Ten Reasons Why I Love My MacBook Pro
This article is the second in a two-part series. Please check out Part I: Ten Reasons Why I Hate My MacBook Pro.
#10 Darwin
It cannot be understated how important this was to me. I envied every Mac user who had a FreeBSD system under the hood because I know how powerful it is. As it turns out, FreeBSD is also my server OS of choice, so I feel even more at home in the OSX terminal than I do in DOS.
#9 Intel
Making the Intel switch was a brilliant move on Apple’s part. I believe that this change has initiated an impressive wave of prior wafflers, hesitant switchers, and organizations who will finally feel comfortable buying hardware that will still run Windows if necessary.
For this reason, I think my Apple shares have a really bright future.
#8 Built-In Software
My Windows disc came with a calculator and WordPad. Oh, and MSpaint. Hmm, I can’t think of anything else of use that shipped on the Windows CD. Wait, Explorer. Does that count?
I scrapped Safari for Firefox almost right away, but let’s see some of the goodies that Apple provided that I use each day:
• Dashboard
• iTunes
• Calendar
• OmniOutliner
• Spotlight
Again, this is just the daily use apps. There are probably more, and there are at least a couple dozen more very thoughtful programs that I’ll get around to using over time. I suppose Windows has Defrag. Yeah, I’ll give them that.
#7 Backlit Keyboard
Two days after Boot Camp was released, I drove down to the Apple store and spent two hours of quality time with a MacBook Pro. Before this point, I had no idea the laptops were shipping with a backlit keyboard. As small as this may be to some people, this is one of the things that pushed me over the edge at decision time.
#6 OMG So Sexy
It’s hard to argue that the MacBook Pro isn’t a well crafted and beautiful machine. With few exceptions, I believe that Apple manages to hit the sweet spot where form and function peak.
This machine manages to be brighter, longer lasting, faster, lighter, and thinner than my old Dell. In fact, it beats even the new Dell machine I was considering on every physical characteristic. Fully configured, it didn’t cost much more, either.
The aluminum case is a stroke of genius. Of course laptops are going to run hot as long as they have today’s Intel processors in them. Ony the smart laptop manufacturers make the entire laptop body a metal heatsink as opposed to a plastic insulator.
#5 Battery Life
The MacBook Pro users I interviewed before making my purchase indicated that I should expect 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life. Using the computer in a seminar, I made it through three hours of off-and-on note taking (with OmniOutliner Professional) and the system estimated I had another 2.5 left to go. This is proper power management. Heck, I left this computer sitting on the counter without power for three hours last night while we went to a movie. When I came back, the battery had only drained a few percent.
My old Dell machine would reliably gobble up a battery in 1.5 to 2.5 hours, no matter how much or little I was using it.
#4 Front Row
Where have you been all of my life?
The days of hunting for a site and selecting a player type and buffering and waiting and buffering just to watch a stinking movie preview are over. I’d never imagined that having a remote and turning your computer into your personal theater could be so sweet.
All I need to do now is plug my computer into the A/V system and I can show my wife movie previews just like they were on Tivo. I can play my iTunes library around the house without having to wear my iPod.
Now I just need to hang tight until the day Apple announces a version of the Mac Mini with a built in TV tuner and DVR software. That’s the day I’ll kick my Tivo to the curb.
#3 Security
I really do appreciate that OSX hasn’t had the virus exposure Windows has. I love that I can download and install any application I please with minimal concern for what it might do to harm my computer.
This isn’t to say that I’m going commando with my MacBook Pro. I am pleased to see the Mac community at large slowly coming to terms with the fact that they aren’t 100% immune to attacks. With increasing marketshare comes increasing scrutiny, and I for one have more clam in my system than Ivar himself!
#2 The Little Things
I appreciate the MagSafe power connector, ambient light-aware keyboard and screen brightness, dedicated CD eject key, and an audio out jack that glows red when it’s disabled. How about all of the tools you need to get started developing your own OSX apps right on the install DVD? These are a few of the little things that add up to a much greater experience.
I there are volumes to be written about the thoughtful little things that Apple includes in their products. Suffice it to say these little touches don’t go unnoticed by me.
#1 The Big Picture
The bottom line is that you are not your OS. I’m dropping Windows on my personal laptop and my work desktop (for DesktopBSD, no less) simply because I can. The applications I need most are available online or are portable to other systems, so I’m cutting the strings.
My new MacBook pro allows me to do all that while still maintaining a bridge back to the old system if I ever need it.
Conclusion
Apparently my last article struck a nerve with several people. Enough so to warrant an inbox full of flames and a couple small DOS attacks. I’d like to thank those who saw it for what it was: a rant against the things I’m having a hard time adjusting to along with a few genuine issues that I hope will change over time. For the rest of you, please look forward to my next Apple post tentatively titled “Jobs, save me from your followers!”
Several of the issues I mentioned in Part I are still concerns to me, though many may be remedied over time. A couple of my prior gripes have already been solved by helpful commenters. The rest are things that I will just have to get used to because my MacBook Pro is here to stay.
Thanks for reading my switcher story.
April 23rd, 2006 at 6:04 am
Hey good luck! Sorry about the Mac Wackos that ruin things for the rest of us! There are some normal level headed of us out here! ;-) Hope some of the suggestions helped ya!
April 23rd, 2006 at 6:06 am
One more thing! When the dust settles I hope you put Part 1 back up! It was a good reminder of the issues other switchers may have.
April 23rd, 2006 at 7:55 am
I hope it is okay to comment on the “10 Things I Hate About MacBook Pro” even if it is no longer on your site. I just read it through MacUser and I wanted to provide a little bit of feedback.
Unless I completely missed something, you are a new switcher from Windows. That was the case for me back in December when I switched back to Apple, for the second time. I last used Macs in high school, where Apple laptops were required, but it was the time of G3s and Mac OS 9. To be honest, I hated Macs back then.
Having read your complaints about your laptop and Mac OS X, it seems kind of apparent that you are not really embracing your switch. Specifically, you are looking for Microsoft’s presence (i.e. the window management, key board shortcuts, the way you install apps, etc.). Just last night one of my good friends was fooling with my iMac before we went out, and he is one of those people who immediately has to fool with window sizes and make them as big as possible. So, I imagine him to be sort of like you. When I first started using Mac OS X, I too thought that it was annoying that I could see so many windows because a program wouldn’t take up the whole screen. I tried to explain to my friend what I will try to explain to you: give it some time. It took me roughly a week to settle into Mac OS X, but I’ll be honest, once I did, using Windows now is such a pain in the ass for me. If you stop trying to make Mac OS behave like Windows, I think you will appreciate and love the way it works. For instance, by having windows only take up as much space as they need, you can position other windows along the side to copy information. I use my iMac for both college and graphic/web design, photography, yada yada and the ability to see multiple windows becomes a godsend if you know how to do it properly. If you never learn to see it like the rest of us, go Program Name (i.e. Safari) -> Hide Others (Option + Command + H).
You also made a reference to short-cuts. I promise you that without a doubt Mac OS X has above and beyond the amount of short-cuts that Windows has. The trick: you have to learn them. You can come pretty close to controlling Mac OS X without your mouse if you are so inclined. Not only does the OS have a plethora of short-cuts, which you can customize to your liking (Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts), but they are the same across all applications, or at least all Cocoa-written ones. For instance, in Windows, the classic short-cut for copying (Control + C) doesn’t necessarily work in every program, it depends whether or not the author adds that functionality in I guess. I ran across many programs where the simple, tried-and-true short-cuts either did not exist or were not the same. One of the brilliant pieces of Mac OS X is that things are the same from one program to the next (i.e. if it’s Cocoa-written, and almost all programs I have come across and used are Cocoa thankfully, it has access to the Dictionary - something that doesn’t even exist in Windows). So give it some effort and learn the short-cuts :) And if you can speak more than just English, you will further appreciate the ease of creating foreign language characters, which is also the same system-wide, something only achievable in Windows if you can remember ALT + four digits for every single character (really stupid system).
I know this is getting long so I will make one final comment. While it’s probably a better than a worse thing that Apple is making it so you can run Windows natively, and that Apple may support Windows programs natively in Mac OS X - reducing the necessity of dual-booting and virtualization software - you should be using a Mac because you want to use a Mac, not because you want to run Windows on an Apple piece of hardware or because you want Mac OS X to behave like Windows does. Maybe that is the Mac snob in me, but Apples are different and you should like it and embrace it - not saying that real legitimate problems shouldn’t be pointed out - or stick to another system. Although I agree that Apple computers are beautifully designed machines and I am very happy to have such a piece of art in my room, the design of the computer is almost like a bonus, a HUGE HUGE bonus. The real reason I wanted a Mac again was that I wanted to run Mac OS X, and that is a very, very difficult thing to do on a Windows machine. Despite the one week of time it took me to get adjusted to the differences, once I got used to the way the Mac OS works it didn’t just become “yeah, I learned to deal with how it works,” it’s a “yeah, I absolutely love how it works and I can’t stand at all when I have to use Windows now.” I mean, look at how much I can type to you about it? I have to shut myself up when I talk to my Windows-using friends because Windows users just don’t get why we like Macs. Because to like a Mac, you just have to use it long enough.
Hopefully you will begin to truly appreciate Apples as much as the rest of us do. Try using some of the other built-in apps more, too. I used to use Firefox on Windows religiously, but I never use anything but Safari now (it’s RSS reader is far superior). iCal is good for managing your schedule. And, although it requires a purchase, iWorks is amazing if you do any presentations or word processing. I had originally purchased iWorks solely for Keynote, but once I got used to Pages (again, there is a transition period of moving away from your Microsoft habits), I absolutely LOVE it. I use it daily and Microsoft Office only gets run when my classmates send me files. It just takes a bit of time, like everything, to really see how much better it really is.
And about getting DOS attacks and whatnot, that’s just stupid. I get mad when people flame Macs - and I didn’t think you really did that - but retaliating by attacking a website or sending nasty e-mails because someone doesn’t like Macs as much is just plain immature.
Good luck with your Mac.
April 23rd, 2006 at 5:56 pm
I’m glad to have read this positive post, even thought the first was… I’ll call it… hmm… Anti-Mac-ish. Nice site also (even though it was made on Windows).
April 23rd, 2006 at 10:55 pm
Real happy that you got yuor mac book pro and happy with it … next week my intel mac mini should arrive, so hopefully i’ll be able to cinfirm your observations.
April 24th, 2006 at 3:37 am
” and an audio out jack that glows red when it’s disabled.”
Um, AFAIK this is due to the drivers on Windows not being able to detect the optical cable and is always on.
This is not a good thing in my opinion, but will be fix I hope with newer drivers.
I’m not even sure how to diable audio in OS X….
Hmm…
April 24th, 2006 at 6:17 am
Chris… you put it all together better then I could have said it… well done :D
And, the “10 things why I hate/love my mac” was well written, kudos to ya ;)
Hopefully I’m gonna beg my dad to get me a MBP :D Windows is getting annoying…
April 24th, 2006 at 9:12 am
seems like your more unhappy with windows on on your mac.
April 24th, 2006 at 10:27 am
While I too love the backlit keyboard I have a small nit with it.
On opening the lid of my powerbok and waking it from sleep the login panel appears on a totally black background — and the backlit keyboard stays dark. Try switching to another user and it lights up just fine.
At any rate, I find it ironic that it fails to light just when there’s least amount of ambient light from the screen. Apple needs to fix this glitch.
April 24th, 2006 at 11:45 am
LOL.
For the rest of you, please look forward to my next Apple post tentatively titled �Jobs, save me from your followers!�
Nice
April 24th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
hi! if you have problems using the OSX shortcuts go to help on the finder menu and search for ‘windows’. on the results, click on ’shortcuts for windows’ and they’ll list all the OSX shortcuts and it’s windows counterparts
April 24th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
I’m just shocked at the difference in the number of comments on the two columns. Your Hate problems were kinda weak though. Your Love points show a much more holistic understanding of the system… I’m somewhat surprised they were written by the same person.
At any rate good luck with the new system.
April 25th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
Why do you have a blog? This is B.S. Get a real job.
May 21st, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Hi,
Well, your articles were especially interesting to me since I just ordered myself a MacBook (non-pro), and I’ve been a Windows user since just about when I was a kid. 1990 probably.
I’ve been fooling around with a mac yesterday, and felt a lot of discomfort at first with the alt+tab thingie (that I use A LOT with XP) but after a while it became totally natural, when I discovered the alt+
May 30th, 2006 at 8:25 am
“#8 Built-In Software
…I suppose Windows has Defrag.”
Um,yeah…because Windows *needs* Defrag. ;-)
May 30th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
I’m still waiting on my MacBook… I think it’s going to be quite some time now before i can save up to get one. Maybe they’ll be cheaper by then? :)?
Otherwise; thanks for another awesome blog on this world wide web of ours.
Well written.
July 23rd, 2006 at 3:41 pm
Hey, congrats for switching over and joining us! I’m glad to hear that you enjoy (at least parts) of the OS and the computer. In fact, I’m going to buy a MBP at the end of this summer - I’m very excited about being able to FINALLY play decent games on my mac, even if I have to run Windows (in the words of Alfred E. Newman: Yeeechi!) to play them :D.
Another sweet thing that OSX has is the Exposé features. It’s defaultly mapped to the F9-F11 keys. Very useful for when you have about ten windows open and you only have a tiny screen! (not that you have to worry about that! :D)
Have fun with your system! Go ahead and tweek it out! ShapeShifter (http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter) is cool in that way.
Have a grand ol’ time!
August 27th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
How do i derfrag my macbook pro?
October 17th, 2006 at 10:45 am
I love my new MacBookPro. I have an iMac G5 and a PC laptop, and I could not wait to get a mac laptop. I would like to leave my PC laptop for the few things I can’t use the mac for:
1. certain websites (like the Spanish Tax Office website that lets me download my forms and my bank’s website) don’t work well with Safari. I can’t access either of the two I just mentioned with it, and I certainly need them. So for that type of thing i need to keep my PC.
2. i use two professional translation programs alongside my design programs, which are Transit and Trados, and they don’t have mac versions. I just purchased the Parallels for my new MacBook Pro, but i haven’t tried that yet. I’m too busy loving my new computer
now, I agreed with some of the complaints about the mac, and agree some are just a matter of getting used to. Except one: the extra ENTER key versus the lack of FORWARD DELETE. If any of you know how to remap these for the MacBookPro, it would really make my life easier. I could actually use a key that otherwise I would never touch.
November 14th, 2006 at 1:35 am
I bought the MBP in order to power handle photos, but I can’t understand why it is so painfully slow, I mean it will slow down and spend a couple minutes rendering a small jpeg preview. Is this standard or have I got a problem? I have already had the logic board, memory sticks and battery replaced on warranty. I hope it will stay alive and out of the shop long enough for me to try some of its great features. Oh yeah, the applestore salesman lied to me and said I would get a free printer. I did get the printer, but they charged me $129 for it. I have cancelled photo shoots I had planned to use it on because I can’t depend on it to work and when it does, at a speed worth my time. I have $6000 invested in Mac hardware and software and wish I could get my money back or at least part of it and get rid of this unreliable bunch of junk.
December 20th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
Spot on dude! Got a 17″ Macbook Pro 2-3 weeks ago (my wallet is still smoking`!!), and while I`m generally happy with the purchase, quality of hardware and the options of Bootcamp, etc., I find myself nodding and agreeing to most of your points.
I`m not a Maximize Windows kind of Windows-guy though, so you`ll get no understanding there. The Mac-people got that right, just wait and see, but there are some serious issues with OS X:
*) Finder - It`s crap. Path Finder may be a bit better, but doesn`t integrate properly with the system, or can`t replace all the functionality of the Finder, like mounting discs (at least I couldn`t find that option when I last tried..) How frustrating should cut and paste files be? Or how frustrating should it be to find the parent folder, or the whole parent-structure, of the current Finder window? Consistency of double clicking in icon view and list view? Simple things, which Path Finder (for more money on the table) may help with, but should`ve been there in the first place in Finder. Due to integration issues and feature-lack (wow, is that possible?), Path Finder doesn`t work for me though.
*) Poor selection of open source / free software. Please. Don`t come and sell me X and fink. The selection of real and free 3rd party software on the Mac is abysmal. Your choices then bogs down to stealing serial-numbers or paying even more for alot of software, which you end up throwing away because of lack of features (No, simplicity doesn`t mean you should throw away features, try again). When you need 10 such small programs to have a decent installation of OS X, and each cost you about 10-20$, you`re paying more than the original OS and included software!
*) Crashing. If you`ve never crashed OS X, or made the machine unresponsive, you`ve just not tried hard enough. This has happened to me about 6-7 times in the last 2-3 weeks. Call me back when you can be called “Power User”, because this is something that can happen in any OS. Hint: Try installing Snitch and have fun when it halts your entire computer while installing more software for instance..
Ok, maybe not kernel panics, but this usually only happens in XP due to bad 3rd-party drivers. Can`t really blame MS for that..
*) Zealotry: Try raising your opinion, or experiences, and you`ll hear the same old tired arguments repeated again and again. I guess Mac-people like to stick their collective heads in the sand, and then praising Apple when they finally fix it. Proof of point: Before Core 2 Dual, Mac people said that Core 2 wouldn`t give much improvement (about 7-10%) so the Almighty Apple Was Right In Delaying Core 2 Dual. Then it came, and suddenly it was “up to 33% performance improvement”! This is just one of many examples, and you should admit it and just laugh about it. I know, because I know enthusiasm can make you blind sometimes, but it is important to see this I think.. Or you will alienate many new switchers.. Also important so swallow criticism, because otherwise you`ll not be heard.
My conclusion is the same as you: All in all. Best hardware for the money. I will continue to use OS X, but there are issues that should be resolved, not between monitor and keyboard, but in OS X itself.
Since this is a laptop, I haven`t used the command-line, server-options much. Would rather stick to Linux for servers, although I like your statement about how OSes are not so important these days. They are very much alike these days.
Writing this from XP in Bootcamp I must also say that XP seems more responsive and faster, although OS X is certainly the more mature OS in every way, maybe even comparing to Vista. Having a FreeBSD-core helps alot for us “Power Users”, or whatever you call us that manage to crash every OS out there :P (I`ve had my fair share of lock-ups in Linux too ;-O)
December 20th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
For those who wants to REMAP THEIR KEYS IN BOOTCAMP: Sharpkeys, a freeware utility that relies on rewriting the registry. It`s not “Macish”, but it do the job and lets you see whats already written even (I had already applied a manual registry hack to remove the left Windows-key for gaming)
DoubleCommand will probably allow you to remap the keys you want in OS X, although it doesn`t seem to be as flexible as Sharpkeys in XP..
January 22nd, 2007 at 6:25 am
damn straight man, on my desk i have a medium spec’d linux computer which is good purely for multimedia and general use (compatabillity could be worked on), i have a dell (crap) with windows of course, and finally my 17” macbook pro. the dell and the linux pc both have dust on them. MAC LOVE MAN
March 16th, 2007 at 1:33 am
[...] 1 filmmaker 1 photographer 2 musicians 1 multimedia guy (tp) I used my macbook pro to fuel the whole session. I printed copies of the treatment and an agenda, showed all of our media samples, played the actual song, transcribed the lyrics, and took a few notes. [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I know this was written quite some time ago, so I probably shouldn’t even be commenting on this as you’ve probably already figured it out.
The audio jack doesn’t glow because it’s disabled, it glows because the stereo mini jacks on Macintosh computers also double as an optical audio port.
This allows you (with the right amplifier) to have true surround sound coming from a single port on your mac. It completely eliminates the need for an external sound card. It’s genius.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
i just got a macbook and i want to get all my songs from my dell to my macbook. can i just put all my songs on my ipod and then plug it into my macbook? or do i have to us a usb or some other means of file sharing?
May 20th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Reason #8 is very weak
First of all, Windows XP come with MS paint, Simple Word process programs (such as Notepad, WordPad), address book, several games, Remote control program, system recovery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media Player, MSN messengers, calculator and whole lot more.
What will you get on your Macbook Pro? iLife, for free? Clearly, Windows has more build in softwares.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
The only reason Mac has yet to get a virus is this:… take a simple survey, 10 people in a room.. ” how many of you own a Macintosh computer”… see how many hands go up. its just simple logic, why make a virus for the mabe 3 of 10 people in a room that own a mac, when you could be effecting hundreds, even thousands at a time… now I myself AM a mac user, and have no beef with mac, but this is why macs dont get viruses… simply because the programmers who create them, would rather spend the time effecting more then a certain % of the people who do in fact use the mac based computers.