[Sherwood]

I have one complaint on my Mac, that I honestly feel could be done better.

Optical drives.

I am on my third superdrive in my iMac. This one is now being choosy about which discs it will burn to, and any disc that's dual compatible for Mac and windows simply will not load. This makes a lot of tasks difficult.

Every time I encounter a new error and google it, I find thousands of similar complaints. This may be true for Windows as well, but I never had any problems with optical drives.

moreover, should a disc get stuck or unrecognized or anything out of the ordinary, the eject procedure is ghastly. I have to eject discs from terminal, using strings of code. Once when that didn't work I needed to bring my iMac into the shop, where it was disassembled to remove a disc. This is ridiculous. A simple hole where I could stick a paper clip to manually eject a disc is needed.

Other than that, I'm a happy camper one year in. It works great for me, and the great network architecture actually reduces lag in the few games I play. Yay!

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have one complaint on my Mac, that I honestly feel could be done better. Optical drives.

After 6 years of helping people with iTunes for Mac on Apple Discussions, I would have to agree (unfortunately)

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f90/lo...5/#post4901227

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/be...1/#post3833691

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/mi...ml#post3707009

 

[krmathis]

MoSXS. Thats quite rare.
I have been running Mac OS 10.3, 10.4 and now 10.5 since April 2004, and so far had just 3-4 hard crashes (grey screen of death). Two of them cause by hooking up an NTFS formatted drive to 10.3, which it did not like.

For my use (music, mail, msn, browsing, ...) its all I ever need. But I totally understand that hardcore gamers stick with MS Windows.
To each their own!

 

[vegaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif The only other people who I've known regretted the move were people so stuck in the Windows way of doing things that they couldn't stand having to adapt.

Yeah, this was my trouble the first time I tried switching, I just used it like a PC. I ended up giving up because I didn't see the point in it. The second time I actually decided I'd try to find out why mac users are so happy with OSX... I read up a bit on it and then when I tried the switch again I liked it.
I still use windows to play my TF2 though, just have to see if steams port to linux will get finished and include an OSX port too...

 

[MoSXS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif MoSXS: Your case is rare, that is, with the system locking up. You might have had bad RAM or an external device or network causing issues. I can understand though that some people would find windows better, such as people who play games a lot (and don't like consoles). The only other people who I've known regretted the move were people so stuck in the Windows way of doing things that they couldn't stand having to adapt.

Well, I've never had the system lock up while an external device was connected.

I've used two different wireless routers and it happened with both.

The locking up occurred in both units with both Leopard and Tiger with factory installed RAM (mostly on the factory installed RAM) and with 3rd party upgraded RAM. Ran the Apple Hardware Test on the first restore DVD on both systems with the factory installed RAM and upgraded RAM and the in-depth test, while it took hours every time I ran it, said the hardware was perfectly fine.

And like I said, Windows ran rock solid on the same hardware. No crashes, no instability, nothing.

So it's definitely an OS X issue. I honestly hadn't seen an OS lock up fully since the Windows 98 (not even SE) days. So I was pretty surprised and disappointed when it happened in OS X and became a regular thing.

 

[jonathanjong]

^ But it seems like your experience is a relatively rare one. I don't have data on this, but most Windows-to-Mac converts are extremely happy. Given the apparent unusualness of your problem don't you think it's more rational to attribute the issue to something other than Mac-suckness?

 

[paradoe]

virtual machine is interesting

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoSXS /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've used two different wireless routers and it happened with both.

So it only happened while you were using wireless?

 

[vegaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif So it only happened while you were using wireless?

Which means wireless driver problems, and they've probably been updated by now. There was an airport update a few days ago as well... can't remember exactly what it fixed though.

 

[Jaska]

Wow, what a confusing thread

If the subject under review is a wireless connection to a router, then technically we are not talking about an "external device" by any means. If the OP meant that a router connected to the computer via Ethernet was an "external device," that also is iffy. I've seen more than a couple of Macs take a dive when attaching USB and FireWire drives, and the approach Apple has taken towards troubleshooting and recovering from these problems has changed over time. In cases like these, we are really talking about problems with "external devices."

It's mighty easy to get Linux (Network Manager, etc.) to lock up when configuring a wireless card, but a stock Mac, whether connected via a built-in wireless card or via Ethernet to a router, is not going to crash due to problems with the connection. Networking simply won't work until the problem is fixed.

 

[MoSXS]

Quote:

I don't have data on this, but most Windows-to-Mac converts are extremely happy. Given the apparent unusualness of your problem don't you think it's more rational to attribute the issue to something other than Mac-suckness?

Well, every Mac convert I know has actually switched back to Windows. A friend of mine had an iBook and was a Mac user for years then switched over to Windows.

It's not a matter of being able to "drop your Windows ways". It's a matter of OS X and Apple hardware being too limited in too many ways.

I can think of a perfect example. I like connecting my PC to my HDTV for video or game playback. With OS X, if I connect it for video playback, I only have a certain number of options for that external display. I can mirror or extend the desktop. The only way I can disable the built-in display is by closing the lid and putting the system to sleep then waking it by using an external mouse and keyboard. A severe hassle, and even then OS X will not allow me to pick the proper resolution for the TV. With Vista on my HP notebook, I connect the cable and Windows sees the external display, remembers that I chose "External Display Only" on the box that popped up upon first connect, and it automatically switches to that display, disables the built-in display, and sets the proper resolution for the TV. I have full control with the keyboard and touchpad and proper resolution support.

Quote:

Which means wireless driver problems, and they've probably been updated by now. There was an airport update a few days ago as well... can't remember exactly what it fixed though.

I've been using wireless connections for many years on the PC side, and have had friends with Macs for as many years, and never once have I heard of or seen a wireless connection causing total system lockups.

It also happened across two major OS revisions with several updates to Airport. And while on Ethernet. I used to connect to ethernet while at my desk but stopped at the beginning of this year.

Plus the problem was entirely random. I could never repeat it and I would never know when or how it would happen. It certainly wasn't a heat issue either, seeing as how I used to play games in Windows on that GMA 950 until my HP with a dedicated GPU showed up.

So it's really just OS X.

I also just got a call from Apple. My MacBook had been in for repair thanks to cracking plastics, common issue. The repair center scratched my system up so it went back out. Even though there was a hairline knick on the screen caused by the repair center, in the bottom right corner, I specifically told them NOT to replace the LCD even though it was their fault. That system had an LG screen, considered to be the best. Guess what? I was just told they replaced it. I'm so pissed. Buying a Mac was the biggest mistake when it comes to computers I have ever made.

 

[Currawong]

A total lock-up suggests hardware, or drivers (kernel extensions) are the problem. I totally agree it's Apple's fault though. I could go on about the good and the bad of both sides, but we've headed way off-topic.

 

[grawk]

In a large enough sample set, it's easy to find someone with problems. Unique problems suggest hardware. Apple can be problematic with weird hardware problems, but perhaps they'll get it fixed for you. Either way, it sounds like you'll be better off selling your mac and going back to windows. No solution works for everyone.

 

[krmathis]

Why not drop this Mac OS X vs. MS Windows discussion/bashing?
Some like Apple, while others like Microsoft. Which is perfectly fine for me...

 

[LFC_SL]

I got my new Aluminium Macbook yesterday

Maxed out config

Typing this on the Macbook. I have the HP notebook next to it on the table also switched on - Al Gore be damned

What MP3 taggers are out there on Mac? Though I have yet to try crossover pro! Mainly logged on to find out what software was recommended again