101 Reasons - To Switch to Mac -34 to 68

34. Built-in WiFi and Bluetooth
Before I switched, the surface of my desk was being taken over by creeping, high-tech kudzu. Power cables, USB cables, monitor cables, network cables, and keyboard and mouse cords threatened to gobble up every spare inch of desktop space.
In contrast, my Mac has high-speed 802.11g wireless networking built right in, so I can transfer files and surf the Net without a wired connection. With built-in Bluetooth technology, my keyboard and Mighty Mouse (and other devices, including digital cameras, printers, and even my cell phone) communicate with my Mac from up to 30 feet awaywirelessly.
The result? Less clutter, less distraction, and more flexibility than ever.
36. Vista 2.0 Today?
At the 2006 Apple World Wide Developer's Conference, banners promoting Leopard, the newest version of Mac OS X, proclaimed, "Introducing Vista 2.0." Not bad, considering how long it's taken Microsoft to develop Vista 1.0!
With eerie consistency, Windows "innovations"cool graphical effects (drop shadows, transparency, a sense of depth), Desktop Gadgets (small information applications oddly similar to Mac's Dashboard widgets), and the capability to quickly jump between apps and the desktopseem to imitate features already in Mac OS X. Want access to Vista 2.0's best features today? Switch to a Mac.
37. Unix Under the Hood
Purring away beneath the shiny hood of both Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) and Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) is a stable, powerful engine: Unix. Power users know that Unix provides more efficient handling of programming code and improved stability when running several tasks at once.
For the rest of us, having Unix under the hood means Mac OS X boots up faster and runs more smoothly. Applications rarely crash; when they do, they're less likely to disrupt other programs. And robust processor and memory management means that we can work simultaneously in iPhoto, iTunes, and iDVD without slowing our computers to a crawl.
38. The Mac OS X GUI
The graphical user interface (GUI) governs the look and behavior of windows, menus, controls, buttons, cursors, icons, dialog boxes, and scroll bars. Though responsible for visual appeal, the GUI is more than just eye candyit dictates how using the computer "feels."
For example: in the Windows GUI, dialog boxes pop up in floating windows. This can be startlingand frustrating, because important information can get lost under other windows. But on Macs, dialog boxes slide gently down from a program's title bar, keeping notifications in context.
Small differences like these combine to make the Mac OS X GUI a more pleasant environment for getting things done.
39. The Dock
In Mac OS X, the Dock (as shown in Figure 14) is a strip of icons that floats along (or, depending on your preferences, pops up from) the left, right, or lower edge of the screen.
Figure 14. The Dock provides quick access to the files and applications you use most.
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Unlike the PC's taskbar, the Dock features large icons that make it easier to identify open documents and applications. The Dock holds shortcuts to often-used apps, and files dropped onto Dock icons open in their associated programs.
Leopard expands the Dock's functionality, adding spring-loaded folders that expand to reveal their contents and instant access to apps and documents located on multiple desktops.
After you switch, you'll depend on the Dock for fast, easy access to the files you use most.
40. Exposé
Exposé, built into Mac OS X, makes managing multiple application and document windows a snap. Want to see all your open programs at once? Pressing F9 dims the desktop and scales open windows into live thumbnails. Working on multiple documents in one program? Press F10 to make tiled thumbnails of them all.
To bring any exposed window forward, click it. Need something from the desktop? Press F11 to slide all open windows aside.
Mac OS X's stability lets you use more applications simultaneously; Exposé lets you navigate them with ease.
41. Spotlight
If you're a PC user, you're probably familiar with Google Desktop Search, a utility that indexes files for rapid keyword-based searches. Spotlight, built right in to Mac OS X, provides similar functionality for Mac users.
With the advent of Leopard, though, Spotlight kicks desktop search up a notch. The new Spotlight supports Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT), allows speedy searches of other networked Macs, and adds Quick Looka live preview of a document, photo, song, or video summoned whenever your mouse hovers over a search result.
Want to find what you're looking for with speed and style? Switch to a Mac.
42. Dashboard
The OS X Dashboard (see Figure 15), summoned with a keystroke or a click of the mouse, is a dedicated space for hosting widgetstiny applications that speed repetitive tasks or pull information from the Web. With Dashboard widgets, my calculator, the weather, sports scores, headlines, and other services are never more than a click away.
Figure 15. The Dashboard is a dedicated space for hosting informative microapplications called "widgets."
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In Leopard, the Dashboard allows you to highlight a piece of any web page and transform it into your personal, automatically updated widget. And thanks to Dashboard syncing, changes made to one widget on one of your Macs can be automatically reflected on the others.
Want more out of widgets? Make the switch.
43. Spaces
Even the largest monitors can be overwhelmed with open windows.
New in Leopard, Spaces solves this problem by allowing the user to define multiple desktops. You might have one desktop for browsing and research, one for photo editing, and one for working with music and movies, with appropriate icons placed on each.
Spaces makes it easy to see all your desktops, to navigate among them by tabbing or clicking, and to drag and drop files from one desktop to another.
Applications open in any of your Spaces are also represented on the Dock; just click the icon, and you'll be transported to the related desktop automatically.
44. Time Machine
Time Machine, a new backup utility in Leopard, encourages good backup habits by making backup and restoration automaticand fun!
Using a dedicated external or network-mounted drive for storage, Time Machine creates a backup of your entire hard disk; any changes made after that point are recorded incrementally.
Using a video gamestyle interface (shown in Figure 16), you "scroll backward" into the past, before files were corrupted, deleted, edited, or lost. From there, you can restore individual files or reverse the clock completely, resetting your Mac to a saved state as far back in time as storage and settings allow.
Figure 16. With its simple but dramatic interface, Time Machine makes backing up and restoring your computer as entertaining as it can be.
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45. Alex
Computers have had voices for years, but none has ever spoken with the clarity of, say, HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. But Alexa synthesized voice built into Leopardis changing science fiction into reality.
Unlike PC voices that tend to mispronounce words or emphasize odd syllables, Alex sounds like a human being. (Listen carefully; he even breathes between phrases!)
Alex can read from any application that supports text-to-speech. Although primarily designed to make Mac OS X more accessible to visually impaired users, Alex's voice is so clear and calming, you may opt to have him read your email to you, even if you do have 20/20 vision.
46. Automator
Resizing and renaming photos. Copying unread mail to my iPod. Boring, repetitive tasks like these used to drive me crazy. Since switching to a Mac, I turn them over to Automator.
Using a point-and-click interface, I define a series of actions (selecting files, resizing them in Photoshop, and renaming them, for example) and save it as a workflow. Workflows can be launched immediately, saved for future use, or loaded into the Control-click (or right-click) contextual menu for quick access anytimeall on-the-fly, without a scrap of programming language.
47. Smart Folders
Back in my PC days, I adored highly structured filing systems: nested folders, precise titles, strict rules. Without that kind of organization, finding files on a PC could be a real challenge.
Since switching, I use Smart Folders. They're easy to create. Within Finder (the Mac's file management system), I just click File, New Smart Folder. Then, instead of moving files around, I fill out a point-and-click form defining criteria for the Smart Folder's contents, selecting, for example, all Microsoft Word files opened within the last two weeks containing the word "switch."
Without moving the actual files, Smart Folders help me keep tabs on the documents that matterwithout making me a slave to a Byzantine filing system.
48. Auctions
With iSale (from equinux.com, $39.95), I can use a point-and-click interface to enter eBay auction details in less than a minute. iSale pours this info into ready-made designer templates, giving my auction listing an attention-getting look. After dragging and dropping photos into placeholders, I just click Submit.
iSale depicts active auctions as Polaroid photos tacked to a cork board, as shown in Figure 17. As bidding progresses, "price stickers" on each one update automatically. Unsold items can be relisted with a click, and previously defined auctions can be saved and reused for future listings.
Figure 17. iSale's point-and-click interface, attention-getting templates, and bidding updates make managing online auctions a breeze.
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iSale is available exclusively for the Mac; if you want it, you'll have to switch.
49. Backup
Time Machine (built into Leopard) is the perfect "don't make me think" backup app. Some Mac users, however, may prefer a finer degree of control over exactly which files are backed up, how often, and when.
Apple's .Mac service provides Backup, a utility that syncs the files you specify with the storage space on your .Mac account. Want more flexibility? Martin Jahn's free iBackup utility (www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup) creates scheduled backups of the files you select (including system preferences) to a location you specify. And SyncupX (freeridecoding.net, $20.00) uses Smart Folders to collect the files it saves to an external or networked drive.
50. Blogging
Got a blog? Some of the most innovative offline blogging software available has been created exclusively for Mac users.
MacJournal (marinersoftware.com, $34.95) organizes and encrypts private journal entriesand offers one-click publishing of public entries (including photos) to the server you specify. Ecto (ecto.kung-foo.tv, $17.95) interfaces with popular hosted and do-it-yourself blogging platforms and makes backing up, searching, and inserting media into your posts a snap.
Mars Edit (ranchero.com, $24.95) integrates with the popular newsreader, NetNewsWire, making it easier than ever to share links to sites you think are fun or informative. (And if you own NetNewsWire, Mars Edit is free!)
51. Charting
Microsoft Visio is the de facto standard for charting on PCsso much so, most people don't realize the Mac supports an alternative many designers feel is far superior.
OmniGraffle (www.omnigroup.com, $79.00 standard, $149.00 pro) creates flow charts, decision trees, floor plans, posters, brochures, and vector-based art with drag-and-drop ease. Intelligent links maintain connections between related objects, even when drawings are rearranged or reorganized, and powerful inspectors apply color schemes, graphical effects, and visual styles with a single click.
Even the pro version costs less than Visiobut if you like it, you'll have to switch; OmniGraffle is exclusively available for the Mac.

52. Chatting
Love to chat? Apple's iChat connects you in real-time with up to three other people, and Leopard's new video backdrop feature lets you insert any photo or video as a background. If you've got a case of morning face, you can switch to text-only mode, monitoring multiple sessions in one window and jumping from buddy to buddy by clicking a tab.
Got friends on AOL, MSN, Jabber, IRC, and Yahoo? Check out Adium (adiumx.com; free, donations accepted, shown in Figure 18). The application's cute icon always prompts a grin, and its silly sound effects library makes even dull chats more entertaining. Simple, powerfuland only for the Mac.
Figure 18. Adium connects you with chat buddies on several of the most popular systems, including AOL, MSN, IRC, and Yahoo.
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53. Creative Writing
Writers: Microsoft Word is not your only option.
Since switching, I love Nisus Writer Express (www.nisus.com, $69.00). Its full-screen mode squashes distractions, letting me concentrate on my writing. Text styles, a real-time thesaurus, and other tools reside in a convenient drawer that pops out on demanda feature that makes Word's nested menus, drop-down lists, and floating palettes seem crude by comparison (see Figure 19).
Figure 19. Nisus Writer Express provides a distraction-free full-screen mode and a conveniently organized collection of writing tools.
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MacJournal (www.marinersoftware.com, $39.95) provides a secure, encrypted space for private thoughts, and Montage (also from Mariner, $139.95) is the only screenwriting software designed exclusively for Mac OS X.
Finally, Jer's Novel Writer (jerssoftwarehut.com, free) stores a novel outline, a character and setting database, and random notes in a quick-access drawerbut the marginal notes (for capturing reminders and insights and linking them directly to related text) are my favorite innovation.
54. Customize Your Computer
The Mac OS X environment looks so slick, you may not want to change a thing. If you crave customization, though, there are several applications designed to make every aspect of your Mac reflect your personality.
With one right-click or Control-click, any iPhoto picture becomes a desktop. Want more pizzazz than a still photo? Visage (keakaj.com, $9.95) turns any screensaver, including animated ones, into a desktop background.
Don't stop there! CandyBar (www.panic.com, $12.95, as shown in Figure 20) is a powerful icon management system allowing you to substitute holiday, movie, and mood-themed icon sets for every application and system icon on your Mac. Feel free to experiment; a handy reset button eliminates risk, restoring everything to factory defaults with just one click.
Figure 20. CandyBar customizes your Mac's icons, allowing you to choose from sets based on holidays, movies and TV shows, themes, and moods.

55. Databases
In the Mac universe, FileMaker Pro (www.filemaker.com, $299.00) dominates the database landscape. Why? First, whereas Access is available for PCs only, FileMaker is available both for Macs and PCs. For workgroups using both operating systems, FileMaker supports seamless, cross-platform data exchange.
If your database needs to incorporate web data or interactivity, FileMaker's exclusive Web Viewer pulls dynamic web content directly into your database; in addition, the ability to post databases to the web is built right in.
56. Desktop Publishing
Professional desktop publishing and page layout toolsincluding Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPresstend to be available for both the PC and the Mac. When you switch, you'll still be able to read and write these files.
Interested in consumer-level desktop publishing tools other than Microsoft Publisher? Pages (www.apple.com, part of the iWork suite) provides easily customized templates for newsletters, posters, and stationery. Swift Publisher (www.belightsoft.com, $34.95, as seen in Figure 21) includes a huge template library and incorporates a drag-and-drop layout process anyone can use within minutes. With either program, absolute beginners can produce dramatic, professionally designed documents in minutes.
Figure 21. Swift Publisher's friendly interface and huge template library help absolute beginners quickly produce professional results.
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57. Digital Photography
Professional photographers appreciate the fine-grained postproduction control offered by Apple's Aperture (www.apple.com, $299, exclusively for the Mac), which offers direct editing of native RAW formats, advanced project management tools, and nondestructive editing that protects the integrity of the original image.
Weekend shutterbugs love how Apple's iPhoto (included in the iLife suite and installed on every new Mac) automatically imports, organizes, enhances, and edits digital pictures; you can also create pro slideshows and order customized hardback books with a few clicks of the mouse. Need touchup brushes and cloning? If you've ever used Adobe Photoshop (www.adobe.com, $649) or Photoshop Elements ($80.00) on a PC, you'll love how much more stable these applications are on a Mac.
58. Education
Thanks to their ease of use, Macs continue to be popular with educators and students alike. (Apple also offers sweet educational discounts.)
Schoolhouse (www.loganscollins.com; free, donations accepted) tracks course schedules, assignments, and grades in the simple, iTunes-like interface you see in Figure 22. Friends who slept in can play catch-up by subscribing to your "classcast" of assignments. Schoolhouse is available only for the Mac.
Figure 22. Schoolhouse, exclusively for the Mac, helps students track schedules, monitor grades, and share assignments via its unique "classcast" feature.
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iStudy Flashcards (www.macstudysoft.com, $16.99) creates customized virtual flash card decks (with subject-specific decks available for download). The program tracks performance and exports quizzes to your iPod. And Yojimbo (www.barebones.com, $39.00) captures notes, media, and more using a simple organizational scheme that makes Microsoft OneNote look positively clunky.
59. Email
If you're used to managing email in Outlook or Outlook Express, Apple Mail's uncluttered screens feel like a breath of fresh air. I use Mail (built into Mac OS X) to pull messages from multiple POP3 accounts without a hitch. With Leopard, Mail includes templates for every occasiondrop in your own photos, write a message, and click Send.
Microsoft Office power users will love Microsoft Entourage ($499, as part of Microsoft Office for the Mac). Made for the Mac, it integrates email with calendars, to-do lists, and a robust project manager.
60. File Management
PC users will feel right at home in Mac OS X's Finder (shown in Figure 23), which organizes files and applications in nested folders (much like Windows Explorer). Finder, however, offers a column-based view (in contrast to the "one window at a time" approach taken on the PC) that makes for faster, easier, and more visual navigation of files.
Figure 23. Finder's column-based view provides for faster, easier, and more intuitive navigation of the files on your Mac.
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Power users may prefer Path Finder (www.cocoatech.com, $34.95), an alternative Finder with enhanced capabilitiessuch as the ability to undo a file operation (move, copy, or delete) with a single keystroke, browse files using a convenient tabbed interface, or collect files from several folders into one convenient "stack" for future use.
61. Finances
Microsoft's Money has never proven to be as popular as Quicken, which continues to be available for both the Mac and the PC. If you're a Quicken user, account information will make the jump to the Mac without a hitch.
If you're not invested in Quicken (no pun intended), you may want to give iBank (iggsoftware.com, $39.99) a try. iBank organizes account information, expenses, bank balances, and credit card data in a clear, "everything at a glance" layout. Smart Charts and Home Budget features generate detailed reports and live graphs that will help you visualize where every penny goes.
62. FTP
FTP (file transfer protocol) software enables file management over the Internet. Mac-based FTP utilities have all the power of their PC counterpartsbut deliver that functionality with greater ease of use and a generous helping of style.
Fetch (www.fetchsoftworks.com, $25.00) duplicates the look and feel of the Finder file manager and makes local and remote file management as intuitive as possible. Intimidated by technobabble? You'll love Fetch's plain-English controls (think big buttons labeled Get and Put).
Transmit (www.panic.com, $29.95, as shown in Figure 24) supports remote file editing in any application, transmits files dragged to the Dock, and transfers files directly from one remote server to the other.
Figure 24. Transmit organizes files using a simple "your stuff, their stuff" scheme, making FTP more straightforward than ever.
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63. Games
Although some PowerPC-based Macs did struggle to keep up with the action, the "Macs don't do games" era has officially ended. The 24-inch iMac comes standard with the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics card, with the 7600 GT as an optional upgradeso graphically intensive games (like Quake 4 and Doom 3) deliver smooth, realistic action at high frame rates.
Many game publishers still release hot new titles for PCs only. But with your Mac's ability to boot as a Windows PC (via Boot Camp) or run PC software (using Parallels Desktop), that's no longer an issue, now is it?
64. Getting Things Done (GTD)
For busy people looking to manage multiple projects and crammed in-boxes, David Allen's Getting Things Done is the bible of personal productivity.
The GTD philosophy lies at the heart of Kinkless GTD (kinkless.com, free), which transforms OmniOutliner Pro (www.omnigroup.com, $69.95) into a lean, mean GTD machine for tracking tasks, identifying next actions, and adding context to your to-do lists.
Midnight Inbox (www.midnightbeep.com, as seen in Figure 25) is a complete, Mac-based GTD software solution. Its Mail-style Inbox collects incoming info and organizes it into contexts and projects.
Figure 25. Midnight Inbox is one of the very first applications designed for GTD from the ground up. It's available exclusively on the Mac.
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Serious about getting things done? Make the switchbecause both of these programs are available only on the Mac.
65. Hobbies
Got a hobby? Chances are, a fellow hobbyist has (often single-handedly) created software to help you pursue your passion on a Mac. Examples include:
• Delicious Library Drawing rave reviews for its visual, "it's on the shelf" method for organizing your software, books, games, and videos, Delicious Library (www.delicious-monster.com, $40.00, seen in Figure 26) tracks who borrowed what and when. As you scan ISBN barcodes with your iSight camera, Delicious Library populates each database entry with Amazon.com product info.
Figure 26. Delicious Library organizes your media on virtual shelves, snags product info from Amazon.com, and keeps track of who borrowed what.
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• Reunion Reunion (www.leisterpro.com, $99.00) brings family trees to life, producing graphical tree charts, ancestral profiles (complete with photos, sound bytes, and videos), and book-worthy reports in a variety of formats. It's the most media-rich personal genealogy package I've seen.
• Meditation Timer Designed to help you manage meditation without watching the clock, Meditation Timer (whenderson.blogspot.com; free, donations appreciated) plays gentle chimes at intervals you specify. You can even export sessions to iTunes, and then burn custom meditation CDs!
• 66. iPod Enhancements
• iTunes (www.apple.com, free) organizes music, videos, and podcasts; it fetches album art automatically and shuttles files to your iPodbut for Mac users, that's just the beginning. With Podworks, (www.scifihifi.com, $8.00) you can back up your valuable song collection by dragging and dropping tracks from an iPod to a Mac.
• Don't like one huge library for all your media files? Manage multiple libraries within iTunes with MultiTunes (www.porkrind.org/multitunes, $15.99).
• iPresentIt (www.zapptek.com) turns your video-enabled iPod into a presentation powerhouse. Only the Mac version supports exports of Keynote presentations to iPhoto slideshows and preserves those fancy "builds" that reveal the bullet points on your slide one-by-one.
• In the mood for a movie? Send any video to the iPod with VisualHub (www.techspansion.com, $23.32), a universal video converter you can use even if you don't know a codec from a frame rate.

67. Launchers
Launchers open any program or file in a heartbeat. Edit, move, copy, email, or transfer files with a keystroke, access URLs without launching a browser first, and much more. After you start using launchers on your Mac, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them.
Quicksilver (quicksilver.blacktree.com, free) completes hundreds of common tasks in dozens of applications with three or four keystrokes. An extensive plug-in library also enables Quicksilver to manipulate, mail, and even edit files on-the-fly. Once invoked, LaunchBar (www.obdev.at, $20.00) displays a context-sensitive drop-down list of possible actions in your Mac's menu bar, giving you single-click access to common tasks and frequently used programs. Butler (from www.petermaurer.de/butler, $18.00) provides mouse-accessible pop-up menus and screen hotspots that trigger program actions.
68. Making Slideshows and Movies
iPhoto and iMovieHD (supplied with Mac OS X) make short work of editing home movies and creating cinematic slide shows. Ready for more power and control? Your Mac gives you some great options.
Slideshow app FotoMagico (www.boinx.com, $79.99, shown in Figure 27) offers total control over image resolution, panning, cropping, and transitionsand creates HD slideshows that export to DVD.
Figure 27. FotoMagico offers powerful tools for controlling every aspect of your slideshow and can export high-def versions to DVD.
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Spielbergs-in-training will want Final Cut Express HD (www.apple.com, $299). The tools in this prosumer package aren't for the faint of heart, but they allow for drag-and-drop clip editing, composite images, real-time rendering of effects and transitions, and blending of up to 99 audio tracks.