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I finally jumped into the water on the dark side

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Yes, I have finally purchased a major Apple product. Just last week, I made a comment here on GBM that made me feel better about my choice. I said, “Can I buy Apple products but think Jobs is a pompous jackass? Sure.” Little did I know that I would actually do it. I have purchased  a handful of iPhones, iPods, and even a iPad, but never a desktop or laptop. I just felt that was going over the line. With the iPhones and iPods that I purchased, I could use the excuse that it was for testing for my website. This was true in most cases and proportionally, I have spent way more green on non-Apple products than I have on Apple products.

So here’s the story. The MacBook Air 11 was launched last week. The size had me excited and thinking that I might buy my 1st Mac OS laptop soon. I built one in the online store and was ready to pull the trigger and then I backed out and decided to think about it a little. Later that evening, I decided not to but one.

Friday, I saw some reviews online of the iMovie experience and since I always envied the ease of throwing together a really nice video with it, I was interested in seeing what it could do. I was impressed with what I read and thought about setting up some Mac love in a virtual machine on my desktop PC to try it out. I never got around to looking into that and headed to bed.

On Saturday morning, I had some errands to run and one of them was to grab a couple things from Best Buy. Well, they had their new MacBook Air on display and I figured I would check it out 1st hand and had decided that I might still purchase one. With my “I’m a PC” shirt from Microsoft on, I walked up and gave it a spin. I was impressed with the size for sure, but I looked at the price and couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t really worth it. I started toying around with the 15″ and 13″ MacBook Pro demo units and walked away. I did like them all, especially the actual hardware.

I was checking out DVDs and was thinking about how my daughter was going to be a freshman at the University of Alabama this fall and that she would need a new laptop for that. Using that logic, I talked myself into grabbing a MacBook something. I could give her my 5 month old Sony Vaio, which is a pretty nice laptop itself and I could get a MacBook Something for myself. I could run bootcamp on it and not miss a beat.

I headed back over to the MacBooks and decided that the 15″ MacBook Pro would be my best bet. $1999 for a laptop though, wow! Based purely on price, I decided to give a little more attention to the 13″ MacBook Pro. It was only $1199 and much closer to my expected spending allowance. Out of curiosity, I asked the salesman if they had any open box deals and he said they actually did. I asked how much and he said he wasn’t sure. He went to the back and came out with a box. I got out the door with the MacBook Pro 13 and a Magic mouse for less than retail, including taxes.

I have never used a Mac in modern days so my day of on/off playing around has been full of, “How in the &*&# do I do this” thoughts. I am figuring it out quickly and I am still deciding if I want to run the Mac OS or Windows 7 on it. For what I use a laptop for, I think I could do fine either way.

In the end, a Microsoft fanboy has really gone off the deep end this past weekend. Will I become an iPerson? Probably not. Will I give it a chance? Yes, for sure.

On Sunday, I loaded it down with a good amount of apps to give it an at home feeling. I still don’t totally feel at home, but I put some training wheels on the MacBook. I installed VM Ware and threw a Windows 7 Ultimate install on there.

14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. tivoboy

    10/25/2010 at 1:13 pm

    I just can’t believe that your daughter is going to get a pc handmedown? Really? Nothing better in college than a mac, let her focus on actual work and play and not the headache of os, installs, updates, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I use pc’s all day everyday, but there is nothing like the ease, convenience and pleasure of using a mac to GTD

    • Chris Leckness

      10/25/2010 at 1:52 pm

      She has grown up with a PC available to her since she was old enough to breath. :)
      I wouldn’t really consider the Vaio a handmedown though. It’s pristine, factory restored, and she all buy begged me to let her have it when I got it initially. I am sure for the peer pressure, I wanna have what’s “cool” factor, she’s getting shafted. College is to learn though? :)

    • GoodThings2Life

      10/25/2010 at 11:03 pm

      For what it’s worth, if Macs were as prevalent in college as people suggest, there is no way Apple would be holding a less-than-10% market share. I spent 10 years in college (attending and then working), and I can count on 2 hands the number of students who showed up with Macs in that time. I realize some colleges DO heavily promote Mac, and that’s well and good, but it’s naive to say there’s nothing better in college.

  2. Anonymous

    10/25/2010 at 1:21 pm

    The best Windows Laptop I’ve ever owned is a MacBook Pro 13 using bootcamp to run Windows.

    • Mvenini11

      10/25/2010 at 1:40 pm

      I COMPLETELY agree!

      • Mvenini11

        10/25/2010 at 1:41 pm

        Accept I run Parallels.

      • Mvenini11

        10/25/2010 at 1:41 pm

        Accept I run Parallels.

    • Mvenini11

      10/25/2010 at 1:40 pm

      I COMPLETELY agree!

  3. Aaron

    10/25/2010 at 1:33 pm

    I had a very similar experience earlier this year. My Toshiba tablet had crashed for the 3rd time within a year. I had hit my limit. I decided to try a Mac Book Pro. I figured the trade off of losing tablet functionality might be worth the additional cost of a Mac.

    It’s taken some time to get use to OS X, but I have to say, the more I customize it, the more I like it. It shocks me that I didn’t go this way earlier if only for how much I always liked my IPhone. I’ll admit — there are things I still like better on a PC, but I’ve found ways to make them work in general on OS X. Simple example: tiling windows. Used the app “SizeUp.” Gmail backup? Rigged the built in mail solution to download my email in the background. And, I have to say, I find Time Machine pretty awesome.

    I won’t say I’ve joined the “Cult of Mac” yet. I still wish it had a more easily replaceable battery. But then again, it doesn’t need such regular recharging. I wish I didn’t feel quite so dictated to by Apple about what my options were in it’s purchase, but I at least found a model that fit my needs. I’d like for it to have a secondary button on the trackpad — but that’s why I have a bluetooth mouse.

    Overall, I understand why Mac enthusiasts are what they are. I won’t say I’ve completely joined them, but I’ll definitely think twice before I buy another PC.

    • Anonymous

      10/25/2010 at 2:00 pm

      If you use two fingers on the trackpad it is just like a right mouse click in Windows. You can also configure the new trackpad to do the same thing. Not sure how they do it but the apple gear knows when you are using one or two fingers…

      But in general I have a macbook pro 15 after 15 years of Corporate toshiba and IBM laptops I much prefer Windows 7 on a MAC for work compatible things such as MS project but prefer Native Mac for all other stuff

    • Anonymous

      10/25/2010 at 2:00 pm

      If you use two fingers on the trackpad it is just like a right mouse click in Windows. You can also configure the new trackpad to do the same thing. Not sure how they do it but the apple gear knows when you are using one or two fingers…

      But in general I have a macbook pro 15 after 15 years of Corporate toshiba and IBM laptops I much prefer Windows 7 on a MAC for work compatible things such as MS project but prefer Native Mac for all other stuff

  4. GoodThings2Life

    10/25/2010 at 11:13 pm

    @Chris… I saw your comment about hating Jobs and Apple while still liking their products the other day, and I have to confess that I get it that they are a cool “consumer electronics” company (iWhatevers), but let’s face it… the only reason why Macbooks are selling these days is their ability to run Windows… oh, and of course they’re “pretty” and “trendy”. However, I cannot in good conscience give my hard-earned money to a company that I despise. I can’t say I hate you and hand you $1000+, ya know?

    But hey, it’s like Warner said… running Windows on a Mac works really really well (a true indicator of Windows if you ask me), so if it works for you to each their own. I’m sure you’ll keep us posted on how it goes. ;)

    • Chris Leckness

      10/25/2010 at 11:28 pm

      Yep. I feel you. I think the thing is, I am trying to learn to be more objective. I have no pressure from any company, even Microsoft, to be more objective when writing about and reviewing products, but I feel that I should for my own creditability. When I owned Aximsite/Mobilitysite, I felt I could say and do whatever I want. I chose to write here because these folks are great and while they have bias, they can appreciate other products too. I am trying to learn to be more like them.

      I want to be a true platform agnostic blogger. :)

  5. aphatmouse

    10/26/2010 at 11:39 pm

    I had my original iphone for months and decided to try a mac mini. I poked around for a long weekend and felt “meh. it’s nice enough but the internet is the internet and a word processor is a word processor.” for my needs anyway. So I put windows via bootcamp on it and ran it as a very nice windows box quite happily for months. Then one day I came to the thought that it was silly to have a mac mini and never use OS X so I forced myself to boot into just os X for a a bit. As soon as I forced my daily use on it I started having those “aha!” and “woo.” mac moments and now I avoid windows as much as possible. I am a mac convert and LOVE apple products. I still use windows and i’m not against windows at all- but until I have a reason to move off of apple stuff I will be primarily an apple user for the near future… good luck and enjoy the journey/play time! ;)

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