great things about mac

first off, this is not a fanboi worship to the great and innovative leader steve mobs, but i would like to share some opinion i have about the mbp i acquired one or two months ago...

second, this is not about mac/windows bashing either.

having been a windows person since DOS, i will have to say there are still large sum of preferences i would love to have over mac, the degree of choices and settings in windows is unparalleled. however, the itunes i hated to no end in windows seem to fit much, much better on a mac for some reason, to a point where i will be using it everyday for podcasts, it is not something i could imagine myself doing with windows...

my feeling is that mac ox designed the the system as a whole where as windows design things in separate blocks. the feeling of integration in mac is much stronger and apparent.

 

I disagree. I find the "integration" in Mac OS to be jarring. Let's say I have 3 windows open and I'm using all of them. If I want to go into the options in one window I'm not using, I have to first click on the window, than navigate all the way to the top of the screen and then to the options selection. In windows I can simple click on the options selection even if that window isn't in the forfront. The modularity of the windows OS I think is a really strong strength that Apple could learn a thing or 3 from.

 

Tight integration becomes useful (and modularity almost useless) when the OS developers know exactly what limited range of hardware the OS will be using.

 

true, without mac or windows bashing it is not a thread about one OS or the other...

 

Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, as it is right now, has many strengths - UNIX codebase, relatively simple user interface, Final Cut, Shake, Logic, and the "intergration" factor.

However, that factor is possibly it's greatest weakness - you must buy an Apple computer to run it. This gives that already "niche" company complete monopoly over it's hardware sales. This allows for the infamous "Apple Tax" which raises prices of Apple hardware way above the "PC" competition.

Mac OS X is great for people that are either very non-demanding (want simplicity and consistency) or pros that want to run specific software. However, how cost-effective is it? Important question to ask.

It has many great sides. However, Apple calling it "the world's most advanced operating system" is wrong. It's not. Windows Vista is a much more intelligent system. It is safe and stable (I don't like seeing people saying "Windows PCs crash", because that is not the case. Over 10 years ago, maybe. Not anymore) and offers much more customizability to the user - for example, docks available for Windows are much more customizable than the Leopard dock.

There will be people that prefer Mac OS for many perfectly viable reasons, then the minute amount of users that don't have a valid reason and they give a bad name to all Apple users, and people that will use Windows.

They're two very different platforms and quite often it comes down to personal preference - do I want to be able to quickly resize windows and change the border color, or do I not care about that and want a platform that is a little simpler to use?

My personal preference is that I feel that Mac OS X is something I'd find running on a small, mobile device, like a UMPC. I agree with Nitrousoxide that sometimes oversimplifying things can be frustrating for more experienced users. It just doesn't have that oomph and customizability, to me, anyway. If I got a Mac as a gift, that would be nice, but I wouldn't pay a hefty premium for the OS.

And that's about all I got to say about that. My mouth is starting to draw flies...

 

I suspect we're talking about two different things here. You're talking about the underlying software and firmware of the Mac platform. A couple of examples are the monolithic Kernal (actually it's technically a hybrid Kernal but it has more in common with a monolith Kernal than most modern OS's Kernals) and sparse driver support.

What the OP and I are talking about is the UI. I find the Mac OS UI to be horribly restrictive. Simple things that I value highly and use on a daily basis like cutting and pasting files or deleting specific items from an external drive one simply can't do in OS X. There's no underlying reason why these things can't be done. They are simply UI choices by Apple which cripple the functionality of their OS in favor of simplicity. I'll suggest Macs for people who aren't very good with computers, and I'm considering a macbook myself (as it's the first apple computer which is competitively priced considering the hardware, size, and build quality) but I would never really use the Mac OS as anything but a toy to play around with.

 

This is really a comparison between Filesystem/Window Managers and not OSs. Finder has its weakness no doubt.

I'd like to see Finder get updated with some of the features of PathFinder. Seriously, no cutting of files? OK, I understand the argument that you can't really cut a file but, com'on, why can't I mark file(s) for a simple move?

PathFinder's dropbox is a nice idea. Apple needs to come up with their own interpretation. And fix the weird window resizing behavior or let the user change the global window size that will apply to all windows, that way if a window loses its custom settings it will use the global one (currently the default is limiting).

 

i prefer window's way of handling file system than mac myself, better or not is not my consideration.

integration is both good and bad, but on the surface where most people will be using, mac turns out "smoother" for me; i do miss some choices i should have from windows, but those are not always what i need.

for me, i would choose windows over mac any time of the day but since it takes extra for me to install windows on top of a mac, i am fine with it.

 

+1

Sir, you have my undying allegiance to your stances on OSes.

 

LOL, I find it soooo funny that the negative responses about the Mac OS are coming from PC fanboys with a new NBR account or with only 1-2 count of rep power. Why even make a comment on a Mac forum if you don't like the system?

 

I'm assuming you are talking about enterknight.

You come off with a lot of fanboism in your post, sir. You even show your fanboism with your avatar. Yet you call others fanbois because they state what even steve jobs admitted, that the point of OSX is to be simple and easy to use. I love using my macbook to do simple tasks, or to take on a flight with me. However, if I want to do serious work, I use my gateway. I can't really think why OSX is superior for the heavy worker, it is targeted for people who like style, and want something lightweight and nice to use on the go. That is why he said UMPC.

 

Does it matter if someone has 1 or 2 rep power to make an opinion? Well not only an opinion, but state facts? You know these people have just as much legitimate experience with computers in their lives...

 

I think that Macs or good for graphics design and movie editing because that is what there OS is focused on. But the OS is still based on Free BSD, it is not all original! For some that matters and for others it does not.

I have used friends macs and I had to use them in school for a bit. I do not care for them because they seem more animated and cartoon like. Windows feels more professional and grown up (it is just the way it seems it does not mean it is that way).

There are programs that run well on a PC and others that run well on a mac. For number crunching and CAD the PCs tend to do better because that is what there geared for. The mac is more entertainment oriented. And that is what they use in the business place (except schools).

People say macs are more secure and less likely to get a virus and that is true. But not for the reason that you think. Apple has about a 5% market share in computers and Windows has almost all the rest. Who would want to make a viruses for that small of a market share? Why do you think Windows allowed 2007 office to go on macs, because there was no real threat. If they are not afraid to allow there software on a mac why cant it go the other way?

I tend to dislike the mac also because of the lack of customization and how generic it is. They all look the same, to me they look cute, not slick. And I pick one up and I feel like I am going to crack it in half. Sure it is thin but is it strong? Not really. And there is a lack of ports, the new MBP has even fewer than the previous and the MBAir has only one usb port!

Granted there are bad PCs that are poorly built but there are good alternatives(Lenovo, Sager). But for a mac there is not competition, I think if they were to allow there OS to go on other PCs they would be more popular and there would be more computer option.

And the battery is not removable, that is a killer, I go on long trips (over 24 hour bus rides) and peoples ipods and macs are dieing and all I do is pop in a new battery.

These are my opinions.

 

Vista was released early 2007, so it has been about 2 years. I run Windows XP and it has crashed many times on me. Get this... I open a video editing program and my screen goes black... Sometimes if I browse to a video file in explorer the screen flickers before going black. This is a Windows fault, my system is completely updated with everything and it is crashing on me. I had these issues before, but just reformatted a little over a week ago and these problems persist. I know that it is not a hardware problem because I run Ubuntu on the same machine and it runs just fine. So your statement about Windows not crashing is false. It still does on a "2 year old operating system". I am eager to change over to a mac so that I don't have to deal with these hassles. So far I haven't heard of anything that I just described happening on macs. And besides, I can run Windows if I really need to on my mac machine, so I essentially get the best of both worlds. And that, to me is worth the price premium.

 

Mac OS has had it's share of Kernal panics (their equivalent to the dreaded BSoD). All major OS's these days are far better written and experience these errors far less often than they used to though. In XP, Vista, or Windows 7 it's extremely difficult to get a BSoD and if one is experienced it's usually because of malware (which is avoided with a good dose of common sense '09) or a hardware fault (which one can hardly blame Microsoft for).


Pic is the Mac's Kernal Panic screen.

 

I don't see what seniority has to do with the validity of the complaints of myself and others about the Mac OS.

 

I agree. Thoughtful criticisms and thoughts on the Mac platform can be heard from many of NBR's valuable members. Reputation/seniority have little to do with the value of one's comments; I know new members who could teach me a thing or two about computers, and senior ones who have yet to learn how to find the power button.

 

Why not go with the best of both worlds and run Linux?!

 

Why not take it another step further and run Leopard in VMWare?

Hehe

 

One day I want to run a virtual machine of windows from Linux which in turn is running VMware to get Mac OS, which in turn is running parrells to run windows which in turn is running VMware to get linux.

 

we can definitely ignore the troll a little more, keep it up guys

sorry i lost the name, but one of you guys had made a point i agree with whole heartedly. one of the reason why i enjoy using a mac now is that i don't do much heavy stuff that requires more than what is being fed to me. except for some very specific programs that does everything right, PC to me is still a safer bet.

 

Nirtousoxide strikes a good point again - it's awfully hard to get XP and onwards to crash. To do so, you need crap non-Microsoft software, or simply malware. I run quite a few computers daily and from personal experience, I haven't had a OS-induced proper crash since I stopped using Windows 98.

Hydro, I believe you are referring to me.
Thanks for the agreeing guys, and nice to see my opinions actually matching practice.