This will be a soul bearing post.
Like a surgeon operating on himself without anesthesia I will open me up; honestly as much as possible, examining my thoughts of interest to those who wish to sell me computers.
The facts:
- I want a MacBook Pro laptop
- I don't need it.
- If I get it I will transition my PC files from a Sony Vista laptop; a task that promises not to be easy, Apple's suggestions to the contrary notwithstanding.
- What I want will cost around $2500 or about 2.5 times what an equivalent new PC laptop would cost, which I would never buy anyway because as I've already said, I have one and don't need a new one.
- I will need to spend an additional $100 or so on 3rd party software to make everything work. Mind you, this is just to make the switch. Over and above this I will need to buy all sorts of Mac software to replace my Windows versions of the same software. Probably an additional $500 or so.
- I will buy and install Windows because some of what I need to do cannot be done on Mac. Yes that's right. I am talking about getting rid of a one year old Vista laptop replacing it with a Mac which I will then install Windows on so I can continue to do what I am already doing on the PC I want to replace.
- It is a product made by Apple; a company I am increasingly convinced is, along with the Military Industrial Complex, the Kennedy and 9/11 conspiracies and fluoridated water advocates, plotting to enslave us all.
Because
It's as simple as that. Oh I have reasons but when you get right down to it, all BS, certainly nothing that would withstand scrutiny. No this is the type of purchase we unhesitatingly tell our children is not going to happen, along with them . . .
bungee jumping off the garage roof.- building a raft and riding the drainage ditch rain runoff to the ocean.
- duct taping pillows to their body to protect them during the BB war they plan to fight with their friends.
- working on a tramp steamer heading to Singapore this summer.
One of me knows what's going on and is convinced the other me will ultimately get the damn thing. However that one is not so sure and is still searching for more plausible justification just in case.
All suggestions welcome.
Posts
13 comments:
Anything you "must" do with Windows to do is just not worth doing.
Signed,
A Mac user
Well, I was referring to Quickbooks, the program I use to do CI's accounting including on occasion paying your invoices but if you think that's not worth doing . . .
Now, now, no need to be hasty. You can, however, purchase Quickbooks for the Mac.
http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/pro-mac-business-finance-software.jsp
OK, OK... I understand your dilemma. Why give up something that works well for something that works a bit better? I can share the following: the conversion bites, or should I uses bytes). Windows stuff to MAC stuff will make a grown man cry. Your estimates for cost of conversion software are low and the time you will spend is far more than that summer working on the tramp steamer heading to Singapore.
I made the transition in June of this year and am still working to go completely MAC. I enjoy dual boot using Bootcamp and find I spend more time working in Vista.
MS Office for MAC is the equivalent of an old version of Office so that provides some disappointment. Converting your mail from Office to Office for MAC requires non-Apple or PC software is very time consuming.
Quicken and QuickBooks suffer the same fate and the conversion from Windows to MAC versions will leave you wondering where the numbers went! The two programs and their backup files are not compatible so you will not be able to save a backup from MAC and restore in Windows.
If you use Adobe or other Windows programs like Plaxo, you will find that Plaxo only works with iMail not Entourage (the equivalent of Outlook), so sync will be a thing of the past unless you maintain two databases.
All this aside, I enjoy my MAC and won't go back. It was money furiously spent and can only be justified on a tax return. My new found MAC allows me an easy way to manage my photos and video. I can make a DVD for friends and family and feel like a pro movie maker in the process.
I also have the pride that only comes with opening up my MAC and revealing the shining Apple showing that I too am now enslaved by something other than Microsoft!
Enjoy your new MAC! :-)
While there is a Quickbooks for Mac, as cetechnoguy said, it doesn't work well in Mac form. Even the Apple store guys told me that and recommended, are you ready for this, that I buy and install Windows and continue to run the PC version.
One more time. The Apple store guy said to buy and run Windows on my new Mac.
Cetechnoguy, your experience is exactly what I assumed would happen (more money and time than initially assumed) and that doesn't sound good. Your situation is a bit different than mine. I already have a desktop "civilian" Mac that I use for music and photos so the Macbook would just be for business. And with that the case, for all the reasons I listed plus yours, it's looking less and less likely that I will go to the trouble and expense to switch.
Note to Mr. Jobs.
So they do look good, they are faster, less prone to crash, etc. but how do you get 2.5 times the cost when at the heart of it you're running the same processors that are in the PC's?
Let me throw my 2 cents into the mix.
As an experienced Apple guy, people have been asking for my advice about switching for years. I can't think of a single person that regrets making the switch. Try not to over analyze things, it's more of an emotional decision. Or as my friends say, drinking the kool-aide.
However, if you insist on logical reasons, let me see if I can help. Macs really are cost comparable. There are many articles like this one. http://www.macworld.com/article/49403/2006/02/pricecomparison2.html
Office on the mac works great. I can't find a damn thing with those "ribbons". Realistically, there hasn't been any innovation with Office for 5 to 10 years.
If you really can't live without Quickbooks, read this: http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/20/quickbooks-accounting-2009-for-mac/
Even if this doesn't workout, is it really that bad to run both OS? To be both superman and batman depending on your mood? Or at the same time! The cost is either free or cheap considering you already own a licensed copy of windows and Quickbooks.
One last thing. 5 years on a mac with no virus protection and I've had 0 virus and 0 spyware. And I've never had to rebuild my system because the registry got all messed up.
It's a great time to be a mac. Come join us!
Here's how it use to be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3q8_40GBuI
-The Witchdoctor
Thanks Witchdoctor, good input and I will follow up with your suggestions.
It is emotional and knowing me, I suspect I will succumb particularly since I have my "civilian" Mac and enjoy using that for non business stuff.
Actually part of me looks forward to the transition much as a puzzle person enjoys doing puzzles or possibly as one suffering from SH or SI enjoys hurting them self.
Whatever the case I will report back if I do.
Kudos to Witchdoctor for the following Mac rant video. Really funny stuff (don't miss it Pawa.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3q8_40GBuI
Update.
I ordered it and as cetechnoguy said I am already over my budget. A little more than $3,000 out the door with upgrades, a 500 GB Time Machine, Office and tax no doubt more to come.
But as Witchdoctor said, it is an emotional thing and I look forward to the transition process.
Now, ask me what I think when deep into that part.
More to follow.
This caught my attention because I just bought a new laptop a few months ago and now I'm "jonesing" for a netbook. And, I want to run Linux Ubuntu, not XP. It's funny how you can rationalize these types of purchases, especially guys. It can becaome like getting another watch, guitar or car. At odds, too, is this: before settling on the 15" widescreen notebook, I wanted the 17" screen. Now, I want to go to 8.9"
Your reference to what guys do, including specific references to watches, guitars and cars, (two of which I'm all over, the third in an ownership sense only), makes me think you're not (a guy) and yet your descriptions of your own deliberations are similar to mine. Rationalized logic.
Well as my previous post indicated, I did drink the kool-aide, received my Time Machine today along with an email from Jonestown Apple telling me the rest of it arrives day after tomorrow.
I'm actually looking forward to the transition process; I suppose in a way similar to how a masochist looks forward to pain. However I am knee deep in work and must proceed carefully. I need my Vista laptop to do the work, no downtime acceptable.
Updates to follow.
Got it. The Time Machine on Tuesday followed by the MacBook the day after. So here's what.
Didn't begin the transition until late Wednesday due to actually having to work on my PC. I bought a Belkin PC to Mac cable which, for those of you contemplating the switch, is an absolute necessity. It works great although with some caveats, the biggest being that Vista apparently doesn't like people accessing the c drive. None of my files residing there came over while the few in My Documents did. So, just move into My Documents whatever you wish to transfer and over it will go.
Reflecting on the process which consumed 4PM to 10PM Wednesday and 8AM to 8PM Thursday, I now think that migrating computers is like moving from one house to another and takes about as much time. In the case of my MacBook, actually more like moving to two houses; Mac and Windows on Mac. The set up for each was like setting up a new computer.
The last big deal was getting my Windows Mobile T-Mobile phone to sync with Mac. That was accomplished by The Missing Sync program with just a little bit of drama (the initial sync created over 500 partially duplicate files, the second sync removed everything from the phone, the third and hopefully final got it all right.)
Final (up to today) financial tally: $3k for the 320 gig, 4GB RAM Mac preloaded with Office (educational price; Apple is not very exacting in qualifying consumers for the education discount), an adapter cable to connect external displays, a 500 GB Time Machine for backups, $40 for Missing Sync and $50 for the Belkin cable.
So far? So good.
All the angst aside I am glad I switched even though I continually find small peccadilloes in the way Mac and/or Mac software does things but no more than is true of Windows. And even Windows runs better because it is XP as opposed to the damnable Vista I am leaving behind.
So that's about it. I'll let you know what I think of it in a few months when I get back from Singapore.
Just had lunch today with someone contemplating the switch and after directing her to this post, I thought an update was in order.
It's now been a few months and I can't be happier. I occasionally find something odd in the way Mac does things but nothing in comparison to Windows issues. THOSE really are problems.
The whole experience is elegant, an odd adjective for computers I know but that's what it is.
If you're thinking about switching, go ahead. You won't regret it.
Post a Comment