Obviously it didn't improve usability enough to stop you posting this three times :)
My MacBook Pro is my second Apple laptop (the first was a G4 powerbook) and it is going to be the last unless things change rapidly before it goes u/s.
- The keyboard is ok, but the metal finish is slippery.
- The large track pad forces typing with wrists at odd angles.
- OS X is horrible (all my applications are Linux native so work oddly on OS X, plus no focus on mouse being my biggest two complaints - the rest are subjective/personal).
- No region crack for the DVD player, which is unacceptable for travel. Doesn't even work with VLC.
On the plus side the build quality is superb, the screen is good, and for it's size/weight the performance is outstanding. I certainly wouldn't trade it for anything other than a Thinkpad or maybe two or three Dells - one a year, for when they break ;)
I've seen people get OS X and then do nothing but run XP under virtualization because they can't be bothered to figure out the OS X native apps. I wonder what, exactly, you mean by "all my applications?"
Yeah, I'm in the same (weird) boat. I've been using Linux as my primary OS for so many years (about 10, now) that a Windows or Mac machine feels hopelessly short of applications to me. I know the reality is the opposite...it's just that when I think, "I need to draw a new icon", I don't think "open Illustrator", I think "open Inkscape", and almost every "I need to..." thought involves the command line (because I work faster there, mostly), and Mac OS X and Windows are hopelessly baroque when it comes to the command line.
Then again, these days, I use so few "Linux only" applications that it would probably be easier than ever to switch. My "regular usage" list is: vim, Firefox, Thunderbird, Perl, bash (and all of the GNU tools, like sed, grep, find, locate, awk, etc.), GIMP, Inkscape, VNC, KVM. But I'd still have to have Linux boxes or virtual machines around, because I need build environments for a dozen or so Linux distributions. And bash and the GNU tools are so vital to my workflow that I'd be suffering a lot of the time.
So, I've considered getting a Mac so that I'd be surrounded by great design (I'm becoming more of a designer and usability guy within my company every day, and my design sense is still woefully inadequate for the job, and I've read on numerous occasions and from numerous sources that one great technique for improving is to surround yourself with great design), but it'd certainly be painful.
Also, middle-mouse-button paste is vital to my happiness, and neither Mac OSX nor Windows has it.
I've got all those "Linux only" applications working on Windows and OSX.
You may have to learn new shortcuts or how to configure things in Windows or OSX but it is all doable. For windows you may have to install Cygwin or PowerShell to get a respectable prompt.
I use a windows box at work. I use Mac and Windows at home. I recently switched from Ubuntu to OSX and I ran into many of the same problems initially. I wanted things to work exactly the same as Ubuntu and that just wasn't happening. After about three months I learned many of the OSX shortcuts and finally configured and set up my linux programs for OSX. Now it's all good.
I didn't say anything in my list was "Linux only". I said, "I use so few "Linux only" applications that it would probably be easier than ever to switch". So, basically, I was saying, there aren't very many Linux only apps anymore that I use regularly, but that my style of working would be uncomfortable on Windows or Mac.
So, my statement agrees with yours, I think.
I have worked in Windows environments quite a bit when doing contract work, and I'm familiar with Cygwin, but it's not an acceptable command line environment--the way it chafes when doing anything outside of the Cygwin environment is too much friction.
Mac OS X is slightly better now that it has bash by default. But its system tools are weak compared to those found on Linux systems. I feel this same pain when using Solaris and FreeBSD. In all three cases, it's possible to install good versions of those tools, but I have to retrain my fingers to call gawk instead of awk, etc.
Again, it would be easier than ever, because vim has good versions on both Mac and Win, and Perl runs fine everywhere. Firefox and Thunderbird, too. But retraining myself to work in the Mac or Windows way would be uncomfortable. And I hate being uncomfortable.
My MacBook Pro is my second Apple laptop (the first was a G4 powerbook) and it is going to be the last unless things change rapidly before it goes u/s.
- The keyboard is ok, but the metal finish is slippery.
- The large track pad forces typing with wrists at odd angles.
- OS X is horrible (all my applications are Linux native so work oddly on OS X, plus no focus on mouse being my biggest two complaints - the rest are subjective/personal).
- No region crack for the DVD player, which is unacceptable for travel. Doesn't even work with VLC.
On the plus side the build quality is superb, the screen is good, and for it's size/weight the performance is outstanding. I certainly wouldn't trade it for anything other than a Thinkpad or maybe two or three Dells - one a year, for when they break ;)