Finally joined the Apple bandwagon!

[BarneyS]

I have been using computers since the late 70's and have always had PC's or equivalent. Have put up with the BSOD's, reboots, freezes, and lately with Windows 10 - the updates. I have had three laptops trashed by these updates and the latest update downloaded and installed all by itself on my laptop that I use almost all the time.

The latest episode was about a week ago when I accidentally left the computer on all night for a couple of days. I usually shut it off every evening just so it will not install the updates until I am ready for them if at all. When I got home, I found the computer off so I booted it up and low and behold, no internet! I tried everything I could think of including:
1. Restarting
2. Repairing the connection
3. Downloading new driver
4. Restoring to previous good starting date
4. Taking it to a professional computer repair person.
He ran some tests and found that the problem was either my wifi radio card was destroyed or that there was a problem with the motherboard someplace. Either problem was going to be an expensive fix on a two year old laptop just to possibly have it trashed again with a future "update", so I decided to finally take the plunge and purchase an Apple MacBook Pro 15" laptop. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow so it looks like I will start over with the learning process. Kind of looking forward to it though.:)
Barney

[BarneyS]

I put my wifes netbook computer on Ubuntu several years back and I liked it a lot. Used it for a whole winter while we were in Florida. Have not used it for a while though and kind of remember it being much harder to adapt to than this transition to the Macintosh operating system on my MacBook Pro. This has been quite easy so far. 🙂
Barney

[mr__ed]

Yes, Red Rocket. I did a Google search (shoulda done that first) and it looks like it can be done, but may present other problems. So, I'll leave that alone. I'm more likely to experiment with Ubuntu and Linux.

[RedRocket204]

I've personally never attempted it but sounds like it can be done, although a bit convoluted. Probably much easier to BootCamp a MAC and install Windows, of course you would need the Mac hardware.

How to install macOS on a PC

[mr__ed]

Quick question: Can Mac OS be installed on a Windows PC, taking the place of the current OS (Windows 10)? I have 2 laptops running Windows and may not mind experimenting with one. May be a dumb question, but I'm curious.

[RedRocket204]

free radical wrote:
Fwiw I had only one Apple product an Ipad that was working fine for couple years but then SLOWED down and no amount of UPgrading would help..

I've noticed the same and it seems the more upgrades, the worse the slowness exists on my iPad. My macbookpro and macbookair seem to do just fine. However, I just had to buy a Windows 10 machine for something that is using M$ specific software on Azure. I don't mind Windows 10.

free radical wrote:
My cell is Blackberry 10 mainly bc I got good deal on Amazon for 120$

Great battery life,features,keyboard,,BB Hub,and the best security of any phone if thats what youre after..

Very subjective on that part of the quote. Why did Blackberry loose MAJOR market share in the past?

[free_radical]

Fwiw I had only one Apple product an Ipad that was working fine for couple years but then SLOWED down and no amount of UPgrading would help..

Planned obsolesence at work by Apple,,fool me once never again

And Im not the only one whos disaponted w their stuff btw..

https://youtu.be/MKJjLwMUPJI

It gets worse
https://youtu.be/AUaJ8pDlxi8

Using 300$ Samsung galaxy now,works perfect so far..

My cell is Blackberry 10 mainly bc I got good deal on Amazon for 120$

Great battery life,features,keyboard,,BB Hub,and the best security of any phone if thats what youre after..

https://www.blackberry.com/us/en/customers/success-stories

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

I was a devote PC/Windows user for the longest time and Blackberry Bold - totally anti anything Apple. Excel and the other suite of Office programmes I just loved.

Finally a client that works for apple insisted with his working for Apple I couldn't be seen with a Blackberry, on giving me his old iPhone 5 and the next thing on a visit to his home in San Jose, daughter and I both ended up toting MacBook Pros back home with us. Hated the numbers and pages compared to Word and Excel for the longest time, but with practice since 2014 am now a user of all things Mac.

One HUGE thing I learnt very very early on was when the new upgrades come out like Yosemite and the others, I DO NOT upgrade immediately, as many have had glitches, which I can't afford the downtime for. I wait a couple of months or so and then do the upgrade after googling what problems others that have upgraded to the new system have had and the solutions have been implemented to those problems. Right now I am still being prompted to upgrade to MACOS MOJAVE, but am resisting for a few weeks to see what problems others might encounter from this upgrade first.

Love the fact that the mac doesn't crash as much as the PC did or go as sluggishly slow.

[BarneyS]

TechWriter,
I really had not formed an opinion of the touch bar until you mentioned it. It works fine for me and actually makes adjusting some things easier like sound, brightness and access to some other things on the computer.

I do have a 256gig SSD. It does not seem any faster than my old hard drives used to be however.
Barney

[TechWriter]

BarneyS wrote:
. . . I decided to finally take the plunge and purchase an Apple MacBook Pro 15" laptop.

I'm an iMac user & my wife is soon-to-be MacBook Pro owner like yourself.

Some questions for you . . .

- What do you think of the Touch Bar?

- Did you get an SSD drive? If so, how big? I'm still a traditional hard drive guy and though the SSDs are faster, they typically offer smaller storage (unless you spend a fortune).

[profdant139]

Barney -- good move! I was a Windows guy for 20 years -- my son, who is an IT guru, kept urging me to switch. Both my desktop and my laptop are now Apple. Best tech decision I ever made. I have been a Mac guy for the last 8 years -- very happy with Apple.

Not cheap -- but worth the expense in terms of headaches avoided!

[BarneyS]

Yep. Backs up to portable hard drive every hour and also when I shut it down. Thanks.:)
Barney

[TechWriter]

BarneyS wrote:
I will have plenty of time to learn these thing this winter as we will be spending our first winter at home in the last 17 years.

Don't forget to use Time Machine. Even Macs need to be backed up.

[BarneyS]

Thank you all for the advice and information. I have my new MacBook configured just about the way I like it and am getting along just fine with the new and somewhat different way of doing things. I love the speed at which this thing boots up and shuts down. I also like the ease of downloading and installing things. I have not done much with the standard writing tools or photo apps yet but am looking forward to learning about them. Also the music and book apps look interesting.

I will have plenty of time to learn these thing this winter as we will be spending our first winter at home in the last 17 years. We usually head down to Tampa this time of year so this will keep me occupied during the long, cold winter and take my mind off of the warm, sunny South! :W
Barney

[mr__ed]

So far, no problems with either my Windows 10 HP or Toshiba laptop. I never let them auto update. I set the hours for update to those times I won't be using the computer and perform manual updates when they become available. They get powered off every time I stop using them. So far, no noticeable glitches due to update problems.