home : education & training : why mac?
Why Mac?
by AAUG member Ronald SchoedelHere's 10 Top Reasons To Switch To Mac!
If you've ever considered buying a Mac for your first computer or as a replacement for an aging Windows machine, you have likely encountered Mac users who are eager to tell you how great their Macs are. Why do we like our Macs so much? When was the last time anybody excitedly extolled the virtues of buying a Dell? The reason why twenty million computer users sit down at a Mac each day are varied. Here are some for you to consider.
You may have been told that there are no programs for the Mac or that
with a Mac you cannot use your favorite peripheral devices. Perhaps you
even think Macs are too expensive. Did you know that a brand new Mac
will cost as little as $499 (even less with a student, teacher, or government
employee discount)? And that you can use it with your current monitor
and keyboard? The new Mac
mini is the perfect replacement for an older Windows machine. It
comes with more software "out
of the box" than any Windows computer. You may not even need
to buy any more software to do everything you want to do! And even PC
Magazine says the free software found on new Macs beats anything
available at any cost to Windows users. A new Mac includes software
such as AppleWorks, TextEdit (which reads and writes Word files), Quicken
2005, OS X Mail, iCal, and the exciting iLife
'05 suite. When shopping for software in the store, note that many
titles stocked in the Windows sections may also have Mac versions on
the same disk. Check software packaging closely--you will find more Mac
software out there than you may have been led to believe. Additionally,
you will find tens of thousands of titles available online, at sites
such as Apple's Mac
OS X Downloads.
The new iMac G5 uses the new, fast IBM G5 processor, which beats consumer-level Intel and AMD chips for all common desktop computing tasks. Once you get your new Mac, you will find over 23,000 products that you can use with your Mac, including all popular printers, digital cameras, and camcorders (did you know that Apple invented the standard "Firewire" interface found on videocameras? Or that Apple is the first ever computer company to win a Grammy award, for its invention of Firewire?). To make your Mac user experience even better, your new peripherals will usually work right out of the box, without the installation of special drivers, software, or fussing around trying to get it to work. Mac offers you true plug and play experience, whereas you may now be used to the Windows tradition of "plug and pray."
One of the best reasons to get excited about Mac is the solid, stable, virus-free Mac OS X. A new PC hooked up to the internet for the first time will be infested with viruses, spyware, and malware (programs that take over your computer) within 15 minutes, according to a study cited in PC Magazine. This is less time than it takes to download and configure antivirus software on a new Windows computer! Contrast this experience to setting up a new Mac on the internet, which involves little more than entering your settings and plugging in the modem or a wireless Airport system. The new version of Mac OS X, Tiger (10.4) is due out the first half of 2005 and promises to outdo Windows once again, which hasn't had a major operating system update since Windows XP debuted shortly after Mac OS X 10.0 in 2001.
By now you may be thinking a Mac sounds even better than you thought, but you may be worried that Mac will not be compatible with the "rest of the world". Microsoft Office 2004 is the latest version of the popular office suite, including Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, as well as an Outlook-like mail and organizing program called Entourage. The Mac version of MS Office has new features that even Windows does not have. And yes, it does give me great pleasure to point out that even Microsoft software is better on the Mac! Yahoo Chat, AOL, MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player, Real Player, Netscape, and other favorite internet programs all have Mac versions, many of which are more user-friendly than their Windows counterparts. If you currently use a Windows program that does not have a Mac version or equivalent (usually this is only a matter involving custom-written software in the workplace), you can use Microsoft Virutal PC 7 to run it on your Mac. This Mac/PC Compatibility Guide from Apple will help you see just how easy it is to enjoy the security and ease of use of a new Mac.
The new Unix-based Mac OS X operating system supports standards and integrates nicely into corporate environments as well. Placing a desktop Mac on a Windows-dominated network is a seamless operation. The new Apple XServe platform has been making a big splash in corporate server rooms (database giant Oracle recently deployed Apple machines internally to run their email, voice mail, and calendaring systems), with enterprise-level solutions that support mixed computing environments at a fraction of the cost of Windows-based server hardware. Read about how organizations such as the Indian Health Service and the local Matanuska Telephone Association have turned to Apple hardware for mission-critical solutions, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. That puts to rest the allegation that Macs are too expensive, wouldn't you say?
Macs have long been the computing choice of the education world. Approximately 30% of computer-owning college students these days are carrying Macs, with the iBook beingone of the best laptop values anywhere. Apple provides generous hardware and software discounts for K-12 students, education employees, schools, universities, college students, and home schools, as well as employees of local, state, and federal agencies. It is worth checking out these discounts as you may find that new Mac several hundred dollars more affordable. Check Apple Education for Education and Apple Government Employees Store for more information.
Adoption of the Mac in small businesses is on the increase at a rapid rate. In addition to traditional Apple strongholds such as photography, audio, film and video, and publishing, medical and bioscience professionals are now finding that Mac OS X is the only acceptable solution for their needs for raw computing power and security. Apple has a special Small Business store and website offering information on how Macs can help your business run more smoothly and save you money.
If you enjoy games, be sure to check out how many top-notch games are available for the Mac. I guarantee you will be surprised!
For more on Mac OS X, check out this handy introduction to Mac OS X basics and if you are considering a replacement for an older Mac, this helpful guide to switching to Mac OS X.
For more information, visit an AAUG meeting and talk to real world users who will tell you just why they wouldn't trade their Macs for any other computer.
The Apple site is loaded with useful information as is our Resources page.
