Re: Computer Talk!!
Commentary on switching over to Apple Macintosh
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Earlier this year, I wanted to play with the Apple iPhone SDK. Since it only runs on Macs, I went and bought a White MacBook. Why the MacBook? Because it was the 2nd lowest-priced Apple Mac product, after the Mac Mini, and offered portability. The Mac Mini starts at $600 but is not a laptop. The iMac has a nice big screen, but is not portable.
The MacBook is a fairly nice laptop, but does have some issues. I like Apple products but will be brutally honest with some of its product defect issues. The MacBook use LED back-light that is nice and bright, but suffers from uneven back-light around corners and sides, and some have uneven brightness spots on the screen. The cooling fan is also prone to noise issues. On my first MacBook, the CPU cooling fan probably had a faulty bearing and was making loud grinding noises. I took it back to the Apple store and got a replacement. The replacement had faulty back-light at the corners (cast “shadow” effect) and I had the screen replaced. The new replacement had uneven bright spot problem—there was 3 bright spots on the screen. So they took it back and replaced it again.
On the up side, there are several Apple stores nearby, and you can purchase the Apple Care service to extend your warranty from 1 year to 3 years. So if anything goes wrong, you just make an appointment and take it in. They’ll promptly replace or repair defective parts, but not from user damage (i.e. if you dropped it). Also, upgrading the MacBook is REALLY easy. You just use a coin to open the battery, and a small screwdriver to take out the bracket for accessing the 2 SODIMM and 2.5” HDD. Standard MacBook configuration comes with 2 GBs memory and 120-250 GB 5400 RPM HDD. Go buy 4 GB memory kit and 500 GB 7200 RPM HDD, plus external 2.5” HDD box. Swap out the hard drive and put it in the external box, you can use it as your portable backup drive for Time Machine.
IMO Apple’s Time Machine backup is probably one of the nicest backup software I’ve ever worked with. The operating system as a whole (OSX 10.5) is also elegant and snappy. On Windows laptops, sometimes the boot-up seems to take forever. On MacBooks it’s ‘ding” and off we go. If for some reason the startup seems slow, you can boot up in safe mode (hold down shift key) to clear up some stuff, reboot with command-option-P-R to clear up NVRAM, and install Onyx to run system maintenance. As last resort (on a highly fragmented hard drive), you can take a Time Machine backup, then reboot with OSX DVD, format the laptop’s HDD, reinstall, and reload files from Time Machine backup.
One thing to keep in mind is that the MacBook and Mac Mini both use laptop components, and even the iMac is tightly squeezed into its monitor case. They look small and elegant, but there’s a trade-off. When components are tightly packed it’s harder to fix problems and various issues exists. For example, on the MacBook, if you’re running CPU intensive apps (i.e. VMWARE), the system fan kicks up to 6,000 RPM and gets really hot. The fan noise can be annoying. If you’re putting the laptop on a desk, put a pencil in the back under the laptop to prop it up a little. It will help with heat.
The Mac Mini is NOT as easy to upgrade as the MacBook. Google Mac Mini hard drive upgrade instructions and you’ll see what I mean. If you’re not comfortable with taking the computer apart, you’re better off with the MacBook for self-upgrades. My only complaint about the MacBook user-upgrade is that they use weird screws for the 2.5” hard drive bracket. If you don’t have the right screwdriver, just use a pair of pliers. Upgrading the MacBook memory and hard drive does NOT violate the warranty. My suggestion is to buy the Apple Care extended warranty and take a zero tolerance stance on any product defects. If you see anything wrong or weird, take it back right away and ask them to replace or repair it. Faulty computer components get worse, not better over time.
The 13” screen on the MacBook is a bit small, unless if you’re willing to splurge for the more expensive, larger models. A compromise is to use it on your desk at home with a large external monitor. I recommend the mini display to VGA adapter if you’re not familiar with the different DVI standards. The old 9-pin VGA will work every time. The DVI will not. You don’t need to buy expensive Apple monitor or external KB and mouse. Any brand LCD monitor will probably work, and most PC wireless keyboard and mouse with USB wireless adapter will also work. So instead of buying the expensive Apple brand blue tooth wireless KB and mouse, you can get the $18 Frys special. Plus if you’re coming from PC/Windows world, you’d prefer to use a 2 button mouse anyway. I also suggest getting an external USB hub for your desk. I have a 5-port and it’s packed!
What’s the biggest difference between Windows and Mac OSX? Most Mac fans will tell you that Mac OSX is much easier to use. While this is true to some extent, OSX today is far more complicated than the original Mac (Mac 128/512), back when you could sit a computer illiterate person in front of a Mac 512 or Mac Plus and the person would be clicking away within 15 mins. Today computers and operating systems are more complicated and the “ease of use” difference between Windows and Mac isn’t huge.
Where I think the biggest difference lies, is legacy support. Microsoft is a software company and it’s in their best interest to support many hardware to make a profit. Windows XP was released in 2001 and will still run almost all modern Windows apps. The updates and fixpacks are free. However, because Windows has to support so many different and old hardware, it’s more bloated.
Apple is a hardware company that has traditionally made most of their profits from hardware sales (this has changed in recent years with services like iTunes). It’s in Apple’s best interest that their customers bought more hardware with high profit margins. Thus, their operating system upgrades are unforigving with old hardware. If you spent $3000 on a Mac G5 a few years ago, it will NOT run the new OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard due out this year. For this reason I don’t recommend people to buy used/older Macs.
If you’re a Windows user and worried about software compatibility issues, rest assured that the Mac has many ways to run Windows and Windows applications. Whatever Windows apps you’re using, the Mac can probably run >90% of it without problems. Also, you can get Mac versions of the software or compatible software. Once you start using Mac OSX you’ll agree that the design is a lot more elegant than Windows. If you need to install programs, it’s a simple drag and drop for a single file/icon, unlike Windows with XXX number of files with all kinds of extensions. If you want to uninstall a Mac App you simply trash it, no “control panel add/remove programs”. If you want to be sure that all associated files are deleted, use “forklift” for Mac. Be careful when selecting delete app in Forklift and make certain that you’re not deleting the wrong files.
If you’re unsure about dropping $1,000-$1,200 on a MacBook, it’s possible to install the Mac OS on other hardware to try it out. This is technically not permitted under Apple’s software license terms so you’re on your own here. Google “OSx86” for more information. I’ve installed OSX to my old Compaq laptop, and many people are using it on the $300 MSI Wind notebook. Keep in mind that the MSI Wind uses single core 1.6 Ghz CPU, so it’d be slower than a real MacBook with 2Ghz dual core CPU. If you can’t get the ethernet or wireless working, just go buy a $29 Apple USB to ethernet adapter. When my MacBook is away in the shop, I use my “Hackintosh” in its place as a backup. However, you cannot run Apple software updates on Hackintoshes, it’d cause the system to hang after a reboot. So you still need to buy the real thing to run latest Apple software.
