As of today, I've owned my 24" IMac for 3 weeks. Here are my quick opinions.
Glossy screen- Can be an annoyance, especially with a outside window that is behind the screen. Since I am not in the graphic arts business, I would only rate this a 3 on the irritation scale. When the sun isn't in the window I have no problems at all with glare even when all the room lights are on.
New Keyboard- I like it (I have the USB not the wireless version). But my wife hates it. I use a laptop all day, while she uses a standard desktop, and to me the keyboard 'feel' isn't that different.
Starting/Setup- The 'Out of the Box' experience for me took about 5 minutes from unpack to online and running. I had posted a question about how to hook up to an existing wireless router to my Mac, but it really turned out to be very easy. And the lack of bloatware asking me to sign up for their service or to try their crippled demo was very much appreciated.
Documentation- A minus here. Yes you can search the web (or here) and maybe get a quick answer. Or maybe you won't. This kind of reminds me of 'Zork' where if you don't use the right words to ask the question you just get a clever 'put-down' reply. People who have only used Windows or have used it for a large number of years could use at least a 'cheat sheet' of similar commands. Which, yes, exists, both here and other places on the net, but you shouldn't have to buy 'The Missing Manual for OS X' or some similar book to get a complete in-depth explanation of the features and uses of OS X. If you are going to route your help to online files then make sure they are in-depth enough for beginners.
Traffic signals- I don't know what they are really called, these are the 'close-minimize-max' buttons or lights on a window. My complaints with these are that the 'close' MAY not stop the program but only close the screen, and that the max does not automatically fill the screen. I am withholding an opinion here, because what I am really saying is that they don't work like Windows min-max-close work, and I have already run into occasions (mail for example) where I don't need an open (or even a minimized) window and it makes sense to close all the windows of the mail program without closing the actual program. This one is probably just me needing to change.
Search- Spotlight blows away Windows search. And I think it's blows away Google desktop search as well, as it finds files faster and doesn't need to first 'index' a list of all the files on your computer by building its own database. Since that is how OS X works natively, it is many times faster.
IPhoto- This is one of the reasons I bought an IMac. I wanted a program to help me with the many photos I had taken but hadn't properly documented at the time. It's not perfect, but it has done most of the things I wanted, and it came with the computer, and I don't know of a moderately priced Windows program that would work as well. A 7 on a scale of 1 -10.
There are other programs like IMovie and IWeb that I intend to try but I have been busy cataloging my photos and transferring files and passwords I need from my old PC. I want to emphasize that these are MY opinions. That does not make them facts, but it does represent how I have interpreted the differences between what I was use to and Macs way of doing things.
Hearing of the WGA problems of a few weeks ago and of MicroSofts attempts to 'push' upgrades onto computers even when the auto-upgrade is turned off ( I haven't heard what is in the upgrades that Microsoft feels so strongly about that they intend to jam it down peoples throat whether they want it or not), I am not at all sorry to leave MS behind.
Glossy screen- Can be an annoyance, especially with a outside window that is behind the screen. Since I am not in the graphic arts business, I would only rate this a 3 on the irritation scale. When the sun isn't in the window I have no problems at all with glare even when all the room lights are on.
New Keyboard- I like it (I have the USB not the wireless version). But my wife hates it. I use a laptop all day, while she uses a standard desktop, and to me the keyboard 'feel' isn't that different.
Starting/Setup- The 'Out of the Box' experience for me took about 5 minutes from unpack to online and running. I had posted a question about how to hook up to an existing wireless router to my Mac, but it really turned out to be very easy. And the lack of bloatware asking me to sign up for their service or to try their crippled demo was very much appreciated.
Documentation- A minus here. Yes you can search the web (or here) and maybe get a quick answer. Or maybe you won't. This kind of reminds me of 'Zork' where if you don't use the right words to ask the question you just get a clever 'put-down' reply. People who have only used Windows or have used it for a large number of years could use at least a 'cheat sheet' of similar commands. Which, yes, exists, both here and other places on the net, but you shouldn't have to buy 'The Missing Manual for OS X' or some similar book to get a complete in-depth explanation of the features and uses of OS X. If you are going to route your help to online files then make sure they are in-depth enough for beginners.
Traffic signals- I don't know what they are really called, these are the 'close-minimize-max' buttons or lights on a window. My complaints with these are that the 'close' MAY not stop the program but only close the screen, and that the max does not automatically fill the screen. I am withholding an opinion here, because what I am really saying is that they don't work like Windows min-max-close work, and I have already run into occasions (mail for example) where I don't need an open (or even a minimized) window and it makes sense to close all the windows of the mail program without closing the actual program. This one is probably just me needing to change.
Search- Spotlight blows away Windows search. And I think it's blows away Google desktop search as well, as it finds files faster and doesn't need to first 'index' a list of all the files on your computer by building its own database. Since that is how OS X works natively, it is many times faster.
IPhoto- This is one of the reasons I bought an IMac. I wanted a program to help me with the many photos I had taken but hadn't properly documented at the time. It's not perfect, but it has done most of the things I wanted, and it came with the computer, and I don't know of a moderately priced Windows program that would work as well. A 7 on a scale of 1 -10.
There are other programs like IMovie and IWeb that I intend to try but I have been busy cataloging my photos and transferring files and passwords I need from my old PC. I want to emphasize that these are MY opinions. That does not make them facts, but it does represent how I have interpreted the differences between what I was use to and Macs way of doing things.
Hearing of the WGA problems of a few weeks ago and of MicroSofts attempts to 'push' upgrades onto computers even when the auto-upgrade is turned off ( I haven't heard what is in the upgrades that Microsoft feels so strongly about that they intend to jam it down peoples throat whether they want it or not), I am not at all sorry to leave MS behind.
