I’ve owned a Macbook for almost a year now, and it has become a staple of my daily routine. It is my tool for productivity, entertainment and without it, I’d be rather buggered. All my work, films, music and pictures are stored on my laptop, and this worries me, because my macbook is constantly overheating, and is a fragile, flimsy piece of crap, and an over priced one at that.
Now, let me just say that OS X is a far more robust, stable and fast system compared to Vista and XP. I’d happily take my macbook over my old Compaq any day. There are many things I like about OS X, but many which cause me to tear my hair out.
I think the biggest problem with OS X is that Rosetta is the biggest pile of crap ever to be released. This however is a problem within a problem as Apple have long legacy of developing platforms, only for them to be abandoned. Since 1999, Apple has gone from OS 9, to PPC OS X, to Intel OS X. This has caused older applications to regularly break on newer incarnations of OS X.
Not only that, but applications designed for OS X 10.4 refuse to work on OS X 10.5. If one wants to use an older PPC application on Intel, it runs as slow as molasses, and that is if it works at all.
Removing applications is often less than straightforward, and requires a third party application like apptrap. Applications are bulky, and removing this bulk can damage them. Most of the eye candy slows down the machine like a backpack full of bricks on a geriatric and the software of it is flaky, at best.
Their support leaves a lot to be desired. Seeing an apple store ‘Genius’ (and I use that term very loosely), is kind of like being berated by a whisky sodden randomer, who then subsequently fixes your computer. You constantly feel like a lowly, sinner, who can’t use your computer.
The hardware is often underpowered, overpriced and unreliable, and you pay through your nose for the privilege of owning locked down hardware, which is unreliable. My HDD is on the way out and the plastic chassis of my laptop is actually melting.
I’ve sworn never to buy an apple laptop ever again. This isn’t me returning to Windows, quite the opposite. I’m buying a Windows Mobile 6 palmtop and my next laptop will be running linux.
November 14, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I Love mine, and most of the issues you describe don’t occur on mine. Any apps from Tiger PPC work, and most are already updated to Universal Binaries. Best computer ever used.
November 15, 2008 at 4:23 am
I have to say that my Macbook Pro does have a few issues but most of that is my own doing. I agree with the fact that Macs are over priced though. I could sell my Macbook Pro now, use the cash to buy a brand new laptop suitable for running Linux, and still have cash in my pocket!
November 17, 2008 at 5:16 am
You disqualified a lot of you Windows comments with “I’d happily take my macbook over my old Compaq any day.”
That’s like saying you would take a BMW over a Yugo anyday. Even if you’re Yugo had a more powerful engine, it’s still a Yugo. Compaq are the Yugos of the PC world. If Microosoft were as anal about what hardware was used with their system, you could make the argument.
I have used both, but I love to be able to upgrade without feeling raped when buying upgrades. That’s why I love my PC.