Tech, Politics, and Whatever’s Relevant

Mac’s were always something I wrote off as trendy, used by people who wanted to look sophisticated. they appeared to be almost like a fad. I never really saw them as something you would get any sort of productivity out of, I mean sure they were great if you wanted to use the Internet, use Photoshop or Final Cut Pro, but outside of that they were pretty useless (well not quite but you know what I mean.) The interface seems overly simplistic, very colorful, like it’s almost trying to appeal only appeal to casual users. Well for the most part I was suprised.

Yesterday I wrote about how I built a Media Center around a Mac, despite having very little experience using Mac’s at all. The last time I used a Mac was for a Spring 2007 programming class. The lab we were using had only Apple computers, which lead to a lot of frustration for those of us who were used to Windows. The Mac OS X Terminal was similar to DOS on Windows, except for some minor differences, and most of us just opted to bring out laptops to lab and use those.

So yes, my first impressions… Well at least close to them. I’ve been using my mini for about three months already, and I have to say I’ve enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, though it hasn’t been without some issues.

Interface

Coming from Windows, the interface takes some getting used too. I’m still not sure if I like the OS X Dock or the Start Bar better but I’m pretty sure I’ll know that in time. I do know that I prefer using ‘My Computer’ over the ‘Finder’, if only for Microsoft’s “No Bullshit” approach. Other things in OS X are nice, for example being able to zoom in on the screen by holding down CTRL and scrolling using the mouse wheel. Because of my Media Center Setup, this comes in handy since I sit pretty far from the screen. Expose and Dashboard are also pretty neat tools, though installation of some applications could be a little more straight-forward. It took me awhile to figure out that some applications are installed by dragging the application icon over the Application directory icon… While that makes sense, it may be making things a little bit too simple and literal.

Software

I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be the first, or last person to say that I don’t use any of the software that came with the Mac. My first install was Firefox, and since then I’ve been slowly replacing the applications that came with the system. I have been pleasantly surprised what you can find for Mac though. Cyberduck is a brilliant FTP tool that you can download for free, as is Adium, a light-weight Instant Messenger application, are some of the great programs you can find for OS X. To tell the truth, I really haven’t found anything that would rival these programs in Windows. I also find that I prefer Front Row to Windows Media Center only because it doesn’t seem to suffer from being bloated and clunky.
Hardware
And this is where the Mac really starts to shine. Despite the fact that I base all of my comparisons on the low-end mini, the hardware design of this computer is really something to behold. This is the quietest, discrete, coolest (temperature wise) computer I have ever used, yet it maintains all of the functionality it needs. The Mac has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Optical Audio-out, Firewire, and a quick processor. The only thing really lacking is extra RAM.

Overall my first impressions are good. I’m still learning more about how to use OS X but as I learn new things I’ll be sure to write about them.