So I switched to Mac from Windows
I have been using a Mac user for a while but it was just because the photography apps are soooo much better on Mac. Now for the last year or so, I have been using a Mac exclusively for work too. Based on conversations, I know that a lot of people are considering the same and therefore I am sharing my experiences.
The Equipment
Hardware: Mac Book Air with 8GB RAM and a Thunderbolt 27 inch monitor.
Accessaries: External Apple Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad, Logitech headphones
Phone: iPhone 5 – upgrade from iPhone 4 and a 3 before that.
Tablet: iPad Mini – my iPad 3 arrived 3 days after they announced the Mini and so I used the Apple 14 day satisfaction policy to return it. Thanks Apple.
The Con’s
- Outlook for the Mac – well it crashes at least twice a day, wildcarding in rules does not work, you cannot attach a file to meeting request, the rules don’t work properly, and when someone sends you an email with voting buttons – this feature does not exist in the Mac version. This is what came to mind as I was typing this blog post. Basically it sucks! Are there any competitors out there?
- Microsoft Excel crashes 70% of the time when opening a spreadsheet stored on SharePoint. I have to download it and then open it. Pivot tables, are different to Windows and I’ve come to prefer how it’s done on the Mac version.
- No Visio for Mac. I am using ConceptDraw and I like some the features that it has that are not in Visio. Here is a link to the product website.
- I have not found a decent and affordable scp GUI client that supports drag and drop and integration with password caching or KeyChain integration. Basically there is nothing comparable to winscp .
- iTunes – I am still getting used to the new UI but I still don’t like it. If there was an alternative, I would more than likely use it.
- Lync. It crashes 3 or 4 times a day. Logs itself out another 3 or 4 times a day. I switched to Skype as my primary chat client and phone application.
The Pro’s
- It’s consistently fast. There are no slowdowns in the middle of the day like I experienced with Windows 7.
- Ah yes, the reboots because of the all the Windows patches. I’ve had to reboot my Mac twice in the last 3 months.
- The startup time, flip open the screen and within 10 seconds I’m typing in my password.
- The Thunderbolt monitor is superb. Almost no eye strain with massive amounts of real estate in addition to point #6.
- The retina screen on the Mac book Air has the same quality as the external monitor, just smaller. Therefore it is just as usable as my main monitor.
- Virtual desktops – means that I don’t miss the real estate when using the laptop screen and means that I don’t have a single cluttered screen or NEED multiple screens like Microsoft employees do.
- Initially, I used Windows Mesh because it has a Mac client that works really nicely and therefore I can sync my files between machines without uploading them to the cloud but now that I only use one machine, I don’t need it anymore.
- All my devices sync with no issues using iCloud.
- No IE!! I no longer have to fight with my browser.
- Built-in firewall that does not blackhole traffic without telling you. The Apple firewall has great logging which makes debugging an issue a breeze.
- AppleScript – pretty easy to learn and allows you to automate simple tasks on your desktop.
- Mail. The built-in mail client works well and supports multiple email account from a single UI.
- The Macbook Air form factor. Simply awesome, light, portable with 6+ hours of battery life even with my screen brightness turned up and power savings off.
- Oh, yeah, it’s cool!
Oh, yeah before I the flame mails telling me to use Windows 8. I have and find the Metro interface horrible without a touchscreen. When I use it on a touchscreen, I hate the fingerprints all over the screen. I’m constantly cleaning my screen.