From DOS 1.0 to Win XP - Now OS X, one month and counting.

That's right, I started with DOS 1.0 on an original IBM-PC. Up until about a month ago, I had never used an Apple so I am still getting familiar with the OS X side of things. But after a little over a month, my experiment to abandon the PC world (hardware wise anyway) is moving much more smoothly than I thought it would.

Windows Laptop:
I had just purchased a 15" T60 from Lenovo in August, 2006 and it was my daily workhorse. As a Windows software application developer and consultant, my T60 was my closest companion.

At the office, I used an Advance Docking Station to hook up my 24" Dell wide screen LCD along with external keyboard and mouse.

On the road, it was a joy to use because of the trackpoint and the superb ergonomics. Having tried a number of laptops from other vendors, I always came back to a Thinkpad as the best of the best.

Reasons for trying a Mac:
I've been developing software for Windows for more than 20 years and I don't see this changing anytime soon, but like you, I've been captivated by the marketing machine called Apple. I had been using an ipod for the last year and really like the simplicity and functionality that it provided, so I decided that maybe there was more to a Mac than just hype.

When Parallels came out, I saw a way to switch to a Mac and still use Windows as my primary OS. In other words, I could test the waters without giving up anything that I was already used to.

The other side of this decision was purely business minded. If I could find a way to run my Windows software on a Mac, then I could turn this into a marketing plan to sell my software to a completely new market segment.

When I made the decision to buy a Mac, I also made the decision to completely give up my Thinkpad - at least in the short run. The plan was to perform all my day-to-day business activities on a Mac and see how far I could get. I was fully prepared for some roadblocks along the way. I also considered that this would be short run because I used some pretty sophisticated applications on my Thinkpad and had some serious doubts about using all of these on a Mac via Parallels.

Macbook Pro and Parallels:
I purchased a Macbook Pro and Parallels and got it set up with little or no problems. I installed all my applications (Win XP, Office, Visual FoxPro, etc.) and everything worked. I installed the VPN client for our office and our client's offices, and it worked. I literally could not find any short cumings at all. Everything worked and worked well.

I swapped my PC Card from Verizon for an ExpressCard 34 and it worked with no problems.

After 30 days - no reason to switch back:
So here I am using a Macbook Pro and Parallels and I'm continuing my Windows software development, meeting all my client development needs, and learning more about OSX. I'm using a Mighty Mouse (sweet) and an Apple bluetooth keyboard at the office and hooking the Dell LCD up to the Macbook Pro and other than taking a minute or two longer to setup, it works great. I no longer plug in the ethernet cable to my Macbook Pro because it works plenty fast with our 54g wireless router. I print to a network printer instead of using the parallel port on the Lenovo docking station.

In short, after 30 days, I've not been able to come up with a compelling reason to fire up the Thinkpad. The Apple hardware is smaller and lighter and has excellent ergonomics. The trackpad on the Macbook Pro is very slick with it's two finger scrolling and more than makes up for the lack of a trackpoint.

Now that I've got USB 2.0 support in Parallels, I can backup my Windows files using my external hard drive when I'm on the road. USB 1.1 was painfully slow.

I've become attached to the Macbook Pro in a very short time and have reached the point that I'm ready to recommend my desktop apps for use on a Mac (with Parallels) with absolutely NO reservations. I have the confidence of my own experience to know that everything will work without any issues what so ever.

Summary:
If I hadn't tried this myself, I would have been very, very skeptical. I'm not an Apple fan boy yet, but I'm more than a little impressed with what Apple has to offer and the support it has received from 3rd party developers like Parallels and VMWare. To say the least, the hardware is at least as good as anything that Dell, Lenovo, HP, or Sony has to offer. IMO, it's a whole lot better because it's svelte and lightweight.

If you hesitated to try a Mac because you are afraid there is more hype than substance to the idea of "switching", then take my word for it. The only thing that is being over hyped is how hard it is to switch... it's NOT!

 

Nice, I've toyed with the idea, but due to income and games, I cannot fully change over to MACs. They are cosmetically pleasing and they usually run uber smooth.

 

Blah, if only Apple offered a workstation that could support SLI. I know I'll probably buy a new pc in a year so i can play DX10 games on vista... but man, I so don't want to buy a pc just to run windows.

I just no justifiable reason to get a windows dedicated machine. I can game through bootcamp just as well as any similarly configured pc.

But come on apple, lets get some SLI action!

Anyway, nice write up jjfcpa. Besides visual studio, what other software do you find yourself using in windows for development?