One can say that there is no better or worse machine/system overall. There are qualities to both systems that are positive and negative. Depending on what you want from your computer will depend on your satisfaction.

The one negative aspect I would say is the Apple advertising which would have one believe that a Mac is better. That is not the case, it is just different. Those microsoft users new to a mac will find the learning process difficult, those who are of the older generation will find it impossible. Operating system are very complicated tools, and getting to know a completely new system is a task that will confound many, and invariably after the learning curve is over there will be things you can do better on the Mac, and things that you cant do at all.

This advertising then gives the purchaser the idea they are buying into a perfect machine that will make their lives better, and so when they realise it is actually no real improvement they are understandably upset.

1. It pulls the hairs out of my wrists. The small crack between the keyboard area and the plastic edging occasionally catches the tiny hairs on my wrists and rips them out. Several other people have observed that this feels exactly like getting shocked. However, you can see the tiny hairs sticking out of the machine in my case. I am considering putting some tape on the crack to stop the problem, or maybe eventually all the hairs will be ripped out, and the problem will go away.

2. It is nearly impossible to tell what is the active window. Probably there is some way to change this, but the color scheme that is set up by default draws the title area for the active window in a medium dark grey and all the inactive windows in a slightly lighter medium dark grey. If you have several windows open side by side, then figuring out which one is active is a challenge. I’ve tried different color schemes, but nothing seems to affect the title bar color. As far as I can tell, there is also no way to set a “focus follows mouse” behavior, something which is really useful for me.

3. There is no easy way to create a new blank document. Under Windows, if you want a new word document, you just right click, and select New->Word document. In windows, you have to open Word, click File->Save, and then navigate to the place you want to save the file, and then save it. This is much slower than the Windows way of doing it.

Although these next ones have been mentioned, I am also discouraged by them.

4. The surfaces of the machine get really hot. I have a 7200 RPM hard drive upgrade, and the area under the left palm gets hot enough under regular use that my hands get sweaty. The area on the top left side near the screen, and the area on the bottom of the computer near the top left side get extremely hot when the CPU is heavily loaded. I have been challenging my friends to set their MBPs on their laps with the CPU pegged for 5 minutes, but so far have not had any takers.

5. The sharp edges on the front of the machine really cut into my wrists. A lot of people on other forums say “you are holding your hands wrong”. However, I realized that some people, including myself, have longer than normal upper arms. If I were to hold my hands up high as recommended by proper typing style, I would have to keep my shoulders tensed up. Considering that I have been typing like this for over 30 years with no problems, I don’t think I will be developing carpal tunnel syndrome anytime soon.

On a final note, I am most disappointed by the “you are an idiot” attitude that many devoted mac users have toward anyone who finds fault with an Apple product. Many people expressing their opinions have legitimate concerns and problems, and to instantly attack anyone critical of an Apple product is extremely narrow minded. My first personal computer was an Apple IIe, and back then, and in the early days of the Mac, the user community was much more open minded and cordial. These days, why can’t we all just get along?

The people that design these things should be forced to use them.

After years of dealing with the security issues, I happily anticipated the day I could return to the Mac world. In January, my husband told me I could go to the Mac Store and pick out my anniversary present. I chose a Macbook with 2g memory and a 120g HD.

I can’t believe there is no decent personal finance software for the Mac that will match the efficiency of MS Money 2004, but that’s what I’m reading. I’ve tried Moneydance, iBank, etc.

Can someone tell me why, as I’m typing, all of a sudden, a previously typed area will highlight, and disappear; or why in midsentence, letters will suddenly pop to a place two lines above where they’re supposed to be.

Managing digital pictures is lovely, burning cds great — so far, but I, too, am wondering about the extreme expense vs. functionality.

I know I can solve some of my problems by spending $300 on a copy of XP and running Bootcamp, so I can put MS Money on it, but is this progress? Yes, there’s Quicken for Mac 2007, read the online reviews, and it’s $70 for the privilege.

I’ve only had a couple of crashes, BUT if I had purchased this computer at Sam’s, I’d be invoking the 6 months guarantee and taking it back.

I never thought I’d say that about an Apple computer.

Thanks for listening.

I very recently bought a 17″ 2.66ghz Dual Core MBP with a 7200rpm 200gig HD. Since this would be the most expensive thing I’d ever bought (apart from my house which in all reality is owned by the bank) I threw caution to the wind whilst feeling uncharacteristically flush and got Apple to upgrade the ram to a whopping 4 gigs of loveliness.

I have always been a Windows kind of a gal. Having to ‘make do’ with the babbage’s analysis machines I had previously worked with in the past, I was beside myself with excitement with the object d’art I was about to seriously splash my hard-earned on.

Despite the somewhat disappointing service from the Apple Store, Regent Street I had received (albeit rectified and apologised for by a nice assistant named Sarah)I was over the moon to take home this beast of a beauty which not only promised to pack the punch of Mohammad Ali, but was more stylish and slender than a supermodel with an eating disorder.

Excitedly I opened the box in awe of the muted glistening of both the case and the controls and sat back to watch Leopard in all its purple-hued serenity unfold in front of me….

Unfortunately that’s where the love affair ended.

I won’t go through all the criticisms laid at its door as detailed above, nor will I sing the praises of the positives – what few I have identified – either. Just from a personal perspective, I feel crushingly disappointed that the alleged beast in front of me is not worth the £2,800 pounds, with the extended three year warranty, I paid for it.

In brief:

It crashed three times within the first hour of use whilst trying to transfer 4 gig of photos from my SLR camera.

System Preferences won’t open in its own window after its been turned on for a while and other applications are in use. I have to reboot it.

Airport does not recognise the wireless internet connection that I have in my house and if it does, only when plugged in through an ethernet cable. All connectivity says ‘bye bye’ if you let your system go to sleep and ultimately leaves me with the overwhelming feeling of ‘oh for God’s sake, I can’t be arsed with this’.

This also goes for trying to assign manual IP addresses and overcoming the WEP/DHCP issues that only now I’ve got one of these MBP, I’ve had reason to pour over the internet to try, in vain, to find a solution for. (Incidentally, whilst using my really old laptop which sadly, still runs perfectly and I’m using to write this post with)

Admittedly, I was a hardened Windows user but I was willing to break some habits and try something newer and as advertised by the public and the computing gliterati; astounding.

I’m desperate to find the element within my new MBP that will make me go ‘wow’, but even after a couple of weeks, locating and accessing basic commands is both tiresome and a laborious chore. It really isn’t as ‘blazingly fast’, or, even, moderately fast as I was told it would be and although not a ‘gamer’, I’m starting to wonder whether in the first instance, I should have gone to Alienware…..

Someone please tell me something positive about what I have in front of me, that I paid so much and had such high hopes for. As defeatest as it is, I’m giving serious consideration to trying to send it back for a refund.

Yours dispondently, but ever hopeful….

Maybe it would help if there was something in between the little manual that came with it (which is comparable to the booklet you might get with a new hair dryer for example, and just about as useful) and a 848 page THE MISSING MANUAL by David Progue.

I think that there are good and bad things about Macs, but the real problem, as I see it, is that the differences are not really spelled out very well anywhere to help you make a truly informed decision-before buying one.

The security reputation is the big deal, but there is no way to tell if anyone has gotten into your computer or not.
Mine runs slow, and it drives me nuts. I am really surprised at that, and I start to wonder…

Also, it runs ridiculously hot. Another bummer. I bought it to use when I am NOT sitting at a desk, and it gets so hot I have to hold it above my lap, or find something to put under it. It’s not as bad with the cool weather, but still, why should it practically burn your legs.

The .mac stuff is useless to me. I have not met anyone who uses it for personal computing (or for business either, though I can see how it might be more useful there).

And as the advertisements point out, it is definitely not “bloated” with a lot of software. Kind of an understatement wouldn’t you agree?!

For personal use, I do not need spreadsheets, or powerpoint etc.. but I can’t believe there is no word processor at all. And to get one, I have to buy all the bloat anyway.

In fact, if you do not spend a good deal of your life playing with your digital pictures and videos, there isn’t much here
at all. The speakers obviously are not worth listening to your tunes through.

It’s great for surfing the net, while sitting on the couch, untill your legs catch fire, but I think maybe an I phone would be just as good for that.

And the screen on my little machine is impossible to see outdoors.

So, while it’s true that the things that bother me, might not bother a blue blood Mac user, but I didn’t know about any of them before buying it.

I’m just saying….

DISAGREE on:
Case “SEEMS” easy to damage??? That’s not a criticism! I’ve abused mine to no end and I have the opposite comment — case seems damn-near indestructible!
And I would NOT get rid of the FireWire port. If you use external storage at all, I recommend you give FireWire a spin before suggesting that it is eliminated. Sustained read/write is WAY faster on FW than USB (you can check with disks that support both). The 480Mbps spec on USB2 is misleading at best. And DVI is not there just “because Steve Jobs hates all things analog”, it’s there because it’s actually useful. VGA can’t output to 2560×1600 (and I don’t think 1920×1200 either, but not sure), so you would be stuck with inferior options for an external monitor.