Apple’s PC guy and Mac guy

Every time I am asked which laptop or desktop to buy, I ask back: “Do you want to drive a tractor or a Mercedes?” The answer is unanimous. “A Mercedes, of course.”

Well, that is the difference between a Windows PC or laptop and a Mac, be it an iMac, MacBook or even a Mac Mini. And this is brought out brilliantly in a series of ads that Apple put out.

So what’s so compelling about a Mac that I, a hardcore Windows user, switched to it? It all started when I bought a video iPod a couple of years ago at a duty free shop at Singapore airport. The ease of use just mesmerised me. With it I also picked up a device that would play all my songs on the iPod on an FM channel.

I began fiddling with the iPod, watching movies downloaded from the Net. I connected it to the TV. The quality of the sound and the pictures was too good. On the video iPod, I watched the technology video blogs. I was learning tech stuff by leaps and bounds by the day. That’s when I decided I must own a Mac.

I have nothing against Windows, especially if it is running XP. But if it is Vista — ouch! You will have to upgrade your memory, graphics card, hard disk and what not. Or you will have to buy a brand new expensive computer. Then, you have to decide on which version of Vista — Enterprise, Business, Home Basic, Home Premium or Ultimate. You would obviously want the best — Ultimate — to run all your games and applications. But then, it is prohibitively expensive.

Recently, PC Magazine did a test between the Mac’s Operating System OS 10.5.1 (also called Leopard), Windows XP, Windows Vista and Ubuntu, which is free. In fact, the all Leopard version 10.5.2 is even better. But the magazine missed out on a lot.

Installation: Mac won hands down, next was XP and at the bottom were Vista and Ubuntu.

Interface: Leopard got full points. It is easy to use. Just drag and drop. The best part is the way you can preview your documents, photos and movies without even opening the player.

Bundled Software: The Mac comes with all the software you need. There is iPhoto to keep your photos and iTunes for your music and movies. This is what you use to sync your iPod. GarageBand makes music, audition instruments and even makes your own band. iMovie edits your movies in minutes, not hours as in Windows. The one I like is iDVD. You can make slide shows and movies and write it to a DVD in a jiffy. All this comes bundled under a package called iLife. If you want something better than PowerPoint and Excel you should go in for iWork which has Keynote, the equivalent of PowerPoint. The effects you can put into your presentation are awesome. All this without knowing Flash or Photoshop. If you have worked on Excel then Numbers on a Mac will floor you.

Drivers and Hardware: Just about everything works with a Mac, even the stuff you used with your old PC. A Mac has USB drivers for printers, external drives, digital cameras, input devices, iPod and more. It can see Bluetooth cell phones and headsets, as well as FireWire cameras. No rebooting, no hassles. No hunting for drivers all over the web fruitlessly.

Home or Office Network: Networking is a breeze with Leopard version 10.5.2. Windows systems link up with Macs seamlessly. With Screen sharing you can control any PC on the network and drag and drop files with ease.

Virus, spyware and malware: There are approximately 115,000 viruses and more than one is being written every day. A Mac is not plagued by never-ending security dialog boxes from Internet Security Suites or Vista. You can safely go about your work — or play — without interruption.

Making the switch from Windows to a Mac is very easy. I will show you some tips and tricks that I have picked up along the way in my next column.

Send in your computer- related problems to askdoss@abpmail.com. The solutions will appear soon