Are you confused about the choosing operating system between Mac OS X and Windows, which one is best and highly productive? Or you are using Windows as your primary operating system and wanted to move to Mac OS. So today I am going to share with you my own opinion about Mac OS.
Story to Switching Windows to Mac.
I am a Graphic & Web Designer and I have to do 8 hours of work daily on PC. From the starting 3 years, I had been using Windows operating system for daily work with all of the adobe creative suite apps. One day I managed to install Mac OS Yosemite on my PC and since then I am running it. It has been 2 years of using Mac OS for my daily work since then I never go back to the Windows system. I became the die hard fan of Mac OS.
Is Mac OS X easy to Operate?
Yes, it is. Just you have to know some of the basic things that will help you to know some difference of settings and tools. For eg in Mac OS the Finder = Explorer of windows, System Preference = Control Panel, Spotlight = Windows Search, etc. Just go to our A Quick Guide To Using A Mac For Windows User
How is the Performance of Mac OS?
Macs run smoother than Windows PC on equivalent specs. You can argue about it all you like, but I’ve found fewer crashes, hung programs and rogue applications on my mac in a year then my windows PC in a month.
11 Best Features of Mac OSX for Windows User
1. General usage:
Macs aren’t that different from PCs. There’s always an equivalent option/setting/program that’s there on a Mac. Control Panel in Windows is the Systems Preferences on the Mac. Hardware settings on the PC are the same as the System Profiler on the Mac. And probably most important of all, The Task manager in Windows is the Activity Monitor on the Mac. Spend a little time getting to know the equivalents and you’ll be working in no time.
2. Dock:
The dock is Mac’s equivalent of the start button and taskbar. All your running apps can be found there, highlighted with a tiny glowing sphere. You can add and remove applications from the dock as well as insert entire folders for easy access. You can open new finder windows (Finder is the equivalent of the explorer in Windows)
3. The Menu bar:
In windows, every program has its own menu bar. I’m talking about the bar that holds the File, Edit and other drops down options. But on the Mac, there’s a single unified menu bar, right at the top of the screen. Its name and contents change according to the program in focus, so essentially, you can have only one menu bar on the screen at any time. It also includes the clock, wifi options, spotlight and so on, just like the windows taskbar.
4. There are tons of inbuilt software:
Like a Firewall, Disk utility for all your formatting and disk resizing needs, a podcast maker, a color calibration tool, an app built in just to grab screenshots (conveniently called grab) and so much more!
5. The Command and Control Keys:
Basically, the command key (which looks like a four leaf clover ) has almost the same functionality as the control key in windows. Command+P prints a file, Command+S saves a file, Command+N opens a new document/web page and so on. The Control and Alt keys are rarely used. Check the most important Mac Keyboard Shortcuts Keys.
6. Function keys:
Macs have 12 functions keys, just like PCs. However, they can do a lot more through the operating system. They can brighten/dim the screen, turn up/down the volume, fast forward/rewinds songs/videos and even hide and show all your current windows and applications.
7. Expose/Mission Control:
It’s one of the features in OSX which basically allows you control over all open and unhidden application windows in three modes:
a) All windows. Show or hide.
b) Application specific windows. Eg shows only Microsoft Word document windows. Shows or hides.
c) Show desktop. Hides all windows at the edge of the screen.
This mode also allows you to see your other desktop screens (You can have more than one workspace)
8. Spotlight:
The best feature of Mac that you will love. Spotlight search is extremely powerful and gives you access to everything on the computer in a second. It’s lightning fast and the indexing engine behind it is extremely fast, whereas I’ve found Windows’ search to be slow and generally disappointing (especially when searching large folders of documents).
The easiest way to open Spotlight is to press Command+Space. You can even perform calculations, convert currency, find options for system preferences, peek at documents without opening them, and even drag and drop files right from the spotlight drop down box.
9. Quick look:
Peek at file contents without opening its related application. It works for several different files types, including pictures, documents, and videos. Simply select a file and press space.
OSX has inbuilt reader support for most common file formats: You can easily read the doc, excel, ppt, psd, jpeg, mp4 and many more files, right from a quick look. You’ll need special software to edit them, though.
10. Bootcamp:
Bootcamp is a piece of software that allows you to run Windows, Linux and other OSes on your Mac through dual booting.
OSX supports reading NTFS drives, but not writing them: You’ll need specialized software to write into your NTFS drive or boot into bootcamp.
11. iTunes:
This is your one-stop shop for books, videos, movies, songs, mobile apps as well as podcasts. All your Digital media is indexed by iTunes and it’s an amazing piece of software. I wish I could say the same about it’s Windows version.
Ejecting USB drives and partitions: You can eject most USB peripherals by dragging its icon into the Trash (The Mac version of the Recycle Bin)
12. Office Equivalents:
There’s Office for Mac, by Microsoft, allowing you to do everything that you can on a windows PC. Plus, there are lots of alternatives for the MS office suite, including Apple’s iWork suite. It’s not quite the same and many people dislike it because it doesn’t have the exact functionality of MS Office, but it has a ton of features which aren’t there in Office and it’s much easier to use.
Maintenance is automatic: Defragmenting happens while you work. Firewalls run in the background. Killing rogue apps are easy and painless.
13. Security:
Macs are continually shown to suffer fewer attacks than Windows-based PCs and by quite a margin. Things are admittedly changing, though, with internet-based attacks on the rise, and hackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their approaches. For the time being the Mac is still the safest platform, but users would be well advised to add a dash of caution to their surfing and clicking behaviors, lest complacency usher in the nerdo wells
14. Warranty
I’d recommend you buy the extended warranty. Apple’s warranty is unmatched. And their geniuses can solve just about anything and explain how to do it yourself, step by step.
Most peripherals work out of the box: And the best part is, no annoying popups telling you there’s a device connected and windows is finding software drivers for it. Most Mice, keyboards, printers, hard drives and so on work just by plugging them in.
Shifting files, contacts, and settings: There’s a migration assistant inbuilt on OSX which can help you make the change.