My PC music computer is dying. At the same time the 8 in 8 out Mark Of The Unicorn audio interface is showing signs of age and the recording software version I have is no longer supported.
The new audio interface that I desire (Universal Audio Apollo)ONLY works on Mac. I’ll have to learn a new software AND a new computer OS AT THE SAME TIME! It’s gonna suck!
Today, I don't have any Apple products, just don't really need them, as other products works just as well for me and at a better price. Having grown up, I tend to roll my eyes at the fanboys too, but I know where they are coming from.
Regardless of how you feel about it, there is no doubt that Apple has pushed the envelope, and we are all better off for it.
No, I don't care about the premium price. Don't even bother trying to convince me that I can get a lot more Chevrolet for my money than I can buying a Porsche Carrera-Turbo: Yes, I am well aware that you can tinker-build an unreliable bitchin' Camaro in your garage that'll do 10 seconds in the quarter mile for a fraction of the price of a Porsche 997 GT2, but anyone with a brain knows that the Porsche supercar will be the far nicer car to own and drive in every way imaginable.
Ping.
for those who don’t do windows ping.
I was an original mac head. Loved my SE/30. I still think it’s one of the best computers they ever made. I was an early member of the Seattle “DBUG” user group that met at the Seattle center back in the 80s. Guy Kawasaki was an inspiration.
I branched out into Windows NT... Netware... Cisco... And never really got into the comparative religion aspects of computer ownership. There are good and bad things about them all, and they’ve all played their key roles in the development of all the technologies we take for granted today. I managed a WAN with hundreds of servers... Windows, Mac, Unix and even VMS.
Now I still have a couple of windows7 computers at home but I have an iPhone and I’m typing this on my iPad, sitting in a bar. :-).
Viva Steve Jobs. Viva Bill Gates. Between the two of them they created the foundation that I built my career on— a career that served me well enough to let me retire at 50.
(Runs and hides)
I know Microsoft isn't much better, but with Windows you can buy an AMD and as little MS software as possible.
Apple and the rest of us could really use better competition than Blue Screen, Inc out of Seahawkland!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
I had seen and used Mac in school during the mid-80’s and early 90’s, but never seriously used them. (I did use the lab Macs in college to write meeting minutes for an organization I was in - the only WYSIWYG option at the time - and also used them to format my resume for job hunting in my senior year). I was a UNIX guy, after all.
When it cam time to buy my own computer, budget was an issue, and I got a low-end no-name PC, because I could afford it, and Macs were way out of my price range. And so I started my chain of heartbreak with PC-class systems. Buying a cheap computer, more often than not, gives you what exactly what you pay for, maybe less.
Eventually, I was making enough money to get a high-end computer, and had a custom-built rig that was pretty solid. But event hat showed signs of “age” within a couple of years, and eventually it was turned into a file server in the house running some variant of Linux. I replaced with with a Sony Vaio system, which again, worked smoothly for a few years, but couldn’t really keep up with the demands of XP after SP 2 or 3. I’m currently typing this on that machine, but it now runs Fedora Linux (core 14, as it lacks the minimum requirements to upgrade to a later version) and I really only use it for web browsing and very light document editing.
Vista was the final straw. I wanted no part of it but needed to get a new computer or do a lot of upgrades to the old one that I felt was probably not going to be worth the time, money, and hassle. After pricing around higher-end computers, really, the iMac wasn’t “overpriced” compared to the machines it was competing against on the PC side - not the “budget” ones, but what we’d call the “prosumer” class. The Mrs. and I visited our local Apple reseller, spent a little time with the iMac, and decided to give it a go.
I haven’t regretted that decision once in the years since. I did have to replace the iMac once, about two years ago but that was due to my own stupidity in actually physically breaking the thing (out of warranty, even). I’d probably still be using that first one quite happily if I hadn’t broken it.
Since then, the Mrs. pushed me into getting a smartphone, and the iPhone specifically. I had had an iPod (3rd gen) for quite a few years at that point, using it on my commute, so I was well-versed with iTunes (I even used it on XP) and having a portable device, but the iPhone was simply amazing, and continues to be, as I”m looking ahead at getting my third one in the next few months.
I’m now just trying to put together a purchase for my next generation computing needs. I’m going to get myself a MacBook Pro (Retina), which will be my primary personal computer (freeing up the iMac for the Mrs. to take over as completely as she wants) and a Mac Mini to serve as my home media server (including DVR).
I do have one Win7 machine still, it was bought specifically for the kids as I was given a whole slew of Win95/XP educational games that my sister’s kids outgrew. While I think Win7 is actually a pretty good OS, for Microsoft, at least, I have zero temptation to switch back to Windows. (I also user Win7 at work, but that machine is so crippled by an over-zealous security group in our IT department that I try not to let it cloud my judgement.) Frankly, when they’ve outgrown those games, I’ll probably slap a Mac Mini in that computer’s place, as this 3-year-old machine is already showing signs of wearing out.