I heart Mac

OK, I’ve finally seen the light

After years of being in the PC camp – it’s been almost 13 years since I last used an Apple computer – a few days ago I left the, er, Dark Side and embraced the Mac.

New Mac convert here, so pardon me if I gush over things I know every Mac user might take for granted, heh. (I mean, seriously, how come it’s so easy to boot up and shut down when Windows takes forever?) So say hello to the sleek new MacBook Pro with the 15.4-inch screen that the office has assigned to me, which my five-and-a-half-year-old daughter Sam and I have christened Mikaela.

Now this is really a case of mixing business with pleasure. I recommended the MacBook Pro after comparing different machines that would handle our requirements for video editing. Since I’m the gaming and multimedia editor of INQUIRER.net, I also wanted it to be a serious gaming machine — plus I opted for a laptop in keeping with our commitment to the mobile office.  

It’s funny, like a number of people, I was under the impression that the Mac would always be more expensive, but seriously, if you pit the MacBook Pro and its specs with other comparable high-end laptops, you’ll see that Apple actually offers you more bang for the buck.

So I figured it was about time to make the switch. I have to admit that it’s also partly for aesthetic reasons — which is just a fancy way of saying I was drooling over the MacBook Pro of our editor in chief JV Rufino and the MacBook of blogger and INQUIRER.net interactive media consultant Jayvee Fernandez.

Plus I was with Hinge Inquirer Philippines group editor in chief Adel Gabot and GAME! editor in chief Howard Paw a few months ago in Singapore, and saw just how simple it is for Mac users to share the same broadband connection in your hotel room – you know, for those hotels which want to charge you per laptop for the same room connection.  Sure, you could find a way to do the same thing with your non-Mac laptop, but as in many things, Apple finds a way to let you do it simply and elegantly.

Heck, now I know why Mac users are passionately attached to their machines. As I told JV, I just wanted to stare first at my MacBook Pro, because it was a thing of beauty. It’s not just a machine you use for work or play; it’s a work of art. Yeah, I’m gushing, I know, but you just have to appreciate how everything works together beautifully, from the hardware to the software. Everything fits.

Of course, that’s because Apple’s a control freak, heh, but heck, I can live with proprietary systems if they’ll produce this kind of elegance.

JV welcomed me to the light with a list of apps that he highly recommends. Some of them I’ve also come to love even pre-Mac, like the open source VLC media player, which plays just about any video format.

I also went to OpenSource Mac, which unfortunately seems to be down as I’m writing this.  The site offers a treasure trove of open source apps for Mac OS X. If you remember, I blogged about the Open Source Windows site back in February, so this one’s the version for Mac OS X.

One app I’d recommend is Miro, a nifty open source Internet TV and video player.  And yup, a Windows version is also available.

I haven’t tried Boot Camp yet, but I’ll let you know when I do. I’m just having fun with Mac OS X first.

What can I say? I heart Mikaela :) 

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