Despite all the ads telling you otherwise, Macs are not a holy revalation from His Jobness. I've switched to Mac, and switched back, and here are some things that you can't do (or do well).
Do Things Quickly - There are no fast quad cores available for mainstream Macs, so that awesome video you shot will take forever to convert to DVD. Want to know how much difference we're talking about? The same project on the Macbook Air showed a 12 hour 30 minute estimate, on the 24" 2.8 GHz iMac showed 8 hours, and took 12 minutes on my Core i7 Windows 7 desktop.
Multitask With Ease - In windows, you'll see all your open programs down there, on the Start bar/task bar, but in Mac, all you'll see is the tiniest glimmer of a reflection under the program's icon in the dock. You can command-tab to switch between windows, but it seems as if Apple discovered this feature yesterday - it's that half-baked. Yes, there's expose, but it doesn't all for the speed and ease that you get with alt-tab or start-tab in Windows.
Play Games - OK, there are games for Mac, but they suck for two reasons. One, barely anyone makes games for Mac. Two, the hardware is pathetic, so even the games that are made for Mac will be very inferior to their PC cousins. All iMacs use pathetic entry-level video cards that on their own, sell for $40 or less. The Macbook Pros with discrete graphics are okay at best, and bad value for money at worst, considering their prices.
Install Little Programs - Your accountant might give you a little program to help you with your taxes, or you might want to download a little niche program to make themes for Wordpress. None of these little programs are going to work on Mac natively. Use a Mac As a Monitor - Whether we're talking about iMacs or Macbooks, you can't use them as a monitor or TV. There are no inputs. One would think that when you spend two grand or more on a computer with a nice 24" screen, that you might be able to plug in your cable box, or use it as a monitor for your Macbook... no can do.
Have the Latest Software - Even for cross-platform software such as Microsoft Office or Skype, you won't get the latest updates the way they release them for the Windows platform. Have All The Features - Continuing on cross-platform software like Office, Skype, Yahoo and MSN Messenger, the Mac versions are seriously detuned. For example, in Microsoft Word, there is no Office button functionality, which means no uploading to blogging platforms at all. The attitude you'll get is "you're lucky that you can even open the same files!"
This is just a short, quick list of things, but believe me, there are many more. I had put up with these things for a long time, but when I noticed that Macs aren't immune to viruses (and the destruction that can ensue), that they do slow down over time (something they're said not to do) and that you have to put up with so much, I said enough is enough. Be informed before you jump in and give His Steveness thousands of your hard-earned dollars.
Author:
David Carmichael: Check out information about getting an HP external hard drive or Norelco replacement blades!
No comments:
Post a Comment