I love my Mac

I love my Macbook Pro. It's the early 2008, 15" (non-unibody) model, and although I wish I had the new 15" unibody, I still love mine. Let me explain.

Yesterday was parent-teacher night. Since my school switched from having two sessions, an afternoon session plus an evening session, to just one session (5:30 - 8:00 p.m.) I've noticed that many fewer teachers bring their computers. I think I know why. Their computers won't run that long. Mine ran that long, and more.

In between discussing student marks with parents, I worked on some microcontroller programming. My marks are in Numbers on the Mac, and my programming environment was Microchip's MPLAB, running in Windows XP, running in a VMWare virtual machine on the Mac. So, I ran two OSes and two apps in each for two-and-a-half hours. Not bad!

Now, look at the graphic, above. I took that screen-grab when parents night ended. You can see the Windows windows, and the Mac's menu bar, including a battery meter that indicates I still have 2h 15min of battery life left. Nearly five hours of indicated battery life while running two OSes with a couple of apps in each. I love my Mac!

To be fair, I had Wi-Fi off (no wireless in the gym), the display at half-brightness (which is plenty bright with LED backlighting - in fact I'm writing this in my living room with the display auto-dimmed to one-third brightness now), and I had all the apps running before I unplugged the Mac to go to the gym, but all those apps were still using processor cycles, and that kind of battery life is impressive in a year-old laptop.

So, I guess battery life is one good reason why I can love my MacBook Pro. While I'm on the topic, here are ten other reasons I love my MacBook Pro. This won't be the typical 'nerd' PC vs. Mac specifications vs. price shoot-out, I promise! This also isn't meant to start a PC vs. Mac flame-war (there's enough of those all over the internet!). This is just my observations of what I've come to really love about my Mac over time. Let's go!

1. The multi-touch trackpad

Yes, really! Multi-touch is so intuitive and pervasive on the Mac, that I notice its absence within seconds of using any Windows notebook. I can't say enough about it. Multi-touch really is that good. And, yes, I love the single button, too. I'm right-handed and when I go to use a PC laptop now, my thumb keeps accidentally right-clicking. How annoying! Yes, you can right-click on a Mac - it's simply a two finger 'tap'. 

2. Multiple OSes

I regularly run OS X, Windows XP and Ubuntu (Intrepid) 64 bit on my Mac. I've also run FreeBSD, FreeDOS, Windows 7, eBox, and other bits of code to demo for my classes. Yes, I know other OSes can run virtual machines, too, but none can run OS X (at least not legally). Which leads me to...

3. OS X

X as in ten. Like ten, on a scale of one to ten. Since switching, OS X is my OS of choice as it lets me get more done with fewer hassles. Yes, I've used Windows - every version from 3.0 on (even ME!), except Vista (you probably know why). I've used OS/2 Warp. I've used Linux and Unix. I've used Amiga OS (versions 1, 2, and 3). I've used DOS. Trust me, in comparison OS X is a ten!

For the few times it doesn't let me do what I need to do, I use VMWare (see 2, above).

4. Uptime

OS X is stable. I remember my last hard-reboot like it was three weeks ago (Hey, it really was three weeks ago!). It was after Photoshop Elements stopped responding and I wanted to start fresh and flush all traces of Rosetta (Photoshop Elements is a Power PC application that runs under 'Rosetta' emulation) from my system. From then on it's been close the lid - sleep. Open the lid - compute. Repeat. No weird Windows ACPI issues, like my old HP that might or might not wake from hibernate, or my friend's Thinkpad that woke up in its bag one day and cooked itself. :-(

5. Mobile Me

Well worth the hundred bucks! When I change my email settings on my Mac, they change automatically on my iPhone. When I add a bookmark in Mobile Safari, it automatically appears on my desktop. When my MacBook Pro display died (Apple repaired the computer in just six business days), all my important files, emails, and Keychain items were automatically (automagically?!?) available on my old PowerBook that I used instead. Not having to do anything out of the ordinary to make it all work - awesome!

6. Spotlight

When a Spotlight search can pull out the 1,898 photos taken with my new Nikon D90 from the 15,023 photos on my computer within three seconds, you can't help but be impressed. When you can further separate the photos in a 'smart folder' from the Finder by selecting the ones in which the flash fired, and the focal length was greater than 150mm, and which were taken in the last three months, it's magic!

7. Preview

It's built into Leopard, and it lets me 'preview' any document (PDF, images, videos, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, iWork) from anywhere (desktop, folder, email) instantly. Ok, not technically instantly, but (and I'm including the animation effect) in less time than it takes to say, let alone load, Acrobat Reader! I use it constantly.

8. The iApps

iWork and iLife are like iCrack for computers. Once you try them, you're hooked. Apple can release an update for iWork or iLife at any time, and I'm there, ready to plunk down my $129 for a Family Pack. Don't even get me started on the Keynote and iTunes remote apps for the iPhone. Here's my credit card!

iWork and iLife are not without their flaws, but you do get great bang for the buck. Some examples: Although I'm outgrowing iPhoto, it's exactly the right app for the rest of my family and easily organizes tens of thousands of photos by event. Next, I once created a soundtrack for a video presentation by throwing together sound loops in GarageBand so I could match the music to the presentation. Last, but not least, there's the time I recovered my brother-in-law's Word document, the one that Word itself refused to read, literally minutes before the deadline for submission in his MBA course. (It was the difference between a pass and a fail.)

9. The cost of upgrades

You don't need much in the way of hardware upgrades, since most Macs come with high end processors and decent specifications already. The real deal is the cost of the software upgrades.

We have four Macs and two PCs in our house and we take advantage of the Family Pack upgrades for both the OS and iApps. For less than the cost of buying two pieces of software, Apple's Family Pack lets us install the software on up to five machines. Needless to say, our Macs are running the latest software. Our PCs are not, because we don't like the feeling of being nickeled and dimed on the upgrades (would you like your Vista Basic, Premium, or Ultimate? OEM, upgrade, or full version? Would you like the newest Office with that?).

10. The upgrades

The upgrades themselves really are upgrades. OS upgrades add features and increase in performance. They come often, on average every 18-24 months, and deliver both evolutionary change and a special new nugget that you can't live without. Preview and Spotlight fall into this category.

The newest iWork, too, added a bunch of new features and is noticeably snappier than the old one. On top of the reasonable upgrade cost, you really feel good knowing you got something of useful value or utility. I'm willing to pay for that!

11. The little things

I know, I know. I said I would list only ten more reasons I love my Mac, but all the little things that make the Mac special are way too big to leave out. Things like:

• a global dictionary that let's me know as I mis-spell words (even in Safari in this blog post)
• the power brick, and Mag-Safe
• the backlit keyboard, and automatic screen brightness (and that gorgeous LED backlit display)
• Airport wireless printing and music streaming
• the included (with my model, anyway) IR remote
• extended desktop (and Keynote presenter display!)
• Exposé (try it with the Shift key), and 'hot corners'
• Time Machine
• the overall fit and finish of the products
• the packaging
• no stickers (on the computers), and stickers (Apple logo) in the box
• and, finally, the reactions you get from people, both positive and negative, when you tell them you use a Mac!

Just one more thing (sorry, Steve!). The biggest negative reaction I get from people relates to the cost of Macs. My MacBook Pro was expensive, but it was the same price (at the time) as a similarly equipped Sony Vaio, $200 less than a similarly equipped Toshiba, and $350 less than a similarly equipped Dell.

When It comes to computers, the choice is not just about price, it's about engineering, function, usability and utility. Choosing a $2000 MacBook Pro over a 'bargain' $899 PC laptop is exactly like choosing $129 Nike running shoes over the $29 bargain brand shoes at Zellers, or choosing a $56,000 BMW over a $16,000 Toyota. It's not that the bargain brand running shoes or the Toyota Corolla aren't functional, it's just that you can't claim that they're in the same league as the Nikes or the 5 series. It's your choice, and you get what you pay for.

That thudding sound you hear... is Apple kicking its competitors while they're already down

Even though it won't be released for a few months yet, iPhone OS 3.0 has already made more than a few ripples in the pond of mobile OSes. Like a tsunami in which the wave grows as it reaches the shore, these ripples are going to grow to waves big enough to swamp some of the smaller boats once OS 3.0 takes hold. Full disclosure -- I'm an iPhone user. And, while I'm excited about many of the new end-user features that Apple detailed in its OS 3.0 preview, the iPhone's impact will go far beyond new features such as MMS and cut-and-paste.

Some people don't get the iPhone thing. To them, the iPhone is just a phone. Not only that, but it's an expensive phone, with fewer features than brand X, worse specs than brand Y, less battery life than brand Z, and without a replaceable battery or upgradable memory like brands X, Y ,and Z! Whatever...

For the past two years, those arguments were going to spell the death of Apple's phone. 17 Million iPhones later, and with a growth curve and user satisfaction score that any other phone maker would kill for, I think we can safely put those petty arguments behind us. The reality is that the iPhone is a popular phone, it's growth curve is still exponential, and it hasn't even gone on sale in China--yet! Besides, how many clones of WinMob or Crackberry phones do see on eBay?

No, to really understand the iPhone thing, you have to use one. Use an iPhone day-in and day-out, but most importantly, use it the way Apple intended (easier on a Mac, with its Address Book, iCal, and iPhoto integration, as well as Mail sync, Safari sync, and Mobile Me). Once you've done this for a while, and worked within the system Apple created for you (rather than having to create your own system that works for your and your phone), you might get it. It's one of those "Use the Force, Luke. Let go, Luke!" moments where you need to jump into a different mindset, and not everyone will. I won't convert you. I do know that Apple's system works for me.

Apple's 'system' is the reason the iPhone will continue to grow in popularity. Apple is a design company with decent engineering talent. Most other computer companies are either engineering companies, or good copiers. Very few are good at design. Apple's design talent is to focus on the features that 90% of users need, engineer the product to seamlessly (and often button-lessly!) support that feature, and then to leave out all other features. The features built-into the iPhone are a joy to use. The features that are missing will either arrive in OS 3.0, or 4.0, or aren't important enough to be deal-breakers.

The original iPhone did so many things so well that most of it's competitors rushed to emulate it. All of the competing manufacturers that claimed you can't type without a keyboard now make touch screen phones. All of the competitors that claimed to surf the web using WAP or proxy browsers now have embedded web browsers that do a passable job of displaying most websites. All of the 'serious' business phones now suddenly help their users de-stress at the end of the business day by playing music and videos. Like it or not, thank Apple for using the iPhone to raise the bar that everyone else is now sweating to jump over.

Along with the software that powers the iPhone and the iTunes software to support it, there is also the huge impact of the software and App Store ecosystem. Answer the following honestly: on how many of your cell phones did you 1) receive free software updates that not only fixed bugs, but also added new features, 2) have the ability to select and install a huge variety of music, movies, games, and other third-party software, and 3) pay a low price for--and at the same time have brain-dead simple access and organization of--the user-installed content? None? Yeah, me neither, until I got my iPhone.

Apple's software ecosystem is the iPhone's 'killer app'. Don't think so? Why have Microsoft, RIM, Google and Palm all made announcements about setting up their own app stores in the past few months? Even with their own app stores, they will all have to fight Apple's mindshare. Apple will have sold over 1,000,000,000 (yes, billion! And, yes, many are free.) apps by the time most of them get their own app stores open. They've sold 800,000,000 already, and the growth curve is exponential.

iPhone OS 3.0 introduces new usability features for users, but more importantly delivers around 1,000 new APIs for software developers. Not hastily kludged-together bolt-ons, but rather well-designed features that a majority of developers can easily put to use. Look at the delay in Apple's push notification server roll-out from OS 2.0 to 3.0. Apple is not afraid of holding something back until it works exactly like the designers intended. Other companies would release it anyway, as an engineering bullet point that looks good on a spec sheet, but in reality as something less than useful because of problems inherent in its design.

Put all the pieces together, and you have the making of a perfect storm. Nearly two years from the launch of the original iPhone, Apple's competitors are still struggling with making hardware that's as well-engineered and functional as the iPhone's (seen a capacitive multi-touch screen on any other phones?), making software that's as elegant and functional (mobile Safari still puts any other mobile browser to shame), and providing updates and apps to end users (when will Windows Mobile 6.5 be released?). And, Apple is not a stationary target. iPhone OS 2.0 was quickly followed by 2.1, 2.2, and 2.2.1. The number of iPhone users is climbing. The number of iPhone apps is climbing. New developers see the number of Apple users and jump to the Apple platform, helping it to build momentum. The combined force of all of these attributes is going to make the wave bigger. Some competitors will get washed away. It's the nature of the ecosystem.

Don't believe me? That's ok. I was there in the 80's when you could get a Commodore 64 for less than $200 at K-mart, and the Apple II had the education market all wrapped up. The Mac was revolutionary and new, the Atari ST was a colour Mac for less, and the Amiga 1000 was ten years ahead of its time. The TRS-80 Model 100 even ran for 20 hours on 4 AA batteries! The IBM PC did less, and cost more, but had an open ecosystem for hardware and software. Despite DOS, and then Windows, and now 20+ years later, we know how things turned out.

The race to the bottom

Have you noticed the trend to netbooks? Yes, those small, cheap computers that sell for between $300-$500? When I was at Best Buy last weekend, there were more people huddled around the netbooks than were looking at the traditional laptops. (Or, maybe it just seemed that way, since netbooks are soooo small they're easily dwarfed by people!)

What I want to know is what people are using them for, and how happy they are with them in the long term.

Now, I can imagine people being perfectly happy with netbooks for surfing the web, checking mail, IMing with buddies, and taking notes in class. But, there's always that one other app that you want to use that needs more processing power, or storage space, or a bigger keyboard than netbooks provide. What then?

I'm not as worried about the more sophisticated computer users. I can see the power users getting a netbook as a secondary, ultraportable computer. They know the limitations and are willing to work within their boundaries. I fear that less computer-savvy users see netbooks just for the low price, and think they will be capable of doing whatever their desktop cousins can do. For proof, they'll point to the ad and say, "See, it comes with Windows, just like my old computer!".

So, what's the problem? Unsophisticated computer users will buy netbooks because they are cheap, and will end up disappointed with their limitations. Having potentially mistakenly spent  $300-$500 on a netbook, they will be less likely to invest more money in a better PC when they do want to step up to a more powerful computer than if they still had that cash in their pockets. Sophisticated users buying netbooks as a secondary computer will put off buying that new higher end-machine. Either way, the industry changes its focus to what's selling–small, cheap, and less innovative computers.

With lower profit margins, computer firms will be less likely to invest in R&D which will reduce innovation. With more of the same low-cost hardware being produced, and less truly innovative new products coming out, manufacturers will have to beat each other on price to maintain their sales. This, of course, leads to less profits, less innovation, and computers in which you sacrifice successively more to get less and less. It's a race to the bottom. And, it doesn't seem like a race in which either the manufacturers of netbooks or the consumer end users will ultimately win.

Where did service go?

When you show up at a store at ten to six, and the sign clearly says they're open until six, why is the door locked and guarded by a guy who is facing into the store and ignoring me and another potential customer outside?

Clearly, they don't want my business. Sad. I'll take my business to a store that actually wants customers.