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Why I Don’t Use a Mac

This is clearly a religious topic, so please open your mind while reading…yeah, good luck with that.

My whole team (5 designers) use Macs.  They all have MacBook Pro laptops.  The tools we use are:

  1. MS PowerPoint for storyboarding designs
  2. MS Outlook for corporate email
  3. Adobe CS5
  4. Chrome/Firefox
    1. Jira (Bug Tracker)
    2. Wiki
    3. Google Docs
  5. MS Excel (rarely)

I truthfully have no idea why they use a Mac.  I am the only one who doesn’t.

Hardware
My Samsung Series 9 is lighter, sexier and faster than their MacBooks.  It has a solid state hard drive, lots of ram and a fast processor.  It doesn’t get hot.  It’s much lighter and truthfully, no one with a brain can say the MacBook Pro is sexier.  The series 9 is gorgeous.  It looks unique and is super strong. No scratched or dents even though I drop it often.  The only complaint I have is that the AC plug is cooler on the Mac, with it’s neat magnetic design.

PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook
There is no comparison; these are BETTER on Windows.  Seriously, Outlook on the Mac is way behind.  PowerPoint is much easier and more powerful on the PC.  I know some Mac users who run a virtual machine just so they can use the Windows version of MS Office.  Many plugins like SFDC for Outlook only work on the Windows, so basically the Mac versions are second-class citizens.

Adobe CS5
This is the same on both platforms.   Both work just fine.  I am excited to see CS6.  I think it comes out next month.

Everything in a Browser
Who cares?  They both work exactly the same.  I could be using Linux.  It doesn’t matter.  Chrome is chrome. Firefox is Firefox.  Oh but wait…What if you need to use Outlook Web Access?  Or if you want to use Microsoft Dynamics.  OWA works MUCH better with Internet Explorer and Dynamics is ONLY supported using IE.  You might say that is a mistake for them, but it is the way it is.  You can’t use IE on the Mac.  Personally, I hardly ever use IE, EXCEPT for when I am trying Dynamics or using OWA.  This is the thing, I need it once in a while.

Summary
I actually bought a Mac Mini for the house.  Specifically, I wanted to use Garage Band.  However, for work, there really is no reason I can see to use a Mac.  The PC is wildly superior for the programs I use.  Windows 7 works great. It works with everything.  I just don’t understand why the rest of my team sees it the other way.  I think they are succumbing to peer pressure from the engineering team.

Engineering
They all switched.  For them, I think this makes sense.  They are running PHP and mySQL.  This runs faster on the Mac.  So for them, logical.  For the design team…I don’t get it.

Comments
Feel free to comment, HOWEVER, please don’t say, “I use this other software and that’s why I use Mac.”  We don’t use that software.  All I am saying is that if you use the software I listed above, there is very little incentive to use Mac.

Comments

8 responses to “Why I Don’t Use a Mac”

  1. Bay Avatar
    Bay

    I’ve always been told that designers traditionally use mac because a) Photoshop (used to) gets updates on mac first, windows as an afterthought and b) there were special color calibration settings that (used to) only work on a mac so you can’t get accurate colors on Windows. I seriously doubt either is still true, but ten years ago those two facts meant that “all REAL graphic designers use Mac”, which means all designers use mac now so they’ll be perceived as falling into this stereotype.

    Reply
  2. Ben Nadel Avatar
    Ben Nadel

    As a Mac user (for a bit over a year), one of my biggest gripes is that Adobe CreativeSuite worked better on Windows – in one very key way (for my use). On Windows, when you hit “Tab”, the panels would disappear and the canvas would *maximize*. On the Mac, when you hit “Tab”, the panels disappear, but the canvas stays the *Same* size. To me, this is completely pointless. Why both removing the panels if you’re not gonna show me MORE canvas.

    Actually, the whole windows size feature of Windows is far superior. Everything is maximized. On Mac, for some reason, people seem to value “clutter”. It’s actually *difficult* to keep my screen “single focus”. Windows really rocked that!

    Reply
  3. Danyal Avatar
    Danyal

    One good thing about a Mac is that you can rely on its screen to be excellent, if shiny. You don’t have to do any research about monitors or laptop screens, which is really necessary in the Windows world.

    Quicklook is also a very useful feature, although you can make do on Windows with Bridge or some codecs for Explorer.

    ImageOptim is also very good although there’s probably an equivalent for Windows.

    Reply
  4. Danyal Avatar
    Danyal

    @Ben There’s a full-screen mode nowadays.

    Ok I’ll put my pitchfork down now.

    Reply
  5. Robert Schultz Avatar
    Robert Schultz

    Glen, I feel so sorry for you!

    You have to use Jira!!

    That is a torture that I do not wish upon anyone!

    Reply
  6. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    Rule #1 of life: People hate/fear change. If they are a Mac person, they want to stay a Mac person; it really doesn’t matter if it’s better or not.

    Also, I think Mac users like the idea of being a Mac user. That your computer tells us something about your personality or style . Macs users are young, hip, and creative. PCs users have kids, neckties, mortgages, and are losing their hair. Than again, I am the person who hates Macs because they don’t have a right-click (maybe they do now), and hates iPhones because they don’t have a back button.

    Reply
  7. Pista Avatar
    Pista

    Actually this is all the same.

    Whether you on mac or windows or Both, You can do anything than one.

    The difference are their personalilty, design, operation system , format.

    You usually can install mac os on pc just like hackintosh which is more worth than buy from apple store.

    Love or hate, It just only technologies still making a huge of changing into big gap through many years. Nobody wants to force you but only yourself.

    I use both window and mac to explore some new things then . dont need to worry about.

    The main things is to be professional…

    better in studying
    better in knowledging
    better in time management
    etc

    Reply
  8. mr. quack Avatar
    mr. quack

    @Pista “hackintosh”… haha that put a smile on my face.
    i might as well add my 2 cents. windows is all around a more compatible and versatile operating system. Windows 7 has shown some serious improvement since the days of vista… And like someone said above, it mainly boils down to preference. I like to be able to open up my computer. Its also nice to be able to upgrade.

    Reply

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