Question from a lifelong PC user who thinking of jumping the fence.
I have a question for you guys. Please don't flame me, I'm sure you've had this discussion a thousand times, but nobody has ever had it with me. Anyway, I'm really digging the new Mac Book Pro. Ever since the switch to Intel and boot camp came out, I've been thinking about getting one. Anyway, I am not willing to run Mac OS exclusively for a lot of different reasons. That's not the point of this post. I was looking at the MBP and noticed that apple is still only using one mouse button. Didn?t apple start supporting more than one mouse button a long time ago? Please don?t say one is all you need. My desktop has 4 buttons and a scroll wheel and I use them all. My laptop has 2 buttons and I deal with it. If I?m going to be dual booting, I really want that second button. Do my eyes deceive me? Does the MBP only have one? I remember that second mouse button being a common gripe from PC users in the MAC labs at college. I would have thought that by now Apple would have given in. Do they want more people to ?make the switch? or not? The build quality of Apples appears to be superb and I would love to get one, but I have to feel comfortable on it. I don?t want to have to get used to it. I?m already going to be getting used to a new OS, one which, to be honest, I never got used to in four years of college. Granted, I did most of my work at home just to avoid the Macs. I know that some Mac users claim that Mac OS is easier but I?ve been on a PC for 10 years and I believe that?s a matter of perspective. I?m posting this here because I want honest answers from intelligent people. I?ve been reading these boards for quite a while and it seems that there are some good people on here. I?ve heard all the elitist fan-boy crap in college and never bought it.
Thanks for the help.
Aaron
Thanks for the help.
Aaron
Comments
But seriously, yes, Apple supports 2 button, even 3 button mice. Use your own if you prefer it.
My brother (a long-time PC user & programmer) just switched with the MBP and he loves it.
Secondly, I'm using a Mac right now, and plan to send this post using my Microsoft 5-button side-scrolling Intellimouse Explorer. In simple terms? Yes.
In more complicated terms? Absolutely yes. Even without an external mouse you can right-click on a Mac, and it's a VERY important part of the OS.
I used to be a hardcore PC user who just wanted Mac hardware and decided to take the plunge, and man, I've never once regretted it. And now with bootcamp you simply can't go wrong.
Take the plunge, pal - you'll be glad you did. Really glad.
(I just bought a MBP myself last week. Can't wait for it's arrival.)
I realize that Mac is short for Macintosh, sorry for the typo. Heh, I was thinking about college days. I went to BGSU, which is in the MAC (Mid Atlantic Conference).
Thanks for the quick response too.
Aaron
Welcome to the fold.
It's quite silly that to some that Apple's laptop's only ship with one button, but it somewhat makes sense. Personally, I never use the laptop buttons anyway, and where I do it's with my wrist. Tap clicking is much more useful these days, anyway.
To me, it?s the little things? For example, I?m a very hierarchical person in how I think ? where I like organizing things in folder, and folders in folders, so on and so fourth. Anyhow, with OS X, I hover over the folder and it opens it in another window ? and I can open up any folder I want to in the new window by following the same procedure. It has made drag and drop much more efficient for me.
Or, like when I put a thumb drive in ? it shows up on the desktop automatically. Or, when I put a card reader in, and only occupied ports are reported as drives. Oh, and don?t get me started on how Expos?e makes me giddy, weeks after I started using it ? it just makes things easier.
Granted, that might be small ? but there are so many small nice features makes for a more pleasurable experience.
There are some things that bother me about OS X - like how it will not fully maximize the windows in most cases. However, as someone who uses both, I can tell you IMHO, OS X is just better. It will not allow you divide by zero, or stop a speeding train, but it will put a smile on your face a lot more often than XP will.
Aaron
Aaron
When running Windows XP under BootCamp, you better use an external mouse for right-clicking, as I don't know whether the ctrl-click or the two-tap thingy is working there too (might work when using the newest version of BootCamp, Beta 1.1.2).
What're the excuses to get a PC again? (A good excuse for being ignorant?)
So even though there only appears to be one button on the MBP, there are in fact two? Cool, thanks.
There is only one button on MBP. It has option for two fingers on trackpad and click for left click. Perhaps give it a try!. Macs work with any kind of mouse you want.
I do that too, but on my laptop, I can only tap click for a left click (it also has a scroll function that I've disabled because when I'm sliding around on the touch pad, the page will start to scroll if I'm not careful.)
One the Mac scrolling is two fingered movement on the trackpad.
You can configure taps and hot corner taps and the like using other paid-for utilities if you want.
On the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops:
Single finger slide = move cursor
Single finger tap = click
Two finger slide = scroll (vertical or horizontal, depending on direction you move)
Two finger tap = right-click
On all Macs:
Use whatever mouse you want, with however many buttons you want.
Slick, huh?
To clarify the above comments...
On the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops:
Single finger slide = move cursor
Single finger tap = click
Two finger slide = scroll (vertical or horizontal, depending on direction you move)
Two finger tap = right-click
On all Macs:
Use whatever mouse you want, with however many buttons you want.
Slick, huh?
Yeah, that's pretty cool. It sounds a lot more usefull than the touch pad on my current laptop. Thanks again.
You are going to love the machine. Seriously. And then you're going to annoy all of your family and friends because you'll become an evangelist and will let everyone know what they're missing. Your relationships will suffer. Your productivity will skyrocket. You will develop an unhealthy love for an inanimate object. It's inevitable.
Just kidding, of course. Well... kinda'.