Poll: What did it take for you to start seriously using a Mac?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
ok, just out of curiosity, as a poll of current Mac users, what was it that brought you to the Mac platform?



Did you use them at



A. School

B. Work

C. Home

D. Friend's

E. Other (please explain)



I for one used them in elementary and grade school, but always thought they were crappy 'cause they were ten years old.



i really got interested in them when i worked at a research lab that had a huge percentage of Macs. that was the first place i really HAD to use them, and where i first realized they kicked ass.



so my vote is B, Work.



anyone else?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 43
    imacfpimacfp Posts: 750member
    A. College



    My college used them as their main machine and the one they taught basic CS classes on. This was back in 1995 and I got my first Mac, a Performa, in 1997 so I could do reports when I came home. My second Mac was the orginal iMac DVSE and I bought it only moments after it was introduced. If Steve intros something nice at MacWorld I might get a third Mac too.



    Chris
  • Reply 2 of 43
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Lineage. My first computer was a Ti-99/4A...one of the first 16-bit home computers. However, Ti stopped making PCs and my family got an Apple IIc...then a IIgs, then we got a PC. The PC experience was so contemptible, I went back to Apple.
  • Reply 3 of 43
    ybotybot Posts: 329member
    In my Media Studies and Graphics courses in high school we used Macs, and when we got the first iMac I knew I was hooked. I had just wasted $6,700 on an IBM Craptiva (AKA: The IBM Aptiva ) and after a few months of blue screens, viruses and bloatware I snapped. I marched down to the local Mac reseller and bought a tangerine iMac. I wasn't even sure I was going to like using Macs for everything, but since it was so reasonably priced it wasn't such a huge risk. I've never gone back nor will I ever go back. Switching from PC to Mac was like going from night to day, I had no idea I was missing so much! After my iMac I got a PowerBook G3, then a desktop G4 and soon I'll have myself a new PowerBook G4 (I can't wait). The Aptiva sits in the basement neglected and unloved, collecting dust. hehe
  • Reply 4 of 43
    I needed a computer.



    I didn't want Windows.



    Dat Simple.
  • Reply 5 of 43
    lol, seems apple owes half of their business to MS and their crappy OS. ha ha ha. that's something i'd never considered. people don't pick apple 'cause it's the best, they pick it 'cause it's not Windows.



    d'oh. guess that should have been option F.
  • Reply 6 of 43
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I first got on the bandwagon in high school. Our school only had Macs, and since several of my friends were "MacHeads," I got pulled in to doing geeky things like making our theatre production programs in Claris Works, surfing the web at something close to 14400 speed on the schools POS network (this is in '95 or so).



    Then I needed a job. I applied to Best Buy's computer department, knowing a good deal about Macs when no one else there did. Since BBY sold Macs at the time, they thought I'd be a perfect fit.



    When I had to go off to college, I needed a new machine, and would only be able to afford something from Best Buy with my discount. At the time (Aug '97), the iMac hadn't even been released yet, and I really couldn't afford any of the Performas that we sold (even with my discount). I ended up buying a refurbed *this came back an orphan from our service center and we need to get rid of it* IBM Aptiva w/ 200Mhz Pentium with MMX. I still use it, BTW.



    Ever since I bought that, I always wanted to get back into using Macs. Jump to sometime in '99. The Lombard Powerbook was out and I decided it was time to look at buying one. After months and months of saving, the Pismos being released, and scheming with my brother for a small ($400) loan, I finally got my Pismo in October 2000!



    And it's been my primary machine ever since. Now I'm looking at getting a TiBook sometime early next year.
  • Reply 7 of 43
    It's funny, I've always seen PC's as these incredibly backwards boxes poorly suited to their task. Must stem from the days I first used a macintosh in 1984. I thought, look here's everything you need right in this tiny box! To get a PC to do the same you had to buy a sound card, a graphics card, and then wait 11 years for windows '95.



    I have always loved the Macintosh. I always will.
  • Reply 8 of 43
    (A) Middle School



    It was the first time I'd ever used a Mac. I remember, I couldn't figure out how to turn it on! Took me a while to discover the big fat power key on the keyboard.



    A year later, I got my first Mac (PM 6100/60AV).



    [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: King Chung Huang ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 43
    sinewavesinewave Posts: 1,074member
    My brother brought home his Mac from college one Xmas vacation.. (around 91) He had Photoshop 1 on it.. it blew me away.. I was addicted to it since.
  • Reply 10 of 43
    First computer I used was an Apple, and I rarely set my hands on a PC. Last time I used Windows was 8 months ago.
  • Reply 11 of 43
    sapisapi Posts: 207member
    At Work



    we did logistics for Apple in Europe, I started about a year before the iMac came, great times when the iMac "hit" us...16 hour working days for months....



    I think it was a 6100 I first worked with
  • Reply 12 of 43
    At work



    Used to work for an Apple reseller in London back in '95 when Apple was really doing badly, just before all the TAM thing hit.
  • Reply 13 of 43
    gordygordy Posts: 1,004member
    At school, I used the Apple IIe and IIgs. My first real computer was a Mac LC back in 1993.
  • Reply 14 of 43
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    I first started using them in school I think in 2nd grade. I didn't use them often then. Once I got a Mac at home later that year was when I started using Macs a lot.
  • Reply 15 of 43
    I used to be a huge fan of DOS. got an xt for800 bucks and then in college i had to do a score for a composer. Ended up using the school computer, SE, with a 5mb HD and did the entire score on it with Mosaic. never looked back.

    since then.......

    Mac SE

    performa 638CD

    powerbook 170

    powerbook 1400 (later upgraded it to g3 333mhz)

    G4 400mhz

    and now, an combo ibook.
  • Reply 16 of 43
    High school. At the time, I owned an Amiga 500 at home (after moving up from a Commodore 64) - at school we had Macs and IBM DOS machines. I tried both, I preferred the Mac by a HUGE margin, so when it came time for my next machine, I went Mac. I have never owned a Microsoft OS-infested machine in my life.



    [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Kestral ]</p>
  • Reply 17 of 43
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    [quote]Originally posted by Kestral:

    <strong>I have never owned a Microsoft OS-infested machine in my life.



    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    That's got to be, like, a record or something.
  • Reply 18 of 43
    A conbination of Collage and linage.

    I had an Atari ST (520 plugged in the extra individual RAM chips and upgraded it to a 1040).

    I went to college to do graphic design (1990 - The college had just got a new MacIIvx and the tec guy was learning about the flashy new OS7 installed upon it), where I was first introduced to Mac's. The progression from ST to Mac seamed the natural one, as any PC I had seen had crapy EGA graphics and was still using DOS.
  • Reply 19 of 43
    pookjppookjp Posts: 280member
    Elementary school. Macs are what I grew up on.



    Just shows the importance of Apple's educational programs.



    - Pook
  • Reply 20 of 43
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    I used both platforms growing up... but HyperCard, and the ability to make my own "programs" was the best thing in the world. Now if I wanted to play games I needed my PC -- and that's the way it was for a while.



    Now, of course, since I no longer have time to play games all the time, my Mac-centric universe is that much better.
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