I was a hardcore IBM/Lenovo fan and always had IBM laptops in the last 12 years or so. Recently, a friend of mine who "converted" to the Mac spontaneously convinced me to buy a MacBook Pro. I'm kind of undecided right now what to think about it...I see some pros and cons. + Stylish (even though I always liked the "no nonsense" design of lenovo + Ease of installing programs + Seems to be very stable + I installed Parallels and can still run Windows 7 (even though I haven't really had the need yet) + Time Capsule with automatic backups through WLAN is nice + Overall, I like the Magic Mouse or whatever it is called...I configured it so that I can simulate a right mouse click, so I'm fine with it + Battery seems to last a long time + Prefer the Mac power cable to the Lenovo one + I am a trackpoint guy and I hate touchpads, but after a bit of getting used to, the Apple type touchpad thing is fine - I don't really like the window handling...the philosophy that a window only maximizes to how large it "thinks" it needs to be annoys me - if I click the maximize button, I want it to go full screen, period. I also find switching between different windows easier in Windows. While I can switch between different programs on the Mac, I have to do the four fingers down gesture to get to a specific window of a program, which adds an extra step - I also don't like that a program isn't really terminated by closing it, but that you have to "explicitly" terminate it - Keyboard layout: Why does Apple have to be "special" with the cmd instead of ctrl...I'm so used to doing ctrl-c etc., now I have ro "re-learn" that. Also, I closed my browser many times accidentally when I did (right) cmd-q, which is in the same places as the (right) alt-q on a German keyboard (which you press to get the @ sign). Also, cmd-r instead of F5 and stuff like that. I actually installed a little hack to get the IBM layout, but it doesn't fix everything. - Why in the world is there no delete button, only backspace?! Drives me crazy - I miss the page up/page down buttons - Magic Mouse has one flaw - on Google Maps, it zooms in and out "by itself", because somehow just by touching it, it interprets it like I want to zoom in or out - Am still not as fast with that huge touchpad thingy as I am with a trackpoint on lenovo - Safari - some little things annoy me, so I went back to Google Chrome (which I think is technologically quite similar to Safari, but some of the little things I prefer on Chrome) - Why is there no Outlook on the Mac (I bought MS Office as that is what I am used to), but just this strange "Entourage" program? More as I can think of it or encounter it...please feel free to add some of your own and if you have any solutions to the little things that are bugging me, I would be thankful.
One more question - when editing a text, on the lenovo, I can jump one word forward or backward by pressing ctrl+cursor (right or left) - when I do the same thing on the Mac, it always takes me to the beginning or the end of the line (both with ctrl and cmd button). What do I need to press to go one word forward or backward? Thanks...
The touchpad cannot be a positive and a negative. The Lenovo Thinkpad series has a huge array of battery options so I don't see how the 1 option on the Mac is a positive.
With respect to maximizing, you can try this: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/30591/right-zoom Also, you may want to check out the software bundle at MacUpdate.com. Unfortunately, you already have Parallels. http://www.mupromo.com/
Thank you very much, bobrek. I will install that right away. CaseyH, actually, I think it is somewhat positive and somewhat negative. I think the stuff with the different things it does whether you use 2, 3 or 4 fingers is unbelievably clever and works well, I just happen to really be used to the trackpoint instead. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it.
It took me a while to get used to this as well. Do you use the expose? I find that helpful when working on different things at once. Also, I can just click the program on my sidebar and it opens up -- I don't have to use the four fingers. This is a bit annoying when it comes to programs like Word, etc. Usually I just right click the side icon and close it that way. Why does Windows have to be so complicated and use CTL instead of CMD?! It just sounds like you need to get used to it. Why? I find scrolling with two fingers much more convenient, and I can always use three to get to the bottom or top of a page. I agree - I deleted safari off my sidebar and installed firefox. Entourage is the Microsoft e-mail I believe. Apple should come with its own program (listed as "Mail" for me.. might be Apple Mail? Not sure..) I don't have any problems with the apple mail client, but all I do is check/send mail.
I still think window handling (maximizing, for example) on Macs was invented by a monkey at Apple. It's idiotic. Here are some shortcuts you may find useful : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343 I think after about 1-2 years of looking for a laptop, I'm going to get an HP Elitebook.
in the preferences pane there is an option to swap keys, i do it for my osx86 dell which i use ctrl as command instead of alt.
I think that he's just saying the touchpad needs some more getting used to. I think its brilliant, although admittedly it was cumbersome at first. In terms of battery life, i disagree with your assertion that because the mac's battery is integrated that it is automatically worse. For a laptop of its caliber to have a 5-7hr battery life packaged in a decent looking form factor, its impressive. True the batteries aren't modular, but have you ever see the extended life batteries on other laptops? They're always sticking out and awkward looking. To the OP: - In the next iteration of Office (Office 2010 for Mac), Microsoft is replacing Entourage with a Mac version of Outlook. - I know exactly what your talking about with the hitting the red x button not closing the program. That bothered me at first too. Cmd Q is really convenient for closing programs, its like alt-F4 in windows. -Cmd W is good for closing individual windows (basically like hitting the red X button) - I plug a keyboard and monitor into my MBP at home and it really is nice having the delete key again.
Cmd-backspace is delete. There's a gesture for pgup/pgdown, I think it's scrolling with three fingers.
I bought a Macbook pro back in Sept. and it was my first time ever using a mac. Everybody told me that once I start using a Mac I'll never go back, but its been 6months and I still can't get used to many of the cons you listed. I love the hardware on my MBP, but I'm not a huge fan of OSX....it gets really annoying at times...I think I might be one of the only people in the world who prefers Windows over Mac after using ONLY/STRICTLY a Mac for 6months.
Can't really say I agree. Seems like those were the last of the crappy ergonomics for Apple. I would never have purchased an Apple product had they not cleaned up their basic ergo and input devices.
For page up/page down: fn (function), arrow up/down And as far as closing programs, just get used to hitting Cmnd+Q when you want to close something. I use Mac and PC both at work, and Mac at home, and have gotten used to operating both constantly. It takes a little time, but before long it'll be second nature.
I just love the way Mac OS handles windows. If I want it to take up the full screen, I'll just drag it bigger. I normally just leave it as it is. I love having easy access to my desktop without having to minimize my window. I love being able to preview songs, videos etc. in Finder. By far though, I love Expose to death. I would rather not move my mouse down to my taskbar to switch windows, expose is crazy efficient. Makes multitasking a pleasure while multitasking on Windows stinks.
You really should download BetterTouchTool for the Magic Mouse if you haven't already. You can customize gestures on the mouse any way you like and you're not limited to just clicks. For example, if I tap the middle of the mouse, it will open up a new tab in the web browser when I click on a link. I also have 'three finger swipe down' to bring up expose, 'four finger click' to bring up dashboard, 'pinch' to show desktop, etc. It might seem overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it you'll start to wonder why Apple just didn't release the software themselves with the mouse.
I had no idea that anyone actually used Outlook. I always thought of it as that annoying email program that comes with office.
So who else is completely giddy that Steam is going to be released for the Mac in April? I'm soooo happy I get to trash my bootcamp partition.
