Ramblings of a Tech Geek

My decision is cemented.

After weeks of watching, I finally saw a good deal last weekend on a Windows laptop for my mom-in-law, so I ran to my local Office Depot store and grabbed one.

The laptop itself is pretty decent - more than sufficient for her need and hardware-wise, ready for Windows 7 whenever it's released and should last her for the next 5 years.

But man oh man, after working on prepping the laptop for her, I swear by my iMac I personally will never go back to a Windows PC again, ever. Nope. Not a chance.

Vista itself was.. meh. I haven't spent a great deal of time with it, but I'm just not impressed by my experience navigating around this system. That whole file/folder structure in Explorer is just so weird and confusing. What's up with all these "virtual folders" (don't know the official Softie term for this *cough* *super-wonderfully-great-feature*) that point to some place else but you can't get to that some place else by clicking on the virtual folders. It just throws the error "Access denied" even as admin??!!! Really???!!! If you know where the actual location is, can't you just tell me even if you can't take me there automagically???!!! On top of that, the Start Menu redesign is just not that usable.

Which brings me to the nail - the final nail in the Windows PC coffin. I'm talking about all the Trial-/Crap-/Free-/Share-/Whateverchamacallit-wares. That was what I meant by working on prepping the laptop for her. I spent hours (hours!!!) removing all these stuff. Boy did I work! Did I hear you say, "why don't you just grab the disc and reinstall the system, ya dummy?!" I would if the package came with a restore disc in the first place. No, the vendor decided disc is not the way to go. Instead, they created a restore partition, which you have to launch this handy dandy software to do something (for about 15 minutes) to prep stuff from this restore partition before it is ready to burn onto 3 DVDs. 3 DVDs??!! I thought off-the-shelf Vista Home Premium comes in 1 DVD maybe 2? But of course! It's prepping the restore discs to include restoring ALL the Whateverchamacallit-wares back onto the computer, exactly the things I was fighting hard to remove. I wasn't going to attempt wasting more time just to see if I actually have the option to NOT install the wares during the restore procedure.

My mom's need is uncomplicated - internet and office productivity on a computer that's not bogged down with layers and layers of software complexities. I have no problems with Linux myself, but it might get some getting use to for my mom. A basic netbook (a little less wares) is physiologically not a good solution for her and doesn't make sense in the long term because I can't get a free Windows 7 upgrade. Most netbooks run Windows XP. So I needed to pare down the laptop I got her so that it wouldn't overwhelm her. That is why I spent so much time in Windows Explorer trying to clean things up that gets left over after the uninstalls so that there won't be a 50+ menu items staring at her from the Start Menu. The new Start Menu is, in my opinion, just not a good design for those who have tons and tons of software. Unfortunately, you WILL get tons and tons of software when you buy a new Windows-powered computer. That is why you could always get a Windows PC so cheap. PC makers get kickbacks from all the vendors of these wares they install. I'm glad they have the scruples to pass the savings on to the consumers instead of hording the profits, but at the cost of consumer experience that would have otherwise improve their image and brand. Like I said, they make decent computers, it's what they chose to put in it that they fall short on. The analogy I can come up with is if Ferrari details the interior of its F430 all over with cheap plastics and fit in a 4 cylinder instead. Still a Ferrari, but the experience is not one of Ferrari's.

Honestly, my time and sanity is worth more than the few hundred bucks saved. Alas, it was not a computer for myself! Don't get me wrong, mom. I don't despise your decision to get a Windows PC nor did I mind helping you out. I'm a tech geek at heart. I live for these kinds of opportunities. I'm saying I wouldn't have gone the Windows PC route if it was my own decision to make. From what I learned from this last opportunity, I'm even more inclined to stay a Mac user. So maybe when you shop for your new computer in the future, I might press the issue to get a Mac more than ever! :)

So what's so great about Mac? Simply put, it's simple. I remember when I set my iMac up, it was setting up my bluetooth keyboard and mouse, setting up wireless connection, creating a user, register product and I'm ready to go. There is nothing left to do. If it was a MacBook, you just skip the keyboard and mouse setup entirely, meaning you're ready to go in 3 simple steps. 3 simple steps!! Now you tell me which typical consumer wouldn't want this kind of simplicity.

The other thing is pricing. Since Apple controls the prices, prices are the same anywhere you get one. Sure, some retailers may have slightly better prices by doing some software bundling, but not by much. What does that mean? That means I don't have to spend too much time watching for the "right" price to come like I did with a Windows PC. That means a typical user can walk into any store that sells Macs and doesn't have to worry about the store "sticking it" to them, as long as the user says, "no, thank you" to all the "value-add" propositions the store employee is trying to sell.

So while mom plods around in Vista for now, I'm just waiting for Windows 7 to arrive. Will 7 carry over some of the things I dislike about Vista? Probably. 7 will also have some improved navigational features (I'm thinking the new taskbar) useful for simple users. The biggest plus is that I will get to totally wipe the current setup and replace with a clean, clutter-free install. That, I can't wait to do.

Apple, it's just different

So we finally got rid of our old, old computer last week. We bought an iMac, and have now put our self into the "Windows switcher" category of computer users.

We've been needing to replace our old computer since August last year for various reasons. As part of the criteria for getting a new computer, I've been keeping tab of our computing habit and shortlisted the following as our main use for a computer at home:

1. Internet
2. Digital life (our photos and videos)
3. Productivity (spreadsheet, document, presentation)
4. AV console (really as our movie theater)

Based on the above, we could really go Windows or Mac as a platform to adopt, and with Mac pricing being more and more competitive as they are now, Mac has become a consideration for me. At that time too, both camps have been touting their upcoming OSes, so I wanted to at least wait and see what they have to offer before buying.

So January came and Vista was released and..... was a big flop (IMHO). Vista's hardware requirements are insane and feature-wise, nothing much to offer that's new. That's when we decided we will give Mac a try for once. Of course we had to wait till now to get it because Leopard just got released roughly three weeks ago.

Being a first time Mac user, I was very curious about all the things being said about being a Mac user - snobbish bunch of folks, think they are better than the rest of the world, etc etc. Why are people branding them this way and why are the Mac-faithfuls so... faithful even when the company was at the brink of losing it all? I thought I'd try to discover it for myself, therefore paid much attention to the tiniest littlest thing about my personal experience with the iMac. So here's a list (so far) from my first day till now, starting even from the unboxing experience.

1. Everything down to the most insignificant thing is neatly packed - I deal with Dells and Lenovos at work and those machines come neatly packed except the mouse, manuals and CDs. Those three most often than not are thrown into a large box that goes on top of the chassis. However, pick up the iMac packaging and shake the box, you will not hear anything jiggling inside. That's because everything is neatly and tightly packed. Everything (keyboard, mouse, manuals, CDs, remote, batteries) has its proper place cut out for/shaped to fit in one single box.
2. Adhesive on the plastic CD jackets - Can you remember the last time you have to pull a CD/DVD out from one of those flimsy plastic jacket? You pull back the lip (sealed onto the jacket by some adhesive strip), start pulling the CD/DVD out and what happens? The lip closes back and the adhesive strip (which is on the lip) is now stuck to your CD! Why can't they put the adhesive strip on the jacket, which is how Apple did theirs?
3. One way batteries - How do you have to install batteries on devices that require batteries installed parallel (one next to another, not one behind another)? You have to alternate them (first one goes in +-; second goes in -+; and on and on) right? With Apple's Wireless Mighty Mouse, you put all the batteries in the same way, +-)
4. Integration of little, seemingly insignificant tools but highly useful - Spotlight (Apple's search) can return you dictionary entries and is also an instant calculator as you search for things. Dictionary can return Wiki entries. Now I don't have to hit the web or launch apps to do this.
5. Help that helps - Help on the Mac is just so cool. You want to do something but don't know how to get there. Pull up search and start typing. If it's something you have to navigate the menu to get to, Search will put a big blue arrow next to the menu item to get your attention.
6. Stereo sounds - Sure, stereo sounds have been around for a while, but from an OS' default sound scheme? Try sending a mail from Apple Mail. When the mail is sent, you'll hear a jet engine swoosh by from your left to your right.

Like I said, I'm paying attention to the tiniest of details here. There is nothing revolutionary in the above-list, but it does reflect on the level of detail a company pays attention to in its products. So far, Apple has not disappoint. Have I have applications crash, or have to restart my Mac? Absolutely. But it has also done the task I need it to do simply and easily. I'll probably blog about that in the future. But right now, I'm just having fun learning to do things differently.