A friend of mine from school was shopping for a new laptop (again !) and was asking me how I liked (read as loved) my MacBook Pro. \u00c2\u00a0What sort of question is that ? \u00c2\u00a0Would anybody hate a Mac ?? Let alone a MacBookPro ! \u00c2\u00a0 Well as you can imagine, it was an easy answer and after unleashing my fanboy attitude, he was convinced that I obviously loved it. \u00c2\u00a0I told him to do a bit of a homework before he crossed over from the dark side.<\/p>\n
1. \u00c2\u00a0What do you use your laptop for ? \u00c2\u00a0Easy users can do with MacBook, a moderate to heavy user needs MacBook Pro and a business user may like the MacBook Air a lot better because of its size and weight.<\/p>\n
2. What all software do you use ? \u00c2\u00a0 Make a list of all the software you use (not the one you used once) and see whether you have equivalent one in Mac OS. Mostly there is one that works a lot smoother and easier. \u00c2\u00a0 I have seen folks who regret buying a Mac because they could not use a certain weird software that they used in their junk windows machine. \u00c2\u00a0I don’t feel sorry for them, they should have done their home work. \u00c2\u00a0 Its like a daily California surfer moving to Colorado \u00c2\u00a0and complaining that he cannot surf daily. Stupid !<\/p>\n
3. Do you have the attitude and patience for the learning curve ? \u00c2\u00a0 Mac OS is a lot better and smoother, hence it looks and does thing a little differently. \u00c2\u00a0You need to have the mind set to learn how to use the OS and accept the fact that it obviously doesn’t have a Windows OS feeling. \u00c2\u00a0There is no START button and no ATL+CTL+DEL ! \u00c2\u00a0 If you like the fact that MacOS doesn’t crash, \u00c2\u00a0no blue screen, no virus attack, no surprise corruption, you need to accept the fact that you have to do things a little different. \u00c2\u00a0Here is a video from Apple that helps you shrink the learning curve : PC to Mac: The Basics <\/a><\/p>\n 4. Will you have a “missing right click button” syndrome ? \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0There is no defined right click button in a Mac. \u00c2\u00a0 It doesn’t mean there is no right click. \u00c2\u00a0My wife was pissed off when she saw the right click button was missing. \u00c2\u00a0 On a MacBook series the two finger touch is the same as right click and on a Magic mouse , either the touch tap or pressing the right side will bring out the right click menu. \u00c2\u00a0Heck ! \u00c2\u00a0you can even use a PC mouse if you are so particular about seeing the right click mouse.<\/p>\n 5. \u00c2\u00a0Compare the cost factor. \u00c2\u00a0On first glance Apple machine are a little costlier than PC. But you need to compare the apples to apples feature. \u00c2\u00a0Mac OS is a lot solid and pretty much error free, so it saves the pain in reinstalling and repairing. \u00c2\u00a0The machines are a lot durable and preserves its cost a lot longer than any PC. \u00c2\u00a0No need to buy a pricy antivirus software. \u00c2\u00a0Outstanding support from Apple. \u00c2\u00a0You put all that together and suddenly the price for a Mac is the same as a PC or sometimes cheaper. 1. Use BootCamp to boot up Windows OS on a Mac machine. Yuck ! \u00c2\u00a0 Here is a link that explain this : Watch the video<\/a> Personally I like the Virtual Machine option since it lets you boot up the other OS along with your Mac OS, but the downside is, it take more resource to handle both OS. \u00c2\u00a0So if you think you would be using both the OS often at the same time you should atleast have 4 GB of RAM. For simple desktop users that likes to convert, I seriously recommend looking into a MacMini. The new MacMini has a decent processing power to handle all your day to day stuff. If you think you need some muscle, then the iMac series would work and for those heavy weight lifting user, \u00c2\u00a0the Mac Pro will smoke your needs.<\/p>\n Here is the set of tutorials from Apple that helps you understand Mac OS : Video Tutorials<\/a><\/p>\n
\nNow lets say you very badly need to use that weird Windows OS based software, Mac got you covered there as well, you have two options \u00c2\u00a0:<\/p>\n
\n2. Install a Virtual Machine software like \u00c2\u00a0VM Ware’s Fusion<\/a> or Parallels desktop<\/a>, that lets you install other OS on your Mac. You can install Windows, Linux, etc.<\/p>\n
\nBootcamp on the other hand makes your Mac a dual boot system. \u00c2\u00a0At boot time you get the option of bringing up either of the OS. \u00c2\u00a0You get the option of booting up the Mac as a pure windows machine. Believe it or not, \u00c2\u00a0Windows boots up much faster in a Mac than a PC.<\/p>\n