Switched from PC to Mac

It was a pervasive reception the first time I saw a Mac. Where is the almighty ‘Start’ button? What, cmd + c to copy? Not Ctrl + c? Finder what? Go away.

That was 5 years ago. Today, I own an iMac and use iMac at work place. I couldn’t love it more and I’m glad that I took this decision. This article is to show you the possibility in improving your current workflow with Mac OS.

Windows user hate Mac user

No doubt about it. Probably hate is a strong word, but you can say despise, or jealous. Mac is friggin expensive. Not as customizable as PC. And most important factor is some Mac users brag so much that think they are using god’s machine. So powerful and cool that any other desktop machine can’t match. Pfft. Attention seeker I would say.

Besides excessive pricing and attention seekers, PC users are in their comfort zone. Using the softwares they are familiar with and the way they perform tasks within Windows. I do not mean PC users are bull head, but they need to open up and see the possibilities of other desktop OS.

Goodness

Here are stuffs I love about Mac and you could consider it if these fit your style or workflow.

1. Simplicity exterior

iMac only have ONE cable. One freaking cable for the whole machine. My old PC have power cable, monitor cable, internet cable, keyboard cable, mouse cable, speaker cable, and more speaker cables. With iMac, I get all this minus 7 cables, and combined CPU and monitor into single piece. So much space saved and no more cable web. Brilliant.

2. Intuitive Mac OS

Mac OS is built so much thoughts. From first time setup to daily usage. No drivers to install or update. Why do user even need to worry about stupid drivers? Ridiculous. You just know what to do as you press the power button, and everything just feels right.

3. Spotlight Search

I spotlight search every second. Ha! I would be doing nothing but cmd + space all the time. For new comer, spotlight search is a search function for Mac OS, it’s like if you need information from the internet, you Google it. If you need anything within your desktop, you spotlight search it. Windows have the search too, but do you use it? I didn’t, why? It’s not as powerful as Mac spotlight search.

4. Security

Windows security threat is a joke. Virus, malwares, trojans, spartans, and all kinds of funny other security threats are in Windows. I have personally met all of those mentioned threats and they are bad. You have met some of them before, don’t you? I can see you nodding. :) Mac OS have none of these. Well they do have one or two, and it was quickly fixed by Apple releasing global Mac OS update.

Tons of other goodness I found using Mac such as out of the world Magic Mouse, beautiful sexy interface, signature dock, multiple print screen shortcuts, all application’s menu are on top bar, mission control, spacebar to quick preview and most of the actions come with subtle animations.

Badness

1. Renaming and opening file

To rename file or folder in Windows, simply right click and rename or ‘r’. To open a file or folder, press ‘enter’. It’s a nightmare. I am a power keyboard user and I browse file directory with lightning fast speed. Pressing ‘enter’ or ‘return’ in Mac is to rename. Dumb to the max. A-hole concept. What about opening a file or folder? Press ‘cmd + o’. The speed browsing directory is cut by half and who the hell rename shit all the time more than opening files or folders?

2. Installing external applications

In Windows, there is .exe installation wizard that do everything. While in Mac, you have Mac App Store do all the hassle work. But what if your desire app not in App Store? It’s rather confusing. First, you have check and allow application installation from ‘anywhere’ in Security & Privacy setting. Then open your installation file or .dmg. Good installation file will tell you to drag the new app icon to Applications folder. If not, do it manual, or you will be running the new app in Downloads folder.

3. Limited games

If you are a gamer, don’t switch to Mac. If you do, you will end up using Windows within Mac OS with Bootcamp or Parallel. Big or small titles, they are still limited games for Mac OS. I am hoping Battlefield 4 to be release in Mac, but I am happy with DotA 2, CS:GO, Diablo 3 and Borderland 2.

Bonus: Recommended applications

Most of the default apps are really good and I recommend them for daily usage, such as Mail, Messages, Calendar, Reminder and TextEdit. Other recommendation are:

• Window snapping - Bettertouchtool
• Coding - Coda (75usd)
• Note taking - Evernote
• Mac optimising - Memory Clean
• Cloud storage - Dropbox
• Torrent - Transmission
• FTP - Filezilla

There you go. So would I want to switch back to Windows. Not in near future.

Posted from my iMac. (Pun intended)

Update: Fixed grammars with help from grammar nazi, Sim Hong Vee.

Posted on 21 November 2013