“Last month, I told you about my purchase of a tricked-out iMac that I bought to replace my previously pretty-darn-powerful PC. My goal (which is now working) was to have four screens on the thing, and make it as fast as I could, within my office budget,” David Gewirtz writes for ZDNet. “In the previous article of this series, I showed you the business case for why I bought the iMac instead of a Mac Pro. I could save roughly $1,200 and the extra oomph the Mac Pro provided wasn’t in areas I’d be making use of during my normal workflow.”
“My goal in this article is to help you understand the business case behind this purchase, and why I’d decided a PC wasn’t the best option for me. The single key factor in this decision was I wanted to have a hybrid system,” Gewirtz writes. “I wanted to be able to drag and drop between Windows applications and Mac applications. I wanted to do a graphics operation in a Mac application, select the object, and without any intermediate conversion, drag it into a PC application and work on it from there. This is a direct reflection of the sort of work I do, and I reasoned that I might be able to save 10-30 percent from the time it takes to complete projects if I had this capability. That’s huge.”
“That single capability: to drag-and-drop from a Windows app to a Mac app, and vice versa, all on one screen, without any intermediate fiddling, is why I wanted a Mac. I could run Fusion or Parallels goes further by making Microsoft’s unloved operating system marginally more usable,” Harrison writes. “Even before the sticking plaster of v8.1, Parallels and get that capability. In day-to-day use, Parallels goes further by making Microsoft’s unloved operating system marginally more usable,” Harrison writes. “Even before the sticking plaster of v8.1, Parallels does it somewhat more smoothly, so that’s what I chose,” Gewirtz writes. “In this case, both against PCs and against the new Mac Pro, the iMac turned out to be the best option, both in terms of performance and capabilities, and in terms of price. Also, it should be noted that Windows, running virtualized in Parallels, benchmarks at 13 percent faster on this iMac than it did, running native, on my 18-month-old super-fast Sager [notebook PC].”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Longtime MacDailyNews readers read it here, eight and a half years ago:
Let’s face it, Windows-only users have no idea what they’re missing and most are not inclined to do a several hundred dollar “test” to see if they really like Mac OS X and the Mac platform. Imagine if they could feel “safe” in buying a Mac that can run their Windows that also happens to let them run Mac OS X. And we all know what happens once someone really gives Mac OS X a try — Windows quickly falls by the wayside.
That’s why these Intel-based Macs will help expand Mac market share, if average people can be made to understand that the machines can run both Windows and Mac operating systems natively.
For most people, Macs will become the “2 for the price of 1″ computer. Even for the nearly illiterate personal computer buyers, with a little Apple-supplied education via marketing, it would make little sense to buy a limited Windows-only machine from the box assemblers like Dell, Gateway, etc. Give them their “Windows Insecurity Blanket” upfront and they’ll throw it away themselves after they realize how tattered and threadbare it is in comparison it to Apple’s Mac OS X.
The only question left would be: now how do we get them to boot into Mac OS X instead of Windows? The best answer for Apple would be to have the machines always boot up into Mac OS X and allow a “Virtual-PC-like” way to run Windows and Windows apps (but, natively, with no emulation speed hit, thanks to the Intel processor).
Related articles:
Yet another longtime Windows sufferer switches to Mac, finds ‘the most reliable system I’ve owned, by far’ – November 14, 2013
Longtime PC user dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac – March 12, 2012
How the editor of Windows Magazine became an ‘Apple fanboy’ – July 25, 2011
Windows user tries ‘A Month of Mac’ – the inevitable happens – August 3, 2010
Longtime Windows sufferer tries Mac, dumps Windows, switches business to Mac, sees productivity soar – April 22, 2009
Longtime Windows sufferer finally tries Mac: ‘Mac OS X beats Windows’ – April 16, 2009
Recent Windows to Mac switcher: ‘I’ll bet my blood pressure dropped 10 points’ – April 10, 2009
A recent switcher’s top 10 free Mac utilities – February 20, 2009
Windows 95 lead architect is a Mac switcher, launches first iPhone app – July 21, 2008
Are growing legions of Windows PC to Mac switchers diluting Mac community’s IQ? – January 25, 2008
Windows to Mac switcher dispels myths – May 16, 2008
Indispensable tips for Windows to Mac switchers – May 08, 2007
Top 30 mistakes made by new Windows to Mac switchers – April 30, 2007
‘It’s About Time’ to learn the Switch to Mac tool smoothes transition for Windows to Mac switchers – April 28, 2007
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
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
Embrace and Extinguish in action: TechIQ’s ‘The VAR Guy’ dumps Windows, switches to Mac OS X – September 25, 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
