To Mac or not to Mac?

[InstinctX]

I always purchase AppleCare for my MacBooks (of course, I get the "student discount" of $239 ). With AmEx extended warranty, this covers your laptop for another year... essentially coverage for 4 years.

FYI: though I always buy my MacBooks from Apple (since I like to customize, e.g. I bumped up the hard drive from the stock version of 512GB to 1 TB flash and the processor).. Best Buy is having a good sale on stock versions on their selection of MacBooks. If you have an .edu addy, you get another $100 off. And stack it with the 10% off Movers Coupon.

 

[Annie H.]

I'm a windows guy, but I have to say I think win 8 is incredibly hard to work with. I actually find OSX is easier to learn after 7 than 8 is..

Go back to Win7 and wait for upcoming Win10.

 

[Zoe]

If you read Steve Job's autobiography, he says, "Mac doesn't do cheap."
Yes, Mac products are overpriced and expensive. In my opinion, it's well worth it and the only way to go. So much more enjoyable and pleasurable to use.

 

[f0xx]

If you read Steve Job's autobiography, he says, "Mac doesn't do cheap."
Yes, Mac products are overpriced and expensive. In my opinion, it's well worth it and the only way to go. So much more enjoyable and pleasurable to use.

I'll take my overpriced one piece aluminum construction over some shitty plastic any day.

 

[Matt]

I'll take my overpriced one piece aluminum construction over some shitty plastic any day.

I tend to look at it more like what could X get me - if it's the price of a Retina MacBook Pro then that's a lot, and it doesn't have to be plastic.

But I'm also not overly impressed with Windows, so am withholding judgement.

Gotta ask though- can some Mac person explain why it is smarter to have the minimize/maximize buttons on the opposite corner from exit full screen? It's kind of a pain on the home theatre..

 

[pillow25]

You actually use the maximize button? I've used a Mac for 4+ years and never used the maximize window. I'll just redrag to whatever size I need or hit full screen if I'm watching a movie.

But to answer your question, can't you just hit escape to exit full screen? or am I not understanding the question?

 

[InstinctX]

Source: Addictive Tips

Fullscreen view was introduced with Lion OS X, At first, switching between fullscreen and normal screen seemed a bit complicated, and some apps, like web browsers with tabbed browsing, were a bit tricky to get the hang off. Another noteworthy feature in Lion is that windows can now be resized from any corner. It isn’t exactly a groundbreaking feature but it adds to a user’s convenience. With all these window sizing features available, one might wonder why the maximize button in Mac works in an unorthodox way. In truth, it works in three ways, and here is how to use each one.

Maximize Window To View All Content
Normally when you click the green plus button at the top left of any window, the window maximizes such that the entire contents of the window are visible. Lets say you had shrunk your browser so you had to scroll horizontally to view a web page. Clicking the green plus button will maximize the window, such that everything is visible without the use of the horizontal scrollbar.

Maximize The Vertical Length Of The Window
By default, the green plus sign maximizes a window horizontally, but in the event that it is already the appropriate size to negate the use of horizontal scrollbars but does not cover the full vertical length of the screen, clicking this button will maximize it so that it fills the entre screen area from menu bar to the Dock.

Maximize To Fill Entire Screen Without Entering Fullscreen Mode
Windows users might understand this behavior best, as it is the default maximize window behavior in Windows. If you hold down the Shift key and click the green plus button, the app’s window will fill the entire horizontal and vertical length of the screen. It will appear as though you dragged the window from either of the edges until it filled the screen from one side to the other. The Menu bar and the Dock remain visible, as do any other toolbars that the app itself supports. This trick works in most apps, but not on a Finder window.

 

[bushe]

I tend to look at it more like what could X get me - if it's the price of a Retina MacBook Pro then that's a lot, and it doesn't have to be plastic.

But I'm also not overly impressed with Windows, so am withholding judgement.

Gotta ask though- can some Mac person explain why it is smarter to have the minimize/maximize buttons on the opposite corner from exit full screen? It's kind of a pain on the home theatre..

The button on the opposite side has changed in the soon(tomorrow?) to be released version, Yosemite. It also changed the functionality of the green "+" button and turns it into a full screen button and option click the green button is the old version of maximize.

 

[Matt]

The button on the opposite side has changed in the soon(tomorrow?) to be released version, Yosemite. It also changed the functionality of the green "+" button and turns it into a full screen button and option click the green button is the old version of maximize.

I'm glad that someone there is listening to my comments.

 

[InstinctX]

Matt,

What are your thoughts on the Mac Mini refresh? It's nice they dropped the price by $100. Is the Fusion Drive worth it (from performance perspective)? From the education store, it costs an extra $180. At least the $699 model comes with 8 GB RAM.

 

[Matt]

Matt,

What are your thoughts on the Mac Mini refresh? It's nice they dropped the price by $100. Is the Fusion Drive worth it (from performance perspective)? From the education store, it costs an extra $180. At least the $699 model comes with 8 GB RAM.

Once you go SSD you can't go back. I found the model I bought (entry level) way too slow, but with the SSD it's great. Personally I bought a SSD and installed it myself so I have 2 drives, not sure you can (or want to) do that with this version.

 

[InstinctX]

Once you go SSD you can't go back. I found the model I bought (entry level) way too slow, but with the SSD it's great. Personally I bought a SSD and installed it myself so I have 2 drives, not sure you can (or want to) do that with this version.

Hopefully fixit or some other site will have a teardown to show if they are soldiered on. Even at educational pricing, for the top model, they are charging a ridiculous premium to upgrade to 1TB flash (store is down right now, but IIRC, it was close to $800 to switch from 1TB 5400 RPM to flash). I did pay $450 to upgrade from 512GB to 1TB for my rMBP. But prices have gone down...unfortunately Apple does their own thing LOL

For the $599 model, you can upgrade from 1TB 5400 RPM to 256 flash for $180.

 

[Hanaleiradio]

I've used Mac notebooks forever, largely because back in the day their ability to run presentations with great graphics was light years better. The ONLY downside I know of is Excel, which is not nearly as robust as the Windows version. Until a few years ago there were lots of trading and proprietary financial software that only ran well on Windows, but with move to Cloud and the great Mac adoption of parallels & bootcamp, that issue has largely disappeared. My MacBook Pro runs trading software better in parallels than the HP desktop running Win 8!

 

[InstinctX]

I've used Mac notebooks forever, largely because back in the day their ability to run presentations with great graphics was light years better. The ONLY downside I know of is Excel, which is not nearly as robust as the Windows version. Until a few years ago there were lots of trading and proprietary financial software that only ran well on Windows, but with move to Cloud and the great Mac adoption of parallels & bootcamp, that issue has largely disappeared. My MacBook Pro runs trading software better in parallels than the HP desktop running Win 8!

I glad someone else feels that way about Excel on a Mac!!!

Separately, does anyone know of a Visio-like app for Mac? Or does Visio for Mac even exist?

 

[Matt]

The button on the opposite side has changed in the soon(tomorrow?) to be released version, Yosemite. It also changed the functionality of the green "+" button and turns it into a full screen button and option click the green button is the old version of maximize.

Upgraded to Yosemite today, Mac wouldn't reboot.

This is why I have an issue with Macs, all I hear is how they are seemless on the SW side, then they crap out on me far too much!

 

[bushe]

Upgraded to Yosemite today, Mac wouldn't reboot.

This is why I have an issue with Macs, all I hear is how they are seemless on the SW side, then they crap out on me far too much!

Really... I have only had mine for 6 months to a year but I have upgraded several times since, I have had to upgrade every two weeks for all of the Yosemite betas. I could give you the typical tech guys(which I am) response "try turning it off and then back on" but that doesn't seem to apply here.

You may be looking at a not so fun call with apple care.

 

[Matt]

Really... I have only had mine for 6 months to a year but I have upgraded several times since, I have had to upgrade every two weeks for all of the Yosemite betas. I could give you the typical tech guys(which I am) response "try turning it off and then back on" but that doesn't seem to apply here.

You may be looking at a not so fun call with apple care.

Nope - you are correct with your advice, though I did it all by myself . I hard switched and it is running now, it just wouldn't reboot automatically, hung up on that.. But my point is that with Apple I have been led to expect very tight software, but I get a lot of buggy experiences.

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

Nope - you are correct with your advice, though I did it all by myself . I hard switched and it is running now, it just wouldn't reboot automatically, hung up on that.. But my point is that with Apple I have been led to expect very tight software, but I get a lot of buggy experiences.

There's a reason that the lines for the Genius Bar are so long...

 

[Matt]

There's a reason that the lines for the Genius Bar are so long...

Because of the crap software?

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

Because of the crap software?

There's always something

 

[b_c]

Well compared to my experiences on a non-mac system, I'll never go back. I just like knowing that everything will work the way it's suppossed to. AND I don't have to worry very much about malware (not that I open up any offers for pharma. Though if spammers started sending offers for 100k CC deals then we may run into an issue here).

 

[bushe]

Nope - you are correct with your advice, though I did it all by myself . I hard switched and it is running now, it just wouldn't reboot automatically, hung up on that.. But my point is that with Apple I have been led to expect very tight software, but I get a lot of buggy experiences.

Glad to here you got it working, how you liking Yosemite so far? I am enjoying the new Safari, it really seems as fast as the boosted in the keynote yesterday.

Well compared to my experiences on a non-mac system, I'll never go back. I just like knowing that everything will work the way it's suppossed to. AND I don't have to worry very much about malware (not that I open up any offers for pharma. Though if spammers started sending offers for 100k CC deals then we may run into an issue here).

Yeah I agree, fortunately the Churner/MSer groups are just a small fraction so I doubt that that would actually happen. But with that said it would be little scary if it was a good spoof of CC application would be able to grab all of your personal info.

 

[InstinctX]

Yosemite definitely looks "cleaner" ... I'm still trying to figure out how to sync my iPhone w/ my rMBP to: 1) share files (bluetooth keeps failing), 2) making phone calls via WIFI. I keep getting errors that both need to be on the same WIFI network, which they are. But I'm wondering if I need to tweak my Airport settings (I'm using the latest Time Capsule model - set to 5GHz).

Safari definitely is smoother, and faster -- but still prefer Chrome.

 

[InstinctX]

Well compared to my experiences on a non-mac system, I'll never go back. I just like knowing that everything will work the way it's suppossed to. AND I don't have to worry very much about malware (not that I open up any offers for pharma. Though if spammers started sending offers for 100k CC deals then we may run into an issue here).

Mac owners: Is anyone running a malware or virus protection? I used to use Clamshell. But haven't run it in a while. Though malware and viruses are rare for Macs, you could infect a friend's PC by forwarding emails.

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

Mac owners: Is anyone running a malware or virus protection? I used to use Clamshell. But haven't run it in a while. Though malware and viruses are rare for Macs, you could infect a friend's PC by forwarding emails.

I'm not.

Its possible, but that's on your friend to protect his/her system.

 

[Matt]

Glad to here you got it working, how you liking Yosemite so far? I am enjoying the new Safari, it really seems as fast as the boosted in the keynote yesterday.

Haven't bought into Safari yet, put Chrome on there... I am such a bad Macster. I only have the Mac Mini which I use primarily as an entertainment system on the TV, so I haven't got into it. I played around after your message and it seems a lot better, almost up there with XP now

 

[InstinctX]

Matt, there doesn't seem to be lot of positive reviews about the new Mac Mini.. since they took away quad processing and making it hard to swap out the HD. But I'm going to wait for the teardowns / reviews that come out next week.

 

[Matt]

Matt, there doesn't seem to be lot of positive reviews about the new Mac Mini.. since they took away quad processing and making it hard to swap out the HD. But I'm going to wait for the teardowns / reviews that come out next week.

I'm a bit of a geek for tech, plus want a 'deal' each time, but these days I have to say that you can get more than enough done with these specs. If you want to run a high end graphics program or new games then sure, but HD movies and any normal browsing etc you have enough going on here.

 

[pillow25]

Mac owners: Is anyone running a malware or virus protection? I used to use Clamshell. But haven't run it in a while. Though malware and viruses are rare for Macs, you could infect a friend's PC by forwarding emails.

No, I used to use Clamshell as well, but I stopped because of laziness. I really don't think it's necessary to run AV/malware anymore but I'd love to be convinced otherwise.

 

[InstinctX]

No, I used to use Clamshell as well, but I stopped because of laziness. I really don't think it's necessary to run AV/malware anymore but I'd love to be convinced otherwise.

That's same reason why I don't run Clamshell. The only files that are quarantined are the spam emails (enlargement products, etc).

 

[janetdoe]

I'll take my overpriced one piece aluminum construction over some shitty plastic any day.

This. For travel, I LOVE the macbook air. It's almost as light as a tablet, and the aluminum frame is tough. Dropped mine from 3 feet, while it was open, and the only ill effect was that a corner was slightly bent.

I do hate Excel on the Mac.

I don't understand the Mac user that said he wants to get back to Windows/Linux. On reason I actually got the Mac was the fact that it uses Linux. Use terminal and pull up a bash shell.

 

[InstinctX]

I do hate Excel on the Mac.

I don't understand the Mac user that said he wants to get back to Windows/Linux. On reason I actually got the Mac was the fact that it uses Linux. Use terminal and pull up a bash shell.

+1
I also hate using Excel on a Mac. There's just something about it -- not very user friendly as using Excel on Windows. Maybe it's just me! I don't really care for Pages or Numbers.

 

[janetdoe]

+1
I also hate using Excel on a Mac. There's just something about it -- not very user friendly as using Excel on Windows. Maybe it's just me! I don't really care for Pages or Numbers.

I think it's because Excel relies heavily on right-click for tons of features, and Apple is anti-right click. That two fingers stuff may work in general, but not when trying to precisely navigate to a single cell.

 

[InstinctX]

I think it's because Excel relies heavily on right-click for tons of features, and Apple is anti-right click. That two fingers stuff may work in general, but not when trying to precisely navigate to a single cell.

I'm still using Office 2011 (which I bought for $9.95 through Microsoft's Home Use program (that's offered for employees at select companies). Sad they haven't released a newer version! Though I have access to Office 365, I think Office 365 is a rip off -- I refuse to pay $99 / year!

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

Numbers is actually not that bad unless you're doing quant-level spreadsheet work. Plus, its much more user friendly.