In August 2008 I took the plunge and decided to make the move to the mac platform. I was very happy with using a PC, but the machine I was using at the time was struggling to do the basic tasks. This meant I was looking for an upgrade. I had thought about a mac but after completing a photography course at my local college which was taught completely on a mac I was hooked. I was very surprised at how easy it was to use, and how there was a very small learning curve when switching.

Here are a few reasons I decided to make the switch.

Build quality.

My first mac was a 2008 White MacBook, which I have to admit was very flimsy. I managed to scratch the palm rests within a few days of use. This lowered my overall opinion of the mac and something I had suffered with some cheaper PC laptops. I still have my White MacBook, it is used every day and is still in fairly good condition. I have since upgraded to a newer Unibody MacBook which is rock solid. The one feature I have noticed about the newer generation aluminium macs is the solid build quality of the machines. They are very strong while also being very lightweight.

The Apple Experience

The biggest plus that draws me to the mac is the experience. I find that the majority of people look at the price tag of an Apple product, without thinking about what goes into the development of the Apple brand. I’ll give you an example:

Within 6 months of me buying a iPhone 3G it developed a problem with dust between the screen and the touch screen digitizer, which was a common fault on the early 3gs’s. Although it didn’t affect the how the phone worked it was very annoying so I decided to get it checked out. I went on-line, went through the simple process of booking an appointment with a genius at the Liverpool Store.

So off I went a few days later, found my way to the store and located the Genius bar, which is very easy to distinguish. I even had my name on the screen behind the genius so that I knew I was in the right place and knew exactly when it was my turn to be seen. I was advised by the Genius that my fault wasn’t a fault as such my phone was replaced on the spot with no questions asked. On the other occasions that I have taken items back to other stores, where I have had to get angry to get a replacement item, so it made a refreshing change to get a replacement so simply.

It’s the small things that make you feel special, that enlightens the whole experience.

The software

The one thing I have found that differentiates the mac from other computer is the software. Since I first used MacOS X I was wowed at how polished it looked compared to others at the time. The experience is carried through to all apple products, and it amazes how quickly a user gets to familiar, with the device without any prior knowledge. The same user experience is carried through all devices so it makes it very simple to use other apple devices once you have got to know the first device. This owes a big part to the guidelines and documentation that Apple provides to developers so making applications simple to develop.

I did however have a few concerns about making the switch. I had read at the time that some of the applications that are available on other platforms, are available on the mac and that some of my existing devices may not work. In the three or so years since the switch I have only on 1 occasion struggled to find a piece of software where I can’t find a mac equivalent. This was for a little known graphics tablet from a well-known german supermarket. On every other occasion I have found that if I can’t get that a particular piece of software, I have always found a very good mac equivalent quite often at a significantly lower price. I have found that more and more companies are creating mac versions of their software. I hope to post a few of my favourite mac apps in a future post.

I will admit that the cost of some of the hardware that Apple provide can be expensive but this can be found in any market, you only have to compare some of the top end Sony PC’s to realise that they are just as expensive. I compare it to owning a car, a BMW may will get you from A to B just like a Ford but it will be a better user experience.

So to end, I do admit that Apple can get things wrong but it’s what they do after that matters. I use a PC in my day job and it does everything that I need it to do. If you prefer a Windows PC then use this, if you prefer Linux then fire away. Use whatever suits your work flow and more importantly spend time enjoying the machine you have.