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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?

#121

Post by tdavis »

neovive wrote: post #114
tdavis wrote: post #59

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 t…

Great objective advice. Perhaps, I should also give Linux another try as well -- it's been almost 3 years since my last Linux desktop experiment.

If you don't do any Mac development, don't use any "rare" apps that have no Linux counterparts, and don't mind some nagging compatibility issues (admittedly, driver support gets better every day and Ubuntu is really on top of this stuff) I highly recommend giving it a try before diving into a much more costly solution.

Worst case scenario, you still aren't a huge fan of the Linux desktop and you can give Mac a shot. The Linux desktop has come a LONG way in the past 3 years, though. Just use KDE ;)

Don't get me wrong; I'm a huge Mac fan, just not a traditional fanboy. There are viable alternatives.

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

#122

Post by niels_olson »

ciscoriordan wrote: post #101
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…

Might want to use iWork (Word->Pages, Excel->Numbers, PowerPoint->Keynote) instead of the Mac version of Office. I have Office 2008 for Mac, but rarely use it. It's much easier to use iWork or Office 2007 for Windows through VMWare Fusion.

If you're going to learn a new office suite (and even MS Office for Mac is going to feel different), use OpenOffice. It's exactly the same where ever you go.

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

#123

Post by jcromartie »

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 like Transmit for FTP/SFTP. It's worth the price.

I also like iWork over Mac Office. If someone really needs 100% perfect Word documents, the company can buy it.

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

#124

Post by jcromartie »

jmah wrote: post #105
tocomment wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, what's the deal with home and end! I just got a mac and I'm still trying to get to the begining and ends of lines. Any solutions? Also why does iPhoto open every time I connect my iPhone? That's pretty annoying.

Cmd-Left, Cmd-Right are the traditional Mac keys, or you can use Emacs-style Ctrl-A, Ctrl-E. iPhoto preferences, General. "Connecting camera opens: No application"

> you can use Emacs-style Ctrl-A, Ctrl-E

Most people don't know this, but yes: any Cocoa text view responds to many Emacs c-key shortcuts.

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

#125

Post by mattmaroon »

chollida1 wrote: post #109
mattmaroon wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a lot more than 10-20% for a lot of desktop users because Apple doesn't offer a middle of the road desktop without a monitor built in. Personally I already own two great LCDs, so when I went to pick one out, my options were the mini (which has only one video jack and is pretty weak by desktop standards, though small and silent and therefore great for casual use or probably as a media hub) or some ridiculously ex…

> So the price jumped from like $650 to $2,8000. Wow, what kind of Mac are you buying for that kind of money:)

I just looked on Apple.com, that was the starting rate for a Mac Pro. It was a beast though, with 2 Quad Cores. The rest of the specs were woefully unimpressive, but I guess it's like a Lexus where they know that if you're spending that much money, you'll have no problem ordering the upgrades, and they just put the base price there to lure you in.

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

#126

Post by drawkbox »

Unless you need it for gaming (direct x mainly) then yes, go mac.

I have gone mac for lots of my development but still roll with vista mainly for games and some development mainly game relates.

With the rise of consoles and even Microsoft's own XBOX 360, it is removing the "gaming machine" deciding factor as well with lots of games going online, multiplatform (blizzard), mac ready.

I switched for Unity3D as it was only available as a dev platform on macs and it is a good thing that happened. Having *nix as the base of your desktop OS is really nice. Unity3D, XCode, iPhone dev, and all the goodness of language support like python, ruby, c, etc working as it should is just good.

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

#127

Post by drwh0 »

lacker wrote: post #63
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…

I don't like macs because they are gramma-friendly, I like them because I can run a real bash rather than cygwin. You want to know how a computer works under the hood, you should prefer OS X to windows.

You want to know how a computer works under the hood, you should prefer OS X

no, i should prefer linux or freebsd, which i do, ON (SANITIZED AND LIBERATED) APPLE HARDWARE.

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

#128

Post by drwh0 »

jonnytran wrote: post #66
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…

If you truly believe you should have to look at the code and that things shouldn't "just work", then you must not know about modularization and encapsulation. If I have to know about how the C linker works in order to install a program, then the OS I'm using is a terribly leaky abstraction with a poorly designed user interface/API. I want my basic tools to just work so that I can concentrate on developing my own prog…

modu-whaaa? encapsu...lishion???? wow you must be one of them professor types!

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

#129

Post by drwh0 »

cpr wrote: post #97
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…

The latest flat aluminum Apple external keyboards are the best I've ever used, and I've been a keyboard snob for decades.

ask anyone occupational therapist if the apple keyboard is recommended over, say, the kinesis advantage pro. if you aren't using a kinesis or one of its real competitors right now, you are not a "keyboard snob"

the apple keyboard:

- has no discernable key travel

- is not split and contoured

- is too small

its probably the biggest ergonomic nightmare out there. fortunately few people actually use them after buying the computer

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

#130

Post by drwh0 »

mattmaroon wrote: post #125
chollida1 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So the price jumped from like $650 to $2,8000. Wow, what kind of Mac are you buying for that kind of money:)

I just looked on Apple.com, that was the starting rate for a Mac Pro. It was a beast though, with 2 Quad Cores. The rest of the specs were woefully unimpressive, but I guess it's like a Lexus where they know that if you're spending that much money, you'll have no problem ordering the upgrades, and they just put the base price there to lure you in.

you can buy an i7-based desktop from dell for $1300, WITH A 24 INCH MONITOR. the i7 is at a minimum more than 200% faster than the mac pro's processors. don't believe me, read tomshardware or anandtech

for $2800 you can get one of the dell gaming i7 boxes that is tricked out far beyond anything apple offers hardware wise, once again, a minimum of 200% performance improvement

the mac math once again does not hold up. and where is their snob appeal? they don't even have an i7 box on the market

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