Debating about switching to a MAC

[rickytim]

I have a older dell 9300 insperion laptop that I am looking to upgrade/replace. I have been thinking about giving MAC a try because I feel like getting something different to play around with. Also I hope to get familiar with it and possibly start fixing them. There is a lot of people around here that some times have problems with there MAC but no one around here can fix or help them.

Mainly would I would be useing this laptop for web, email, listing to music, watching movies and typing up documents.

Questions I have is how big of a difference is it from windows? How easy is it to get familer with? Is there any way I could run a virtual machine to play with the MAC OS?

I dont want to buy one and end up hating the guts out of it. There is alot of people I have been talking to that made the switch and absolutly love their new MAC's.

Thanks
Rick

[Steve R Jones]

Quote:

There is a lot of people around here that some times have problems with there MAC but no one around here can fix or help them.

How well do you know these people? Maybe you could get them to give you a demo?

But the term Day and Night comes to mind when comparing a Mac to a PC.

[rickytim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve R Jones

How well do you know these people? Maybe you could get them to give you a demo?

But the term Day and Night comes to mind when comparing a Mac to a PC.

Most of the time they are friends of friends. So usually I don't know them well or have never meet them before.

[Steve R Jones]

You could visit retailers that sell Macs and test drive em there. Stores like Fry's have Mac sales reps that are more then happy to do demos.

[rickytim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve R Jones

You could visit retailers that sell Macs and test drive em there. Stores like Fry's have Mac sales reps that are more then happy to do demos.

OK I will look into that. Thanks

[nemowolf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve R Jones

How well do you know these people? Maybe you could get them to give you a demo?

But the term Day and Night comes to mind when comparing a Mac to a PC.

Thats a good way to put it. The keyboard is slightly different as you trade a windows key for the Apple key and you loose the insert key. Granted, this may not seem like much but the change in the layout because of this can cause some learning curve. I know a lot of people who have made the switch and the first six months is the straw that breaks their backs as they go from knowing exactly how to do everything they want/need to do.

The way you start programs that are not off the quick start launch bar thingie is kinda retarded imho too.

[rickytim]

I keep seeing this stuff about the airport for wireless. Just wondering do you need the airport wireless access point to go wireless or will it connect to any 802.11b/g networks? I wouldn't think it would matter.

[ZeeOne]

well if you just going to watch movies on it etc. why get a mac? You are going to end up with a lot of stuff you dont need.

The advantage of a mac (well here anyway) is that they provide services to their clients - if your mac breaks or you dont know how to do something. It takes a vit of time to get use to, but its not too hard. A bit confusing at first, until you discover it jsut another operating system. The User interface is kinda fun. And if you get a urge to use windows for a bit you can just run parallels.

Another thing is that it is basically set up for you. And, its not like windows where you can go and mess around with everything - everything is done for you. ITs fun to explore at first - and often much easier to use . So, guess it depends on waht you would like to do: get everything done quick, easy and creative (Mac) or do it youself (Windows).

So ya Mac is cool, but at the end it doesn't make such a big difference - its still just a computer and just a operating system. (in my opinion anyway)