I switched from a Windows 7 machine to a MacBook Pro 13” Mountain Lion system.  The 13” has more than enough horsepower for what I need (upgraded to 8 GB Ram), and the form factor is small enough for carrying it around.  Below are my notes on the switch:

  • It’s easy to shut the Mac and walk away.  Open it back up, and it’s instantly on waiting for your password.  Windows machines varied with this – many times you might “blue screen” or the laptop fan might still run, etc.
  • It switches wireless networks effortlessly—from home wireless to the wireless at work, I notice no change or delay.  My Windows 7 PC would frequently have to repair the wireless connection to get a good IP address when switching networks.
  • The Mac system itself seems to manage your hard drive space much more efficiently.  I have the same number of files, but much more available drive space.
  • I love the backlit keyboard – easy to use in the dark.
  • I can output video to my Apple TV or my Jambone JAMBOX with Airplay and Bluetooth – very easy to use.
  • iTunes sync’ing with my devices is much quicker. 
  • I love the integration of iMessage, Reminders, and Notes across all iOS devices & the Mac.
  • I’ve tested Time Machine, and it’s a very efficient system for backing up & restoring. Any external drive can work with it (formatted appropriately).  I bought a 2 TB Seagate backup drive
  • Dropbox runs great on both systems.  Edit a Word file stored in Dropbox on the Mac and open/edit the same file later on the Windows system. The same applies to Google Drive.
Frustrations:
  • Their whole photo management system itself.
  • Photostream from iPhone – in Windows 7 you could see this in Explorer and add a shortcut to favorites.  On the Mac, you have to go into iPhoto to see these pics and download to access them.  I chose to upload photos automatically via Dropbox instead of Photostream to the Mac.
  • iPhoto is a very frustrating program.  It wants to put everything in events when traditionally I file pictures by year and sort by date.  I ended up downloading Picasa and using it as I did on Windows 7 to manage my photos including sync’ing online as I make photo edits.