Turning to the Fruit Side
As opposed to the Dark Side...lol
Yes, it's finally happened. I've purchased a Mac, and it's a scary and wondrous thing. My currently laptop has been starting to go over the past six months -- the pixels are starting to burn out on key portions of my screen, the power button doesn't always work, and it's always had the annoying quality that I have yet to find Linux drivers for ALL of the hardware, and some distros like Ubuntu I could never get working at all.
So when I started looking for laptops, I had the distinct problem that with the exception of Dell laptops, just about any pre-made laptop came with Vista installed. Since I've had several friends who have test-driven Vista in the past few months (either by choice or forced to by work), I've listened to all the horror stories and come to the conclusion that I emphatically WILL NOT buy Vista any time in the next 5 years, and possibly not ever. One friend even purchased a laptop knowing it had Vista, but intending to install a copy of XP, and found that he still couldn't use the laptop because the company had never produced any XP drivers.
All these things started to make Macs more and more enticing. Then along came a friend who had been given a Mac for work. This particular friend is an especially tech-oriented guy who loves gaming, loves Linux, and has gotten offers for $60,000 computer jobs right out of college even if he doesn't graduate. So when he gives his opinion on computers I generally listen. And when he found out I was looking for a laptop he did almost nothing but tell me how great the Mac is.
He starts showing me cool little things Mac can do, like turn itself into an external hard drive for another computer. Look, you can even port some of your favorite Linux programs to Mac, he says, and see how easy it is to remove the programs that you don't want (unlike Windows). The software program "Parallels" can let you mount virtual CDs, run multiple operating systems simultaneously, and let you test drive various open source OS's without repartitioning your hard drive. Oh, and it runs XP just fine, he tells me.
And the final clincher to choosing a Mac: PCs are more expensive. Yes, you heard me right. It's true that you can find brand new PC laptops out there for under $500, wherease the cheapest Mac laptops out there start at $1000 with an educational discount. But when I started comparing the hardware offered in a "low-end" Mac to PCs with the same quality of hardware, Macs were in many cases slightly cheaper than their PC counterparts.
As of yet, I can't give any preliminary comparisons of the Mac vs. PC. The truth of the matter is, I have always hated Macs since I was first introduced to one in 1999 as part of my job, and my hatred was only re-confirmed when I purchased one in 2001 based on the patently false claims made by a salesperson, and promptly resold it on eBay because the store wouldn't take it back (I'll clarify that I purchased it at an university bookstore, not an Apple store). My dislike has always been a matter of function, not some fundamental dislike of Apple or an ideological preconception of Mac users. And my decision (at least initially) to reconsider a Mac was based almost solely on a desire to avoid Vista.
Initial tinkerings with my new laptop have only brought frustration, but I chalk that up to OS X being very different from Windows. My initial complaints about Mac have been resolved simply by other Mac users explaining to me how to operate the dang thing, so at this point in time my assessment of Mac is neutral, but definitely considering it a lesser evil than the newer PCs.
What I wasn't expecting when I purchased my laptop is just how openly opinionated everyone has become around me. Now I have other Mac owners coming up to me and without invitation extoling the virtues of their Mac while trying to get me to agree with them. At the same time I have PC users coming up to me and trying to turn me from my "evil ways". I even had a recent acquaintance say to me when he found out I had just purchased a Mac laptop, "Oh, so you're one of THOSE people".
Excuse me? One of what people? I didn't know purchasing an inanimate object of no specific theological, moral, or political purpose could suddenly tell someone everything they need to know about me. I mean, I've owned a PC of one kind or another since 1998, and I never had anyone say to me "You're one of THOSE people", so what's changed?
Apparently everything. Apparently simply by owning a Mac I've jumped at least two income brackets, became 10 times more pretentious than I already am, turned into a bleeding heart liberal urban uber-hippie who doesn't play video games and who obviously needs to be "saved" from buying into a mainstream evil corporation (*huh?*). Or somehow it only confirms every bad thing that anyone has ever thought about me. All this after only being out of the box for five days.
And why do Mac users feel like they have to come up to total strangers also using a Mac and start up conversations about how great the Mac is? Are Mac users so alone in the world that they feel the need to band together for support against "evil Microsoft"? I completely understand why you might do that with a friend (especially a computer geek friend -- I was geeking with another friend the other day over the architecture of a SPARC chip), but a total stranger?? Can anyone explain this behavior to me?
Needless to say, I might end up liking a Mac or end up loathing it as much as Windows. And yes, if I think it's worth recommending to people I will. But please don't judge me based on my OS. I was never a rabid Windows proponent, but that doesn't mean I've succumbed to the Fruit Side...at least not yet.
Yes, it's finally happened. I've purchased a Mac, and it's a scary and wondrous thing. My currently laptop has been starting to go over the past six months -- the pixels are starting to burn out on key portions of my screen, the power button doesn't always work, and it's always had the annoying quality that I have yet to find Linux drivers for ALL of the hardware, and some distros like Ubuntu I could never get working at all.
So when I started looking for laptops, I had the distinct problem that with the exception of Dell laptops, just about any pre-made laptop came with Vista installed. Since I've had several friends who have test-driven Vista in the past few months (either by choice or forced to by work), I've listened to all the horror stories and come to the conclusion that I emphatically WILL NOT buy Vista any time in the next 5 years, and possibly not ever. One friend even purchased a laptop knowing it had Vista, but intending to install a copy of XP, and found that he still couldn't use the laptop because the company had never produced any XP drivers.
All these things started to make Macs more and more enticing. Then along came a friend who had been given a Mac for work. This particular friend is an especially tech-oriented guy who loves gaming, loves Linux, and has gotten offers for $60,000 computer jobs right out of college even if he doesn't graduate. So when he gives his opinion on computers I generally listen. And when he found out I was looking for a laptop he did almost nothing but tell me how great the Mac is.
He starts showing me cool little things Mac can do, like turn itself into an external hard drive for another computer. Look, you can even port some of your favorite Linux programs to Mac, he says, and see how easy it is to remove the programs that you don't want (unlike Windows). The software program "Parallels" can let you mount virtual CDs, run multiple operating systems simultaneously, and let you test drive various open source OS's without repartitioning your hard drive. Oh, and it runs XP just fine, he tells me.
And the final clincher to choosing a Mac: PCs are more expensive. Yes, you heard me right. It's true that you can find brand new PC laptops out there for under $500, wherease the cheapest Mac laptops out there start at $1000 with an educational discount. But when I started comparing the hardware offered in a "low-end" Mac to PCs with the same quality of hardware, Macs were in many cases slightly cheaper than their PC counterparts.
As of yet, I can't give any preliminary comparisons of the Mac vs. PC. The truth of the matter is, I have always hated Macs since I was first introduced to one in 1999 as part of my job, and my hatred was only re-confirmed when I purchased one in 2001 based on the patently false claims made by a salesperson, and promptly resold it on eBay because the store wouldn't take it back (I'll clarify that I purchased it at an university bookstore, not an Apple store). My dislike has always been a matter of function, not some fundamental dislike of Apple or an ideological preconception of Mac users. And my decision (at least initially) to reconsider a Mac was based almost solely on a desire to avoid Vista.
Initial tinkerings with my new laptop have only brought frustration, but I chalk that up to OS X being very different from Windows. My initial complaints about Mac have been resolved simply by other Mac users explaining to me how to operate the dang thing, so at this point in time my assessment of Mac is neutral, but definitely considering it a lesser evil than the newer PCs.
What I wasn't expecting when I purchased my laptop is just how openly opinionated everyone has become around me. Now I have other Mac owners coming up to me and without invitation extoling the virtues of their Mac while trying to get me to agree with them. At the same time I have PC users coming up to me and trying to turn me from my "evil ways". I even had a recent acquaintance say to me when he found out I had just purchased a Mac laptop, "Oh, so you're one of THOSE people".
Excuse me? One of what people? I didn't know purchasing an inanimate object of no specific theological, moral, or political purpose could suddenly tell someone everything they need to know about me. I mean, I've owned a PC of one kind or another since 1998, and I never had anyone say to me "You're one of THOSE people", so what's changed?
Apparently everything. Apparently simply by owning a Mac I've jumped at least two income brackets, became 10 times more pretentious than I already am, turned into a bleeding heart liberal urban uber-hippie who doesn't play video games and who obviously needs to be "saved" from buying into a mainstream evil corporation (*huh?*). Or somehow it only confirms every bad thing that anyone has ever thought about me. All this after only being out of the box for five days.
And why do Mac users feel like they have to come up to total strangers also using a Mac and start up conversations about how great the Mac is? Are Mac users so alone in the world that they feel the need to band together for support against "evil Microsoft"? I completely understand why you might do that with a friend (especially a computer geek friend -- I was geeking with another friend the other day over the architecture of a SPARC chip), but a total stranger?? Can anyone explain this behavior to me?
Needless to say, I might end up liking a Mac or end up loathing it as much as Windows. And yes, if I think it's worth recommending to people I will. But please don't judge me based on my OS. I was never a rabid Windows proponent, but that doesn't mean I've succumbed to the Fruit Side...at least not yet.