Easy Does It
I recently purchased a new iMac 2ghz G5 to replace the G4 800mhz iMac I've been using for the past four years, but that is not the reason I'm taking time out to post on my new aquisition. The reason is my amazement at how easy Apple made the transistion from my old machine to my new machine. I've changed machines any number of times both at home and at work. A wide selections of PCs and Macs but never has it been so easy. Start the new machine and when asked if you want to transfer data from an old machine to the new answer yes. You are instructed to attach a firewire cable between the old machine and the new and start the old machine while holding down the T key. The new machine shows you what is on the old machine. After you choose what you want to transfer to the new machine click continue the process automatically begins. A little over an hour later it had transferred everything on my old machine, about 50GB of applications and data, and I was ready to go. I had to update the apple applications and operating system to the most current versions, but other than that it was like I had never changed machines except the new machine creates the quicktime movies over twice as fast and I now have a 400GB harddrive and lots more memory.
Even this diehard PC user is learning to appreciate,IPod schmiPod? Apple® products.
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That could never work on a PC. One of the reasons to get a new PC is to get rid of all the virus and hacks and adware and malware ...
Mac does sound nice ... too bad the blue tooth doesn't work with an Ipod.
What the hell?! Get your ass back to politics! LOL. Just kidding Norm.
That's why they say: Once you go mac, you don't go back.
PCs were built for senior citizens who don't trust machines and need to click yes or no to everthing. Macs on the otherhand are intuitive. It's a shame it's taken so many people an mp3 player to figure it out.
Howdy Norm,
I just made almost exactly the same transition -- 5-year-old 500 mhz iMac to the new 2ghz iMac G5. Fantabulous! As is your blog.
other great things about macs are that you can now just plug in the printer and it should work. No set up. all drivers pre-loaded.
Spotlight is another great feature that I LUV!!! I can find any piece of information. The other day I was looking for an ip address and when I put in a couple of words spotlight found it IN AN ICHAT CONVERSATION SAVED FILE!!!!!
Do you know how amazing that was?
I love my iMac. I also own a business that is mac consluting ( http://www.msmac.net ) so I may be biased.
HAHAHAAAAA I don't know if anyone ever clicks on these links to commentors websites but the one in
this comment
is the right one. The other one is a very strange religious thing that I can't figure out how we have such similar addresses.Nice to meet you.:)
Hey, I was especially charmed to find out that when I want to change the iPod battery I have to send it in for factory service.
fp - Does that stand for FUD Poster?
Here's an accurate site about iPod batteries: ipodbatteryfaq.com
It wouldn't have worked that easily on a PC because of the variety of applications and hardware that exist for PCs. The equivalent (if you can even call it that) created by Microsoft pales in comparison because of the same reason. Too much to account for.
The same reasoning applies to the printer drivers. It's easier to preload drivers if there aren't a great number of printers. It's also easier to create generic drivers that don't compromise on features for the same reason.
Lastly, Macs are great start for senior citizens and the technologically illiterate because they are so intuitive (not to be confused for dumb).
anyone doing 'consluting' is definitely biased.
who did what when where how why?
I tear Apple a new one more often than not at AppleSaucy.com-- sometimes serious, sometimes in jest-- but you're right, this feature is Fred and Barney's bowling balls.
Congrats on the new arrival Norm!
If you're not already experienced, I suggest giving Quicksilver a whirl. Supremely useful and sexy as any Mac app ever made.
That's not correct. It's because Windows apps are woven into the system through the registry. You can't just copy the app and the preferences to another machine and have it work. It requires a fresh installation. Mac apps are just packages of files so they're very portable.
Macs use the same printers Windows uses. You'd have a hard time finding a printer that doesn't support MacOS. There are literally gigabytes of printer drivers included in the OS. Mac drivers aren't generic. Drivers are usually developed by the printer manufacturer, not the maker of the operating system.
I wish to confess that I, too, am a born-again mac weenie. I bought a Mac Mini earlier this year after 16 years as a PC bigot (Windows, OS/2, Linux) and I love my little anodized aluminium box! It Just Goes!(tm)
I run a little farm of 4 win boxes, 2 varieties of Linux and my Mac (Panther), I do a lot of testing and need separate platforms, but I do most of my work (and all my fun stuff) on the Mac
Awesome!
OMG muhahahahaha
thanks marsha Brown for making my day. If there's ever been a 'Freudian', "Mac ConSLUTing" must be it LOL.
Greetings from a Mac conSLUTant ;-)
gMan... fp stands for Frank Paynter, iPod Owner. And far from FUD, my comment is accurate. At this point I am not aware of a local service location that will change out an iPod battery. I indeed must send it off for replacement when the time comes. No FUD there, just inconvenience. I was glad to read on your FAQ page that the cost of this inconvenience has been reduced from 100 dollars to 60 dollars. Still an expensive battery and inconvenient to replace, but not as ridiculous as it was in July when I was researching it. And since the iPod seems to be the most convenient appliance to use, I won't really understand the full inconvenience of maintenance until I'm faced with it. If I get two years use out of it before I have to face the ugliness, well... I won't gripe about that.
Now a serious question: do you find any religious significance in your attachment to Apple?
I was very interested to see your post. My husband and I are longtime Mac users, and in fact we have never bought a PC before (although I have used them extensively at work). Recently his powerbook died (after nearly 5 years) and he bought an IBM thinkpad online to replace it (mostly because his lab is full of PC users, and having a different system makes it harder to use all of the software he needs). When he took it out of the box, we were both amazed at just how ugly it was. After all these years of Macs, I guess I have been taking the design for granted. I won't anymore. I was just thinking about how much I love going to the Mac store and looking at all of the gorgeous products. No wonder they sell this thinkpad online....
Congrats on the new iMac, me & my 533Mhz PowerMac G4 are jealous
It's 2005 and ppl are jizzing over plug and play printers and file transferring with a firewire cable. It depends on what you need your PC for. If you need a toy to play MP3s and play with images and do html, MACs are great. If you need something more, or if you work with software that require those horrible things like "registries", then PCs are the way to go. To each their own but for ppl say Macs are the only way to go obviously only mean for personal computing.
Btw, did the "Conslutant" leave her number anywhere? Sounds promising...
You did say it's 2005 right? This sounds like the 'Macs are just toys' blather of late 90s. You must have been deliberately Mac user-baiting because nobody is really that ignorant anymore. Are they?
I have the 2005 Powerbook 15', iPod shuffle, and it...simply...dominates.
Keeping score here...
Church of Mac: Ray, gtMan.
Church of Intel: R.D.
Agnostic and/or Curmudgeon: fp
MacThusiasts: Most everyone else
Hm. Looking back I'd say I stuck to the facts, not religion. And my next computer purchase will be a Windows PC (for gaming).
I think you're just just sore at gMan for pointing out your error and suggesting you were spreading FUD. Now you're spreading BS.
Brother Ray... you're looking for a fight where there isn't one (makes you look like one of the religious to me)... For example, you to R.D., "You must have been deliberately Mac user-baiting because nobody is really that ignorant anymore. Are they?"
And to me, "I think you're just sore at gMan for pointing out your error..."
No error. I have to send in the iPod if it needs a battery change. Although, I checked with CompUSA and they will send it in for me. And as far as RD goes, he made a valid point even if he did take a short-cut to get there. You're one of the guys in the room staunchly defending his faith. Makes you a member of the Church of Mac. I bow only to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and I spit upon your delusional faith.
p.s. Ray, be sure you get the liquid nitrogen cooled graphics card if you want an adequate gaming unit.
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/laptops-pcs/liquid-nitrogen-cooled-graphics-cards-037236.php
"Man, you got a Mac!" (Sorry.)
Congratulations on the new Mac. I made the transition about a year ago. There's something to be said for the "Powerbook lifestyle" - this town has lots-o-hotspots. I still go back to the Debian box every now and then, but Windows? That's like SO last millennium...
So, Norm, did you get Apple's new touch sensitive mouse?
yep mighty mouse. I must admit I won't miss control click.
Gotcha. By saying his comments were so far wrong they must have been intended to bait, I was engaging in religion. Wow, it's so easy to worship you don't even know you're doing it.
More proselytising: when you want to replace your iPod's battery you don't have to send it to Apple. If you want Apple to replace it for you it has to be sent in, but it's easy to do it yourself if you choose. Hallelujah!
word i just got that computer too.its sick
word i just got that computer too.its sick
word ... lets see in 3 years when most of the technology is obsolete, how you gonna upgrade... spend a few more thous on a new giga-mac...or spend a few hundred on pc upgrades. I think pcs are better, more options, easier to upgrade. besides im a gamer, and there are very few mac compatible games out there ,or that interst me. Compatibility is key. Every thing you do on a mac can be done on a pc... not vice versa.
Obviously I hit a nerve when I said 'it depends on what you need a computer for'.
400GB HD, 64bit dual processing is nice, but it's only competitive with what AMD and Intel based systems are already offering for a comparable or lower price.
Also, if you get into things like the XServe, I don't think you will find many people that earn a salary buying hardware that would recommend this route.(anyone ever order this? I'd be interested to hear about it.)
Here's an analogy. A lamborghini is a nice car but you don't take it off-roading, or to buy groceries. It has esthetic qualities and is really fun to use but it isn't ideal for every situation. I'd recommend a mac to someone who wants to do web authoring, graphic work, multi-media or simply for someone who is a gadget freak (I saw the comment about the touch sensitive mouse...such a gadget). I will not recommend it for programming, database hosting, service hosting etc etc. I think the upgrade point was also valid.
If you think that's ignorant, that's your position . I've used both, and I'll be honest, I'm comfortable in the PC environment. I also work in an industry sector (finance) that runs completely on windows/unix. You can't get bloomberg to run on a mac last time I checked.
I got to make sure that people have the facts -- Or at least the a koolaid drinker's knee-jerk response....
But here's some useful info: I just called the local BatteriesPlus store and they do iPod battery replacement service for $20 plus the cost of the battery. I wonder why this misinformation persists when a simple phone call can clear it up.
And if you want to save the $20, changing iPod batteries is pretty easy. I did it to my 2nd generation iPod just for the increase in battery life. It's about as difficult as changing components in a crappy computer case, like a cramped PC tangled wire trap or the Mac Mini. (Am I successfully demonstrating that I can rip on Apple?)
When should you not change the iPod battery yourself? When the iPod is still under warranty. And a dead battery in the first year is going to be really rare.
So "when I want to change the iPod battery I have to send it in for factory service." may be accurate as in "capable of reaching the intended target", but it's not accurate as in "meticulously careful and free from errors."
Sorry, I couldn't stop myself on that last one -- But I do hope somebody finds the BatteriesPlus info useful.
Lickable unix forever!
I will not recommend it for programming, database hosting, service hosting etc etc.
I'm a programmer (in a scientific environment - it's only barely "industry"). At home, I have 3 linux boxes and a powerbook. Usually, I'm on the powerbook. At work, I'm a G5. We have a network of ~100 macs, all Xgrid agents, controlled by an Xserve (which runs other services). Sure, I'm not throwing out the Debian PCs just yet, but hey, I like the Mac. Not that RD's position is invalid, it's just that your mileage may vary, you know?
yep mighty mouse. I must admit I won't miss control click.
I've been jonesing for that mouse, but I've heard that prolonged use can actually kind of hurt, since the tapping of a hard surface (as opposed to a button that travels up and down) can be rather jarring after a while. Anyway, so I've been holding out (using a MS 5-button mouse). Hopefully, you'll tell me that my concerns are misplaced :-)
Nope, I think you've done a good job of expanding on what you tossed out in your previous post. I still disagree with your conclusion, but I don't want to get into a zero-sum argument like Mac vs PC. ;)
Errr... ever heard of reformatting? It might save you about a grand.
...You can do that on the PC too, at least in WinXP. Not so sure about Linux, but I suspect you can.
And for the record I'm running an athlon, not a pentium :P
"I've heard that prolonged use can actually kind of hurt, since the tapping of a hard surface (as opposed to a button that travels up and down) can be rather jarring after a while." Not true it goes up and down. Having said that it is just average in other respects, but it is an apple product and looks great, and is very programmable.
Norm, nice to see that you are a Mac user. one reason is their buyblue.org rating
another, Apple uses the most tusted, reliable and secure OS available today...UNIX
Enjoy your new machine Norm
Ah, but it is more than run-of-the-mill "file transferring with a firewire cable." It is the ability to have a second firewire-enabled Mac behave as an external drive from the point-of-view of the the first Mac. This feature (Apple calls it "target disk mode") has been around since the early days of firewire-equipped Macs (2000 or earlier). Prior to that, SCSI-enabled PowerBooks with have had a similar "target disk mode" feature since the days of the PowerBook 100 at least (early nineties?). It was cool then. It still is now.
Another little-known feature of firewire-equipped Macs: Apple has ported the IP stack over to firewire ("IP over FireWire"). Since Panther, it has been possible to IP-network Macs using firewire, with its theoretical bandwidths of 400 Mbps and 800 Mbps: Panther Internet Sharing and Using IP over FireWire
Less Jesus. More Jobs.
Lucky you, Norm, my screen name speaks for me.
Find by content and metadata is not a unique feature, but Spotlight is somewhat different in that it indexes content on the fly, so it's always up to date. XP indexes at timed intervals and it hogs the processor to do it. I've read that Vista will have a much better implementation that keeps the index up to date.
Spotlight is an okay 1st version, but I have many UI complaints.
Posted by insurrection at September 15, 2005 05:25 PM:
"Errr... ever heard of reformatting? It might save you about a grand."
insurrection, it's typical of a geek to think the everyone is tech savvy. I've reformated twice in my computer experience--it ain't fun to me. Usually I just get a new computer to increase speed/mem for software compatibility. Also, I get new operating system. Also, I get clean start. Also, I get new guarrantees. Also, they cost bout 1k. Errrr, I keep the old and enjoy the new. I still have my 386 sittin' in storage.
Next computer is going to be mac [period] Why the hell do I need to use registers?! I need simplicity. I'm not a senior yet, but I'm thinking about it.
Anyways, so why is blue tooth not part of ipod? I liked that idea. Someone told me that the recording industry didn't want it?!
Reformat? Hell, I'd rather just get a new and bigger hard drive!
What I find slightly obscene about gushing with praise over this wonderful convenience, is typical of Apple's enigma & charisma: only the fairly wealthy, or those on expense accounts, would be upgrading from a machine that has firewire!
Well, telling a mac user that macs arent everything is like telling Charleton Heston we don't need 2A. Zero sum indeed.
Curious about the guy in the Mac network. What scientific programming? Is the language/compiler home brew or is it something mainstream?
BTW, can someone explain to me spotlight? It sounds like a privacy advocate's nightmare...
Ars Technica has a good summary of Spotlight.
You can prevent it from indexing any folders or disks you choose in the preferences pane.
Not true it goes up and down. Having said that it is just average in other respects, but it is an apple product and looks great, and is very programmable.
Fantastic. OK, I want one. I only have one 5-button mouse and I'm tired of carrying it home with me from work...
Curious about the guy in the Mac network. What scientific programming?
Algorithm design - linear algebra packages, big integer arithmetic, compression, FFT tricks, depends mostly what the client wants. It's largely consulting work.
Is the language/compiler home brew or is it something mainstream?
M'ca for design, C for fast implementation. ObjC (Cocoa) if we need a pretty interface. Occasionally, I get to play with ruby, but that's pretty rare. There's occasional shell programming. That's about it, I guess. My LaTeX skills don't yet approach "programming".
Basically, when I sit down at a new Mac, I trash everything in the dock and replace it with Terminal. Then I install X11. Then I install emacs, Xcode, Mathematica, and fink and apt-get a bunch of stuff.
I'd give a really horrible OS X demo... "so, this is xfig. Um, you can draw lines, like this big circle-X is an XOR gate. But you need a 3 button mouse, and, uh, it's actually running on my coworker's linux box. anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, nethack... you folks are gonna love this..."
Apple adopted Firewire early on. Every Mac desktop since 1999 has come with Firewire as a standard feature.
Nonsense. Firewire has been standard on nearly all Apple computers since 1999. (Firewire was optional on some 1999 iMacs.) There is nothing extraordinary, or even obscene, about upgrading a 6.5-year-old 400 MHz G3 PowerMac with a 6 GB IDE drive and FireWire to, say, a Mac mini for under $500. "Upgrading" to a PeeCee with Windoze, now that would be obscene.
The best part about the set up assistant is that it also copies all the user settings, preferences, bookmarks and contacts. Before I knew that, I was reluctant to get a new Mac as I wasn't looking forward to a weeks worth of tweaking and getting the machine to work the way I wanted it to. Now, I don't have to!
Weeks of tweaking? pass. I think too much focus has been placed on the media (firewire) which makes it seem less important. The real feature is the intelligent upgrade. It's still not a big deal if you know what you're doing with a PC. What about 3rd party software, does that get imported too or is this asking the impossible?
I don't think most Mac users care about Firewire per se. It's just the standard high-speed plug for connecting external devices. The reason there might seem to be undue focus on it is because the Migration Assistant depends on FireWire Target Disk Mode.
3rd party apps can be imported along with everything else.
"What about 3rd party software" Everything is transferred it is as if you are on the same machine. All settings, third party software, everything. EVERYTHING!
iPod update... I stuffed it in my pocket today and enjoyed it on a long plane ride. Great battery life, all the user interface convenience you expect from Apple gear. I was loving it. Later, I discovered that I had a couple of quarters in that pocket and they scratched the heck out of the faceplate. Since reading notes in tiny type and displaying images were a couple of values added that convinced me to buy the $250 30GB unit, I was a little peeved at myself for being so careless. Still I thought, what could a new faceplate cost.
Stopping in a retail Apple store very near the mother ship here in Silicon Valley, I learned that the repair isn't possible, that the cost would be $250 since they would just swap out the unit for a new one. Naturally this isn't a warranteed mess-up either. I'm culpable for failing to pay attention to the fact that the unit is a straight up consumable.
fehhhh...
I think some people are forgetting a class of Mac users that have hopped on board since the introduction of Mac OS X.
I bought my first ever Mac (an iBook G4 1GHz) last year. I use it to type up reports in LaTeX (using LyX), for writing code (using Eclipse or XCode), shell scripting, etc etc. And for personal use as well of course (surfing, email, music, videos, chat, photos, etc etc). Oh, and my gf uses it for research and word processing (Office 2004).
Anyone saying Macs are toys or that Macs only have limited use really have nfi what they are talking about. Macs are beautiful, elegant machines that "just work". No dicking around like with PC's.