When Is There a Good Time to "Switch" to Apple?

AllNines asks: "With all the hype of MacWorld and the compelling keynote given by Steve Jobs about the upcoming Tiger and Spotlight, I am thinking about 'switching' (Linux user since '97) but I am not sure the time is right. It seems like the PowerBooks are getting very long in the tooth and the iPods are due for a major rev. When is the right time to jump on the Apple ship? Am I going to get burned by a sluggish overpriced laptop that is updated next month?"

Comments

When..

[noselasd]

someone drops a bag of money on my head ?

Re:been there, done that, got the tshirt

[BrokenHalo]

I too have been using Linux for 10 years, and my wife has also been perfectly happy with the Slackware boxes I've set up for her. However, when she bought a laptop the other week, she told me she really wanted a Mac, for a couple of reasons which are not particularly relevant here.

On the plus side, most native apps are reasonably solid and stable, and the interface is simple and easy to use.

On the negative side, we both found that interface is so simple there's not much you can do to customise it. As for integrating the Mac into my *nix (NFS) network, that was a real bitch, and it still isn't right. Apple really made it harder for me when they put all the network settings into that binary database rather than applying the simple Unix-style approach.

We were also a bit disappointed by the general lack of basic games, having been spoilt by the great suite that comes by default with Gnome. Sure, I know about Fink, but my experience is that X11 apps don't seem to render that well on the Mac screen.

Re:Funny question

[gl4ss]

but if all he does is web-browsing, email and word processing surely he could just keep his current linux box and spend the grand of dough on hookers and have more ROI?

he's maybe trying to figure when would be the time to buy a mac so that it would not sink in $$$ value instantly after a week(or just a mac guy pimping in drag).

Re:maybe next week...

[njfuzzy]

The PowerBook G5 has been slated for "Next Tuesday" since almost a year ago.