MacBook: Where have you been all my life?
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Dave and I just got a new MacBook - the black one - with OS X Leopard 10.5 installed. Well, I’m the primary user. (Ha.) After a few hours of familiarizing myself with this stunningly beautiful piece of technology, all I can say is, Wow. I can’t believe I waited so long to get a Mac. I’ve used Macs in school growing up and for one summer as a graphic designer, but I never seriously considered getting one for personal use because it was always too expensive and incompatible with PCs. Now, it’s the best time to get a Mac. Everything is compatible (just like the commercials say), and all the equivalents to PC programs and functions are not just prettier - I think they’re better.
These are my first impressions of my new MacBook.
The packaging is so pretty, I’m tempted to keep it for its own sake. The computer comes in a slim square box with a plastic handle. When you slip open the cover, the first thing you see is a square rounded-corner piece of Styrofoam with the words “MacBook” engraved on it. Leave it to Apple. Once you remove the Styrofoam, the MacBook presents itself nicely wrapped in a smooth coverlet. Underneath, there is a flat square box that containing a user manual and software CDs. Everything is square! The first page of the user manual contains one line: “Congratulations, you and your MacBook were made for each other.” Trying to play on my emotions like how the light “pulses” instead of blinks, eh?
I plugged it in and Dave sat with me the first time I turned it on. After an impressive “welcome” montage, the display sat still with the Finder window open, waiting. I clung to Dave’s arm and whined, “I’m afraid to use it!” So silly, but this computer is just so nice that I was afraid of ruining it somehow. Dave brushed me off with an “eh” and started clicking everywhere and installing programs. I sat there, dazed.
Then, I discovered just what I needed - Switch 101. It’s Apple’s step-by-step tutorial on how to make the switch from Windows to Mac. I proceeded to begin reading every page from the beginning and discovering that the Mac is not such a mysterious machine after all. It still has all the same components as Windows, just named and organized differently. Apple has an amazing web of support for everything - switching from a PC, iTunes, iPhoto, how to set up a wireless network, etc. Unlike Dave who likes to learn a new skill by trial and error, I like to read all about it before doing anything.
The most exciting revelations have been that I’m not sacrificing any efficiency by giving up my PC. For example, PC keyboards have both Backspace and Delete keys, Backspace for deleting backwards and Delete for deleting forwards. The Mac keyboard only has one key named Delete. When I blogged on Dave’s MacBook Pro in New Orleans, it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t forward delete. But I learned through Switch 101’s nifty comparison chart of common Windows habits and the Mac equivalents that you can forward delete by holding down the Function key while pressing Delete. This was news to Dave, who doesn’t like instruction manuals. Also, on the PC keyboard I use the Home and End buttons a lot, and the Mac equivalents are Command+Left Arrow Key and Command+Right Arrow Key - how logical!
The one thing that I don’t think I can get used to is not having a right button for the mouse pad. Hence, I plugged in my Microsoft optical mouse and it’s working just fine. Except, the movement of the pointer is strange. There is a delay or slowing down when you’re trying to pinpoint the thing you want to click. The pointer moves fine in large movements but is poor for the precision movements. Dave tells me the same thing happened to him with his MacBook Pro, and I just need to get used to it. Grrr.
Tonight I learned about the most impressive “replacement” of all - iPhoto. On my PC, I was using Google’s Picasa 2, and I loved it. When I first started using it, I irritated Dave with all my rantings of “I love Picasa, omg, it is so awesome how it’s easy to rename the files and do touchups and organize! Goodbye, ACDSee!!!” Of course every program has its flaws, but Picasa came pretty near to being perfect for my non-professional digital photo needs. I was skeptical that anything could rival it, but iPhoto certainly does. My MacBook comes with iLife ‘08 (iPhoto, iTunes, Garage Band, iDVD, and iMovie). I watched the whole iPhoto tutorial and can definitely see the tricks they took from Picasa’s bag. All the tools that Picasa is known for (straightening, a variety of effects, one-click color and exposure editing, albums), iPhoto has emulated perfectly. Even some of the button placements are the same. I could be wrong about who copied whom, but who cares! Apple has not given me a single reason to regret my switch and that’s all that matters to me right now. (The MacBook isn’t cheap, of course.)
I’m sure I’ll be sharing more about my PC to Mac switch as I continue to unpack everything my MacBook has to offer. If I sound gushy and excited, that’s because I am. No more ugly interfaces, struggling with the wireless networks dialogue box, finding and installing drivers, and so on. I get to come home from my Windows XP work computer (force-configured to display the dull Windows 2000 theme) to this:
