Yes, that’s right. After the pains I went through to get OS X running smoothly on my Dell Mini 9, I’ve erased it all and put Windows 7 back on there. To be honest, I like it *much* better. I will, though, confess that I can be as stubborn as a mule once I get things how I want them. OS X was cool and all, but it just had too many annoyances that have confirmed I’ll likely never be a Mac guy.
First, when you close the lid, it wants to sleep. This is the DUMBEST thing ever. It can’t simply turn off the display, like Windows can, no no. If you’re closing the lid, obviously you want your computer to go to sleep, which means that any data connections (such as the internet) are disconnected. So…..if you want to leave your computer on every Wednesday night so that it can download and apply updates when you’re NOT using it, tough luck. I could go on, but I won’t. Yes, there’s an application that disables this, but I found it to be kinda unreliable. Plus, it’s my freakin computer, and I don’t want to use it that way.
Next up is the touchpad. Apple thinks having specific areas of your touchpad for scrolling is silly. Instead, they want you to get all touchy-feely with this multitouch nonsense. Now, I can admit that I was running OS X on unsupported hardware, which is attributed to most of the touchpad issues I had (it was overly sensitive, basically), but this multitouch stuff got *real* annoying. I like knowing that I can touch this one portion of my touchpad and it always performs the same action – scrolling.
There were other annoying things, but alot of them were due to the fact that I was using OS X on unsupported, and underpowered hardware. For instance, iMovie took for freakin ever to export a 10 minute video that I edited, and it didn’t even turn out. Yes, that was likely mostly due to the 1.6GHz Atom processor, but still.
The other thing that I already know is that I likely won’t ever have a ‘legit’ OS X experience, because I don’t like Apple’s hardware designs. I think they’re far too minimalistic, and ugly. After discovering how ‘cool’ iMovie and iPhoto are, I went up to Best Buy to play with the Macs, and I noticed that on the newer Macbooks, there’s no touchpad button. The whole stupid thing is a button. Ugh. No thanks. When I looked at the Air, and the various new Macbooks and Macbook Pros, I came home and looked at my Dell XPS M1330 again and realized, it’s a pretty sweet looking machine. Sharp lines, brushed metal wristrest, great styling. The Macs just looked so……boring. Almost sterile.
So I’m back to Windows 7, both on my Dell Mini 9 and my old Gateway MX6956. Neither computer does anything when I close the lid, cause I don’t want them to. Both have clearly defined areas of the touchpad that scroll, and I can touch anywhere else on the touchpad without having to worry about it scrolling. I’m happy.
Ricky Cadden 
Oh Ricky, Ricky, Ricky… I could have predicted this outcome from the start.
What would you say to someone to put a hacked version of Symbian v5 onto a cheap and underpowered HTC and then complained about the experience? You would probably tell them to get a decent Nokia and give it another go, right? Well that’s exactly what I say to you.
Get a decent new Mac and have another go. Even the cheapest MacBook (not that far off what you have recently spent on your DELL + bits and bobs) would be a joy to use for both OS X and Windows 7.
Oh Ricky, Ricky, Ricky… I could have predicted this outcome from the start.
What would you say to someone to put a hacked version of Symbian v5 onto a cheap and underpowered HTC and then complained about the experience? You would probably tell them to get a decent Nokia and give it another go, right? Well that’s exactly what I say to you.
Get a decent new Mac and have another go. Even the cheapest MacBook (not that far off what you have recently spent on your DELL + bits and bobs) would be a joy to use for both OS X and Windows 7.
While I agree with you, James, the problem isn’t entirely the Dell hardware (though obviously, that was part of it). I don’t care for Apple’s designs, at all, and I dislike being forced into this multitouch stuff. It’s simply not how I want to use my hardware (regardless of the software that it’s driving).
While I agree with you, James, the problem isn’t entirely the Dell hardware (though obviously, that was part of it). I don’t care for Apple’s designs, at all, and I dislike being forced into this multitouch stuff. It’s simply not how I want to use my hardware (regardless of the software that it’s driving).
Not to start an OS war, but I would also add that in your example, James, the “decent Nokia” would cost over $1000. Experiencing Apple’s way of computing is only worth so much to so many people, and to those who have used Windows/Linux for however long with inexpensive hardware, it’s a difficult adjustment to learn a brand new OS that may not do things you really want AND cost more to find out.
If anything, I’d scrounge Craigslist to see if anyone’s selling an older Macbook for a decent price if you ever want to give it another shot.
Not to start an OS war, but I would also add that in your example, James, the “decent Nokia” would cost over $1000. Experiencing Apple’s way of computing is only worth so much to so many people, and to those who have used Windows/Linux for however long with inexpensive hardware, it’s a difficult adjustment to learn a brand new OS that may not do things you really want AND cost more to find out.
If anything, I’d scrounge Craigslist to see if anyone’s selling an older Macbook for a decent price if you ever want to give it another shot.