First - I think the whole "think different" marketing campaign is just that - marketing and I can't stomach the hype. I'm a contrarian at heart, and so I think differently and use a Thinkpad.
Second - It's all about the keyboard.
In interface to my computer through the keyboard. There is no keyboard I love more than the Thinkpad keypad with red mouse button. (I also HATE touchpads!) My index finger on the red button and I am at home.
Third - no right click.
A could years ago I decide to get over my anti-mac attitude and try on. So I went out and bought the black macbook. I got some software and started getting to it. Within an hour I was *YEOUCH* - what is with this horrible keyboard? Square keys with horrible pop-up ness. Required to use the hated touch pad when I wanted to mouse. And where the f*ck is the right click button. WTF? So you have a shortcut menu but you require me to figure out the ctrl, alt, apple, ???? button plus that hated touchpad button? What is the point of optimizing.
And then I realized - macs are slow. S-L-O-W. Sure they boot up fast, but it takes me forever to do something on it. I could only get about 30% of the stuff I do done if I only used the Mac. Mostly because they hide the right click and they require that I used the hated touchpad which is slow slow slow! And I can't type as fast on the Mac because the keyboard is not ergonomic. Square keys? And what's up with this square outchiness totally horribly designed unless I want to slit my wrists slowly back edge?
I thought that I just needed to use it and get used to it - optimize myself and be more open minded. But screw that. I've had it for a year and half and my opinion has not changed. I use the mac as a glorified CD player - and I don't even like iTunes. Even the built in video camera sucks.
What was this hype about Macs never crashing? I have managed to freeze/crash the mac more times each month than my Thinkpad in 4 years!
Sorry apple - you do not have my eye. Maybe if you were named grapefruit I would like you better.
I recently got a mac to play with because all the "cool people" at the tech meetups seemed to be carrying them.
I thought it would be a nirvana, which never crashed, could do everything and would instantly make me more creative.
It didn't turn out that way. It's just a computer--full of features and flaws.
I'm going to keep using it though. Because my PC is just a computer too. And this mac does feel more fun.
I'll probably go back and forth between the two. The truth is that the real action isn't on the computer but on the Net. I don't really care how I get there, I just want to be online.
Posted by: Andrew Warner | March 14, 2008 at 06:09 PM
I just got a MacBook Pro with the new multi-touch pad, it is very sweet. But even the old touch pad you can do "right clicks" It is off by default, it is the first thing I turn on in Settings. Just tap the pad with 2 fingers and you get the right click. Moving up and down or left and right with 2 fingers will scroll. That saves me so much time over any of the PC laptop touch pad with the "scroll areas" Or finding the scroll buttons with your eraser nub. Mac touch pads are also much bigger than most pc touch pads, which is really great.
Macs are not slow, they're just a little different. You can't drive it like you drive Windows. If you expect it to work just like Windows, of course it'll feel wrong. You're constantly fighting it. There are certain things I can do faster on a Mac, and some things are faster on my PC. Overall, once you invest a little time to learn the mac, it comes out on top. Specially if you compare it to Vista
My $0.02 That said the new Thinkpad x300 is pretty nice on paper. Too bad it runs vista LOL
Posted by: Alan Chung | March 15, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Yeah, I'm looking at the x300, but I really like hte T-series too. I don't only use my computer to get on internet. Most of my work are documents, writings and strategies that never get to the net (except as collaborating). So for me, the #1 use is as a data interface and thus the keyboard and screen are the most important.
I'll prolly keep the mac, to test stuff on and I stupidly bought Creative Suite for mac, but I'm really excited to get a new thinkpad. Me love it so.
Posted by: heathervescent | March 15, 2008 at 12:40 PM
I was just enjoying my favorite time-waster, and thought you might like this one:
http://www.mycathatesyou.com/cats/2007/04/3
:-)
Posted by: Pinkyracer | March 15, 2008 at 06:57 PM
I use both and actually own both a ThinkPad and a Macbook Pro. The mac is hands down my preference in the comparison. My mac is screaming fast and runs windows faster in VM Ware than native on the PC. So, I dont know where you came up with the slow thing, but hey...I am glad you like the thinkpad. Its is a beautiful machine.
DK
Posted by: Dean | March 17, 2008 at 02:17 PM
Hi there! I've been digging around your blog for a while, astonished about all those funny-right-to-the-point gtd videos and posts. And finally i've got something contrary to say! lol.
Five months ago I bought a mac book pro 15 just because it had the finest hardware spec with an intel cpu fitting my budget. I started using it with Bootcamp, so I could still run "my winunx" (windows + cygwin + tons of geek & code apps, scripts and tweeks), and it all went pretty smooth and stable.
The missing right button can be a problem, mainly while using windows. However, since I'm a declared keyboard lover, it just don't bother me at all.
Two months ago, I decided to give osx a try, and I'm just loving it. Everything looks smoother, and the default apps (mail, ical, iphoto, etc) helps to keep stuff simple.
And this baby definitely paid it self by helping me make a professional-style-memory-dvd for my girlfriend's birthday! ;)
[]s
Posted by: Henrique Bastos | March 17, 2008 at 06:32 PM
I bet if you were an actual programmer you would probably understand the benefits of Mac vs Window from a more technical perspective than "Where is my right click?!?!?"
Posted by: Casual Observer | March 23, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Um, so macs can only be understood by actual programmers? Are programmers the only people who use computers?
When building any product, it's about peak user experience. Macs don't currently give me a peak user experience, primarily because of the added simple functionality of the "right-click".
Posted by: heathervescent | March 25, 2008 at 02:43 PM
Well, I do think that programmers can switch to Mac faster.
However, are we really talking about "user experience" or about "user common sense" (habits)? I'm not a mac evangelist, but the "right-click feature" as we know is a band-aid for the Windows usability's mistakes. If you use a Windows system for long enough you will end up with right click context menu with no context at all.
Mac tries to setup an environment where everything you need appears right in front of you. I guess that's why the OS X comes with all kind of common use software (IPictures, ITunes, IWork, Finde, Safari, etc), and why the Finder works the anti-geek way. (Definition for "the geek way": since I *think* I know what I'm doing, I want all the power at once!)
Anyway, seams that at some point, user experience collides with user habits. By default humans kinda rejects the new.
Finally, for you that have a Mac, if you use an usb mouse, you can do "right-clicks" or press control+left-click to access the context menu.
Nice blogging! ;)
Posted by: Henrique Bastos | April 03, 2008 at 08:19 AM
Windows usability mistakes? The right click for the most part allows modification to how one sees fit or to do other uncommon tasks such as dropping said file into an archive, deleting, scanning it for virus/problems, choosing to open in a certain program. Those are usability enhancements. I've used a MAC plenty of times and while they are something very easy to use they are not very configurable and to get real work done on them takes patience and lots of time. I spent more time on the terminal trying to configure it to work more efficient.
Posted by: James Lehman | November 02, 2009 at 03:53 AM