2 Days On A Macbook Pro—Confessions of a Longtime Windows Power User

I like to keep learning and ensuring I push myself to do things I’m not comfortable with. This often means reading a book I don’t agree with or watching a news channel with a different perspective. But it also means using technology that I am not comfortable with.

I’ve been using Windows for about 30 years and am quite comfortable with all things Windows. I’m even a happy Windows 8.1 user (although I’m not thrilled it’s not much better than 7).

So as I watch the increasing growth in the Apple world, I realize I need to see why people are switching. Plus, people ask me relatively constantly about whether they should switch to a Mac or not, and I almost always say no based on what I’ve read or heard.

Now it’s time for me to live with a Mac and decide for myself. For the next 30 days I’ll be using a Macbook Pro and leaving my Lenovo Yoga behind. The Macbook was purchased for someone else, so it is going back in 30 days unless I really love it.

I’ve been using the Macbook for two days and already I’ve found plenty of annoying things and nothing too exciting. I almost did not write this blog until I had more experience, but then I realized many of you would have suggestions on how I can get more out of the Macbook Pro.

First, the good things:

It’s similar enough to Windows that most anyone can use a Mac. Perhaps the stronger Windows user you are, the more comfortable you are. Things are in different places, but they make sense and just take a little figuring out (this is in fact the main reason I want to commit for 30 days).

Because I switched to Office 365 and had moved all my files into OneDrive, I was able to install OneDrive for the Mac and all my files are now on my Mac. I was also able to easily install my license for Office to the Mac. Chrome, Evernote and other applications downloaded and synched with the cloud version, so I was up and running very quickly.