Every regret getting mac, even for a moment?

[toomuchstereo]

games and game performance, thats the only thing.

 

[rosalindavenue]

I bought an ibook about three weeks ago after considering it for about a year and deciding to get it to learn another OS for work purposes. I asked a few questions on this board, read dozens and dozens of posts and talked to friends who have a mac.

Same here. I read about OSX and the G5 when it first came out and determined to switch in 03, although I initially chickened out and got a toshiba 17" P4 lappy at first.

I decided I want something portable so I’m not stuck in front of my desk all the time and I really have no more room for another desktop computer since I already have 3, 2 running Windows and one running Gentoo.

Again, same story for me-- I have 2 at home already, one XP and one dual-boots SUSE and Win 98.

I was concerned about the speed of the ibooks as I have a Toshiba laptop P4 2.4 already and was told over and over again that because of the OS and the architecture the 1.5 G4 would be comparable in speed.

My Toshiba p4 is a 2.6; same story; I still wanted to get a mac but had worries it would seem "laggy"

My fault for not looking into other sources but it’s much slower.

Here's where we differ. My new, 4 week old revision 4 ibook is equally as quick, for the non-power-user stuff I do, as the P4 Toshiba lap-furnace -- and for all practical purposes it is a lot faster b/c OS X handles laptop sleep so much better than XP. I have not had any troubles at all. I don't much like Mail or Safari (I cant get mail to communicate with my ISP - using thunderbird which works perfectly-- and I prefer the tab and favorites handling of Firefox), but I like every other built-in app and feature. I feel certain that you have some real bad hardware issues-- mine has been really pleasant to use and zippy, with only the stock 512 ram.

 

[corywoolf]

Hi,

Right now, I'm VERY unhappy about Apple and my last machine, an iMac G5 1.8GHz 20", which hasn't stopped annoying me since I bought it in last January.

I had perfect experiences with my successive Apple IIe, Mac LC, Mac Classic II, Quadra 610, PM 4400 (upgraded to G3) and PB3400, but the last one, urk...

First: you smile, open the box, set the beautiful machine on your desk, plug, start, blink, and wonder what the f*** is this noise. As has been the subject of many threads so far, the commercial "whisper quiet" argument is a joke. The processor performance can soften the problem with the following equation: less performance <=> less noise. Great deal.
(NB: I checked all the threads, here and elsewhere, no faulty parts with this machine regarding the fans etc).

Second: when you surrender to the situation and adapt your room to the computer (and not the opposite), then the software starts to play funky. Increasing beachballs and delays. I reinstalled the whole system last month, with a full re-format of the internal HD; this afternoon the system crashes when trying to send pictures by email; after that, half of the software doesn't work; Pram/Permissions/fsck: fsck becomes hyperactive with my faulty HD (???), after what Mail is back, but in Dutch on my first account and in Spanish on the second one. Big mess here, which means I have to reinstall again the full software. And honnestly, I've got better things to do with my evenings.
(NB: I checked all the threads around for these problems, got most answers from everyone, tried everything, without much of an improvement as of today. And I also find it weird that what should be the best OS in the world needs high maintenance skills, with the periodic tasks to be done etc, I mean, I want to use my machine, not spend hours fixing it ! )

I'd like to sell the whole thing (despite the loss over one year) and get something else, but I don't even know what ? I tried PC for one year, and, er, I just can't (but I tried !).
On the Apple line, I'm afraid of getting a noisy item again... (and I wouldn't want to go down to G4, btw).

...Because of the HUGE time on the forums, I've seen an important loss of quality-control in the products of Apple in the last couple of years for many users: noise issues, faulty pieces, unstable updates, unfriendly Apple repair service, etc... Am I the only one to think so ? Could it be Apple is producing too much, forgetting the clients, only seeing iPod targets ?

Or maybe it's our generation: my buying-cycle seems to be repetitive: buy / use / find a major flaw / warranty / get it fixed; nothing seems to work straight-out-of-the-box anymore ? My own examples go beyond Apple:
- camera Sony DSC-F828, problems after 1 month (CF card), fixed after 11 months;
- printer Canon Pixma 5000, problems after 1 day (color), fixed (or not?) after 2 months;
- widescreen TV Sony, problems after 1 month (weird stripes), fixed after 6 months ("keep it away from the wireless phone base");
- Toyota Rav-4 (!), problems after 1 month (does not always start!), half-fixed after 2 years;
- etc etc etc...
Heck, anything with electronics in it...

Mmm, if nobody agrees with me, I guess I'll end up with the title of Most-Unlucky-Man-In-The-World... but well, I also have other things in my life than electronics

Welcome to the club, I had a sony ericson cell phone go bad, bought a motorola to see if the company mattered, apparently not... had to get a replacement v180 form t-mobile. Got the replacement and after 1 week the main speaker stopped working. It is a cheap phone, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't work. I am hesitant to pump $100 into a new cell phone to have the same thing happen again. For the last few months I have had to use speakerphone for everything.

 

[Deepdale]

Did you have problems or for whatever reason not like your mac but it grew on you?

Two weeks after purchasing my first Mac in 1995 - a Performa 578 all-in-one model - the sound no longer worked. A repair technician came to my apartment and I watched sadly as he disassembled it into a big pile of components.

He replaced a part and proceeded to leave a scratch on my desk before he left. The sound worked properly for about 5 months before old problems resurfaced. I did not pursue it any further and for some time thereafter I had numerous misgivings about my choice.

I have had assorted problems with both Macs I have owned to date, plus an expensive Apple Laserwriter 4/600 printer died early. Fortunately, my iMac G3 has been generally stable the last 3 years ... most recent problem being the non-recognition since 12-04 of the extra 256 MB of RAM installed at Tek-Serve. Hopefully, things will go smoothly with my first laptop soon.

 

[SummerBreeze]

You should investigate getting this issue fixed, as it is not the norm. Millions of Mac users can't be that stupid..

Too bad millions of Windows users are that stupid. Although, Mac definitely has a bad rep. due to all the previous, less usable systems (man I hated 9.2)

 

[dornoforpyros]

eh the thing you need to remember is that macs are still computers, and computers aren't perfect.

 

[highres]

Macs have been my main form of computing since 1986, I'm sure some sceptics won't believe this but my first Mac was the 512K "Fat Mac" with MacPaint and MacDraw, through many models since then up to the Dual 2.7 G5 and CS2 I have now.

I have never regretted any Mac purchase and have managed to convert quite a few people in my 19 years of computing (kind of dates me, I'm a fairly old geezer)...

 

[~Shard~]

No, not one bit. I had a bit of a learning curve with my first Mac, as can be expected, but never ran into anything that made me regret my purchase. It's all been good.

 

[iMeowbot]

Oh, yes. I steered clear of Apple stuff for a good five years because their hardware and software had all become so shoddy. Right now they're kind of teetering again, I hope they get their act together before it gets out of hand.

 

[Arnaud]

To all those b******* about loud iMacs, IT'S CALLED REVISION A. If you're still under 1 year, take it to a genius bar or send it to apple and request the REVISION B's. Buying a Revision A of ANY computer from ANY manufacturer can guarantee a shot in the foot.

And yes, if you're Mac is coming to a hault that much, you need to take it back to Apple and have them check it out. It could be a bad logic board or some other piece of hardware. Software would rarely, rarely ever do that. The mac in my sig still purr's along 24/7. And it's over THREE years old.

- That's a funny comment, all in all, you say nobody should buy a Revision A of any computer, because it is normal that the Revision A is faulty ? Wow, let's all follow that rule, and get Apple bankrupt before a Revision B of the next machine. But it's ok, it's normal for them to release faulty machines in the first place, despite the price. And it's cheaper for Apple, no extensive quality controls before reaching the market, we even pay them to beta-test the machines !

- Have you ever brought a Rev.A machine to an Apple store and "requested a Rev.B"? Try. Tell me when they'll do that, because they will certainly change all the internal parts of your machine during the next 6 months, but you'll have to fight your way to get a new machine. I don't think you really ever can.

- Loud iMacs: the problem is that there are 2 types of iMacs, the "normally loud" and the "abnormally louder". You can fix the "abnormally louder" into a "normally loud" by changing the fan part, but no Revision to this day is whisper quiet, because of the construction per se. Funny thing is, all Apple stores being kinda noisy, you never really realize it until home.

- Your machine is over 3 years old and it still works: that's my point entirely, old Macs can work better than some of the most recent Macs, which is a shame.

eh the thing you need to remember is that macs are still computers, and computers aren't perfect.

I agree, but after more than 20 years of development of all sorts of Home Personal Computer, we could expect some stabilty, no?


Anyway, my computer has won a trip to the store, most certainly tomorrow. I hope they'll check it all and change the ram / HD / fans / motherboard / revision / type, maybe they'll give me back a Dual PM instead ? Meanwhile, I'll get appointments for exorcisms and counter-curses, in case the machine is perfect and I'm actually the one responsible...

 

[~Shard~]

I agree, but after more than 20 years of development of all sorts of Home Personal Computer, we could expect some stabilty, no?

20 years? That's nothing - if you expect reliability from something simply because they've been around for 20 years, I'd hate to see your expectations when you're out buying cars.

 

[shadowmoses]

I have to admit when i got my first mac about 2 and half years ago (last rev iBook g3) i did have some regrets mainly due to making the transition from windows was painful at first as i did not fully comprehend OS X and couldnt use it very well....

Saying this the more i used OS X it grew on me and now i would never consider switching to windows...

If you don't like OS X just keep working at it and im sure you will start to like it, as most people find it hard as they are resistant to change there XP ways.....

SHadOW

 

[Evangelion]

Although this is a bit of a tangent - hardware companies are looking to virtualization to allow this type of scenario. Two or more OSes sharing the hardware resources in realtime.

I bet that Leopard will have that. few clicks of a mouse, and you will have Windows (or Linux) running in real-time (as in: not emulated) right in your OS X.

 

[Arnaud]

20 years? That's nothing - if you expect reliability from something simply because they've been around for 20 years, I'd hate to see your expectations when you're out buying cars.

Mmm, that's right too, I didn't see that side of things...

But 20 years is still a lot, 2/3 of my life time !
I think I achieved a lot in 30 years !
Although I thought I had achieved a lot when I was 7 too, I suppose...

(NB: talking about cars - as stated in my first post on this thread, my car, bought new, randomly refused to start for almost 2 years. At a point, I was opening-and-closing doors again to try to start it, and I also tried to find a Microsoft component under the hood, that was my best guess...)

 

[TBi]

I bought an iBook in Febuary (my first mac) and i loved it and still love it. So much so i sold my Athlon X2 and got a MAC Mini. However i'm not to happy with the mini. I think my problem though is that it was such a big step back. I need more ram (512 at mo) and a faster hard drive. I tried installing OSX onto my Firewire drive last night but it won't boot. I think i would have prefered the power of the iMac.

Then again i think my problem is i'm concerned about all the data i have and i can't easily access it any more (2 SATA hard drives from my old PC that i can't read concurrently, my MPC only has one SATA). Teething problems which have nothing at all to do with the MAC.

Although it is annoying that finder can hang if you lose contact with a server and that pocket mac wouldn't sync with my PPC and crash my computer if i plugged it out. Thankfully i still have the windows PC for this, using wireless since its hidden away so i don't have to see it's horridness any more.

 

[rose red]

No regrets so far

I guess it depends on why the change from the other side. In my case it was because I shared the computers with other family members who seemed to think that viruses etc were just part of the challenge of owning computers and I just wanted a computer that worked.

Even though I now have a replacement for the first iBook bought in July due to problems, spending a few hours on the phone and feeling that I was having to make a presentation on why I should get a new computer instead of a repair, still no regrets.

Yes it is annoying speaking to people who don't seem to understand you, but no worse than my bank (very good at bending the rules when you point out how daft they are) and internet provider (after realising we were on completely different wavelengths they spend five days to reply to email only to reproduce something on their website that I was querying, nothing terribly life threatening though). But that's life now and as long as everyone is polite and don't put the phone down on you it is possible to get a resolution in your favour.

Quality of build, not too good I have the same problems of squeaks, not quite fitting, noisy hard drive but not annoying, makes the computer more like a friend. My husband has Sony, several in fact, lovely machines but today wanted my help in sorting out which lead goes where, so many sockets all over the place, so I show him my iBook. Then I re-realise what a beautiful design it is, everything is there in a logical place. The machine just works. No regrets.

As for the operating system, you just switch on and ready to use, connected to internet straight away, no problems, and the sleep mode is fascinating to see. As I'm new to it all I bought 2 books, Mac OSX for Dummies and the excellent Robin Williams The Little Mac Book Tiger Edition. Compared to all the other computer books I've read over the years its a new world for me, very user friendly, wish I'd moved here years ago.

I want to have a computer that I can use and enjoy and I feel that Apple and its users share that objective.

So far I am a happy mover, no regrets at all.

 

[devilot]

A couple of things that might bum me out:

-games (not only more for Windows, but typically cheaper, too)
-certain websites don't give full support to Macs
-my brand new iMac G5 was declared DOA but because it was BTO (ooh, an extra 512MB RAM stuck inside, big deal) took 3 weeks to 'fix' instead of just gettin a replacement!


-and most importantly...

I miss Mac OS X when I'm stuck somewhere w/out it.

 

[pammyspyce]

I regret buying my Rev A iMac only 7 weeks before the Rev Bs released. D'oh. I didn't know much about Macs when I bought so I didn't know about Tiger, revisions, etc. Oh well. I still love my iMac. So much so that I sold my PC laptop and bought a PB 4 months after I bought the iMac.

 

[eyedoc_00]

To all those b******* about loud iMacs, IT'S CALLED REVISION A. If you're still under 1 year, take it to a genius bar or send it to apple and request the REVISION B's. Buying a Revision A of ANY computer from ANY manufacturer can guarantee a shot in the foot.

And yes, if you're Mac is coming to a hault that much, you need to take it back to Apple and have them check it out. It could be a bad logic board or some other piece of hardware. Software would rarely, rarely ever do that. The mac in my sig still purr's along 24/7. And it's over THREE years old.

I bought my first mac about 4 mos, ago. iMac 20". I upgraded the hard drive and the memory to 1gb. I love it for the most part. Still learning how the mac works vs. the pc. My only complaint wold be the fan noise. At times it can be very loud. For example about a week ago, my wife was on the internet for about 3 hours and it sounded like the fan was going to explode. At other times the fan comes on and it gets pretty loud. I do not know if this is normal or not. Othe than this I love my mac and am trying to get my sister-in law to buy one.

 

[wdlove]

eh the thing you need to remember is that macs are still computers, and computers aren't perfect.

Human nature to have regrets at times. In my case it's very infrequent. Only if I'm really frustrated that something isn't working or compatibility issue. Usually it just takes patience and T&E. With compatibility, my bank updated their payment section of the site. The solution was to now use Netscape 7.0.2.

 

[~Shard~]

Mmm, that's right too, I didn't see that side of things...

But 20 years is still a lot, 2/3 of my life time !
I think I achieved a lot in 30 years !
Although I thought I had achieved a lot when I was 7 too, I suppose...

Yeah, I feel the same way. But again, as with cars for instance, instead of 2/3 of your lifetime, try over 3x your lifetime!

(NB: talking about cars - as stated in my first post on this thread, my car, bought new, randomly refused to start for almost 2 years. At a point, I was opening-and-closing doors again to try to start it, and I also tried to find a Microsoft component under the hood, that was my best guess...)

Yikes, that's bad. Good guess on the MS though, that would have explained a lot.

 

[GbV76]

I bought a 17" iMac in 2003. At first I was pretty disappointed with it. It would freeze up, give me the spinning beach ball, I'd even get some sort of equivalent to the "blue screen of death" that was in a bunch of different languages. Eventually I discovered the "hardware test" CD that came with the computer. Popped it in and found a problem with the extra 512meg ram that I'd bought. Replaced it and everything's been great ever since. Now I'm a mac fanboy too!
One thing that pee'd me off though..... I bought the extra ram at the same time as the iMac from CPUsed in toronto. I didn't feel like waiting around for it to be installed (for free), and the guy told me how easy it was, so I just took it home and did it myself. What he didn't tell was that installing it myself voids the lifetime warranty that they advertise.
Moral of story: avoid CPUsed, they're nothing but a bunch of bastards.

 

[deputy_doofy]

I don't regret the purchase, but my latest Mac - a dual 2.3GHz G5 - has been driving me crazy with sleep problems. The machine would not go to sleep with the sleep command (under the Apple menu). It would power down to sleep and immediately wake up. Sometimes it would get stuck and need to be powered down with the power button.
Other times, if the machine tried to sleep on its own, it would panic and rev all fans to full speed. Applecare has told me to try doing an archive install to fix the problem. However, for now, I have simply turned sleep OFF for the machine. Only the display sleeps now. Guess what? NO problems with this setting.

All that ranting aside, the Powermac G5 is the best Mac I've ever used. Fast as can be and just laughs at my miserable attempts to slow it down. ol

 

[lucface]

i like makin beats. i understand that "Logic" is the app. but i cant drop 700-1000 clams on a single program rite now. i will when i can. but i cant! i miss fruity loops, acid, and sound forge. they were real basic music production programs that didnt cost an arm and a leg and if i wanted to just mess around and make beats i could. now im stuck with nothing. and it sucks.

i am onely botherd about gaming for the sake of half life 2. but i play enouph halo 2 to be totally destracted.

i have some problems with tiger. actually i onely have two. the others, i found, were just fire fox. the one problem is lagy volume. i will raise or lower the volume from my keyboard and it will, about half the time, lag. were if i hit the volume up key 4 times, the volume will increase but seconds after i hit the key. the other is sound related as well. some times my ballance is leaning more to the left in system prefs. for no reason. and i gota go in the and put it back to middle. and no, its not a human eror.

i dont like how the new pb titanium's feal like they were rushed out the door. my lid/screen has alot of movement in it when open. i found out because of the hinge desighn. they simply break often and there was never a recall. and me and two other friends who each have the same exact pb's have isues were our headphone outputs sometimes onely chanel one speaker unless you hold it in place just rite.(unrelated to the other sound stuff)

i hate that they make the chargers so flimsy. at the male end were the wire meets it, it breaks cause of wear. it is understandable in a way. i could see how after sitting in bed night after night with the book on my lap, puting strain on the cord, would mess with it. but i shouldnt be able to go through 3 in a year. though with the titaniums they put the jack on the side of the machine rather than the back/ i think thats better. less procarious.

man i just burnt out writing all this bad stuff i dont have patients to talk about all the wonderfull advantages ive had had using my macs over pcs.
ill come back and edit this post in a bit to add the perks.

 

[Arnaud]

I don't regret the purchase, but my latest Mac - a dual 2.3GHz G5 - has been driving me crazy with sleep problems. The machine would not go to sleep with the sleep command (under the Apple menu). It would power down to sleep and immediately wake up. Sometimes it would get stuck and need to be powered down with the power button.
Other times, if the machine tried to sleep on its own, it would panic and rev all fans to full speed. Applecare has told me to try doing an archive install to fix the problem. However, for now, I have simply turned sleep OFF for the machine. Only the display sleeps now. Guess what? NO problems with this setting.

It might sound obvious, and I guess you already checked it up, but you should try to unplug all the external devices. I've had the same sleep/wake-up problem with my machine, but I got an hint from a post it might be my (USB-powered) Canon scanner. Unplugged it, and my machine finally goes to sleep normally . (I don't use the scanner that often either, so it's not a problem).
On the other hand, I never had it so bad to get a kernel panic and full fan speed.