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.
One thing I’ll pass along that’s based on something I heard one of the Macworld editors say: 30 years is a long, long time for a single product to exist in the tech industry. Yes, both the hardware and software have evolved over the last 30 years, and so you could make the argument that it’s not really the same product. But consider this... if you took the latest iMac running Mavericks and sent it back 30 years into the past, the user of the original Macintosh - after recovering from shock - would instantly recognize it as a Mac.