Consumer Whorgasm
I love how sometimes the universe kicks you in the face at the most face-kickingest moment possible. Like last Friday, when my 4.5-year-old Dell laptop died not one minute after I'd just spent eight hours reformatting its hard drive and reinstalling software.
Fortunately, there's a consolation...
I CAN HAS NEW iMAC!
24 inches of sleek aluminum and glass. Try carrying that home on a train. (I did, and it sucked.)
The display is so huge and overwhelmingly gorgeous that I have to keep the brightness at half or less, and I'm noticing flaws in photos that I thought were perfect on my Dell. Best of all, the fan is really quiet. I haven't owned a quiet computer since 1995. I've maxed out the RAM to 4GB, installed Office 2008 and Photoshop CS3, and transferred all my documents, so once I buy a compatible printer, I'll be set.
Overall the experience has been positive:• The Dock is so much more elegant than Windows' Start Menu + Task Bar + Quick Launch Tool Bar combination. A hundred times prettier, too.
• Quick startup. A little faster than my Vista workstation at work, but unlike Windows, once your desktop appears, you're good to go.
• Easier setup. I was up and running, complete with wireless internet connection, in less than ten minutes after starting the machine for the first time. I know it's not fair to knock Windows for this, since, unlike Apple, Microsoft doesn't (tightly) control what hardware Windows runs on, but still: just sayin' it was nice.
• No anti-virus software hogging all mah resources. Again, I know, unfair comparison, but again: just sayin' it's nice.
• The Mighty Mouse sucks. Sorry, but it does, at least if you're a right-clicker. Trying to use a sensor to guess whether the left or right finger clicked the single button instead of simply designing it with two buttons is a big bag of fail. I've learned the "lift your left finger to make a right click" trick, but it's still annoying. If I didn't like the other features of the mouse (quick access to Dashboard and switching between applications), I would've replaced it already.
• UNIX command line. I'm brushing up on my skills from college and getting shit done way quicker than I could've done under Windows.
• Stellar compatibility. I was expecting certain documents authored under Windows would have no application to open them, but I think I've found an equivalent application for everything in OS X. Every Word and Excel file I've ever made opens perfectly under Office 2008, and I even managed to import thirteen years of emails created with Eudora, Outlook Express, and Outlook into Microsoft Entourage.
It's nice to have something new and fast again. I'm going to give my old laptop to my brother after I fix it. (The video card burned out. I found a working one on eBay for $35.)
Fortunately, there's a consolation...
I CAN HAS NEW iMAC!
24 inches of sleek aluminum and glass. Try carrying that home on a train. (I did, and it sucked.)
The display is so huge and overwhelmingly gorgeous that I have to keep the brightness at half or less, and I'm noticing flaws in photos that I thought were perfect on my Dell. Best of all, the fan is really quiet. I haven't owned a quiet computer since 1995. I've maxed out the RAM to 4GB, installed Office 2008 and Photoshop CS3, and transferred all my documents, so once I buy a compatible printer, I'll be set.
Overall the experience has been positive:• The Dock is so much more elegant than Windows' Start Menu + Task Bar + Quick Launch Tool Bar combination. A hundred times prettier, too.
• Quick startup. A little faster than my Vista workstation at work, but unlike Windows, once your desktop appears, you're good to go.
• Easier setup. I was up and running, complete with wireless internet connection, in less than ten minutes after starting the machine for the first time. I know it's not fair to knock Windows for this, since, unlike Apple, Microsoft doesn't (tightly) control what hardware Windows runs on, but still: just sayin' it was nice.
• No anti-virus software hogging all mah resources. Again, I know, unfair comparison, but again: just sayin' it's nice.
• The Mighty Mouse sucks. Sorry, but it does, at least if you're a right-clicker. Trying to use a sensor to guess whether the left or right finger clicked the single button instead of simply designing it with two buttons is a big bag of fail. I've learned the "lift your left finger to make a right click" trick, but it's still annoying. If I didn't like the other features of the mouse (quick access to Dashboard and switching between applications), I would've replaced it already.
• UNIX command line. I'm brushing up on my skills from college and getting shit done way quicker than I could've done under Windows.
• Stellar compatibility. I was expecting certain documents authored under Windows would have no application to open them, but I think I've found an equivalent application for everything in OS X. Every Word and Excel file I've ever made opens perfectly under Office 2008, and I even managed to import thirteen years of emails created with Eudora, Outlook Express, and Outlook into Microsoft Entourage.
It's nice to have something new and fast again. I'm going to give my old laptop to my brother after I fix it. (The video card burned out. I found a working one on eBay for $35.)