"Why I'm returning my iMac" - article

[Rico]

I know I'll regret posting this, but I found this article pretty interesting.

I practically floated into the Apple store. That's how excited I was to leave Black Friday with a new iMac. The salesman needed merely to gesture to the 21-inch flat screen on display, and I was sold: out the door, box in hand, convinced I had turned a corner in my career.

Two weeks later I'm back at Apple headquarters -- my teeth worn down, my face prematurely aged from endless hours of sleeplessness and technological frustration -- certain that the iMac was the worst purchase I'd ever made.

The idea started in San Francisco. I was at KGO, ABC News' Bay Area affiliate, appearing on "The Ronn Owens Program" to talk about my recent military reporting, which sparked a Congressional hearing. "I'm working with a video editor right now," I told KGO's news director, "to compact the hearing into a brief clip that can go viral on YouTube." The director, Kevin Keeshan, twisted his head, wrinkled his brow and stared at me in utter confusion. "Why don't you edit it yourself?" he said. "Well," I stammered, "I don't really have a strong enough computer to do that. I don't even have video editing software."

Keeshan laughed. "I'll tell you, every intern here who applies for a job can video edit," he said. "It's sort of a standard skill."

I slinked out of his office and flew back to New York determined: I was going to buy an iMac, teach myself Final Cut Pro and tackle my next video project alone.

My iMac and I got off on the wrong foot. Turns out there's a video camera embedded in the screen, and before I could boot her up for the very first time, she wanted to take my picture. For "identity purposes," she said. I stumbled to the bathroom, brushed my hair (and my teeth), exchanged my raggedy Raiders t-shirt for a professionally ironed button-up and returned to my desk, smirking at the turn of events. My old PC didn't care if I called the Pentagon in my bathrobe. My iMac apparently had registered with Match.com.

I had an article to write, but the only word processor I could find on my iMac was TextEdit, essentially a stripped-down version of Notepad. The program had an excellent array of font options, like "Bigger" and "Smaller." It didn't take long to become frustrated with the iMac mouse too. It limped across my desk, the "on" switch, which is located on the belly of the mouse, scraping the mahogany of my desk as it went. Before I could finish my first letter, I began to miss my old, five-button mouse.

I booted up my bank account before realizing the Mac keyboard had no number pad and was heartsick to learn that the thesaurus WordWeb, every author's best friend, didn't work on Mac's OS. Neither did Ipswitch FTP, my file-uploader.

Some headaches I expected. I knew that, unlike a PC, I wouldn't be able to connect one computer to another and transfer over my documents. Instead I had to use my external hard drive, like a makeshift canoe, to migrate my articles, music and videos from one computer to the next. Loading and unloading docs to my external drive, I smacked into another iMac annoyance: unlike a PC, the Mac wouldn't let me move files to and from my external drive, only copy them. I realized I'd have to keep a sharp memory of which files I'd copied over -- or move every document twice and see which files it asked me to replace.

As I delved into an ocean of Mac dork chat boards, hoping to learn how to migrate over my Thunderbird mail and address book, I started wondering why I had converted in the first place. Even moving over my iTunes playlist, I soon learned, was going to take intricate coding tweaks. My frustration beginning to boil, I figured I'd cool down with some swing dancing videos stored on my hard drive. But QuickTime wasn't in the mood to play. My .flv and .mkv files triggered only error messages, and some of my .mpg clips opened to blank screens.

I opened Mac's Thunderbird, and my jaw dropped again. The font on every email was so small, I was going to need the Hubble telescope just to answer my morning mail. After an hour, I could feel the pressure in my eyes, the vessels constricting. To make the Mac program livable, I increased the font to 16 point, then continued writing emails to military sources. That night, at 3:30 a.m., I awoke up with a disturbing realization. On my high-resolution iMac my 16-point lettering may have looked like normal size, but to the officials now receiving my letters, my emails must have looked like they were scribbled in the balloon-type of an eighth grade amateur.

There were two obvious solutions: For the next few years I could type every letter in 16-point font, then decrease the font size just before sending it, or I could decrease the screen's radically high resolution. I sighed, realizing this was yet another Mac complication for a function my PC simply performed without fuss. I had battled the QuickTime player, which proved unable to make playlists, rolled my eyes at all the programs I had to quit twice to truly shut down, and grimaced at the dock shortcut to my MP3 folder, which malfunctioned after one day, topping the inert folder icon with a question mark. Now I was going to have to decrease the screen resolution simply so I could write emails.

I found the screen settings and slid the resolution bar down one notch. Suddenly everything was fuzzy. The blood vessels in my eyes began to constrict again.

The final straw came when Mac's Firefox took me to my website. To my horror, all the spacing was askew, the graphics tossed left and right like the wreckage of a hurricane. I asked myself: As a web designer, how can I design web pages when I can't see what 90 percent of my viewers are seeing?

For a second I thought, well, I could load Parallels, the Mac OS program that allows you to run Windows applications on your iMac. But that plan was squashed fast. Before I could complete Parallels' installation, it asked for a copy of the Windows CD. I shook my head in disbelief: where the hell am I going to get a copy of the Windows CD? And if I need Windows to perform basic functions, why don't I just get a PC with Windows already installed?

Here at the Apple store, the lovely red-headed saleslady is grinning at me. "That's quite a yarn," she says, a chuckle interrupting her words. "Yeah, that small-font thing really is a problem. We have a lot of people who face that, then come back to return their computers." Count me in. I'm returning my iMac, then headed to Best Buy to snag a PC, one four-times faster than my current computer and $400 cheaper than that iMac.

I'll spend the difference on a video editing program, a new haircut and a first-rate pair of swing dancing shoes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joshua-kors/why-im-returning-my-imac_b_796104.html

[jedijeff]

I am a PC guy, but this fellow comes of as switching platforms, but wanting to use his PC programs on the MAC and not willing to change. I could see where he is going to have failure, as there are probably Mac specific programs that will work better on the Mac then the PC ones he was trying. I have a Mac mini I got years ago, so I am a bit confused about his statement about not being able to share files between computers, as I am able to transfer files between my Mac and PC, so guessing he did not want to bother with figuring it out, and it was not really that hard to do.

Sort of comes off as not being very technical savvy, and bought a Mac, and not expecting to change how he approaches how he uses a computer. If you cant uses your FTP program, then find another, seems like a pretty simple answer to me. I guess if he is rooted in the apps he is using, then best to stay with what will work, since he will not change.

Interesting article, but the guy comes off as a bit of a whiner to me, and I am a PC person  :roflmao

[Bromptonboy]

I am also a PC user - although I still like Macs.  You are right, he doesn't sound very tech savvy - a quick Google would have told him how to MOVE files - rather than COPY.  Not having a numeric keypad is something I wouldn't like - but there must be plenty of 3rd party keyboards he can use.
He needed to spend a little more time with the OS to get past the learning curve.

[Rico]

Yep - I agree with you guys.  But I still thought it made the article interesting to read.  One thing it points out though is someone who is simply an average computer user may have some trouble migrating over to a Mac.  I do think Apple and Mac could add some tools and apps to make things a bit easier for people like this guy.  I had a Mac Mini for a short time and it did take me a little work to get it setup on my network to allow file moving, sharing, etc. with my Windows machines.  But I'm pretty good at this stuff too.  Anyway, I too think Macs are good machines, but this points out some of the hurdles they face to grab more Windows users.

[X]

I am also a PC user - although I still like Macs.  You are right, he doesn't sound very tech savvy - a quick Google would have told him how to MOVE files - rather than COPY.  Not having a numeric keypad is something I wouldn't like - but there must be plenty of 3rd party keyboards he can use.
He needed to spend a little more time with the OS to get past the learning curve.

Great points! I think that while it comes off as bitching, it does make a valid point regarding the iExperience. If you aren't tech savvy, like many people who flock to the apple experience, all of the changes and the lack of familiarity can be daunting.

I haven't used a mac OS system in a while, but they were easy when I did because I cut my teeth on Apple first then moved to PC and had to relearn my universe. I think this is a very valid example of the problems that the common man will face if they move to the Mac.

[davekill]

Keeshan laughed. "I'll tell you, every intern here who applies for a job can video edit," he said. "It's sort of a standard skill."

I slinked out of his office and flew back to New York determined: I was going to buy an iMac, teach myself Final Cut Pro and tackle my next video project alone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joshua-kors/why-im-returning-my-imac_b_796104.html

Hope he didn't plan on doing all this over one weekend too :confused
This English Major would have had more issues than just switching platforms.

[Bryancd]

I have nothing to say about this, to be honest, it's some guy bashing a Mac, so what? I'm not sure what the big takeaway is beyond it's all very contrived.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

It feels like this guy is complaining to complain.  He apparently didn't realize that there is a learning curve to switching OSes and he just wanted PC to boot up on a Mac right away, no changes, nothing.  And I guess Google never struck him as a possible resource to fixing his issues.  Instead, he just bashed his head on the problem, gave up and left. 

(Which isn't there Bootcamp for having Windows on a Mac?)

So meh on this.

King

[Bryancd]

Like I said, it comes across as very contrived and he was just looking to write a story. I suppose what he was doing was complicated somewhat, but I dare say this is not an indictment or any sort of indication on what the average user experience is going from one platform to the other.

[QuadShot]

I agree with the general sentiment of everyone here. This guy, well, what the heck? I mean, buying a COMPLETELY different system and expecting familiarity, well, that's just crazy talk. It's like buying a standard shift car after spending your entire life driving an automatic, never even taking the TIME to learn how to drive a stick, and getting pissed because it doesn't drive the same. Not sure what the heck he was looking for. And for the record, is he serious when he made out how shocked he was when he installed Parallels and it asked for the Windows CD??? REALLY??? I really don't know what to say about THAT one.

Yes, Mac/Apple does have it's challenges. They are often cost prohibitive. Very much so. But they last. I have no gripe about my iMac at all. And for the record, I'm no computer whiz at all, but I had very little trouble converting. Maybe it's because I didn't buy one and expect it to act like, smell like, work like and look like a PC. My biggest gripe with Apple is their support. Often I'm smarter than their "geniuses", and once you make what seems like a small mistake, it's hell to correct. Take my recent issues with my podcast feed for example. Won't hijack this thread with the details, but because much of Apple/Mac's products can be unforgiving with small mistakes, my podcast feed got hosed and I was (am) forced to submit a new feed rss and abandoning the old. Oh well.

So yes, I think this guy was just looking for an article to write that he had to know would strike home for a lot of folks. My opinion of course...

[QuadShot]

Like I said, it comes across as very contrived and he was just looking to write a story. I suppose what he was doing was complicated somewhat, but I dare say this is not an indictment or any sort of indication on what the average user experience is going from one platform to the other.

No kidding! I mean, not only did he expect to buy an iMac and immediately know how to use it, he expected to learn Final Cut (not easy for those not familiar with video editing) right away! Talk about stupid!

[cosmonaut]

Macs can be very annoying, did I mention I had to open my button-less mouse forcefully with something like a can opener to clean it and glue it back together again? Oh joy, I'm so glad I don't have an ugly screw on the bottom of my mouse that would me grant easy access, that's for n00bs.
You better be tech-savy and have nimble fingers, or enough money to let them fix your stuff. :/

But concerning the article: *shrug*, stop believing the advertisements on TV and get an editing software for windows. And grats for getting payed to write about your experiences, so you can afford your next hairdo.

[Jobydrone]

This article is mostly written for it's humor value.

There's a very detailed interactive tutorial on the start page of every iMac's default Safari homepage that leads people who have switched over from PCs through step by step instructions on how to accomplish all the same tasks with the iMac.  This guy must have missed it. 

I immediately plugged in my old five button USB mouse as soon as I booted up my new iMac and changed settings in mouse preferences to allow for right clicking.

For video files I agree Quicktime would not be my first choice but again, I immediately downloaded and installed the IOS verson of VLC which works great on any file.

and I don't believe the majority of new computers come with word proccessing programs unless you pay extra or buy the software.  I've found iNotes to be full featured enough that I haven't had the need to purchase anything extra.

The biggest problem I had that took some research to figure out was using my external hard drive.  I found that while I could move files from the drive to my iMac, it wouldn't let me move files from the iMac to the drive.  After a bit of research I learned about the different formatting of drives and realized my drive had been formatted to NTFS, which Macs don't like very much.  It was not a difficult search to find the codec online though, that once installed allowed my iMac to write to the drive without having to reformat and lose all my data.

Overall I've found the iMac a much more enjoyable experience than my old laptop.  We'll see if it holds up over time.

[Rico]

The most common issue I hear from people is networking Mac's and Windows based machines and getting them all to play nice together.  That can be a bit tricky, even for a tech savvy person.  But it really isn't a "Mac problem."