PC to Mac: My Not-So-Genius Switch - Page 14  

Have nothing but great things to say about the APPLE STORE in the GALLERIA in Houston TX.

My mac experience has gone well so far, build quality on this machine continues to blow me away, it is pretty good even sans unibody.

Only issues so far-
-Bootcamp and OSX Clocks vary which causes issues when there is no internet to fix them

-Sound drivers make odd beeping and static noises in windows but not OSX, so im gonna update drivers later.

Wild...you wouldn't think it would matter. You just use an NTP server for Windows, I guess?

Most of my systems are PC's but I do own an Intel based Mac Mini which I love. I just wish it were easier to upgrade the memory. I don't like the idea you have to use a putty knife to open it up.

The Mac Mini was designed to be a closed system, with no user interference at all. The other systems have easily upgradeable memory slots.

The Macbook even makes upgrading the hard drive easy...

My switch my Macs (about 3 years ago) has been great at every level, from hardware to customer support

I bought my first Mac (an iMac 24") in November.

Let's just say that I do not plan on ever owning another PC. I couldn't be happier with my rock solid Mac.

I just bought my first Mac a couple of weeks ago. Bought a MacBook Pro with 512mb on the video card, 4GB Memory, and 320 GB Hard Drive. I have been very impressed. I bought VMWare Fusion 2 as well. Funny... I find myself trying to use the mouse pad on my HP laptop like the MacBook Pro's. I really like that feature of the Mac. I have been VERY pleased with it so far.

I became a Mac user almost three years ago when I bought a 24" iMac. I loved the design and the footprint. I'm a IT solution architect working mostly in the Wintel space, so having a Mac system that can run Windows and Microsoft applications natively on the hardware was a big plus. I have no interest whatsoever in the raging debate over which is better.

A couple of weeks ago my iMac blew up...literally. I was working, replying to a customer email, when there was an unexpected snap, cackle, and pop (I call it the Rice Crispies meltdown). This was followed by a small fireball shooting out of the back of my system and the smell of burning silicon. The system is shot. For now I am using my 17" HP laptop...but I already miss the larger display of my iMac.

I have been shopping for another desktop since then, and have ruled out another iMac. Why? It isn't that I wasn't happy with my last system, but the value proposition is not as good as it used to be. And with video cards now supporting HDMI, using a larger 1080p LCD HDTV as a computer monitor is a realistic option and is worth considering.

I have decided to buy a new Dell Studio Slim desktop. With an Intel Core 2 Quad processor and 8GB of memory there isn't an iMac sold that is close to this level of performance since Apple is a generation behind on Intel processors and chipsets (only offering Core 2 Duo CPUs and a max of 4GB of RAM). I will pair the Dell with a Samsung 32" 1080p LCD HDTV that has 30,000:1 dynamic contrast and a 5ms response time. This system (PC and HDTV) with a 1TB SATA disk and BD-ROM drive sells for about $500 less than a topped out 24" iMac with everything. I have done some trials using my laptop and found that a 32" display is about as large as I can use at 1080p resolution. Any larger and I would really need to go to 2500 x 1600 resolution with a smaller dot pitch or text would be too large at a close seating distance. So there is a fine line.

The display is here right now but I am waiting on Dell to build and ship my new PC. It should be here in the next week or so.

--Jerome

Considering what you do, I would think that you would want to be looking at a Mac Pro, not an iMac.

Scary stuff with your iMac exploding like that.

I have no need for workstation class performance. I don't run graphics intensive applications such as CAD/CAM nor do I need tons of memory. In my line of work the main desktop applications I use are Microsoft Visio (for solution design work) and the Remote Desktop Client in order to connect to customer systems and my lab environment.

I work mostly with enterprise server products and I have a lab/development system with dual quad core Xeons and 48GB of memory, running Windows Server 2008 x64 Enterprise Edition with the Hyper-V role installed. This box is host to about 17 virtual servers running various IT solutions.

I do run VMWare Workstation on my desktop because I have several virtual desktop machines that are setup with specific software and VPN profiles that I need to do work for certain customers. But I doubt I will require more than 8GB of memory for the forseeable future.

Absolutely! I've seen machines go up before but never like this. I had to hit it with a fire extinguisher just to be on the safe side. If it had to happen then I am glad it happened while I was home (this system was in my home office). It's not unusual for me to leave my desktop running for long stretches of time, even when I am away from my desk. I am going to rethink that practice, however.

--Jerome

Well you just beat any work stories about computer meltdowns that I could come up with. You'd been a legend on Youtube if you could have captured your iMac/turbofan exhaust on video.

Haaa! Even better.

have to agree with jsaliga on the value point... however, most people who buy macs (pro) want the best spec, maybe to show off a little, at least to feel a bit smug. there are great deals to be had if you find some mac specialist / wholesalers, i got mine (2.2ghz / 2gb / 120gb mbp) for £800. but then i am coming from a fairly old / lesser spec windows machine.

how come the mac mouse only has 1 botton? YouTube - MacBook Air Ad (Parody)

The track pad is 1,2,3 and 4 finger control plus the whole pad is a click bar
go to the apple site and watch the tutorial on it and it will explain all the functions or better yet go to an Apple store and try one out.