it's just cool...
and they work well, are nicely animated and flows nicely.. they dont get old, are great at multitasking and the whole design aspect is just great.

The whole "It just works thing" is like trying to explain a TiVo to a VCR user. You don't get it until you have used a Mac for a while.

You stop worrying about if it will work the way you expect. It just works. Sure nothing is 100% stable, in in general, it just works. Drivers? ha, it just works. App install, drag that app to the Applications folder (or anywhere), it just works.

There is a lot of thought into how you will use an application or in general a computer. Those operations are put together in a logical way, so you don't have to outsmart the computer, it just works.

Coming from the PC world myself, I run into the most trouble when I out think my Mac. Invariably whatever I have trouble doing is super simple, I'm just going about it the PC way, and not the logical way.

One of the ways "it just works" is all the included applications with the OS. Never mind iLife (which is quit ehandy). It's simple things like DVD Player. No codec or external player, just support built in and easy to use. Or burning a CD (or whatever). No 3rd party software or other application. Pop burnable media in and it asks you what you want to do. Sometimes it's the simple things that make using a Mac so enjoyable.

it's kinda hard to explain....i used a pc for my whole life and never thought anything of it. then i got a mac and after a month and then it just hits you.

i think the main thing is that everything is connected and it makes it a lot easier. it's like the system is aware of you and is there to help. it offers pretty much unlimited help without talking down to you. that's what i really like, its set up so it's not insulting your intelligence, but at the same time, only tells you what you need to know.

you just need to open up and let Steve Jobs into your heart

Personally, for me its because I hate .NET. Even though Objective C and Cocoa aren't the greatest things in the world, They are a helluva lot easier to program in than .NET, at least for me. Also, there are hoops you have to jump through to use certain things on the windows platform that are GUI related (the ribbon for instance). With terminal, I'm used to the commands unlike the windows command prompt commands, which are only found on a single machine.

Regarding it just works, well, its a lot easier to install applications etc on a mac, but uninstalling them (if you don't have appzapper) is somewhat of a bitch at times. The user interface is also a bit easier to get used to in my opinion.

It's loved by designer because they tend not to like having to mess with technical settings and just go into their programs and create.

And the interface is very clean, refreshing to look at.


But to me it's more rewarding to know how everything works and tweak it. It simply boils down to preference - don't buy any of those commercials which say Macs are just better because they are.

--
The DA Music Forum - "You're too stupid to listen to music."

A Mac forum is the wrong place to ask this question. 98% of the users, like your friends, have absolutely no legitimate reason for believing OS X is superior to Windows. "It just works" is a generic fall-back position. To be honest, OS impacts user experience very minimally today. And if you were wondering, there's no such thing as Mac hardware anymore.

--
Children [link] Violence [link] Rainforest [link] Science [link]

hear hear

Uninstalling programs on Mac is so different to installing. Can't just drag the .app thing to the recycle bin since there's plenty of other things somewhere else.

I think what the Mac lack is a uninstall program that track all the files an installation put in thus allow a COMPLETE uninstallation, like a virgin, touched for the very first time

--
Ur so gay you don't even like ... PEEEEENIS

Many people I spoke to continue using PCs just because "I heard Mac is HARD to use." That's just crazy.

1. Firstly, I bought a MacBook because it looks GREAT. If there was any PC laptops that looks like a Mac and cheaper then I would have bought it. I didn't care about if it would be hard to use or whatever, I just had to get it and I did

2. The great bonus as I discover is that OS X is totally awesome. The interface is CLEAN, well designed and most Mac developer put effort into beautify their software. I haven't miss any program from XP at all.

3. The only slight downside for a Mac is gaming. Since game developers concentrate their effort to PC users, and the DirectX thing. I however do not play games so the Mac fits me PERFECT.

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Ur so gay you don't even like ... PEEEEENIS

Better build quality. They're laptops are second to none where industrial design is concerned. Their form factor, the materials used and overall usability through design is staggering.

The OS is different. Thats down to personal preference. OS X gives me a faster work flow solution over Windows. I can get twice as much work done on a Mac than a Windows PC in a certain time frame, which is important.

This is because I find OS X much more intuitive to my needs. To open a file in Photoshop, I simply drag one or a select few to the Photoshop icon placed in the dock. Expose is another great feature, who knew something so simple as Expose could be so useful. This is something Mirosoft tried to emulate in Vista, but to no avail.

And personally, I like the attention to detail and creative input Apple pays its operating system, something Microsoft can't do. Its a clean, fresh and usable interface that I'm happy to boot up into every morning, and that I can get the most out of.

--
Pwnd.

Windows is for gaming.
Mac is for media.
Linux is for networking and servers.

This is how I see it. I use my Mac for media, and it's got so many cool programs I couldn't have on Windows. I like the look and feel of everything, the layout, the features, OS X is easily my favorite. Linux would be second, but Windows is for gaming otherwise it's useless to me.