MetaChat - * holds thumb and finger 3mm apart *

Me too (except for not having the money).

posted by matildaben 28 May | 14:15

It's a worthwhile experience. There are some things you should know...

- Get used to metachat not displaying properly in Safari.
- In the Apple World, everything costs money.
- My mac-mini isn't as smooth or crash-free a computing experience as equivalant Win2k systems.
- If you're doing anything other than basic surfing / email, get at least 1MB of memory.
- You'll have and use a tool which has no Mac equivalent. You don't know what it is yet, but it exists.
- Make sure your printer is mac compatible.
- You'll have to get used to a slightly different keyboard.

All these things are no biggies, and I'd definitely recommend the switch. It's not as life changing an experience as the Apple faithful would have you believe, but I believe that it's a good thing to do.

posted by seanyboy 28 May | 14:26

Love my apples. Love to own a Macbook. They are new though. The forums are always kinda interesting to glance at for the lastest worries or concerns. All in all, I'd get one. Lack the moola otherwise I would.

posted by alteredcarbon 28 May | 14:27

Oh, and in 6 months time, 3 months after you bought your mac, when Apple release the latest version of the Operating System, they're going to charge you full whack to upgrade. And because even Microsoft wouldn't stoop so low, you'll be angry.

And if you phone up the Apple helpline and ask them if the upgrade includes a feature you really need. They'll tell you "Yes, it includes that feature". So you'll get the fully priced "upgrade" and the feature you were told existed will not exist. And you'll be angry.

Because, whatever they tell you in the adverts. Apple are nothing but Evil Money Grabbing Bastards with a great design department. And when you realise that behind the cupertino designed feel-goodness of it all, that they're just as bad as any large corporation, you're going to be angry.

posted by seanyboy 28 May | 14:33

That doesn't even compare to how angry you'll be when you find out that they only sent you one mouse button!

posted by cmonkey 28 May | 14:58

Only one mouse button?!?!?! WTF?!?!?!?!

posted by dodgygeezer 28 May | 15:19

Do it. A sane security model! Lickable UI! Proper home directories! OS X totally blows XP out of the water. I'm never switching back to Windows.

OS X is a little more crash prone than Windows. Font Book (equiv. Fonts control panel), Safari (browser) and Finder (equiv. Explorer) have crashed for me recently. Firefox, I felt, was a bit more stable on Windows.

posted by flopsy 28 May | 15:20

I have decided that I'm getting one, but I'm going to wait a bit for them to shake the bugs out of the platform. At least that's the plan, I may accidentally find myself in the Apple store one day soon and accidentally buy one.

posted by Capn 28 May | 15:42

I have a MacBook. I love it.

I'm still shocked that *APPLE* were the ones who figured out how to make a consumer-friendly unix box. I mean wtf... APPLE!

Oh, and after you buy it, install QuickSilver. It's the best thing ever.

posted by I Love Tacos 28 May | 16:02

This will put you one step away from being metrosexual. Are you OK with that?

posted by LarryC 28 May | 16:29

One step away from any kind of sexual is good for me.

Thanks for all the comments so far, very helpful. I suspect I may end up ordering it tomorrow - Eeeeek!

posted by dodgygeezer 28 May | 17:53

I purchased an '05 iBook G4 last August.

It has been more stable than 2000/XP ever was. It has been easier to "just get things done." For the first few months I found that if I was becoming frustrated, it's because I was attempting to do things the hard way instead of just assuming there was an easy and obvious way.

Most of the utility software I've desired is, in fact, free. I did purchase my text editor (TextMate) because (a) the price was right and (b) it's thoroughly kick-ass.

I have no regrets; indeed, I have felt nothing but relief that I'm out of the nasty Windows world. That OS is a P.O.S. and I am appalled that I put up with it for so long.

The quicker you make the change, the better off you will be.

posted by Five Fresh Fish 28 May | 17:59

I must admit to having similar thoughts recently. I find that I am, more and more these days, just using a computer rather than fiddling with it and trying out all sorts of new software and have been considering that a Mac is probably a better machine for people who do this. I'm still not converted, but I am getting closer and closer all the time. That sexy hardware is one of the biggest attractions, I must admit.

posted by dg 28 May | 18:04

- Get used to metachat not displaying properly in Safari.

I've only seen metachat in Safari. I'm curious as to what it looks like with IE now, but not so much to wait the 45 seconds to launch Parallels and see it in XP.

I love my MacBook Pro. It is my favorite thing since my PowerBook.

posted by birdherder 28 May | 19:56

OK. Metachat looks exactly the same in Safari and IE.

posted by birdherder 28 May | 20:01

dg: just using it is exactly what I feel with Mac. I don't worry about making the system run well. I have no fear of closing the clamshell while an application is running (even if it. It always works just fine again when I open the lid back up. I plug and unplug stuff without worry. My uptime — on a laptop! — is literally months long (and the only reason it's ever rebooted is because an update requested it.) User switching is smooth as silk, so there's never, ever any need for my wife and I to share an account. And so on.

posted by Five Fresh Fish 28 May | 20:34

Yeah, that is what is causing all those envious look I cast towards all that shiny white hardware, FFF. Also, then I could retire as the fix-it guy for every single damn person I know who owns a computer, because I could say "sorry, I only know about Macs".

posted by dg 28 May | 21:40

Dodgy, two reasons:

• apple needs to work out manufacturing bugs
• intel is releasing a faster chip family at the end of the year

bugs have included (probably) putting too much thermal paste on the processor, leading to heat dissipation problems -- it gets too hot to touch in the middle of the laptop. some models have been making a high-pitched whine that might be coming from the cpu. no one is quite certain yet.

intel's merom chipset will succeed the core duo in september. this should make it in new products at the end of the year. merom chips will be faster, use less power and be 64 bit. core duo is 32 bit. this might be a consideration for your work.

this advice is coming from someone who love's apple hardware, btw.

fwiw, i get weird metachat display problems in safari sometimes. but firefox works like a charm.

posted by AlexReynolds 28 May | 23:35

Huh. I just checked the page here, and it displays okay. You guys should send me screen shots when you see something weird.

posted by taz 28 May | 23:57

I'm a long, long time Machead and had to use WinXP in my office for four years, it is crap. OS X just works, you don't need a degree or thick manuals, it just works.

That said, I might consider waiting until the rev 2 MacBooks come out so that issues will be lessened. I'd love to upgrade my G4 Aluminum Powerbook but its a pretty slick machine still and my wife won't hear of it. Yet. The clincher is that the MacBook can run WinXP if you need it too. The only downside to me is that I'd want a 160 gig hard drive in it.

posted by fenriq 29 May | 01:43

- Get used to metachat not displaying properly in Safari.
- In the Apple World, everything costs money.
- My mac-mini isn't as smooth or crash-free a computing experience as equivalant Win2k systems.
- If you're doing anything other than basic surfing / email, get at least 1MB of memory.
- You'll have and use a tool which has no Mac equivalent. You don't know what it is yet, but it exists.
- Make sure your printer is mac compatible.
- You'll have to get used to a slightly different keyboard.

Other than number 4, I disagree with everything here. Metachat displays fine, my ibook never crashes, some of my best software is free, there is no software I don't have an equal to, and usually better, on my mac, etc. etc.

Oh, and in 6 months time, 3 months after you bought your mac, when Apple release the latest version of the Operating System, they're going to charge you full whack to upgrade. And because even Microsoft wouldn't stoop so low, you'll be angry.

You don't have to get the latest mac os. I'm still haven't switched to tiger, and I'm happy. And I'd rather pay for a great os every 6 months than wait.... how many years for vista?

• apple needs to work out manufacturing bugs

Read around. Most people who have macbooks don't have these problems.

• intel is releasing a faster chip family at the end of the year

And when that chip comes, intel will be 6 months from another break through.

Bottom line, you'll like living in mac world. The longer you wait, the better computer you'll get (at least more powerful, no promise it won't have it's own issues). But waiting for what's around the corner is stupid if you need it now.

Good luck ;)

posted by justgary 29 May | 01:54

The errors between Safari / metachat do exist, but they're intermittent.
They're not about rendering css incorrectly, they're about not rendering pages at all. I'll send you screen-grabs, but know that pressing Apple-R a few times will usually sort the problem out.

justgary - I don't mean to be antsy here, but there's no way you can disagree with three, five and six.
b.t.w. If you *can* find a duplex printer driver for my Panasonic KX-P7105 and find a substitute for webdrive (Don't say interarchy), I'll gladly take it all back and fall at your godlike feet.

posted by seanyboy 29 May | 02:59

- If you're doing anything other than basic surfing / email, get at least 1MB of memory.

How could anyone disagree with that?

posted by trondant 29 May | 07:15

Wait, no one did. Carry on.

posted by trondant 29 May | 07:16

bugs have included (probably) putting too much thermal paste on the processor, leading to heat dissipation problems -- it gets too hot to touch in the middle of the laptop. some models have been making a high-pitched whine that might be coming from the cpu. no one is quite certain yet.

The SO just bought one based on the Mac worshipping reference of his best friend. The resident geek half of our couplehood is me - I dual boot WinXP & Ubuntu on my pretty, pretty home-built box. So I can fully admire OSX and it's GUI and the MacBook Pro. That said...

there times I want to throw it out the window if only to stop the SO from asking me for the nth time how to do something. His frustration in 'switching' has been such that he told his best friend that he was going to install XP and delete OS X*. It's the only time I've ever seen them fight.
No whine but it does get very, very hot. And the SO does not do processor intensive work. Max 4 windows open and I could nicely fry an egg on either side of the keyboard. I can fully admire an inch thick design while realising that heat dissapation is going to be an issue, but damn. I've warned him not to close the LCD screen unless its cooled down for at least 5 minutes.
The built-in webcam also has been a problem for Apple apparently. We actually returned the first one he got as the webcam was totally.not.working. Device manager couldn't even find it. So we get a replacement and find that they tried to give us a used/refurbished/broken MBP as the OS X setup dialogue was completely different**.

In summary: They're nice, but wait for at least the 2nd revision. That's my rule of thumb on hardware in general, too.

*'he was going to install XP and delete OS X' means that I would be doing the un/installing.
**I don't know if this is common practice for authorised apple stores or if it's just another case of Italian 'try-to-pull-a-fast-one-on-the-consumer

posted by romakimmy 29 May | 10:14

When's the 2nd revision coming out? I can't afford one for 6 months anyway.

posted by matildaben 29 May | 11:25

28 May 2006