Back to the Mac.

[Anti]

Hello guys! It's been...ahem...quite a long time! I had sort of stopped posting here some time ago, but back in 2010 I decided that I wanted a powerhouse of a gaming computer, so I traded my MacBook Pro for a desktop PC that I had built myself. Mostly because I was tired of my shiny MBP being handicapped by the Nvidia 9600M GT that had fallen out of date (and couldn't drive my 1080p display without overheating and going crazy).

Two years later, after getting a lot of hands-on time with the 13" MBP, I decided I would sell both my desktop and server, and go all in on a 13" MBP. I was already on the fence after the introduction of Thunderbolt, because that addressed the one issue that plagued my original 2008 15" MBP. (Internal GPU falls out of date? Just augment it with an external one.)

But after handling someone else's MBP, I *really* wanted another one of my own, because I missed having a go-anywhere powerhouse of a laptop. My laptop up until then was a weak HP G4-1213nr, which handled light duty fairly well, but anything demanding caused it to chug, hard.

It took a while, but I am now typing this on a 13" MBP mid-2012. And it feels AMAZING.

I can't believe I was missing this.

[NaOH]

In the last 6 years I'd guess I've maybe spent an hour outside of OS X as my desktop OS. I'd be curious to hear what stood out to you since you likely have a perspective which benefits by coming from a different computing environment.

[NovaScotian]

I second that, NaOH -- my brother bought himself an iMac about 2 years ago after eons with various Windows machines and that led to an iPad and AirPort Extreme. He still runs Parallels/Windows 7 because his entire accounting program is Windows based and he doesn't want to try to import years of records. I'm interested to hear if Anti has a similar experience.

[Anti]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH In the last 6 years I'd guess I've maybe spent an hour outside of OS X as my desktop OS. I'd be curious to hear what stood out to you since you likely have a perspective which benefits by coming from a different computing environment.

Of course, the "everything just works" bit. With Windows, it seems like things would go wrong and I have no way of finding out how. Just like my permissions got screwed seven ways to Sunday and I couldn't figure out how. It prevented me from installing new programs or doing anything that required access to Program Files. (It wasn't a virus or malware, either)

Whereas, on OS X, it feels like problems are easier to diagnose and fix, and if you're ever in doubt, you can reproduce the problem whilst having the Console up and it usually tells you EXACTLY where the problem lies, or where you can start looking.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I got off the top of my head.

[NaOH]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying the big differentiators were 1) fewer pain points, and 2) the ones in OS X were less painful than in Windows. Okay.

[Anti]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH If I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying the big differentiators were 1) fewer pain points, and 2) the ones in OS X were less painful than in Windows. Okay.

There is also the usability. The trackpad gestures just feel intuitive, and intertial scrolling is really, really nice. The OS feels buttery smooth, and Windows feels like Android in the good ol' days of Android Lag. Switching screens on my 13" MBP, even when I have VMWare running fullscreen in one of my spaces, is smooth as butter.

Not to mention that with OS X, living in 1280x800 is actually workable. Try that on Windows and you'll hate the lack of screen real-estate you have. OS X makes your desktop just feel much more spacious without the need for a second monitor.

But on the pain points with Windows: My main problem was that things would just break out of nowhere, and I had no tools to find out what was causing them to break. Googling for things turned up nothing. At least with OS X, if something breaks, you have a built-in tool for pinpointing the cause (Console). I'm not aware of such a tool for Windows.

Case in point: Google Talk. The plugin would crash my browser each and every time, and the only answer I could find on the internet pointed at Malware being the problem. Except that my computer was 100% clean. I tried everything under the sun...run as admin, delete/reinstall, different browser, different user account, etc. Nothing fixed it. So I just gave up.

On OS X, I could just fire up the Console, and see *just* what GTalk was doing when it crashed, and sometime it would point me to an obvious problem. At worst, I could google the output and it might give me a better answer than just googling "GTalk crashes".

[NaOH]

That all makes sense. Really, I'd be interested in most anything you said, whether experiences like you described, aspects of Windows you miss, new-to-you Mac features were fun to discover, etc. I don't get the sense many people know Mac well, then go off and live in Windows, then return to the Mac. There's an intriguing bit of anthropology in what you've seen.

[Anti]

Probably when I get back home and put the finishing touches on my old desktop (I still have to sell it to pay off my mom for buying me the MBP) I'll have a lot more to say on this subject (I'm currently in Oregon for my birthday), but one of the features I do wish OS X had is Aero Snap. In short, it works like this: You drag a window against the top of the screen, and it expands to take up the entire screen. Drag it to the left or right, and it expands to take up only that side of the screen. Combined with OS X's current system of window management, I feel it would make OS X a multi-tasking powerhouse.

[NaOH]

Have a look at Divvy, Moom and Arrange. I think they offer similar functionality. There are some other Mac possibilities, but that's not an area I've really monitored and those are the ones I seem to read about most often.

[Anti]

Something else I noticed now that I'm getting back into things...Mac OS X has a lot of stuff that I'd have to pay for on Windows. Stuff that I use quite heavily. I play retro video games and upload them to YouTube, and lo and behold, QT Player does screen capture, *and* sends it right to my YouTube channel!

And then, for audio routing, there's Soundflower, which is COMPLETELY FREE. I almost can't believe it.

[onceagain]

Quote: Originally Posted by Anti It took a while, but I am now typing this on a 13" MBP mid-2012. And it feels AMAZING.

I have the same thing, but with a matte display, 16GB of RAM and a 480GB SSD and, although (I believe) there are some serious usability issues with the OS, the machine itself seems to really move along.

[Anti]

Quote: Originally Posted by onceagain I have the same thing, but with a matte display, 16GB of RAM and a 480GB SSD and, although (I believe) there are some serious usability issues with the OS, the machine itself seems to really move along.

Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror posted an article about SSD failure rates, and I've got to say, until they get much, much better, I'm staying the hell away from SSDs even if they're wicked fast.

And about the OS: I will say that Apple did Mountain Lion better than Microsoft is doing Windows 8. Windows 8 looks like it's going to be a giant clustershag, truth be told.