Making the Plunge
Despite how it may have seemed from my last few posts, I’m not an Apple fanboy. In fact, apart from an old Macintosh Classic I used to have at my grandparents’ in Ireland, my iPod is the first Apple product I have ever bought. I’m also quite operating system neutral. My primary machine boots both Windows XP and Ubuntu and although I always use windows for my web development and programming (ok, I admit I can’t get Apache to work properly in Linux and I don’t know how to use anything more advanced than Visual Basic) I love playing around in Ubuntu and getting a general feel for using Linux, especially playing with compiz-fusion.
I’ve always been curious about Macs. I’d heard great things about their usability and seen for myself how great they look. Eve the Apple Store in Regent Street had me fascinated with it’s huge glass staircases and tables littered with computers and iPods. I marveled over the iPhone when I got to play with one the day after its UK launch. Apple really are masters of design and really know how to keep their customers in suspense.
So anyway, just before I went away for easter I realized I would need a laptop if I wanted to carry on doing my coursework while I was in Ireland. I’d been looking at the Macbook Pro for a long time but couldn’t afford £1299 for a laptop. My attention turned to the bog-standard, 2.2Ghz Macbook instead which was still better than my current PC and a lot smaller which would make it a lot easier to bring on the plane. So I went to The Apple Store in Regent Street and they were really helpful. They helped me decide what setup I wanted (even though I just wanted the basic one), set up the finance plan for me (It was short notice, I didn’t have £699 just lying around) and I left with it that day.
So I’ve been using my new toy for a few weeks now and I love it. Even though I installed Windows on it, I only seem to use it when I’m programming now. OS X is just lovely. Really easy to navigate around and use, despite the lack of mouse buttons. It’s also pretty, but in a different way to the way I find Windows Vista pretty.
Pros
- Great Looking
- Easy to Use
- Also runs windows - Everything I need
- Most things seem to “Just Work”
Cons
- Refuses to sync with my Mobile Phone (Sony Ericsson K850I)
- Seems to pass viruses onto my Windows PC
- The glossy screen fingerprints easy, as does everything Apple
So all in all, a lovely laptop, very pretty and easy to use
Cheers,
Mitchel