Confessions of an Apple Mac convert

Originally published in GP magazine .

Written for GP magazine around 2007. This is the version I submitted - the published article may have been edited.

I have a confession. I am a recent convert to the Apple Mac. Recently I have been fed up with Windows. Constant virus updates, patches, unexplained crashes and hangs and the unexplained slowing of my computer had been driving me crazy. I seemed to be spending more and more time fixing the computer. So I decided to get a new one and I decided to investigate alternatives, including the Mac. I saw some great reviews, read a lot of the advertising on their websites and read a lot of website reviews from switchers. A surprising number of people I have spoken to admit that they too have a Mac. I did have several worries. Is it as easy as they say? What about all the Microsoft Office documents I get? Won’t it cost a fortune? Will I be able to continue logging on from home?

I bought a 24“ iMac. This is a design classic and looks so cool. It is a one-box design and if you opt for the wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse you only need one cable for power, as it has built-in wireless networking. The screen is a dream and as I have over 12,000 photos and hours of video I can now see them in their glory. It does look expensive but when you compare the cost to a similarly spec’d Windows PC it isn’t that bad. There is apparently a 10% NHS discount in Apple stores, but I bought mine from the refurbished store online for a significant discount.

Apple shops will transfer information from your old computer across for you. However, I did it myself. The iMac found and joined my home network without any problems and everything went smoothly. I purchased Outlook2Mac for $10 to make it easier, as I wanted to use the Apple built-in software, not the Mac version of Outlook.

Macs come with a lot of software built in, including things like calculators, mail software, address book, webcam software for the built-in camera and plenty more. The built-in software integrates really well and you are able to access info from one program in another. The only problem was my mobile phone. Mac supports most phones but not Windows Smartphones. So I had to buy a £20 piece of software that actually works really well.

The Mac came with iLife, which includes photo, movie and music software. You can also buy iWork, which includes Apple’s equivalent of a spreadsheet, word processor and slideshow. The slideshow program is meant to be really amazing to use and several people have recommended it to me.

I also found several of my Windows software packages had come with Mac versions on the disks, so I installed these and updated online. The best was that because of the Microsoft NHS deal I bought the whole of Office for Mac for £20. With this I can open anything and create Office documents that can be read by anyone.

There is a large online community with useful websites for new and advanced users as well as Apple fanatics. There is lots of freeware and shareware software to download - indeed some software is originally designed for the Mac.

So how have six months been? The Mac is much more stable and more crash-proof, though I have had one crash needing a reboot. I leave it on for days at a time as it has a great sleep mode that uses almost no power, but you can wake the computer at the touch of a button instantly.

The look and feel is different and took some getting used to. Menus stay at the top of the screen and the keys do slightly different things - e.g. the Apple key does what you would normally expect the Ctrl key to do.

The great news is that, possibly because fewer people use them, Macs aren’t targeted by viruses. It also has fast user switching and I have set up several profiles so that when my sons are using it they can’t access any of my stuff. I have previously tried to do this in Windows and it never worked as well.

As for home access, my PCT uses a Cisco VPN solution to enable people to log on from home and there is a Mac version. I can access Emis, Outlook, Frontdesk and Docman all from my study at home with no problems.

Overall I am so pleased I took the leap. The future looks bright. Apple have launched a major update to iLife, which I purchased and is great, and the information on the latest update to the operating system, named Leopard, that is due to come out later in the year looks really exciting. Microsoft are also rumoured to be launching a new Office version soon.