Ben Bleikamp's blog about technology and college

The Switch: Part 2

Now that I have the bragging out of the way, I can talk about the reasons behind switching to Apple. In the past I was scared off by Apple’s price and my fear of not being able to use the same software that I had become so proficient with on my PC.

When Apple announced it was be switching to Intel chips it was only a matter of time before I made the leap. I’m glad I waited for the MacBook, I just wish Apple would have released the MacBook sooner. The fact that I can install Windows (I haven’t yet) if I need it is a huge bonus since a lot of the software that I use at the Fisher College of Business is Windows-only. When I do install windows I’ll probably use Paralells and save myself the trouble of rebooting to use a Windows-only application.

My favorite applications (so far)

1.AdiumX is a wonderfully designed multi-protocol instant messaging client. It has tabbed browsing, encryption capabilities, and tons of great looking themes. I had used Trillian on my PC, but it wasn’t anything close to AdiumX.

2. Transmit is my FTP application of choice. It has every feature I need, it was only $30, and it’s very easy to use.

3. Quicksilver is awesome. I doubted that it was something I could use, but it is everything a Windows start bar should be but isn’t. It can do just about anything on the computer, whether you want to play a song in iTunes or check your email, it’s just a few keys away.

4. Safari is my browser of choice. I’ve found that Firefox (any version) seems to load Gmail very slowly. Since I use Gmail as my primary email, I can’t live with that. Safari is fast, looks great, and with Derek’s help it’s incredibly powerful.

5. TextMate is a world class text editor. When I first loaded up OSX I was looking for something that had tabs, worked similarly to NotePad++ and had all the syntax highlighting I could ask for. Textmate is perfect, it allows me to load projects with as many files as I want, and it was cheap. What more could I ask for?

6. iCal took the place of Google Calendar almost immediately. I can keep track of what I need to finish using the to-dos, I can block off days of a week to focus on single projects, and I have already loaded my class schedule into it.

Dispelling two myths

1. Apple is too expensive

Before I bought my MacBook I looked at similarly priced mobile laptops (small and light) that were powerful enough to servce as my main computer. The MacBook was comparably priced. The MacPro is actually cheaper than similarly equipped Dell workstations. Next excuse?

2. Photoshop runs too slow.

I have not noticed any serious speed problems with Adobe Photoshop and Rosetta, but maybe that’s because I’m using 2 gigabytes of RAM. I’ve heard several people complain that it runs at “half speed,” and that’s a lie. The only time I notice any type of slowdown is when loading very large files with a lot of layers.

Am I happy?

Yes. Very.