Yes, the lives of normal people trying to get normal things done on their computer.
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You forgot to mention sanity, quality, lower stress levels and reduction in deforestation due to decreased levels of coffee consumption while waiting for ANYTHING to happen... the list can go on.
They are however incompatible with blue screen of death, viruses - so far the count for OSX is zip, zero, nadda, zilch - and SOME software. Even MS Office has been recently upgraded and new version is out - but unless there is a bloody good reason for getting MS Office, I'd stick with iWork - best ever package.
I've been using Macs since .. ow bugger - can't even think that far back - and now SWMBO wants one... and my 3yo too (gave her my old MacBook Duo - which has been sitting in storage for about 6 years - and she loves it). So as soon as the funds permit another Mac - most likely a MacBook - will be purchased.
And to be fair, I did spend 4 years working on a PC so I do have a good comparison and (mostly) unbiased opinion... :p
Like Turtle said.
I use MS Office all day at work but in the home environment iWork is excellent unless you are a power spreadsheet user. Numbers is a bit lightweight but Keynote is superb and Pages more than capable. At $99 (academic price $88) it is great value.
Excellent Smithers :)
Be prepared to be fining your way around for a little while... but the trick is don't think PC. Just try and think what the easy logical way of doing something would be. Remember if it seems hard you're almost certainly not doing it right.
Also spotlight is your friend. Use it to find EVERYTHING. It's the magnifying glass on the right of the menu bar at the top of the screen. Or just Apple-space :)
Time for an update :eek:
Macs have been compatible with just about damn near everything since 1984 :o It has been the myopic PCs that were not compatible.
For years I've heard the same or similar uninformed comments particularly from PC admins, even to the extent of them saying "Oh God, We can't have a Mac on the network :eek: Macs break networks!". Absolute rubbish.
Phew that's better, 'scuse me :D
Oh, and I have Macs, PCs, and FreeBSD at home and they all talk to each other and play nice, most of the time (then someone gets threatened with a reformat, then they behave :) )
Don't really understand your point, could you explain?
Having been a computer tech any parts that were required were always specific to that model, brand, type, etc. e.g. you couldn't stick just any kind of hard disk into a box. It had to be the right size and type. Same goes for CPUs, RAM, peripherals (especially with the introduction of Plug-and-Pray),... Trying getting a SCSI device to work on a PC, jeez what a drama that could be.
In a sense any computer that has ever been made is "stand alone" because every computer demands specificities according to its hardware and software requirements. This has been seriously highlighted with Vista which even now suffers from backward compatibility issues for hardware drivers on peripherals with release dates as recent as two months prior to the release of Vista.
Yeah... macs are very stand offish and un-compatible with windows these days. If you need to run any windows software you're totally stuffed. LOL :D:D
Great bit of advice. Most people will have trouble getting used to it, I did. Pretty much, things... just work. Ive had my power book for about.... 8 months, and Ive turned it off three times, it just stays in sleep mode, and it doesn't effect it... do that on a windows based system.