Coal From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 1628 posts, RR: 6 Posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 1570 times:
So,
It's been about two months with my new MacBook. But I've come to the sad conclusion that I'm just not cut out to it. Sure, it's got lots of cool stuff, but at the end of the day, I think I prefer PCs.
The good about Mac:
-Awesome design, both inside and out. I don't think you can beat those spunky white machines and the icons are much nicer than Windows
-Expose
-Dashboard (esp the iTunes controller)
-iCam
-The remote
-Truly a plug and play machine. I literally took it out of the box and started using it
The bad about Mac:
-Limited functionality of MS products. Although obvious, I would like to be able to download Live Messenger, use the iCam in MSN Messenger, and have the full functionalities of excel, which I use a lot for work
-Alt-Tab (or the equivalent). How come it shuffles through programs and not windows? I really hate this. Actually, I don't really like having to use expose to navigate through the several Safari windows
-Maximized windows: It pisses me off not being able to maximize and "lock" the windows on the desktop
-Picture viewing: Can't stand iPhoto, as you have to see smaller versions of the pics. I much prefer Windows Preview.
-Safari Autofill: This thing is going crazy! It fills all the wrong information in the wrong places
Lastly, I use Windows at work. And considering I spend around 12 hours at work in front of my PC, I come home and feel a bit unaccustomed to the Mac.
So I'm looking at getting a Vaio, although I would wait until Vista comes out and until the first few bugs are worked out.
Question is: Where do I sell the Mac? I mean, if push comes to shove, I can live with throwing $1,300 down the drain, but I'd rather sell the thing for at least half of that. Looked on eBay, but no one seems to be buying those listed there. Any other place I might be able to sell it at? I live in Singapore, btw, but travel to the US frequently (if there is a store in either country that would buy it).
Cheers, Coal
PS> Macs do crash!
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LHMARK From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 7255 posts, RR: 51 Reply 1, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 1566 times:
$1300 down the drain? that's an awful lot of money. You really should have thought that purchase through more. Can you sell it to your parents?
Signed, HPLASOps
"Sympathy is something that shouldn't be bestowed on the Yankees. Apparently it angers them." - Bob Feller
Coal From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 1628 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 1520 times:
Thanks. Yes, I guess I could try eBay. Family is not an option. They're barely getting to know how to use a PC, let alone a Mac.
Thanks!
Coal
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Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20902 posts, RR: 55 Reply 7, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 1506 times:
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): It's been about two months with my new MacBook. But I've come to the sad conclusion that I'm just not cut out to it. Sure, it's got lots of cool stuff, but at the end of the day, I think I prefer PCs.
From the looks of it, you just haven't reached the point of being "at home" on the Mac. I guess you've mainly lacked a bit of support. I think we can remedy at least some of that here.
As said above, you could simply boot Windows directly on the MacBook through Boot Camp, or boot it in a window within MacOS X with Parallels Desktop to run your existing Windows applications.
But I'd expect that most of your gripes can be resolved directly without resorting to that.
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): -Limited functionality of MS products. Although obvious, I would like to be able to download Live Messenger, use the iCam in MSN Messenger,
As far as I'm aware, the most recent version of Boot Camp does in fact support the iSight camera. Parallels Desktop doesn't at this point, but I expect them to in the near future.
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): and have the full functionalities of excel, which I use a lot for work
What are you missing? MS Office on the Mac should be quite complete.
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): -Alt-Tab (or the equivalent). How come it shuffles through programs and not windows?
Because MacOS X organizes by application, not by window. If you've got multiple documents open in the same application, they are actually in the same context, not completely separate.
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): I really hate this. Actually, I don't really like having to use expose to navigate through the several Safari windows
I agree with you that despite Exposé it can be practical to navigate the open windows by name, preferably with simple keyboard commands. I routinely have a great number of source texts open, which is not ideal for Exposé in many cases.
And this is exactly what Witch is for: It lets you navigate either all windows or the windows of the current application by window name.
I've chosen to use CTRL-ALT-CMD and the cursor keys for navigation: Up and down for all windows, left and right for the application's windows.
A few additional tips for window navigation:
- In the ALT-TAB application switcher, "Q" will quit the selected application without leaving the switcher; The switcher can also be navigated with the cursor keys or with the mouse.
- Every multi-document application has the list of all its windows collected in its popup menu in the Dock. You can simply pull up a specific window of a different application by clicking on it there.
- In the application view in Exposé (F10 by default), you can switch between applications via TAB.
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): -Maximized windows: It pisses me off not being able to maximize and "lock" the windows on the desktop
Could you please explain what exactly you're trying to do?
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): -Picture viewing: Can't stand iPhoto, as you have to see smaller versions of the pics. I much prefer Windows Preview.
What exactly do you want here? By the way, there are other programs beside iPhoto as well. Maybe GraphicConverter better suits your needs.
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): -Safari Autofill: This thing is going crazy! It fills all the wrong information in the wrong places
I can't say much about that. I've never used this kind of feature in any browser.
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): Lastly, I use Windows at work. And considering I spend around 12 hours at work in front of my PC, I come home and feel a bit unaccustomed to the Mac.
You probably need to get accustomed to the Mac a bit better in general. Many things can be done easier in a different way on a Mac; Initial expectations can be misleading and prevent the discovery of a better solution. And of course it's always good to have someone to ask.
Don't be discouraged too easily - it's worth it!
Quoting Coal (Thread starter): So I'm looking at getting a Vaio, although I would wait until Vista comes out and until the first few bugs are worked out.
Vista struggles to compare with even the current MacOS; By the time it's out at last, MacOS 10.5 will already be the new reference. Why take such a step down?
Sure; But it's extremely rare to crash MacOS X (have you ever managed to crash the system?). Applications, of course, can and occasionally do crash even under MacOS X, but most of them are very solid.
Quoting Coal (Reply 6): Thanks. Yes, I guess I could try eBay. Family is not an option. They're barely getting to know how to use a PC, let alone a Mac.
It's a matter of long experience that people learn using a Mac decidedly easier than coping with a Windows PC.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20902 posts, RR: 55 Reply 10, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1479 times:
Quoting N231YE (Reply 9): My little brother managed to crash his Macbook in the first week he had it!
Some people just have a gift that way...!
I remember a friend who took just a few non-reproducable keystrokes to crash an application which I had flawlessly used for years before and after. He was known for that kind of thing. Weird.
N231YE From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1463 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 10): Some people just have a gift that way...!
My little brother must have inherited this trait from my mother. Back when she had a Gateway 2000 (Win95), it would crash alot, and man, I felt sorry for the mouse and keyboard. I think she went through four mice from slamming them on the desk!
ManuCH From Switzerland, joined Jun 2005, 2977 posts, RR: 51 Reply 12, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1456 times:
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Quoting Klaus (Reply 7): Until then another possibility might be an open source application for MSN access: aMSN for Mac OS X
I personally prefer Adium, it's graphically more appealing than aMSN and can be customized more from an events point of view (ie. what to do when a contact logs on, when you receive a new message, depending on if it's in the background or not, etc).
Quoting Klaus (Reply 7): Sure; But it's extremely rare to crash MacOS X (have you ever managed to crash the system?)
I managed to do so: on my brand new iMac 20" I produced a Kernel Panic after 10 days. It was caused by VLC player when trying to open a defective windows AVI file over a slow WAN connection connected with SMB - and that did it. it's apparently a VLC bug when interacting with the video driver.
But besides that, I'm a new Mac user, and I didn't regret the switch. It certainly takes some time to get used to it, but if you take your time to customize your settings it's awesome. For example, I was always using Alt-Space to bring up the menu in windows apps, and added that shortcut to my Mac as well. And I enabled the fact that I can navigate all elements in a pop-up (including checkboxes and buttons) using the tab key. It's a different world, but I find it's a much better and user-friendly one.
There are apps that I didn't find for MacOS X (yet): Netobjects Fusion is one of them. And another one is the scan-and-OCR-to-PDF application of my HP All-In-One 2840 laserjet. But for those 2, I simply use Parallels Desktop.
Another thing I would recommend to windows-to-mac switchers is SteerMouse, which can be used to bring back the same mouse acceleration we're used to from windows, and assign functions to extended buttons on non-apple mice (Logitech or Microsoft for example). Btw, do NOT ever install Logitech's mouse drivers for OS X! They either do nothing at all, or crash your user profile at worst. Nothing unrecoverable, but annoying to say the least.
Coal, if you really can't stand OS X's user interface, just install native Windows XP on your MacBook. You will retain the nice design and hardware, and at the same time you'll be able to use your favorite operating system. It's a pity to flush all that money down the drain!
Dragogoalie From Australia, joined Oct 2001, 1220 posts, RR: 7 Reply 13, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1451 times:
How much are you asking?
My iBook G4 recently drowned (literally) and they won't repair it for me without charging a ridiculous amount of money- 650 (half of 1300 dollars) isn't too bad for an almost new macbook
JAL From Canada, joined Apr 2000, 5064 posts, RR: 8 Reply 14, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 1429 times:
Quoting Coal (Reply 6): Thanks. Yes, I guess I could try eBay. Family is not an option. They're barely getting to know how to use a PC, let alone a Mac.
Thanks!
Coal
Glad I can be of some help!
Let me know how things turns out!
Bill142 From Australia, joined Aug 2004, 8326 posts, RR: 9 Reply 15, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1379 times:
If it's an Intel mac just put windows on it. It's simply OSX your not familiar with. Switching to Windows will be a cheap and relativley painless solution.
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- and that did it. it's apparently a VLC bug when interacting with the video driver.
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