10 reasons why I’m glad I switched to a Mac!

It’s been a while since I posted something in the Apple category, but that doesn’t mean my love for Apple has diminished! Quite contrary infact, it has only grown with time, and therefore I thought it was time for me to do this thing that every self-respecting switcher with a blog does - post a list of all things cool about owning a Mac.

As you might or might not know, I took the plunge and switched to the white side for the very first time back in October. A few months have now passed, and I can’t say that since that happy day I’ve felt a single regret about my choice to switch. Before I decided to switch I had been toying with the idea of making my next computer a Mac, partly because I consider myself to be somewhat of a hobby-designer, and from what I had heard, designers were all about the Mac! When I started to investigate the topic more thoroughly though, it quickly became quite clear that a MacBook was infact everything I needed from a computer.

The most obvious reason, and quite possibly the only good one not to switch that I was able to find was that the selection of games available for the Mac is very limited. Excellent I thought, because I never play games on the computer! That is if you don’t count the occasional addictive flash-game I stumble upon, but so far I haven’t had any problems running those on my Mac either, despite the fact that Windows-f@nb0z seem to think that no games what-so-ever can be played on the Mac.

But I digress, this post is supposed to be a list, not a story about all the cool games you can play on the Mac. So here you have it, my list of the top 10 reasons why I’m glad I switched to a Mac in no particular order, and why Windows Vista hasn’t even made me the least bit curious about going back.

1. It just works. 90% of the people behind a computer out there must be getting seriously tired of hearing this argument by now. It’s one of those things that really can’t be explained or understood before you actually sit down for a certain period of time with a Mac and actually experience this yourself. It’s an exclusive part of the Mac experience, and one of the key things that makes it so great. Everything just works.
2. The desktop experience. Even though my MacBook has a pretty small screen (13,3 inches, if I’m not horribly mistaken), switching to OS X has helped me make the most out of the space I’ve got, and made it much easier to work and keep track of multiple programs. As a Windows user, the first thing I looked for in OS X was the maximize window button. To my surprise it doesn’t exist, and this represents one of the more fundamental differences in the two environments. OS X lets you easily size a window to the most appropriate size, as opposed to covering the entire screen. While it seemed awkward at first, I have come to love this, as it makes it much easier for me to keep track of several things at once.
3. Expose. This is the most obvious follow-up to point 2 on my list, and another one of those Mac-exclusive things that just can’t really be explained in words, but has to be experienced to really understand how great it is. Expose is a little program that makes it exceptionally easy to switch between several open programs. Just move your mouse to the appropriate hot-spot corner, and minized windows of all the running programs appear. Click on one of them to get into that program. It beats the crap out of the Windows start line, as it is much more intuitive, once you actually get used to it that is. This also seemed a bit awkard to me at first, but now I can’t see how I ever lived without it.
4. The Dock. The concept of the dock is so simple and intuitive that it’s pure genius. A friend of me asked why I didn’t have any program icons on the desktop, and how I could find the programs I wanted to open. I didn’t really understand the question, seeing how it’s been a while since I used a Windows computer, and responded by showing him that just pressing the Quicksilver hotkey and typing the first few letters would allow me to easily open any program.He felt that this was much harder that just minizing a program window and clicking on the icon, and I then realized that it’s exactly that operation the dock eliminates. The dock is there all the time, and I have all my most frequently used programs in there, accesible at all times with just a single click. And it’s not very crowded either, like the Windows desktop. And for those programs that aren’t in the dock, I still feel that pressing one key and typing a few letters is more comfortable than minimizing and searching for the right icon. The only time I actually use the desktop is when I drag and drop files that I need for some reason to it, which brings me to my next point on my list.
5. I can drag and drop files to the desktop. This is one of those little hidden gems in OS X that for the most part goes unnoticed I think, or at least people don’t use it for what it’s worth. I love the possibility to drag and drop any image I see on any website to the desktop, either because I want to use and modify it in some other program, or just because I want to archive it. It’s also possible to drag any piece of selected text over to the desktop, and it will automagically save it as a text file on my desktop. This is invaluable for me as an amateur HTML and CSS coder when looking at examples of how to achieve a specific effect!
6. No viruses or spyware to talk of. You just knew this had to make it to the list. It’s the probably the oldest but still one of the strongest selling points of any Mac. There are no viruses that will damn all your valuable data to eternal hell of zeros and ones, nor is there any spyware that will share all your sensitive information about which girls or boys you’ve got the hots for with the freaky-geeky kid next door. The eternal debate on whether this should be attributed to OS X’s safer architecture, or its relatively small userbase will continue to plague internet discussion forums for years to come, but all in all it’s a moot point. The fact of the matter is that there aren’t any viruses that can infect me and my Mac right now, and as an end user I couldn’t care less about why it is so.
7. The software that came bundled with it. If you haven’t really used a Mac, let alone owned one, you won’t know what I’m talking about here, so you can skip to the next point. Are you still reading? Okay, I’ll elaborate then. When you buy a Mac you get a bunch of cool programs bundled with it, software that you most likely have to pay hundreds of dollars for solid Windows equivalents, unless you’re a pirate of course. The most notable programs are those in the iLife package. Of those incuded in that suite, I’d like to mention iPhoto, which is simple but brilliant for organizing your photos, and iMovie HD, which easily lets you create and edit your own videos! Perfect for any new-media-hobby-amateur like myself. I still wish that Apple would include the iWork package as well, but I’ve managed so far with the demo because I never actually had any use for it.
8. Spotlight. This is probably not a strong selling point of the Mac anymore, seeing how Vista has incorporated a similar searching technology to the Windows platform, but it’s still worth a mention seeing how I’ve been blessed with it since months before Vista ever came out. If you don’t know what I’m talking about I’ll lay it out in words for you. Hit one key, type in what you’re searching for, and the results come up lightning fast, even as you type! It really did revolutionize local searching, and I can’t see how anybody ever managed without it. Especially those who have as little structure on their files as myself!
9. Word works. Just because I switched to a Mac it doesn’t mean that I still have don’t have some love left for Microsoft. You have to give it to them, they do own the text editor market, mostly because Word is a terrific word processor that does everything you need, and a whole lot more. The fact that a working version of Word, and the entire Office package existed for the Mac was crucial for me, seeing how I depend on it when it comes to schoolwork. Microsoft didn’t let me down with this one, and even when it’s emulated through Rosetta on my Intel-Mac it works splendid, and fast enough for me. And should I have any problems, I could always just install Windows on my Mac, because that’s possible these days too.
10. It looks cool! What can I say, I’m shallow! But seriously, take a look at any Apple product, and you’ll have to agree with me on this one. They just know what design is all about, and as someone who cares about not only computers, but also puts a little thought into how I dress, what clothes I put on and so forth, I can actually identify with the Apple philosophy on this one. Yeah, yeah, I know I should have stopped at “I’m shallow”.

Well there it is, my list of top 10 reaons why I’m glad I switched a Mac, and isn’t very likely of switching back any time soon, even though I’m hearing some good things about this new kid in class called Ubuntu or something like that. I guess he must be foreign! Anyways, do you have anything to say about my list? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Hate me? Feel free to share it with me and the rest of the world in the comments. Unless you use some really nasty words, chances are I won’t even censor you!