Mac vs PC review again?

Okay fine. I read the apple news today about the PC vs Mac. Obviously whatever that's posted on Apple is slightly biased. It's just one of the few reviews that people made. Leopard does get higher satisfaction. You might argue you paid more. Or okay let me put it this way, you paid less and you satisfied with your PC? Don't argue with me. I still have a big ass Gateway Desktop sitting at my home. I know what I'm dealing with here.

I wrote this in the comment section: Mac vs Pc

I'm a PC and Mac user. I purchased my first ever Apple MacBook in February. I was a total stranger with Mac. I only remember myself used it once or twice when I was in college. That's about it. Until my sister showed me the Leopard keynote presented by Steve. It was so darn cool. I know Steve might have said it over 30 times in the presentation. But I've to say, it's really so darn cool. By that time I was still sitting with my Vista and thought Vista isn't as bad as anyone thought. The fact is, Vista is really fine IF you don't ever bother to look at Apple's OS X. Until you really look into a little bit. You'd wonder, hmmm hey Bill, can we have that on your PCs? Or Can I convert my Vista/XP to a Mac. I'm not a tech geek or anything. I'm just a daily user. It might've been a different story for those users who are into the mechanics of it. But i'm just a daily user who listen music, watch movies, write blogs, etc...

My sister was kind enough to show me her MacBook Pro during the winter vacation. This is how I get more hands-on exposure to Mac. At that point in time I wasn't influenced yet by the Mac. But I started to see myself climb over my own stubborn wall and see what's on the Mac side. Photo booth was one of the first few things I found fun out of a computer.

Two months later I made my decision. I purchased the Black MacBook the day after the MacBooks update. Believe or not. I had no idea how some of the things work in Leopard. Why that window is not opening, bunch of silly questions. I've gone through the learning process which normal PC users would struggle/fear/hesitate. Two months after using my Mac. I should say I 'enjoy' using my mac more than a PC. Couple of ideas you'll get here:

1. I can import pictures much faster than on Vista.
2. I can save webpages as PDF in 3 clicks.
3. I can preview photos 'instantly' either with coverflow or quicklook (preview). It doesn't take time to see the photos thumbnails loaded. Versus Vista/XP takes forever to load that. Don't argue with me on that. I've seen it myself!
4. 80% of the freeware doesn't require installation like on a PC. Pretty much like unzip and there you have it. If you need to uninstall them, all you have to do is to drag it to trash. You don't have to go through the uninstallation menu.
5. You don't need to read instruction to use most of the stuff on Mac. You see lengthy text instruction all the time in windows, ex. (properties windows). Cool, Mac doesn't require much reading.
6. Leopard comes with MOST of the fun stuff you'd need. I'm really impressed with the software suite that comes with it. They call it iLife I believe. It consists of GarageBand, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, iWeb. The later two are just supplemental, meaning I don't use much. I play music instruments. I'm glad there's a free software that I can use to record whatever i play, even edit and mix. You can actually produce professional music tracks with it if you've time. iPhoto is a simple tool that manages photos, it launches automatically when I connect my camera to my Mac. You can edit photos, drop simple effects, crop, straighten and more. It's sufficient for a normal user. The 'retouch' function is really useful. It can get rid of any unwanted spots, minor flaws on a photo.
7. OS functions that can make you go 'wow!'. Expose and Spaces are already cool enough. What about this, have them work at the same time (Expose + spaces). If not enough, what about this I'm tired of doing the shortcuts to launch Expose/Spaces. Can I just move my mouse the corners of my screen to launch those suckers. Oh yes, 'Hot-Corner' can set you up. Again, you don't need to read at all to get this set up.
8. Start up time, launch time, shutdown time, sleep time. Get a stopwatch and see it yourself.
9. I use Windows at work. What if I need to work over the weekend at home :(. No more sad face. There's remote desktop for Windows, that's right. I could remote to my workstation at work just like a PC. WOrks like a charm.
10. Two finger scrolling = I can surf the web faster even with the absence of a mouse. You can do the pagedwn or pageup, or spacebar. But two finger scrolling allows more precise, and freedom over buttons.
11. Tons of open source freeware that actually can do stuff.
12. Screen capturing can be fancy too. Ever wonder how to just do a print-screen on a PC with just a section or a corner? In Mac, You can!
13. Clumsy people like me that don't like searching files on a computer. I use 'Spotlight' (Search) all the time. Type in whatever you know about the things you're looking for. It'll display a list of similar items you want. What's good about Spotlight? It's also the calculator and dictionary for me. I use the dictionary all the time as English is my second language. Oh, that leads to my next point, please read.
14. Leopard can talk to you. I'm not making this up. It can really announce any attention verbally. 'Don't rename program names with your Bosses' names'. It'll read it out loud to you when it needs your attention. :O Even wonder you computer can read stuff for you. Don't wonder just highlight and hit the shortcut key. It'll read out anything that's in English letters, simple symbols, numbers to you. There's also speech command, It's fun to play with if you have time and you don't listen to music from speakers.
15. Dashboard (sidebar, instead it takes up whole screen). You can add/remove widgets that you download in dashboard. You can move the widgets around to anywhere you desire. You get a tons of 'free' widgets from apple.com/download. It's more than just eye candies. It can actually be useful if you need tools to do tasks for anything. I got this 'hot-cornered'.
16. Files sharing between Mac and PC? It can be done. All you need is your other pc/mac's IP, username, PW.
17. One price you get all of the above with Leopard. Vista don't like families, at least not mine. My Vista Home Premium won't play some of the DVDs with the default Media Center. Such I can run it with VLC or PowerDVD. But hey, I want Genuine software from Vista to run it. Remember I paid you, Bill. Unfortunately, Vista Ultimate can do that and guess what there's an upgrade fee you've to pay. So forget it. That's just one of the essential features that I need as a normal user. I knew that there're more features you get from Ultimate. Those are not too much for me.

Overall, I do find some awkwardness with the OS X. Especially you have a bunch of similar windows opened. The Windows bar gives you a better sense of what you can switch to. The default window explorer in XP (not vista) is easier to use. That's about it. For Leopard, there're functions like Spaces to organize desktop apps, windows differently which I found it very useful. Simply drag you apps/windows across to another space. Just like that! Expose is more like a function that shakes all your cards, money, coins out from a purse. In that way you get what you need right a way without even think. You don't need to think because it's visualized. Apple does like to make things easier for users. They got it right on the track I can tell you that. It's just that there're still Windows users scared/hesitated/really stubborn. I understand that most PC games are for PC only. Only few game successfully made it to Mac. The truth is, yes, if you still play PC games. You can wipe out every single word I wrote above unless you run dual-boot with windows.

Last question is why stick with same ol' windows if there's something more fun out there. It's true that the top models of any Mac lineups are little expensive than normal PCs. But hey, if I get something I knew I 'd not enjoy. Why get it?!

I recommend Mac computers to anyone who's in college or those that contribute in the art/entertainment businesses. The built-in PDF, dictionary are really useful for projects and writing. And of course daily users like me only after music, photos, web, movies, fun. I hope you get a little more idea about Mac user that used PC windows since Win3.1.