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Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#51

Post by raquo »

OS X is great in terms of productivity, I would recommend it highly. There are a number of limiting factors, though.

1) Not everyone needs this, but you won't get absolute compatibility with MS Office - MSO'08 for Mac can't read some stuff that MSO'07 for Windows created - I had severe problems with theme colors, sorting, etc.

2) Out of mine and friends' experience, the hardware sucks in terms of reliability. It seems like every other logic board or battery fails at some point. I'm speaking of pre-last generation macbooks and macbook pros.

3) Applications that you need may not be there. You said you can't find a substitute for Camtasia Studio. I can't find any substitute for Paint.NET (apart from Photoshop that is comparable to my monthly salary in cost) and that's very frustrating. GIMP, being non-native (run through X windows manager), is ten times more unusable than it is on Ubuntu or Windows.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#52

Post by neovive »

catone wrote: post #38

As someone who recently switched from Windows to Mac, the only software I really miss on my Mac are Word and Excel -- the Mac Office 08 versions are vastly inferior to the Window Office 07 versions, imho. I had thought I would miss a lot more, though. So when I first switched I bought Parallels and installed XP. For awhile I was running XP with FeedDemon (NetNewsWire has some annoying features I couldn't figure out h…

Great list. Thanks.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#53

Post by m0shen »

bprater wrote: post #16

If you want to go native, this list of Mac counterparts might help you: Eclipse - There is a Mac version. UltraEdit - Coda or Textmate. SQLYog - Sequel Pro. WinSCP - Cyberduck, YummyFTP. Tons of clients. Check out ExpanDrive for some real fun. TortoiseSVN - Syncro SVN. Adobe CS3 - There is a Mac version. Camtasia Studio - Screenflow. MS Office - There is a Mac version. WAMP - There is a similar MAMP. Then again, you…

I would recommend Komodo edit (http://www.activestate.com/Products/komodo_ide/komodo_edit.m...) over both Coda and Textmate. Mainly because it does almost everything they do (the only thing that seems to be missing is built in svn support), plus a great VI mode all for free.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#54

Post by m0shen »

Poleris wrote: post #35

I was in your position recently and decided to switch. 3 months later and I'm back with Windows - it is simply more efficient for me . I'm really big on productivity, so I really tried to customize every tool I've listed below. To give some background, the main programs I use are: 1. ( http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/04/09/launchers.h... "Launchers - SlickRun vs QuickSilver + Butler/Launchbar") a) Ported a…

I have to agree about the shortcuts. They are killing me inside.

I particularly hate how fn+arrows and command+arrows change between applications. With no documentation.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#55

Post by giles_bowkett »

I've used both and find OS X preferable. For me it's really OS X vs. Linux, and I like OS X because you get so much shiny stuff, you can run consumer software on it, and it's not really that much work to make OS X really really hacker-centric.

YMMV.

Anyway, in terms of the question, workflow, yes, overwhelming improvements in workflow. You get all the shiny goodies of a consumer GUI OS and all the power-user magic of Unix. I'm much, much faster writing code on my Mac than I was on Windows - better editors, imho, and a much better command line.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#56

Post by BenS »

I recently switched, and didn't find it took more than a week to adjust. OSX is great and the laptop I bought is undoubtedly a beautiful machine. I've found servicable replacements for all of my favorite software, and have come to love a few mac only applications. One caveat:

Most people I know agree that hardware reliability is poor. Anecdotally, everyone I spoke with when deciding strongly recommended getting apple care. More objectively, friends I know who work in the IT support groups at large tech companies, said that they see roughly 3-4 times the number of hardware related problems compared to thinkpads (which run about half the price).

Many people tell glowing stories about the great service and support they receive. When my new macbook pro shipped with a defective optical drive, I WAS impressed with how friendly support folks were, but I was NOT unimpressed that the fix took 9 business days even when at an AppleStore and after paying for apple care. Note: getting a new machine with upgraded RAM was an estimated 15 day turnaround including shipping the machine back to the factory.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#57

Post by cooldude127 »

drwh0 wrote: post #23
minalecs wrote: post #18

I recently switched from linux to mac, and I would not pay the apple tax again. I force myself to use the fisher price os they call osx, to justify the apple tax i payed for the hardware. But being a windows to mac user may be a better transition. For those that say use Vmware.. why not just buy the cheaper hardware and run windows. The hardware is all commodity, and you are not getting any benefits from the hardware…

yeah its amazing that apple touts themselves as pro-user but their external keyboards are without a doubt the most craptastic worthless keyboards on the market. they look cool but are utterly useless for prolonged use and yes apple takes your freedom and will slowly turn you into an idiot. we're software developers damnit, we're supposed to be interested in how the computer works under the hood, not looking to put a…

not every developer wants to develop on their os. rather, I would like computer that "just works" so that I can do my development work.

yes it's cool to be interested in what's under the hood, but once you've tried to get your wireless working for hours on numerous occasions, you start to appreciate when things just work. i got sick of wasting my time.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#58

Post by elai »

There's less yak shaving on a mac vs. linux/windows. If linux had minimal yak shaving and a really good quicksilver replacement, (and a bit more elegance to their program suites) I'd go there in a heartbeat. But there is always tons and tons of yak shaving and i've found laptop hardware support to be painful.

You can get a refurb macbook pro with comparable specs to a dell laptop for the same price right now. And the macbook pro has a better build quality. Worse comes to worse, you can install windows xp on it and get a better machine out of it. Macbooks also keep their resell value a lot better than the typical laptop too, so you can sell them used for alot higher vs. an equally specced dell.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#59

Post by tdavis »

I switched from Windows to Mac about 2 years ago and never looked back. My main reason for going to OSX instead of Linux at the time was because Photoshop wasn't available on Linux and GIMP makes me cry. I used Photoshop a lot. Still, I'd do it again at this point.

I found the adjustment period to be quite short, but then again I had been working on both Windows and Linux for quite a long time so I was already used to using multiple platforms and switching between them easily. My Mac experience has been nothing but positive; no defective hardware, software has always just worked, etc. From all the detractors, I'd say I might be a minority. Mac notes:

* There is some seriously great software for OSX. Yeah, you have to pay for it most of the time, but it's well worth it. There are also tons of free apps which are still leagues ahead of their Windows/Linux counterparts.

* The user experience is so much better I actually enjoy using my computer now. No more fighting Windows stupidity or Linux incompatibility / quirks. Well, I still use Linux for all my servers, but that's another story.

* Fusion / Parallels provide very robust and mature virtualization. I use Fusion to run a single Windows app 24/7 and also use it for IE testing. Best of both worlds.

* Specification-wise, stuff is still overpriced. Prices are coming more in line with what you could make yourself, but you're mostly paying for guaranteed compatibility and the OS at this point.

* It seems Apple have had some serious quality control issues recently, especially with laptops. I continue gaining anecdotal evidence that suggests the new laptops are awful. I have an old-ish Macbook Pro which I don't use heavily anymore (though did for about a year) and a Mac Pro; I have never had an issue with either machine.

So there you go. Macs aren't perfect and they aren't for everybody, but I maintain they are a hell of a lot better than any prefab or hand-rolled Windows box (except for gaming of course) and still hold advantages over Linux, at least for those of us who use software not available for that platform. As far as Linux goes, I like KDE a lot and detest Gnome. Maybe that will give you some insight into my opinions.

Just remember: The camp that says there's no reason to go Mac over Linux are just as bad as the one that says there's nothing better than Mac. Choose whichever one suits your purposes better.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac?

#60

Post by drwh0 »

cooldude127 wrote: post #57
drwh0 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah its amazing that apple touts themselves as pro-user but their external keyboards are without a doubt the most craptastic worthless keyboards on the market. they look cool but are utterly useless for prolonged use and yes apple takes your freedom and will slowly turn you into an idiot. we're software developers damnit, we're supposed to be interested in how the computer works under the hood, not looking to put a…

not every developer wants to develop on their os. rather, I would like computer that "just works" so that I can do my development work. yes it's cool to be interested in what's under the hood, but once you've tried to get your wireless working for hours on numerous occasions, you start to appreciate when things just work. i got sick of wasting my time.

not every developer wants to develop on their os

uh....okay-doke

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