A Mac Mini, to be precise, which is to arrive here tomorrow sometime.
A new computer is starting to edge out of the 'want' category and into the 'need'. The last system I had winked out; this one is using the computer equivalent of a wheelchair, or maybe a cane. We bought this Dell system used, and it worked fine for a couple of years before starting to succumb to old age. Turn it on, and it takes about five or six minutes to remember what it is and what it's supposed to do. Chrome, which is the fastest browser out there, takes upwards of three minutes to start up. Perhaps the final straw came last night when Outlook Express took almost five minutes to display a picture. Not to retrieve it...to display it.
It all brings to mind the olden days. On my dad's first computer (a TRS-80 Color Computer with 16K of memory, which was lots in the halcyon days of 1982), you loaded programs off of cassette tapes by typing
CLOADM "FILENAME"
and then going for a wee nap. The difference being, in those days you didn't think anything of it; waiting was just the way it was, nothing to get upset or alarmed about. I hate to succumb to the ADHD age we find ourselves living through, but I'm getting mighty sick and tired of watching the Mighty Windows Hourglass trickling...trickling...trickling...
So: time once again to upgrade. That decision was easy. The decision to migrate to a whole 'nother platform has been some time in the making. I've done a fair bit of research and talked to quite a few Mac owners. I've tried to shy away from the Jobsians, the evangelical Apple-polishers, but even so, I kept hearing how stable, how durable, and how simple Mac life was. Stability, durability, simplicity...the pyramid of values that make up my life. One author I know still uses his Mac that dates from the early 1990s, without issue.
And...forgive me, but I love my iPod touch. I've had no problems with it, I like its design, and when I like something made by Company X, it makes me want to investigate more Company X products. Especially when people have been touting Company X computers to me for ten years or more.
So...next stop is the orchard. See you there.
5 comments:
So you made the plunge... I just bought a new desktop but went with Windows as Apple is just toooooo expensive for waht I need (mostly HD video editing).
You'll have to let us know how you like it.
I hear ya. I could get 1.5 times the computer for the price I'm paying--but I just have this feeling I'll be replacing the damn thing in three or four years if I go that route.
The best thing about the mini, for me, is the size. It really is mini. It appears to be about the same volume as a hardback book.
I'll be joining you in the orchard in the new year Ken ... after 20 years of PC use, and the computers that I have owned before them, its time for a change. I will be going for an iMac. I never thought I would be, but here I am! Fed up with Microsoft!!!
Initial impressions: impressed. I'll refrain from mentioning the blinding speed--oops, I just did--on account of any new computer would be fast. But I have to tell you, there's something to be said for Macs that boot up in literally three seconds. Manipulating files and images is considerably easier: you can drag pictures from the web directly into an email message or whatever, without saving them or anything.
Safari, mind you, sucks beans. I knew that already. Luckily, there's a Chrome for Mac.
Mark, I think you'll like it in here.
And Opera!!! WOOHOO!!! Now I am really excited!
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