Ask HN: Is it worth switching to a Mac? • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by Jem » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 11:05 AM UTC

creativeembassy wrote: post #82

I'm with you. I've been using PC's since we got a single desktop PC in elementary school. So I'm VERY comfortable using Windows. I still can't stop feeling that I'm wasting too much time yak-shaving with it though. And the fact that all of my programmer buddies have switched to MacBooks (and half of them own iPhones) that I'm missing out on something big. Being a relatively young entrepreneur, money is still the deci…

I am also a comfortable Windows user. I was 'forced' on to a Mac when I started my current job and had quite a few difficulties (although some were related to the fact that, as a UK-er, I'm used to a traditional British English keyboard layout). Although I stuck it out for several months, I still found myself LESS productive than I was on Windows (or Linux) and my boss bought me a new Dell.

Although this was just my experience, and you may very likely differ, I thought you may benefit from the experience of a fellow Windows user. Don't believe everything you hear about how working on a Mac will suddenly make you 10 times more efficient.

This old comment of mine on another post expands on the things I found annoying/difficult: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=337842

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

#162

Post by Jem » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 11:08 AM UTC

lallysingh wrote: post #144

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…

I was going to go into a rant here, but I don't feed trolls anymore, I'm too old for this shit. 1. Map control to caps lock, like you should be doing on any keyboard you have. 2. Use the 'enter' or 'return' key to make paragraphs. 3. Use your left thumb for the command key. 4. Stop pretending that this is an Ubuntu box. It's a mac, treat it like one & give the mac versions of software a look first, before running bac…

> You'll also notice that you're a crap-ton more productive.

It's not a given that using a Mac will make you more productive.

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

#163

Post by flashgordon » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 12:12 PM UTC

neovive wrote: post #112

flashgordon wrote: post #92

actually one thing i forgot to ask was, was there anything "bad" about your Dell system?? If you were satisfied with the Dell, why ceven onsider the Mac? Dont get me wrong I am not anti mac (you could even say I am jealous of mac users out there), just asking because i will need to be upgrading my dell in about 6 months... so seeing if there is a clear pain point that i am in denial about that could be totally allevi…

Overall, there really isn't one specific pain point in particular that I have with Windows. However, OS X seems to offer some enhanced functionality for web development (e.g. UNIX underpinnings, MAC-only development tools). There also seems to be a lot of momentum for web development on the Mac these days, but I didn't want to switch systems based on that alone. I'm looking for gains in productivity. My Dell Dimensio…

ah so technically its not a tool (i mean software wise) related issue... again dont want to start any flameworks... if you are interested in a unix-y environment you might as well go to the source and use linux (i use fedora but more hard core users may recommend debian or free bsd, both of which are exceptional)... point is if you dont mind the non-cool look might as well have your dev box be as much of a clone of your prod environment, like a couple of others who mentioned that..

as i was saying if you bring in iphone or mac dev into the scene then you dont have much of a choice unless you want to play around with installing osx on a PC and all that headache (which i do plan to do myself in order to avoid forking out a fortune on a mac)

yeah productivity is very subjective so cant comment on that... for example in linux i love it that when i do an alt-tab the window currently in the alt-tab "round" gets a highlight so it is quick and easy to spot. i tried quite a few task-switching plugins in windows and have still not stumbled on this feature... silly isnt it? amazing what little things can can do to productivity...

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

#164

Post by Tichy » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 12:16 PM UTC

lallysingh wrote: post #144

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…

I was going to go into a rant here, but I don't feed trolls anymore, I'm too old for this shit. 1. Map control to caps lock, like you should be doing on any keyboard you have. 2. Use the 'enter' or 'return' key to make paragraphs. 3. Use your left thumb for the command key. 4. Stop pretending that this is an Ubuntu box. It's a mac, treat it like one & give the mac versions of software a look first, before running bac…

So anybody who doesn't like Macs is a troll?

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

#165

Post by Tichy » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 12:22 PM UTC

cjoh wrote: post #4

For me, I made the switch because I think Macs are cheaper after about one year of use. If my time equals money, and I value my time at $50/hr (which, yes, is a bit arbitrary), and I assume that I will spend less time configuring, defragging, cleaning, or anti-virusing my Mac than my PC, then it gets to be a real simple equation. I took a look and just sort of estimated how much maintenance time I put into my PC over…

What do you do to your PC to "keep it secure"? Windows has automatic updates?

Updating other apps can be a pain (java, Firefox, Flash, etc.), but I don't think OS X does that automatically? The OS that DOES do that automatically for a lot more apps than Windows or OS X is Linux (Ubuntu). That for me is reason enough put Ubunutu on the noobbooks in my family.

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

#166

Post by minalecs » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 12:32 PM UTC

lallysingh wrote: post #144

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…

I was going to go into a rant here, but I don't feed trolls anymore, I'm too old for this shit. 1. Map control to caps lock, like you should be doing on any keyboard you have. 2. Use the 'enter' or 'return' key to make paragraphs. 3. Use your left thumb for the command key. 4. Stop pretending that this is an Ubuntu box. It's a mac, treat it like one & give the mac versions of software a look first, before running bac…

well i wasn't trolling, just an honest opinion 1. never heard of this before. 2. sorry 3. never heard of this, i was using my pinky or ring finger to try to hit it. 4. a comparison is comparing one os to another and the software available. I said, I pay for software and so i do use mac versions first. But for the most part i use mac ports, or command line clients. A mac is unix hacker man. 5. paying for software != more productive.. for a hacker you should know this. 6. hardware is commodity. so its a comparison on os, and available software. realistically i can run linux on high end machine as well for cheaper price.

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

#167

Post by jwr » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 12:42 PM UTC

I switched to a Mac after spending 15+ years mostly on Linux, and haven't looked back. It really improved my productivity, because most things Just Work. It isn't perfect, but it is significantly less broken and insane than either Windows or Linux.

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

#168

Post by shiranaihito » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 12:54 PM UTC

zmimon wrote: post #41

Since you mention eclipse I would say "proceed with caution". There are two issues: a) Eclipse itself is less usable and less stable. I have colleagues who are unable to debug, experience crashes etc. which I never see on Linux / Windows. b) probably you are doing java development. Java itself has very weak commitment on the Mac and often lags years behind the latest releases and even then may have issues. If you mak…

Fortunately, you can always use IntelliJ IDEA on a Mac.

It's simply the best Java IDE around, and as such, easily worth the price.

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

#169

Post by jcl » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 2:08 PM UTC

kentosi wrote: post #115

andylei wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it sounds like you're trying to use your pinky to hit the command key. it's a lot more comfortable if you use your thumb to hit the command key. it's a lot more natural to hit the command key for me, since i only have to curl my thumb in a little bit to hit the command key, whereas i can't reach the control key with my pinky unless I shift my hand.

From what I found out in this typing course I took if you're pressing Ctrl + C you're meant to use the pinky on your RIGHT hand and hit C with the LEFT (middle finger). The same applies to Q, E, W, and all other keys on the right side of the board. Switch it the other way around (pinky on the left Ctrl) if you're hitting P, O, K or any other keys on the right side. That's the "proper" way of typing, but it's not alwa…

It also doesn't work as well if one of your hands is on the mouse (as is common for many graphics editors).

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

#170

Post by neovive » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 2:38 PM UTC

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the great advice. It seems that everyone's experience varies in some way -- both positive and negative. I'm going to test drive a friends MacBook for a few days to give it a true test (keyboard mappings, etc.). I also plan to give Linux a try as well.