On November 27, 2009 I wrote about why I chose a Windows 7 PC over a Mac. Ooops, that was a mistake. Late in 2010 I got a Mac and I’m so glad I made that decision. It’s not that Windows 7 is bad, it’s that the Mac is so much better. As for that Sony, I gave it to my sister, who loved it. A burglar broke into her house though shortly after I gave it to her and stole it. I hope it eventually found a good home.
I break the advantages of a Mac down into 3 categories: Little Things, Unix, and Hardware.
Little Things
It’s the little things that make such a big difference in the experience. Here are some examples of little things I so love:
- When installing an application you aren’t bombarded with endless pop-up messages about “are you sure, this could be the end of your computer”?
- I can close my laptop at work, take it home, open it back up and pick up from where I started instantly. Crazy fast. I don’t have to think about Standby versus Hibernate versus Sleep versus Shutdown versus low energy modes.
- Time Machine – A fantastic backup solution (and network router / printer sharing device).

- Keyboard Shortcuts – The function keys at the top of the Mac keyboard are extremely useful. I never used these on a PC but on my Mac I use them all the time. Screen brightness, volume, and iTunes play buttons are very handy.
- Spotlight search really does work. I can find what I need really quickly.
- Multiple screens (spaces) are a snap. (Command+Left/Right/Up/Down)
- Xcode – I was first intimidated a little by Xcode, but now that I’ve been using it for several months it’s by far my favorite IDE of all time. It’s really simple to create Mac applications using Xcode. Objective-C is my new girlfriend.
- Fast window switching – at first I couldn’t get how window switching on the Mac worked, but then I learned how to do Command+~ and now I’m a big fan.
- Malware / Spyware – I’m still shocked how many people on Windows open attachments they shouldn’t. While I know this can and does happen on Mac’s, I hear about rarely. I’m not sure if Mac users are smarter or there are just fewer attempts by the bad guys to hit Mac users.
UNIX
I’m going to geek-out a bit here (as if I haven’t already), but I’m not sure how I ever survived years of Windows and not having a native Unix shell. It’s amazing how powerful and convenient it is to be able
to use the same commands on my desktop as I do on my servers. I’m a huge Python fan and having the ability to script little things quickly is really powerful. Built-in ssh, where have you been all my life?
Hardware
Let’s start with the screen on my Mac Book Pro. It’s gorgeous. I work on this screen all day and it’s really crisp and sharp. I look at some of the laptop screens I’ve used in the past and I’m amazed I still have 20/20 vision.
The keyboard types great and all of the keys are just where I expect them. Nothing use to frustrate me more than PC laptops that saved space by moving keys like Shift and Function to weird places.
I’m use to hard drives in laptops that I can literally feel their pain. I can hear them churning and cranking and spinning and working so hard to get the info that Windows needs. Not on this machine. I never think about the hard drive. Never hear it, never wonder what it’s doing that is so hard. Usually after a year or so on a PC you have to defrag or re-install to get back to the speed when you first bought the machine. I’ve been using this Mac for over a year and it’s just as fast today as the day I got it.
The battery life is much better than I’m use to on Sony or Dell. I can go a whole day at work of just carrying my laptop around. I can code for hours in a closet at home hiding from my kids without being plugged in.
Another little thing is the power supply. More specifically, the little piece that plugs into the laptop.
It’s magnetic! It detaches so easily and that’s important for a number of reasons, including the ability to yank the laptop away from your 6 year old quickly. It also is compatible with the Mac-Book Air power supply. You can flip that little piece upside-down if needed, depending on where your electrical outlet is located. Very nice! It has a little green light when it’s working. I’ve actually found that useful on more than one occasion.
Finally, the built-in microphone has amazing quality. I make tons of calls from my laptop and callers cannot tell that I’m using a laptop to make the phone call.
On Microsoft
I’m still a big Microsoft fan. I think Microsoft makes great products. Microsoft Office, Exchange, SQL Server, Active Directory, and .NET are some of the greatest pieces of software ever. Ever. I would even throw Windows into that category.
But Microsoft doesn’t have the total package. They don’t make the hardware, they don’t support Unix, and they don’t have an ecosystem. The magic is when you combine the hardware with the software with the ecosystem (iPods, iPhones, iPads, Apple Tv, Time Machine, iCloud, etc).
