More on Windows Vista versus Mac

Yesterday Scobleizer reminded me about the whole Mac versus Vista debate, with his post about Vista on Dell’s Tablet. It seems not only Robert is having that issue, here is an Attorney with similar complaint:

… another reason why I prefer Apple computers. Mac laptops sleep when you close the lid and wake up instantly when you open the lid. You can do this over and over again, for months, and never have to reboot. Very few, if any, people have this experience with Windows computers.

First, directly to the point being discussed. There are excellent controls provided by Windows Vista to make this happen on PC laptop! In fact, this was one of the first things I adjusted when our new Dell laptop arrived. Yes, I had to dig deep inside myriad of Power Management settings in Control Panel. The question, of course, is what was Dell and Microsoft thinking!? Why isn’t this CONFIGURED PROPERLY out of the gate?

Mac has really come of age, and with Firefox running well on Mac, it finally is a leading second choice for desktop. But, here’s my message to Steve – we are not imbeciles! We can figure out how to use 2 Button Mouse! And it isn’t just me, I hear from a friend who otherwise loves his Mac Laptop, that his biggest complaint is that there is no second button on the mouse!

I have been running Vista on my primary PC for over half a year now. It is a monster machine, with 4gb ram and 4 cores processor, so I really don’t feel any sluggishness or anything. Quite the opposite, in fact, but would it be even faster with Windows XP? I never did run XP on this PC, so we may never know. And even if a single process would be faster on XP, I am not sure it would be as fast/efficient in utilizing 4 cores with as many processes as I run…

PS: If you want to know what exact settings I put on Vista on our Laptop, just ask in comments, and I’ll promptly put up a detailed write-up there.

Comments #

Comment by Boris on 2008-03-09 17:46:47 -0500 #

I don’t know exactly what experience you have with MAC computers, but they do support two buttons mices and scrollers. It is in deed funny that I use Microsoft mouse with MAC PC, but it is working and fully supported.

Comment by Brian Tucker on 2008-03-10 16:41:24 -0500 #

I would love to see your exact settings document. If I’m the only one that’s asked, an offline response would be great!

Thanks!

Brian

Comment by Adi R on 2008-03-10 18:59:14 -0500 #

First, about the Mac and 2 button. Yes, I know that if you use 2 button mouse it supports it. But, by default the Laptops have single button built-in, and PCs come with Mac Single button mouse!!!
Now, to the settings:

1. Open Control Panel, type Power Options, click on it and choose Change Plan Settings for whatever plan is selected there
2. Inside Edit Plan Settings, choose little Change Advanced Options link that is available at the bottom.
3. Under ‘Power buttons and lid’ tree, there is a bunch of settings. You need to have latop that can detect Lid open/close action (usually only newer ones do), but still there is a lot of flexibility.
4. For Lid Close Action, choose: Sleep
5. Power button action, choose: Hibernate
6. Start Menu power button: I chose Hibernate on Battery and Shut Down when Plugged In.
7. There is one more setting under Sleep tree. Find Hibernate after there and choose 20 minutes (or your preference) under On Battery and probably higher number for when Plugged In.
   What will happen, essentially, is that your computer will go to sleep when lid is closed, using Very Little power, and not loosing any actively running programs. Then, if after a while you don’t open the lid, it will completely Hibernate to disk, which will stop all processes but can be resumed where you left off, WITHOUT loosing any open documents. The computer essentially saves memory state to disk and completely shuts down, saving battery life.

Comment by Adi R on 2008-03-10 19:09:28 -0500 #

Two more things about these settings:

1. You will still need to click on Power button when opening the lid later. But, the laptop should resume very fast (seconds) and all your programs will still be running and all documents open
2. Make sure your Hibernation is ON, which is also under the same advanced power tree. Also, if you don’t have Lid Close Action options (older laptop), you can still tweak your Power button action to either Sleep or Hibernate, which is same thing.

Comment by Nancy on 2008-04-16 22:54:28 -0500 #

Thanks for the information about the two-button mouse for the MAC, Boris.

I started on the PC learning DOS before Windows existed.
Later, I was a PageMaker user on the PC when it was an Aldus product. The program worked so that one of my two mouse buttons was a toggle for the view (actual size to fit in window) which was absolutely excellent, as I constantly went back and forth, and it was intuitively delightful and very fast. After that feature was (sadly) eliminated, I felt awkward with the program and sorely missed it (and kept habitually clicking for years with the button that no longer had that function).

I have never bought a Mac (although I have wanted to due to the ravings I have heard from people with an interest in computer graphics), partly because of the expense, and partly because it would drive me crazy not to have two mouse buttons. I always felt that having to use a one-button mouse is to be hamstrung, just as I was after this change in PageMaker. I am one of those who has been baffled and disappointed by what seems to be a missing necessity. However, I admit I lack much Mac experience.

I did not realize that there has been third-party two-button mouse functionality for the Mac for awhile now. I’m delighted to hear it. I enjoy graphics programs, so it seems appropriate for me to get a Mac, yet I need the latest MS Office Programs to keep up with my job, such as Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint. Can I do that on the Mac? Would anyone care to make a recommendation for or against the Mac, as compared to the PC, for a veteran PC user who is into graphics and has to use a PC at work.

Thanks!

Comment by Adi R on 2008-04-16 23:26:08 -0500 #

In fact, Microsoft Office is available for Mac.
I did a quick Amazon.com search for Office Mac, and 2008 edition came up:
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Office-2008-for-Mac/dp/B000WR2F2M/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1208406148&sr=8-3

I agree with you that Mac is extra expense, but ultimately, it is your decision to make.

Since you have a lot of PC experience, I would advise that you visit nearest Apple store (or a friend with Mac) and spend some time playing around with it, to see if their GUI metaphore is something you like and can learn to live with.

If you do decide to go with Mac, we will really appreciate your thoughts half a year or so into using it.

Comment by yaniv r. on 2008-05-10 08:55:32 -0500 #

hello adi, and all
below there is a text of a QuickBasic 4.5 program
that i made, but it has a problem i cant activate it without an error that sais: “RETURN without GOSUB”
althougw the function GOSUB is present in line 2 of the program: “ON TIMER(3) GOSUB display”.
but when i try to run it it gives an error that states:”RETURN without GOSUB”.
i’m asking for help at this site becuse i know of adi’s good programming skilles.
please help me adi or anyone i will be most abliged
the program is written for QuickBasic4.5(QB4.5)

‘—–start of program….

TIMER ON
ON TIMER(3) GOSUB Display

Display:
Oldrow = CSRLIN ‘Save current row.
Oldcol = POS(0) ‘Save current column.
LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT TIME$;
LOCATE Oldrow, Oldcol ‘Restore row & column.
RETURN

‘—end of program

Comment by Adi R on 2008-05-10 15:15:03 -0500 #

First, this would be much better email than any kind of Comment?!
Second, what is QuickBasic 4.5, is this from 20 years ago? Use JAVA!!! Download free Java and free Eclipse development environment and enjoy!