Why do I want a Mac computer

I just bought a mac computer.  It is a Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-Inch Laptop (2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) as shown below.

my MacBook Pro 13.3 inch

Previously, my sister had bought a iMac 20-inch as shown below. I love it as well. My mom currently uses the iMAC. Because I move around the house so much to find a comfortable and quite place, so I bought the Macbook Pro. If you are serious on using Mac for your work, and you have a good place where you work here all the time. I would recommend you to get the iMac 24-inch, because the screen is so big.

Apple iMAC 20 inch

There are some reasons that I want a Mac computer.
1. Ease of software development

I wanted a Mac computer, because I felt that it is easy to do a software development; for example, some tools come configured in a Mac computer already which I can access through a Terminal (kind of  DOS console in Windows) e.g. svn, ssh, ant, gcc, etc. I remembered that I had to spend time setup or configure to use those tools on Windows. Additionally, the Terminal in Mac is Unix-like, so I can practice my Unix skills e.g. how to use VI or grep command, and I can use those skills on a Linux which is Unix-like as well.

I have never used a Unix. You may wondering what does the term “Unix-like” mean. Both Linux and Mac behave the same as a Unix; for example, they use the same shell command e.g. cd, pwd, grep, ps, etc.
Shell is important, because it is more stable than GUI. Being able to manage a lot of thing via shells is good.

2. Special program on a Mac
MacTex is very easy to use as well. I remembered when I use TexMaker to edit a Latex document. I remembered that I use TextMaker on a Windows. A TexMaker would display a document in a PostScript viewer which is friendly to use. I can see one page at a time. I just could not do quick browsing. Then, I configured my TextMaker to convert the Latex document into  a PDF file and use the Acrobat Reader. The good thing is that I can browse through a PDF document very quickly, but the bad side is that I have open the PDF file manually. With MacTex (available only in Mac, the PDF is opened automatically, and I can skim through a document pretty quickly.

3. Mac software (iLife)
You do not need to buy a Mac. You can buy a Linux as well, and it is cheaper. However, there are good things about Macs over a Linux. There are some entertainment tools, multimedia content editing, and other tools which are not available on a Linux. For example, I really like the iTune, iPhoto, and iCal. I don’t know much about the multimedia content editing (e.g. GarageBand), because I have not played around with it yet. I will talk about it in the future post.

4. Hardware
It is difficult to connect a monitor through a laptop in a regular PC (Windows or Linux). Mac has a special port which can be plugin easily to a second monitor.