I’m sitting in the office still in awe of my newest technology acquisition. It’s silver, it’s sleek, it’s faster than the IBM T41 that was so impressive a mere 3 years ago. This is, without question, the best technology purchase I’ve ever made. Tada! It’s the MacBookPro!
By now, you probably thinking that I’m either a Mac apologist or a simpleton easily impressed with shiny objects. You’d be right; shiny things fascinate me. After having a PC laptop for the past 10 years, I feel that I have enough relevant experience to make a few comments. One, windows sucks. I’ve tried folks, really, I have. For 10 years I used it. I lived through the pain that was Windows 95, Windows 98. Heck, I even upgraded to NT workstation when it came out. Better, but not great (certainly better than MacOS at the time). I’ve been an XP user since it came out. The problems change, but it still kinda sucks. Anyway.. enough of that and on to the *real* reason I’m writing this.
My friends all had Mac Powerbooks and incessantly droned on and on about how nifty the “Mac Experience” was. I was intrigued, so I talked myself into trying the Mac Mini (since I wasn’t excited about throwing $3000 into what would be an experiment, at best). I went to the Apple store just up the street and once I entered the door, I realized this was not going to be an ordinary PC purchase.
The place was packed. I mean PACKED. Why so many people were at the Apple store in the middle of the day on a Tuesday still has me confused. At any rate, I approached the clerk and said, “I’d like to buy a Mac Mini”. She disappears into the back room and comes back with box so small that I thought she was kidding. I give her my credit card and then head home, wondering how they could have packed $600 worth of computer into a box my shoes would not fit into.
It was very weird being able to shuffle in the door with a new computer in hand, but not having to ask my wife for help with the door. But not as weird as the next part.. I went into my office, turned off my PC and plugged in my Mac. I pushed the power button and the cutesy Apple logo appeared on the screen. Two minutes later I had my video camera plugged into the thing and was ripping video from in. Within 10 minutes, I was cutting scenes and rearranging my timeline. “Brent, what about getting the video software and patching win media 9 and updating the video drivers?” It just worked. Up until today, that had been the single best experience I had ever had with a computer (PC or Mac).
Today, however, marks a new era for me. Today, I am completely PC free. Enter MacBookPro Core2 Duo. The more I use this, the more impressed I am. First off, it’s fast. WAY fast. I can’t even stand the though of turning on the IBM any longer.
Secondly, it’s way cool. The IBM was nice. Black, very professional looking, but a bit stingy on ‘neat’ stuff. It’s like the difference between having a Tivo and not. Until you have one, you have no idea how cool it is. TV by itself is pretty sweet, but throw a Tivo on top and Pu-lease; there’s no comparision. The backlit keyboard, light sensitive display, magnetic power connector, quick boot times, sleep mode that actually WORKS consistently all quickly made me realize how in the dark ages I had been.
I hooked up the IBM to the network for the last time and migrated my files. So long, IBM. It’s been a good 10 years.
1 response so far ↓
1 Natron // Mar 16, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I must admit, I’ve been having fantasy’s about cheating on my PC with a MAC also. I’ve been loyal to the PC since about ‘92, we have a great life or so I
thought, but when I truly examine our relationship it occurs to me it’s not living up to it’s potential. The more I get to know the PC the more I discover
how many holes are in this relationship. Sure, we spend a lot of time in “update therapy”, and that’s going well, but I see no end to it. We never truly
resolve our incompatibilities with our environment, we just patch a few of the holes, and try to move forward. The entire process is wearing me down.
Now I’m not saying we haven’t always had good times. I’d never trade my MS-DOS days, back when I had to learn how to setup an IPX network in order to
play DOOM with my buddy’s. ODI, IPX, it all sounded so strange, but when we began blowing holes in each other with shotguns and energy weapons, well, we
were in love with the PC. As the relationship grew, through Win9X, 2000, XP; I find that the PC isn’t as stable as it could be, or should be. I find the
longer we are together the slower things become. I don’t enjoy giving my “friend” a “format labotomy” every year or so in order to relieve it of it’s
depression from all the stress of running programs. I would like a computer that can grow with me, while not forgetting our past along the way.
Now I know HIPAA privacy laws prevent me from going into detail, but my PC’s immune system just isn’t what it should be. Despite my best efforts, I still
watch in horror as parasites, malware, and other micro infestations plague our relationship with chaos and infidelity. I would like my PC to be able to
resist these temptations of letting another man’s keyboard access her control panel. Sometimes I really think this relationship was doomed from the start.
There must be a better way. I am not one to abandon a relationship, but I feel the PC has long since abandoned me. I imagine that store you mentioned was
crowded because so many feel this way, and have given up hope that the relationship is going to change. Eventually one must move forward with or without the PC.
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