It’s been about five months since I got my MacBook Pro and I’ve gotten much more comfortable with both the new hardware and operating system. Like most reviews this post will boil down to a list of features I like and ones I don’t. It’ll be a cliché in the sense that this is yet another Mac review from of a lifelong PC guy. Having been forewarned, I should also note that a) you don’t know me and b) no one forced you to come to my site and read my super awesome funny Mac review from a PC guy’s perspective.
Lets start with the PRO’s shall we (I think it’s always better to start with the positive):
- Wakey wakey, hands off snakey – My MacBook is ready for use immediately. Resuming from sleep on a comparably equipped Dell XPS or Sony VAIO with Win7 wasn’t as fast last time I checked.
- I like pushy buttons – The keyboard on my MacBook has been designed well. It feels solid and comfy plus it prevents crumbs from falling in between the keys. The assignment of function keys for brightness, expose and volume controls are mui convenienté.
- It’s purdy – Fonts just look better in OSX period.
- So easy – Using this computer (i.e. installing applications) is super simple. You’ll wonder why you even need a dialog to copy the program thing to the folder thing?
- It runs on Unix – So if you feel the need to brush up on some command line, simply fire up a terminal window and hack away.
- 64-bit computing – OSX takes advantage of your multiple cores and copious amounts of RAM.
- Multi-touch – The touch pad is magical. Nuf said.
Okay, now the bad news:
- Lack of Applications – As a Windows guy, I’m accustomed to finding a free application for anything. Not the case with Mac. Although there are some free apps, it’s no where near what’s available for Windows. If you’re a Mac guy, chances are you’ll have to shell out more money for software. The funny thing is that most Mac fanatics are totally fine with that. As a PC guy I have a serious aversion to paying for software because finding the free alternative is never a real challenge.
- Interface customization – Tried customizing your context menu in SnowLeopard recently? Forget about it. After two hours of Automator fiddling and I still don’t have a consistent Edit with TextMate context menu option.
- Finder is fairly limited – This is the interface that lets me get to my stuff. Why can’t I sort folders before files in Finder? Just four view options, Really? Is there a reason I can’t set different views for individual folders? Why must I click Ctrl+n for a new finder window? The list goes on…
- The keyboard layout – Seriously…Fn+delete for forward delete? They are at opposite corners of the keyboard…I don’t have Jordan hands!
- Hardware support – Being a PC guy I’m used to plug & play. Not with the Mac though. It’s only plug & play when it comes to Mac approved peripherals. So that $5 eBay USB SATA enclosure you bought, good luck hooking it up directly to your MacBook.
Well, that’s all I can think of on a Saturday morning. Please feel free to add your own reviews in the comments section.
Comments
3 responses to “Snow Leopard a few months later”
[…] recently got a 2009 MacBook Pro. I wrote about my experience with it a few months ago (generally positive), but now six months in I’ve got a really annoying […]
I agree with most of what you wrote above, except for the lack of free applications. In fact, I find it to be the opposite, at least for my purposes. There are FAR more free applications available for mac than for Windows. In fact, aside from a few very eccentric things, there hasn’t been anything I couldn’t find a free application for.
On that note, Windows’s support for handwriting recognition is (currently) nicer than OSX, but that owes mostly to Apple not updating it in many, many, many years. – Biggest Con for me, especially since OSX doesn’t natively support Japanese handwriting to text conversions, while Windows does, and nicely.
As for Plug & Play, haven’t really had a problem, but I understand your issue. However, that is more of a 3rd party support issue, than a problem with the OS.
Lastly, is (command+n) really a problem in Finder? I think it’s nice. However nice it might be to just click the Finder icon for a new window, it would cause too many UI/conformity issues. Also, Finder’s view options are much nicer than those Windows Explorer has, but I agree about the folder issues.
I also am dumbfounded by Apple’s contextual menu backtracking. It is really annoying, especially with working with older applications that use the old functions.
Jim,
Thanks for the comments. I concur that a lot of my complaints are related to concepts or things I got used to on the PC. If I had started out and stuck with a mac all those years my preferences might be different.