Never had a Mac, will I enjoy using OS X?


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Coming from using Windows XP and Windows 7, and reading how some people love Mac OS X after switching while others don't - I'm feeling a bit conflicted here. I want to make the switch to try it out but at the same I don't. 

 

All I use my computer for is browsing the web, writing, music, excel, downloading, managing documents etc. Just regular stuff. Would the supposed pleasure experienced from OS X on a Macbook be worth it? Price is not a factor, so just tell me your views based on the actual OS rather than Apples hardware or prices.

 

I would love to hear your views.

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It won't have any problems with "regular stuff", assuming nothing Windows specific is in the mix the biggest hurdle would be just getting used to it, the "Apple way" is a fair bit different.  Best bet would probably be to go to an Apple store and mess with one, it's an expensive investment to jump in on a whim.  I know some who like it and some who don't.  It's a good OS, but whether or not you'll actually like it nobody here can answer, it doesn't "do it" for me personally and it hasn't given me a compelling reason to switch, but that's just me and not a knock against the OS, like I said I know a few who love it to death too.  Of course do your homework too, make sure everything you want/need is available, different ecosystems will have different software available.. a lot is multi-platform but there's a lot that isn't too on both sides.  Day to day "regular stuff" typically won't be an issue though, most everything is either available or there'll be a just as good workalike usually, especially if gaming or professional software isn't in the equation.

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It'll work ok for you if you do general computing. If price isn't a factor, then no problem, go for it.

 

If you extensively use Excel, I would stick with the Windows version though.

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Office for Mac is slightly less good but still OK. Besides that most people will probably enjoy OS X more as the whole OS feels a bit more finished. There are stricter design guidelines and most developers follow them closely. On Windows everything can get messy.

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As long as you don't buy a Mac and expect OS X to work the same way Windows does, then you will be fine. 

Go into a store and spend some time playing around with it.

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I've played with it and I find it kind of annoying that the x square and minimize are on the other side and that they keyboards are quite different.

 

But I have told myself that it'd be one of those things I'd get used to, and perhaps at the end I will enjoy using it far more than Windows.

 

I do love the dock, the scrolling and the general sleekness of the OS too. All in all, I feel like I will have to spend a good month using it to know how I feel. 

 

Thank you for your comments, would like for someone who's made the switch to tell me how they ended up feeling after switching. Did you miss Windows? Did you regret the switch? Or did you tell yourself I wish had switched before? Or did you just think meh - both are good.

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2 week OS X user here :-) I have been enjoying it, it's quite different than Windows, but not too hard to get used to, one thing though, be sure any application you cannot live without exists in the Mac or at least make sure there's a good alternative, in these two weeks I have come to find out that the OS lacks in this department, sure there's always good "paid" applications for pretty much everything, but the assortment of free choices isn't as great as in Windows.

 

PS: Still a Windows user here and I love it, just got this Mac as a toy and to learn the OS etc.

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I use both.  A MBP at home and Windows everywhere else.  Win7 and Win8 at work and Win8.1 at home.

 

For "most" everyday regular usage, the MBP is fine, but as mentioned Office is as good on Mac.  Mainly in regards to Outlook and calendar syncing for me.  Also, easy and quick access to file system is a little more complicated.  Networks shares are sometimes finicky.  Some of it is just not being familiar with it.  I don't have to rely on it, so I don't learn all the ins and outs.  If I need to do "real work", I remote into a Windows machine.

 

Not to mention gaming.  I haven't really tried gaming on my Mac.  I do that in Windows. 

 

If you need to do anything on a Mac hardware-wise, it's a pain.  I bought a hard drive from OWC specifically so I wouldn't have to do anything else, and I STILL needed to by a fan control program because it would go wild all the time.  Plus you need suction cups the get the screen of an iMac.  As for laptops, good luck getting them apart and changing parts.

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2 week OS X user here :-) I have been enjoying it, it's quite different than Windows, but not too hard to get used to, one thing though, be sure any application you cannot live without exists in the Mac or at least make sure there's a good alternative, in these two weeks I have come to find out that the OS lacks in this department, sure there's always good "paid" applications for pretty much everything, but the assortment of free choices isn't as great as in Windows.

 

PS: Still a Windows user here and I love it, just got this Mac as a toy and to learn the OS etc.

 

Dude that's preety cool, so you've made the switch! You make good points - apart from Office, Spotify, Itunes, VLC and Chrome (which are all available on mac) I don't have any need for any particular app. I am interested by the potential for using the apps that are not available on Windows like Iphoto etc - have you used them and found them useful?

 

And the big question, so far, would you say you love windows or mac osx more?

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I've worked with both as far back as I can remember. Frankly, as someone who designs and builds system software for a living, in recent years I been getting very frustrated using OSX. A lot of the little things you take for granted in Windows is simply missing in Mac. The lack of a right-button on the mouse was supposed to be "elegant", forcing software designers into a "modal" way of thinking. Now it's just a nuisance. On a big screen or multiple monitors you'll find yourself constantly moving the mouse to the top of the screen since the menu bar stays there and doesn't follow the active window. Lack of drag and drop support and non-active dialog boxes add to the frustration. Windows, particularly 7 and 8.1 are noticeably faster too. Truth is, Windows is a vastly more powerful OS, particularly if you're a power user.

Paying so much more for a computer that does so much less isn't worth it IMHO.

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I've worked with both as far back as I can remember. Frankly, as someone who designs and builds system software for a living, in recent years I been getting very frustrated using OSX. A lot of the little things you take for granted in Windows is simply missing in Mac. The lack of a right-button on the mouse was supposed to be "elegant", forcing software designers into a "modal" way of thinking. Now it's just a nuisance. On a big screen or multiple monitors you'll find yourself constantly moving the mouse to the top of the screen since the menu bar stays there and doesn't follow the active window. Lack of drag and drop support and non-active dialog boxes add to the frustration. Windows, particularly 7 and 8.1 are noticeably faster too. Truth is, Windows is a vastly more powerful OS, particularly if you're a power user. Paying so much more for a computer that does so much less isn't worth it IMHO.

How about the inability to size Finder windows full screen without manually adjusting it?  Apple apparently thinks their users aren't smart enough to know what they want, so they do it for them.

 

Im aware that Yosemite kinda fixes this, but the whole full screen paradigm that OS X uses that literally overtakes the entire screen, including the dock and menu bar (and other monitors) is stupid.  Is it too hard to just let us click the "+" and have it occupy the full screen but let us easily switch to other apps and not cover up everything else?  It is very disruptive.

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I recently purchased a MacBook Air for general use (web, music, productivity) and it is solid. My primary OS is Windows (because work says so) but for "general" usage, my experience has been quite pleasant. 

 

I do light excel for finances on the MBA via Gdocs and haven't had any trouble with that. I don't think you have to be OS specific for what your uses are so I'd suggest whatever is comfortable financially and from a usability perspective.

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Keep in mind guys I will be upgrading from my current laptop with Windows 7 to a Touschreen Windows 8.1 Laptop (But I could downgrade to Windows 7 with touch if I don't like it) OR a Macbook - so I will either be using a touchscreen laptop with tilt and stand (I could find touchscreen amazing since I use the laptop while lying down a lot - perfect distance) or a Macbook. Both are the same price.

 

The only things pushing me towards the Mac is the fact that I've never had it. Based on the responses so far - I'm leaning away from the Mac and to the touchscreen laptop (no matter the hate touchscreen laptops get I think I could benefit from it) (but I also could benefit from the great Macbook Trackpad and the elegance of OS X).

 

I'm still feeling a little conflicted :/

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If you simply want to experiment with the OS X environment, either setup a virtual machine or purchase a second cheap MacBook Pro or Mini that can run Mavericks. I use to have a hackintosh and I must admit, it was fun to play with during the Tiger days, in fact, this was during the Vista betas. At one point I stopped booting into Windows and was booting into Tiger day in and out. The OS X UI is very basic and guess that is what gives it the advantage of being considered as easy to use. At the same time, its not really power user friendly, lack of cut and paste. Its a very modal user experience. Windows 7/8.1 is very flexible.

 

I do like the gestures in OS X though, fluid and fast.

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For what you want to do, you'll love it.. OSX is a lot less of a headache.. I made the switch four years ago, but just for music..Now, I have a Macbook Pro for personal, iMac at work, and I use Linux mostly on my desktop at home.. I just use Windows 7 for games that don't play in linux.

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"I have tried over and over to use Macs. iMacs, macbooks, MacBook air....it's not the devices that are the problem for me, it's the OS. Mac OS for all the unique features it has, it lacks so much more in other ways. File management is just utter rubbish, very gimmicky and obviously not designed of advanced use. I don't care about smart folders and fancy looking layouts, I care about fast and fluid file managing with multiple windows and quick switching back and forth between different folders, there just is no clean way to do it in OSX. All the extra clicking and fluffing around just to get simple tasks done just ###### me off. I hate that with the trackpad you cannot double tap and hold the title bar of a window to drag it like on EVERY other notebook, by default tap to click is turned off so I find myself on every mac having to go and turn it on. I hate that OSX cannot handle dragging multiple folders with sub folders and files overtop of other folders and files with the same name, cancelling the whole process instead of letting me choose to replace, ignore or keep both. OSX boots slow even on SSD compared to windows. Macs DO crash and freeze, this is a bulls**t 'myth'"

 

"If I'm not recording music in Pro Tools, I'm spending pretty much all of my recreational, work, and school use time on my Surface RT or Acer laptop with Windows 8.1. Yes OS X is very powerful for Music, Video, and Photo editing. But for file management Windows is much more intuitive and efficient. A lot of programs in Windows add functionality to the shell when you right-click on a file there are many more useful options in the context menu that I want to pull my hair out over when I'm in OS X. "

 

"Both platforms have their pros and cons. And there was a time when I was using Mac OS 90% of the time at home. But I haven't touched OS X in several weeks now and I don't miss it all."

 

http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8-1-drawing-me-away-from-the-mac-7000025584/

 

I think I'm swaying towards the Lenova Yoga 2 Pro (Windows 7/8.1) rather than the Macbook Air (Mavericks OS X) now  :shiftyninja:  Please post if you feel inclined as I appreciate all the viewpoints. 

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For what you want to do, you'll love it.. OSX is a lot less of a headache.. I made the switch four years ago, but just for music..Now, I have a Macbook Pro for personal, iMac at work, and I use Linux mostly on my desktop at home.. I just use Windows 7 for games that don't play in linux.

 

You really think so? Windows is not a headache for me I have to say. I enjoy it.

 

I just don't know if I'll enjoy OS X more.

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You really think so? Windows is not a headache for me I have to say. I enjoy it.

 

I just don't know if I'll enjoy OS X more.

Windows isn't really headache, but, things are just a lot smoother IMO.. You don't have a crap ton of updates, patches, ect.. The drivers are never a issue, backing up is seamsless.. When you get use to a more controled enviorment, it's kinda nice tbh.. It has it pros and cons.. but most of the cons and always be worked around.. the iPhone being locked down is more so an issue.. but that's a different story..

As others said, try to load it in a VM first.. or by a Macbook second hand.. The one great thing about Macbooks.. they will always resell, and do a good job holding value..

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If you use Office/Excel extensively than you'll definitely feel a little restricted in its mac counterpart.  The only reason why I'd continue to use Windows is for Office.  I work with financial models at work and feel comfortable using keyboard shortcuts + the ribbon layout...everytime I tried to work on these at home on my Mac I had to resort to using the mouse which *severely* restricted me.

 

The other thing I wish OSX would have is the Windows snapping feature with keyboard - it's really handy.

 

Other than that, I love OSX (been on it for 10 years now).  it feels more comfortable/intuitive to me than Windows.  I'm also vested heavily into the Apple ecosystem so I like that it works seamlessly with my gadgets as well.

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I'd definitely take touch Windows over OSX, personally.  I don't use touch a LOT in Windows, but sometimes it's handy.

 

We use Lenovo Twists at work and really like them, for the most part.

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I personally found it to be a steep learning curve, purely because I had only used Windows, but after a couple of weeks you'll work your way around it. It's pretty intuitive and easy to use, but a lot is to be desired when you are used to being a Windows power user.

 

One warning though, once you get used to the trackpad on a MacBook you will be hooked, I've yet to find a laptop with a trackpad half as nice - That is according to my personal preferences though.
 

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If you use Office/Excel extensively than you'll definitely feel a little restricted in its mac counterpart.  The only reason why I'd continue to use Windows is for Office.  I work with financial models at work and feel comfortable using keyboard shortcuts + the ribbon layout...everytime I tried to work on these at home on my Mac I had to resort to using the mouse which *severely* restricted me.

 

The other thing I wish OSX would have is the Windows snapping feature with keyboard - it's really handy.

 

Other than that, I love OSX (been on it for 10 years now).  it feels more comfortable/intuitive to me than Windows.  I'm also vested heavily into the Apple ecosystem so I like that it works seamlessly with my gadgets as well.

Have you tried using Office 365?

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Have you tried using Office 365?

 

I actually haven't.  We have Office 2010 installed at work and I've just use Office 2011 at home.  Is it as fluid as Windows?  What about keyboard shortcuts on a macbook?  Do they work as easily too?

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