A Day on a PC running Windows

I switched to a Mac a few months ago. I like it but there is one thing that that I really hate - the speed of my iMac or the lack of it (rev B 2 GHz with stock 512 MB of RAM). As soon as I have a few apps open I get the beachballs every time I click on anything. At work I have a year old P4 2.4 GHz Dell with 768 MB of RAM running Win 2000 and I can have 10 apps open it's not even slowing down. I am getting a Gig of RAM but from what I've read it will not help a lot. If any of my friends or my wife asks I of course say that everything is great (otherwise I would not hear the end of it from my wife for spending $2K on a computer that does not work as it supposed to).

I've used both Mac and Windows for as long as they've been around, but I've always done my work on the Mac. That changed last year when I switched jobs to find that the design department runs *gasp* Windows. After a year of using XP Pro as my main design workstation (all of Adobe's CS2 apps plus Dreamweaver and Office). I've come to a couple of conclusions. 1. Like Scott said above, the *look* of XP is more consistent that what's happening in 10.4 now. 2. Windows still makes absolutely no sense in it's interactions with the end user (I think it deliberately gets in the way), to the point where I end up audibly cursing out my machine. Working in the same programs on the same project I would get work done at least 10% faster on a Mac - not because I'm using power user techniques or have a faster machine (the HP I'm on is actually the fastest machine I've ever worked on), but because the Mac OS just lets me do the work without popping up *helpful* alert boxes letting me know that it's just completed a task, and if you press OK, it's ready to do another task. Work's promised a Mac next month, hopefully my blood pressure will go back down again.

Sounds like every day at the office for me since I switched at home to a new iMac G5 in December.

Be aware that Mr. Beattie edits and/or deletes comments that he feels aren't in keeping with whatever agenda he is pushing. Personally, I think he's an egotistical twit and his/Yahoo's corporate attitude(s) stink. I guess he wasn't smart enough to work at Google.

Well, I hate to say it, but after being a mac user for over 5 years, I just finished a switch back to a Windows box. I do miss the Mac UI and the no virus/adware/spyware, but it came down to one thing and it was price.

I sold my PM 1.6 G5 (I know this was the lowest end PM) and with the money I got from the PM sale, I was able to put together a nice Wintel box from Newegg. The reasoning was because the 1.6 was getting very bogged down in PS elements when I told it to open 25-30 images at once. I did have 1.5 gig of ram and while it was probably the poor video card, I couldn't justify upgrading the machine even more in hopes of improving performance.

The dual core AMD 3800 + is an awesome processor and the machine is blazing fast.

Is the UI not so great? yeah...
Is it Windows? yeah...
Does it help me get my photography jobs done a lot faster? hell yeah...

Hopefully the Intel PM's will come down in price, but I'm not holding my breath. If they ever do reach a reasonable level, with nice hardware specs, I'll switch back. Until then, I am getting my work done with the tool I can afford.

Now a dual core ibook might grab my attention as a nice portable machine :) Guess we'll wait till Macworld in a few days and see what is offered up.

I had been a Mac user since 1993. After a long absence, a Mac Mini was added to the mix a while back. It shares all the usual parts with a Windows computer running XP.

On a day to day working sense, I have to say that I prefer the Windows machine. For me, it is more functional, more compatible and easier on the eyes. Such comparisons are highly subjective and both camps have valid points to consider. Silly comments (found elsewhere) like "Macs are so cool" or "Macs ship with such elegant packaging" are useless. Who cares? I'm not buying into a *celebrity* culture. It is just a machine.

My biggest gripe with OS X concerns its actual appearance. There's a near-onslaught of dissimilar looks and inconsistent designs. Far too much frivilous eye candy for my taste. I'm not referring to third party software, either...personal choice comes into play there. It is the OS itself and the Apple supplied software. The Apple folks really need to tone down and tighten up in that regard. One solution could be to use Office 2004. I could move between Word, Excel and Entourage without the distractions. Also, I've never quite taken to the manner in which text is rendered on an OS X screen. It has a slighty fuzzy look about it. The very same external display is used for the Mini and PC.

The lack of decent mapping software and mediocre Palm support are also problems for me.

In fairness, many of Apple's offerings just don't interest me. Aside from using iTunes for audiobooks, I have no use for the iLife package nor the pro-grade versions.

One aspect of OS X that I really like is the simple and fast viewing of PDF documents. Preview and Safari allow me to avoid the god-awful Acrobat Reader. The System Preferences app is also a pleasure to use. Setting up and configuring my Mac Mini was a simple process.

Anyway...

That guy's an ar#e.

Quote: "Okay, this is turning into a whinge festival for Mac zealots (as if theyre invulnerable to viruses). So Im closing off comments. Have fun upstairs."

So he's allowed to post his arguments but won't take on board anyone else's?!? >:/

Most of the comments on there seemed to be pro windows, and most of the one's that weren't seemed to be good, valid and intelligent points.

Needless to say I won't be listening to this guy.

I'm a Linux user... I like Linux best, Mac OS X second, and Windows is third. I really like OS X, but Linux is infinitely more configurable, which gives me it's vote. Oh, and I'm a filthy hippy/open-source/hacker/communist, so naturally the GPL'ed one gets a higher rating than the others :-D.

I WORK ON other people's Windows computers, while I blissfully WORK on my Powerbook. I have come to truly loath the Windows UI. Even though I once had Microsoft certs (I guess I still do?), I have almost completely forgotten the "One Microsoft Way" of doing things, like the Control Panel, Explorer, etc.

You have my deepest sympathies, having to spend a whole day using a Windows computer. Couldn't you at least dual booted into a Linux system?

I read the same article and all I could say is "gee, you didn't realize you'd have to find new software for a new operating system? You're a dumbass!" I switched from Mac to PC about 7 years ago. Surprise, surprise I'm back. I just got tired of the Internet and Mac OS (sorry to say it, but up until OS X the Mac world had some serious issues with the Internet) so I switched. Now I have two monitors on my desk--one PC and one Mac. I use my Mac all the time. It got the LCD. It has my iTunes. It has my printer (and gee--it's funny that I've done networked printers in Windows using Windows stuff and using Bonjour--guess which one "just works") and everything else connected. My windows PC basically exists to burn DVDs (because I was a dummy and bought a mini with no DVD burner). I realy can't think of what else my windows PC does to earn its keep. I surf the web on it, but that's because it's next to my Mac and I can get a second site going on it. Other than that, it does a really good paperweight impression.
Alot of people seem to think that not running windows apps is a problem for macs. I don't see it. That's a "feature not a bug" if I've ever seen it. Even then, given the Intel switch it's only a matter of time. The Darwine project is making impressive strides.
Today, it's your web browser that makes a difference. I don't think IE is even CLOSE to the best browser out there right now (I'd give that to Firefox because the extensions make it able to do things other browsers can't do) so what does Windows really offer? Bugs? Viruses? Bad coding?
So people can talk all the smack they want. The Mac OS, right now, is one of very few operating systems that are actually GAINING market share. We're almost at 7% (and after 10, anything's possible). All I know is that my Mac always seems to be asking me to use it. My PC seems to be trying hard as hell to convince me NOT TO.