It works for me

I see John Stokdyk is still wondering whether to make the switch from PC to Mac, so let me give you a quick re-cap. With a couple of months Mac use under my belt I can definitely say that it works for me.

Would I get rid of the PC altogether? No, because I need to run a load of PC-only accounting and practice software. I know I could run Windows on the Mac using VMWare, but I don't see the point. I am enjoying keeping my Mac a totally Microsoft-free zone. I have a few Apple-only clients where they virtually frisk you at the door to make sure you don't have any Microsoft products on your person before they let you in, but in the world of the practising accountant that's neither necessary nor practical.

So I'll keep the Dell on the office network, but in areas where the Mac either works as a standalone computer or online I reckon the Mac wins hands down over the PC. It's particularly good at:

- Looking good - it just looks so much nicer than my Dell laptop!
- Entertainment - iTunes in particular, but also using it to watch DVDs or online videos - it is far more elegant and better designed than the PC
- The Internet - Safari on the Mac is much faster than IE on the PC. Online apps such as GoogleDocs and online accounting applications are a joy to use on the Mac.
- Office basics - OK, I'm not a Word or Excel power-user, but Office apps on the Mac haven't caused me any problems, everything I have done so far has been compatible with Office on the PC, and apart from the few familiar PC keys that are missing from the Mac keyboard, everything I have ever learned to do on the PC works exactly the same on the Mac. No learning curve, so no reason the hold back John!
- Working - It just works. Apple has cleverly designed everything so it just works, you don't need to be an IT geek to get things to work, or to tweak them later. Too often I have to get my IT manager to fix trivial issues on my PC, but so far the Mac has just got on and done what it's supposed to without me having to find a manual or look up some technobabble help document.