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Okay, so today (well, yesterday… I'm up late tonight) is my tenth day with my MacBook. Let's have a quick evaluation.
Speed — very speedy! Hasn't slowed down, and applications are very responsive to start up. Although, I must say that all previous versions of MS Office started up instantaneously in Windows.
Graphics — The only games I have is the Age of Empires (I, II, and the Conquerors expansion pack) and The Sims (I & II). The speed is great and so is the graphics, however; I say that with tongue-in-cheek… I wasn't using graphics-intensive games. Nor will I ever want or need to.
User-Interface — Hmmm. The flawless thing about Microsoft Windows is that it is very, very consistent. The Mac OS is not quite so. For example, in the Finder application (same as Windows Explorer) the Mac OS doesn't let you cut (as in, cut-and-paste). Apparently, this is not the "Mac way" of productivity. Apparently Apple prefers that we copy-paste files, then delete the original if we really want to.
Also, to delete files you must hold the 'command' button, then press the 'delete' button. But in other applications, you simply press 'delete' and the file is deleted. Talk about inconsistency!
Otherwise, it is really nice having a consistent toolbar across all applications, always in the same spot.
Productivity — Wow! Aren't I being very productive now?! I am spending less time waiting and more time doing… suddenly I have so much free time on my hands, and am sitting away from the computer finding other things to do! This is actually very good for me, because my parents think I spend too much time on the computer and not getting much done. I shall quote myself: "My computer is so slow that 90% of the time I am waiting for it to load. It's hardly productive." And my parents think that I should just give up on the ancient machine. They will be very happy with my new computer! Although, that is just a bonus.
Organisation — The Mac OS has built-in applications for organisation. iCal is a calendar that works seamlessly with Mail and iTunes (synchronising with iPod), as does the Address Book. Although, the Address Book in Windows also worked seamlessly with Outlook Express.
Fun — The Mac OS is simply fun. It came with iLife inbuilt, which has the amazing GarageBand application… At last I have a tool to aid me in my musical pursuits… and I need not pay an extra cent for it. PhotoBooth comes with the Mac OS, and that is awesome for "temporary fun". Great with friends, and your first play around with the computer, but this application has little use otherwise. Oh, and another fun application is the "Grapher" application. This great tool allows you to graph any "y=" equation (or "z=" for 3D graphs). You may debate though, whether this comes under the "Fun" category.
Thinking about it, an Operating System should be a user-interface that the user can do everything on. The Mac OS (with iLife) is just that, which is great, because I personally don't like installing lots of software packages. Oh, actually, Microsoft Office:mac is necessary to purchase.
In other news, tomorrow I will be gone for two weeks. First a Christmas Holiday with my family in the countryside, and then I'm going camping for a week at some beach in New South Wales. I'm not bringing my computer with me, because that just defeats the purpose of camping (duh!). But don't try robbing my heavily secured house of my fancy new computer… it is under lock and key, remember?!
~ James Kanjo
I've noticed the UI issues you mentioned as well. The Mac OS X UI certainly isn't perfect! (However, I suppose Windows 7's isn't either).
The calendar application (iCal) is pretty useful.
Have been meaning to write a blog post like this one, but need to sit down and start thinking about the pro's and con's of each before I do that. I've been using the MacBook for about a month now and still haven't thought too much about the differences between this and Windows.
Probably the most stand-out improvement of my MacBook is the battery life. To get the same 10 hours on a Windows laptop I'd have to buy a new battery - it'd be very rare to find one that lasts that long in a computer you just bought.
Though MacBook falls down compared to Windows in many ways as well. The UI - despite it being one of Mac's "best" advertised features - does lack in some respects. If I hadn't bought the HyperDock application I'd be nowhere near as happy with my MacBook as I am today. But that kind of functionality should have come built-in to the OS, just like it is in Windows Vista & 7.
Shane Smith ★ Wikidot Freelancer (Hire me!)
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