We successfully run iMacs and ThinkCentres at work, but on large company networks the Macs just fail miserably. Active Directory and Exchange is a wonderful thing, as is Outlook. I'm still hoping for decent Exchange support in Outlook 2008, but it's not exactly in Microsoft's best interest to make it happen.
Why buy mac
- Thread starter adelburn
- Start date
MagicBoy said:
I'm notionally a Mac sysadmin at my work and have been tasked with rolling out a Mac Desktop integrated into our current AD network using some in-house tools for package/ configuration management. Funny, I've kinda came full-circle tbh. Started of as a UNIX (Solaris) user, then went onto Windows admin, then Linux/Windows and now Im doing all 3 but with Mac being my main responsibility.
Ill admit that although AD is getting there (with hopefully some more improvements in Leopard along the lines of proper Kerberised printing, improvements to how mobile/ network accounts are managed etc though the first of those doesn't show any signs of happening with any of the development builds thus far
) Exchange support is a bit pants atm. IMO iCal needs to be able to connect up to an Exchange calendar for it to be a viable option and Entourage is just rubbish- slow, buggy and a duplication of effort/ data not to mention that to do things like properly manage your calendar/ contact permissions you need to use Outlook 
.Don't suppose there are any other Mac sysadmins here with similar gripes/ hopes?
Our Mac users are still in the happy phase with Entourage, having only had Outlook webmail before. Open webmail on a PC with IE and you get something quite close to Outlook 2003. On anything else it's like Hotmail circa 1999 so they're quite happy with Entourage as it lets them do more and they don't know about the missing stuff. We've mainly got G5s so they don't get the sluglike Rosetta performance.
Soldato
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- 28 Nov 2005
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- 13,001
Mac = Duplo
Custom Built PC = Lego Technic
Duplo, looks great, easy to use.
Technic, fiddly, works best with people that know what they are doing
Custom Built PC = Lego Technic
Duplo, looks great, easy to use.
Technic, fiddly, works best with people that know what they are doing
I agree, the design of all Macs are beautiful. I love them.<F0rb> said:
And trust me, if you get a Mac you will run windows on it but you will get used to Mac OSx and realize it's easier to use and then dump windows. I never use windows now. Pretty much everything I need is on Mac (I'm a web designer) and the switch was simple. Even f you don't like the Mac OS, you can have windows running at the same time.
I suggest you goto a store and have a play around. you'll love it!
I used and developed on many platforms (I even have a soft-eng degree).
PC - with XP it's a reasonable platform although games developments seem to cause the machine to completely mess up after a few install/uninstalls. I don't know there's just something about XP.. perhaps I've worked with it all the time at work.. I just don't find it quite as intuitive.
Ubuntu - good linux platform (using 64bit + KDE) but it's still clunky. When apps work easily their packages are for a common denominator rather than extract the power out of the system as you get when you recompile.. I know I've gone through and recompiled many things..
However getting updates for drivers to work is a pain to remember all the little steps and quirks, also once recompiled you're on your own and found myself spending a considerable portion of the time managing the system rather than doing what I wanted todo. (I've also tried SuSE and RedHat)
Apple seems to be a pretty stable platform on a consistent basis. That is why I use it for all my home stuff - bar playing games (my old PC for that).
I have a MBP and it does what I need.
PC - with XP it's a reasonable platform although games developments seem to cause the machine to completely mess up after a few install/uninstalls. I don't know there's just something about XP.. perhaps I've worked with it all the time at work.. I just don't find it quite as intuitive.
Ubuntu - good linux platform (using 64bit + KDE) but it's still clunky. When apps work easily their packages are for a common denominator rather than extract the power out of the system as you get when you recompile.. I know I've gone through and recompiled many things..
However getting updates for drivers to work is a pain to remember all the little steps and quirks, also once recompiled you're on your own and found myself spending a considerable portion of the time managing the system rather than doing what I wanted todo. (I've also tried SuSE and RedHat)
Apple seems to be a pretty stable platform on a consistent basis. That is why I use it for all my home stuff - bar playing games (my old PC for that).
I have a MBP and it does what I need.
dellison said:
Well its so nice to hear someone who loves his mac telling the truth about the mac community. i've thought about switching and spent quite a bit of time on mac forums and saw lot of the attitudes you are talking about.
and, i know a boy who did switch. he bought an imac and immediately sold his pc, and straight away became pretty aloof whenever discussing his machine or os.
but, the funny thing was after about 2 months or so he started asking my advice about what cpu's and gfx were best to go for in new pc's. i asked him why he needed to know, and he told me (very embarrassed) that he was getting rid of the mac and going back to pc. after a while the truth came out fully that he just found the mac increasingly annoying cos of little things it wouldn't do, and not being able to use the same range of software as he was used to.
Associate
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Personally I prefer Macs and have a Mini working as a media pc on my tv downstairs, for what I want to do they are just less hassle and more user friendly. I do however have a pc as well but that will be replaced by an iMac at some point in the future. I will still keep the pc though as it can't hurt to have the best of both worlds 
When asked what makes them more user friendly by people that have never used one its a hard question to answer, I always just say you need to use one to understand to subtle things that make it a more pleasurable experience.
But its all swings and roundabouts at the end of the day!
When asked what makes them more user friendly by people that have never used one its a hard question to answer, I always just say you need to use one to understand to subtle things that make it a more pleasurable experience.
But its all swings and roundabouts at the end of the day!
totally agree, i was tellin my sisters ex bf how im buildin a new gaming PC and he was like "what are you doing? you want a mac!" and i was like no i don't. I asked him Why and all he could say was that they were "better". Pathetic lol. and how they "Look so cool"dellison said:
Macs aren't for everyone but they suit me because:
a) I can run all my MS/ Adobe products
b) I can use all my standard UNIX tools and have a wide choice of other ones via Fink and Darwinports.
TBH I see the lack of gaming options as a strength (for me) as it means I actually have to use it for work and productivity rather than faffing around with a random FPS
I also find that Macs out the box are a lot quieter than most PCs unless the buyer deliberately makes choices to buy quiet components for their PC
Personally I cant go back to tinny noisy "overclocker" PCs and now use a Mac and a fairly modest specced but almost silent PC for home use. Im amazed how I coped when I was a student with a tinny £10 case and a 6000rpm fan on a Tbird 1.4GHz!
a) I can run all my MS/ Adobe products
b) I can use all my standard UNIX tools and have a wide choice of other ones via Fink and Darwinports.
TBH I see the lack of gaming options as a strength (for me) as it means I actually have to use it for work and productivity rather than faffing around with a random FPS
I also find that Macs out the box are a lot quieter than most PCs unless the buyer deliberately makes choices to buy quiet components for their PC
Personally I cant go back to tinny noisy "overclocker" PCs and now use a Mac and a fairly modest specced but almost silent PC for home use. Im amazed how I coped when I was a student with a tinny £10 case and a 6000rpm fan on a Tbird 1.4GHz!
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With a Mac you are buying into the whole experience, because of the integration of hardware and software you don't feel like you are fighting the OS, the underlying impression is that everything has been thought through from the users perspective and has not been designed by committee.
Deleted member 651465
Deleted member 651465
Which of your critical apps are Windows-only?yantorsen said:
Just curious, because nearly all Windows apps having a version that run on OS X, and if they don't you could just use Bootcamp to run Windows.
Oh, and of course, if you have the hardware then you could easily run Windows and run you favourite games too
I've decided to take a jump into Mac ownership with a Macbook. I've been looking for a small laptop (sub 14") and the Mac Book fits the bill perfectly. For my price range I was never going to get a PC laptop that played any games at all. After looking at what I want the laptop for (Java development for an Open University course) I decided it would be the perfect testing ground to see if the grass really is greener.
After reading this thread and others I think I'll wait for the new OS version to be released later this year. I don't need the laptop before Jan next year so it makes sense to wait as long as possible for any software/hardware updates that might be in the pipeline.
Is there anything else I should consider?
After reading this thread and others I think I'll wait for the new OS version to be released later this year. I don't need the laptop before Jan next year so it makes sense to wait as long as possible for any software/hardware updates that might be in the pipeline.
Is there anything else I should consider?
Well the OU don't officially support Macs. It was a right pain in the arse trying to get BlueJ and its associated files to work the way the OU booklets need them. In the end, I gave up and did my M255 course via Parallels.