If you spend more of your precious time figuring out why your PC crashes than you spend taking out the garbage every week, you need a Mac. Still not convinced? Just ask the millions of people who use and love a Mac why it’s become such an integral part of their lives, and most will tell you the same thing: It just works. Letting them do what they want to do. When they want to do it. All the time.
That’s because a Mac offers absolutely flawless integration of hardware and software. Only with a Mac do you get a system built by the same people who make the OS, the applications, and the computer itself.
MacBook Pro
Take a Mac out of its box and you experience that hand-in-glove fit from the get-go. Plug it in. Turn it on. And you’re ready for anything. With a Mac, you’ll find all of the essentials built right in. USB. FireWire. Ethernet. Every new Mac offers built-in antennas for wireless networks, so getting on the Internet from anywhere is a mere matter of turning on your Mac. No reconfiguring your network settings. No plugging in some clunky wireless card.
The real secret behind the Mac’s crash-resistant performance lies deep within the operating system itself. Beneath the surface of Mac OS X lies an industrial-strength UNIX foundation hard at work to ensure that your computing experience remains free of system crashes and compromised performance. Time-tested security protocols in Mac OS X keep your Mac out of harm’s way. Most Fortune 500 companies, governments, and universities rely on UNIX for their mission-critical applications.
=====================================
iLife apps
To iLife to be exact.1 A suite of stellar applications, iLife consists of iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand, iTunes, and iWeb. Every one’s a winner. And everyone can perform magic with them. What’s that, you say? On the PC, you can find any number of photo applications, music software, DVD authoring packages, jukebox programs, and web creation tools. And if you don’t like the wares of one developer, another one has a package with just as many features. Maybe more.
Photobooks
And therein lies the problem. You can purchase lots of separate programs from different PC developers, and any one of them may have features similar to those you’ll find in one of the iLife applications. But how many of those applications work hand in glove together? How easily can you transfer photos you used in a photo book to burn onto a DVD or incorporate as a still in a movie or quickly add to a blog? They may work pretty well apart. But how well do they work together?
Seamless integration. That’s the telling difference between iLife and all the great pretenders out there. Independently superb, the iLife applications work together to let you create practically anything you can imagine.
Movies on HDTV
For example, thousands of people just like you have created movies using iMovie HD. They may never have edited a movie before using iMovie, but iMovie put all the necessary tools at their disposal and made the entire editing process drag-and-drop easy. Once bitten with the moviemaking bug, those filmmakers are now screening movies shot in high definition and showing them on widescreen displays. How many PC applications do you think can do that?
iLife box
That’s not all. Thanks to the integration built into the iLife suite, those filmmakers are also incorporating voiceovers recorded in GarageBand; effortlessly plucking high-res photos from their iPhoto libraries; scoring their movies with tracks out of iTunes; adding chapter markers that iDVD uses to create scene selection buttons; and with a single click, using iWeb to publish those movies online for the world to enjoy.2
===============================================
Sometimes you have to make hard choices in life. This isn’t one of them. Because when you choose a Mac, you’re ready for just about anything: software, peripherals, even alternate operating systems.
Mac gives you the option to run other operating systems, including Windows XP and the new Vista.
Today’s Mac is powered by the latest Intel processors. So, in addition to running the award-winning, super-powerful, super-easy Mac OS X, a new Mac gives you the option to run other operating systems, including Windows XP and the new Vista. All it takes is a licensed copy of the alternate OS and software like VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop for Mac.1
With its ability to run additional operating systems, the Mac can run more applications than any PC on the planet.
The Mac also comes with the latest industry-standard technologies for connecting to peripherals and networks, including USB 2.0, FireWire, Ethernet, and Bluetooth. So it’s a no-brainer to connect digital cameras, external drives, wireless devices, you name it.
Though the Mac stands alone in power and simplicity, it’s also the world’s most compatible computer.
=======================================
Connecting a PC to the Internet using factory settings is like leaving your front door wide open with your valuables out on the coffee table. A Mac, on the other hand, shuts and locks the door, hides the key, and stores your valuables in a safe with a combination known only to you. You have to buy, configure, and maintain such basic protection on a PC.
On a Windows PC, software (both good and evil) can change the system without your even knowing about it. In order for software to significantly modify Mac OS X, you have to type in your password. You’re the decider. You approve changes to your system.
People attempting to break into computers may disguise a malicious program as a picture, movie, or other seemingly harmless file. You might download such files from the web or get them via mail or chat. A PC just blindly downloads them without a peep. A Mac, however, will let you know that you may be getting a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Mac web browser, Safari, can tell the difference between a file and a program, and alerts you whenever you’re downloading the latter.
A Mac gets much of this out-of-the-box protection from its open source UNIX heritage. The most critical components of Mac OS X are open for review by a worldwide community of security experts. Their input helps Apple continually make Mac OS X ever more secure. And it’s simple to update a Mac with the latest advances. By default, a Mac checks for updates weekly. For pure peace of mind, you can set a Mac to download security updates automatically. Apple digitally signs the updates, so you can be sure they come from a trusted source.
To get a sense of just how big the virus problem is, search for “virus” at both Apple and Microsoft. Compare the number of results. What’s more, the 100 most virulent attacks cause 99.9% of damage from malicious software. None of these attacks work on Mac OS X. Don’t you deserve such protection?
==========================================
After years of development, Microsoft’s Vista OS is finally here. How does it stack up against Mac OS X? The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg sums it up nicely:
“Nearly all of the major, visible new features in Vista are already available in Apple's operating system, called Mac OS X, which came out in 2001 and received its last major upgrade in 2005. And Apple is about to leap ahead again with a new version of OS X, called Leopard.”
David Pogue, writing for the New York Times, puts it a bit more bluntly:
“You get the feeling that Microsoft's managers put Mac OS X on an easel and told the programmers, ‘Copy that.’”
While Vista does its best to copy some features that have been in Mac OS X for years, Mac OS X offers an experience that is simply years ahead. It’s designed to make the time you spend at your computer not only productive, but enjoyable — not exactly the kind of experience PCs are known for.
Spotlight searching
Mac OS X knows when to get out of your way, allowing you to work or create without distraction. It also knows how to spring into action when you need it. Spotlight, for example, is always there to help you find that elusive file hiding somewhere in your computer. It shows search results literally as you type — in emails, contacts, PDFs, images, calendars, and applications.
Dashboard
Dashboard widgets are small, focused applications for accomplishing discrete tasks (like tracking deliveries, checking the weather, playing Sudoku, printing envelopes, and reviewing your stock portfolio). Since Dashboard Widgets have been part of Mac OS X for almost two years, you can now choose from a library of thousands.
Unlike Vista, which comes in four distinct flavors at four distinct prices, each with its own distinct set of features (and each in 32- and 64-bit dialects), there’s only one Mac OS X. It runs on every Mac. With a full set of features. That’s just the way things are in the land of Mac — simple and straightforward.
But even as Vista falls short in features that have long been part of Mac OS X, it’s just fallen even farther behind. Because Mac OS X Leopard is here, standard equipment in every Mac. With over 300 improvements, it makes using your Mac easier and more amazing.
Mac OS X Leopard
With the new Time Machine, for example, you can peer into any folder on your Mac and travel back in time to retrieve an earlier version of a document. It’s an all-new (and fantastically cool) take on data backup. The Spaces feature allows you to create multiple desktops so that you can organize your workspace differently for different tasks. And that’s just scratching the surface.
The choice today is between an OS trying its best to catch up — and Mac OS X Leopard, which continues to lead the way.
=================================
iving proudly inside most new Macs is a microprocessor that offers an entire collection of revolutions — shrunk into an unimaginably small space. It’s the Intel Core Duo, the most advanced Intel chip on the market today.
Intel Core Duo
With an Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Xeon processor, plus other engineering leaps, your new Mac will do all those things that only Macs can do — and do so at astonishing performance levels. We’ve measured new Macs to be up to seven times faster than previous generations.1 And it’s not just theoretical performance. You’ll notice the speed for all the things you do: from enhancing the family photos to rendering special effects for a feature film, even launching programs and scrolling long web pages.
What is this new chip? The result of massive R&D effort involving thousands of engineers from the world’s leading chip maker, the Intel Xeon, Intel Core Duo, and Intel Core 2 Duo represents an order-of-magnitude leap in processor design. They include two processor cores engineered onto a single chip — offering virtually twice the computational power of a traditional single processor in the same space.
Intel Xeon Chip
As the Intel Core processor powers your Mac, it does so in a most extraordinary way: by consuming less energy. That’s due to the way the cores work together to share resources, and how they are designed to conserve power when their functions aren’t required. Because Intel Core processors perform so efficiently, new Macs can be both super-powerful and elegantly slim. Like the MacBook Pro, which is just one inch thin and as little as 5.6 pounds light.2 Or the iMac, which packs the entire computer and a huge widescreen display into a space previously reserved just for a monitor.
========================================
USB and FireWire cables
You shouldn’t have to waste your time trying to banish a nasty error message from your screen. You shouldn’t have to restart your computer simply because you connected a new printer. And you shouldn’t have to go off on a scavenger hunt, searching doggedly for device drivers, so that your computer can see and get along with that shiny new peripheral.
Printers and cameras
You should simply be able to connect that camera, printer, gamepad, camcorder, or phone to your computer and use it. That’s certainly the experience you’ll enjoy on a Mac. Millions do now. And you can join them.
On a Mac, a USB, FireWire, or Ethernet cable’s all you need. Plug one end into the device. Connect the other end to your Mac. And you’re good to go. You can have absolute confidence in your Mac because it comes prepared with all the drivers you’re likely to need for the peripheral devices one generally connects to computers. Thanks to Mac OS X, you don’t have to give it a moment’s thought.
Protocol icons
In fact, the packaging for the product may not even mention the Mac, but if it connects to a computer via such industry-standard methods as USB, FireWire, Ethernet, or Bluetooth, it’s likely to just work. And on those rare occasions when the Mac doesn’t have a driver for a particular device, you should be able to find it simply by visiting the manufacturer’s website or by Googling for it. Just type “Mac OS X” and the name of the product in the Google search bar (conveniently located at the top of the Safari web browser in Mac OS X), and a few seconds later, you’ll have your driver downloaded and installed.
======================================
From its breathtaking industrial design to its elegant desktop icons to everything in between, a Mac delivers a computing experience to savor. And the more you get to know it, the more you’ll want to spend time with it. How many things can you say that about?
Mac mini
Apple designers and engineers agonize over every millimeter of every new Macintosh model and every pixel of the user interface. The result: ergonomic products that are the toast of the design world. You can see obsession with detail wherever you look: the space-saving elegance of the all-in-one design of the iMac, the pint-sized perfection of the Mac mini, the anodized aluminum alloy enclosure of the MacBook Pro, even the elegantly simple Mighty Mouse.
Dashboard
About the user interface, the more said the better. It starts with the desktop. A unique, friendly background image welcomes you, and photo-realistic icons on the Dock and in the Finder beg to be clicked. Launch Dashboard and marvel at the colorful widgets — small applications that are as elegant as they are functional. Start a multiperson video conference using iChat1 and a built-in iSight camera and see an astonishing three-dimensional view of all participants. Enjoy pristine video quality in QuickTime movies.
No detail is too small. Window title bars possess the eye-pleasing look of brushed metal and brightly colored buttons that immediately signal their functions.
So throw out your preconceived notions of how a computer should look, then take a closer look at a Mac.
=====================================
Think of it as the next best thing to teleportation. On a Mac, video chatting with friends, family, and colleagues the world over is even simpler (and sometimes faster) than dialing a long-distance phone number.
Only a Mac is so ready to video chat that it brings along its own camera. The built-in iSight camera on every new iMac, MacBook, and MacBook Pro lets you start a video chat (or join one) at a moment’s notice. There’s nothing extra to buy, nothing to attach, no cords to fumble with, no software to install or configure. Simply start up iChat AV, click your buddy’s video icon, and you’re ready to chat with sight and sound.
MacBook Pro with built-in iSight
With support for video chats between up to four people1 and a stunning, three-dimensional view, iChat AV practically puts your friends and family in the room with you. See their faces reflected into space, just as though you were sitting around a (very polished) table together.
You can even record your video chats for a podcast. The included GarageBand program simultaneously records the audio from your chat and assigns different tracks to each participant — identified by buddy name and icon — for easy editing. GarageBand even captures a real-time still image every time each guest speaks, perfect for the podcast artwork. Great for pros and aspiring talk show hosts alike.
=================================
That’s what you get with a Mac and iPhoto. One place to find everything you need to create photo books that set the standard for elegant simplicity.
Sure, you can create a photo book using a PC. If, that is, you can juggle. One application to manage your images. Another to edit them. And let’s not forget the time you’ll spend uploading your photos to the Internet. The hodgepodge of tools you’ll find there. Or the cookie-cutter approach to design that many offer.
Compare all that to the integrated and robust experience available on the Mac, where iPhoto does it all. Easy to use, iPhoto offers an intuitive environment for everything you want to do with the photos you take. Even if you have thousands of them, iPhoto makes it easy to find just the ones you want to share. It also offers you a rich assortment of Apple-designed themes and a complete set of built-in tools that make it easy to customize your book from the first page to the last. Add pages, change themes, crop or rotate images, resize your photos, add effects, insert captions or other copy, drag photos from one page and drop them in another.
Printed photo book
Suddenly remember a photo you’d like to include in your book? On a Mac, you simply drag it in from the library. Two seconds, tops, and you pick up right where you left off. On a PC, you’d have to stop what you’re doing, start up another application, find the photo you want, transfer it to an editing app for finishing touches, export it, then upload it to the website of the book vendor you’re using. What a hassle.
Calendars, greeting cards and books
iPhoto, in contrast, offers a one-stop solution, even providing a simple formula for ordering books. Click one button, and your book is whisked off to the advanced digital presses where it’s professionally printed and bound. “Sensational” best describes the results. Tack-sharp photos. Vibrant color.
With iPhoto, it’s so much fun to create a book — not to mention calendars, greeting cards, slideshows, and websites — that you won’t hesitate to make another.1