Mac

[hallsofvallhalla]

So after using my first "real" mac for a few hours I figure I would do a quick review on it so far then come back in a few days, the a few weeks and review.

First off the design is sleek and monitor and speakers are very impressive. The thinness of this laptop is VERY impressive. It does get quite hot though. The keyboard is a real pain to get use to. I can usually get use to a windows keyboard quickly but this thing is a challenge. I HATE mouse pads on laptops but this one is better than most. Still hate it though.

On to software. I am very disapointed that I spent so much time updated common things like Java and flash when my win8 PC was already good to go. Safari is total garbage in my opinion. Won't play webgl games and I do not like the gui or really the lack thereof Chrome smokes it.

I am still getting use to Mac Os so not much to say there, I LOVE the fact I can go from Windows 7 to Mac with a push of a button. Well technically in another window. Both run very well so far.

[Jackolantern]

Safari is total garbage in my opinion. Won't play webgl games and I do not like the gui or really the lack thereof Chrome smokes it.

That is weird since both Chrome and Safari use the same rendering kit, WebKit. But then I suppose that WebbGL is not in the shared core.

[hallsofvallhalla]

yeah kinda strange to me as i thought Safari was WebGL compatible but when I go to any WebGL site it says not compatible and if I have to update out of the box then thats another fail to me. The gui is less than par for me. It is just hard to beat chrome.

[Sharlenwar]

Just remember that most things with technology now a days will most likely need an update. This brand new Win8 touchscreen laptop I'm using needed to update. Everything from java, flash, etc. So most likely you will need to do the same with your Mac.

Look at any new Xbox/PS3 game that is released, usually within 24-72 hours you will have an update to fix something. I can't remember the last game I bought that didn't need an update.

[a_bertrand]

I can't stand apple computers. They don't even have the most basic programming keys. Also, their hardware looks good... but.... beside that's it is way over priced. No way I will buy such stuff, nor pay a company I positively hate.

[hallsofvallhalla]

My new Win8 PC did not need any updates. Was ready to go.

I too hate apple but I am required to make IOS apps along with do some linux stuff so the best option was a mac book where I can run all three at once.

I bought a Mac Magic Mouse which is quite nice but this keyboard is hell! I truly hate this keyboard.

The one thing I can say so far is on the hardware side, periphials, bluetooth, drives, ect everything just works. It is awesome. I got on it last night at home and it found my jump drive plugged into my WD media box(like a roku) in another room and displayed the contents. Automatically. Was quite awesome. When I plug something in it knows what it is instantly.

On the downside everything requires the app store. No wonder people can claim no virus's on mac! You have to get everything from a dang app store!

[Jackolantern]

Yeah, when you have 100% control over the hardware, you can keep things truly plug and play. There are some cool aspects to Mac, but I just can't bring myself to pay it for personal use. Most of the really cool features of OSX are done better in Ubuntu or Debian.

[a_bertrand]

Actually there isn't much good aspect to OSX. Examples? OSX is split between "Carbon", "Cocoa" and X, those are actually 3 different OS and guess what, they don't share neither the same options, nor one soft in one of the 3 world cannot really talk to the soft in another of the 3 world. Sure Apple doesn't talk much about those things to hide the garbage. Sure Cocoa is the way to go for OSX, but guess what, there is tons of things which don't go as you expect.

I had to develop for Mac a good number of years ago and bought myself a minimac, 1 week after receiving the mac, a new OSX came out, and no way to get a free upgrade, I would have to pay 100$ for the new OS. Nope sorry.

Another example, Apple basically killed any other compiler on their platform. There was good C++ compilers, but Apple didn't liked that other companies fiddle with their OS. So they blocked their API didn't gave the info. So now either you use XCode (which is a poor man GNU CC with some GUI on it) or you forget about programming.

Personally I would not develop for iOS (beside the market share is actually shrinking here in Europe), I would develop for HTML5 where I would be pretty much sure my development works everywhere.

[Jackolantern]

I would highly doubt Halls would be developing for iOS unless he had to for his job

[hallsofvallhalla]

correct.