This past Friday marked the end of the second week at my new job which has brought many changes for me. I left a good sized development team at large company for the uncertainty for a VC funded start-up without revenue, I’m miles from a ColdFusion server and instead am working on a Java distributed platform (though I had been working in Java exclusively for about 6 months before changing jobs), and I switched to a MacBook Pro among other changes. All of the changes have been great choices so far, and it was good time to make a big jump just from a personal standpoint as I felt that I was starting to stagnate. I pretty much had the option to use whatever platform worked best for me, and I took a leap of faith and decided to go with a MacBook. I got equipped with a very nice one– I have the 2.33 Ghz Dual Core w/ 2 GB of RAM.
The first day or two I felt like a bull in a China shop on the MacBook. The process for installing software didn’t make any sense to me, I kept using the control key for common shortcuts, and in general I was trying to figure-out how to setup the full software stack I’m now working on without really having a good understanding of the OS I was using on my workstation. I’m sure I’ve looked retarded to my new co-workers for the most part so far, but I feel like making the switch is really starting to pay dividends.
For starters, there is just no comparison between the fit and feel of a MacBook Pro to a Dell laptop. My Dell seems like a total piece of crap now, and it annoys me to have to use it. It’s big, heavy, clumsy, and shodily assembled compared to the MacBook. I look at some of my co-workers Dell laptops and am very glad that I picked the Mac, though some of them have some 12″ Lenovo’s which are pretty sweet.
Since I’m only a couple of weeks in, I hesitate to list all of the various software and so forth that I’ve found useful, but I’ll get around to posting that in a couple of weeks once I feel like that list is more finalized. Instead, I thought it might be useful to post some of the pros and cons I’ve noticed coming from using Windows and Linux:
Pros:
- Unix with a very nice GUI. That’s really enough to sell someone right there. I’m a command line junkie and it’s nice to have Bash and all of the assorted Unix facilities and software available
- The hardware is really good– it has great fit and finish. I can even use the MacBook Pro on my lap without getting scalded. There are just so many little things that you notice over time about the MacBook which are ingenious (like the light sensitive keyboard backlighting for instance)
- Everything just works. Had I attempted to set the same environment up on Windows I would have had to bludgeon myself with Cygwin. I haven’t had to deal with any of the annoying dependency problems that Linux has.
- I actually like the hardware lock-in. It makes it much easier to find accessories for your given hardware, and you can easily compare specs and application performance with other users, etc. I’m sure this also helps make the OS a lot better as well since they don’t have to support every chipset and piece of hardware under the sun.
Cons:
- Some of the software seems like it’s dumbed down too much. I understand it’s a design philosophy of the Mac, but with some software I find myself looking for the “Advanced” mode. I’m not sure what you would call the file browsing software, but it was my primary complaint until I found Path Finder
- The concept of Free Software seems to be beyond a lot of people in the Mac community. Every little add-on that makes software suck less is likely to cost you $12-$15.
- There aren’t really any Mac specific ergonomic keyboards. I’m currently using an MS Natural keyboard when I dock at work, but I find it hard to get used to shortcuts because I’m still using a keyboard with a Windows layout
All that I can say is that from the perspective of a big Unix fan who does Java development, I feel like the Mac offers a great platform for both software development as well as an everyday workstation OS. I’ll get around to posting a list of software that I’ve found to be useful in a couple of weeks once I feel like I’ve got most of what I need.
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Now that I spend my days on a Mac, I find myself having [Command] vs [Control] conniptions every evening when I get home to my windows box. Alt-C and Alt-V don’t get you very far when you’re trying to send a link to a buddy.
I’m proud of you boys. I’ve been mainlining Macs since you were all in diapers. The ‘Apple’ key is the cat’s ass, yo. Two downloads you might find useful:
ASM. Brings back the application switcher menu (and more) to Mac OS X. Nice for Mac users who grew to love it in Classic mode.
Adium. IM client for the Mac like Trillian. The updated just added Google Talk to the list of chat clients.
You might also look into Quicksilver. Personally, I forget I have it installed 98% of the time, but Neal’s in love with it.
Their tutorial page has tons of links for more info.
Aside from the Command/Control issues, the other problem that has most vexed me is the behavior of the [Home] and [End] keys. Maybe I’m odd, but I used those a lot in Windows and I’m having a really hard time retraining myself to do [Command]-[Left Arrow] and [Command]-[Right Arrow]…
There also doesn’t seem to be *anything* analogous to the Windows [Control]-[Left/Right Arrow] word skipping dealie.
@Matt:
My second computer at age 5 or so was an Apple IIe and it’s the first computer I taught myself some sort of programming on, so I guess I’m just coming home to daddy. I have installed Adium and also have a different application switcher installed so that I can switch between hidden windows too, but I don’t remember the name offhand.
@Jake:
Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about Quicksilver but haven’t actually installed it yet. Thanks for the tutorial page though, I’ll have to check it out.
I get super annoyed by the home and end key stuff as well. I once came across a link for a program which would “fix” it’s behavior to act like Home and End in Windoze again, so perhaps it’s time to dig that up and install it.
@Jake
OMG me too! what’s worse is it’s not universal. in Dreamweaver, ‘end’ is what we’ve come to expect, but in most things I end up at the bottom of my page and growling at the keyboard LOL.
@Brandon,
welcome to the enlightenment.
About a month ago acquired a iMac for Wife and agree the integration is great and overall a way better experience than the base XP experience.
That said, we have repeatedly seen both Safari and Firefox crash (may be a Javascript thing) and it turns out the wifi component is not fond of Linksys routers.
Oh I did manage to lock the iMac up within 6 hours of use but that seems to have been a one time occurence (No OS is impervious to my wiley ways
That said overall a great platform and now think a MacBook Pro would have been nicier than my ACER 8204.
Quicksilver rocks.
Did you ever use Total Commander on the PC? I’m wondering if there’s a mac equivalent… I don’t know if I could switch to a Mac for that reason alone. SUCH a powerful file manager.
Actually, I just found this:
http://www.likemac.ru/english/
Might be worth checking out as far as file managers go.
Now, it’s time to plug TextMate. This is the greatest text editor I have ever used. I really hope you try it out.
I recently made the switch to a macbook pro as well…from Ubuntu linux. I must say, I like it a lot. It’s nice having a solid gui on top of a unix kernel.
Hi
Dunno why Broz recomended ASM. The Dock gives you all of that for switching apps, and OS X’s Expose is a FANTASTIC app/window switcher, anyway. Beats all, IMHO!
The commands that ASM offers are not unique to ASM; they are the same commands available if you right-click (or control-click… or click-hold) on an application’s icon in the Dock. Although the Dock isn’t perfect, I like its one-stop shop character for launching and controlling apps. Also, you can drag folders to the Dock (right side of its divider line) for fast access, even using the same key-click combis I mentioned above to bring up a folder’s contents a la Mac OS’s old Apple menu and Windows’ Start menu. It’s a fast weay tyo get at things, and you can put ANYTHING there. I have my hard drive, Documents folder and a few other folders in the Dock like this for fast access.
More personal preference than anything else. Even though the Expose is available, I find myself instinctively clicking in the upper right for no apparent reason other than my years in Classic purgatory in the publishing industry. I would say I’m 75/25 between new school/old school.
The Home and Backspace keys can be remapped.
It’s a bit touchy but here’s the details.
http://www.lsmason.com/article.....dings.html
This saved my sanity!
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That’s what I let him think.
Ello, please, what kind of dock do you use for your macbook? I plan to switch from my pc laptop running linux to macbook pro (running mac os, maybe linux if there is point for that), but I’ve only found these dockings, which I actually don’t like at all: http://www.bookendzdocks.com/P.....tions.html . Are there some more?
Thanks
@Jake:
In most programs on a Mac you can jump the cursor over words by using [option]-[leftArrow] or [option]-[rightArrow].
There is a great MAC ergo keyboard available here: http://www.keyovation.com/pc-6.....e-usb.aspx
Kyovation it’s what Yahoo! gives to all it’s employees.
Enjoy