Should I switch from gmail to Apple Mail?

Because it’s IMAP, you can try it in Apple Mail and see if you like it. If you do, you can then continue using Apple Mail; if you don’t, you can go back to GMail without having to worry about migrating your data back.

It’s really a matter of personal preference; try it and see.

I switched over from three gmail accounts to Mail.app in the interest of speed, but I’ve been finding that the imap servers are nearly as slow as that little red ‘Loading…’ box. I’d wait and see how gmail 2.0 fares. Speed’s supposed to be one of the upgrades.

is there a release timeframe on Gmail 2.0?

I use Mail.app sometimes as an addition to my Gmail account, but as POP. Sometimes the web interface is slow and it’s easier to attach documents in Mail.app. It’s worth setting up for the occasional email.

I made the switch a few days ago to Mail.app. I switched back yesterday to the gmail website. Mail.app was really slow (downloading and uploading) and nothing was syncing properly. I have used gmail for years and didn’t find any benefit in using Mail.app to manage my email.

Like cwilber said, try it out, it won’t hurt anything and it takes about two minutes to set-up.

I think that you are better of using gmail. Mail.app is ok but it does tend to slow down alot plus syncing contacts is much more complicated whereas its easier in GMail. Also (its a big NO if you have an iPHone) since I’ve have heard alof of complaints about syncing problems like this one guy complained about how after reading a message on the Iphone, it doesnt show up as read in Mail.App. Plus the screenshots for G-Mail 2.0 looks pretty awesome. If google can deliver email so easily on your web browser why use another application to read ur email?

@bob: techcrunch and a few other blogs are saying that they are supposed to roll out GMail 2.0 pretty soon just like they announced their open social a few hours ago

Gmail 2.0 is on the way—they’ve begun the rollout. Limited to Firefox and IE for now. Only 1% of users have it already. link.

Huzzah.

Wait until you get Gmail 2.0 and Leopard Mail.app, then try it out. I really like having Mail.app set up as POP. I send mail from Mail.app (or Quicksilver) when it’s convenient, but I don’t read mail there. For me, that’s the best setup.

I recently set up gMail IMAP access via Apple Mail, and it’s excellent. The whole speed issue is really only applicable to the initial setup, as everything needs to be newly synced. Now that I have it all set up on both the laptop & desktop, it runs like a charm. It did take a bit of time downloading everything for the first time.

Just make sure you understand how to set up the gMail IMAP mailboxes to work with Apple Mail (or any mail software).

There are some minor things with deleted items and the gMail “all mail” label handling. Overall, it’s worked great for me as far as speed, reliability and usage. I should point out that I have never understood the negative things people think about Apple Mail, it’s always worked great for me.

Simply put, Apple’s mail app is awesome. And in my opinion drastically more powerful and intergrated than a web app.

Use the web app stuff when you’re away from your machine as another option. And yeah, upgrade to 10.5, its worth it. I would hate to have to use 10.4 again.

I am very happy with Gmail 2.0. It does one stupid thing in Safari, but mostly it’s very, very nice.

@bob: does it take you more than usual to load the newer version of gmail (like me)?

Hmm. Maybe it does load a little more slowly. Hard to say. But overall it works much better than the previous version.

@bob: i really dont see the difference when using the web-based gmail

The changes might be particularly noticeable in Safari. I now have Google Chat. There’s a new contact management system. The messages look a little nicer (the drop shadow looks a little different). There are some new options in random places (filters, etc).

You might have the graphical changes and Google chat already, but it’s new for Safari. And Gmail 1.0 has been hanging when I send messages for the past few months. It hasn’t done that yet with 2.0. Supposedly most of the changes are to the back end; it’s supposed to be faster all around.

The only problem I’ve had with 2.0 is that the mass emails I receive are really, really wide. The message displays OK, but it’s hard to reply when my reply window is around 2000px wide.

apple mail is a piece of steaming dog crap. in fact too much of os x is so fricking buggy and unpredictable and slower than constipation. apple does a crap job of fixing bugs and resolving problems. they have lazy coders but great hypers. for now, unless you have one little bitty email address with only a few emails, fuhgeddabout the piece of turd known as apple mail.

I must say I have no problems with my google apps for ur domain email which I use a combination of online, iPhone & mail.app. Syncing is great. Speed is great for mail.app. I greatly preffer the interface of mail.app. There were big problems with POP3 but none with IMAP.