“A couple years ago, the notion of replacing a PC with one of Apple’s stylish Macintosh computers was fraught with risk, uncertainty, and incompatibility. Today, the computing landscape isn’t so black and white. Thanks to Apple’s conversion to the same Intel-based computing platform that mainstream Windows-based PCs use, as well as a host of software tools that make it easier than ever to interoperate between the Mac OS X and Windows worlds, buying a Mac is easier and smarter than ever. Sure, there are some hurdles to overcome. But for many people, choosing between a Mac and a PC doesn’t have to be an either-or proposition anymore,” Paul Thurrott writes for Connected Home.
Thurrott writes, “Apple and various third parties have also released software solutions that make it easy to run Windows on these new Intel-based Macs. (Although the reverse isn’t true: You can’t legally run Intel-based versions of Mac OS X on PCs made by other companies.) There are two basic types of solutions. First, you can use software such as Apple’s Boot Camp beta to dual-boot between Windows and Mac OS X on the same Mac hardware. Second, you can utilize a number of virtualization environments, such as Parallels Desktop, to run Windows ‘under’ Mac OS X on a software-based virtualized PC. Both methods involve some trade-offs, but either should satisfy any users’ particular needs.”
“Of course, before you can decide whether to use one of the interoperability solutions, you should determine if a Mac is the way to go. Historically, Macs have been more expensive than comparable PCs, but prices have come down in recent years and Apple’s machines are now much more competitive. Here’s the difference today: Because Apple offers only very specific Mac configurations with few customization options, you don’t get the wide range of price points in the Mac world as you do with PCs. So, you’ll generally be able to find much less expensive and—go figure—much more expensive PCs than Macs. But if a particular Mac model does meet your needs, you’ll generally find that it’s comparable in price to similar PCs,” Thurrott writes.
Thurrott writes, “All Macs share certain characteristics. They’re incredibly well made, beautiful to look at, and generally devoid of any extraneous ports and other doo-dads… for those who appreciate design, Macs are top-notch. All Macs come with Mac OS X and Apple’s highly valued iLife suite of digital media applications. In some ways, iLife is reason enough to own a Mac: There’s nothing like iLife on the PC side. Mac OS X isn’t as full-featured as Vista, but it’s also a lot less busy looking and serene in nature. Aimed more at technical users than consumers, Mac OS X isn’t so much friendly as it is austere and Spartan. But once you master its quirks, you’ll find you can be as productive as you are in Windows.”
MacDailyNews Note: Invest a bit of time and you’ll find that you’ll be more productive with a Mac than you would be with Windows. We also have no idea how Thurrott defines “full-featured,” but the statement “Mac OS X isn’t as full-featured as Vista” certainly doesn’t ring true with us. Perhaps he meant “derivative, bloated, unintuitive, and woefully insecure” instead? Mac OS X is clean and well-thought-out, more than it is “austere and Spartan,” and it can be as “friendly” as you want it to be, plus there’s always that Unix power underneath for those who wish to utilize it.
Thurrott continues, “With less than 3 percent of the market for computers worldwide, Mac OS X and the hardware it runs on might not seem a viable alternative to the Windows hegemony that most of us simply take for granted. Nothing could be further from the truth: Macs offer the best of both worlds, giving you the ability to run both Windows—with its huge software and games libraries—and Mac OS X—with its better security and iLife solutions—side by side on the same hardware. You might argue that a Mac is, in fact, the ultimate PC, simply because it can do so much more than other PCs. I believe this to be the case for many users.”
Oh, yes, there’s more in the full article, mostly all of it extremely positive about Apple’s Mac platform, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wow! The fog has — at least temporarily — lifted for Thurrottt.
Related articles:
Windows to Mac switcher finds comfort in ability to run Windows, then leaves Windows behind – April 16, 2007
Longtime Windows sufferer switches to Apple Mac: ‘I’ll never buy another PC’ – April 09, 2007
Smart business owners migrate to Apple’s OS-unlimited Macs – April 09, 2007
IT manager for Fortune 500 company seriously considering OS-unlimited Apple Macs – April 06, 2007
WSJ: Apple makes inroads with Macs that can run Mac OS X, Linux, Windows – March 20, 2007
Network World: Need a new PC for Vista? Switching to Mac may cost less and give you more – March 16, 2007
Windows expert dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X, finds software plentiful – March 12, 2007
InfoWorld: 9,000 people switch to Apple Mac every day (plus testing ‘Embrace and Extinguish’) – February 28, 2007
Netscape founder Marc Andreessen switches to Apple Mac – February 28, 2007
Computerworld: Windows expert dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – February 08, 2007
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: Five years for a chrome-plated turd – January 30, 2007
Those unfamiliar with Apple’s Mac OS X may be impressed with Windows Vista – January 29, 2007
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
A Windows expert opts for a Mac life – November 06, 2006
Apple Macs can run more software than Windows PCs – October 30, 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
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Apple Boot Camp’s ‘Windows Insecurity Blanket’ helps buyers decide to switch to Macs – May 19, 2006
Apple Macintosh simply does more and costs less than Windows PCs – February 14, 2006
Intel-based Macs running both Mac OS X and Windows will be good for Apple – June 10, 2005
Sorry, I was going to refrain from commenting, but I just could not.
The man is in love (lust?) with windows, Period.
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Macs are OK if you run Windows on them. –Vista is even better–!!
Macs are for techies, not common folk, cause we common folk love to tear our computers apart to add stupid cheap nonfunctional cards, drivers, and what have you.
And yes, if you do not have a card reader stuck in the front of your laptop, well, just what kind of computer are you??? Even if you can buy one for $ 7.00 and plut it in, well, that is just not enough.
I still think the man is a moron who just cannot live with out his Windows Vista and thinks your stupid if you try.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> I think that maybe he is seeing everyone else praising the Macs and wants to fit in. So this piece that seems to praise Macs.
Not falling for it. I went to the article and after reading it, I think he is as worthless for good information as ever.
JMHO.
EN
DONT BELIEVE HIM!! Thurrott is fishin’ for hits! he realizes that most Mac users are onto him and is temporarly switching his tactics to get readers. trust me, in a couple of weeks he’ll write something [I]really stupid to stir up a hornets nest and a swarm of replies and then sit back and count the money from the hits he’s generated. he’s planning a “Bait and Switch”.
“Buying an Apple Mac easier and smarter than ever; Mac is the ultimate PC”
So what? It’s an honour to sell millions of Apple PC??? Where did Macintosh go?
OK MDN, now we have seen that this tart Thurrott has seen the light, can we avoid him in the future. If he goes as beserk for Apple as he was for Microsoft he could do the platform more harm than good…
He’s trolling for hits from the Microsoft fanboys.
I noticed when he writes for Connected Home he is a lot more positive about Apple than he is on his Internet Nexxus and WinPro and Supersite for Windows sites. Methinks he is just saying it for a paycheck, which is cool. I have no problem with getting paid to say things you really don’t believe, but don’t try to say that I should believe anything you say and can’t question your motives.
He’s an opportunist. Such a role model.
Paul may be an MS tool, but he’s not an idiot. He’s hedging his bets and practicing being an Apple writer, because he knows better than anyone that his old job might be at risk.
If you read his article in full (and the equally surprising, positive review of Boot Camp he links to), you will notice that he actually owns a MacBook and has succeeded in filling its hard drive. He reports having to replace the hard drive with a 160 GB version and still only had 30 GB spare to partition a miserly 15 GB to Vista. The conclusion I draw, contrary to popular opinion, is that he actually uses Mac OS-X and even (shock) is more of a Mac user than Windows user. If he ‘converted’ to Mac OS-X, do you really think he would recant all earlier reviews, or simply state, as he has done in this article, that Apple has eventually got its act together and now offers compelling technology?
don’t ya think that maybe he’s just trying to sucker us Mac folks into buying a retail version of Vista? F that noise.
Wow! The fog has — at least temporarily — lifted for Thurrottt.
How do you figure?
Sure he praises the Mac in some things, but then he makes targeted points for people not to consider a Mac.
Trust me, Paul is just glad to see Windows running on a Mac and eventually see’s Mac OS X being laid along the wayside in favor of the Microsoft monopoly.
Paul truly beleives Vista will cure any reason for someone to consider getting a Mac strickly for Mac OS X.
Paul knows that as more and more Mac’s run Windows that it will cheapen the Apple Mac experience completely and spell the VERY END OF APPLE AS WE KNOW IT.
Unless of course that Mac OS 10.5 runs Windows apps without Windows, then EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE.
“Even the losers get lucky sometimes…..”
T.P.
Thurrott is really a Mac guy pretending to be a Microsoft fanboy. Take a look at his blog. (http://www.internet-nexus.com/) Look at the banner at the top. Notice the laptop on the left? It’s a black MB, the wheel on the right should look familiar too.
I’ve listened to his podcast “Windows Weekly” (part of TWiT) and he will always bring up the Mac. Not in a negative way either.
He makes his money from Windows with his sites and columns, but is a big Mac user.
And Beelzebub dons his ice skates for the very first time…
Vista is a full-featured OS? Really? Really?
Maybe he considers solitaire and minesweeper as “features”?
It’s a credibility ploy. Say some good things about the mac and apple, and then you can claim to be “objective” when you slam the mac and apple.
Even in this article, there’s some digs on the mac slipped in. Including saying there are “hurdles” to switching (for many people, any hurdles are enough to stop the switch). The 3 percent market share is duly noted – scares people even if you say it’s OK.
Look, I don’t care how many times you say something that’s right – it doesn’t mean other stuff you said wasn’t WRONG. Thuridiot has said so many baseless and wrong things about the mac and apple and he will continue doing so.
Thurrot = bi-polar/schizo
…is this not the y in irony?
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/13333/
….thanks for the link to the hit-whore but no thanks.
By saying Windows is fully featured, he means that there are at least 28 different ways to do a simple task on Windows while on Mac OS X there are only 2 or 3 ways to do the same task. Not only that, it takes 2 or three times as many steps to do any task on Windows as it does on a Mac. Features galore there.
What’s more, Vista has built in, redundant security features that a Mac does not need. I mean, who ever hear of a Mac OS X user running 2 or 3 different anti-virus programs at the same time? Who ever heard of a Mac OS X user running an anti-virus program? That’s a lost feature or three right there.
Then we have malware. What’s the score now? 120,000 to none available? 120,000 more features there.
For those that use both systems regularly, the Windows feature list is endless.
He may be an idiot, but if it’s true about his ownership of an Apple laptop, maybe his flipflops aren’t pandering to Apple fans when he praises OS X, maybe he’s pandering to Dozers when he slams OS X.
Probably not, but that is a possible flip side to his nonsense. He is on the Dozer payroll, afterall.
I wonder how much Thurrott was paid for this little article? Apple equipment has always been overpriced. Their primary market consists of overpaid clueless boobs that are looking for ways to look cool. Steve Jobs then blinds them with his distortion field and they are lining up like the living dead to hand over their money. Everything Apple makes is overpriced and only has a small number of the features of everything else on the market. But since it has a high bling value, they sell their crap to the world. Maybe the rumors are true and Apple will stop selling their stupid computers and focus on the only thing they ever did right, selling music on over priced mp3 players.
Sucker born every minute.
Maybe Microsoft missed their monthly “payment”…
He says the Mac isn’t as full featured but it can do so much more? Huh? Also, to Mac Realist saying Mac’s are always overpriced… get real! OSX, iLife, no virus software to worry about, no downtime because you got hit by a virus… yeah PC’s are cheaper… not! I’m very productive with my Macs and they get the job done! Clients are happy, I’m paid, end of story.
Is he on crack or M$ paycheck is late?
It doesn’t really matter what he says — according to MDN he’s one of the four pundits we shouldn’t pay attention to.
@Investor:
“I’ve listened to his podcast “Windows Weekly” (part of TWiT) and he will always bring up the Mac. Not in a negative way either.”
He does. He also comes over n those chats as a friendly and warm character.
I’d like to like him.
But it’s a fact that he’s put the knife into Apple and a few other Microsoft competitors, such as Google on a number of occasions.
He’s also played down just how unethical Microsoft has been as a company, and to the extent that he acknowledges that they have behaved illegally and wickedly likes to make out that’s all in the past. I simply don’t think that’s true.
Bill Gates employs someone to dstroy his email on a weekly basis. gates hasn’t developed a conscience: he’s just realized it’s best to destroy evidence if you don’t want to get caught.
This is a good summary of some of the things Paul would rather you not thought about:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/592E3270-32C8-4852-975C-162E788749CA.html
I don’t know why he’s written such a positive review of the Mac at this time. I know he uses a Mac and I’m sure he’d like doing so. Maybe he is just saying what he thinks and there is no more to it than that.
But he seems to have been misrepresenting Apple and Apple products in the past often enough to warrant some suspicion. And his professional role as a commentator on Windows, and his need to keep channels open at Microsoft certianly give him a motive to be less than fair to Cupertino.
Of course, if he goes too far he loses credibility as an independent commentator. If he’s seen as being in Microsoft’s pocket, he loses credibility even as an independent Microsoft commentator.
He may think he’s gone too far on Apple, has developed a reputation as a bad and partial commentator because of that and had better throw a generous column their way to retrieve his own reputation.
But I don’t discount the possibility that he’s simply saying what he thinks in all honesty. It’s just he has a highly suspicious record.