Having used a Powerbook from Apple for the last six months in tandem with my trusty IBM Thinkpad X31. I have to face the question – do I switch over to the Mac alone?
Having used a Powerbook from Apple for the last six months in tandem with my trusty IBM Thinkpad X31. I have to face the question – do I switch over to the Mac alone?
The Powerbook is a nice looking machine and while the Mac interface takes a bit of getting used to, the multimedia support in the Apple product is wonderful. Watching a movie on a Powerbook is bound to turn heads on a flight.
But there are limitations – most frustratingly for me the single button mouse. I miss the extra functions hiding behind that right-mouse click.
And despite everything you’ve heard, the Mac OS isn’t perfect – I’ve had the OS crash on me several times. Perhaps less than Windows XP and the crashes are handled slightly more elegantly – but nonetheless the Mac OS can and does fall over.
Mac OS X comes with Internet connection sharing between the in-built Ethernet and wireless connections which is a nice way to share a single connection on the road and works much better than the Windows equivalent.
Microsoft Office for Mac is a nice product, like the Mac itself there are differences that will annoy you at first. For example Excel for Max uses inline cell formula editing which is more cramped than the formula bar in Excel for Windows. Entourage is the Outlook equivalent for Macintosh but it’s sufficiently different to be considered a separate product and the compatibility with Outlook looks better on paper than in reality – especially if you want to connect to an Exchange Server mailbox.
All this is prompted by Walt Mossberg’s recent article which echoes my thoughts in most respects. As a long time Windows user I’m not inclined to migrate to the Mac – better the devil I know.
However the Mac is certainly a more compelling option for less ingrained computer users and especially anyone joining the ranks of the computer literate. And the Apple Stores Genius Bars are a great source of help and reassurance for the newcomer.
