In a hotel for a week with an iMac to play with. Apart from getting confused with the keyboard commands and no right-click, I don’t really get it.

What’s supposed to be blowing my mind? Apart from obvious hotel room viewing on the big crystal clear screen…

right click = click with two fingers, rather than one

it has a right click if you want it.

It is just a computer, I think it’s prettier than most computers, and it has a very nice integrated screen, the OS is efficient and tidy and if you buy into the whole apple architecture then things don’t feel quite as fussy to setup and maintain as some others.

But all said and done it’s a computer and if you’ve seen one before it’s not going to blow your mind.

and if you’ve seen one before it’s not going to blow your mind

This.

Nice to work with but it doesn’t get you ‘Internet +’. It’s still the same shit but just looked at on a nicer looking machine.

As these guys have said, it doesn’t really do anything different to a Windows PC, but will generally be a bit prettier, more intuitive, and more stable. The pretty thing wears off after a while, but the intuitiveness and stability of it are what keeps me using them over Windows PC. There are loads of times at work when I wish for features like Expose, spotlight, and some of the other little background features.

expose…? spotlight? this is what I need to know, the litle things.

I hate the way PCs slow down so much over time as they amass more and more shit from the web without you even knowing about it. I never know what to delete and what is part of the machine.
My main motivation in buying a mac is that this will not happen. Is I wrong?

There’s lots of little things to discover, like exposé. Try pointing at a word and double tapping on it with _three_ fingers…

edit – oh – I think that needs at least OS X 10.7 installed to do anything

Rachel

this is what I need to know, the little things.

If you’re alone in a hotel room for a week I expect it might be worth finding out how to delete your browser history!

that looks after itself on switching off…

I just found the mail application – now thats neat. Just enter my (hotmail) email address and password and it acts as a mail client for hotmail in seconds. Used to faff with hotmail’s and MS’s own clients and got fed up years ago. This is neat.

Whats more important about Macs is the stuff that you don’t notice IMO

My Mac has never crashed, I don’t get error messages, and I don’t need a virus checker. Whenever I install a new piece of software, it doesn’t bury parts of itself so far into the OS that you can never get rid of it. You don’t need drivers, codecs, service-pack upgrades and all that stuff…. it just works without me having to understand/care how.

Horses for courses though – not everybody’s cup of tea

For me the best thing about them is the touch surface mouse and things like Spaces – but that is just workflow crap.

My Mac has never crashed,

Mine has never crashed the OS although I have managed to crash out of illustrator and flash several times. Adobe problem or Apple problem? If I had to place a bet my money would be on it being an Adobe problem.

Software crashes can still occur, but what it will never (well, very very very very rarely) do is to lock the entire system if it does crash. What annoys me on Windows PCs (XP this is, not sure about 7) is that if a program crashes, it will generally freeze up the PC for a bit or freeze the window on the display but all white. Then to quit it you have to go to Task manager etc. On a Mac, the program will either force quit itself, or just a CMD-right click on the dock icon, force quit and re-open as if nothing happened. With the new ‘sandboxing’ coming in Mountain Lion, it should be even less likely that a program will knock out the whole computer.

Installation/Uninstall as mentioned above is also easy and seamless. If you uninstall a program it does actually uninstall it, not just delete the program but leave code and files all over the place.

What you’ll find is they are tenfold more stable, my MacBook is currently getting on five years old and still runs like new. Once you get used to using one it’s the little things that count. Mission Control for getting ordained while working, applications that seamlessly integrate with one another, ease of use, security. In a nutshell they just work, and they’ll save you money in the long run 😉

There’s a degree of un-learning to do if you come from a Windows environment, but the true test will be after you use it for a while and then go back to Windows. You may then find yourself banging your head against a brick wall, or on the other hand you may have become so infused with the Microsoft way of doing things that you don’t notice the difference.

btw don’t forget there’s a camera in the iMac, as you don’t know the machine or what’s installed on it then if you’re paranoid you might want to cover that up…

Windows is just as stable nowadays.

I hate the way PCs slow down so much over time as they amass more and more shit from the web without you even knowing about it. I never know what to delete and what is part of the machine.

That’s the issue with PCs – so much shite software. But of course the other side of that coin is so much decent and/or free software too. It’s easy to keep it running smoothly if you know a little bit about what you are doing. And it doesn’t download crap from the web without you knowing about it unless you are really really bad at security.

What annoys me on Windows PCs (XP this is, not sure about 7) is that if a program crashes, it will generally freeze up the PC for a bit or freeze the window on the display but all white.

Not these days.

Don’t compare Macs with Windows of 10 years ago, otherwise I’ll start comparing Windows 7 with Macs of 15 years ago, that’ll be a laugh 🙂

I just found the mail application – now thats neat. Just enter my (hotmail) email address and password and it acts as a mail client for hotmail in seconds.

Windows Live mail does that.

There’s really not that much to choose any more – one is flashier, smoother and more expensive, the other has more software and is cheaper.

Watch out for Windows 8 though, it’s seriously cool.

Molgrips you’ve missed the point. Win7 may do some of that now but it’s always a bit behind the mac, windows have been bleating on about stuff mac’s have done for year, without shouting about it. I’ve just been given a new HP laptop for work on Win7Professional and whilst I think it is a good OS it’s still going to be high maintenance in comparison to a mac.

My Mac has never crashed, I don’t get error messages, and I don’t need a virus checker. Whenever I install a new piece of software, it doesn’t bury parts of itself so far into the OS that you can never get rid of it. You don’t need drivers, codecs, service-pack upgrades and all that stuff…. it just works without me having to understand/care how.

Couldn’t have put it better

Watch out for Windows 8 though, it’s seriously cool.

How much? Probably more than $30.

Molgrips you’ve missed the point. Win7 may do some of that now but it’s always a bit behind the mac,

Er, I don’t much care who got there first. They are both there, that’s the point.

And I admitted the maintenance point.

How much? Probably more than $30.

Dunno how much it costs. But I’ll bet that a Win8 laptop will still be a hell of a lot cheaper than a Mac one 🙂

That’s the issue with PCs – so much shite software. But of course the other side of that coin is so much decent and/or free software too. It’s easy to keep it running smoothly if you know a little bit about what you are doing. And it doesn’t download crap from the web without you knowing about it unless you are really really bad at security.

Thanks molgrips, I’m better than I was but after a few years use, it still seems to sneak in. It’s worse for people like my grandmother who is completely unaware of such matters. Her PC is nigh on unusable any only 2 years old! In reality it’ll need a fresh install. She’s have been far better off with a mac or so it seems.

She’s have been far better off with a mac or so it seems

I suspect tablets are the future for users like this. Edit: and judging by W8 I think Microsoft see things this way too.

Dunno how much it costs. But I’ll bet that a Win8 laptop will still be a hell of a lot cheaper than a Mac one

So your old one isn’t worth upgrading?

It’s worse for people like my grandmother who is completely unaware of such matters. Her PC is nigh on unusable any only 2 years old!

Probably 80% of users too. It’s the main issue with Windows and it’s a big one!

It only happens when you install stuff without thinking about it. If you buy a new gadget or widget, most people stick in the CD and click ‘typical install’.

So your old one isn’t worth upgrading?

That’s not what I said. If you want to be a smart arse then a Windows 7 laptop with the Windows 8 upgrade fee in a few years’ time will still be much cheaper than a Mac 🙂

But I’ll bet that a Win8 laptop will still be a hell of a lot cheaper than a Mac one

But try to sell it in 3 years time and see what you’ll get for it compared to a similarly-aged Mac…

Why would I want to sell it?

Microsoft have admitted the main flaw with their OS’s is the registry. This is why they are going to bring in a ‘reset’ button for W8 (have they done this?) to return the machine to a factory set position. Hopefully that is user saved also, to cover the software and settings you install and ‘work’ at a certain point, like a true systems restore.

For the average user though, a basic laptop with a flavour of linux installed will perform virtually every task you need it to and faster than Windoze for most stuff. But when it comes to usability ‘out of the box’ I’m sure someone getting a Mac will profess how wonderfully it works, but the pricing is excessive.

There will no doubt be many arguments in the future as net usage gets clamped down on and OS’s become more ‘walled gardens’ than truly free function systems. When your desktops OS looks like a smartphones, it’ll become clearer.

Why would I want to sell it? It’s not worth anything.

EFT

Why would I want to sell it?

Why would anyone want to sell anything? The point is that Macs hold their value, PCs don’t.

I made the refreshing revelation recently that most of what I use a (social, not work) “computer” for can be managed ten-fold better on a tablet, so bought an iPad and am perfectly happy.

Don’t get me wrong – this wont be the case for some people, but assessing my power requirements let me get away with a simple, low power but very intuitive and functional machine that does all I need (essentially, I’m in a similar boat to most peoples’ Nans – checking email, FB, internet!)

I rarely use our PC now – actually, only used for ripping DVDs to the tablet, and for printing!

DrP

EDIT – this isn’t an “I love apple iPad comment”, as I don’t. It’s an “I love simple tablet computer” comment, as that’s all I need!

I bought an imac 3 months ago, and after the initial ‘coo isnt it shiny’ wore off, I have to say that actually I’m quite underwhelmed.

ok so yes I come from a windows upbringing and have never touched a Mac OS before I bought this, but whilst remaining as objective as I possibly can about all this, the mac os just seems to be riddled with ‘cos we’re different’ annoyances and works really hard to hide far too much from me.
I’ve fixed most with myriad free apps and utilities, and it’s a competent enough computer for home use BUT, it still cost me twice as much as a windows 7 PC which would easily outperform this iMac.

So, my extra money bought me a posh looking screen and no cable faff. And apparently I also lost all possibility of ripping the innards out and upgrading it in a few years time.

Completely unconvinced. So I’m looking at buying another PC 🙁

Edit: I bought an iPad at the same time, and that has been a total revelation, brilliant. Also, I own an iPhone. I tried so hard to love the iMac. Honest.

I think Mac pricing IS excessive, however, thats just part of their business model, and lots of people are prepared to pay the premium.

Yes, there’s probably nothing that a mac can do that a PC can’t, and there’s no-doubt that PCs can do things that Macs can’t…. but the only people that care about most of that are computer nerds, the rest of us couldn’t give two hoots.

Most home users just want something thats fast, stable, easy to use, and does everything that they want it to do…. WELL.

I don’t want to have to choose from 30 different programs to manage my photos/music/videos – I just want one that works well.

Microsoft have admitted the main flaw with their OS’s is the registry. This is why they are going to bring in a ‘reset’ button for W8 (have they done this?) to return the machine to a factory set position. Hopefully that is user saved also, to cover the software and settings you install and ‘work’ at a certain point, like a true systems restore.

How is that different from the “System Restore” we have at the moment?

The trick is finding the “last known good” point, which is harder than it sounds (as an analogy, the car was last known to be good when you left it at the top of the hill with the handbrake off, but restoring it to that point what prevent what happened next)

Back to the OP:

What I find makes a big difference between OSX/Windows is the touchpad gestures for navigating around. They are very intuitive.

Oh, and if you’ve ever used iTunes on a Windows machine your tears of rage become tears of joy using it on a Mac.

I rarely use our PC now – actually, only used for ripping DVDs to the tablet, and for printing!

Yep. And that reminds me about a previous iPad thread – did you ever try Smart Office 2 from Picsel? It can successfully print to non-AirPrint printers.

Oh, and if you’ve ever used iTunes on a Windows machine your tears of rage become tears of joy using it on a Mac.

OH LORD PLEASE SAY ITS TRUE!

@GrahamS, this is something different. Effectively I’d see it as an inbuilt cloning function. Like where many manufacturers have a hidden recovery partition to factory default, where you boot and hit a function key and follow instructions. But now if you buy the OS after you’ve got a computer, and are a normal user, you can just press that “button” and it performs the taks for you.

(Never really figured out what is SO awful about iTunes on Windows. It works well enough for me on the rare occasions I use it)

(Never really figured out what is SO awful about iTunes on Windows. It works well enough for me on the rare occasions I use it)

YOU’RE NO POWER USER! Caps, because I am a power user. And 14 years old.

mrdestructo: interesting. But still sounds like they are basically just giving “System Restore + a recovery disk” a facelift so that more normal users feel comfortable using it (not that this is a bad thing – just nothing new)