Switching from PC to Mac

[kevinmanphp]

How hard is it for someone like me who has been using PC's for the past 15 years to switch over and buy a mac and get accustomed to the interface, controls, keyboard commands, etc.???

I think a mac would suit me best for the work that I do, and I know Macs "just work"... but I have always been hesitant with switching over and having to "learn how to ride the bike" again.

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[chrispadfield]

The bigger question in my mind is finding alternatives to the software you currently use. You can get used to a new OS and unless you are a office app power user probably won't have problems there - it's the little programs you are so used to that might be harder to replace.

[MrNase]

Let me answer because I have successfully done the switch to Mac OS X and till now I haven't regret it.

Like Chris said, the hardest thing is to find alternatives to the software you are used to.
The best would be if you post a list of your favourite software so that we can post the alternatives.
Here are some I use:
Thunderbird/Outlook: mail.app (comes with Tiger)
FTP: Transmit
HTML, PHP -Editor: BBedit
ICQ: AdiumX
Browser: Safari/Firefox


It takes some time to get used to Mac OS X, I still haven't found each and every cool thing but there are many useful features like Spotlight which allows you to instantly search the whole computer and even eMails, Word documents and such.


I bought one of the new iMacs with an Intel processor in and so far I haven't had any major problems. As for system stability the 'it just runs' argument doesn't count for me.. My system sometimes has problems, it exits a program that has just started but mostly it is because the developers didn't change their source to make their software compliant to the new processors.
As for the rest, that argument is true! It took me a minute to establish a LAN connection to my Windows server. Using Windows XP it was always a pain.

If you want to work with the computer and by work I mean 'produce nice things' - get a mac! If you want to repair/mod/tweak your computer get a nice Windows system.

[chrispadfield]

What is Mac's multi monitor support like?

[kevinmanphp]

Thanks for the advice! Well I do use a lot of software, but I know exactly what I use and dont stray too much from it.

Basically I use EVERYTHING that is made by either Adobe and Macromedia. I know they are in the works of making their software compatible with the intel-based macs... but not sure where they will be in the coming year.

[MrNase]

What is Mac's multi monitor support like?

I could connect a second one to my Mac but I haven't tried it yet.

[filburt1]

What is Mac's multi monitor support like?

Works pretty much like Windows' multi-monitor support (just fine).

[Cromulent]

Macs have had multi-monitor support for far longer than PCs have and it works just fine, plug it in and go.

As for switching to Macs don't forget that the new Intel Macs can run Windows XP as well so you could duel boot to help with the transition period.

[Kathy]

Have you seen the new apple ads?

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

Hi, I'm a Mac. Hi, I'm a PC.....

See them all.

[Zachery]

The new ads are so bad :/ considering macs are "pcs" now realisticly. They lost most everything that made them a mac.. at least in my eyes, the PPC chips are gone.

[Kathy]

They lost most everything that made them a mac..

Cracks me up. Ya think so?

Those that love PCs will never understand...but that's okay. Just makes owning a Mac all the more pleasurable.

[Zachery]

I've got a mac, I like it, Its not the best machine I've ever owned. Altho I'm sure a powerful mac would be nice, OSX is just lacking something that I cannot put my finger on.

[cirisme]

How hard is it for someone like me who has been using PC's for the past 15 years to switch over and buy a mac and get accustomed to the interface, controls, keyboard commands, etc.???

I think a mac would suit me best for the work that I do, and I know Macs "just work"... but I have always been hesitant with switching over and having to "learn how to ride the bike" again.

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

The biggest annoyance I had was in how home/end in OS X are, by default, basically useless.

I used home/end constantly (as well as all keyboard controls) in Windows, and that was a huge annoyance at first.

The other thing that got me was how differently OS X treats windows than Windows does. Windows treats each window as if it's the whole app, whereas OS X merely treats it as a window.

If I close iTunes while it's playing on Windows, my music stops playing because iTunes stops running. In OS X, my music keeps going because iTunes is still running... you just closed the window. (to get it back, just hit the icon in the dock)

Another annoyance is that, while I think OS X's window management is mostly better than Windows', there are some annoyances. If I hit Alt-Tab on Windows, I can hit all my windows pretty easily. Handy if you have only two open.

If I do the same thing in OS X, I get a list of all my running apps, whether they have an open window or not. If I didn't use these apps in the right order, I might have to pay closer attention and skip over stuff I don't want.

There are free plugins that make it more Windows-like, only switching between windows and not apps. Really handy for situations right now where I have Camino and iTunes open and can switch between the apps without even thinking about it.

Like anything, there will be barriers to switching. I was primarily a Windows guy before I got my Mac, and now I'm sure I won't be going back because I find that OS X fits me better and doesn't constantly interrupt me. (No, I do not want to run the desktop clean up wizard. No, I do not want a tour of Windows. No, I don't care that you're now connected. ...if you can't tell that stupid balloon thingy was the bane of my existence )

I'd definitely recommend trying things out and just playing around to see what you can do with it. Just using it probably will give you the best feel. And I heartily recommend trying some of the native apps, I've found that generally most Mac shareware is vastly superior in quality than Windows shareware, which certainly has negated the disparity in how much might be available. (who cares how many apps you might have if they're all inferior? )

[filburt1]

That's the biggest difference between the two. Windows tries to help you along with everything as if you're an idiot (no s**t the network cable is unplugged, I just unplugged it). Mac OS X just stays out of your way and lets you do whatever it is you're doing, and easily and efficiently.

[Floris]

The new ads are so bad :/ considering macs are "pcs" now realisticly. They lost most everything that made them a mac.. at least in my eyes, the PPC chips are gone.

I disagree.