(long post but would like replies) I love my macbook...but OSX?..sad to say

Question

I went the whole hog when I got my dream machine. For 3 years I struggled with a Samsung X05 that was riddled with problems after paying nigh on £1400 with warranty.
Finally I sold it at a loss, and with my student discount got a macbook with 3 year applecare for half that price.
I even bought Pages+Keynote, A one year .Mac subscription (which I only use for email and a site to hold downloads) and made all my msn buddies add the new address etc etc etc
I installed windows XP via bootcamp.
Why?
Because websites I regularly visit refuse to cooperate with my mac and firefox (dont even ask about safari THE most miserable compatibility).
Even with flip4mac etc using autoexpress videos, whatcar videos is jumpy and unpredictable at best, and channel4.com/cars videos DONT even work!!
Now I use my mac for email, uni work etc. So when I find that I cant MSN video with my isight and my friends I was peeved. BUT I LOVE MY MAC.
Using microsoft office under rossetta is slower than my parents 1.4ghz athlon XP machine. I was annoyed, BUT I LOVE MY MAC.
Using iPhoto my pictures are stored in 'originals' files so if you need to access them outside of iPhoto for example to load a single picture onto a facebook loading mechanism you have to search through pictures....iphoto....originals....then I get faced with SANYO.0001 to 00100 all with different pictures in, to select one, there are no thumbnails as in a grid, you have to select each one, THEN if you want it click ok, otherwise go back... its MAD!? Ditto to edit a photo in iphoto its save the changes to the original file?
BUT I STILL LOVE MY MAC
Then the final thing, the DOCK.
What on earth is up with this?
To see what windows I have open I have to use expose, now this is cool at first but if you have ten windows open, 3 msn boxes and working in word (a usual evening at uni) and one needs attention, the icon sometimes does/sometimes doesnt bob up and down. But WHICH WINDOW IS IT?! I have for e.g 3 msn boxes... but which requires attention??!
In my bootcamp windows (and as you can tell what I was used to 4 months ago) the dreaded taskbar would light up that window box orange and flash. Perfect click it and I have what I was after.
And what is with that b**** beachball?
This computer is supposed to be fast, and running XP its the fastest PC I have ever seen. Why do I get a beachball in OSX?
I am ranting here, but ANY HELP!! with some of these issues would be appreciated...
Otherwise my Macbook could end up running Windows XP or Vista when its out, as the primary OS....
HELP!!!
MacbookUK
Macbook White 1.83ghz 80 gig HDD (week35) And I LOVE IT! Mac OS X (10.4.8) Ipod Nano White, Sanyo Xacti hybrid camcorder

Answer 1

I went the whole hog when I got my dream machine. For
3 years I struggled with a Samsung X05 that was
riddled with problems after paying nigh on £1400 with
warranty.
Finally I sold it at a loss, and with my student
discount got a macbook with 3 year applecare for half
that price.
I even bought Pages+Keynote, A one year .Mac
subscription (which I only use for email and a site
to hold downloads) and made all my msn buddies add
the new address etc etc etc
I installed windows XP via bootcamp.
Why?
Because websites I regularly visit refuse to
cooperate with my mac and firefox (dont even ask
about safari THE most miserable compatibility).
Even with flip4mac etc using autoexpress videos,
whatcar videos is jumpy and unpredictable at best,
and channel4.com/cars videos DONT even work!!
Now I use my mac for email, uni work etc. So when I
find that I cant MSN video with my isight and my
friends I was peeved. BUT I LOVE MY MAC.
Using microsoft office under rossetta is slower than
my parents 1.4ghz athlon XP machine. I was annoyed,
BUT I LOVE MY MAC.
Using iPhoto my pictures are stored in 'originals'
files so if you need to access them outside of iPhoto
for example to load a single picture onto a facebook
loading mechanism you have to search through
pictures....iphoto....originals....then I get faced
with SANYO.0001 to 00100 all with different pictures
in, to select one, there are no thumbnails as in a
grid, you have to select each one, THEN if you want
it click ok, otherwise go back... its MAD!? Ditto to
edit a photo in iphoto its save the changes to the
original file?
BUT I STILL LOVE MY MAC
Then the final thing, the DOCK.
What on earth is up with this?
To see what windows I have open I have to use expose,
now this is cool at first but if you have ten windows
open, 3 msn boxes and working in word (a usual
evening at uni) and one needs attention, the icon
sometimes does/sometimes doesnt bob up and down. But
WHICH WINDOW IS IT?! I have for e.g 3 msn boxes...
but which requires attention??!
In my bootcamp windows (and as you can tell what I
was used to 4 months ago) the dreaded taskbar would
light up that window box orange and flash. Perfect
click it and I have what I was after.
And what is with that b**** beachball?
This computer is supposed to be fast, and running XP
its the fastest PC I have ever seen. Why do I get a
beachball in OSX?
I am ranting here, but ANY HELP!! with some of these
issues would be appreciated...
Otherwise my Macbook could end up running Windows XP
or Vista when its out, as the primary OS....
HELP!!!
MacbookUK
Macbook White
1.83ghz 80 gig HDD (week35) And I LOVE IT! Mac OS X
(10.4.8) Ipod Nano White, Sanyo Xacti hybrid
camcorder
I wish I could answer all you your problems, but I could not reproduce them. I went to the auto/video websites you mentioned and had zero trouble. They loaded and ran great - with Safari.
I don't use the isight camera the way you do, so I can't address that at all. Ditto with MSN.
MS Office does load slow, but from what I understand it is a problem with office and not OS X and it should be fixed in the next version of MS Office. However, once office loads it works fine for me. You bought pages, why not use it?
I have several thousand photos stored in iphoto. Because they are organized into albums, it takes almost no time to find out where they are. Even if I am looking for something that I have not yet organized, the library stores them in chronological order.
You don't list the amount of ram that you have, but if you have the stock 512k, you might consider adding more. I have 2 GB and it makes a huge difference.
Good luck,
Claud
Message was edited by: xct&fcoach