My new Macbook Pro

Filed in Thoughts on September 22, 2011



I bought a Macbook Pro this week.  It is my first Apple. I have two other laptops and when both of them were having major problems last week, I decided it would be a good time to bite the bullet and do the painful conversion.  It was indeed painful because I ended up having to buy over $1200 in new software in addition to the laptop itself.

The Macbook itself is great. I really like it for a lot of reasons. Yesterday, it only took me an hour to figure out how to get it connected to our Windows 2003 network here at work.  That is pretty remarkable because just getting a Windows computer connected to our network would take me almost that long.

But if you wonder why it has taken me so long to switch to a Mac, there are three reasons:

1) The people that fawn over Apple products like they are the answer to one and all of life's problems.
2) The people who can't stop themselves from boring the people around them by incessantly talking about their various Apple products.
3) The people who seem to consider themselves superior to the rest of us simply because their laptop or phone has a picture of an apple on it.

While looking on the internet yesterday for instructions on connecting a Mac to a Windows network, I stumbled across such a person.  I was surfing with Internet Explorer and when I tried to go to a promising-looking site about Macs, I was confronted with a page that said the following (my paraphrase).

You are using Internet Explorer.  Internet Explorer is junk.  <insert 10,000 words of gibberish explaining why> Because you are using Internet Explorer, I am not going to show you the page you want to see.  You can only see this page instead.

That is sooo lame...

To stay grounded in the real world where Macs are good laptops but not the panacea for the world's problems, I think I will keep my Windows laptops too.  And if I ever talk about Macs again on this blog, please feel free to tell me to stop boring you.




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Jim T.
9/22/2011 12:59:05 PM

Ha ha ha. You are so right Greg and this is hilarious. You should try stand up comedy. Thanks for the laugh.

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Shane Foote
9/22/2011 1:12:40 PM

I heard a good joke the other day. If you are single and want to get married, sell your Apple products. You are probably making yourself unattractive to everyone around you by talking about them too much :)

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Cindy H
9/23/2011 6:33:06 AM

I hope you will be able to constrain yourself, because really, Apple Mac is so easy to talk about!!! I do not however believe they are the answer to all of life's problems, but I will say mine has made my life a little less stressful! LOL I hope you enjoy yours as much as I am enjoying mine!!

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Bryner Lee
9/24/2011 11:57:47 PM

I am glad you like Apple. From five years of using my MacBook, I have concluded that Apple is more reliable and faster than Windows. I have grown to like Safari more than any other web browser. However, I don't like to be an Apple-snob by any means.

Enjoy your Small Mac (from Apple, not MacDonalds).

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An interested reader
9/25/2011 8:11:49 AM

Let me get this straight.
1) You've been working with computers for how many DECADES and this is your first exposure to Mac?
2) You purposely avoided Macs for so long because you thought people advocating Macs were smug and condescending? (Not me I hope!)
I am frankly amazed you have survived for so long with your sanity intact in a Windows-only world! (Oops, am I doing it too?)
:)
Granted, that one website is very lame.

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Cindy H
9/25/2011 4:01:33 PM

I saw this and thought it appropriate to share with you!!

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, 'If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'

In response to Bill Gates's comments, Ford issued a press release, stating: 'If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash......... twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.

(I love the next one!!!)
7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as in the old car.

10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.

PS - I 'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!

Please share this with your friends who love - but sometimes hate - their computer!

Hope you are having fun!

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An interested (Mac-using) reader
9/26/2011 10:42:43 PM

Cindy H, those are great!

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