performance is less of a concern until they can solve their top end issues. This helps keep the company alive and kicking.
The writer states that this dual processor G4 is slower than his windows machine, but it’s ok because it’s pretty! I mean, that just makes little sense to me. But I am not him.. so…
I think what he means by “pretty” is more userfriendly, a lot nicer environment to work in. That a userfriendly environment where everything works, is more important than raw computing power makes perfect sense to anyone with a basic knowledge of computers and operating systems. All I/O is relatively slow, harddisks, ram, usb. But the king of slowness is the keyboard, the mouse and the user.
The biggest bottleneck is user input. Using a nice interface will save you more time, than a fast processor. A good UI will save you multiple hours of time, a faster processor maybe 15 minutes. Add a reliable OS, which you don’t have to administrate every minute, and you can save even more time. Who cares that you can run a crappy DVD authoring software at 3Ghz, if it means you have to struggle it for multiple hours?
Seems with the mac that they are just really targeted towards a specific, if not niche, group of people that love them very dearly for all their faults and kudos alike. Our very own marketing department is just enamored with their macs. I once asked why. They said they were just easier to use for what they wanted to do. Being a PC user I was feeling a bit derisive and skeptical and I kinda ribbed them about it. Only afterwards did I realize that macs and their operators are just made for each other and they do seem to live in another, happier sometimes, world. Many things are taken care of in a very formulaic and intended manner that is pleasing to a non “computer person” and this alone possibly could be the reason for so many flame wars etc between mac and pc users. I suppose it would be benficial to the comments section here and the forums as well if we just try to remember these things….
Macs are stylish and they have a unique soul of their own. I am planning to buy one too. They look so beautiful. Bith HW and SW.
PS. NULL_POINTER_US, you still didn’t reply my last comment on your last comment about Mono 0.18 discussion here: http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=2544 Should I wait more????
Kaan.
“But what my Mac lacks in speed it makes up for in elegance.”
It wasn’t the difference between being “pretty” vs. ugly – though there is a differnce there. He was citing the differnce between an elegant operating system and a crude operating system. I have used both systems daily since 1985 and the elegant/crude comparison describes the differences very well. Using Windows is like using a stapler. Using Apple is like directing a symphony.
So how do I get rid of the pointer when I’m typing? Oter question is, is the Apple GUI that much different from Windows that I can’t use stardock or stylexp or something to emulate it?
What many of you have written is very insightful, and even touching, when it comes to explaining the differences between “PC people” and “Mac people.” However, insightful in a way that exposes the truth about your own prejudices and misconceptions. I am not sure I understand why a “PC person” could ever specify what constitutes being a “computer person” when all they use is one kind of computer. If I were to call myself a “car guy” it would imply that I like all kinds of cars, not just a solitary make or model.
It then should follow that a “computer person” likes to use all kinds of computers and can recognize the existential benefit of each one for their own adaptational set of computational tasks.
Windows doesn’t have this by default, but IntelliMouse software (Logitech should have it too) allows you to hide the pointer. For Microsoft IntelliMice, just go into Mouse settings in your control panel and it’s under the “Pointer Options” tab.
Well here we go with the neverending Mac vs. PC comments. OSX is a fine OS, but will be nothing more than a niche unless they release it for x86. Im not looking to join or start a flame fest here, but just sit back and watch the market share numbers for a reality check. Its funny to see Linux rapidly catching Apple in desktop market share and projected to pass it by next year. Linux is growing everywhere, being way on top….Windows has no where to go but down in market share, and Apple is still sitting with its stagnent 3% market share…..hence niche. Its really too bad too. Although I run Linux, I would openly embrace OSX if it was released for x86 and the rest of the us.
I wonder how many people end up buying a lindows machine or any linux machine from walmart and only get a 800mhz processor.
As long as it does the job who cares, if it looks nice then even better. The only people who care about speed are the people who want to measure everything against other people or think they will need that speed and when they find they don’t they come here and try to justify it.
If it comes down to enthusiasm for a platform (and I’m not talking about zealot activity) then I would say there’s still much more momentum in UNIX based systems, such as Mac OS X for example, than in Windows. Consumer confidence tells a lot about where people are willing to put their money over time because of the tendency to hold back rather than spend on a particular system. Current market numbers don’t reflect what consumers have in mind to purchase once they feel the need to purchase again. Here’s an example of enthusiasm vs. market-share: 100,000 copies of Mac OS X “Jaguar” (the OS that even Mac users were skeptical of getting because of its price) sold in the first three days vs. 300,000 copies of Windows XP sold in the first three days. Now if you do the math, you see a gaping hole in enthusiasm for Windows when compared to current market-share numbers. 3 percent market-share taking one-third of initial OS sales, versus 95 percent market-share taking two-thirds initial OS sales is called a consumer trend.
Simply because no sensible man will ever chose to pay more money for less performance, just because it looks pretty. Besides, or the money Apple charges you can get a PC with all high quality brand-name components, including a beautiful case and a 5-button mouse, and then have some cash left over.
When will people just acknowledge the obvious? Macs are just better designed. You only have to spend a few days with each system to realize this is a no-brainer.
Mhz does not equal quality. Especially today when even the cheapest PCs are blazing fast for all but specialized uses. Performance? How about useability. It’s MORE IMPORTANT for 95 percent of the users out there. Like Steve Jobs said at the keynote, “you only use what you understand.” Nobody is focusing on useability like Apple and it shows over and over and over again.
Windows is the inferior standard. As soon as people just acknowledge this, we can move onto harder questions.
Somewhat true; but – how many total copies of Jaguar have been sold total? (Including on new Macs?) and how many copies of XP have been sold? Just because the first three day totals are one way has no indication of total sales. All this could mean was that mac zealots were waiting in line for the new upgrade because they were tired of the old, or wanting to play with the new toys; while the windows users were too busy at the moment. Show me sustained sales numbers for both, with Mac gaining, and I’ll believe your logic.
Yes, it’s stereotyping, but the only people who I know who still use Macs are those with “partners”. The others joined the PC bandwagon many eons ago, after being ridiculed at University for paying too much just for eye-candy.
There /are/ very few Mac users these days
I don’t have all the numbers but anyway you look at it (absolute or relative). Having 300,000 users download your latest browser [safari] in only 24 hours says quite a bit about the user base. If I recall a Wired magazine stat recently, the Mac user base is well over million users. A million users people hardly qualifies as “few”.
I own a Mac
I own a PC with Linux
does that make me a Gay Hacker? Oh, no look out! It’s the Gay Hacker!
performance is measured several ways, not just by processor speed. processor speed is like horsepower in a car, no it’s actually like how fast can it go from 0-60mph. most cars are one of three speeds to the general public: slow, fast, and somewhere in the middle. people buy the cars they do for a number reasons: price/value, quality, cost of repairs, previous ownership experience, features, and yes, speed of the motor. but macs are definitely of higher quality when looking at the hardware/software integration and the resale value, they usually come with more built-in ports, and hold their resale value longer. for this they are more expensive to purchase (though not as much as most would believe) and lately have been coming with slower ‘motors’ than comparable PC’s.
but for your reasoning of processor speed = performance = sensible male purchase to hold up, each of these sensible men would also have to be driving a firebird gt or better yet 1988 monte carlo with a supercharged 350 and a high-ratio rearend. but i know that many of you are driving honda’s and other ‘sensible’ cars and along those lines macs are very sensible purchases.
btw — i have two fast cars and two fast macs so that will run with anything out there, so who knows what that makes me 😉
Noone ever told me before, damn, I’d better tell my wife! Wait, SHE has an iBook, she’d better tell me!
I bought a laptop last week. I was seriously considering iBook (mainly for the screen and OS X), but at the end bought Toshiba Portege. The reason is weight – Toshiba is just 2.6 lbs. No Mac comes closer (I do not think there are any under 4lbs). Howl you laptop with you for a day and you will understand what a difference 2 lbs makes. Oh yeah, and with extra battery included (total weight 3.1 lbs) the notebook works</b for almost 7hrs.
“This is the year of the laptop”, powerhungry, high clockspeed processors are *not* interesting for laptops. 64bit processors should be more interesting for an added speedbonus.
there’s just no subnotebook for a mac. Maybe in the future. mac notebooks are as light as they get with the features they have.
Look, there’s certain things you don’t get, can’t have with a mac. You can get those on windows – along with the inferior design of the software in particular.
People who are already using Macs (25 million users, according to recent estimates) will most probably buy another Mac when the one they are using becomes obsolete (usually once in 3-5 yrs). I have a 733 mhz G4 and it is plenty fast for what I do. I wouldn’t consider a PC unless there was something that I would not be able to do on a Mac. For that I have virtual PC:).
For PC users who are contemplating switching to a Mac, speed will matter. Most PC users buy PCs based on specs and not on what you can do with the computer-whatever its speed-that is my conclusion based on numerous postings on the web by PC users. I have also seen comments from enlightened PC users who bought an iBook (which has the slowest of Mac processors) and were happy with the speed of OsX on it.
The Toshiba website doesn’t list ANY laptops weighing less than 4.2 (with only a single battery even!)
I call you out sir/mam? What magical model is this that you referring to?
M.T.,
You’ve missed the point. Again, I was talking about enthusiasm, not market-share. Counting the total number of copies sold to date only reflects the market-share. My example was to point out how slowly people of one particular platform choose to adopt new technologies specific to their system when they increasingly have in the back of their minds a viable alternative to their system. Slow adoption = low consumer confidence. That’s why it’s called a trend and not a current reality.
I’m sorry I don’t have the numbers to the following. I am aware that Apple tracks the number of users, willing to inform through the process of product registration, of which a certain “high” percentage of Mac OS X customers were actually switchers. At the same time IDG, or some such company looked at the numbers of Mac to Windows switchers and discovered the total to be much less. Throw in entropy and you have a pretty good picture of what’s going on.
I mean really if you read the article what the dude was saying is that Apple is doing someting right. And you PCers cannot handle it at all. Cracks me up. I agree with PC mike, I am using my ibook at my desk vs my PC sitting a foot away. Why I like the simple use of OSX is it fast NO but good enough to do all I want. Matter of fact my PC is for gaming only now, forget XP take a bite of the apple and goto the darkside……
Ok, I am a linux fan. I use PCs not macs. However, even I can see how this arguement is a load of crap. Macs are not better designed because you can find a PC that is lighter?
Give me a break.
Office Suite : Microsoft® Office XP Professional with Publisher™
Processor : Mobile Intel® Pentium® III processor – M4 featuring Enhanced Intel® SpeedStep® technology
Processor Speed : 1330MHz (1.33GHz)
Memory : 512MB(x1) PC133 SDRAM
Display Type : Polysilicon TFT active matrix (XGA)
Display Size : 12.1″
Graphics : Trident CyberALADDiN-T with 16MB external UMA video memory
Hard Drive : 40 Gigabyte1 (5,400 rpm)
Multimedia : Optional External USB DVD-ROM
Design : Tablet PC
Modem : Integrated V.92 56K modem5
Networking : Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Wireless : Integrated Wi-Fi™ (IEEE 802.11b)
Dockability : No
Optional : Optional External USB DVD-ROM or DVD/CD-RW
Operating System : Windows XP Professional Tablet Edition
Additional Software : Symbol Commander and Zinio Reader
Dimensions : 11.6” x 9.2” x 1.2/1.3”
Weight : 4.1 lbs (with Primary Battery)3
Warranty : 3 years parts and labor, 1 year battery
These are the specs for the top end portege…note that the weight is a HEFTY 4.1 pounds (with primary battery..oh and look you can buy a dvd drive for it…wow!!!And it looks like its listing for 2899 on the toshiba website? Compare that to the new albook 12″ and you’d save a hefty bundle as well as getting a superdrive. As the toshiba does come with a little more memory you could use some of the cash to max out the memory on the albook 12″ and still have change left over….It looks like the one advantage the Toshiba has over the mac is the USB 2 ports….the 12″ does have firewire which is roughly comparable but the 17″ has fire wire 2!!!!! And the 17″ is only 400 bucks more than the toshiba..Sounds like you got rooked…
Personally I’m too much of a gamer to switch to a Mac and there’s some PC software I wouldn’t want to do without. For example I wouldn’t want to do without the Opera web browser (there’s only an old version available for the Mac).
But having used a Mac for a while I can see why people pay more for a slower computer just to get Mac OS X. I’ve tweaked Windows a lot with Stardock, Objectbar and other tools. But you just can’t mimic the details and clever touches in Mac OS by putting a copy of the Dock or the Aqua look in Windows.
Most of the clever features in Mac OS sound pretty unimportant when you start trying to explain them to people, most of them just seem like nit picking. But they really do make a difference to how nice the computer is to use, there are a lot of little things I miss after going back to Windows.
IMO if you can find all the software you need for the Mac, then PC vs Mac is a choice between everything happening a little faster and everything being a little easier and more fun. Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a Mac to friends looking for a first computer, or anyone who wants to do digital imaging and DTP.
“I was seriously considering iBook (mainly for the screen and OS X), but at the end bought Toshiba Portege. The reason is weight – Toshiba is just 2.6 lbs. No Mac comes closer (I do not think there are any under 4lbs). Howl you laptop with you for a day and you will understand what a difference 2 lbs makes. Oh yeah, and with extra battery included (total weight 3.1 lbs) the notebook works</b for almost 7hrs.”
Hold on, the Portege 2010 you are talking about does weigh 2.6 lbs., BUT, it doesn’t come with ANY media drives! Not even floppy disk. And the prices start at $1,999 without all the add-ons! Add a media slice onto this baby, and you have seriously increased the weight, price, and inconvenience. You might as well get a PDA or if you’re just listening to tunes get an iPod.
The $999 iBook smokes the Portege in usability, and the new 12″ Powerbook with a SUPERDRIVE at the same price as the entry level Portege classifies as a butt-whoopin’.
“The 3500 does a quick swivel and lockdown to become the most powerful Tablet PC on the market. The processor power and large screen don’t hurt it in battery life (2:40)”
Quoting this from the Toshiba website…it looks like the battery only lasts for 2:40 minutes (which I would question). Where are you coming up with seven hour battery life?
Here’s more fuel to the fire:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/pl/xml/02/12/16/021216plpowerbook…
He’s using 3 batteries!
Firebird…shmirebird
Don’t compare computers to cars. We are talking about computers so lets stay on the subject of computers. When you buy a gas guzzling Monte-Carlo with all the whiz-bang accessories you’ve just listed then you are just wasting money on gas, speeding tickets and pollute the air. On top of that you are not really getting anywhere faster because of the speed limit. Last I check there was no speed limit for computers and the difference in the amount of electricity consumed by a slow or a fast system is not worth mentioning. Are we clear on that now? So, back to the subject of performance in the computer world.
There is no such thing as “too fast” when it comes to computers. Ideally the user should NEVER wait for the computer, man should never be slowed down by a machine. Ideally I would like an OS to load in 0.1 second and always do everything instantly. It’s not reachable in the reality but that’s our “guiding star”. To me computer speed is good, important and desired simply because I don’t want to waste my time waiting for the comp, no matter how good it looks.
In the latest round of PC vs Mac benchmarks the P4 3Ghz based PC finished in 1 hour 10 minutes, 50 minutes earlier than a dual G4 Mac. And that’s ADOBE benchmarks we are talking about. I bet the Mac users were having a blast admiring their “elegant” system for extra 50 minutes instead of working.
Of course for sending email and watching “alternative lifestyle” porn on the web Macs’ performance is adequate.
Resale value? LOL, of course they hold the resale value since they hardly progress.
The writer states that this dual processor G4 is slower than his windows machine, but it’s ok because it’s pretty! I mean, that just makes little sense to me. But I am not him.. so…
Faster isn’t always better. Sure, you can view the scenery from the top of Niagra and then beat everyone to the bottom by taking a ride in a barrel, but the stairs are a more elegant solution; albeit slower.
Elegance is really dependent on your perspective of it. Remember the Startrek movie when the doc tried to use a 20th century mouse as a microphone to talk to the computer attached to it?
When the computer was too stupid to respond, his response was ‘how quaint’.
We’re a long way away from having an elegant system. And I think both PCs and Macs are going in the wrong direction. the MAC OS used to be a lot simpler than it is today — closer to the simple UI that the Doc expected to see.
For that matter, XP and all its predecessors has never exhibited any real efforts to go beyond their original design paradigm, which is based on ’70s technology.
Think about what’s possible and what we don’t have — I don’t think that Microsoft will ever deliver anything really new. I have more faith that Apple will, though I think at this time they’re going in the wrong direction.
” I bet the Mac users were having a blast admiring their ?elegant? system for extra 50 minutes instead of working.”
Who said they can’t do anything else? It’s called mulit-tasking… Macs do it all the time.
“Preemptive and cooperative multitasking via the Mach kernel.”
http://www.apple.com/macosx/technologies/darwin.html
Cool, many thanks to the fellow pointing out the pointer points on hiding the pointer when it’s not pointing. Points to you!
So, now I guess that the fellow who bought the Portege is now showing it to his “partner” and his alternative lifestyle friends.
I mean, the Portege is only a P3, and it’s certainly not the fastest computer on the market. Heck, it’s not even the fastest notebook. It doesn’t even have the biggest screen!
Why would anyone ever buy such a nonsensical thing? What a complete idiot!
Sensible man:
Did you even read this article???
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/pl/xml/02/12/16/021216plpowerbook…
This is a PC guy who tests these things for a living, and as he notes, the G4 Powerbook, because it doesn’t have to “power down” like the mobile pentium does, is more than a match.
Some other quotes:
“After spending quality time with the PowerBook running Mac OS X 10.2.2, we don’t care if we ever touch another $3,500-plus top-end PC notebook. Yes, it is that good, and its value has nothing to do with its sleek looks.”
“We beat them twice as hard because they’re so pretty and because, well, we’re not Mac people. When it was over, the PowerBooks owned us utterly. Trust us; that never happens.”
Oh, and one more question, since you say speed does matter, when (not if) the IBM 970 makes it way into the Apple Towers, and those machines turn out to be the fastest on the market (a strong possibility given both the architecture and the fact that IBM is focused on making the fastest chips on the market), what then? …Or as I suspect, will it be something like, “speed isn’t everything…”.
Wanna bet you’ll find another red herring to trot out?
The Toshiba laptop I bought was Portege 2000. $1279 with delivery from Computers4sure. No media drives, you are right, but WiFi adapter built in, there is SD slot and it comes with 2 batteries – main, probably for 2hrs, and extra capacity that can be attached to the bottom of the laptop.
At this price range I could afford 12″ iBook with “Superdrive” – 5lbs and 4hrs battery.
And if someone thinks Windows software inferior – try to find SigmaPlot for Mac OS X (or any os other than Windows). GraphPad Prism, Kaleidargaph and IGORPro all lack in number of features (SigmaPlot is the king of Scientific graphing apps) and/or easy of use for me.
Or may be I missed big anonsement, but does MS Office support Hebrew, Arabic etc (right to left) language on Mac OS X?
So my point is: “Macs are just better designed” is a false statement. They might be prettier and easier to use for some people, but that’s it.
You too, read the f’in article:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/pl/xml/02/12/16/021216plpowerbook…
Just “prettier”, right???
But hey, I’m sure you have a lot more hands-on experience than Mr. Yager, right?
Right???
Give me Final Cut Pro running on a Powerbook, that’s a combination that can’t be touched running an “ugly” PC.
6 months ago I bought a Dell P3 subnotebook with a 12″ screen, a 10GB internal hard drive, and with a P3. I bought it mainly because the hard drive was supposed to be removable, and it had an internal 10/100 ethernet port and no internal floppy. Long story why, but it’s for the work I do. And at $2,500 (government pricing — meaning lowest price) it was no bargain. The thing has a silver speckle – painted case and weighs about 3 or 4 lbs and has an external floppy and CD-ROM drive with a poorly designed cable and interface.
It is a complete and utter POS compared to the 12″ screen iBook that Apple is now offering for $990. Dell used to have decent mechanical designs which is why I bought it sight-unseen — the thing I bought ranks among the worst.
When you compare Dell notebooks to Apple TODAY from a cost/configuration standpoint, there is absolutely no comparison in my opinion. Apple and Sony both have excellent, well-thought out designs, with Apple the better of the two both from a design and cost standpoint.
but does MS Office support Hebrew, Arabic etc (right to left) language on Mac OS X?
And this relates to Apple’s design … how? The OS certainly supports it, it was MS that decided not to implement those languages. From the apple site:
“ Mac OS X v10.2 comes with full Unicode support and thousands of dollars worth of high-quality fonts — including Japanese and Chinese — and supports non-Roman alphabets (like Arabic, Thai and Hebrew) via improved input and a new Unicode Character Palette”
No media drives, you are right, but WiFi adapter built in
How are you gonna install that MS Office and SigmaPlot you like so much without a CD drive? What? You’ll have an external drive? Yeah, that is very elegent (and more expensive)!
You get 4.5 hours out-of-the-box on the iBook you mentioned, did you have to BUY the extra battery?
[Toshiba Laptop] Anonymous,
That’s nice. I only paid $299 for my handheld computer with SD media slot, and it’s much lighter than your laptop. Without CD/DVD media capability, it’s like comparing mobile desktops to PocketPC devices.
I also wouldn’t say that comparing platforms is necessarily the same as comparing software. The platform, inferior or not, does not mean that the software that runs on it is. The greater number of features is the worst argument one can make for software. Most people don’t want bloatware. All people want usability. For the two properties to coexist in a single application the developer must develop smarter; not throw a bunch of half-understood features at the user.
http://www.graphpad.com/prism/PrismvsSigmaplot.htm
Many of the platform-bashing and user-bashing comments in this forum are typical of the genre. I’ve used PCs since 1983 (and every version of Windows from 1.0 to XP Pro), and Macs since 1987. I’ve worked for IBM, DEC, Compaq, and Fujitsu. I help PC using friends, family, and neighours fix HW and SW problems on THEIR platform, and I’m currently working on a major Win2K desktop migration project at a large oil and gas firm. I have never bought anything for personal use except Macs, because they ARE better-designed personal computers. Mr. Wendland joins the fine company of James Gosling (the inventor of Java) and Moshe Bar (a major Linux kernel contributor), who switched from PCs to Macs once they realized how much more PLEASANT Macs are to use, despite the nontrivial GHz advantage of PCs. If you really like Windows, don’t run ZoneAlarm on Win2K SP3 or WinXP, it’ll only dismay you to find out how much spyware is built in, telling Big Brother in Redmond what you’re doing.
This is to HEY:
You gave a link to an article… I have to tell, i’ve never read more useless review then that. When are the numbers? Where are the results of benchmarks, comprehensive comparecing to PC notebooks? Statements like: “When it was over, the PowerBooks owned us utterly. Trust us; that never happens.” just don’t do it for me, because i’m not them and i don’t see why i have to trust them. It seems like Apple paid plenty to those guys to write something nice about PowerBook and not to include any usefull information. If you base your decision on buying new laptop on reviews like this one i feel sorry for you.
Somebody before made a comparision of PC vs. Mac using a car example.
I want to make a different one:
I would compare a Windows to a Ferrari and MacOS to a limousine.
I would rather a really fast car without air condition and which is probably really hard to handle than having a big but slow limousine which has a lot of nice little features, but take 3 seconds longer to get to 100 km/h.
I’ll buy the pretty one they mention in the article for $1279, thou it’s heavier than the toshiba I bought.
You learned how read, I can see that. Now learn how to understand what you read, and then some elementary math – if you can not do it on you own – go back to school, it’s about 4-th grade.
The toshiba owner.
Did I EVEN(?) read that article??!! No, I didn’t even read it, imagine how inferiour I am compared to you. Hmmm, let me read it so I can get on the same level of enlightment to even qualify to address you.
(…reading…)
So, what exactly does it say? First of all it talks about a particular model of a notebook while this discussion is a general PC vs Mac flame war. Second of all, the article is very brief, without much specifics and focuses basically on authors impressions and feelings towards the product, not real world benchmarks. Third of all, even he states that “Apple’s sales literature claims the PowerBook G4 outperforms a 2.2GHz Pentium 4, but don’t count on that claim. Running at full speed, a P4-M notebook will feel faster than a PowerBook G4, especially when running applications optimized for the Pentium 4 architecture. ”
When the IBM 970 or something makes it’s way somewhere, then we’ll talk. Until then keep watching that beach ball.
For the idiot that pointed out a test report showing that Adobe’s After Effects software running on a fast Windows box blew away a dual-processor Mac, also running After Effects, consider the following:
• After Effects for Windows NT/2000 has been out for several YEARS, at this point, and is well adapted/optimized to the Windows OS and i86 hardware — Adobe has spent quite a bit of time and effort to assure that After Effects runs WELL on Wintel boxen.
• After Effects for OSX is BRAND new — only MONTHS old — wholly unoptimized for the OSX operating system and G4 environment — likely that some larger amount of After Effects for OSX will have to be rewritten to gain the performance expected — After Effects for OSX does NOT know how to use the dual-processor G4 correctly, causing processes to run upon only ONE Mac processor in a dual processor box.
Adobe will EVENTUALLY fix AE to correctly utilize the Mac hardware, *someday* — in the meantime, Adobe After Effects performance comparisons between Mac and PC are bogus.
I switched last spring (also a dual 1Ghz box). This is a very stable platform. I’ve had an occasional application crash, but the OS keeps on going. The only time I’ve been required to reboot is when I installed an OS upgrade. There have been two since Jaguar was released back in August. I do video processing, VPN from home to work and do server side consloe work, I play my MP3s, surf the web, answer e-mail, all these applications running at the same time and it dosen’t break a sweat.
My work computer is a dual 1.8Ghz box, 512MB of RAM runing XP. I do a lot of development work on it and usually at the end of the day it needs a reboot, which is better than when I was running NT and W2K becuase they would need to be rebooted 2-4 times a day. You get more than 3 or 4 things going on my XP box and it starts to respond slower. Forget answring e-mail while your doing a full compile of your application, or listening to MP3s, the performance starts to suffer.
I have nothing against Linux I’ve used RedHat 4.0 – 7.3. Its a nice pice of work, but it laks an integrated Video production suite of tools like iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, and iPhoto. Which is why I looked at the Mac in the first place. The MS Windows based products just didn’t cut it.
So if you want the stability of UNIX, have a need or desire to do things with digital media, and need to integrate into the Windows world Apple OS X is going to be your best bet.
After reading your post, I decided to take a look at the article from InfoWorld.
I was surprised to find such an article there — they’re usually not this supportive of Apple products. Anyway I find that much of what they say is true. While I agree with you that it would be stupid to buy an Apple laptop based only on this article, I’d have to say that about any article about ANY product.
But the fact of the matter is that the article rings true given the experiences I’ve had both with my TiBook and with my wife’s Sony Vaio notebook. The Sony has the feel of speed behind it, but the screen fonts (even with an SXVGA screen) aren’t as clear, and the graphics don’t compare even with the Sony’s Invidia graphics card.
The TiBook is much more elegant in design, and I think you’d have to play with both to see the difference. I won’t go into details on the differences because it would take awhile, and some of it is based on personal preferences. But you’re right. I would NEVER buy a product based on an article like that.
You people crack me up. Why can’t you accept the fact that people like diversity and choice and options in computing? Why do you always end up with the same little kid fights? Don’t you want diversity? Don’t you want choice?
Of course, PC trolls, when they have nothing else, it has to come down to “It seems like Apple paid plenty to those guys to write something nice about PowerBook and not to include any usefull information”.
Of course, that must be it, couldn’t be an honest, valid review from a technology editor who has actually been a huge critic of Apple over the years.
But go ahead, throw out every single piece of evidence that might point out that Apple makes perhaps the best notebooks out there, no reason to change your dogma now, is there?
You know, as a Mac user, I’ll more than give props to Windows and PC’s when they deserve it, but it amazes me that Windows fools can’t admit that maybe, just maybe, Apple actually makes some products that are better.
When pigs fly, I suppose.
Here’s more fuel to the fire:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/pl/xml/02/12/16/021216plpowerbook
What’s funny about this is that in the criteria box at the bottom, performance isn’t even on the list!
Mossberg has a nice review, comparing the new iBook to
the Toshiba here:
http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/030116/72/36jla.html
Mossberg is a pretty objective tech writer. When Apple was have trouble getting software/hardware out the door– pre-return of Steve Jobs, he was definately more of a Wintel guy.
Bart, i see your point and it might be valid (we would have to ask Adobe), but i just want to understand why i have to pay more money to get worth performance, regardless of who’s to blame, hardware or software. And who knows when this “EVENTUALLY” happens and Adobe optimizes its products for Mac OSX.
Eugenia is obviously prejudiced against PCs. It’s obvious from all the pro-Apple articles that have been posted. When will the bias stop?
(If you are stupid enough to take this seriously: raise your right hand, and smack yourself)
I was considering getting new Sharp PDA with keyboard, running linux – the one that Dynamism sells. It’s impossible to write papers without keyboard – I’ve tried to type on external keyboard attached to pda – it just does not work.
The laptop I bought is what best suits my needs/budget.
Now for all the people who have trouble reading, in capital letters:
APPLE DOES NOT DESIGN BETTER LAPTOPS, NOR DO THEY IT CLAIM TO. THEY CLAIM TO BE DIFFERENT. DIFFERENT DOES NOT MEAN BETTER.
“Men of convictions are prisoners”
F. Nietzsche
Finally Rob Potts said something usefull. If what he says is true then i see the point of having a Mac. But only if you do A LOT of video and music processing. In other words Mac is a specific tool and not a general purpose home computer. So that’s how they should be advertised. And then it all makes sense, the high cost, limited software choice, lack of games for Mac. What pisses me off is the stategy Mac uses to cell thier products to people who don’t know much about computers and convicing them that what they just bought is a best thing for thier money.
Different also doesn’t mean, “not better.” It’s the conclusion you draw from your comparisons I have a problem with, not the products themselves. A light notebook computer can serve purposes a PDA cannot, but to compare it to notebooks with more usability and call it a fair win for the less equipped doesn’t make any sense.
“What pisses me off is the stategy Mac uses to cell thier products to people who don’t know much about computers and convicing them that what they just bought is a best thing for thier money.”
What the hell business is it of yours as to how OTHER people spend their money?
And getting angry about something like this is completely and totally absurd and pointless.
People can make up their OWN MINDS as to what computer they choose to buy, and I’m sure you could find much better things to fret about….go take a walk, get some fresh air, re-boot your Windows box if you have to, but definitely get some freakin’ professional help!!!
> PS. NULL_POINTER_US, you still didn’t reply my last comment on your last
> comment about Mono 0.18 discussion here:
> http://www.osnew s.com/comment.php?news_id=2544 Should I wait more????
If it were not for your whining in this thread, I would not have noticed your reply in the other thread. Perhaps next time you could send me an email.
“The laptop I bought is what best suits my needs/budget.”
This is the most intelligent thing you’ve said so far. If you have found something that meets your needs great. But to claim superiority of a SUB-notebook over a Notebook on the sheer basis of weight, that’s comparing apples to oranges. It’s not fair. So you can’t directly compare an iBook to a Portege 2000. Pick on another sub-notebook if you want to
“Now for all the people who have trouble reading, in capital letters:
APPLE DOES NOT DESIGN BETTER LAPTOPS, NOR DO THEY IT CLAIM TO. THEY CLAIM TO BE DIFFERENT. DIFFERENT DOES NOT MEAN BETTER.”
YES THEY DO DESIGN BETTER LAPTOPS, AND THEY WILL TELL YOU THIS IF YOU ASK THEM. I’M NOT SURE WHAT YOU MEAN BY THEY CLAIM TO BE DIFFERENT. THINK DIFFERENT? THAT AD CAMPAIGN WAS THROWN OUT ABOUT TWO YEARS AGO. ACTUALLY, NOW THEY CLAIM TO BE MORE STANDARDS ORIENTED AND ABLE TO COEXIST IN UNIX ENVIRONMENTS WITH OS X. SO THAT MAKES WINDOWS THE ONLY NON-UNIX OPERATING SYSTEM OUT THERE. MAYBE WINDOWS SHOULD CLAIM TO BE DIFFERENT.
LOL! I just noticed this:
> What the hell business is it of yours as to how OTHER people spend their money?
>
> And getting angry about something like this is completely and totally
> absurd and pointless.
I have here a powerful 3D graphics card with a screaming, 32-bit interface, over 4 million bytes of dedicated graphics RAM, and mind-blowing performance. Ordinarily I would sell this for $100, but for you I will make a special deal – only $85. You will not believe the remarkable 3D quality this card has! Games literally crawl…er, I mean, jump off the screen! Yours for the low, low price of $85!
If a friend or a relative fell for this sales pitch, would you not be angry at the guy selling the junk?
> People can make up their OWN MINDS as to what computer they choose to buy,
He is referring to the blatant marketing lies.
> and I’m sure you could find much better things to fret about….go take a
> walk, get some fresh air, re-boot your Windows box if you have to, but
> definitely get some freakin’ professional help!!!
Do you not get angry when Microsoft uses marketing lies?
The toshiba in question is Pentium-M 750 MHz. This is not superfas proccessor. The laptop does not have firewire or CD/DVD burner. It does not come with a kitchen sink. It has one advantage very important for me, that Apple can not (or does not want to) beat – it’s size and weight.
How is PowerBook (or rather iBook at this price range) is better according to my criteria? That’s why I say “different”. Not better, not worst – different.
You really need to lighten up a bit. Why would a marketing strategy get you all worked up? What’s Apple supposed to do, not market their products, or only market them how you think they should? Your statement is ridiculous.
And the Mac is not a general purpose home computer? You have got to be kidding. That’s what it excels at. It just happens to be especially good at video and audio. I can do almost ANYTHING I want on my Mac at home, a lot more than my disabled “Stinkpad” at work. I can run any Mac app, a lot of good Unix tools, and a whole bunch of Windows apps via Virtual PC. That’s pretty darn utilitarian if you ask me.
Dude, we are talking about computers here. And the minute you tep over the line and start taking out your frustration about your Mac on other people, you prove that you are the one who needs a proffesional help. And you are right i don’t give a flying F*** about how other people spend thier money. But it pisses me off when i see a dishounesty being caried out, and that’s exactly what (in my opinion) Apple is doing. And besides when i say that it pisses me off it doesn’t mean that i’m ready to march in front of Apple building with sighs “Ban Macs”.
But i’ll give you a free shot. Give me one but good reason why i have to change my PC desktop to Mac. And keep in mind that i’m a general purpose user, i know what computer is, i know how to setup Windows and i don’t freak out when i have to install a driver (or update driver).
This is what you said:
“APPLE DOES NOT DESIGN BETTER LAPTOPS, NOR DO THEY IT CLAIM TO. THEY CLAIM TO BE DIFFERENT. DIFFERENT DOES NOT MEAN BETTER.”
…then:
“Not better, not worst – different.”
Unless you expect people to only have a five-second memory, I’m not sure how you believe you can carry your argument any further. I think you made a reasonable choice to meet your needs, because as I said – I don’t have a problem with the products, but why would that prompt you to consider Mac different? Of course it’s different. So is my PDA.
I thought I was clear – I guess I was wrong:
here are couple statements
A is faster than B.
B is lighter than A.
A is bigger than B.
A is silver.
B is silver with black.
What is better A or B?
Is A designed better? or B?
And what made me consider Mac different? How about One Button Mouse – if that’s not different (and you have to use MS Windows or X-window to understand), I do not know what is.
The toshiba owner.
What the?! You thought you were clear?
“APPLE DOES NOT DESIGN BETTER LAPTOPS”
Apple does not design better laptops than whom? If you leave the comparison as implicit rather than explicit, you are comparing the product to everything else out there. This in turn means that puts Apple’s laptops at the bottom. It’s called a generalization, and why many people like myself are tired of hearing it.
The fact that Apple ships computers with one-button mice, doesn’t make the “platform” different. One can always use a multi-button mouse on the Mac, as I do, without any problem. I guess similarly, you would consider CAD workstation companies that ship their computers with six-button mice different too. Do you have something against them also?
I am not advocating one platform over another here. I believe computers are tools to be used as tools. A Windows box is a good tool for advanced gaming. A Mac is a good tool for design creation. A Windows box is a good tool for office productivity development (saying nothing about productivity usage). A Mac is a good tool for personal information management (music, movies, pictures, contacts, journals, etc.). A hammer is a good tool for pounding nails into wood. A screwdriver is a good tool for applying torque to a screw. Get the idea?
Now, because they’re all tools, should I then compare them all to one another? I answer with an emphatic no. Not even the ¾ inch driver socket should be compared to the ½ inch version. Though they share similar purposes, given their size difference, they have variant usability.
They are all computers for people to use.
Speed only matters in the face of basic functions.
Does it REALLY matter one OS vs Another loads a webpage 1second faster to most (90%) of the population. No.
Are XP and OS X different? Yes or this thread/site wouldn’t exist.
Is one better than the other? Entirely your opinion which some will agree with and others will not. Arguing about it is stupid unless you are #1 getting paid to do it like most mags. #2 getting paid for advirtising.
I use OSX and XP, XP is a royal bitch to secure (privs are a laughing matter compared almost any Unix)
I don’t like MS or other companies spying on me…on OSX this is “almost” non existant.
current RISC motorola/IBM chips are SLOWER than current CISC Intel/AMD chips. Except at one thing that most people don’t do…altivec which means it only matters to a niche in a niche.
Software between the two doesn’t matter for the most part
On one side you have Mountains of Consumer Software
On the other side you have Mountains of Unix apps.
(one of our Mac servers runs a backup/imaging server that was written on/for Solaris…it took 15minutes to port.
People should use what they want to use, AFTER trying everything that is available. Anyone in here that uses XP having NEVER USED A LINUX/MAC system for 1week has no basis to talk. (no sitting at it for 20minutes bitching about it doesn’t count…actually using it)
No I’m not trying to convert anyone to Mac…I just wish people REALLY knew their choices…Linux and Mac need the recognition to give people choice.
So this rant was brought to you by a bored person who wanted to rant because he had a crappy day and this was a GREAT place to vent. Thanks for making me feel better.
Apple makes better designed computers. There is less software (of the more specialized kind). There is less hardware of the more specialized kind (subnotebook). That just means to get the specialized software and specialized hardware, you get the inferior OS and overall inferior computing experience.
Apple design of laptops sucks compare to:
IBM,
Compaq,
Toshiba,
Dell,
Sharp,
Fujitsu
They are superior to:
Tatung
– if you take weight as the criteria. This list by no means complete. These are computers that run almost the same software titles – so they are tools for almost the same job. (In my life I was working for a publishing company doing magazines and books layout – on a 16Mhz 386sx computer running Ventura Publisher under GEM. So do not give me “Macs are for the graphics” thing.)
Should I be more clear.
The toshiba owner.
yes, we want diversity, we want competition.
But at the same time, we want people to stop denying the truth. Apple makes a better overall product. There is nothing to be lost by just acknowledging this. More people will buy mac, and then MS will have more pressure to improve.
Yes, and we’re all robots too. Did you even read what I posted? I said that you made a generalization. “if you take weight as the criteria” is called a modifier in the English language, therefore your statement no longer exists as a generalization.
No, I was not going to mention anything about Macs and graphics related to the analogy of tools. I have already expressed what I believe the Mac is a good tool for.
Let me see if I’ve got this straight.
You’re actually, really, truly pissed off about an ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN???
Ok. Not my place to judge.
As for you changing from your PC, I really don’t give a hoot, use whatever you like, that’s the whole point.
Many people like, and choose, Macintosh, not based on the ads, not because they are stupid, or rich, or uninformed, but because they have found that they like Apple better.
And really, are PC people so honestly threatened by a company that has something like 3% market share? Will your life be better when Apple no longer exists?
I have and do use Windows, in fact, I use XP more than I do Mac OS X.
How much have you used OS X? More than five minutes? An hour? A day? A week?
And that is what I find especially funny, is that Windows users who get all up in arms about the possibility that Macs might just be pretty damn good, have either never used one recently, or have played with OS X for a few minutes, while you will find that the overwhelming majority of people who buy and use Macs not only have used Windows extensively, but often have to use it on a daily basis.
And yet they still choose the Mac, not out of some insane religious ideology, or blind faith, but just the fact THAT THEY FREAKIN’ LIKE IT!!
Seriously, why are some Windows users so damn insecure?
My original post was in responce to “It’s called windows sucks” where author made the following comment:
“When will people just acknowledge the obvious? Macs are just better designed. You only have to spend a few days with each system to realize this is a no-brainer.”
This is generalization and I replied with general statement. The weight issue was not a modifier, it was an example to show that depending on some points Apple computers are indeed inferior, and on the other (like integration, for example) they are way ahead of commodity PCs.
But thank you for the lesson on English grammar(?), I need it – English is not even my second language.
The Toshiba owner.
“Adobe will EVENTUALLY fix AE to correctly utilize the Mac hardware, *someday* — in the meantime, Adobe After Effects performance comparisons between Mac and PC are bogus.”
This is so stupid, I wasn’t even sure if it’s worth replying. I don’t care what Adobe will do “EVENTUALLY”, they can eventually go out of business for all I care. The point is that the way it stand right now, Adobe benchmarks show that a top of the line PC is nearly twice as fast as top of the line Mac.
By the time Adobe will optimize AE for OSX, PCs will move to 64 bit architechture and wipe the floor with Mac once again.
Consumer Reports has ranked Apple #1 in the following categories:
– Best Computer
– Best Repair Record (needed less repairs than other machines)
– Best Support/Customer Service
Considering that the bulk of the market is the consumer market, one can conclude, based on Consumer Reports’ data, that Apple is the best choice for the majority of the market. One could also conclude that they are superior.
In addition, consider this:
The newly announced 17″ Powerbook ($3,299) has the folowing standard features:
– 802.11G (54 mb/s) with built-in antennae
– DVD-R/CDRW/CDROM/DVDROM
– Gigabit Ethernet
– VGA/ADC/DVI external video capability
– 800 mb/s FireWire2
– 400 mb/s FireWire 1 and, of course, USB
– PCMCIA
– The largest laptop display on the market
– A keyboard that automatically illuminates in darkness, using fiberoptic technology
– Built-in Bluetooth that WORKS
– 4.5 hour battery life
– 1″ thick
– Included software: OS X, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, iTunes, iChat, iCal, iSync, Mail, Safari, Exploder, Sherlock 3, Native VPN, CUPS, Rendezvous, etc
– 1 GHz G4 processor, 40 Gig HD, up to 1 GB RAM
– Add on Microsoft Office for $200
– under 6 pounds
That’s the top of the line system. Let’s look at the bottom:
12″ iBook ($999) standard features:
– CD-RW
– 1024×768
– 802.11b antennae built-in, internal card add-on for $99
– VGA external port
– Two 400 mb/s Firewire1 ports
– 1 USB port
– 4.5 hours battery life
– Included software: OS X, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, iTunes, iChat, iCal, iSync, Mail, Safari, Exploder, Sherlock 3, Native VPN, CUPS, Rendezvous, etc, In Addition, World Book Encyclopedia, Quicken, a few games, etc
– Add on Microsoft Office for $200
– 800 Mhz G3 processor, decent hard drive, plenty of RAM for a basic machine
– 1″ thick
– Under 5 pounds
Out of the companies you listed, which have a comperable or better laptop at these prices? No other powerbook in the industry has all the specs the 17″ powerbook has.
Here are the specs unique to it. No other laptops have these features:
– 17″ screen
– 800 mb/s data port (Firewire2)
– 802.11G
– Illuminated, auto-sensing keyboard
Here are the specs included standard on the 17″ powerbook that are rare on most laptops:
– DVD-R/CD-RW/CDROM/DVDROM (slotloading is even more rare)
– Landscape screen
– Integrated WIFI antennae
– Gigabit Ethernet
– Digital Video Out (ADC/DVI)
– Less than 6 pounds
– 1″ thick
– Built-in Bluetooth
Mr. Todhiba Owner-
Please tell me again how Apple’s laptops are ranked last in your scientific study. You should be more clear.
thank you.
Mr. Todhiba Owner-
Please tell me again how Apple’s laptops are ranked last in your scientific study. You should be more clear.
thank you.
All the companies I listed make notebooks under 4 lbs and Apple does not.
Hey PC Man I take that as a compliment, hope it was intended that way. You’re right in what you say that you purchase a Mac with a specific need in mind. One of the comments made by Jobs during his past keynote this year is that he wants to do for the digital world what Gates did for the office.
I think this an awesome goal, and one that Apple will achive. Don’t take me the wrong way. There’s some awesome Windows/Linux apps out there for digital media, but nobody has had the initutive at this point to take your digital photo library, music library, video library and integrate it so you can seemlessly use them togeather to make VCD and DVD.
I think that Jobs knows this and he’s gambeling that it will sell more Macs. Think about it whats one way to win new customers? Look at what the competition is doing right and make it better. Look at what the competition is doing wrong and do the oposite. Look at Open Source. Is the goal of Open Source to make everything free, or make it better. I’ve seen a lot of “copycat” applications come from Open Source lately. Some are better, some are worse, some are about the same as thier Windows based cousins. One thing that I think the OSS world dosen’t understand is just becuase it functions like the non-free Windows App people are going to prefer it.
Look at Evolution. Its one hell of a knock off of Outlook, but I don’t like Outlook so why use it *NIX. Give me an itegrated collaboration suite that blows Outlook away. Mac has Entorage a modified Outlook developed by the MBU at Microsoft. Again I don’t like Outlook why would I want it on Mac. What I do like is that with iCal I can subscribe to different types of public calendars, from movies to sports.
If I want an updated College Football or Basketball schedual I just tell it to sync it up with my iCal, that’s inovative. Same for movie releases, at a touch of a button your desktop calendar is updated and ready to sync with your PDA. That’s what web services is all about. I think that Apple understands home consumer web services needs, and has a way to make it happen. This is just my opinion, not looking for a fight.
Something completely unrelated to Apple.
Or may be not…
The IQ of your average person around 105. The distribution pretty narrow, so 130 would make you quite bright, and at something like 80 you are complete idiot. My guess, I do have to hard data, is that with IQ of around 115 one can be accepted and make it through college in the US.
Consumer report does not take this into account, it’s what “average” consumer reports, unless they do their own testing. Quite meaningless, if you ask me.
Some people drive the lowest cost cars, they don’t care much about how they get from A to B so long as they do just that.
Some people shop at the lowest cost supermarkets, they don’t care that the shopping experience isn’t a very nice one, they’ve saved a few quid (bucks)
Some people don’t wear branded clothes, a pair of jeans is a pair of jeans, a pair of trainers (sneakers) is a pair of trainers (sneakers).
Some people buy low cost computers that let them view web pages, print letters, rip music etc, they don’t mind that this isn’t the most pleasant way of doing it.
I’ve been in the IT business for 20 years.
FACT: You will always pay a slight premium for Apple kit.
FACT: Doing it on a Mac will (almost) always be a better more enjoyable experience.
FACT: You can’t win an arguement with a geek.
FACT: You can’t win an arguement with someone who buys cheap food, wears cheap clothes and drives cheap cars!
-)
>>You can set the mouse pointer to dissapear while typing on a Windows box too, IIRC.
>Really?? REALLY???? Can you tell me how? Please please
>please please please?? Pretty please even?
don’t think it does it system wide, i.e. it’s up to the app to hide the mouse. Word and ie (some places, like the address bar) removes it for me. other apps doesn’t.
It’s always nice to have an unbiased viewpoint . . . 😉
(of course everyone has bias)
Please take your bigotry somewhere else… its rather pathetic to see comments like yours here.
“Using Windows is like using a stapler. Using Apple is like directing a symphony.”
Give me a BREAK. I have USED both OS’s and continue to today. Mac users (especially the breed in the comercials) apparently don’t USE their Macs for crap. The Macs that I use (G4, G3, IMacs old and new) are the only ones that sometimes don’t even like to BOOT UP! Yes, the PC’s have their own problems…but they don’t start the morning off with a good ‘ol freeze. And…GASP!…they CRASH! Whoever says otherwise is lying to your face. All computers crash. Its what they do when you USE them. Directing a symphony? I’ve gotta go puke now.
Just a correction – the new 12″ PowerBook has a G4 867 MHz processor, not an 800 Mhz G3.
My Mac has never crashed. I’ve had apps crash but not the OS. I’ve never had any of the apps hangup to the point where I had to reboot the box. Just purchased a new iMac for my in-laws this past Christmas. this is their first Mac and they haven’t had any crashes either.
I’ve never had a problem booting them up, except for one time when I inserted an unsupported SCSI card into my G4. Took the card out and it booted right up.
Maybe you’ve added some non supported cards that the system dosen’t like. As long as the box has the OS X logo on it, I’ve had no problems adding it to my system, and it working the first time. Maybe you’re just not a technology based person, bad mojo or somthing. Maybe the computer can sense that you are afraid of it, and acts up on purpose.
I’ve never used OS9 extensively, maybe its that OS. Anyhow sorry about your luck, maybe you should upgrade to OS X (10.2.x is awesome).