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Since starting my consulting practice twelve years ago, I’ve made it a practice to purchase a new laptop computer every two years. I’ve been lucky to never have a PC fail (except for a 2-month old Sony Vaio) but I’ve never wanted to take the risk. I live in Microsoft Office and could not run my business without it. I travel often on business, and found that my iPad just didn’t give me the functionality to properly service my clients while I’m on the road. For that I need a “real” computer.
Two years ago, when it was time for a new computer, I was more than a little frustrated with my Windows 7, 15” laptop that weighed nearly nine pounds. It had become very slow booting up, frequently required restarting, and had a 2-hour battery life. So, when Apple released the new MacBook Pro with Retina display, I decided it was time to go “all in.”
Learning to Use a Mac
Picking up my new Mac at the Apple store was euphoric! I dealt with the business team who understood my needs, my reliance on Office, and what I was trying to accomplish. I left the store feeling like I had made the right decision (even after spending a small fortune), and couldn’t wait to start using my new laptop.
With some minor help, I got my new Mac set up, installed Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, successfully converted my data, and got right to work. If you’ve ever used a Mac, you know that some of the functionality is exactly opposite of the PC world. It took a short time to figure out file locations, mouse functionality, single-click vs. double-click and more, but I was off and running with my new, sleek machine. I knew I could run Parallels for Windows programs, but I made the conscious decision to only run Mac applications. After all, if I wanted a Windows machine, I still had my old “brick.”
Making Accommodations for the Mac
I live in Outlook, Word, and Excel and almost immediately found that Office 2011 for Mac was missing features and functionality that I use if not every day, at least often enough for it to be important. For example, the way I organized my Favorites folder in Outlook is quite a bit different, and working with multiple .PST files is not as easy in the Mac version. I have long-term clients for whom I have individual .PST folders, and I found I was unable to blend them into my Favorites in Mac’s Outlook.
In Word, I found the menu options, features, and functionality were also limited. For example, inserting Symbols, working with Mail merge, and formatting are not nearly as feature-rich as what I’m used to in the Windows version. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Microsoft would limit the Mac feature set, but even Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac is missing features I use all of the time.
The Proverbial Straw
While still working on a PC, I used CompanionLink and Google to sync my contacts and calendars, but once I moved to the Mac, that option was no longer available. You’d think that my Mac, my iPhone, and my iPad could all be made to communicate with each other, but of course that is not the case. Between my multiple email accounts, I receive an average of 250 emails every day. There was no easy way to remove email from all devices in a single action and I grew increasingly tired of handling the same emails multiple times, and reentering appointments and contacts on each device.
I read a great deal about Office 365, and thought maybe it was my salvation. And in fact, it partially solved my problems. Since converting to Office 365, my email, contacts, and calendars are always synched. Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ended, as it quickly became apparent that the Office 365 Mac tools were even more limited.
To convert to Office 365, we had to export my Outlook data and import it into a new Identity. The export/import process did not work properly and the consultant we hired to manage the transition instructed me to copy and paste my missing folders into my new Identity. After several hours of effort, and two weeks of uploading to the cloud, my new Outlook literally stopped working altogether. After three hours of support from Microsoft, I was finally instructed to remove all of the added folders because Outlook 365 couldn’t support more than 5-6 GB of data in the Mac version. So, while I solved the syncing problem, Outlook is much more cumbersome than ever.
To make matters worse, my associates are both on PC’s and they have had none of the issues I’m dealing with, and their export/import and transition to Office 365 was completed in about 30 minutes each.
Au Revoir Monsieur Mac
(Deep sigh) Okay, I’ve finally given up. I love my Mac, but it just won’t work the way I work, and after two years, I’m not willing to change any more to accommodate the machine—it should be the other way around.
I’m going back to a PC, and I hope I’m taking what I love about my Mac with me. I want fast start-up, long battery life, a bright screen, and a 15” monitor…all weighing less than 4 pounds.
I think I’ve found it. The Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook seems to have what I need. I’ve ordered a machine with a Solid State Drive (SSD) for fast start-up and access, a super-bright monitor, and 10 hours of battery life, all weighing in at 3.48 pounds! I hope it’s not too good to be true.
The machine is in transit, and once it arrives I plan to take my time getting it set up the way I want it.
Stay tuned!
