When I purchased this MacBook Pro, most reviews seemed to be from existing Mac users who were comfortable with the device. There are a lot of reviews talking about the technical specs of this Mac, so I'll spare those coz I myself am still coming up the curve on them. My review is based solely on my experience from the perspective of a PC user for the past 16+ years. Hopefully if you, like me, are considering making the switch, you will find this at least partially useful. I mostly use the Mac for Office and Adobe applications and don't know much about computers beyond that as far as technicals are concerned.
Set up Set up is as straight forward as it is with any Apple device. They make it intuitive and a breeze to set up their devices. Absolutely no issues there.
Updates One thing that really bothered me about Windows was that it was constantly updating itself I mean I bought a brand new PC and Windows took a good 10 minutes to "update" (huh?). This slowed down my PC, and shutting it down took several minutes as Windows did its thing. No such complaint with the Mac. Even if it does automatically update, the process is not visible and does not slow down the speed of the Mac.
Compatibility I really only need the Adobe Suite and MS Office on a daily basis. I purchased these 2 suites and setting them up was easy. Transferred all files from my PC through a shared network and the process was seamless. Apple's interface is terrific for the entire initial set up process.
Programs I have been able to run pretty much all programs that I ran on my PC. The only two programs I am currently having problems with are Google Talk and WINRAR. Google Talk seems erratic in iChat. It will log in at times, while most of the time it will give a username/password error. This is an issue Google seems to be aware of but haven' fixed it yet. WinRar doesn't work on Mac as far as I know. Stil looking for a compatible file compressing software that can open RAR files. Other than that, all MS Office applications run the same. The differences are minor Excel has a very sparse shortcut key menu on the Mac, one of the main things I greatly miss about having a PC. Same applies for Outlook as well I could work in both programs without having to touch my mouse, but with the Mac, I really need to rely on the mouse.
TouchPad and keyboard Plain and simple Mac's touchpad and keyboard is the BEST. Typing on the Mac is such a better experienced the quality of the material and overall layout of the keys is more ergonomic and well thought out. Toshiba, Dell and HP laptops that I have used in the past have a more crammed keyboard. Scrolling on the Touchpad is phenomenal. Even if I did consider going back to a PC, this feature alone would probably keep me glued to the Mac. It's hard to use a regular mouse after using this touhpad. With my previous HP laptop, the TouchPad was problematic because the left click would get pressed even if I was simply scrolling. Haven't had a single accidental click on my Mac for over a month of use.
Browser Safari works great, but I was so used to Firefox, I just downloaded Firefox for Mac and it runs absolutely fine. One thing I am still trying to figure out is how to switch between various Firefox Windows on the Mac (similar to ALT+TAB on the PC). If any one know the answer, please let me know!
Goodbye Norton!! No more pop-up windows, no more slowing down of the browser as websites try to gather information about you (happened on my PCs every single time), no more worries about crummy viruses that have on one ocassion rendered one of my prior PCs useless, no more buying expensive Norton software and having to renew every year!
Support I had to call Apple's support line only once for some basic questions. I was on hold for about 5 minutes and all my questions were appropriately answered by the reps. Excellent overall support.
Downside the one downside of owning an Apple product is the list of accessories and their expense. A PC doesn't require a case or screen protective film. With a Mac, you can choose to leave it bare, but given how beautiful this device is, you will likely be tempted to accessorize it for protection. Any other Apple accessory you might need (power adapter, software, superdrive, etc) are all expensive. I have only bought a case, keyboard cover, and a screen film, and I am already out a $100! I need to buy another AC charger for my office and that will run I think another $75-80 right there.
Upside well, a Mac does have a cool factor to it!
Online forums are a beautiful thing. If I had any questions or doubts about using the Mac, some previous user had already posted them and others had already answered them on the forums. I found all answers with a few searches on those forums (MacForums is fantastic!).
Hope this helps. This is no way meant to be a technical or thorough review (I couldn't even write one to save my life), but I hope this will helps others like me when deciding whether to make the switch to a Mac. My advise make the switch, you'll love it!
UPDATE 10-06-11
After having spent a few more weeks with the Mac, I have truly come to appreciate the beauty of this outstanding piece of technology. It runs significantly smoother than my previous laptop the experience of browsing, typing emails, just doing anything is truly a breath of fresh air as mentioned by one of the reviewers. I had to power up my laptop earlier today and I noticed how loud it was (feels louder now after having used the Mac). Even if I was doing nothing on the laptop, the drive still used to be running with a humming sound (maybe it's a fan or something, I don't know). It just made me realize how quiet the Mac is.
Truly a phenomenal product, and one of MANY products that are now part of Steve Job's legacy the greatest innovator that ever lived.
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