Things might change with the new QF/BA lounge having opened. Certainly it was not a bad lounge IMO but I still like the CX Wing better. To be fair, however, the F part of the QF/BA lounge hadn't opened whilst I was there, so I couldn't try that. Being a WP (
oneworld Emerald), I was able to access both the J and F parts of the CX lounges, which is reflected in my responses below.
I'm sure both the Wing and Pier (at least the Wing) J section has a buffet selection of some sort. It's not as nice as the F sections, and not as nice as the QF/BA lounge (with the exception of the noodle bar, but for those not really liking noodles you might tire of it quickly).
I was in the lounge area around mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Had no trouble finding a seat, although yes there were people in the lounge. Not sure about the computer situation, but free power point sockets were able to be located. Again, talking about the F section here. J section definitely more crowded, but I wouldn't go to the extent of our big two QPs on a Friday arvo.
I agree - they were really, really nice.
I didn't try the showers in the CX Wing J section, if there are some (I assume there are). I got a cabana in the F section, which was nice. I also had a shower later in the CX Pier, can't remember which section I was in though. No cabanas at the Pier, but the shower suites nonetheless were quite large; larger than the QF/BA J ones. You can also request a whole range of additional accessories in the CX lounges. I'm reserving judgement about Dermologica - Elemis has a nice smell to it, although CX is the first lounge to actually stock separate face cleanser, which is Dermologica. Full points there.
Good to know. I didn't make it to the Sakura lounge before their closing time. I'm more surprised they had sushi; if I had to hazard a guess, I'd be expecting not much at all - perhaps some biscuits, drinks and that's about it. I can speak a bit of Japanese but I'd be extremely surprised if someone could not manage the lounge without knowing Japanese.
I think there are some simplistic reasons for Mac v PC:
- Macs look better than most PCs; certainly as far as "off-the-shelf, standard mass stock" computers go, Macs beat PCs hands down. (You'd need to put in a lot of effort to make a PC that looks as good or better than a Mac.)
- Macs are usually much more stable than PCs.
- Although it is increasingly becoming a naive observation, Macs are still less likely to be attacked by viruses and particular software exploits. (Virus writers should really think about making their attacks cross-platform
)
- Since more people use a PC compared to a Mac, if they are faced with a Mac then they are less likely to attempt to do stupid things on the system (unless you have the knowledge). This is why every PC in a QF lounge needs policies and the like to stop people from accessing areas that they shouldn't (e.g. Control Panel). With Macs - in conjunction with being a *nix based system - the controls are much easier to achieve and the fact that "it's a Mac and not a PC" will probably dissuade a lot of people straight away.
