"I just wish my mouth had a backspace key." — Author Unknown
Short and Sweet!
Can’t we all just get along? I used to be a big Windows XP guy, and I am thoroughly familiar with XP. For the majority of my life, I used Windows exclusively. In my business, I often repair Windows computers. A few months ago Ryan began to talk to me about Macs. I was like, “Come on, a computer is a computer! They all break and have problems…What makes a computer is the hardware it has.” Boy, was I all wrong! Allow me to explain the reasons why I love Mac and personally feel that it is better then Windows XP, and for sure better than the evil nemesis Vista.
Stability
Don’t you hate it when you have to shut down your computer because of some vague, unexplainable problem? You get a stupid BSOD with a bunch of number codes to try to explain what went wrong? And often times, if you restart in safe mode, you find there was never really much wrong in the first place. Grrrrr! And if there is an error with one program or app the whole system crashes.
OS X is different. It was built for Mac hardware and just fits like a hand in a glove. If one program has trouble the rest of the computer still works. And you can even “Force Quit” and close a bad program without disturbing anything else you are running. And when you restart, usually the program will work for you.
Security
Windows is certainly a great name for that OS. It is wide open to all sorts of viruses and security problems. Microsoft keeps trying to “patch” all the holes, but Windows is just a sinking ship.
Viruses and security holes on the Mac are almost nonexistent with OS X. Because OS X is built on Unix, and Unix is an extremely secure operating system, OS X has yet to be threatened by a virus or have a major security hole.
Reliability
You have to admit, Windows is easy to break. If you move the wrong file or folder, the entire computer can quit working. This is not so with OS X. OS X is so advanced, that you can move a program file or folder anywhere on the hard drive, and a Mac survives! In fact, it will also update any shortcut icons that you had pointed to it. If you did this on Windows, you would have to completely reinstall the software, and it might even make Windows quit working altogether.
Mac computers are also easier to problem solve and fix, whereas Windows computers often need the help of a paid computer technician like myself!
And don’t even get me started on Vista. I hate Vista service calls! Lots of peripherals and applications don’t survive an upgrade to Vista and there is nothing you can do except have a word of prayer and then buy new ones.
Compatibility
In times past, people didn’t want Macs because they were not compatible with Windows computers. But now, this is no longer a problem with Parallels, Boot Camp, VM Ware, and Crossover.
Multimedia
Windows based PCs have been chasing Macs for a long time, trying to catch up to the great Multimedia capability that Macs have. They are certainly more multimedia equipped than they have ever been, but Mac still leaves ‘em in the dust! Mac has an unprecedented group of applications and hardware for music, photos, and video editing.
Apple provides a suite of applications called iLife. The package contains iTunes (an MP3 encoder/player), iPhoto (a digital photography manager), iMovie (easy to use movie editing), iDVD (creates professional looking DVDs from your movies), GarageBand (studio recording software for the masses), and iWeb (create websites and blogs). All six programs are designed to work together seamlessly. They are also award-winning programs for ease of use and features, where Windows’ offerings (Movie Maker & Media Player) are not.
Affordable
What about cost? When you study it out you find Windows and Mac computers are almost equal in cost. You can buy a Windows based PC for less than $500, but that won’t include the multimedia hardware and software that you will want and need. When you start adding in all the upgrades you really want, then your PC ends up costing more than a comparably equipped Mac. And you would never have software as good as iLife and some of the other apps that are native to Mac.
Apple now provides an entry level computer called the Mac mini, which is intended to replace an existing Windows based PC. The Mac mini starts at $599, is a stand alone computer, and is designed to use the monitor, mouse, and keyboard from the old PC.
Conclusions
It’s obvious that I have become a true Mac convert. I used Windows for years, but I always tell people, “Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back.”
In fact, when Mac first came out, Bill Gates was a big supporter. In the 80′s he admitted that a Mac was twice as powerful as a PC and if we were ever going to get applications out to the masses, we would have to use Mac’s system of a graphical interface.