Windows to Mac
From WittleNet
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Switching from Windows to Mac
In July 2005, I bought a PowerBook G4 with OS X Tiger pre-installed to become my primary computer for both home and work. I'd tried to research how well this would work on the web and by talking to colleagues who used Macs prior to my decision, and either didn't do a good enough job or missed wherever folks are describing the experince in some detail. Therefore, this page.
You'll note much here that appears negative. Before you flame me for being a Mac hater or a Windows lover, recognize that to try to make this transition work, I've spent tens of hours on data conversion, hundreds of dollars on the Mac versions of software I already owned for Windows, changed cell phones (and may soon change carriers), changed banks, etc. Reading this over, I'm not sure I understand why I haven't given up and reverted to Windows, since cygwin and VMware gave me usable Unix capabilities on Windows.
I'm really hoping that Apple, Microsoft, SunTrust, Quicken, and others who are responsible for issues I'm documenting are already addressing these, and that someone who decides to transition after me will have a better experience.
PowerBook G4 Hardware
My last personal Windows notebook was a Compaq Presario X115, which is the relative standard I use for this comparison.
- Display - The Mac display is relatively low resolution for its size, and is less crisp and bright. Each time I go back to the Presario, it startles me how much clearer and brighter the Presario display is over the Mac. I really struggled at first with insufficient screen real estate. I shrunk the dock, and bought a desktop pager to create multiple virtual desktops. OK, but I liked having more pixels better.
- Case - The Mac definitely has a cooler design; it is much more pleasant to look at. The all-aluminum frame feels more solid. Unfortunately, my steel wristwatch band scrapes against the case and makes an unpleasant sound and vibration, so I frequently find myself taking off my watch to use the keyboard. Maybe it's time for a new watchband.
- Keyboard - Available keys work great, the keyboard feels good. I knew I'd miss alt-letter shortcuts for menu items, so I was preapred for that. I wasn't prepared for how much I'd miss the page up, page down, home, and end keys. The fn-arrow combinations on the PowerBook are a poor substitute, especially since you don't use the fn key for anything else. It really is hard to comprehend why the Mac needs four separate key modifiers (fn, ctrl, opt/alt, and apple); figuring out which modifier does what has added a lot of extra cognitive effort I'd rather spend on content.
- Battery Life - OK, but could definitely be better. I bought a second battery so that I could work through the whole trip from Raleigh to Sunnyvale.
General Windows to Mac transition issues
- Lack of built-in two button mouse - Boy do I miss having a right mouse button. Eventually when I train my fingers to do ctrl-click without thinking, I'm sure it will be better, but for now I miss it. I have a bluetooth mouse with two buttons and a scroll wheel which eases the pain, but I can't use it in an airplane, and don't like having something else to carry from meeting to meeting. Apple, you've done the Mighty Mouse, now build a right mouse button into the PowerBook please!
- Missing alt-tab - Yes, alt-tab does do something on the Mac. Unfortunately, not enough. Do you work with more than one document in each application? If so, you'll have to alt-tab to the application you want, and if the most recent document you used in that application isn't the one you want, you'll have to alt-` to it instead. Bad.
Work Software
I'm using different applications at work than at home, so I'll review them separately. Our e-mail server at work is Microsoft Exchange.
Outlook to Entourage Issues
Since I'm now a manager who has generally 3-8 meetings per day and I get probably 80-100 e-mail messages per day, Outlook was where I spent a ton of time before the switch. Now it is Entourage, and boy is that ever a step backward. So much so, I gave it its own page in this document.
Quality issues, hardware & software
- Initial quality issues - My PowerBook has some kind of problem with the audio jack; you cannot fully engage a headphone jack; you can only insert the headphone jack deeply enough to get half the sound. I took it into the Mac store where I bought it, and they wanted to keep it for 48 hours to replace the motherboard. Since this is my primary work machine, that was too long; hopefully they'll be less busy next time I go. While I was in the store, a colleague of mine who has a Mac came in; his screen latch had broken within the first 5-6 months of ownership. There was another customer there with the same problem; hopefully this is not a trend.
- Bluetooth hangs - I have a relatively frequent problem where bluetooth doesn't work after opening my PowerBook. The icon displays fine, but my bluetooth mouse never links. If I select any options from the bluetooth menu, it hangs the entire menu bar permanently. You cannot log out or shut down normally. I've looked around on the web to see if anyone else is having this problem, and haven't found much. I don't know if this is a hardware problem or a software problem, but neither the 10.4.1 nor 10.4.2 update have fixed it.
- X-Windows Client - When you alt-tab back to the X-Windows client, it doesn't bring the most recent terminal window to the top of the window stack. If you close a window that is not responding for some reason, the next new window request does nothing (the new window flickers in and is gone).
Personal Software & Hardware
Video Editing
This was the most surprising aspect of the transition so far. I'd expected that this would be an area where the Mac would shine, as it has a reputation for excellence for this purpose. Had I owned the right video hardware, my experience might be different. Therefore, my first piece of advice is to ensure that you check the iMovie hardware compatibility page before buying a camcorder. Since I didn't find this page until after I bought my Sony DCR-DVD403, I've had enough problems that this also gets its own page. See Mac OS X and DVD Camcorders.
Bluetooth Phone
So I also decided that having a Mac was a good excuse to upgrade my phone to Bluetooth. I've used Verizon as my carrier for many years after bad experiences elsewhere, so I started looking for a Verizon bluetooth phone. See my experience with the Motorola V710, which was so awful I gave it back to Verizon at 15 days. I now use a Motorola E815, which has been significantly better for me. And it got support from iSync in the 10.4.2 update to Tiger.
Online Banking
So this one is just bizarre. See why I left SunTrusts as my bank, because there are major commercial institutions who make it impossible to use their sites with either Safari, Firefox for OS X, or Firefox for Linux. Amazing in this day and age. I'm banking with First Citizens now, and not only does their site work from a Mac, it much, much better designed and implemented.
Quicken for Mac
This was the second most surprising experience. I expected that since Quicken has versions for both platforms and they're released around the same time with roughly the same name, that my Quicken transition would be relatively painless. Wrong again. Quicken for the Mac doesn't support 401k account types, does not guarantee to convert all of your Quicken for Windows data (of which I have more than 10 years worth), etc. Even keystrokes are different between the two (use + for the next check number when entering your check register, instead of n). Make sure you're not dependent on one of the features that doesn't exist on the Mac.
