WOW, does it look nice or what. I love some of the new features. One great thing is the fast user switch, damn that looks great. It'll be nice so I don't have to hear my fiancee complain about not being able to access her address book in my Mail app. I like the new Expose as well, that looks like it will be super helpful when I have six apps running at once. iChat looks very cool too, although I'm not to keen on paying $149 for the iSight although it does look like a great mic. My fiancee and I just put in an order for the dual 2ghz G5. That thing looks like it's going to rip it up. Need some more benchmark tests, but it seems like it literally will be the fastest PC out there. I can't wait to see how the 3ghz performs. Apple made a smart move by going to the 970. I can definitely see them make a jump in sales.
Yeah, the new Finder looks great. I'm sure some people will complain that some it is too Windows-like, but those people have never had to use Windows on a regular basis, I'm sure. And Exposé is exactly what I need, since I'm working with a 12-inch monitor so the screen gets cluttered pretty easily. I was thinking about getting a simple two button mouse, but I'll probably getting a multi button mouse now, since I'll be using those functions a lot. I'm on the fence regarding iSight. I'll have to see what the video/audio quality is like, but I am intrigued.
Say you have 6 different programs running, like I often do. You want to go to a program but aren't sure where one is. Either hit one of the Fkeys or you can have a hot point that you move your mouse to and watch all the different programs become little windows on your desktop and then you can choose which program you want Here's a little video showing what I failed to describe. http://www.apple.com/macosx/panther/expose.html#
That is very cool, aside from the show desktop button, which has been available for a while on Windows. Although it seems like it would make the graphics processor take a huge hit (obviously not on a G5, but on a slower machine). I'm thinking about making a switch to Mac soon. How are the reviews of the eMac? As much as I like the form factor of the iMac, the screen is just sharper on the eMac. Also, does anyone have any experience with the iTrip for the iPod? I'm thinking of buying for someone as a gift. http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itrip/ {Sorry for all the Mac questions unrelated to the thread.)
Dante nobody gets blue screens anymore. And if you didn't go installing Bonai Buddy, Kazaa, ICQ, AOL 5.0 and all that on your Windows 98 machine you wouldn't be getting them either. I talk to 1000 customers a week and I have definately had Mac users crash their OS while on the phone.
I don't know anyone who owns an eMac but they were pretty well reviewed AFAIK. Here's the MacWorld review: http://www.macworld.com/2002/09/reviews/emac/ I prefer their tests than the standard industry ones since they measure "real world" speed rather than pure chip speed. Also, you can visit http://forums.macnn.com/ if you want to read user reviews.
I get a blue screen about once a week on my Windows 2000 machine here at work. I don't have any of that stuff installed -- the blue screens happen when running NetMeeting and Internet Explorer which are both Microsoft products.
I got a new machine at work about a month ago, Pentium 4 blah blah blah.... with XP. I only use programs that I require for work and AIM. No other programs... I have my computer crash at least once a week. I have had my PowerBook for almost one year, not one crash. I bought an iBook off my cousin and have had it running for the past 3 months straight and I have yet to have it freeze or crash. You can upgrade the processor as long as the chip is made for the motherboard that you currently have. i.e. if you have a sawgrass motherboard and buy an upgraded chip make sure it works on the sawgrass motherboard. A friend of mine upgraded his G4 from a 300mhz to a 1ghz. Anyways, I wanted to touch base with Panther. I got a developers copy of it and absolutely LOVE it. I have noticed considerable speed increases and it's a very good system. I just bought an external firewire HD and am making Panther the primary OS on it. It works great. Expose is great as is the fast user switching. I look forward to the gold copy later this year.
Not to get into a Mac vs. PC war as it is so pointless but...your machine isn't set-up properly or something else, I don't know... I don't use XP myself, I'm still with 2K pro, use my computers professionaly and haven't seen a bluescreen in...probably a couple of years, now. Last I saw was software-related (I beta-test sofware at times), a buggy rendering engine. I really "abuse" my computers, they'll run for days at a time, crunching numbers, CPU working at 100% and not a glitch.They do amaze me, sometimes, really... I do 3D modeling, mostly for manufacturing (CAD) and most of the software I use is Windows-only. As far as I know, the "mac vs pc" thing is the same pointless debate as the AMD vs Intel one. I use AMD only, no glitch, some Intel worshippers will tell you about over-heating problems...Never heard of them ( and my machines are "cranked-up" for days at a time) I know you didn't start that debate, someone else came on this thread to "mess around"... He should know better:to each his own .
Oh ******************it I haven't been in a Mac - Win flamewar in a while. I'm MCSE and AppleCare certified and work in an all Win2000 environment -- well, all except our lousy NT 4 Domain, but nevermind. Eggy is more or less right. A reasonably well set-up Win2k or XP system will hang or bluescreen about as often as an OS X system. Which is to say, hardly ever. If the Windows system is restarted every once in a while. Really long uptimes on Windows are still a lot harder to come by than on OS X. My Pismo G3 PowerBook has 100+ day uptimes and that's carting it to and from work almost every day, switching IP settings, running a bunch of server-type stuff (MySQL, Apache, PHP) and just generally abusing the crap out of it. But my Macphillia comes from more than that. Working in both environments I can testify that it is just plain easier to get stuff done on a Mac. The UI is superior. The path to any given system setting is three-four mouse clicks away, max. On Win machines, sometimes you have to dig eight or ten clicks to get to the setting you want. Example: Update a NIC Driver. 2 Clicks to open My Computer - Manage (right -left) 1 Click Device Manager 2 Clicks NIC Properties 1 Click Drivers Tab 1 Click Update Driver Suprise! Install Hardware Wizard! 3 Clicks to get to "I Know where my drivers are let me just point to them..." That's 10 clicks and we're not done yet. Sadly I haven't ever updated a NIC driver under Mac OS X. Because I've never needed to! Perhaps Dante can shed some light. Want to make a PDF in OS X? -Apple+P -Click Print as PDF. -Name file, press Return. Need to make a PDF in Windows? - What no Acrobat? - Shell out $276 for Acrobat, plus $12 for overnight. - Wait for truck to arrive next day. - Install Acrobat. - Configure Acrobat Distiller - Now you can make PDF's with a couple of clicks. One word. iTunes. Two words. iTunes Store. Just two examples off the top of my head. Don't even get me started on security and reliability of server apps. IIS vs. Apache? Please. MS-SQL? Security nightmare. On and on. But hey, Windows machines are great for build your own. My other home box is a custom Athlon T-Bird 1600 jobbie. I play games on it and watch DivX movies. My wife uses it as her primary box and for Quicken 2000 because, like many people she has never been able to get over the metaphor confusion in making the jump. (Okay, and also because I don't want her touching my baby.) Some people are like that and that's okay. But one shouldn't confuse user metaphor familiarity with quality. Ditto regarding market share and quality.
Jaguar, and Panther both have Network settings already integrated into the OS. Jaguar includes a PPTP-based VPN client, which works well with Windows-managed remote networks, as well as standards-based networks. When you add a Mac to a Windows-based network, your Mac can pretend to be a Windows machine to the other boxes on the network. That way, Windows users can connect to your Mac and use its shared folders without you needing to install any extra software. It's as simple as using the “Connect To” menu in the Finder.
I guess it just comes down to personal preference. I've used various flavours of PC, Mac, Linux and even fiddled with a few other less mainstream desktop OS's. Mac users seem to like to be seen as different. It's their whole marketing campaign. "Don't follow the herd, stand out, be different." To me that just says "buy a more expensive computer". -cman-, you're obviously pretty computer literate but there are some flaws in your argument. Firstly, Windows Update takes care of your drivers and middleware these days and even has rollback support. Second, Shortcuts/Quick Launch/Office Toolbar/Easy Access - use whichever you like they can all be configured to start programs at ONE touch of a button. And third, having NT (NT4, 2K, XP Pro) profiles is like having multiple computers. I'm an admin on my computer and my wife is a Power User. She can't accidently mess anything up and has her own settings, mail program, she even prefers Netscape to IE so it's setup for her to use that instead. Whilst each have their own merits from a UI standpoint there is no debate about available software. Because Windows has such a huge market share they will always have the most software written for them and at the end of the day thats what computers are actually used for. Nowadays Computers are used for work and play and if I can't do both on the same computer whats the point of having it?
Oh yes, and how sweet it is! Apple's SAMBA implementation is awesome! But I was talking about adding or replacing a NIC to a box. Most Macs come with the 1000/100BaseT Ethernet soldered to the motherboard, so replacing one is non-trivial. But what about adding? I'm guessing, based on documentation I've seen, one simply runs a driver installer. Say five, six mouse clicks.
Oops, I misunderstood you. In that case you are correct, it's as simple as adding a driver if one is needed. I'm amazed at how many drivers are already isntalled on my mac and make it easy for me to plug things in to use.
http://train.apple.com/ And hold onto your wallet. FWIW, I was certified back pre OS X and my employer paid for it.