I thought some people might appreciate my views on a switch to Mac, and then back again. Anyway, the first thing I feel is important is my general background- From the start, I've always had two PCs/ installs: One Windows for gaming, and one Gnome based Linux laptop for anything else. The very original laptop I had was a Thinkpad 560 (12", P100), and I've still never found anything to compare to it.
Six months ago, I decided to replace the relatively cheap Toshiba I was using at the time, and the choice came down to a Thinkpad or a Macbook Pro (The top-speced variant!). In the end, I went with the Macbook Pro, as the idea was to give a Unix based OS with the ability to compile in the apps I had been using under Linux. This never really happened- The OSX integration is subtly different enough to mean that a a dedicated build is very often necessary.
Now though, I've just had the opportunity to play with a recent Thinkpad, and I've decided to move back in that direction- I miss a lot of Linux stuff, especially Gnome, and some of my little niggles with the Macbook Pro hardware don't come up with a Thinkpad. Below are my thoughts on my experience, both good and bad.
Pros:
*OSX really is a nice OS to use generally. Everything is very integrated, and it normally works out of the box.
*The hardware is above the standard cheap laptop by some margin, but below the Thinkpad I'm moving back to.
*Related- The backlit keyboard is quite nice, but a little gimmicky at times.
*The finder is second to none- Windows explorer & Nautius simply cannot compete in this regard.
*There were two deal-making games on OSX- World of Warcraft & the Football Manager series. There are also more games generally than for a Linux box.
*The bundled apps are incredibly polished, and anywhere else, you'd probably expect to pay for them
*Standardised theme- This comes in both the pros and the cons section, as while everything matches and looks quite nice, there is no real way to change everything consistantly to match my personal preferences.
Cons:
*I want to murder whoever put a single mouse button on Mac laptops
There are a huge number of uses for right-click, and even thier wired mice have more than one mouse button. This is one of my biggest annoyances. I also hate the trackpad- This has been the first laptop I've had without a trackpoint, and it has irritated me no end.
*The Mac keyboard is nice, yes, but those on the Thinkpads are in a different league.
*The power cord, while a nice idea and perhaps useful for some is simply a pain in the rear.
*There is something that almost equates to a sense of arrogance- If you don't like the way something is done, there is no way to change it. The classic example of this is the inflexibility of the menu bar/ dock; I would have much preferred to swap them round, but this isn't possible.
*The menu bar annoys me. Not sure why, it just does; I much prefer a customised 3 start-type menus system and window selector.
*No programs menu- To me, this is another almost inexcusable problem. You either have to keep apps in the dock or ferret through the apps folder; There is no way to have a simple menu with your apps subcategorised in it.
*The way the wireless works is simply a pain- Why is there no way to show a list of wireless networks with signal strength etc. and select which you want to connect to?
*Standardised theme- This comes in both the pros and the cons section, as while everything matches and looks quite nice, there is no real way to change everything consistantly to match my personal preferences.
Thanks for reading this ramble, and your thoughts & comments are appreciated.
-Leezer-
Six months ago, I decided to replace the relatively cheap Toshiba I was using at the time, and the choice came down to a Thinkpad or a Macbook Pro (The top-speced variant!). In the end, I went with the Macbook Pro, as the idea was to give a Unix based OS with the ability to compile in the apps I had been using under Linux. This never really happened- The OSX integration is subtly different enough to mean that a a dedicated build is very often necessary.
Now though, I've just had the opportunity to play with a recent Thinkpad, and I've decided to move back in that direction- I miss a lot of Linux stuff, especially Gnome, and some of my little niggles with the Macbook Pro hardware don't come up with a Thinkpad. Below are my thoughts on my experience, both good and bad.
Pros:
*OSX really is a nice OS to use generally. Everything is very integrated, and it normally works out of the box.
*The hardware is above the standard cheap laptop by some margin, but below the Thinkpad I'm moving back to.
*Related- The backlit keyboard is quite nice, but a little gimmicky at times.
*The finder is second to none- Windows explorer & Nautius simply cannot compete in this regard.
*There were two deal-making games on OSX- World of Warcraft & the Football Manager series. There are also more games generally than for a Linux box.
*The bundled apps are incredibly polished, and anywhere else, you'd probably expect to pay for them
*Standardised theme- This comes in both the pros and the cons section, as while everything matches and looks quite nice, there is no real way to change everything consistantly to match my personal preferences.
Cons:
*I want to murder whoever put a single mouse button on Mac laptops
There are a huge number of uses for right-click, and even thier wired mice have more than one mouse button. This is one of my biggest annoyances. I also hate the trackpad- This has been the first laptop I've had without a trackpoint, and it has irritated me no end.*The Mac keyboard is nice, yes, but those on the Thinkpads are in a different league.
*The power cord, while a nice idea and perhaps useful for some is simply a pain in the rear.
*There is something that almost equates to a sense of arrogance- If you don't like the way something is done, there is no way to change it. The classic example of this is the inflexibility of the menu bar/ dock; I would have much preferred to swap them round, but this isn't possible.
*The menu bar annoys me. Not sure why, it just does; I much prefer a customised 3 start-type menus system and window selector.
*No programs menu- To me, this is another almost inexcusable problem. You either have to keep apps in the dock or ferret through the apps folder; There is no way to have a simple menu with your apps subcategorised in it.
*The way the wireless works is simply a pain- Why is there no way to show a list of wireless networks with signal strength etc. and select which you want to connect to?
*Standardised theme- This comes in both the pros and the cons section, as while everything matches and looks quite nice, there is no real way to change everything consistantly to match my personal preferences.
Thanks for reading this ramble, and your thoughts & comments are appreciated.
-Leezer-
