I had been pining for a Mac for a couple of years now. Several times I came very close to buying one, but just couldn’t bring myself to part with the cash. I’ve always heard that once you go Mac you never go back. But after my experience with a MacBook Pro, I’m hear to tell you that “Once you go Mac you never go back” is Totally Whack!
Last year when I bought a new computer I was so close to buying a Mac but couldn’t bring myself to part with the cash and bought an Asus UL30VTX1K.
Recently I have been blessed with an increase in the amount of money I earn from my blog and my Macbook Pro fun finally hit it’s magical mark. So right before I went into the hospital to have my brain tumor surgery I decided to bite the bullet and made a trip to Best Buy where I finally bought a Macbook Pro.
I picked up the Apple MacBook Pro MD313LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION).
It has decent specs.
- 2.4 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 Processor
- 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
- 500 GB Hard Drive, 8x DVD/CD SuperDrive
- 13.3-Inch LED-backlit Display, 1280-by-800 Resolution, Intel HD Graphics 3000
- Mac OS X v10.7 Lion, 7 Hour Battery Life
Not the top of the line, but surely enough hardware for my use. I don’t play graphic intense games. I don’t do crazy video or photo editing. I mostly blog, use social media, and play those ridiculous facebook games. (I seriously need to got to AA or something over those things. They are just SO darn addictive.)
Everyone I’ve spoke with who owns a Mac has just raved about it. My friends from Emerigblog and Nurse Ratched’s Place both swear by Macs. At Blog World Expo nearly everyone had one and I have to admit that I was a tiny bit embarrassed of my PC. One of my co-workers told me that her daughter who is in college has a PC and nearly everyone else there has a Mac. Apparently the Mac hipster kids play “Spot the PC.”
I was so ready to be super impressed with how efficient and productive I would become with my new MacBook. I was getting ready to be blown away by the lack of lag and slowness I experienced in my normal computing habits. A Mac was going to change my life, after all. Since everyone I’ve ever talked to just raves about how much they love theirs and can’t remember what they did before they had one, surely it was going to utterly rock my face off. Right?
Eternal Apple Bliss Postponed
Unfortunately I was not able to experience the bliss of the Macbook immediately.
I could barely lift my head for over a week after my surgery. Because of this, I was unable to get any real idea of the functionality of my new toy.
I found this highly annoying.
That was just my luck though. I get a Mac but don’t even get to use it because I’m too sick.
MacBook Experience Confusing
So when I finally was able to get some serious computing on, I found myself confused by my experience.
My Mac was slow. Unresponsive at times. I used Google Chrome to browse the web and if I tried to open more than 6 tabs at a time, the darn thing would barely do anything. Trying to run more than one App at a time was darn near impossible. Attempting to use the Mail App and surf the web was a joke.
Testing Out Parallels 7 for Mac
I tried to use Parallels to see use Windows Live Writer and to just test how Windows 7 ran on the Mac and it was the biggest joke ever. And honestly I don’t think Parallels was the culprit at all. I was impressed with how Parallels functioned and the added abilities it gave me to my Mac experience, it was just unusable because of the slowness of my MacBook.
If I can’t even browse the web without extreme lag then why on earth did I expect to be able to run another operating system at the same time?
Yea… yea… I know.
I Wanted to Believe
I wanted to love my Mac.
I really really did.
Surely the hoards of Apple Cultists could not be brainwashed into thinking that Macs were the greatest thing since sliced bread, right?
So there is probably no merit to the theory I have that people are so embarrassed about the large amount of money they spend on Macs that they just tell everyone how great they are to save face.
Probably not.
I do demand a lot out of a computer, but I really was using it lightly. So even though I would like to think that perhaps I’m just such a hardcore computer that a Mac can’t handle my awesomeness, the truth is that I probably just got a dud.
OS X Lion Causing Slowness
But I did do some googling prior to returning the Mac and found that the Lion OS was causing many issues, especially after upgrading from a previous version. Several stated there over 2 years old Macs ran better than a new machine did with this update.
The fix suggested to uninstall and do a clean install of Lion.
I just couldn’t stomach it.
I shouldn’t have to do any finagling on a brand new computer. I especially shouldn’t have to do any finagling on a brand need MacBook Pro. That’s why they are so great. No finaglin’!
In an effort to keep my sanity and become productive again, I decided to return it.
I picked up a new Asus U46E-BAL7 and a 32gb white New iPad (iPad 3).
Problem solved.
No slowness. No disappointment. No buyers remorse, so far, at least.
The Asus U46E-BAL7 is a snappy little machine. And for $799 it’s over $300 cheaper than the MacBook.
Asus U46E-BAL7 Specs:
- Intel® 2nd Generation Core™ i7
- 8GB DDR3
- 750GB
- 14-Inch Screen
- Windows 7 Home Premium
So here I am telling you that I went Mac and came right back.
Still love my iPhone and New iPad with all my heart.
For now at least I’ll be sticking with a Windows PC.
Microsoft I am sorry I ever doubted you.
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I think you just got unlucky and got a fault computer, but if you are happy with PC then why switch? I always had PC but ALWAYS had problems, viruses, malware, slow computer. My last 2 PC laptops broke after less then a year. Thats why I went to Mac, but if my last 2 PC laptops would have lasted more then a year I’d still be with PC. and at times I wish I still did own a PC, like when I want to play a video game. But I wouldn’t trade my Mac in, I love it. Hope you continue to love your PC and not have issues with it.
O, and I just had a Iphone die on me, so i’m back to using less expensive phone, but I do miss my Iphone
This sounds like you had a faulty macbook rather than a problem with macs in general. If your brand new mac struggles to surf the internet there’s definitely something wrong with it….could have been dropped in transit or something. Every other mac I’ve used can do the things you describe flawlessy, even one that are several years old. If this was a general problem all macbook pros with the same spec would be slow at the tasks you describe, and that definitely isn’t take case. Otherwise you’d hear this sort of stuff all the time, not people raving about them like they do.
Between home and work I have use of around 10 different macs, many different models, ages and operating systems…and the only ones that could be describe as sluggish at certain tasks are the ones that are 5 or 6 years old. But generally even those are fast as surfing the net etc. None of the macs I’ve used have ever suffered any hardware fault or required a visit to the repair man, they also haven’t got sluggish over time like all of our work pcs have,
All up to date macs I use breeze through intensive tasks like video editing, motion graphics, 3d modelling etc.
But the operating system is the main thing that makes it better for me. As long as it can do everything I throw at it with ease then I don’t care what the spec is. I do care about a good operating system though.
It sounds like you didn’t even get a chance to properly experience macs before going back to pc’s. If you had a machine that runs normally, used it for 6 months to get to know all the benefits and features, then I’m sure there’s no way you’d be going back to pc. The problems you describe are not normal. Other than that fact that apple don’t make cheapo computers and they’re not designed for gaming, I’ve yet to hear one thing that makes them inferior to pc’s. Everything I normally hear is a myth from someone who isn’t familiar with them.
Most pc users are people who have never properly experienced or owned a mac (like the above comment – pretty much everything for pc works on a mac btw) I was one of those for over 10 years
Most mac users are former pc users who used macs long enough to realise that they are better. They now swear by them and would never go back to pc’s. In regard to the above comment about people shoving macs down your throat…theres a reason why people are trying to convince you to get to know macs and a reason why they are so passionate about them
Anyway, my point is that you didn’t really “go mac” You were just unfortunate enough to get a faulty one that was functioning abnormally and didn’t get it replaced…so never got a chance to get to know it properly
The first comment on here is someone who has “gone mac”
Years latter……….. compatibility issues and gaming STILL SUCKS on a mac….
I don’t ever care about the gaming any more. It was just so terribly slow.
People have been trying to shove Macs down my throat for the past 4 years and I refuse to get one for a few reasons.
1) Not ONE computer in this family is a Mac and knowing me, once I go Mac, I would make my desktop. laptop, and my husband’s laptop a Mac. That is a lot of dough!
2) I am stubborn and if people keep telling me that I JUST HAVE TO do anything at all, that is enough reason for me to NOT do it. Which is why it took me over a year to see Beauty and the Beast. Last night I told my son that he JUST HAS to watch Beauty and the Beast again because he forgot a line. So, I CAN be persuaded but I don’t like to be.
3) I have heard many complaints from Mac users about the fact that NOTHING from a PC is compatible with a Mac so if I get a Mac, I have to get EVERYTHING from Apple. Don’t get me wrong…I am not anti-Apple….unless I have to waste a ton of money because none of the stuff I own fits their stuff…so I guess I AM anti-Apple. And anti-prune.
I think the problem wasn’t the mac or the OS, but google. LOL! That was your first mistake!
I upgraded to a MAC three years ago, and I will never ever EVER go back to PC. I have never had any kind of slowness issues… my programs load immediately, and are always “open” on my desktop. My itunes, office programs, etc are all “running” all the time, and I just click them and BAM they are there. No slow loading times spent opening programs. That’s my fave feature of the MAC. I have over 20 programs up and running right now on my machine and no slowness.
Not to mention my calendar… OMG, couldn’t live without it. 🙂
I love my iPad too, though. They’re fun.