To me, using a PC is like using a Mac with one button in a program that requires 3 buttons. It's just more trouble than it should be. Now the Mac can be like that sometimes, but usually one button is OK. A PC is that annoying most of the time, and sometimes is just fine.
Seriously...I was originally a Radio Shack TSR-80 user. I was there when the first IBM PC's were introduced to the market (yeah, I'm that old). I even started the first national software distribution company that exclusively sold Windows and OS/2 software and was at the official launch of Windows 3.0. I also became an expert MS Access developer. The straw that broke the camels back was one day while talking to a customer on the phone and NOT TOUCHING THE COMPUTER for the last half hour --- slam --- blue screen of death on NT4. It blew away a database I was working on and it took me 3 days to reconstruct. After that, I made backups after any significant change (this is during the development process, not after deployment).
I tried Linux for a while, but it was too much like trying to learn DOS all over again from scratch -- and there weren't the programs I needed on Linux.
Then I heard of the public beta of OS X coming out. I bought a G4 and started with OS9 -- it was nice, but not as robust as I wanted. OS X changed all that and provided a robust platform I could use. With VPC, I had a STABLE Windows environment that I could continue the Access development work in and I used native Mac applications for everything else. -- no virus's, no worms, very stable platform, true multitasking -- WOW!
I love my Mac and OS X --> it blows Windows away -- no comparison!
I know Windows. I'm confident that I could fix any software problem that came along. I can figure out how to get hardware working too. I'm not computer illiterate.
I paid more for my powerbook anyway. I CHOSE to use a Mac. Not out of not knowing how to use the other OS (as many of my colleagues say about using Mac - "I just don't know how to use it"). I consider myself an informed user of technology and a self-affirmed geek.
Believe it or not, when I get past the UI of the computer, I use a Mac because it's more powerful than Windows. I can do more with it. Not just in terms of productivity because you CAN get a stable Windows environment once you get your setup right. But I'm talking in terms of sheer number of things you can do.
OS X is an absolute godsend for me. I like geeking out in the CLI and doing things on my little 4.6 lbs powerbook that makes the internet go round all without a hitch. It's wonderful.
i later discovered that it wasn't an eightball afterall. turns out i was just tripping on mescaline.
I hate when that happens!
I chose a mac cause my first fun computing experience was an apple IIE or something. Also after being mesmerized by the IBM Charlie Chaplin ads I was bored and dissapointed when I sat down at an IBM pc for the first time.
I lived in an old victorian house that was converted in to apartments, I live on the second floor. One day the person that lived on the first floor moved out, leaving the rather large (whole) downstairs apartment open.
I called the landlord and took the downstairs apartment, one of the last things I did when I was done moving in was set up my PC and boot it up. Well my PC found a bunch of new devices and went it to this loop of rebooting and trying to configure the new devices. Which were all unknown to the system, I assume it was the larger kitchen that it found.. Not sure to this day!!!
Needless to say I had to rebuild my PC from scratch, a month later I bought my first iMac and loved it, now I am on a Ti powerbook 15".
Because I was mad at my PC. Seriously, I was trying to do some little video project on my homemade computer with its Voodoo 3 3500 TV video card, and its Windows 98. It had crashed for the umpeenth time and I thought "OK bitch, if you're going to act like a Mac then try this!" (I was an unwashed mac bashing heathen at the time.) I punched in www.apple.com Hmmm.. That PowerMac G4 looks pretty snazzy... What's this Megahertz Myth video?.... Pipeline stages? What's a pipeline stage?... etc. etc. A month or so later I blew some savings on a used B&W G3 and now here I am. I just ordered a G4 iBook yesterday from my Quicksilver tower, the very same model I drooled over way back when.
LOL... when I went to pick up my G5 I was worried that somebody would try to steal it from me (on the way to my car) and run away with it ... but when I picked the box up I realised that that happening would be quite an unlikely event...
Me too...god, that thing's heavy, huh?
I use a Mac cause it's a Mac., because it has a beautifully consistent interface and sexy hardware.
Isn?t it funny - and telling - that most of us here speak about ?being productive?, ?getting stuff done?, etc.
In other words, the whole numbers/MHz thing doesn?t REALLY seem to enter in to it all, does it? Despite how much we seem to talk about it all here, huh?
I mean, which would you prefer: a 1GHz G4 with OS X that works ALL THE TIME, does what it?s supposed to, when it?s supposed to. Doesn?t send you on wild goose chases, troubleshooting and running down snags and stuff...OR a 3GHz something-or-other that you find yourself constantly fighting and struggling with at every turn?
Anyone with half a brain and at least one foot in the real world would opt for the former, I?d like to think.
Not to say that a Windows-based PC can?t be wonderful and useful and all those things, but let?s get completely real here: take a non-geek, average Joe type of person (which FAR outnumber all you ?power user?, command-line types) and put them in a room with a boxed eMac and a bunch of software and peripherals to install and connect and get working. And on the other table, take your typical popular PC and the same software and peripherals. Actually, include ?installing the OS? as the first step, and ?connecting to the Internet? in there as well.
Putting all bias aside, which do you believe is going to be the smoothest, most headache-free procedure from that person?s standpoint? I?ve got friends and family members who been ?using? Windows and PCs for YEARS now and they can?t ever seem to get anything to act right or make heads of tails of various snafus or silly error messages. To talk to them, it honestly seems as though they spend 1/3 (or more) of their time fighting their computer...not USING it.
Compare that to my best friend, three months into ownership of an iBook (technically less than a month if you consider her new G4 model) after a lifetime of using Windows. She was showing ME stuff in iPhoto last night that she?s learned or figured out on her own, from exploring and WANTING to learn it.
She downloaded iBlog (free to .Mac members) and is now into all that. This is someone who ONLY used Word and Internet Explorer on her PCs all these years. Now she?s a full-tilt iTunes/iPod/iTMS, iPhoto, Panther-exploring, AirPort-configuring, iSync/Backup-using, blog-uploading little monkey!
She's done a total 180 and routinely visits apple.com to check for refurbed gear, has an issue of Macworld and has a white Apple sticker on her back windshield.
And she is NOT a Cat Schwartz "geek-ette" type by ANY stretch. She just knows a quality, kick-ass product and experience when she sees it.
When I was looking at laptops in 2000, the PowerBook seemed to have the best balance of features and price. I was familiar with Windows and Mac OS at the time, so it wouldn't have been a great change no matter what I bought.
I bought a Pismo/Firewire PowerBook G3 in the spring of 2000 after looking at computers for a while. It is the only computer I've ever owned and I still have it.
I still use Windows on a regular basis and I also use linux from time to time, and I think Mac OS X is the best operating system out there for me. I am a programmer and I mostly do web programming lately. I find it very convenient to keep a website under development right on my hard drive while I work on it. I have Apache web server, PHP, and a MySQL database installed, so I can do everything I need on my computer even if I'm offline, and then just upload the site to a server when it's finished.
I want to get a new computer when I can afford to. Hopefully in the spring after my PowerBook is 4 years old. If I was to pick a new computer right now, I would buy something from Apple that runs Mac OS X. I really like the OS and I don't want to ever go back to Windows if I can avoid it. Windows seems very insecure, is troublesome to set up, and isn't a very good playground for programmers compared to Mac OS X. However, I do Windows tech support most of the day, so I could be a bit jaded.
The first computer I ever used and learned on was a Mac. The college I went to had mostly Macs back then, 1995, and I got one for home so I could do my school work there. That was a Performa. I stayed with Apple because I think they are better and I'm used to them. I use a PC at work but at home I'd rather use a Mac. Simple as that.
About two years ago I wanted to "buy a laptop". I imagined it in really superficial terms - it had to be thin, sleek, quiet and light. Because at that time there wasn't even the idea in my head that I should look at a different OS. I didn't really separate "a computer" from "Windows". I had a faint memory of something called Apple, but all I knew (all I thought I knew) was that "it wasn't compatible with anything". I didn't even think of Apple when thinking about having a computer.
I would always check the monthly Dell catalogue that dropped through our letterbox for what might be my new computer. ('Wow! So many GHz!') One day I glimpsed - I don't know where or when - this AMAZING computer. It was metallic, it had a WIDEscreen, and it had this completely minimal design - a black keyboard seemed to float in its case. But I only had a glimpse - on a banner advert or in a magazine, I can't remember where. Forever after I was looking-out for a similar laptop (I wasn't sure if what I had seen was a concept design or something (my memory is THAT bad)).
Then, one day, somehow, I made the connection between Apple and this amazing thing. I bought MacFormat magazine (POS BTW) and ooohhed and aaahhed at all the pictures. I went on the Apple website and started to learn more about what all this OSX and G4 stuff was about... Hell Yeah. I want me some o' that. This was around the end of 2002.
FF a couple a months and I got all worried that I wouldn't be able to use a Mac at school -
Quote:
The LSE IT Environment is based on IBM compatible PC's running Windows 2000 and Office 2000 as the standard platform. While other operating systems are not fully supported...
- FF a couple more months and I had heard about all this "works seamlessly with Windows" stuff. So I thought f**k it. I want a computer that looks that good. Queue a summer of working 8-12 hr shifts doing all sorts of CRAP (and I mean all sorts ), a generous brother, and the always-present mindless vanity - oh - and frequent lurkings at AppleInsider, and Hey Presto - a shiny AlBook (two, actually, but that's another story...).
Now its all about the OS. I am awed by its elegance and accessibility. I want to learn it inside out... I got a long way to go, having been around here that is obvious. But I'm much more enthusiastic now than I was before about my old Windows machine...
Because It makes me LOTS of money! I call mine "the cash station" machine.
It lets me be productive through a intuitive interface that is consistent from app. to app.
I spend less time troubleshooting and more time being creative.
I get back from vacation and edit my digital photos and video, add a little music, painlessly burn a DVD and sit in front of a big TV and enjoy the memories with family and friends.
I can fix it when something goes wrong. That wasn't always the case with my PC.
They hold their value. Almost every Mac that I've owned is still in use somewhere. The local Children's home loves them.
Mac hardware and software is wonderful to look at. I appreciate good design, why should I lower my standards when it comes to computers?
My Apple Cinema Display is still amazing after 2 years of use.
My wife and kids love me because I buy them Macs. They all have Powerbooks/iBooks with iPods and wouldn't trade them for anything. They all use an easy to setup wireless network. My son's in his room right now smiling as he rips an old Jimi Hendrix CD into iTunes.
The iApps are great. I made a book using iPhoto for my brother and sister-in-law last year at Xmas. One of the best presents that they've ever received. I didn't tell them how easy it was to do :-)
Personaly I "need" it for Graphic Design - I dont want to start a huge PC vs Mac debate... but I am interested to know why other people buy them as I would not have brought it otherwise because I think their price is too expensive (as nice as they are and all).
OSX.
Price wise, I think they are comparable to PCs. my 2 pennies.
"Macintosh computer very beautiful, look like a golden sun rising above horizon. I very much like to use Macintosh computer for iTunes, which I later listen to like favorite music groups like Kojipa. Macintosh mouse very smooth and easy clicking clicking to make a wonderful world of loveliness. Windows mouse no good for making world of loveliness. Windows operating system much hard to use than other operating systems. Me like Macintosh computer very much. I am Nogoshi Usawa, and I am crude racial stereotype."
That was from a funny fake Switch ad... I have four from this set, with a ridiculous portrayal of this Japanese stereotype, as well as an elitist "designer," Jesus, and an Amish guy. A friend gave them to me so I have no idea where they're actually from, though.
Anyway, I don't know why someone would switch based on the switch ads but I seem to have been hearing the term "switcher" used over and over again since the campaign started, so it must have done something. At least it got Apple's name out there.
I started using Macs when I was really little. My mom has been a freelance cartographer for a long time, and she first used a computer for work in 1988 at the Minnesota Geological Survey. She made maps with a Mac II running Adobe Illustrator '88. Over the years, she's gone through an SE, an SE/30, a IIcx, a PowerMac 7100, a PowerMac 7200, a Blue G3, and a dual G4. Her current machine is a dual G4/500 which serves her well in both OS 9 and OS X, even though she runs Classic mode all the time to support earlier versions of Illustrator (she still uses versions 6 and 8, in addition to 10). I have always gotten computers handed down to me so I have naturally always been into Macs, like the rest of my family.
Comments
Seriously...I was originally a Radio Shack TSR-80 user. I was there when the first IBM PC's were introduced to the market (yeah, I'm that old). I even started the first national software distribution company that exclusively sold Windows and OS/2 software and was at the official launch of Windows 3.0. I also became an expert MS Access developer. The straw that broke the camels back was one day while talking to a customer on the phone and NOT TOUCHING THE COMPUTER for the last half hour --- slam --- blue screen of death on NT4. It blew away a database I was working on and it took me 3 days to reconstruct. After that, I made backups after any significant change (this is during the development process, not after deployment).
I tried Linux for a while, but it was too much like trying to learn DOS all over again from scratch -- and there weren't the programs I needed on Linux.
Then I heard of the public beta of OS X coming out. I bought a G4 and started with OS9 -- it was nice, but not as robust as I wanted. OS X changed all that and provided a robust platform I could use. With VPC, I had a STABLE Windows environment that I could continue the Access development work in and I used native Mac applications for everything else. -- no virus's, no worms, very stable platform, true multitasking -- WOW!
I love my Mac and OS X --> it blows Windows away -- no comparison!
I paid more for my powerbook anyway. I CHOSE to use a Mac. Not out of not knowing how to use the other OS (as many of my colleagues say about using Mac - "I just don't know how to use it"). I consider myself an informed user of technology and a self-affirmed geek.
Believe it or not, when I get past the UI of the computer, I use a Mac because it's more powerful than Windows. I can do more with it. Not just in terms of productivity because you CAN get a stable Windows environment once you get your setup right. But I'm talking in terms of sheer number of things you can do.
OS X is an absolute godsend for me. I like geeking out in the CLI and doing things on my little 4.6 lbs powerbook that makes the internet go round all without a hitch. It's wonderful.
And Keynote rocks. As do all the iApps.
i later discovered that it wasn't an eightball afterall. turns out i was just tripping on mescaline.
I hate when that happens!
I chose a mac cause my first fun computing experience was an apple IIE or something. Also after being mesmerized by the IBM Charlie Chaplin ads I was bored and dissapointed when I sat down at an IBM pc for the first time.
and the powerbook is easy to wipe clean.
I lived in an old victorian house that was converted in to apartments, I live on the second floor. One day the person that lived on the first floor moved out, leaving the rather large (whole) downstairs apartment open.
I called the landlord and took the downstairs apartment, one of the last things I did when I was done moving in was set up my PC and boot it up. Well my PC found a bunch of new devices and went it to this loop of rebooting and trying to configure the new devices. Which were all unknown to the system, I assume it was the larger kitchen that it found.. Not sure to this day!!!
Needless to say I had to rebuild my PC from scratch, a month later I bought my first iMac and loved it, now I am on a Ti powerbook 15".
Originally posted by Lain
LOL... when I went to pick up my G5 I was worried that somebody would try to steal it from me (on the way to my car) and run away with it ... but when I picked the box up I realised that that happening would be quite an unlikely event...
Me too...god, that thing's heavy, huh?
I use a Mac cause it's a Mac., because it has a beautifully consistent interface and sexy hardware.
I use a mac because it kicks a PC's ass.
In other words, the whole numbers/MHz thing doesn?t REALLY seem to enter in to it all, does it? Despite how much we seem to talk about it all here, huh?
I mean, which would you prefer: a 1GHz G4 with OS X that works ALL THE TIME, does what it?s supposed to, when it?s supposed to. Doesn?t send you on wild goose chases, troubleshooting and running down snags and stuff...OR a 3GHz something-or-other that you find yourself constantly fighting and struggling with at every turn?
Anyone with half a brain and at least one foot in the real world would opt for the former, I?d like to think.
Not to say that a Windows-based PC can?t be wonderful and useful and all those things, but let?s get completely real here: take a non-geek, average Joe type of person (which FAR outnumber all you ?power user?, command-line types) and put them in a room with a boxed eMac and a bunch of software and peripherals to install and connect and get working. And on the other table, take your typical popular PC and the same software and peripherals. Actually, include ?installing the OS? as the first step, and ?connecting to the Internet? in there as well.
Putting all bias aside, which do you believe is going to be the smoothest, most headache-free procedure from that person?s standpoint? I?ve got friends and family members who been ?using? Windows and PCs for YEARS now and they can?t ever seem to get anything to act right or make heads of tails of various snafus or silly error messages. To talk to them, it honestly seems as though they spend 1/3 (or more) of their time fighting their computer...not USING it.
Compare that to my best friend, three months into ownership of an iBook (technically less than a month if you consider her new G4 model) after a lifetime of using Windows. She was showing ME stuff in iPhoto last night that she?s learned or figured out on her own, from exploring and WANTING to learn it.
She downloaded iBlog (free to .Mac members) and is now into all that. This is someone who ONLY used Word and Internet Explorer on her PCs all these years. Now she?s a full-tilt iTunes/iPod/iTMS, iPhoto, Panther-exploring, AirPort-configuring, iSync/Backup-using, blog-uploading little monkey!
She's done a total 180 and routinely visits apple.com to check for refurbed gear, has an issue of Macworld and has a white Apple sticker on her back windshield.
And she is NOT a Cat Schwartz "geek-ette" type by ANY stretch. She just knows a quality, kick-ass product and experience when she sees it.
I bought a Pismo/Firewire PowerBook G3 in the spring of 2000 after looking at computers for a while. It is the only computer I've ever owned and I still have it.
I still use Windows on a regular basis and I also use linux from time to time, and I think Mac OS X is the best operating system out there for me. I am a programmer and I mostly do web programming lately. I find it very convenient to keep a website under development right on my hard drive while I work on it. I have Apache web server, PHP, and a MySQL database installed, so I can do everything I need on my computer even if I'm offline, and then just upload the site to a server when it's finished.
I want to get a new computer when I can afford to. Hopefully in the spring after my PowerBook is 4 years old. If I was to pick a new computer right now, I would buy something from Apple that runs Mac OS X. I really like the OS and I don't want to ever go back to Windows if I can avoid it. Windows seems very insecure, is troublesome to set up, and isn't a very good playground for programmers compared to Mac OS X. However, I do Windows tech support most of the day, so I could be a bit jaded.
I would always check the monthly Dell catalogue that dropped through our letterbox for what might be my new computer. ('Wow! So many GHz!') One day I glimpsed - I don't know where or when - this AMAZING computer. It was metallic, it had a WIDEscreen, and it had this completely minimal design - a black keyboard seemed to float in its case. But I only had a glimpse - on a banner advert or in a magazine, I can't remember where. Forever after I was looking-out for a similar laptop (I wasn't sure if what I had seen was a concept design or something (my memory is THAT bad)).
Then, one day, somehow, I made the connection between Apple and this amazing thing. I bought MacFormat magazine (POS BTW) and ooohhed and aaahhed at all the pictures. I went on the Apple website and started to learn more about what all this OSX and G4 stuff was about... Hell Yeah. I want me some o' that. This was around the end of 2002.
FF a couple a months and I got all worried that I wouldn't be able to use a Mac at school -
The LSE IT Environment is based on IBM compatible PC's running Windows 2000 and Office 2000 as the standard platform. While other operating systems are not fully supported...
- FF a couple more months and I had heard about all this "works seamlessly with Windows" stuff. So I thought f**k it. I want a computer that looks that good. Queue a summer of working 8-12 hr shifts doing all sorts of CRAP (and I mean all sorts
Now its all about the OS. I am awed by its elegance and accessibility. I want to learn it inside out... I got a long way to go, having been around here that is obvious. But I'm much more enthusiastic now than I was before about my old Windows machine...
I guess its an addiction.
It lets me be productive through a intuitive interface that is consistent from app. to app.
I spend less time troubleshooting and more time being creative.
I get back from vacation and edit my digital photos and video, add a little music, painlessly burn a DVD and sit in front of a big TV and enjoy the memories with family and friends.
I can fix it when something goes wrong. That wasn't always the case with my PC.
They hold their value. Almost every Mac that I've owned is still in use somewhere. The local Children's home loves them.
Mac hardware and software is wonderful to look at. I appreciate good design, why should I lower my standards when it comes to computers?
My Apple Cinema Display is still amazing after 2 years of use.
My wife and kids love me because I buy them Macs. They all have Powerbooks/iBooks with iPods and wouldn't trade them for anything. They all use an easy to setup wireless network. My son's in his room right now smiling as he rips an old Jimi Hendrix CD into iTunes.
The iApps are great. I made a book using iPhoto for my brother and sister-in-law last year at Xmas. One of the best presents that they've ever received. I didn't tell them how easy it was to do :-)
It's stable. I love OSX/Panther.
It just works.
Chas
Originally posted by Lain
Personaly I "need" it for Graphic Design - I dont want to start a huge PC vs Mac debate... but I am interested to know why other people buy them as I would not have brought it otherwise because I think their price is too expensive (as nice as they are and all).
OSX.
Price wise, I think they are comparable to PCs. my 2 pennies.
That was from a funny fake Switch ad... I have four from this set, with a ridiculous portrayal of this Japanese stereotype, as well as an elitist "designer," Jesus, and an Amish guy. A friend gave them to me so I have no idea where they're actually from, though.
Anyway, I don't know why someone would switch based on the switch ads but I seem to have been hearing the term "switcher" used over and over again since the campaign started, so it must have done something. At least it got Apple's name out there.
I started using Macs when I was really little. My mom has been a freelance cartographer for a long time, and she first used a computer for work in 1988 at the Minnesota Geological Survey. She made maps with a Mac II running Adobe Illustrator '88. Over the years, she's gone through an SE, an SE/30, a IIcx, a PowerMac 7100, a PowerMac 7200, a Blue G3, and a dual G4. Her current machine is a dual G4/500 which serves her well in both OS 9 and OS X, even though she runs Classic mode all the time to support earlier versions of Illustrator (she still uses versions 6 and 8, in addition to 10). I have always gotten computers handed down to me so I have naturally always been into Macs, like the rest of my family.