I recently defected from the Apple bandwagon and purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad X201 as my primary business machine. I started feeling disappointed with Mac OS X with Snow Leopard because of the poor handling of 32/64-bit Java support, which I never did get running efficiently on my MacBook Pro. Don't worry I still have several Macs that I use for other purposes.

While I enjoy some of the benefits being back on Windows, like being able to run MS Project and being able to test IE browser compatibility, I didn't intend to move back to Windows as my primary OS. I decided to go to ubuntu (don't tell the Fedora guys since I'm actually a Fedora Ambassador.) And I picked the X201 because it is incredibly lightweight (same weight as a Macbook Air -- without the battery of course) and most importantly the hardware is certified ubuntu 10.10. So I ran the ubuntu Windows installer and within seconds (literally) I had a fully-operational dual-boot Win/ubuntu laptop.

Nonetheless, I do miss some features from my MacBook Pro. Here are a couple and I'll add more as I think of them:

• The multi-touch track pad -- it's just a big PIA to cursor over to the scroll bar every time I want to scroll.
• Opening the lid with one hand -- the action on the MacBook lid hinge was/is so smooth I could always open it with one hand. Now I need two hands to open my X201 -- one to slide the lock and pull up, while the other holds the body down.

It's been less than a week with my new X201 so we're still getting acquainted. I still need to figure out a good way to share files back and forth between Windows/ubuntu in those cases where I need them on both sides of the boot. And I'll be sure to post more things I miss about my Mac as they strike me.

The upshot of all this, of course, is that I love using ubuntu for the first time in a desktop environment. It addresses really well, the common problems I think Linux has had historically with the average consumer: hardware compatibility and software package management in a friendly way. I've even enjoyed this second benefit and really like the Ubuntu Software Center feature over the traditional CLI tools.