So I started my switch to mac in August 2006, and completely switched over in August 2007 and now I don’t personally own a PC, my family owns a PC desktop and a PC laptop, but both my personal computers are macs (a Mac mini and a MacBook). Ever since I’ve switched, I’ve noticed a few things about other switchers.
Many long time PC users who decide to switch to mac expect way more than is logical. In a sense I think the Apple’s fault; their Get a Mac ads sometimes may give mac’s a little too much credit (making them seem immune to most, if not all, PC problems), and thus cause switchers to expect too much. It’s not uncommon for one to find forum post where someone who’s newly switched to macs expects miracles to happen. I’ve seen quite a few people complain about issues that are not related to the mac OS or macs in general, but people are quick to point the finger at ‘mac’s’.
For example, I recently read a forum post about a switcher who thinks his switch to mac bought him an expensive brick, and that he could’ve bought several PC’s for the same price, all because his mac had a faulty hard drive. I mean, anyone who’s used a computer long enough (especially if it’s the same computer) will have seen a failed drive. I’ll admit, it’s not common to see drive failures in new computers, but it happens; yet people who switch seem to think that mac’s are immune to it. Or more commonly, people think macs don’t hang, freeze, or crash, but trust me, after more than a year of using mac’s I can say, they do hang, freeze, and crash, it just doesn’t happen as often compared to PC’s. I mean, I’ve had my share of crashes on my MacBook, but most of it I can link back to hardware issues, and I’ll take it into Apple the next time I’m in Toronto, but with those crashes aside, I’ve experience maybe one or two crashes, whereas I’d get a crash a month on my old PC laptop.
I just think switchers and potential switchers should realize that mac’s and PC’s are both computers, so when you switch over, you’ll still be plagued by problems that are common to PC’s, don’t expect hardware issues to be non-existent; your harddrive will still fail (eventually), same goes with your DVD burner, and someday your processor may burn out or your PSU might blow. Getting a mac in no way frees you from hardware related issues. However, I can ensure you that you’ll enjoy a better user experience.