So I am old enough to have experience back to the IBM XT and the Apple IIe. I have worked at PC companies and Mac Companies and have used both platforms through earliest Windows, PowerPC Mac running the non-Unix OS and so on the Snow Leopard and XP (this box). Like most companies, the clients I have had in the last 5 years have all passed on the resource hog named Vista.

When it came to buying PCs for the home and for my girls to use in college, what did I buy? All Apple (now all-Intel chip versions), from iMacs to MacBooks to iPods. My married daughter bought an iPad last year.

Why? Because I didn’t want to spend my time fielding calls from my wife and daughters about their PCs not working. I don’t have the time to be the Help Desk at home. I wanted a laptop that would last through ALL FOUR years of college (not likely with a PC). A MacBook is expensive – but it’s way cheaper than having to buy TWO Windows PCs.

They complained at first, but now I doubt that you could get them to own a Windows box unless you gave it to them. Maybe not even then.

Mark, you remind me of something I read online, “Come to the dark side, we have cookies.”

If you are a big PowerPoint guy then Keynote may not be for you but personally I like Keynote better, for a few reasons. Mainly the built-in templates, animations etc. are fresh and not commonly seen by Windows crowds; I can control the slide deck (and see presenter notes) from my iPhone; and switching to the Windows VM to show a demo and then back to the presentation does not go back to design mode (which is what happened the last time I tried to switch between demos and PowerPoint – maybe they’ve fixed that). Plus the display on even my three-year-old MacBook Pro is unrivaled by any laptop I’ve seen from any other manufacturer.

The only real hiccup I come across from time to time is that not all rooms / projectors are set up for Mac display output… which means I carry a little pouch with several display adapters and dongles.

Jump shark, come over to the white side Luke and virtualize the 7

Also, I didn’t want to have to take time to learn a whole new platform either. However, my experience with Windows 7 thus far, though mostly rewarding has been like learning everything over again anyway.

Essentially he told me that my video driver issue on a MacBook Pro (for which there was already a published KB article stating free repair) was due to my own negligence, and that replacing the graphics board and possibly the whole logic board would run me $1,500+. I’m glad I walked out, calmed down, and called Apple.

It wouldn’t have been that hard for him to actually listen to what I was telling him about the article on the Apple web site, but one look at the outside of my laptop and he had already determined that this couldn’t possibly be a defective graphics card but must have been my own carelessness.

Apple ended up taking care of me with superior service, and I had the laptop back in hand within 3 business days at absolutely no cost to me, but that experience in the store left me feeling like I’d have better luck picking up the phone than catching one of these guys on a bad day.

Anyway, all that said, yes, the Apple hardware is more expensive, but I find that what it saves me in the long run (time, how many times I would replace it, enjoyment / quality) is more than worth it. For similar reasons I like German engineered cars, Tag Heuer watches, etc.

And even with the experience I had at the store, I believe in the company as a whole and have faith that it was an anomaly and that it will be corrected.

RDP on Mac is a snap, Vnc works ok.
OSX & Graphics are like peanutbutter and jelly, Windows well not so much.

That’s just the GUI, I haven’t made the dive but from what I’ve read TCL on the Mac is also impressive.

I looked at Windows7 and it is a step in the right direction, but then it also seems to be a OSX (GUI) knock off.

That being said I remember my Novell LAN being somewhat bullet proof, Market share still speaks loud.

Thanks

I really, really love the ability to just walk into an Apple store, go to the Genius Bar, and get my computer fixed. I’ve had a few problems over the years, and the Genius Bar experience has made my day every time. There’s no finger-pointing between hardware and software vendors, no endless on-hold music, no shipping things around. I just hand it to the Genius, he fixes it, and he calls me when it’s done. To me, that’s worth every penny of the Mac tax. (And make no mistake, the Apple gear you WANT costs more. They have cheap stuff, but it won’t be the one you buy.)