Should I purchase a MacBook Pro to use for my business?
From my experience… the short answer is NO! Here are the key reasons that have caused me to have to continue to use my PC system (Lenovo ThinkPad Laptop) as my primary computer.
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The MAC operating system doesn’t support my account software program, SAGE Accpac. The work around would be to load a virtual version of windows that I would have to open and log into… too much effort for me.
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My customer relationship management and business process application, Connectwise, also wasn’t compatible with the MAC OS.
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The MAC doesn’t support Internet Explorer and one of our key portals that we use to manage, monitor and create reports for our clients with is not compatible with Firefox or Safari and only works in Internet Explorer.
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The MAC doesn’t really authenticate to my windows network and my network drive letters are constantly disappearing. I watched my tech reset up the connection several times and it was very difficult. I never did memorize how to do it.
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The drive connection issue also affected me when I was working remotely. The VPN utility worked great but then once connected I couldn’t access my files since the DRIVE LETTER WAS GONE EVERY TIME! Very frustrating! Apparently there is an Apple Mini Server you can purchase and resolves this problem but I wasn’t willing to invest several thousand to verify that.
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Outlook just wasn’t the same. Specifically with simple things like the signature settings. I prefer to have a different signature when I reply to an email than when I send it the first time. I have links to my social media and blog and it is annoying to send it back and forth every time. Just irritating.
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I can’t access my public shared folders in Outlook either. It just isn’t there with the MAC version of Outlook.
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I have to constantly run updates. Screens are always popping up to run ITunes, IPhoto, Ithis and Ithat updates. I also have to manually update all of my Microsoft Office updates and Apple is always releasing some other update.
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On occasion, about as often as my pc, the system just hangs up and I have to hold the power button down and reset it.
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The touch pad is hard to drag and drop with so I purchased the MAC magic mouse, after a couple of minutes I just through it in an empty coffee mug on my desk and went back to the touch pad
Clearly I had no choice but to continue to use my PC. I will say despite all of these negative reasons I actually like my MAC. It took me at least two weeks to just get used to finding things and learning how to navigate, that was really frustrating but once I got past that it was okay. My kids and I have enjoyed making videos with the IMovie program. You can check them out on Youtube.com (just search for Sklar Kids), pretty funny stuff. My kids are pretty nuts and funny, well they are to me anyway. There are some other features I’ve found I like but honestly next time I’m just going to purchase an HP or Lenovo and keep it simple.
My $.02