48 replies to this topic

[BroodsSexton]

So I bit the bullet, and after my Dell laptop got beaten up and after years of use, I now own a MacBook Air, which will be my primary traveling computer for business purposes, and I'm sure is likely to replace our home desktop Vostro to become my main computer for home use as well. We've been a PC family forever, and the last Apple I owned was a MacIntosh Classic, back in the 90s, which I used for writing college papers and little else. But I have slowly been adapting an iPhone and iPad into my workflow, and I find that I'm pretty happy in the Apple environment. I don't do anything that interesting with my computers, and I've become sold on the design/ease of use/stability/etc.

So -- what are the most important tips and tricks and things to know about going from a PC to a MacBook? Do I need to install an antivirus program on this sucker? I'm setting up iCloud -- beyond that, do I need to convert my iPhone and iPad over from the PC to this laptop as the primary computer? Seems like it would be sensible, I guess, because my presumption is that iTunes will run more smoothly on this. What's going to frustrate me? What am I going to love?

EDIT: I can already tell that switching from keyboard shortcuts based on "control" to "command" is going to drive me nuts for a while.

Edited by BroodsSexton, 27 November 2011 - 10:38 PM.

[soxhop411]

Mac's really dont need Anti virus software, but I have it installed just incase. So yah, if you want to feel extra secure, install anti virus software.
If you mean transfer your music/movies/apps to your macbook. yes you just plug it in and sync it to the macbook.
App wise, take a look on the mac app store (Not the same as the app store in itunes) look around and see if any apps interest you.

Web browsers other then safari
Firefox
Rockmelt (modified google chrome with Facebook/twitter integration, which is very useful if you are on twitter/facebook a lot.

Edited by soxhop411, 27 November 2011 - 10:34 PM.

[ivanvamp]

So I bit the bullet, and after my Dell laptop got beaten up and after years of use, I now own a MacBook Air, which will be my primary traveling computer for business purposes, and I'm sure is likely to replace our home desktop Vostro to become my main computer for home use as well. We've been a PC family forever, and the last Apple I owned was a MacIntosh Classic, back in the 90s, which I used for writing college papers and little else. But I have slowly been adapting an iPhone and iPad into my workflow, and I find that I'm pretty happy in the Apple environment. I don't do anything that interesting with my computers, and I've become sold on the design/ease of use/stability/etc.

So -- what are the most important tips and tricks and things to know about going from a PC to a MacBook? Do I need to install an antivirus program on this sucker? I'm setting up iCloud -- beyond that, do I need to convert my iPhone and iPad over from the PC to this laptop as the primary computer? Seems like it would be sensible, I guess, because my presumption is that iTunes will run more smoothly on this. What's going to frustrate me? What am I going to love?

EDIT: I can already tell that switching from keyboard shortcuts based on "control" to "command" is going to drive me nuts for a while.

I had a Dell for years but in the summer of 2010 I became a Mac convert. I own a 13" MacBook and I couldn't be happier. I made the mistake of not getting a firewire port with it, but still, it's awesome. Sometimes it's the little things....like the two-finger drag on the touchpad. Sometimes when I go back and use my wife's Dell, I instinctively go for the two-finger drag, and nothing happens. I have to click and drag the slider on the right to scroll....which seems like no big deal until you no longer have to do it (like with my Mac).

I still have a lot to learn about this machine, but holy cow it is, IMO, way better than what I was experiencing before.

One thing: I decided to not bother with any parallels - some folks like to use them to run their Windows-based software, but I didn't want my Mac to even have to deal with any of that. So a lot of my software (mostly games, but other stuff too) is now irrelevant. Oh well....such is the price of progress.

Enjoy your Mac experience.

[BroodsSexton]

I miss the delete key and right-clicking. But this is pretty smooth.

Edited by BroodsSexton, 28 November 2011 - 09:08 AM.

[derekson]

I miss the delete key and right-clicking. But this is pretty smooth.

Clicking the trackpad when you have two fingers on it right clicks.

[dirtynine]

Clicking the trackpad when you have two fingers on it right clicks.

You can also assign a corner of the trackpad (I use the bottom right) as a right-click.

[dirtynine]

When I became a Mac guy, about three years ago, the simplest, stupidest thing bothered me right out of the gate - how do I install applications? It's even less complicated now, if you use the App Store, but for typical downloads, shareware, etc., instead of running executable files and going through an install wizard a la Windows, you just download, double-click to mount the installer (which will look like a drive icon) and drag the .app bundle over to your Applications folder and, bam, it's installed. Coming from Windows that seemed too simple to be true.

Edited by dirtynine, 28 November 2011 - 10:34 AM.

[wibi]

My wife is looking at an Air to replace her current dying laptop. It mostly looks like a good switch but I cannot figure out what the Thunderbolt port is good for. Is it like the old firewire (during the early USB days) where it has tons of promise but not much real practical value at this point?

[kneemoe]

NM

Edited by kneemoe, 28 November 2011 - 02:56 PM.

[santadevil]

So -- what are the most important tips and tricks and things to know about going from a PC to a MacBook? Do I need to install an antivirus program on this sucker?

Mac's really dont need Anti virus software, but I have it installed just incase. So yah, if you want to feel extra secure, install anti virus software.

Mac's really DO need anti-virus, no matter what all the apple users think.

This article from Anandtech DailyTech will illustrate my point a bit better.
Quick quote from the article:

For Apple, it's yet another indication that company's public effort to feign ignorance on malware is harming customers. While tech-savvy Mac users understand their platforms are just as susceptible to infections as PCs, in theory if not in practice, less tech-savvy users often believe their Mac is magically immune to infection.

I'm not very fond of Apply myself, but if you're going to use one, please protect yourself and get some antivirus software running as well.

edit/ changing to DailyTech, not Anandtech. Just followed the link from AnandTech.

Edited by santadevil, 30 November 2011 - 12:26 AM.

[BillMuellerFanClub]

the thunderbolt port is an interface that provides 10gbps throughput and is daisy chain-able. there are drives and monitors out there that utilize this port well, but are very expensive relatively. it's true use for the average consumer is just as a mini-displayport to connect a monitor through an adapter (VGA, dvi, or hdmi)

[BillMuellerFanClub]

by the way, it is my understanding that the only virus macs can contract are ones that are applications, not infected links or media.

[derekson]

For Apple, it's yet another indication that company's public effort to feign ignorance on malware is harming customers. While tech-savvy Mac users understand their platforms are just as susceptible to infections as PCs, in theory if not in practice, less tech-savvy users often believe their Mac is magically immune to infection.

Those theoretical viruses are the worst. They really make my system inoperable.


Obviously OS X is not literally immune to viruses, but the simple fact is that for all intents and purposes Mac viruses simply don't exist. Anti-virus software on a Mac is pretty much a waste of money, processing cycles, and memory. And if you read that article, the trojan it is talking about is piggybacking on pirated copies of GraphicConverter from public torrent sites. Obviously you're asking for trouble if you're downloading stuff from sources like that. Unless you routinely download pirated or modified software from questionable sources, you're not going to get a virus on a mac.

[notfar]

Install Alfred from the app store and use it as an application launcher/file finder. It works way better than Spotlight. Install it, press command-space or whatever you bind it to, start typing the thing you want and wallah, it finds it and you can launch it. You can also just start typing and have it search wikipedia, google, random websites, whatever you want. It sounds less impressive than it is; once you start using it it will be the primary way you interact with things you have installed on your computer.

[B H Kim]

Install Alfred from the app store and use it as an application launcher/file finder. It works way better than Spotlight. Install it, press command-space or whatever you bind it to, start typing the thing you want and wallah, it finds it and you can launch it. You can also just start typing and have it search wikipedia, google, random websites, whatever you want. It sounds less impressive than it is; once you start using it it will be the primary way you interact with things you have installed on your computer.

I find that Quicksilver is an even better launcher application (and it's free).

[Three10toLeft]

So I just hooked up my brand new 21.5 inch iMac.

I've been using a Dell Inspiron laptop going on 4 years now, I've been toying with making the plunge to Apple for the past couple years, I couldn't be happier.

I purchased an iPad to compliment the iMac, now I want the iPhone and Apple TV. I can't wait to actually have all my media sync'd in one definitive way.

I'm in freaking love.

[One Red Seat]

I am thinking of making the switch too for a variety of reasons but, I need to keep access to Windows7. I have been led to believe that I can run that on a Mac but does anybody have any experience with this? Does this compromise the security or functionality of the Mac in any way? Any thing else to be aware of?

[ookami7m]

You can run Parallels or similar on the Mac to virtualize your Windows experience but it tends to be a resource hog and destroy your speed etc.

[finnVT]

I am thinking of making the switch too for a variety of reasons but, I need to keep access to Windows7. I have been led to believe that I can run that on a Mac but does anybody have any experience with this? Does this compromise the security or functionality of the Mac in any way? Any thing else to be aware of?

I use VirtualBox by Oracle (formerly by Sun). It lets you put a full Windows installation essentially into a file, then boot up from within your Mac OS whenever you want. Seemless mode makes it so your Windows windows will just float around with the rest of the things you have open, though you can view the Windows desktop as well if you prefer.

Works really well, and best of all, it's free (though you need a real Windows install disk). It's also very cross-platform compatible, so I have Windows 7 installs on my mac laptop and ubuntu desktop, and it'll work for basically any combination of host and "guest" you can think of (except a mac OS install on non-mac hardware, or at least not without significant effort).

[B H Kim]

And if performance using a virtualized Windows environment is an issue, you can always set up any Intel Mac as a dual boot machine using Apple's Boot Camp utility.

[dcdrew10]

I ran XP on my Macbook through Boot Camp and it worked fine, with no hitch, but because I rarely used it I was always having to update the security software and it tended to slow down the process. I never added the XP partition when I upgraded my laptop drive to an SSD. If you are going to use Windows7 every day or at least weekly then you should be fine with Boot Camp, but if it's just a few random times you can look into visualization, which does really slow your computer down. Not sure if you have access to or are allowed to, but a good solution to that can be remote desktop.

In terms of virus protection, I like Sophos because it's free and unobtrusive.

One issue I have found with OSX is App removal. Try something like AppZapper.

[JenInMA]

I just got the 13" MacBook Air (a splurge thanks to a work perk). I have yet to kick the tires and will probably have many questions as it is my first Mac, but in the interim I am wondering if the extended warranty (2 additional years) is worth it. Any thoughts?

[teddykgb]

most macs are pretty bulletproof and won't require much warranty work, but the nice thing about buying applecare is that if you have it apple will truly do everything to make a situation right. On iphones and ipads they just replace them at the first sign of trouble, with the macbooks they tend to send them away for repairs, but it's a nice peace of mind to have if you can afford it.

I'm still using a late 2008 aluminum macbook simply because it still performs as well as the day i bought it and hasn't required me to do anything to it. It really is a testament to these machines that that's even possible. I bring it up because it's entirely plausible, especially with that SSD, that you'll use this machine for years, so the extended warranty may make more sense if you go that route.

[iayork]

I just got the 13" MacBook Air (a splurge thanks to a work perk). I have yet to kick the tires and will probably have many questions as it is my first Mac, but in the interim I am wondering if the extended warranty (2 additional years) is worth it. Any thoughts?

Do you mean Applecare? Highly recommended. Even though most extended warranties are pure ripoffs, Applecare is pretty reasonable and provides a rock-solid service. Apple laptops are very good for reliability, but laptops in general have a relatively high problem rate. With Applecare anything that happens during coverage gets fixed quickly and free. I have something like 8 apple laptops in the house, got Applecare on each of them, used Applecare on about half, and came out saving money overall.

[JenInMA]

Yes, Applecare - which would take coverage from 1 year to 3 years. I am leaning toward it (plus we get a 10% corporate discount on it).

Thanks!

Any thoughts on the Apple One-on-One? It's $99. I have never been a Mac or Apple person, but I am hoping I am savvy enough to figure my way around (but do not want to assume it is intuitive).

[Three10toLeft]

So I bought an external Blu Ray disc drive assuming it would be Mac compatible and I was wrong. I need to go back to the store and return it, but I've been searching online and don't seem to see any external BR drives that explicitly say they are Mac compatible.

I don't really care to watch actual blu ray movies on my Mac. I just want to rip the ones I own on my computer so I can watch them on my iPad/iPhone/Apple TV. Does anyone have any suggestions on a drive to get?

[iayork]

Any thoughts on the Apple One-on-One? It's $99. I have never been a Mac or Apple person, but I am hoping I am savvy enough to figure my way around (but do not want to assume it is intuitive).

All I know about the One-on-One is what I've overheard while hanging out in Apple stores. Seems like good training, but overkill for day to day use of the computer. If you have specific goals in video, audio, or maybe photo editing, maybe it's worth a session, but doing the usual poking and pecking first to see if it turns out to be intuitive for you would be the first step, I think.

There are definitely external Mac-compatible blu-ray drives (search "blu-ray player apple" on Amazon) but I have no experience with them.

[Three10toLeft]

All I know about the One-on-One is what I've overheard while hanging out in Apple stores. Seems like good training, but overkill for day to day use of the computer. If you have specific goals in video, audio, or maybe photo editing, maybe it's worth a session, but doing the usual poking and pecking first to see if it turns out to be intuitive for you would be the first step, I think.

There are definitely external Mac-compatible blu-ray drives (search "blu-ray player apple" on Amazon) but I have no experience with them.

Yeah, apparently it was just a plug and play drive.

I'm not sure how external disc drives work since I've never had any experience with them, on a windows or mac. I assumed some sort of drivers would have needed to be installed, when I didn't have a dialog box pop up, I assumed it wouldn't work with a Mac.

After opening up Finder, I saw that it already had the drive loaded in my list of connected devices and I've already ripped a few movies.

[TomRicardo]

Yes, Applecare - which would take coverage from 1 year to 3 years. I am leaning toward it (plus we get a 10% corporate discount on it).

Thanks!

Any thoughts on the Apple One-on-One? It's $99. I have never been a Mac or Apple person, but I am hoping I am savvy enough to figure my way around (but do not want to assume it is intuitive).

Jen always always always get the Applecare. It is first the first thing I do whenever I order a Mac (i probably deal with more macs than anyone else on SoSH) It is always worth it.

That said you probably don't need the One-on-One. Play with the machine for a day and you should be fine. You can always email me with any questions.

[TomRicardo]

Windows and Mac format their hard drives differently.

Macs use a file system called HFS while Windows uses NTFS. They both can use FAT but there are limitations to that.

When I get a hard drive I usually like to reparition it.

Go to Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility

Usually depending on the size and what you want to store I make two or three paritions. One I use as a bootable backup, one for time machine, and one for junk I don't need everyday.

For the bootable back up I use a program called Carbon Copy Cloner. It can make a bit by bit image of your computer that you will be able to boot off of if your hard drive fails. This is important because Time Machine won't allow you to do this. From this base you can then load your latest Time Machine and you are good to go until you have time to replace your hard drive.

[JenInMA]

Thanks, everyone. I am going to get the Apple Care, and then if need be bother Tom!

[Three10toLeft]

Since I got my Mac I've found myself doing a lot more multitasking, photo editing and ripping movies while listening to iTunes, I've noticed that my free ram is a little low while I am doing this. I wouldn't say that it's laggy always, but it'll have some hiccups every once in a while.

I was going to order some RAM from Crucial.com, I thought their two 4GB sticks of ram for $45 seemed like a pretty good deal, but I wanted to make sure of something before I ordered it. I have 4 GB of ram in my computer right now, if I add the 8 gigs with the new ram from Crucial, it won't matter that it's not balanced, correct? So in essence, I will have two sticks of 2 GB, and two of 4 GB. All good?

It's a pretty noobish question, but just wanted to make sure that it won't be an issue.

[teddykgb]

Since I got my Mac I've found myself doing a lot more multitasking, photo editing and ripping movies while listening to iTunes, I've noticed that my free ram is a little low while I am doing this. I wouldn't say that it's laggy always, but it'll have some hiccups every once in a while.

I was going to order some RAM from Crucial.com, I thought their two 4GB sticks of ram for $45 seemed like a pretty good deal, but I wanted to make sure of something before I ordered it. I have 4 GB of ram in my computer right now, if I add the 8 gigs with the new ram from Crucial, it won't matter that it's not balanced, correct? So in essence, I will have two sticks of 2 GB, and two of 4 GB. All good?

It's a pretty noobish question, but just wanted to make sure that it won't be an issue.

I'm really not understanding what you're talking about here. Which mac do you have? Macs don't typically have a bunch of open RAM slots for you to install new RAM into, so you're likely replacing your RAM with the new 8GB, not adding to it. And most macs are certainly user upgradeable in the RAM department, but even opening up some of the newer ones will require torx screwdrivers you're not likely to have, so be careful not to strip the screws.

Edited by teddykgb, 21 January 2012 - 10:49 PM.

[NortheasternPJ]

Unless you have a macpro you probably only have 2 slots, each with 2gb in them now.

[Three10toLeft]

Okay... I have a 2011 iMac. I have two 2 GB sticks of RAM that came with my computer when I purchased it. I have another two slots open, I think this was a recent change made to the iMac's, they added more slots for you to upgrade the RAM.

I was wondering if having two 2 GB sticks and two 4 GB sticks of RAM would cause any issues since each stick wouldn't be equal across the board (meaning four 2 GB sticks of RAM in every slot), but from what I've googled it won't cause any problems with the computer. That was my only question.

My bad, I probably should have specified what model I was using.

[TomRicardo]

That doesn't make a difference. You should be fine doing that.

One thing you should check to make sure though is your hard drive space. For best performance you should make sure that 20% of your OS parition (for 99% of you that Maicintosh HD) is free. Basically if you have 250 GB hard drive internally you should leave ~50 GB free at all times.

Under 15% you will see a noticable drop off in performance. Under 10% your computer will crawl.

[kneemoe]

Windows and Mac format their hard drives differently.

Macs use a file system called HFS while Windows uses NTFS. They both can use FAT but there are limitations to that.

When I get a hard drive I usually like to reparition it.

Go to Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility

Usually depending on the size and what you want to store I make two or three paritions. One I use as a bootable backup, one for time machine, and one for junk I don't need everyday.

For the bootable back up I use a program called Carbon Copy Cloner. It can make a bit by bit image of your computer that you will be able to boot off of if your hard drive fails. This is important because Time Machine won't allow you to do this. From this base you can then load your latest Time Machine and you are good to go until you have time to replace your hard drive.

You make a bootable recovery partition on the same disk as the OS, in case the HD fails?
NM, seems you were talking about an external HD (which makes your post sound a whole lot more helpful), when 310toLeft was talking about an external blueray player

Edited by kneemoe, 25 January 2012 - 04:50 PM.

[Three10toLeft]

That doesn't make a difference. You should be fine doing that.

One thing you should check to make sure though is your hard drive space. For best performance you should make sure that 20% of your OS parition (for 99% of you that Maicintosh HD) is free. Basically if you have 250 GB hard drive internally you should leave ~50 GB free at all times.

Under 15% you will see a noticable drop off in performance. Under 10% your computer will crawl.

I purchased a My Book by Western Digital, 2 TB, that's where I keep all my media and such. I try not to save anything really to my internal HD.

[bostonbeerbelly]

I am hoping someone on here can help me as I am completely lost.

Short story - Split a drink on my Samsung personal/work computer - purchased a MacBook Pro and I need to transfer emails and files

So I basically have no idea what to do right now.

I have removed my hard drive from my old computer, and attached it via a USB to SATA cable to my new MacBook Pro.

Every time I try to transfer a folder full of subfolders and documents/pictures/etc - it copies a few of the documents and then says an error occurred and stops copying.

1) How do I copy all my important documents to the new Mac without having duplicate files or running into this error message?

Now I think the hard part. I used Thunderbird for my email for work and all my emails/contacts are on the old hard drive (not saved on a server) I have a feeling I need to change some settings in folder options, or create an identical user on the mac to access the user data/app (?) subfolder that I think google has told me these would be stored in.

2) How do I do that? Is it possible? Am I on the right track?

I transferred everything from my external over today and had no problem...no errors. However transferring from the original hard drive the stuff that I never backed up I am pulling out my hair trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. This is my first mac and I am fairly comfortable with a PC, but I am lost and could really use some help.

Thanks in advance.

[iayork]

Every time I try to transfer a folder full of subfolders and documents/pictures/etc - it copies a few of the documents and then says an error occurred and stops copying.

1) How do I copy all my important documents to the new Mac without having duplicate files or running into this error message?

Is the error message helpful? (It's probably not, just the infuriatingly useless "An error occurred")

I suggest looking into Carbon Copy Cloner to help. Not quite sure what the settings you'd use would be, but it's very good at moving things from one place to another, and I am pretty sure you can use it free for a trial. (It's worth getting for backups anyway.) At least you'd then have the files on the new machine, and could try working with them that way.

[kneemoe]

I am hoping someone on here can help me as I am completely lost.

Short story - Split a drink on my Samsung personal/work computer - purchased a MacBook Pro and I need to transfer emails and files

So I basically have no idea what to do right now.

I have removed my hard drive from my old computer, and attached it via a USB to SATA cable to my new MacBook Pro.

Every time I try to transfer a folder full of subfolders and documents/pictures/etc - it copies a few of the documents and then says an error occurred and stops copying.

1) How do I copy all my important documents to the new Mac without having duplicate files or running into this error message?

Now I think the hard part. I used Thunderbird for my email for work and all my emails/contacts are on the old hard drive (not saved on a server) I have a feeling I need to change some settings in folder options, or create an identical user on the mac to access the user data/app (?) subfolder that I think google has told me these would be stored in.

2) How do I do that? Is it possible? Am I on the right track?

I transferred everything from my external over today and had no problem...no errors. However transferring from the original hard drive the stuff that I never backed up I am pulling out my hair trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. This is my first mac and I am fairly comfortable with a PC, but I am lost and could really use some help.

Thanks in advance.

If its a permissions issue you should be able to use chmod to modify the permissions. Use terminal and then navigate to the old hard drive (linux it'll probably be in /media, Mac might be a little different) then go into the documents and users folder, and run 'sudo chmod -R 777 NAMEOFUSERFOLDER'
Then check the permissions in a file explorer (finder) to make sure it worked (or use 'ls -l' to check)

[TomRicardo]

Is the error message helpful? (It's probably not, just the infuriatingly useless "An error occurred")

I suggest looking into Carbon Copy Cloner to help. Not quite sure what the settings you'd use would be, but it's very good at moving things from one place to another, and I am pretty sure you can use it free for a trial. (It's worth getting for backups anyway.) At least you'd then have the files on the new machine, and could try working with them that way.

Carbon Copy Cloner is shareware (you can and should donate)

Is your old hard drive a NTFS drive? That could be screwing up the permissions

[Blacken]

Is your old hard drive a NTFS drive? That could be screwing up the permissions

Not 100% sure, but I think that CCC should be ignoring NTFS permissions.

[TomRicardo]

Not 100% sure, but I think that CCC should be ignoring NTFS permissions.

Not if the permissions are screwed hence why I ask. It really isn't meant for that either.

[The Four Peters]

So I was surprised by my work with a new 13" MacBook Air last weekend since my Lenovo was performing terribly and putting actual deadlines at jeopardy*. This is my first time using any Mac for an extended period of time, and I gotta say, I absolutely love it. The size of it makes it perfect for traveling, the speed and battery life are all great, but the biggest improvement is by far the trackpad and OS. I am a million times faster using the swipe and multiple desktops/workspaces than I was on Windows 7, and it's really not even close. Granted, most of my work is done on the web and in Excel so it's not like I need a high performing machine, but for what I need to do, it's been fantastic. I'll definitely look into getting the new 15" MacBook Air/Pro that is coming out soon as a personal computer and my transition to the dark side will finally be complete.

*Somehow our company had Lenovo ThinkPad W510's that were pretty heavily spec'ed out and were absolute beasts of a machine...and they can't even run simple Excel spreadsheets without freezing up. They definitely need to be re-formatted or something and they should work fine, but it's crazy that something that is smaller than the actual lid of that machine works much better than it.

[teddykgb]

one thing that the mac has all over windows is the ability to resume from sleep. The way a mac is instantly usable after opening the screen is such a stark contrast to a thinkpad or dell you've docked and undocked that it's absolutely absurd. A total revelation for someone using it in the enterprise

[FL4WL3SS]

So I was surprised by my work with a new 13" MacBook Air last weekend since my Lenovo was performing terribly and putting actual deadlines at jeopardy*. This is my first time using any Mac for an extended period of time, and I gotta say, I absolutely love it. The size of it makes it perfect for traveling, the speed and battery life are all great, but the biggest improvement is by far the trackpad and OS. I am a million times faster using the swipe and multiple desktops/workspaces than I was on Windows 7, and it's really not even close. Granted, most of my work is done on the web and in Excel so it's not like I need a high performing machine, but for what I need to do, it's been fantastic. I'll definitely look into getting the new 15" MacBook Air/Pro that is coming out soon as a personal computer and my transition to the dark side will finally be complete.

*Somehow our company had Lenovo ThinkPad W510's that were pretty heavily spec'ed out and were absolute beasts of a machine...and they can't even run simple Excel spreadsheets without freezing up. They definitely need to be re-formatted or something and they should work fine, but it's crazy that something that is smaller than the actual lid of that machine works much better than it.

You make me sick.

[NortheasternPJ]

*Somehow our company had Lenovo ThinkPad W510's that were pretty heavily spec'ed out and were absolute beasts of a machine...and they can't even run simple Excel spreadsheets without freezing up. They definitely need to be re-formatted or something and they should work fine, but it's crazy that something that is smaller than the actual lid of that machine works much better than it.

I've got a top of the line W520 with Windows 7 and this machine is a dog. When streaming radio.com it frequently stutters and can't keep up. I frequently have to reboot because the mouse starts to stutter when using it. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I'm guessing its the POS Symantec Endpoint Security & Encryption. 6 minutes to wake from hibernation or to do a cold boot.

My 5 year old MacBook Pro has none of these issues. I wish I could build my own Windows image on this laptop, I'm blaming the shitty corporate image.

[The Four Peters]

Yeah I had a lot of those same problems. Hell just running normal stuff for a little while would cause the CPU to go beserk and completely slow the whole machine down, basically forcing me to restart. We had ours imaged too and there's POS Norton Antivirus that came with it, that could be part of the problem. I'd love to wipe it myself and do a clean Windows Install, but I'll just take my MacBook Air and be on my way.