Why Macs are like drugs

Posted on September 10, 2003 by Ian Betteridge

A couple of days ago, I decided to conduct an experiment. For one week, I’d use my PC as my main machine, rather than my Mac. So I found applications that paralleled the ones I use on the Mac. I even swapped over the monitors, so I could use the luscious 21in Sony with the PC and the drab 17in Mitubishi with the Mac.
The result is conclusive: After two days, I want my Mac back!
Now don’t get me wrong. Windows XP is nice enough. The applications are nice enough. The only area where I had a real problem was with Bluetooth, as I simply couldn’t connect a brand new Sony Ericsson T610 to the PC. No, it’s the little things, the almost-indefinable things that really annoy. It’s the way it all looks so much less polished than the Mac. Even Microsoft’s own applications feel somehow… corporate.
So I’m spending a few minutes now swapping things back again. I couldn’t last seven days with a PC – I could barely last two. Experiment over.

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  • James Wallis

    By contrast, I started a new job last week, using a Mac. I’ve used Macs in several jobs before but have PCs at home.

    As of tomorrow, I will be taking my PC laptop into work and using that instead.

    How is it possible for a recent Imac to be more sluggish and less responsive than a 330mhz PC I bought in 1998?

  • http://www.ludicrous.org.uk Ian Betteridge

    The one thing that Microsoft has always worked hard on and done well is making Windows feel snappy. When you measure the actually performance of things like copying files, it’s not actually that quick – but the interface is always brisk, always feels responsive. It’s something that Apple has never been good at.

  • http://www.gyford.com/ Phil

    Windows always feels faster (all else being equal) to me, but at the expense of solidity. Somehow Mac’s interfaces feel more solid to me, and less “tinny” (still the best single word description I’ve found of Windows). Something to do with the way windows and screen elements redraw.

    I’m used to the solidity of a Mac and even my ageing PowerBook “feels” nicer to me than a fast PC.

  • http://www.snackspot.org Dave Green

    Without wanting to get into an advocacy slanging match, it’s the “my first GUI” solidity of the Mac that puts me off. Computing *should* feel cheap and tinny and that’s what Windows delivers every time!

    “Even Microsoft’s own applications feel somehow… corporate” – c’mon, did you really expect any different?

  • http://www.adam.tinworth.name/adamblog.html Adam Tinworth

    > How is it possible for a recent Imac to be more
    > sluggish and less responsive than a 330mhz PC I
    > bought in 1998?

    From my experiences here, PC-centric IT staff who break more than they fix every time they touch a Mac. Our designers used to have to spend 10 minutes fixing their machines after a visit from IT.

    The IT team eventually “fixed” all these problems by switching the designers to PCs. Then they had to switch them back to Macs when the last round of virus attacked disabled 90% of the office PCs for a day. That hurts on a weekly mag.