Windows User Reviews The Power Mac G5 'Experience'

A nandTech has posted an in-depth review of the Mac environment: The lengthy article attempts to cover all the major aspects of using a Mac and OS X as compared Windows XP. The author, Anand Lal Shimpi, thought it would be a good experiment to see if a Windows user, like himself, could find the Power Mac G5 running OS X usable and useful. Mr. Shimpi said,

"Iive always been a fan of trying alternate Oses - I was even an OS/2 user (both 2.0 and Warp) for a little while in my early years. So, a while back, I conjured up this idea to try using a Mac for a month. At first, it started as just a personal experiment, but it later developed into the foundation for the article that youire reading now. After doing the necessary research to make sure that I could actually get work done on a Mac, I whipped out the trusty credit card and decided to give the experiment a try."

The detailed, no-holds-barred article covers a lot of territory, from buying a Mac:

Ordering such an expensive system is a dangerously easy process through Appleis Web site (itis also dangerously easy to get a student discount. I was still in school when the order was placed, but it seems like Apple doesnit really require any proof one way or another). I ordered the system pretty much stock from Apple; I was going to do any and all upgrades on my own. Once your order is shipped, thereis a 10% restocking fee if the box is opened should you decide to return it; itis not an unusual policy, but definitely not the most customer-friendly one.

...to multitasking:

It is somewhat ironic that I would praise Apple for the multi-tasking capabilities built into OS X, given that the Mac OS trailed Windows in its support for preemptive multi-tasking. Needless to say, the mistakes of yesterday are not true of OS X today, and its multi-tasking prowess was my biggest draw to it.

...to stability:

OS X is built on a very solid core and it does handle individual applications crashing much better than Windows does. Iive never had to reboot the entire system because one application crashed. Itis also much better about restarting Finder (the equivalent of Explorer) if it crashes. It is things like these that make OS X a bit more "stable" of a platform than Windows, but also, remember that the tight quality control that Apple has over the components that go into their systems does also play a very large part in assuring stability.

...and much more. The lengthy review of the Apple Power Mac G5 is interesting, though hardly light reading for anyone considering buying a Mac.