Here is a post from one of our more recent Switching to Mac Forum Members “apricot_queen”.

“Panic not! I’m not dishing Apple or Macs in anyway, shape or form. I love em.

But one thing I was not prepared for was quite how addictive it would prove to be. Hubby, yes I vaguely remember him, is jealous of the amount of time it takes up, and even dares to try and have conversations with me in the middle of a ‘very interesting something’ I’m doing on the macbook. Early bedtimes (I need my beauty sleep) are now a long distant thing of the past..1am, 2am are not that unusual anymore. I’ll be surfing the net and one question leads to another, to another, to another….Kidding myself that my little head will ever manage to hold on to it all.

The cost: Expensive to start, and as most folk here will agree, this is the biggest, hardest part…Apple just keep making new stuff, and it’s all sooooo enticing, where do you draw the line? I have just ordered a bigger hard drive, when I bought my macbook I didn’t realise that I would become so hooked. Not realising the potential, I bought one with an 80gb HD, who was I kidding there, two months on and a 250gb HD is awaiting collection from the local post office! Then you might want a nice case for it, TC, more software etc.

My love affair with all things Apple started with a second hand £40 ipod mini, upgraded to a £120 40gb iPod Photo. Impressed I buy a second-hand macbook, upgrade the HD, then upgraded the ipod to an iTouch, do you get the point!!

I find myself asking “What if I had never bought that iPod mini?”

But don’t be put off, just be aware -Once you switch, you will want more …and more…and more…”

We often hear the negative stories relating to a product or servile and I don’t think this can only be applied to one specific company. Here’s an account of an Apple related issue with a rather happy ending for Amir of Austin Texas. Amir experienced a cosmetic defect on his near new 17 inch Macbook Pro and this is what happened when he took it directly into his local Apple Store for service.
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I used to be a Microsoft Fan - a really, really big and obnoxious one too. Whenever someone even brought up the topic of a Mac I would go on about how PC’s were “clearly superior” and “control the market for obvious reasons.” In fact, my friends who use Macs as well remind me that I used to lecture them for ten minutes straight about the supposed advantages of the Windows Platform. Using cliché arguments like “Windows’ Wealth of Software” to defend my views, I convinced myself not to get a Mac last December and so I bought a brand-new Acer PC.

Now because this was December and Windows Vista wasn’t out yet, I had to sign up for the anything-but “Express” Upgrade Program. I thought the deal was good, though: Pay $20 and get what would normally be a $300 operating system. And all through January and February I was wound up in frustration as my new PC slowed down and started presenting me with a vast multitude of Problems I did not expect, from Wireless Networking Woes to starting up in a (very) untimely fashion.

Vista arrived in the first week of March. I installed it with high expectations and was engulfed by excitement when I first saw my windows surrounded in Aqua – I mean Aero, glass. But then my problems worsened. My peripherals didn’t work. The little flash card reader to the side always gave me error messages when I tried to load my photos. My great video card couldn’t take advantage of half its features. And that wasn’t the least of it. Tons of other things didn’t work properly and my PC began behaving erratically.
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Here is Testimonial from one of our Switching to Mac Forum members, JamesJM. It is very entertaining and thought it should be posted on the main Switching to Mac site.

“I am NOT a superstitious person…. but I gotta admit I’m a bit queasy about posting this.

When I was a PC guy it never failed that when I upgraded, or added anything new, I would inevitably be forced into the ‘troubleshooting guide’ because I would encounter at least one, and sometimes several, of the “If such and such is not working” lists of things that could go wrong.

Those happen for Apple people as well… I read about them all the time.  ie: “iPhoto 08′ Preferences Will Not Open”.

It has not, as yet, (take note of that jinx thing), happened to me, however, not once…. could life GET any better, I ask you?
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Today I spent 2 hours of my life I’ll never get back but the bright side is I rarely get the chance to experience the dark side of owning a Windows PC and so now I guess I can relate just a little more to some of you Switchers out there.

It all started with my Mother-In-Law handing me her Windows PC computer and saying “what does this mean” and yes this question is a regular occurrence. Now this time it was more then a just the regular “have you tried restarting it” or “did you turned your WiFi off again” or my personal favorite… “is your power adapter still plugged into the wall”. This time it was something dark and evil! Her Internet Explorer had been hijacked and it wasn’t letting go without a fight. It was kinda obvious she had been hijacked when her IE start page was now a Website that was trying to sell her Spyware and Antivirus software while at the same time her computer was displaying how many umpteen viruses threats, spyware programs and system crippling processes she had on her Windows XP laptop. Read the rest of this entry »

I want to Start highlighting interesting Forum Posts by placing them on the main page, there is some really great information in the Switching to Mac Forum that sometimes gets a bit buried! Here is a recent Post from a new Forum member “JamesJM” that I thought was from the heart and may be relevant to many Switchers or people considering Switching to Mac…

“I swore I wouldn’t become a Mac elitist… And my apologies if that sounds confrontational… I do not mean it that way, sincerely.

Since… ohhhh, 1985 I’ve been using a PC, (Apple IIE before that)… I bought my first “MAC” this last Feb.

Now I won’t say a MAC is the “Ultimate” computer… lots of room for improvement. I also won’t say it ‘never crashes’… it does. (Few people actually say that anyway).

But now that I’m well into my third month of using a MAC I *can* say, with very little doubt, that MAC’s are BY FAR the superior computer.

There are things I do not like… but not many. iPhoto’s library comes to mind… what a MESS that thing is. iPhoto is fine, don’t get me wrong… but sheesh… what demonic mind came up with that proprietary library structure?
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During a Mugging in Brazil this MacBook Pro took one for the team and survived! Amazingly the MacBook Pro still works after a direct hit from a Gunshot. A true testament to a well built product.

“I’m a 28-year-old graduate student who has always been adamantly pro-Windows/PC for the past 20 years or so (yes, that long). I dunno, I guess I’ve just always had bad experiences with the old Apples (Apple IIGS, etc) at my elementary/middle/high school (problems with crashing, slow to boot up, etc). Even more recently (few months ago) I always used to scoff at the new Mac ads (”Hello, I’m a Mac,” and “And I’m a PC”..), they used to annoy the hell out of me!

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