Thursday, December 6, 2007

Going Mac

Recently I've found myself considering the switch to a Mac. I am a PC person through and through. Though when I think about what I use my computer for - writing, blogging, pictures, music - and what I'd like to use it for - design - it doesn't make sense to not be on a Mac.

The trouble with PCs is that they are not intuitive and lack an ease of usability for those of us who are not computer geeks. I need platforms that let me create without knowing how to code. I'm not interested in code; I am interested in expressing myself.

There's something frightening about switching platforms. I'm feeling as much anxiety about it as I did about moving to New York. I know it's the right thing to do, it's just that making the leap into the unknown is tough to conceptualize.

So I've been hunting around on-line for articles that help easy my anxiety; ones that ultimately will help me make a better choice. Today, an article in USA Today's Technology section was a big help on both fronts. If you're making the switch, you may find it helpful, too. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2007-12-05-mac_N.htm

I also learned that something called Mac World happens in January and it is possible that the price of a Mac may drop shortly thereafter, or be significantly upgraded at the same price.

5 comments:

swissfondue said...

You may want to try these websites for info regarding the Switch to Mac:
http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/
http://macmentor.org/switch/
http://switchtoamac.com/
http://www.itchyhands.com/2005/10/04/how-to-switch-to-mac
http://the.taoofmac.com/space/HOWTO/Switch%20To%20The%20Mac

News: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118953892743724082.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/wlg/8448

Tips: http://www.askbigpapa.com/articles/376/1/How-to-switch-to-Mac-Move-everything-from-your-old-PC-to-a-new-Mac-using-your-iPod/Page1.html

Once you have a Mac: learn about it here: http://www.itsabouttimeproducts.com/switch_to_mac/

Better yet, get David Pogue's book: Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual

Christa said...

Hi Swiss! Thanks so much for all of your great hints and sharing your knowledge about Macs - I really appreciate it.

swissfondue said...

You're welcome. I have two Macs since 4 years and am glad to be of assistance.

You'll discover the Mac user community is very helpful. Check out the forums at http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

or at Macworld: http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB1

Just remember that people without questions or Mac problems usually don't post in these forums. So the negative comments need to be put into perspective.


Feel free to contact me at swissfondue at gmail.com for any questions or advice.

Unknown said...

I work on both platforms and in the end the hype about macs being for artists, pcs for techies is way overblown. The software that comes with a mac is pretty amateurish so what you end buying to use in real life (photoshop illustrator fireworks flash dreameaver reason ) is available on a pc, and typically, because its a bigger market, new releases are available sooner.

Macs look cool. No question. But they have quirks you won't like... Lack of a touch pad, one button, if you actually reboot takes insanely long to fully start up, desktop becomes a litter ground, drive space gets eaten very quickly, memory goes down like chocolate (not uncommon to see firefox using 200 megs of ram and 1 gig of virtual memory, no memory card readers like most of laptops have, too few USB ports. Did I mention no games? Support when you do have a problem is iffy at best. Search for help about a mac on google vs a pc...the difference is staggering.

I have an intel MacBook pro (core 2 duo) with 2 gigs of ram. Its no more geared to being an artists computer than the pc laptop my wife uses or I use in addition to my mac. Oddly enough, the brunt of my work on my mac is programming, go figure.

What IS nice with macs is you do rarely turn them off or reboot... I reboot my of each night. Mac laptops are way more cool looking than of laptops. The operating system generally does allow you to juggle more open applications than a of. But the truth is, they do crash about the same amount, and force a reboot. Our entire office (85 broads) is pretty much mac based, and in general they about as stable as a pc. My home pc boots up in 15 seconds from power off. If I turn off my mac and wait for it to let me begin I'm looking at two to the minutes... But as I said... The need to turn off a mac for whatever reason, is less

Anyway... I'd think about it. The famous commercials of the two guys, mac and pc are great... But terribly biased which is understandable of course :)

Unknown said...

please forgive my previous posts typos and referring to pc's in some places as 'of'. Typing such a long comment with an iPhone is no easy feat!!!