Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads “make for mildly entertaining (albeit somewhat annoying) viewing, but after catching a few of the 30-second spots I began to wonder, is the Mac guy on to something? Does Apple’s computing platform offer far smoother inter-program integration and ease of use? I guess the commercials work, because curiosity got the best of me,” Jeffrey L. Wilson reports for LAPTOP Magazine.
“Like many PC users, I’ve heard again and again about the many virtues of the Mac OS. And like many of you, I’ve toyed with one here and there, but I have yet to live a Mac, breathe a Mac, be a Mac. So when an Intel Core 2 Duo-powered MacBook-in black no less-arrived at LAPTOP’s HQ, I knew it was my chance to satisfy my curiosity and explore the accuracy of Apple’s ad campaign. So with a sense of discovery not seen since the days of Lewis and Clark, I decided to abandon my Windows world for the MacBook for two solid weeks,” Wilson reports.
After realizing that he required “some mental reprogramming,” to divorce himself of Windows’ upside-down and backwards nature, Wilson reports, “Slick-looking, productive, and fun, the MacBook has everything that a semi-creative person needs to work and play for hours on end. Upon returning to the PC, I did notice that I really missed some of the Mac’s elements, such as the large, legible taskbar, Front Row (sure, there are Media Center PCs, but Front Row is default in all MacBooks), the killer keyboard, Photo Booth, Comic Life, and the fun iLife (iPhoto, GarageBand, iWeb) package. Yes, Windows Vista cribs some of Mac OS X’s best features, but that doesn’t change my final verdict after two weeks with the MacBook: Once you go Mac, you don’t want to go back.”
Full article with much more – broken down by each day of discovery – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome to the ever-growing club, Jeffrey!
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Longtime Windows PC user tries Apple Mac, now recommends ‘Get a Mac’ – December 18, 2006
A Windows expert opts for a Mac life, finds the experience ‘superb’ – December 07, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
A Windows expert opts for a Mac life – November 06, 2006
Embrace and Extinguish in action: TechIQ’s ‘The VAR Guy’ dumps Windows, switches to Mac OS X – September 25, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Sydney Morning Herald Tech columnist dumps Microsoft Windows, switches to Apple Mac – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Bye-Bye Bill: another columnist dumps Windows for Apple Macintosh – January 20, 2005
Orlando Sentinel writer dumps Windows for Mac and writes ‘God bless Apple’ – January 16, 2005
IBM Fellow dumps Microsoft Windows XP, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – September 02, 2004
So why the fsck is it that, ‘despite hearing about the advantages of Mac’ does it take a gift of the best notebook computer on the planet to make someone like this – who is interested in computers- to even try it?!?!?!
But still, better late than never. Tipping point is on the way. Just wait for the avalanche…
Oh, and I meant to say too: have a very Merry Mac-Christmas everyone!
(And may Santa surprise you with the Mac of your dreams.. after all you never REALLY know, do you?)
The sad part about this are all the MacOS 9 people, who persist in thinking that they “stuck by Mac”.
The only ones who can really welcome the new people to the club are the NeXTstep people.
Even the people migrating to OS X from Linux (like myself) have more claim to being in the club than the hangouts from the older Mac.
Steve Jobs’ biggest success was in hoodwinking people who had a Mac to jump across to OS X, just by keeping the name the same.
He is a genius, but not for the reasons you think!
This is getting boring. God, I love it.
I’m too lazy to read the article.
After he gave it back, did he buy a Macbook or did he go back to using his crappy Winblow$ laptop?
is MDN going to write a story about this every time it happens? If so, thats a lot of web pages.
steve?
I don’t know a Mac owner that didn’t fully understand (and fully anticipate) the changes brought during the OS9/OS X switchover. I don’t know a single Mac owner that didn’t fully understand that Mac OS X was fully and completely a new operating system, and I don’t know a single Mac owner that feels “hoodwinked” by Steve Jobs (or Apple).
Woop de f’n doo, Steve.
Did you get a special button for “being in the club?”
In the spirit of the holidays, Merry Christmas!
(but I’ll have a better holiday ’cause I’m in the Christmas Club.)
Unfortunately, Jeffery drew a few conclusions prematurely, such as support for WMA support on the Mac. He wasn’t clear enough about whether or not his files were protected, so I dropped him an email about Flip4Mac components.
(found this address for him, hope it works)
jwilson@bedfordmags.com
Drop him a friendly email and let him know how much support and community he has waiting for him on this side of the fence.
(MDN’s summary doesn’t do justice, you should read the full article)
Isn’t that (“Once You Go….”) phrase supposed to go a different way ?
(;-)
I wish he had gone into more detail on day 12. I can’t possibly understand how in the world his speakers were “incompatible” with the Macbook. And why would you need to install software to plug in your speakers into an audio out on a computer?
Nonetheless, welcome to the club.
“Once you go Mac, you never go back”
It’s because of our bigger hard drive isn’t it?
(Sorry to borrow from the Mac-PC parodies on YouTube)
That was a fun article.
So back to his ghetto PCs, or is he going to try the 17″ MBP and install BootCamp?
Mac Os X Tiger is Better then Windows because its Unix based (freebsd) now. Its better then Mac Os 9. It dont have no viruses or spyware. Plus its hard to make viruses for Unix based OS. So people who say who would make viruses for Macs because there less Popular. Thats not the reason why macs dont have viruses or spyware. Its because its so hard to hack Unix based OS. A Person tried to make a virus called Macrena few months ago for Mac. Te virus writer clearly said its hard to make viruses for Mac just because its based on Unix now. Bye
JadisOne,
Because Logitech thinks they are being cool by showing the track info on the speakers. since when do i need to look at my speakers to see who’s playing…
but the main reason they’re not compatible is they plug in via USB and there are no drivers.
Wish he’d gone a little more into the games issue — folks might want to know that the MacBook is not the ideal machine for many of the high-powered games out there because of the integrated graphics issue (though it probably works well for casual games); if folks want a mobile gaming machine best to go with the MacBook Pro…
Other than that, great article — should allay the fears of those who still think getting a MacBook means buying an “inferior” laptop…
Human beings are obviously creatures of habit. Make it easy enough for them and they’ll try something new. Otherwise, same old same old. The very existence of companies like Microsoft, GM and AOL depends on the willingness of consumers to settle for “good enough.”
Ahhh, thanks for that information Lord Byron. Now I understand. To me, that’s akin to having your router connect to your computer via the USB port versus the ethernet port – bass ackwards.
An other Windows user that does get the MacBook track pad 2 finger right click
Mister Ejag
I think it is “once you smoke crack, your mind goes whack”
This article reminded me of when I switched. Kinda funny.
Also, there was link to Laptop’s Top Ten Notebooks of the Year.
Guess who won…
http://laptopmag.com/Features/Notebooks-of-The-Year.htm
MW:always
I’m guessing this article isn’t about MY experience.
Steev: “I’m too lazy to read the article.”
LOL! That is soooo funny!
I have it open in a tab in Safari, but I’m too freakin’ lazy to get around to it, myself.
I need some Christmas turkey to finish me off.
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yeah macs are the best after being a long time PC urser I made the swithch to a 17′ Cor 2 duo macbook pro and within 1 houn on the mac I new that I would never go back
I’ll go get get some Meukow, to be able to drink coffee cognac and watch movies all night long tomorrow.
24 Dec, as in 24hrs of eating and watching TV. Takes at least a week to recover. Like running a marathon
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No fat jokes please, I ran 10k yesterday. Only thing I’ll have to do is double the speed and I’ll make to the World Championship or Olympics
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Merry MacMas!
You have to admit, this Zune Tard has been great entertainment for the lot of us mac users. Hes living proof of Windows ball and chain and the fact that many windows users are so into an “abusive relationship” *yeah my windows has space docked on me many times today.. it freezes more then my kid say “daddy” to me but I love my PC*