1
1UP
Everyone I know that is a Macite says "You have to be familiar with OS X on recent Apple hardware to get the "Mac experience". You can't form an educated opinion about it until you have."
It doesn't seem unreasonable, so I decided to do just that. I was able to get a decent barebones dual processor G5 Power Mac for a rather good price.
I have to say that Apple has gotten far better at dealing with Non-Apple peripherals even since the G3 era (which was the last time I really spent any time using a Mac). The G5 had no trouble with an OTS SATA drive, generic USB keyboard, generic USB mouse, and DVI based LCD monitor. However, it apparently wasn't thrilled with my non-Airport router, even though it is a widely used, recent model from Linksys (more on this later).
The internal hardware arrangement was very strange compared to a typical PC system, extremely proprietary and definitely not end-user friendly. It took me a bit of time to figure how everything was assembled and arranged. I can say without a doubt that the internal configuration of PC system is far less convoluted and much, much easier to work with. Internal Mac system hardware was obviously only meant to be accessed by official Mac technical support. I was very disappointed by this; externally Mac's may be very well designed, but the internal design borders on perverted. Apple gets a big fat F in this department compared to a PC. It is quite possible this has been remedied by moving to an Intel based architecture but I rather doubt it. For the typical end-user this is most likely a non-issue.
I was somewhat annoyed at being unable to boot from USB in order to install the OS (although I understand this has changed with the current Intel based systems). Once I rebooted using Target Disk mode on Firewire I went with a simple standard installation for OS X 10.5.6 which surprisingly yielded my first error. It got about 10% of the way done when it said OS X couldn't be installed on the target internal drive. The next message said installation had failed and I had to reboot. Apparently it didn't like the fact that the drive I installed wasn't Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formatted in advance, which really doesn't seem like it should be a problem since most OS installers can partition and format as part of the in-line installation process. This is most likely a situation that the typical end-user will not encounter since OS X is preinstalled and ready for use on a new Mac system.
I rebooted, went into Disk Utility, partitioned and formatted the drive, and then proceeded with the installation which didn't produce any other errors. The installation of OS X was far easier (once I got it working) than what one would experience with a typical installation of recent Windows operating systems. However, this came at the expense of customizing the installation. There were an extremely limited number of options that could be customized through the standard installer. This is most likely a plus for a standard end-user but an annoyance for an IT veteran.
The first thing one notices after a new installation of OS X is that even on hardware that is 1/2 a decade old it boots quite quickly, at least twice as fast as recent versions of Windows on more modern hardware. The initial setup process for creating a new user in OS X is quite simple, even a small child could deftly handle the task. After creating a new user one gets dropped on the main desktop with a Dock that is populated by all the programs one would really need for simple tasks provided by Apple.
One thing I really liked about OS X is that the information provided by system messages is typically very specific and tells one exactly what is wrong and sometimes even what can be done to correct a given problem. An excellent example of this is what happened when I tried to add the Mac to my wireless network. In the past I have tried to add various Windows systems that were visiting to my wireless network only to have them connect and appear to be functioning but the internet cannot be reached. I could go through any number of utilities or settings in the system only to have Windows tell me that everything was perfect, however this was obviously not true since all internet services were down. Around this time I would remember that I have a wireless ACL (Access Control List) in my router which only allows hardware that is listed in the table to access the internet through my router. Once I add the ID to the table the problem is resolved. When I had my Mac try to access the internet through my router with the correct password a system message immediately appeared that let me know since my Mac was not in my router's wireless ACL it could not access the internet. This let me know exactly what the problem was so I could easily correct it even though my router was not even an Apple Airport. I was quite impressed by this.
Updating OS X is very simple and allows one to read exactly what is being updated and why if they are interested. Getting additional software, free or paid, is rather easy given the link provided in the "Apple" menu in the upper-left hand corner. With the amount of software pre-installed by Apple and the convenient link provided one needs to do far less hunting for additional software to install on a Mac. However, I was disappointed when I downloaded a popular graphics manipulation application (Gimp) through the site that is provided and it failed to function. It installed correctly but absolutely refused to run and it provided no error messages to work with in order to resolve the problem. Given the fact that it is linked on an Apple site one would expect the software to install and work flawlessly with OS X but that was not the case. At least in Windows when a programs craps out one almost always gets some kind of feedback to help track down the issue which prevented the software from operating correctly.
Unfortunately, the selection of software for Mac is still lacking compared to the Windows platform, although it is far, far better than it used to be. For several piece of software installed on my Windows system I was unable to find comparable titles for the Mac. I was able to locate free programs that replicated some of the functions of the aforementioned programs but they were generally quite feature limited and/or poorly designed. This is most likely not an issue for the typical end-user since their software needs are usually limited to popular titles that are readily available for the Mac.
An annoyance for anyone that is used to a PC is the lack of "right-click" context menus for many things. Even the right-click menus that are provided are sparse. In order to use many functions that can be accessed by a right-click on a PC one must use the keyboard and its meta-keys instead, which is inconvenient to say the least. Now that Apple has adopted multi-touch and gesture based commands for its mousing this is probably much less of an issue for experience users. However, for the typical end-user, someone who is used to a standard mouse, multi-touch and gesture based commands are most likely not intuitive.
One feature that I feel is a huge drawback is when one hits the X button to close the active window the program itself does not close out. For anyone that is used to the "Hitting the "X" to close the program" behavior of Windows this is very disconcerting. Several times I closed a window thinking I had closed the program out only to remember that I had to go to the program menu and quit the program. Many Windows users would be likely to leave multiple programs running in the background which slows system performance and eats up RAM. They would also likely be confused when they try to open that program later and nothing appears since when one tries to open a program that is already running it just brings the program to the front without opening a new window. If someone didnt notice the change in the menu bar it would appear that the system hadnt done anything or the program wasnt working correctly.
Another feature I didnt like in OS X is that it's not obvious exactly which programs/documents/files are open and which arent unless they are minimized, which shows them as a miniature window on the right hand side of the dock. With Windows its very easy to see which programs/documents are open since they are all represented in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. This is also a problem for background processes. With Windows the system tray shows all the various background programs that are running and what, if anything, they are doing, all with right-click context menus. As far as I could tell there really wasnt any easy way to tell exactly what was running in the background with regard to OS X. For the typical end-user monitoring background processes is probably not important, but for someone who is familiar with IT this lack of accessibility/information is irritating.
One interesting problem I ran into with OS X was that I had to manually add DNS entries into the system in order to view websites. I have never had to do with this a Windows system since the information has always been provided by the default gateway automatically. Apparently since my router was not an Airport the Mac didnt receive this information. If one has all Apple hardware these kinds of issues probably dont happen often since they are all meant to work with one another. However, there appear to be issues in mixed hardware situations which rob the Mac of some of its It just works friendliness.
Overall the external hardware characteristics of the Mac are quite good but the internal hardware design is horrifying. If one plans to stick to Apple-only hardware and simple software tasks I have no doubt the it just works phenomenon associated with Mac systems is absolutely true. However, once one gets into a mixed hardware situation or tries to do more with the software side of the system the it just works promise appears to breakdown. The OS X interface is significantly more intuitive and user-centric compared to recent versions of Windows, with the exception of the close window/close program function and keeping track of open programs as well as background processes. Anyone that has never used a computer could easily sit down and play with it for an hour or two and master most of the basics.
As a result of my experience thus far I will be making an AIO Mac and/or Mac laptop my stock recommendation for an end-user or family that doesnt have much experience with computer systems and expense is not an issue. It will also be my stock recommendation for anyone that wants a system for basic tasks such as surfing the web or writing simple documents and doesnt mind either replacing their current hardware and/or using only Apple hardware.
It doesn't seem unreasonable, so I decided to do just that. I was able to get a decent barebones dual processor G5 Power Mac for a rather good price.
I have to say that Apple has gotten far better at dealing with Non-Apple peripherals even since the G3 era (which was the last time I really spent any time using a Mac). The G5 had no trouble with an OTS SATA drive, generic USB keyboard, generic USB mouse, and DVI based LCD monitor. However, it apparently wasn't thrilled with my non-Airport router, even though it is a widely used, recent model from Linksys (more on this later).
The internal hardware arrangement was very strange compared to a typical PC system, extremely proprietary and definitely not end-user friendly. It took me a bit of time to figure how everything was assembled and arranged. I can say without a doubt that the internal configuration of PC system is far less convoluted and much, much easier to work with. Internal Mac system hardware was obviously only meant to be accessed by official Mac technical support. I was very disappointed by this; externally Mac's may be very well designed, but the internal design borders on perverted. Apple gets a big fat F in this department compared to a PC. It is quite possible this has been remedied by moving to an Intel based architecture but I rather doubt it. For the typical end-user this is most likely a non-issue.
I was somewhat annoyed at being unable to boot from USB in order to install the OS (although I understand this has changed with the current Intel based systems). Once I rebooted using Target Disk mode on Firewire I went with a simple standard installation for OS X 10.5.6 which surprisingly yielded my first error. It got about 10% of the way done when it said OS X couldn't be installed on the target internal drive. The next message said installation had failed and I had to reboot. Apparently it didn't like the fact that the drive I installed wasn't Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formatted in advance, which really doesn't seem like it should be a problem since most OS installers can partition and format as part of the in-line installation process. This is most likely a situation that the typical end-user will not encounter since OS X is preinstalled and ready for use on a new Mac system.
I rebooted, went into Disk Utility, partitioned and formatted the drive, and then proceeded with the installation which didn't produce any other errors. The installation of OS X was far easier (once I got it working) than what one would experience with a typical installation of recent Windows operating systems. However, this came at the expense of customizing the installation. There were an extremely limited number of options that could be customized through the standard installer. This is most likely a plus for a standard end-user but an annoyance for an IT veteran.
The first thing one notices after a new installation of OS X is that even on hardware that is 1/2 a decade old it boots quite quickly, at least twice as fast as recent versions of Windows on more modern hardware. The initial setup process for creating a new user in OS X is quite simple, even a small child could deftly handle the task. After creating a new user one gets dropped on the main desktop with a Dock that is populated by all the programs one would really need for simple tasks provided by Apple.
One thing I really liked about OS X is that the information provided by system messages is typically very specific and tells one exactly what is wrong and sometimes even what can be done to correct a given problem. An excellent example of this is what happened when I tried to add the Mac to my wireless network. In the past I have tried to add various Windows systems that were visiting to my wireless network only to have them connect and appear to be functioning but the internet cannot be reached. I could go through any number of utilities or settings in the system only to have Windows tell me that everything was perfect, however this was obviously not true since all internet services were down. Around this time I would remember that I have a wireless ACL (Access Control List) in my router which only allows hardware that is listed in the table to access the internet through my router. Once I add the ID to the table the problem is resolved. When I had my Mac try to access the internet through my router with the correct password a system message immediately appeared that let me know since my Mac was not in my router's wireless ACL it could not access the internet. This let me know exactly what the problem was so I could easily correct it even though my router was not even an Apple Airport. I was quite impressed by this.
Updating OS X is very simple and allows one to read exactly what is being updated and why if they are interested. Getting additional software, free or paid, is rather easy given the link provided in the "Apple" menu in the upper-left hand corner. With the amount of software pre-installed by Apple and the convenient link provided one needs to do far less hunting for additional software to install on a Mac. However, I was disappointed when I downloaded a popular graphics manipulation application (Gimp) through the site that is provided and it failed to function. It installed correctly but absolutely refused to run and it provided no error messages to work with in order to resolve the problem. Given the fact that it is linked on an Apple site one would expect the software to install and work flawlessly with OS X but that was not the case. At least in Windows when a programs craps out one almost always gets some kind of feedback to help track down the issue which prevented the software from operating correctly.
Unfortunately, the selection of software for Mac is still lacking compared to the Windows platform, although it is far, far better than it used to be. For several piece of software installed on my Windows system I was unable to find comparable titles for the Mac. I was able to locate free programs that replicated some of the functions of the aforementioned programs but they were generally quite feature limited and/or poorly designed. This is most likely not an issue for the typical end-user since their software needs are usually limited to popular titles that are readily available for the Mac.
An annoyance for anyone that is used to a PC is the lack of "right-click" context menus for many things. Even the right-click menus that are provided are sparse. In order to use many functions that can be accessed by a right-click on a PC one must use the keyboard and its meta-keys instead, which is inconvenient to say the least. Now that Apple has adopted multi-touch and gesture based commands for its mousing this is probably much less of an issue for experience users. However, for the typical end-user, someone who is used to a standard mouse, multi-touch and gesture based commands are most likely not intuitive.
One feature that I feel is a huge drawback is when one hits the X button to close the active window the program itself does not close out. For anyone that is used to the "Hitting the "X" to close the program" behavior of Windows this is very disconcerting. Several times I closed a window thinking I had closed the program out only to remember that I had to go to the program menu and quit the program. Many Windows users would be likely to leave multiple programs running in the background which slows system performance and eats up RAM. They would also likely be confused when they try to open that program later and nothing appears since when one tries to open a program that is already running it just brings the program to the front without opening a new window. If someone didnt notice the change in the menu bar it would appear that the system hadnt done anything or the program wasnt working correctly.
Another feature I didnt like in OS X is that it's not obvious exactly which programs/documents/files are open and which arent unless they are minimized, which shows them as a miniature window on the right hand side of the dock. With Windows its very easy to see which programs/documents are open since they are all represented in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. This is also a problem for background processes. With Windows the system tray shows all the various background programs that are running and what, if anything, they are doing, all with right-click context menus. As far as I could tell there really wasnt any easy way to tell exactly what was running in the background with regard to OS X. For the typical end-user monitoring background processes is probably not important, but for someone who is familiar with IT this lack of accessibility/information is irritating.
One interesting problem I ran into with OS X was that I had to manually add DNS entries into the system in order to view websites. I have never had to do with this a Windows system since the information has always been provided by the default gateway automatically. Apparently since my router was not an Airport the Mac didnt receive this information. If one has all Apple hardware these kinds of issues probably dont happen often since they are all meant to work with one another. However, there appear to be issues in mixed hardware situations which rob the Mac of some of its It just works friendliness.
Overall the external hardware characteristics of the Mac are quite good but the internal hardware design is horrifying. If one plans to stick to Apple-only hardware and simple software tasks I have no doubt the it just works phenomenon associated with Mac systems is absolutely true. However, once one gets into a mixed hardware situation or tries to do more with the software side of the system the it just works promise appears to breakdown. The OS X interface is significantly more intuitive and user-centric compared to recent versions of Windows, with the exception of the close window/close program function and keeping track of open programs as well as background processes. Anyone that has never used a computer could easily sit down and play with it for an hour or two and master most of the basics.
As a result of my experience thus far I will be making an AIO Mac and/or Mac laptop my stock recommendation for an end-user or family that doesnt have much experience with computer systems and expense is not an issue. It will also be my stock recommendation for anyone that wants a system for basic tasks such as surfing the web or writing simple documents and doesnt mind either replacing their current hardware and/or using only Apple hardware.
