[C62008]

Hello,

Just my thoughts on the user experience of switching from PC/Windows to a new 3.0 Gz 24" iMac. I'm a full-time web designer, use Adobe Creative Suite CS3 mostly, and I used Macs for 5 years then switched to PCs around '96. 13 years later I'm back to Mac. After one month:

The Good: The hardware is superb! I had been concerned about switching to the glossy screen but - for me in my office, at least - the glossy screen just feels decadent. I use a 24" Dell UltraSharp for a second monitor and I definately prefer the glossy scfreen.

The mini keyboard is another big big pleasant surprise. I really prefer it over my Logitech G15. For some reason I make way fewer errors.

The system itself satisfies my main hope in switching to the iMac: silence! Even though my custom built PC was almost fanless (even the CPU ran just on a heat sink) the power supply in my PC is way way louder than the entire new iMac. It truly is a joy.

The Bad:

While Leopard is pretty it's no where near as stable as WinXP. Even running comparatively new/clean it's still crashed 5 times so far. And, for me at least, it's still taking longer to get the same thing accomplished. There's nothing that feels intuitive about Leopard. And it really seems to have much less adaptibility than XP. It seems like it was designed by a dictator. But that's just my experience so far.

Compared to my AMD 2X 4200 w/2 GB ram PC, the 3 Gz/4 GB ram iMac is quicker in some ways and noteably slower in others. 'Save for web' in PS is significantly slower (and I'm using the latest version of CS3 for Mac).

The Mac mouse is a toy. After a few days of an increasingly sore forearm I switched to a MS mouse and felt fine again.

The iWork/iLife apps and Dashboard widgets are really cool to read about but their gimmicky-ness sets in quickly and their actual benefit is questionable.

All in all, I'm pleased with the switch. The hardware has vastly exceeded my expectations and makes up for the irritation of the OS. I give it a few more months and go with Boot Camp/WinXP if I haven't worked through the OS issues.

[webraider]

That's weird because My Leopard almost NEVER crashes. I've had to restart some programs maybe once in a while but my Leopard is very steady. As for being intuitive.. I think you'll find that Leopard is actually far more customizable than Windows XP. For example.. Try renaming and actual application.. You can do that on Leopard but you can't do that on Windows. Try renaming a document and not using a file extension. You can do that on a mac as well. It means you free to move your applications or files to anywhere you want and name that what you want. That to me has always been the Mac's strong suit. if you no longer want an app.. just drag it to the trash. That's really cool too. You can make short cuts.. and make a "Stack" for your apps folder if you want a more "start" menu feel... but Windows has to have a start menu because navigating your hard drive on Windows launch and application is no where near as intuitive. Tha mac has always been designed to navigate your harddrive to not only file manage, but to launch your apps or open your documents. You can also name your hard drives whatever you want too. You're not limited to A drive, or B Drive, or C Drive.

Give it some time..

I would call apple on the crashing thing because quite honestly.. that's not normal.

[C62008]

Thank you for yoiur comments. Most of the time I am enjoying the change. Fireworks CS3 just crashed on me this morning and I lost a half hours work (crashs like that NEVER happened on my PC workstation) but I am starting to think the issue is not so much OSX (although OSX is pretty screwed in the way it handles crashes/freezes) but Adobe's CS3. I think CS3 for the Mac probably isn't that rock stable.
A couple really basic questions:



1. I'm using two 24" monitors and sometimes I like to drag a file to the far lewftbut files dragged to the desktop always seem to relocate themselves to the far right. How can I drag and drop a file to the desktop and have it stay where I dropped it?
2. It seems I'm frequently trying to save a file from a program and the save options ONLY allow saving to places like Desktop or Documents instead of letting me burrow down through the document folders. I must be doing something wrong because saving to the desktop or Documents and then rearranging afterwards can't be right.

[webraider]

C62008 said:

Thank you for yoiur comments. Most of the time I am enjoying the change. Fireworks CS3 just crashed on me this morning and I lost a half hours work (crashs like that NEVER happened on my PC workstation) but I am starting to think the issue is not so much OSX (although OSX is pretty screwed in the way it handles crashes/freezes) but Adobe's CS3. I think CS3 for the Mac probably isn't that rock stable.

A couple really basic questions:






1. I'm using two 24" monitors and sometimes I like to drag a file to the far lewftbut files dragged to the desktop always seem to relocate themselves to the far right. How can I drag and drop a file to the desktop and have it stay where I dropped it?

2. It seems I'm frequently trying to save a file from a program and the save options ONLY allow saving to places like Desktop or Documents instead of letting me burrow down through the document folders. I must be doing something wrong because saving to the desktop or Documents and then rearranging afterwards can't be right.

Okay for the first Question:

This is what you do.. Right Click on the Desktop anywhere.. A contextual Menu will come up.. At the very bottom is an option that says "Show View Options". Click on that. At the very bottom is a pull down menu that says "Arrange by". Make sure that is set to "None". It is probably set to "Snap to Grid" or another option. Then you can put things where you want them on your desktop. You can make "Short-Cuts" or what the mac calls Alias' to programs an put them there just like you had on Windows.

For the second Question. When you save a file.. it brings up a little dialog box. It has a text box that shows the files name in it and it's highlighted to allow you quickly change that name. Just after the "Text Box" with the files name is a little blue triangle. Click that and it will activate the extended view displaying the heirachy of folders in your directories. Once you do this.. it will be the same in all your apps save as boxes. To turn it off, simply click the triangle again. This is probably what you are looking for, however, as an alternative, underneath the text box is a "Pull Down" menu that has different folders that you can jump too quickly. This option will remain regardless of if you turn on extended viewing in the "Save as/Open" dialog Box.


I hope this helps. When you say that OS X is pretty screwy in the way that it handles crashes and freezes.. do you have an example? If find it handles them really well. If you need to "Force Quit" A program that's crashed you simply click on it's icon in the Dock and choose "Force Quit". That will shut it down quickly. I have had program crashes but I haven't experienced an OS Crash except maybe three times. I don't have program crashes too often. I don't use Adobe CS however, but you may be right. It probably didn't crash like that on OS 10.4. OS 10.5 changed ALOT of things under the hood so Adobe will have to iron those out with Apple. Apple does take crash reports seriously as well as they do take suggestions on changes to the UI of their OS too. Fill out the crash reports and send it to them. They really do read those. CS for the Mac will get better.

[C62008]

Hello, again, webraider,

1. That's what I would have thought but the Snap to Grid option is unchecked and icons still reposition to the top far right no matter where I drag them.

2. Eureka! That works. Thanks for the help!

Regarding crashing, I just meant that it seems that some freezes leave the machine utterly unresponsive and the only way to get it back is to unplug the power cord and plug it back in. It's happened maybe 4-5 times. And just as in Windows it's not really fair to place the blame with the OS when things go wrong. Maybe it's my nVidia graphics drivers that make my iMac more unstable. And you're right I think Adobe has more fine-tuning to do on CS. I think I may upgrade from CS3 > CS4.

Thanks again for the help. A few mysteries to go and I'll be there.

[moose_n_squirrel]

C62008 said:

Regarding crashing, I just meant that it seems that some freezes leave the machine utterly unresponsive and the only way to get it back is to unplug the power cord and plug it back in. It's happened maybe 4-5 times. And just as in Windows it's not really fair to place the blame with the OS when things go wrong. Maybe it's my nVidia graphics drivers that make my iMac more unstable.

Wowww...total lockups shouldn't be happening. Whether OS X or Windows, the OS itself should not crash...unless there is a hardware issue, which may be a possibility here, like your driver idea. Although you shouldn't have to unplug it; should be enough to hold down the power button until it shuts off.

Sounds like you have gone through the transition with an open mind and a level head.

Apple mice really are awful.

[webraider]

When you say that the snap to grid option isn't checked.. it's not something you can put a check in. It's a drop down menu that you can select how you want your icons to be displayed on your desktop. Don't get it confused with the option above it that says "Icon Preview" which is a check-box Be sure that when you bring the show view menu up.. that the little bar says "desktop" at the top. If you have another finder winder open.. You may be setting the view preferences for that window instead. The easiest way is to close all your windows. The pull down menu entitled "Arrange by" inside the show view window is at the bottom should be set to "None" which is the top option when you click it. If it says "Arrange by" Snap to Grid.. then it's set wrong..Click in the snap to grid part to bring up the pull down menu.. and select "None" at the top. If it's set to anything else.. it will sort what you put on the desktop in a grid by the criteria you set. When you finish.. it should read "Arrange by None" Now when you save a file to the desktop.. it will automatically fall in line.. but then you can freely move it anywhere I want and it will stay there. I don't know how this would work with two screens however as I've never tried it before. I don't think it would change anything however. Also.. Volumes by default will always be on the right.. such as hard disks.. iPods, and other removable media such as external hard disks. You can move them temporarily.. but by default they will mount on the right.

Incidently, by default my grid spacing for the desktop is set to the farthest Grid all the way on the right. I don't know if that would make a difference by give that a try too.

[C62008]

Hi, webraider,

Yes, I clicked on the desktop and made sure None was selected beside Arrange by: .Still no go. BUT then I tried it on the main monitor and not the secondary anddropped icons do 'stay 'ut' on the main monitor. So, it's as you suspected, it works differently on the second monitor. I checked uder displays and there doen't seem to be an option relating to this so I guess that's just how D&D works on the second monitor.

[webraider]

Hmmmmmm... this is interesting. Again.. I can't verify this but did you try doing the same thing on the Second monitor? Maybe it has two different preferences and treats the second monitor like a second desktop. If you have an Apple Store close to you, this would be a good thing to ask. If I get a chance.. I will ask at the one I go to on Monday.

[C62008]

Hi, webraider,

I checked the settings on both desktops and they are the same, None. If I do find the answer I will post it here so you can add it to your Mac knowledge.

[Typhoon14]

Yeah, your system should never be crashing, and there should not be any driver issues. Apple knows exactly what hardware combination drivers will be used with, so Mac generally do not suffer from many driver-related issues (third-party drivers for things like mice nonwithstanding).

Curious, when you say your system freezes, does the cursor move or not?

[C62008]

Hi, Typhoon14,

If I recall correctly the cursor freezes also. Everything is completely unresponsive.

Thanks for the comments.

[webraider]

How did you upgrade to Leopard? This might be the problem.

[C62008]

Hi, webraider,

Leopard came preinstalled with the new computer when I bought it 5 weeks ago. I think there has been one OS update since but mu iMac was crashing occasionally before the update, too.