A Windows guru spends two weeks with a Mac

This is final verdict reprinted from Computerworld:

What did I learn after several weeks of living with the Mac?

First off, I had expected there to be a longer learning curve, and had thought that in the long run there wouldn’t be much of a difference between the Mac and a PC. After all, an operating system is just an operating system.

To a certain extent that’s true. When you use productivity applications themselves, there’s not a great deal of difference between using them on a Mac versus using them on a PC. However, when it came to the operating system itself, there’s certainly a difference, and a substantial one. Mac OS X is simpler to use and easier to configure, yet has more bells, whistles and “eye candy.” And much of that eye candy, such as Exposé, is not just elegantly designed and entertaining, but quite useful as well.

That’s not to say that every aspect of the Mac is superior to the PC. Vista’s Network and Sharing Center, and especially the Network Map, is an excellent, simple, all-in-one destination for networking that Mac OS X would do well to emulate.

Overall, though, Mac OS X beats Windows. There, I’ve said it. And lightning hasn’t struck me yet.

However, there’s no doubt that you often pay extra for a Mac; there really is a Mac tax, even if Microsoft has overstated the amount of that tax. But after living with a Mac, I can understand why people would be willing to pay the tax.

Am I giving up PCs for the Mac? Certainly not. I’ve got multiple PCs at home, including those that run Windows XP, Windows Vista and a beta of Windows 7. And I’ve got one that dual-boots into either XP or Linux running Ubuntu. Replacing all those machines with Macs would be prohibitively expensive, and simply not worth the effort.

As for the MacBook Air, for a portable machine, it’s perfect in just about every way but one — its price tag. Still, I’ve bit the bullet and am buying one, used. This isn’t about productivity or getting work done; it’s pure machine lust.

If you want to read the very long, but great article hit the source link below.

source:macworld

Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green Review

The Green Monster gets bigger (and quieter)! says PCper(spective):

“We are taking a break from SSD previews to bring you a retail edition review of the Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green. PCPer reviews are typically on the bleeding edge of fast and nimble hardware, but we must occasionally take a step over to the other side of the storage spectrum. Today we will size up three efficient yet very high capacity hard disk drives.

WD20EADS Caviar Green Overview

Western Digital GP series drives include a number of fairly new features to aid in the greater capacities available. Here I will translate the marketing speak into something more readable:

• IntelliPower™ — GP drives consume less power with slower spindle speeds, performance drop is offset by larger caches and higher platter densities;
• IntelliSeek™ — Seek speeds can change ‘on the fly’, since the heads do not always need to be moved at full speed to make it to the data before it rotates past;
• NoTouch™ ramp load technology — Previously called “IntelliPark”. Drive heads take an ‘exit ramp’ off of the platters instead of landing on the platters when the drive is spun down. You know how the most damage is done to your engine when you start it on a cold morning? This tech means the drive heads do not have to break stiction each and every time the drive spins up. The heads are able to leave the ramp and float onto the spinning disk;
• StableTrac™ — The spindle is supported at both ends instead of only at the bottom, keeping the platters more stable during reads and writes. Note: This tech is only used in the 2TB EADS models and early 1TB / 750GB EACS models;
• Native Command Queuing (NCQ) — The drive can reorder groups of reads/writes to minimize overall head movement, and therefore increase effective access time. Beware - this is only effective with an AHCI-enabled SATA controller;
• Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) — Bits are aligned vertically instead of horizontally to get more packed onto each platter. Think dominoes (the game, not the food);
• Low power spin-up — Lower RPM’s mean less power when trying to get to target speed. These drives also accelerate slower during spin-up as to draw even less power.”

For the full review, hit the source link below.

source[pcperspective]

TWIT TV

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of television on my computer. My favorite site is probably TWIT which stands for This Week In Tech. You can access the different shows they have via the iTunes store under podcasts, or directly at TWIT.

The owner and host is Leo Laporte who I used to watch all the time on Tech TV. There are currently about 14 live shows which cover just about anything tech.

The only downside is less time spent with the spouse and children.

Since this is my first post, I needed something to talk about, and just happened to be watching TWIT at this time:)