So after 24 hours use... what do I REALLY think?

[DR]

Well - I've been using this system for 24 hours, hit some snags, found some pleasant things - I will now update you all on them

This is my first Mac system which I've owned. I've used OSX before - but only to play around - maybe 2 hours in total, and never tried to use it in a "work" enviroment.

Firstly - the hardware, let's talk about what I like:

- Design, it's sturdy and well built, pretty much what I've become to expect from previous Apple products, the clean lines and easy to setup hardware makes life pretty easy.

- The Glossy screen is great, of course some will loath it but I just look through the shine straight and get on with it and it's not hurt my eyes yet! I've turned the brightness right down.

- Integrated camera.

- How quiet it is....

- How easy the memory upgrade was

- The fact I've not had to build it.

- Keyboard, I love it - and the extra controls of course are useful. I've not got the "I've used a Mac all my life" bad habbits...

It was a little hard to swallow the £24 for the Mini DVI cable to allow me to plug a 2nd monitor in but I am sure Apple can justify that with the silver bag which it came in or something daft like that.

Things I don't like (Hardware)

- You can't swivel the monitor... so you have to sit straight in front of it - this isn't a huge issue but I would like the option to be able to if I wanted to - whilst keeping the stand square to the desk.

- You can't make it higher - so I've had to buy a desk stand for it - which also isn't that bad since I've now got space to story little things

- The mouse... I'm trying guys, I really am - but god Steve Jobs needs a kickup up the butt to fix this puppy.

- I wish they would make it so the remote could stick on the sides like previous generations - but I suspect you can't magnetise a small part of the bezel hence not doing it.

I'm sure there are other niggles but I've not found them yet!

Things I like (Software)

- It's simple
- It was setup in minutes and does take you through all the steps.
- Keychain for passwords
- Installing applications and the wide variety of GOOD applications (unlike Windows with the heap of crap which is out there....)

If someone I knew had never used a PC before I'd get them a Mac it's logical.

Certain things from Vista have clearly been lifted straight from OSX.

I wish I understood the OS more so I could hack around with it like I can in Windows, with all of the litle tricks I've built up over the years.

I've managed to do nearly everything on the system - I've a few more things which I've got to get working...

... so I removed MSN last night and put Adium on, which means I've now got no MS software for day-to-day stuff, and I am going to try and do an advertising report in Keynote .... to see how that goes.

Things I'm still trying to do
- Blackberry setup (I've not even looked yet)
- iSCSI Setup (to get to my NAS)
- Adobe PDF creation - any good clues? I don't want to use Adobe bloatware.
- Is there a RealPlayer Alternative like there is for Windows?

I got my printer working pretty simply this morning - I did something stupid which mean't it wouldn't work before...

So all in all - pretty positive, I really hope I can do the other tasks which I wanted to do on it, then I'm all set.

[ikonia]

interesting thoughts.

[DR]

... anything you would disagree with?

[staffsMike]

Which mac do you have?

What you've said is pretty much how I feel and to be perfectly honest I think the jump from xp to vista is more painful than that from windows to osx.

I only have about an hours use of both so far so thats probably not a fair comment but I found it a lot easier to find what I was looking for in osx rather than the mess vista has created.

[DR]

I've a 24" iMac, 2GB Ram etc...

I've had some seriously powerful windows PC's - 8 cores etc... and now I've moved to effectively a laptop bolted to a screen...

.... I went from XP to Vista back to XP and now on OSX.

[Zak33]

When I drive on the continent, I am fine with driving left hand drive, amd within 5 minutes I am flying along.
That's because the pedals are all still where they should be and the indicators and so forth are identical to UK.

If I was to go abroad and find someone had moved everything about on all the cars, I would never go.

And that is why Apple holds the interest of a case of the clap for me.

I wish you luck, boss man. I also think I'll hear you moving back to a PC by year end!

[ikonia]

not really disagree on anything.

I don't use mac OS for anything other than pro-tools music recording, and I don't use windows so its quite an interesting read for me both due to a.) your views on the new hardware b.) your views on it coming from a windows background.

I personally find mac OS quite awkward to use, but thats potentially as you said a.) I don't use it enough on a regular basis b.) my usage requirements are limited c.) I come from a reasonably different way of working.

The comments you made that stood out for me are;

You can't swivel the monitor... so you have to sit straight in front of it - this isn't a huge issue but I would like the option to be able to if I wanted to - whilst keeping the stand square to the desk.

You can't make it higher - so I've had to buy a desk stand for it - which also isn't that bad since I've now got space to story little things

This interests me because a.) its a pretty basic and common user requirement. b.) it shows the limitation of caseing a PC within the monitor (potentially). However as you say you can live without it.

The mouse... I'm trying guys, I really am - but god Steve Jobs needs a kickup up the butt to fix this puppy

Massive old gripe. Die hard mac users seem to have no problem with it an just accept it, but I wish apple would listen to user base or potential new user base. Same with the ipod - no radio.

Keychain for passwords

this is a fantastic use of technology. No more password entering. Excellent additional applications such as finger print scanner to utilise this sort of core technology that I don't quite understand why MS hasn't quite got to grips with yet.

Certain things from Vista have clearly been lifted straight from OSX

please share your thoughts.



questions I've got but you've not mentioned
1.) I know from past discussions your an MS exchange / outlook user.
How are you dealing with this ?
2.) I know your an MS office user - how are you dealing with this ?
3.) Is there anything you did do on your PC (eg: video editing, progamming, gaming etc) that you find it worse/impossible to do on your mac (I only use blatent examples).

[DR]

When I drive on the continent, I am fine with driving left hand drive, amd within 5 minutes I am flying along.
That's because the pedals are all still where they should be and the indicators and so forth are identical to UK.

If I was to go abroad and find someone had moved everything about on all the cars, I would never go.

And that is why Apple holds the interest of a case of the clap for me.

I wish you luck, boss man. I also think I'll hear you moving back to a PC by year end!

We will see ... you gotta try these things right?

[RavenNight]

Really useful, be interesting to see how you get on in a couple of weeks time, whether you have any long term problems etc.

[DR]

not really disagree on anything.

I don't use mac OS for anything other than pro-tools music recording, and I don't use windows so its quite an interesting read for me both due to a.) your views on the new hardware b.) your views on it coming from a windows background.

Ah that's one thing though if you are using it for specific applications and have a purpose then I suspect as you see it as an "Audio" machine rather than a Computer? Sounds daft but this could be the case? I am going to really give this a go - and so far I'm pretty happy. I'm not going to spend hours and hours on a problem - I will fire up the notebook if I need to quickly do something in Windows, and right now - Keynote doesn't like me - or my Office template so I might re-make it... or just use my Laptop.

I personally find mac OS quite awkward to use, but thats potentially as you said a.) I don't use it enough on a regular basis b.) my usage requirements are limited c.) I come from a reasonably different way of working.

Could be - but I suspect I am trying to like it and make it work out

Re the monitor - Yep I can live with it, but I am not going to hide the fact it's annoying

Massive old gripe. Die hard mac users seem to have no problem with it an just accept it, but I wish apple would listen to user base or potential new user base. Same with the ipod - no radio.

Yep you are right - I am going to replace the mouse after 7 days if I don't get on with it - I can do the right click and I know where the pressure points are but it's still a PITA.

this is a fantastic use of technology. No more password entering. Excellent additional applications such as finger print scanner to utilise this sort of core technology that I don't quite understand why MS hasn't quite got to grips with yet.

Yep - and I don't see why they haven't either.

Vista...
Well - the user directory structure seperating out certain things - there are others but I'm in a hurry!

questions I've got but you've not mentioned
1.) I know from past discussions your an MS exchange / outlook user.
How are you dealing with this ?
2.) I know your an MS office user - how are you dealing with this ?
3.) Is there anything you did do on your PC (eg: video editing, progamming, gaming etc) that you find it worse/impossible to do on your mac (I only use blatent examples).

1. I am using Mail application and IMAP at the moment - and trying to work out if there will ever be a decent application which will tie in with Exchange - I've also got OWA... I'm not interested in Entourage since it's pants.

2. iLife08 and other applications - I don't want to have to install Office since it's so out of date.

3. Currently no - I don't do any Video/Gaming/Programming - I literally use my PC for

- FTP
- Image Editing
- PowerPoint
- PDF Making
- Email
- Internet
- Music/DivX/etc

So I'm a normal PC user in terms or processes.....

[DR]

Really useful, be interesting to see how you get on in a couple of weeks time, whether you have any long term problems etc.

I saw your PM - I will keep this thread up to date

[pollaxe]

I've never got on with Macs, when I was at college (we're talking a while ago, mind you) we had to use them for DTP stuff. Coming from an Amiga it felt like a backwards step. My experiences with them since haven't really changed my mind though I think most platforms are now on a more or less level playing ground.

The mouse doesn't seem to have evolved at all since the mid 1990s and when I've had conversations with my Mac-using friends it just feels like they're paying through the nose for the Apple badge and they could get far more 'bang for their buck' if they bought PC components and assembled them instead.

It's interesting to hear a former Windows user's experiences though - most of my friends who own Macs have been slavishly buying them for years. I understand brand loyalty though, I was a die-hard Amiga nut but eventually I went to the PC instead...

[DR]

I've never got on with Macs, when I was at college (we're talking a while ago, mind you) we had to use them for DTP stuff. Coming from an Amiga it felt like a backwards step. My experiences with them since haven't really changed my mind though I think most platforms are now on a more or less level playing ground.

The mouse doesn't seem to have evolved at all since the mid 1990s and when I've had conversations with my Mac-using friends it just feels like they're paying through the nose for the Apple badge and they could get far more 'bang for their buck' if they bought PC components and assembled them instead.

It's interesting to hear a former Windows user's experiences though - most of my friends who own Macs have been slavishly buying them for years. I understand brand loyalty though, I was a die-hard Amiga nut but eventually I went to the PC instead...

Cheers for the post, somewhat fair in places no doubt - I wouldn't have bought a mac at all until the past 2 years, and with Leopard coming out by year end - I'm keen on it...

... I bought this mac with my OWN money - I am that keen to see if I can get on well with it - and so far I've not hated it... which is rare... remember I can run pretty much any hardware under the sun, and I've chosen this for now.

[ikonia]

Ah that's one thing though if you are using it for specific applications and have a purpose then I suspect as you see it as an "Audio" machine rather than a Computer? Sounds daft but this could be the case? I

Yes your bang on with that. When I bought the mac for this purpose I did give it a go as a core desktop system, but as you said I wasn't really in the market for a reaplcment OS as I like what I currently have. That said though one of the reasos I do see it as an audio device rather than a computer as you rightly say, is because it is so alien to use.

Your other answers are a good insight and I'll be following with interest how you progress and how you resolve issue (such as exchange.)

[directhex]

you can create a pdf from anything - print to pdf is enabled by default

[DR]

Yes your bang on with that. When I bought the mac for this purpose I did give it a go as a core desktop system, but as you said I wasn't really in the market for a reaplcment OS as I like what I currently have. That said though one of the reasos I do see it as an audio device rather than a computer as you rightly say, is because it is so alien to use.

Your other answers are a good insight and I'll be following with interest how you progress and how you resolve issue (such as exchange.)