I’ve been a Mac user for nearly two years now. I’m seriously debating going back to Windows. Part of me doesn’t want to, feeling like I should make the jump entirely away. But a variety of reasons are making Windows appealing again, including cost, multi-monitor support and removable batteries.
I used to run a Windows desktop with three external monitors (see My Multimonitor Setup: Three Screens For One Computer). I loved my setup. I could have my email front and center, important as I do so much in email. Over on a side monitor, I could bring up a browser to check on some article I was reviewing. On another monitor, I could validate some strange search situation I might be reading about in that article. And back to my central monitor, I could easily bring up an editing window to write a blog post.
In addition, I used to use a Windows laptop. My last one was a Vista machine that kept crashing. That pushed me to the Mac. And soon after that, my desktop crashed. I began relying solely on my Mac. It let me run both Windows XP and Mac brilliantly. In the office, I’d have Windows running on an external monitor and the Mac running “down below” as I call it on the laptop screen (see My Mac & Windows Under VMware – Awesome!). On the road, I use the wonderful Spaces program on the Mac to toggle between my Mac “side” and my Windows “side” effortlessly.
I loved the simplicity of having a single machine. I was no longer trying to copy over all my date for long trips away. I’d just shut the lid and go. Life rocked.
Over time, it’s been rocking less. One problem is that I still missed having my three screens. I went from two 20″ screens and a 22″ wide screen in the middle to only the 22″ and a 15″ laptop. I explored some options to add a third (see Multiple Monitor Solutions For The MacBook Pro), but I never implemented these. In particular, I just worried that adding more displays to my laptop would be more of a processing drain.
Processing drain? Well, the Mac runs slower these days, it feels. I suspect the Mac is just like Windows. That over time, junk of all sorts builds up, and a clean install freshens stuff up. In the past, I got that freshening usually either through a computer crash (inconvenient!) or purchasing a new computer every two years.
Meanwhile, the Mac is hot. I mean burning hot. I’ve got a stand now that suck wind out from underneath to the degree I feel it could double as an aircraft engine. That helps, but what a pain. And when I’m traveling, I worry I’ll set light to my seat-back table on an airplane or my hotel desk.
I also have found VMWare to be more sluggish. If I let it auto-protect, it decides to do a backup whenever it’s damn well ready to do it, bringing everything to a halt. I finally had to shut that off. I’m also feeling like I’ve gone back in time, since my dual processor machine is devoting one processor to Windows and one to the Mac. Meanwhile, my connectivity within VMWare just sucks. For some reason, pages take forever to load in Firefox (or Chrome), regardless whether I’m in bridged or NAT mode.
I’m coming to the conclusion I should jump one way fully — Mac or Windows, but not both. I should just give up Windows. Finally wean myself off Outlook despite (as I’ll explain in a future post), why Outlook remains a killer product. I’ve certainly enjoyed learning about image programs like Skitch or Aviary that have made the piggish Photoshop Elements largely unnecessary. Goodness knows I’m overdue to abandon FrontPage 2002 (Shut up! If you want a nice, clean HTML authoring tool for a writer, not for a designer, this is still a killer program). Surely I know I should transition more to cloud-based programs like Google Docs.
But then there’s the cost. I keep thinking how nice a quad-core machine would be, even though I suppose I don’t need that much power, if I’m going cloud based. For the Mac, that’s like $2,500+. Oh, it comes with a beautiful 27″ monitor. But that’s another issue. I don’t know that I want one large monitor.
One thing I’ve realized is that Mac users are “maximizing” users. What I mean by that is that if you use a Mac, you’re putting windows all over the place, manually dragging them to the size you want, sometimes losing track of what’s open so that you need that F3 key that gives you an overview of everything.
On Windows, I think you tend to maximize the programs you’re using. OK, maybe it’s me. But still, rather than drag a bunch of stuff around on one huge monitor, I want to maximized and togging between stuff between multiple monitors using the Windows taskbar, which I think is better than the Mac dock.
Really, I want a Mac Mini that has a quad core and that could support three monitors. They don’t make that. I can get a dual processor that supports two monitors. If I do that, I still feel like my Windows experience will be slow.
Alternatively, I can get any number of nice Windows machines with tons of memory, quad processors and half the price. And I’ve got plenty of monitors sitting around. I’m swimming in extra monitors.
This brings up Windows 7. That old Vista laptop. Imagine that, putting Windows 7 on it makes it work just fine. And it feels better. It may be tha that the Mac got me through the Vista years.
So, I’m still debating all this. Now if Mac made a quad processor laptop that could run three displays, I’d have no debate. I’d even pay the premium — except for one issue. Non-removable batteries.
I used to do 11 hour flights. Often I’d have power, but still, having a spare battery is helpful. These days, my longest flight tends to be 6 hours. Having two batteries makes a huge difference. Oh, sure, the new Macbooks have a 7 hour battery, supposedly. I don’t know if I believe that. I do know the many occasions I’ve found being unable to juice up, say coming off a flight and having to go right into a meeting or a conference. Having that removable, fully-charged battery is a life-saver.
As I contemplate this, all I can think is why don’t I have more choice with my Mac options. Do I really have to abandon them, because they don’t let me run three monitors as easily as I could do on Windows? Am I just not getting that I should use one or two big monitors instead.
In the end, I ultimately might just go with what I know, what works, the easy way — back to Windows, back to multiple monitors and stick with my Macbook for trips.
Postscript: See My MacBook Pro Goes Multimonitor: 4 Monitors At Once!, with thoughts on me still struggling at the end.
{ 24 comments }
I’ve been in a Mac world at home now for over 6 years and don’t miss thie Windows world. My old iBook still works (though it gets very hot) an the Mac Pro I have is wicked…now that I topped up on RAM again. The thing I love about a Mac is it works. I’m two versions behind on my OS and still it just works. That’d be like running Windows 98…though I guess since Windows 7 is out now it’d be XP. At the ‘real job’ it’s a WinXP environment and the issues I’ve got continue to pile up requiring IT support hours.
I guess the bottom line is that you really should work in a Mac world gile running a mac os and adapt a little. You’ll find you either pay with a little bit of efficiency (in your case of custom setup and liking three monitors) or you’ll pay in the way of IT expenses. I’m not sure about you but I like knowing I don’t have to re-install the OS every six-twelve months to ensure my hard work is safe. Do I still backup? Of course. The important files at least, but it’s the comfort of knowin my machine will just work. That saves me time, money and stress and let’s me just work.
It would be a shame to see you go back, but the choice is ultimately yours. Anything you can do on Windows can be done on Mac (except some gaming). Why not try a 30-day challenge a la Matt Cutts style and ONLY use Mac OS…no Windows, while working on a Mac?! Keep us posted on the result of your selection. I’m definitely curious to know.
I switched to a Macbook from a VAIO almost 4 years ago and since then I’ve tried to use Windows and just get frustrated. I think if you’re going to switch to a Mac, you have to use the os as it was intended. Putting Windows on it kind of defeats the purpose since the whole “Mac Advantage” is the OS. I would say try using Entourage (the Outlook for Mac) and try using only 2 external monitors. I think with Spaces and 2 monitors, you may have enough real estate.
Despite my years of Mac fandom (I’m typing this on an ’07 era MBP), I understand your comments 100%. My laptop runs hot, always, and is slow very often – to the point I’ve considered upgrading – again – even though in theory it should be able to run all my apps and Web services with no problems. I am enamored with the MacBook Air, but not excited about the smaller hard disk space (even with SSD) and am concerned that it too could be slow. I don’t want to have two laptops, just the one, and don’t want to pay $3k or more to get a souped up MBP.
So I have been thinking about a potential Google Chrome OS netbook, should those arrive any time soon, or going Air, backing up much of my data (read: iTunes) off the laptop and trying to live in the cloud.
The rise of Windows 7 and its improvements are not to be ignored, but I don’t have much interest still in going from Apple to Microsoft.
Sounds like a main reason you still use Windows is Outlook, which is a factor for me as well (that and MS Money). Also sounds like, if you could come to grips with giving up Outlook, you could make a transition to Mac.
Interesting to hear your situation of overheating and slowness with the Macbook … I’ve read similar complaints. My Mac is an iMac, and my only laptop is Windows-based. I also run XP on my Mac using VMware, but I could give that up, since I pay bills via the laptop.
If I were still traveling (I’m retired), I’d use the Windows laptop, because I don’t see the point for me to buy a Macbook, and I would also be concerned about the heating issues with a Macbook.
Since it looks like you will continue to travel a lot for a long while, that probably has to be the determining factor for your decision. It looks like your desire for multiple screens almost has to be secondary to that. But, that’s easy for an observer to say … fact is, I am glad I don’t have to make your decision. It would be a difficult one. Smart of you to air your thoughts online, as writing them out helps you clarify your thinking, and the comments could help sway you one way or the other.
Good luck.
I’ve been a PC-person since the mid-80′s *although my first machine was an Apple II+*. In that time we learned to speak DOS, then Win 3.x, and the variety of M$ “improvements” every 2nd year or so.
I was just getting ready to make the move to the dark side (post-Christmas sales I intended to pick up at least a Macbook Pro, also perhaps a 25″ imac*. Given that certain legacy web-based apps I need to use require a WIN environment I was intending on running XP via VMWare *I’ve been told Win runs better on a Mac than a PC*.
I was concerned about the transition – I’ve bought both my kids macbooks and I have difficulty using them. Now you also have me wondering if buying the latest / greatest Apple product is a wise decision. Decisions decisions ….
Try windows 7. It’s amazing. There is no need to pay extra money for a mac anymore. Windows finally got it right, or maybe just imitated the mac
Hey Danny,
Just for your convenience, TUAW just wrote a little about this USB Display adapter thing. Maybe this is worth checking out…
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/12/19/become-the-master-of-many-monitors-with-newertechs-usb-2-0-disp/ the article and a direct link to the product: http://www.newertech.com/products/viddu2dvia.php
How about that? It’s not that expensive…
@Roy – a colleague in office has the USB display port running *WIN environment* and it works well, albeit some lag. Perhaps someone in MAC-land can create that for firewire?
I switched to Mac a year ago and moving from Outlook to Gmail as definitely a pain. I think it took a week or so to get my email exported to gmail with lots of crashes and restarts along the way….. in the end I have to say it was absolutely worth it though. Change is hard though…. that’s for sure, especially after years of using Outlook though.
I can understand if performance is an issue, but if you’re like me then most of your waking hours are on your computer….. if that’s the case, then I think I could probably put together a pretty air tight argument that the costs are easily justified, especially for a user like yourself… to me the cost whether it be $2 or $3k or even double that are a no brainer, don’t even have to think twice about that one.
If you do decide to go back to Windows, one way to resolve the monitor tilting is to check out icwusa.com They sell articulating arms that we install in dental offices, and are really nice because they have a full range of motion, and you can tuck the power and video cables up into the arm for nice cable management.
http://pact-one.com/slideshow/ss10.asp
Louis, I’m also thinking about Chrome a lot. I mean, it’s one reason I’m les worried about updating my laptop or leaving the Mac. If I go to a desktop, I think I’m still going to try and use as much cloud-based stuff as I can. So if I move to Chrome OS down the line, I’m well set. Still, I do like applications. Excel still kicks the heck out of Google Spreadsheets.
Roy, thanks for that. Seen those types of things before. I might have to just finally try one.
Trace, yeah, I’ve tried going all Gmail before during a computer crash. Full week at it. Still didn’t like it. For one reason, as I’ll write more about, I like to open multiple email windows. Gmail’s just not good at that.
I keep looking at that iMac 27″ though. It sure is pretty. It would have plenty of horsepower to let me run Windows, and the resolution is huge. Looking around, the only other monitor that matches its 2560×1152 resolution is a Dell 30″. I’m thinking maybe that’s plenty of room — I don’t need three monitors with all that, though I’d still like a second one to hold my Windows installation. I could use my existing 1920×1440 widescreen for that, though just not sure where I’d position it
Today I had to reinstall some Sony software for my dvd405 camcorder. It literally took an hour to install. I had to walk away and come back. Its a Toshiba 4GB Ram, Dual Core Processor – its not exactly a weak machine in terms of hardware.
I switched because the above situation brings a Windows machine to a screeching halt. Nothing else gets done until that software is finished ‘spinning’. I switched to a Macbook 13″ and stuck an extra 2GB into it (bringing it up to 4gb) and I’ll never switch back. I went with the cheapest Mac and can’t believe how smoothly it runs compared to the Windows machine. When you get tired of wasting time on a Windows machine, watching programs freeze for seconds, sometimes minutes, thats when I thank my lucky stars I made the switch.
I also have it hooked up to an Acer 23 inch monitor. I would have gone bigger but I sit too close (desk is too small). Using expose and spaces should alleviate the ‘need’ to toggle between windows and programs that you use.
Outlook is a great product I do agree there. But its not enough to make me deal with all the other issues a Windows machine gives me.
Re: the battery issue, check out
http://www.hypershop.com/HyperMac-External-MacBook-Battery-and-Car-Charger-s/91.htm
and
http://www.batterygeek.net/Batterygeek_net_MacBook_MacBook_Pro_Battery_Packs_s/78.htm
Danny, the Mac OS has come with Spaces since Leopard. It allows you to have four different desktops and switch seamless among them by clicking an icon in the menu bar. For most people this will be just about as good as having four monitors, since you can only look at one a time and switching Spaces is quick and simple. No reason to have so many monitors cluttering up the desk anymore, unless you are using one monitor for, say, designing, and the other for multiple palettes. But I can’t see any really necessary reason for three unless you are trader and then you probably have a Bloomberg.
Three monitors is ideal. I dare say that any high-power user that says it is unnecessary has clearly not tried it yet. I too am addicted to Outlook. Those two reasons keep me in Windows and probably always will.
I’ve tried Mac. I only lasted six months.
But to each his own. (Another thing I’ve learned is that this is a very sensitive issue. Some people will really go nuts if you say one is better than the other.)
Hi Danny,
I hope that you find this of use. Realisticlly if you want to drive three monitors you need a Pro Model mac or a decent PC desktop. I am running a new model after having had an 06 MB Pro. I have found it runs cooler than the old machine and has a better build quality.
Re housekeeping there are a couple of things that can help: MacJanitor is my personal favourite
Outlook – Microsoft have recognised that Entourage doesn’t quite cut it and are releasing a Mac native version of Outlook in their next version of Office. However to be honest with you, you are probably better migrating from Exchange server to Google calendar synching to iCal, addressbook.app and mail.app with mail connected to an IMAP4 account
Tom, Spaces is cool, but it’s no match for multiple screens. Let me give you a typical scenario.
I get an email from someone raising an issue on Google. I need to read the email, then also run a search on Google to examine the problem. Toggling via Spaces between the email and the Google results isn’t productive. It’s easier to scan them both at the same time, just like a trader might.
Further, I might want to open another window to examine some related issues, while still looking at the original Google results. Add to that, I may want to have an editing window open, so I can start writing notes or an article.
I want all of these things in front of me at once. Maybe I’m weird, but having used three monitors this way before, I also know how efficient it is.
This is turning out to be the common decision for me. I looked at the new iMac 27″ today, and the screen is wonderful, big and huge resolution. I could easily have multiple windows open on it. Yet, I’d still not be able to position a second monitor easily on my desk. It’s so big there’s no room to position it but off to one side, barely. And one thing I learned is that if you have one monitor off to the side, rather than side-by-side or three monitors, you start to hurt your neck. Three monitors causes you to be looking all around.
Still pondering, though. The Mac Pro would be ideal. All Mac, lots of power. But at $2500, that’s easily double what I’d pay for a Windows 7 machine. And I just don’t know that the Mac is THAT worth it.
I switched a little over a year ago to a Macbook pro and my experience has been very similar although a few things have helped a lot.
I’ve ditched spaces. Yes, it’s sexy cool the way it gives you multiple desktops and I like to maximize my apps also but instead I find using command-tab much faster.
I went from multiple monitors to a 27″ but found I still missed the extra space so I use my Macbook as a spare and keeping the top open helps cool it. The other thing that helps is accepting there’s no one perfect solution (or it would if I could).
One final note: Entourage is to Outlook as lightning bug is to lightning.
Danny, I was almost ready to move to a mac because I had so many computer issues, but I realized it was the systems I was buying, HP, Dell, Toshiba…I could go on. I recently bought (and reviewed) my new Lenovo and I cannot tell you how absolutely thrilled I am. I am one of those that reads and reads before I buy. What I realized is IBM has been around sense the beginning and they know how to build a computer, while some of the other companies build to sell and they don’t build for people like me that will use it day in and out. I am IN LOVE with it! It is so light and doesn’t get hot and I have 7 hours of battery life with a 14 inch screen and an optical drive. After reading everything for 3 solid weeks I chose this computer and I am looking forward to owning more of them. Obviously you can find my review, so I won’t post the link. I guess one way to look at it is, what could it hurt to just get a PC and see how it goes? You aren’t broke
If you don’t like it you could give it to a soldier or a needy teen. Good luck, from a forever PC girl.
I went from using 2 20″ LCDs to 1 24″ and can say that I don’t miss having two monitors. Once you get above 22″, the urge to maximize windows to happen as much. I like having multiple smaller windows open and don’t feel any less productive. I think the 27″ i7 Mac is just for you.
I was a PC user for 11 years and I managed and worked in a web design shop and for years we fought the transition. After landing at a client site with three hours before a presentation, my third (in two years) 17 HP notebook died. I drove straight over to the local Apple store and after $3,500 (Macbook Pro, MS office and VM software) I was up and running before my meeting started; that was three years ago.
I hardly ever use my VM software (primarily for Visio) and since then I’ve bought a 27′inch iMac for my home and we’ve equipped the office with Macs. My team used for email either Entourage or Thunderbird. Heat can be a problem on the Macbooks, but it beats hearing a 17 dell with 7 fans loaded into the lap top that I have to blast the dust out of every weekend.
Sounds like a tough choice!
I attempted to change from PC to Mac a while ago and had similar issues with wanting to run PC stuff on the Mac.
Regarding the nice 27″ monitor, i don’t think its worth it. I’d rather have 3 22″ than a 27″. So convenient and you’re not forever resizing windows.
I understand what you are feeling. I have been tempted to return to linux from Mac a couple of times in the past year (and Windows 7 seems pretty nice too).
However, one thing that I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet.
Since you have been a Mac user, the TSA rules have changed. You are no longer allowed to carry on a spare laptop battery.
Oh, and my unibody MBP does have a user replaceable battery (buy it here: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB772LL/A). I think the ones they are selling now do too.
I won’t say too much Danny since I have already replied to your comments on that other page. Just suffice to say, both MacOS and Windows 7 are great. Despite being a long-time Mac user (and before that an Apple user from the days of the Lisa and Apple I), I find that Windows 7 rocks as good as Snow Leopard, and I don’t regret switching from Mac to PC tablet for most of my work. But it sure is nice knowing that my “new” Powerbook is still available when I miss MacOS.
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