I think I’ve become a Machead. I’ve been using my Powerbook G4 for about 4 months now, and I really like it. So much, that I’m going to get a Mac desktop at home (probably an iMac, not sure yet).
Sure, there’s quite a few people that like to run around insisting that OS X is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and industrial design doesn’t matter if it doesn’t come from Apple (I’ve seen such people, don’t laugh). OS X has its problems, and Apple hardware (while very nice) isn’t perfect.
However, the combination of OS X and Apple hardware is tough to beat. It Just Works ™. I’ve yet to spend more than 2-3 minutes in a row fiddling with my laptop configuration, and it gets regular use under a couple (quite different) network setups and works correctly with a bunch of different devices (mobile phone, external mouse, a second monitor, digicam, iPod, etc). It’s hard to describe how well it works until you’ve got a chance to try it for a couple weeks.
Disadvantages? Well, it’s not free software (speech not beer). I can live with that, but I don’t feel too happy about it. I still use a Linux workstation at work, and I like it that way (I don’t know much about OS X’ inner workings yet). That’s about it, for now — good job, Apple!
Totally agreed. I traded in my Windows desktop at work last year for a PowerBook G4 and have been very pleased with it.
Have you checked out Quicksilver yet? Awesome OS X program.
You might be interested in this page that I did:
http://marc.abramowitz.info/mac-os-x-switch-guide/
Yup, I use Quicksilver and it’s awesome. I’ve never been a big fan of clicking through panels and menus (I keep the dock on the left side of the screen, at a very small size and with zooming turned on) and QS allows me to launch just about anything in a few keystrokes.
Thanks for the guide. I didn’t know some of the keyboard shortcuts that you listed there :)