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Windows switchers: were you scared/worried to make the jump?

V

VoodooDaddy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 14, 2003
1,414
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Long story short:

2yr ago when the mini first came out I said I was getting one, not to fully switch, just as "toy" more or less to play on and learn about mac os. Went to the apple store, started thinking "what am I doing here? I don't need a mac" and left.

In market for new computer now. With the intel macs I thought it was a no brainer. Get one, use bootcamp so I'd still have that security blanket if need be, slowly ween myself off MS at my pace instead of 1 giant leap with no safety net. Went to apple store saturday, same thought entered my head. "I don't need a mac, just build a new pc for less, I know what Im doing on a pc" etc.... I was 99.9% sure I was going to buy one going into that store, but now I'm probably less that 50-50.

Its almost like packing up and moving to a foreign land. I know absolutely zilch about OSX. I know XP front to back. I hear all the stories about how much better apple is, but its just a fear of the unknown I guess.


So did most of you have the same trepidation I'm having?
 
I started off using OS X by going to the computer labs. The Windows labs were always packed and usually had lines just to print. The Mac ones were almost always empty and much cooler too. ;)

It took me a few weeks to get used to printing and using OS X. I fell in love with the OS right there though. So, after working a month last summer I sold my old Athlon XP 2400 and bought myself a new iMac G5. I didn't feel like I lost anything or need a safety blanket of Windows.
 
It was a little intense back in the days of my big step but i wanted that step so bad i just dive right in and never looked back.

I didn't know JACK about Macs but i went in and read and apply...now i'm a master in my domain..:p


Bless
 
I just switched and didn't have any trouble, with OS X. Everything i wanted to do i could do on OS X without the need for windows, so i would just switch windows is ***** and will always be *****, at least until they redisgn the core of the OS, so it has the stability of Linux and OS X. Just swith to the mac it will be the best computing decision you will make. I will never go back to PC with windows installed on it.
 
I switched yesterday from a WIN98SE(wich I use for email, surfing, chatting and SShing to a few UNIX machines) machine!

So far it has been very very easy. There were some stuff that I could not figure and some things that I sitll dont know how to do... I am glad I have a friend who has been a Mac user for years and can help me.
 
No hesitation at all. I'd had enough.

Windows s**ts me now, I hate using it. No matter what the cost advantage may appear to be, I'll never go back.


Ever.
 
I'd never used OS X until I got my PB just over a year ago. I was getting really frustrated with Windows, and after reading all about Macs here, I had no fear or hesitation in making the switch. OS X isn't like some foreign language that you can't make heads or tails of. If you're computer literate then there really won't be too much difficulty in getting used to it.
 
No, but then I have used various kinds of *nix as well as Windows and was used to switching between OSs. I wanted something user friendly that would still let me use the Unix command line.

OS X lets me do on one machine what I was doing on two PCs (Windows and Linux) before.
 
It took me at least three months before I started liking OS X. It's a really nice operating system, even though I still like a lot of things better in Windows (Explorer is so much better than Finder). It's mostly the programs though, OS X is lacking some nice alternatives to, for example, foobar2000. iTunes can't hold a candle to foobar.

But I would say, go for it. Just give it a few months, it will probably grow on you. Finally there's a terminal that can be used, unlike the Windows command prompt.
 
Even though you have the ability to use windows on your new intel mac, i can assure you will never use it or want to use it once you experince OS X. I have an itel imac and a G5 imac and i loaded parellels on the intel one just to see what it was like. It is pretty cool and runs at verygood speed if you needed to use windows without playing 3D games. I have also dual booted into windows with the boot camp utility but i only did these to see what all the fuss was about. I am an OS X person now and will never go back to windows. If you buy a mac just play windows games i think it is a bad idea considering you could build your own PC for around £250-£300 The mac OS just works, never had a problem. The thing just runs and keeps on running.
 
Hi - I was in the exactly the same position as you last week. I went in to the Apple store and immediately noticed the 6 Macbooks on display. Had a play around and I really liked the whole feel and wanted one. Being a Windows user all my life I thought that making the step would be a major factor in my decision to buy an "ordinary" laptop or an Apple Macbook. I've been back to the Apple store twice to have a play around and found it really easy to pick up how to use OSX. I think you should be the same if you know Windows a lot and are a regular PC user.

I ordered my Macbook on Friday and I'm now awaiting details on when it will be shipped :D

I'm not looking for the Macbook to replace my home PC, which is a Windows XP machine (geared towards gaming), but more to complement it, and because I want to get to know OSX a lot more because I really think there is something there that I have been missing out on!!
 
I was the only person in my family, school, region that I know of that liked Macs. I would go home everyday and look at them obsessively. Then, my mom's Dell crashed. I "forced" her to go to CompUSA to get an iMac Intel 20". I was the only one who knew how to use it, so I had to teach my brother and my mother how to use it. I have never looked back. I have to switch OS almost all the time because my Dad refuses to buy a Mac becuase we have a 9 month old HP. I have grown to like OS X over XP just becuase it feels soo much better.
 
I don't play pc games, so that's a non-issue. Basically, I know a mac can do everything I'm using my XP machine for now. And if there are apps that I'm not able to use on osx, with bootcamp I can. So that's why I'm saying its almost a no brainer.

Maybe I'm just one of those rare lucky few that have little to gripe about with XP. Win98 was 1 thing, buggy as hell. But I've had next to no problems with XP. So its not that I want to try a mac because of problems I'm having and frustration with MS. Which really is the crux of the problem. Why switch if my computing experience has been positive?

Up to saturday, I was really excited to get a mac. But once I set foot in that apple store all that changed. It was like I was about to join some weird cult, all the employees standing around with their birks on and name-badge lanyards and ipods somewhere on their person. Lol

Is wanting to try something new a big enough reason to just completely abandon everything I know so well?? Is the "experience" going to be that much better? I guess I'm the only one that can make the decision for me.
 
VoodooDaddy said:
Long story short:
....
In market for new computer now. With the intel macs I thought it was a no brainer. Get one, use bootcamp so I'd still have that security blanket
Click to expand...

Here is how to decide: Ask yorself what do I actually USE a computer to do? Seriously wy do you even want to own a computer?

If you were my son you'd say "because I need to play "Halo" 24x7. OK if that is the only use of a computer just go and buy some cheap Dell and get a decent graphic card.

Now if your answr is "Because I'm into photography, web design and Video. I like to put make and show various kinds of digital media" then it's a no-brainer buy a mac.
 
macsrockmysocks said:
I was the only one who knew how to use it, so I had to teach my brother and my mother how to use it.
Click to expand...

Did you really need to learn how to use it. I simply showed my 7 year old daughter how to enter her name and password then I told here what the little icon on the dock were and she figured out the rest. My Son at age 14 needed a little less help.

Some people think they will need to learn everything all over again. No, don't worry. If 2nd grade kid can get up to sped in minutes you can too.

In my case I went with Mac OSX because of my 20+ years experiance with UNIX. It will do everything the Linux and Solaris systems do plus it has this pretty desktop. But the real reason to buy a Mac is the applications. I wanted Final Cut and Adobe Photoshop, iLife and iTunes. Final Cut is simply not available on anything but a Mac.
 
I don’t know if I can truly be called a switcher, as I used Apple’s and Wintell PCs, but not Macs for a long time. I was a big fan of the Apple // series. I still switch between multiple Windows PCs at work, Java and UNIX based servers, and Macs. After burring through a dozen WinTell laptops in as many years, I got a tangerinE iBook and have been hooked ever since then. The reliability is fantastic, and the laptops are robust. I actually had problems switching from os 9 to os X. My worry was that I couldn’t afford all new software licenses. It was a valid worry.

I have to be honest, the transition between 2k and OS X was easy, while OS 9 and X seemed like different worlds. The difference between the Windows interface and OS X isn’t difficult. I transition between the two easily. It did take about 2 weeks before I was comfortable with OS X. It took another couple of weeks before I started scripting in OS X.

My fear was about cost, not in ease of transistion. It would have been nearly as pricey for me to move from a Windows 95 to 2k system.
 
I've been using Macs in various forms since I was...uh...7 years old, but since 2002 I've done the majority of my computing on a home-built PC (in several incarnations). I experienced the horror that was Windows Me (i.e. This Operating System Will Self-Destruct), upgraded to 2000 and was relatively happy, then finally bit the bullet and went to XP, which has been decent, in light of past versions of the OS. I was finally in the market for a laptop recently, and decided to hold my breath for an affordable Intel model; picked up a MacBook on release day.

I have not touched my PC in two weeks, except to play Counterstrike. There's just no reason. OSX is so slick and svelte and polite compared to Windows that after a brief adjustment period, it becomes second nature. (Also, I discovered VoodooPad.)

Installed Parallels, got a copy of XP running in case I should need it, and have been a happy camper ever since.

Considering that you get a pretty respectable bang for your buck these days in terms of Mac hardware, it should be a no-brainer. The OS is worth it. It makes your life happier. Really.
 
VoodooDaddy said:
So did most of you have the same trepidation I'm having?
Click to expand...

Yes, but the learning curve for OS X is far easier than Windows in my opinion. I found I was able to get a reasonable understanding of how to use OS X in half the time it took me to get used to Windows when I first started.

Switch, you won't be sorry. I switched last November and have been incredibly happy with doing so. :)
 
For years, I've thought about checking out Macs. In the past year, I also wanted a laptop. At the beginning of the year, a friend of mine bought a 12 inch iBook, which he let me mess around with a bit. I thought Mac OS X was very cool. Also, I wanted the ability to do video/sound editing if I wanted to. So, in February, I took the plunge and bought a 14 inch iBook. I felt kind of bad spending so much money (which I feel on pretty much any purchase over $50), especially since I just paid off a trip. But I really loved it from the moment I first started it, and since then have had no regrets.
 
I have a friend who I'm convinced we'll make a Mac user yet. Right now, though, he tells me these ridiculous nightmare stories which only serve to reinforce to me why I bought a Mac in the first place. We'll talk about our weekends and he'll say "So on Saturday I got a {mp3 player, ink jet printer, laser printer, digital camera, new video card} and I ended up spending the entire evening {reading the tech forums, downloading drivers, reinstalling his OS, downloading security updates, virus scan, rebooting, fixing a meltdown} and so far it seems to be working, although {insert spurious problem here}."

And I'll say (or at least think), "Gee... I spent my weekend actually USING my computer."

I don't know WHY he has all the bad luck but it seems like everything that can go wrong on a PC, does, in his house. I used to own half a dozen Windows machines and I never had nearly the problems he does.

But my story? I've told my story here before (see post #11, and #15 for a really good story on how impressive Apple Bonjour technology is)

The short answer was, I had a Mac-faithful friend who kept dropping hints about how much better his TiBook was than my Dell laptop. For a long time it was like water off a duck's back until one day he essentially demonstrated that he could do with just iMovie what I had struggled to do with the best hardware and software I could afford at the time. That, and I got an iPod, which gave me a taste of Apple that I couldn't just get rid of. Finally I bought a rev B 12" Powerbook to "give it a try", and I slowly found myself using the Windows laptop less and less until I finally sold it a year later.

Still have the 12" PB today, and thinking about uprading to a MacBook Pro.
 
I used to go through a PC every 18 months like clockwork. My roommate would build one for me and then 18 months later it would have a catestrophic failure. Every time he'd say "this type of thing doesn't happen. you're the first person I've ever heard of having this problem."

My first mac, on the other hand, was 18 months old when I bought it and worked perfectly (other than a known logic board failure that was replaced twice for free). I have a B/W G3 here that run OSX fine, and for another $200 could be a solid graphics workstation (works OK as-is).

So yes, the mini will cost a bit more than building a PC, but IMO will also last twice as long. Or buy a used mini for $350 and you'll have a computer that's the same cost as building a PC.
 
Before I switched, I was a Windows person at home and a Mac OS 9 user at work. After a few years I finally switched to OS X at home, so there was still a bit of a jump between OS 9 and OS X.

I was never worried about the switch itself, but I was concern about the dent it would make on my wallet. There is a learning curve with adjusting to a new OS, but I found OS X to be pretty intuitive. No regrets what-so-ever :)
 
I was in exactly the same position and put off the switch for years. Finally made the move with the release of the MacBook and couldn't recommend OS X enough, if only because of the stability. Only took me a few hours of playing around to get familiar with it, not as much as windows I admit, but enough to do the majority of what I do.

The help utility absolutely wees on the windows one in every way. Anything I was stuck with, it gave me the solution. I can't remember the windows one helping me with anything more complicated than "How do I turn my computer off?"

I would recommend the switch whole heartedly, amazing operating system. My only problem is that my MB was a duffer so it's going back for a refund. I would say though that in my, albeit limited, experience, it isn't VERY different. Just better, in every way.
 
I made the positive yet fruitful decision late one evening about 19 months ago. Tired of the time-consuming work viruses and spy-ware constantly created I decided to begin the research of switching as you. I first bought a G5 Power Mac for the home. I was so ecstatic with the ease of transition and the stability OS X provided I bought another for the office. The old Dell sits meekly beside the G5, used only for the accounting package. Data history is the reason it remained.

Stability and ease of use were a few of the benefits I noticed. The learning curve I feel is minimal with substantial rewards. For the small learning curve this site has been an invaluable asset to obtain knowledge as well as gaining an insight on how others use their Macs. The most difficult procedure I had to learn was uninstalling a program. Dragging the program or icon to the trashcan seemed overly simply for me as a past Windows user. When you make the switch you will one day look back as many have and ask yourself; why didn’t I make the switch sooner?

Many on this site are more qualified to add to your thread yet I wanted to express my positive results with the Apple community as opposed to simply a Mac computer.

Good Luck,
Michael
 
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