I have no idea what’s come over me. All of a sudden I have this funny feeling inside…I want a mac. I don’t know what it is, I’ve been a PC guy for a long time. It’s not like I haven’t seen the smooth interface and cool animations before, but for some reason now I have to have it. What’s the source of this growing hunger? Well let’s see:
- There are now TWO macs at my work place so I see them in action everyday.
- I had one in my cube for about a month, and I used it in the dark when no one was watching.
- I recently met a developer that used mac sucessfully for developing XHTML/CSS, proving it can be done.
- I quite playing games.
The last one might seem kind of odd, but I have been a gamer for a long time. Unfortunately when it comes to the amount of game titles, the PC wins. However since I’ve quite playing games, my standard PC (I also have a server humming away at my feet) has been reduced to browsing, email, photoshop, and tinkering. Why do all that with Luna when I can do it with Quartz?
So now I just have one last hurdle to overcome…the price of a rockin’ mac. Yes I know the mini is in town, but I want something blazing. Maybe they have a special conversion deal like a credit card does. I can see it now, half off for all transfer of computing purchases.
Published on February 2, 2005
Resides in General
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17 Responses to “Well Steve Jobs, I think you got me”
1
James Crossett on February 3rd, 2005
I was just like this a few months ago, used PC’s all my computing life. Then after seeing my mates powerbook, panther os and all. I made a bold decision to get a 12″ powerbook (brought out a new one now, damn it!). Best descision i ever made, do it and don’t look back.
2
Travis Hickox on February 3rd, 2005
I think you are one of many in this world that are contemplating this very action. I know I am. My father owned a computer store for a little over a decade in small town USA. I was raised on PC’s. I have never known anything different other than arguing with my best friend that PC’s were better than Mac’s. (He was a Mac fanatic)
The times are a changin’. I have two machines here at work. A PC and a dual 2.0 Mac. I called my friend the day it was delivered to my desk and installed. He just laughed and said, “Welcome to the dark side, you will never go back.”
He’s right, I am counting the days for the next jump in processors to make the dual 2.5’s drop a bit and then I am going to nab one. The thought of having a computer that is liquid cooled is, well in a word…awesome.
As far as the cost goes, it does tend to make one stomach turn a bit. But…if you were to find a comparable machine on the PC side, they would be similar. We are just force fed the low low prices of your low end PC by the media. They really aren’t that far off when comparing apples to apples. (Sorry, no pun intended. It just worked out that way)
3
Jon Buda on February 3rd, 2005
Bro, get a Mac, you will not regret it for a second. Even when the Credit Card bill comes. I used PC’s for about 12 years and always thought the Macs were not that great. Mainly because of games like yourself. Once I lost the desire to game and really wanted to focus on design and creating beautuful things, it just helps to have a good looking machine and OS. So I bought me a 15 inch Powerbook and I take it all over the place. You can definitely do great XHTML and CSS on a Mac. Plus Expose if the coolest OS feature ever as well as the most useful. They are amazing machines.
4
Donovan on February 7th, 2005
I had that craving once. I have been a long time PC user and the thought of using a Mac is not that revolting anymore. I have two problems blocking me from getting one. Firt is the price. Despite what some would like to claim, an equivalent PC would cost about $1000 less if you go for the top of the line. The difference rises exponentially with the power of the Mac. The other is compatability and available program counterparts.
5
Brady J. Frey on February 8th, 2005
I’m a san francisco developer… on a mac, and all I make are CSS/XHTML designs — who said it can’t be done, come on!!:)
If all your doing is web design, no print — with most of your files being drastically under what us print designers use from our photoshop files… why not the mini?
6
Shane Robinson on February 8th, 2005
Sorry Donovan, Travis is right. Macs are my primary machines but I also have a Dell laptop and have to specify machines for clients. If you build a similar Mac and PC, and then have to equip the PC with the same quality of hardware and software (if you even can) that comes free on the Mac, you actually end up spending a little more on the PC. And with the Mac you then end up with an amazing and elegant GUI on top of BSD and then you can pretty much forget about viruses, worms, hacks, etc. Several of our clients, and many of our friends, have finally become so frustrated with the problems on Windoze that they switched their offices, and families, over to Macs and they have been completely thrilled!
I work on both every day (programming, project management, audio/video encoding and creation, application development, etc) and I simply get more done, faster, easier, and more securely on the Mac. I own a company. We have to use whatever tools get the job done fastest and for the least amount of money. If windoze worked better, we’d use it. It doesn’t, so we use Macs.
7
Stefan on February 10th, 2005
Seems to be a virus
Got it, too. Long time gamer, all my games (70+) gone to ebay.
The only thing I rember on Apple was a buggy OS 9 at work, which I disliked much, few Media-Support… so I never was interested in Mac again. Then I saw Macworld SF and was blown away. Unix with cool Mac OS X-Design? Yes, please!
The money is just waiting for TIGER…
8
Joshua on February 11th, 2005
When it was time to upgrade my computer, I faced a similar dilemma. I’ve been an avid gamer for many years now, and was finally tired of dumping money into video cards, among other things. I decided instead to gravitate to console gaming, and use the computer for other things, and to downsize the computer (size). I deliberated about the Powerbooks for quite some time, but my gaming side eventually won out, and I went with a more powerful HP.
9
tom on February 11th, 2005
There will be hurdles to overcome, though. The main problem when developing with CSS is IE/Win, which you won’t have direct access to (there are probably ways around it, but not as easy as on a PC). That’s one thing that’s keeping me from switching, anyway. Most of my target audience will be Windows and Windows browsers, so the site damn well better look perfect there. Any then I can use iCapture or something for the other 3% of my audience.
10
ryan on February 12th, 2005
Wow, After all these great stories, I’m going to switch as soon as I can afford to. These will go a long way in convincing my wife too.
Having both would be good for me. Maybe Apple will release an iPC? Maybe they could call it an iBM?
11
Mark Wiens on February 13th, 2005
“I recently met a developer that used mac sucessfully for developing XHTML/CSS, proving it can be done.”
To whom are you referring here? ;o)
12
Sebastian Kuehn on February 14th, 2005
Hello,
I brought an iBook G4 12″ one year ago. Today I can say: “It was the best decision I ever made !” Apple makes the most advanced computer in the world. The performance is incredible - my mac is as fast as on the first day. In my opinion there will be just two kinds of people in the future: those who use computers and those who use Apple !
Kind regards from Germany !
Sebastian > Mac fanatic
13
Donovan on February 17th, 2005
Shane, I’m sorry, but you are wrong. I priced out an Apple G5 PowerPC and a PC from ElitePC (I would have found each individual part before, but I lack the time). The Apple is the default configuration aside from the Geforce 6800 Ultra DDL. The whole system is priced at $3420.
The only major differences with the ElitePC is the Radeon X800 XT (a generation ahead of the 6800 and more expensive) and no dual processors, just Athlon 64 3800+ with 800MHz FSB. The ElitePC is a mere $2089 (can’t link to the exact configuration, http://www.elitepc.com). Even if one were to get a dual CPU capable motherboard along with two equivalent (2.6Ghz) processors, the price would not break $2500. That’s with a far superior video card. Macs are expesnive. You can’t get around that. Their laptops are slightly better. But one thing I will give them, they make high quality parts at least from my experiences. I love their monitors, CRTs and LCDs.
14
Richard on February 19th, 2005
You have two choices: 1] Chevy/Dodge = Windows XP or 2] Acura/BMW = Mac OS X
Step up or step down…Pay now or pay later…it’s that simple. :.)
R
15
Allan White on March 10th, 2005
One reason I “switched” back from XP was the great OS and the awesome apps that are just so fun and powerful. I feel like this platform is really moving somewhere. The *nix tools are cool, too.
Stable, solid, secure. And fun! Much happier on OS X. (except for Flash development, the one sore spot IMHO).
16
Nick Shaff on April 18th, 2005
Allen, check out the previews of the new version of flash coming out. Looks amazing on the max. Great speed.
Ryan, Congrats on the decision to at least use both
I’ve been a major mac geek all my life, but I do use both. The PC pretty much does my gaming and website testing (getting better at the XHTML/CSS aka correct way, so maybe wont have to use it for that long). The mac does all my design and development work, and runs all my test servers. When you look at them, check out the iMacs as well (a lot cheaper, but still running a single G5). Or even wait for the Powerbook G5 inevitability 
17
metavurt on May 28th, 2005
Donovon… time to WAKE UP.
What you continue to fail to mention in your comparisons is the software that comes WITH the hardware which the lame world that is Windows cannot include, except of course, for a small fee. And a new driver. And a new video card. And maybe a better sound card. Oh DAMN, your price is up again!
I don’t have the time to research that lame site http://www.dell.com to argue, but I do know of people who do: http://www.systemshootouts.org
They compare laptops to desktops and include comparing what’s IN the box too. Remember, it’s not just the hardware that counts, gotta have some intelligence with that nice bod, if you know what I mean.
Ryan, calculate how much time you’ve spent “fixing” your machine. Multiply that by how much money you would have made, had you been creating something.
Nuf said.