It didn't take me long to grow frustrated with the lack of a second display, although what is worth mentioning is that I was able to last longer without a second display under OS X than I would under XP. I attribute this mostly to features like Exposé that help manage the clutter, whereas under XP we've only got the taskbar and ALT + TAB. I'll talk about this more in a second.
Adding a second monitor is basically one of the easiest hardware upgrades you can do and believe it or not, it is even easier under OS X. I plugged in the second Cinema Display using the DVI port on the Radeon 9600. By the time I got back up to my desk the OS had already enabled the monitor, extended my desktop and set the resolution to the LCD's native resolution. There are not many options to tinker with with multimonitor setups under OS X, everything just works. Applications remember where you leave windows if you just move them there and close them, and the apps I've been using seem to be well aware of the setup.
There is a performance hit when multimonitor is enabled (much like the hit in XP), especially when using Exposé. Exposé already dips in performance when you have more than a few windows open, moving to a multimonitor setup does further impact performance with Exposé. Luckily even when you've got a bunch of windows open Exposé doesn't really slow down, instead you get dropped frames in the Exposé animation. The choppyness does get a little annoying but the functionality isn't really reduced which is very important.
Exposé retains its functionality while multimonitor is enabled, instead of mixing all the windows you basically get the equivalent of two Exposé functions running - one on each monitor. Exposé's functionality with multimonitors does make sense, it's exactly how you'd expect it to work.
I have yet to try gaming with a multimonitor setup, and I have high hopes as it is a pain to deal with under XP. I'll post about my experiences with gaming once I actually get a game installed on the machine :)
I'm getting better and better about using keyboard shortcuts in OS X. When I get back to the office today I'm going to try installing LaunchBar thanks to many of your suggestions. I'm at the point now where there are certain tasks that I can accomplish quicker under OS X than I could under XP because of the combination of Exposé and a plethora of keyboard shortcuts. I'm not more productive yet as there is still a lot of getting used to that's necessary but I definitely see the potential.
Switching between my Mac and PC machines continues to be a non-issue, all of the shortcuts and things I find myself doing under OS X remain on my Mac - I don't try to do them on my PCs. As I use the Mac more I may find myself trying to use Exposé and similar things under XP, but so far I thankfully don't have those issues.
I would like to close with some thoughts on the whole Mac vs. PC debate. The responses I've received to this experiment have been overwhelmingly positive from Mac readers; the help you all have provided is much appreciated and very valuable. At the same time, I appreciate the number of PC readers that are approaching this with an open mind and are honestly interested in the possibility of a die-hard PC user migrating to a Mac. Both camps have their "zealots" but for the most part, we are all here because we're nuts about hardware, software and computers in general. I would look at this experiment much like we look at different chipsets, CPUs, video cards or any sort of normal comparison between two pieces of hardware; approach it with an open mind and you'll end up with the best overall choice at the end.
I've got more Macdates coming down the pipe; I've finally got Photoshop, Office and Dreamweaver installed so now I should be able to do everything I used to do on a daily basis on my PC. More on that later...
Adding a second monitor is basically one of the easiest hardware upgrades you can do and believe it or not, it is even easier under OS X. I plugged in the second Cinema Display using the DVI port on the Radeon 9600. By the time I got back up to my desk the OS had already enabled the monitor, extended my desktop and set the resolution to the LCD's native resolution. There are not many options to tinker with with multimonitor setups under OS X, everything just works. Applications remember where you leave windows if you just move them there and close them, and the apps I've been using seem to be well aware of the setup.
There is a performance hit when multimonitor is enabled (much like the hit in XP), especially when using Exposé. Exposé already dips in performance when you have more than a few windows open, moving to a multimonitor setup does further impact performance with Exposé. Luckily even when you've got a bunch of windows open Exposé doesn't really slow down, instead you get dropped frames in the Exposé animation. The choppyness does get a little annoying but the functionality isn't really reduced which is very important.
Exposé retains its functionality while multimonitor is enabled, instead of mixing all the windows you basically get the equivalent of two Exposé functions running - one on each monitor. Exposé's functionality with multimonitors does make sense, it's exactly how you'd expect it to work.
I have yet to try gaming with a multimonitor setup, and I have high hopes as it is a pain to deal with under XP. I'll post about my experiences with gaming once I actually get a game installed on the machine :)
I'm getting better and better about using keyboard shortcuts in OS X. When I get back to the office today I'm going to try installing LaunchBar thanks to many of your suggestions. I'm at the point now where there are certain tasks that I can accomplish quicker under OS X than I could under XP because of the combination of Exposé and a plethora of keyboard shortcuts. I'm not more productive yet as there is still a lot of getting used to that's necessary but I definitely see the potential.
Switching between my Mac and PC machines continues to be a non-issue, all of the shortcuts and things I find myself doing under OS X remain on my Mac - I don't try to do them on my PCs. As I use the Mac more I may find myself trying to use Exposé and similar things under XP, but so far I thankfully don't have those issues.
I would like to close with some thoughts on the whole Mac vs. PC debate. The responses I've received to this experiment have been overwhelmingly positive from Mac readers; the help you all have provided is much appreciated and very valuable. At the same time, I appreciate the number of PC readers that are approaching this with an open mind and are honestly interested in the possibility of a die-hard PC user migrating to a Mac. Both camps have their "zealots" but for the most part, we are all here because we're nuts about hardware, software and computers in general. I would look at this experiment much like we look at different chipsets, CPUs, video cards or any sort of normal comparison between two pieces of hardware; approach it with an open mind and you'll end up with the best overall choice at the end.
I've got more Macdates coming down the pipe; I've finally got Photoshop, Office and Dreamweaver installed so now I should be able to do everything I used to do on a daily basis on my PC. More on that later...
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David Shaw - Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - link
I don't use LaunchBar or any of the other third party modifiers. I do use MenuMeters, but that doesn't affect how you use the OS, it just puts all sorts of nice performance monitors in the menu bar.Whatever you do, please avoid APE and Haxies. They have been known to cause all sorts of system instability. Some people will argue that THEIR systems are stable with these tools installed, but I have seen dozens of reports where an obscure problem or crash was solved by removing APE.
Ryan - Saturday, February 14, 2004 - link
I have yet to use Launchbar, I can't imagine needing to either.NeutronMonk - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
Kristopher- you're a madman! Very impressive... what machines and os(es) are you using?Erik K. Veland - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
Re: Dreamweaver MX2004.The main issue about Dreamweaver MX2004 is speed. Even typing in design-view is atrociously slow. It's main slogan for the 04-version was: "It's not about the things we've added, it's about the things we've removed." Great I thought and immediately ordered thinking they've fixed speed issues and reduced bloat (defaulting to generating pure CSS-layouts). But alas, DMX04 is even more bloated than before.
I don't regret it though, learning to code pure CSS-layouts (with inspiration from csszengarden.com and glish.com/css) has been nothing but rewarding for me and renewed my faith and joy in designing for web.
Just check out this site with Safari 1.2: http://www.erikveland.com/ambassador. Pure CSS. Note the hover-effects and how the menu behaves when you scroll the "Om prosjektet"-page.
KristopherKubicki - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
Dual monitor? Check out my desk.http://images.anandtech.com/banners/kristopher/DSC...
Anand you got nothin!
Kristopher
woj - Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - link
in response to NeutronMonk :yes, other apps dvd player comes to mind do have hidden menus a copy of tinkertool from, breslink.de I think will uncover them
NeutronMonk - Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - link
For Safari, there is one tweak that is essential to do if you visit web sites that insist (contrary to what should be open web standards) that you are using IE for windows (some online banking sites come to mind). In Terminal, type in the following line:defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1
This will give a new "Debug" menu in the menu bar of Safari. Click this and go down to "User Agent" and pick the the web browser you wish to "spoof". It works quite well for me! Remember to do this before you are on the site in question, and remember that the User Agent goes back to the default "Automatic" after a re-launch of Safari. Credit goes to macosxhints.com for this one- just do a search there for "Safari" and see what you come up with! By the way, I believe there are other hidden Debug menus...
A Blair - Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - link
Wow, great to see Anand et al seriously considering Apple solutions. I've been an avid reader of Anand's column in CPU mag monthly and visitor to Anandtech before that, but have never owned any Apple products before. Not that I haven't come across more of them lately at conferences, technical & scientific conventions. Maybe it's just higher visibility with certain groups (like Tim O'Reilly's "alpha geeks") but there seems to be renewed interest. I couldn't be happier - after years of involvement, I can't help but feel the traditional computing world has become stangant and stifling in many ways. Of course, I haven't played many games in the last few years; I tend to (try) to use my systems as tools to get work accomplished. For the fist time the Mac is looking pretty tempting... Anand should write about his experiences in CPU mag as well, I know I'm not in the minority in being curious about it.Joe - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
Once again, I am thinking of switching. Here is why. I becoming to believe that Apple may have the best product because they do the hardware and software and have integrated both better than those on the PC side where the software and hardware are treated as separate parts of the puzzle. So I am very curious about all of the Apple digital raz ma taz. ithis and ithat. I don't care about gaming and how many gigawatz my computer can run down the freeway, that not my cup of tea. However, I am interested in photos, music, etc, practical things I can do. I read you many times in the past and consider you the best technical expert on PCs. What I would really like to know is if Apple vs. PC is a better overall experience software and hardware for the average Joe.David Smith - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
Launchbar is quite an amazing app, in my opinion. One more vote for at least trying it, although I can see why you might avoid third party enhancers (the unsanity.com haxies are particularly odd/interesting).