Apparently laptops aren’t supposed to last as long as mine did, due to an ever improving technological environment, normal people buy a new computer every other year. People like me are not conducive to the business model started by the American car companies called built in obsolescence, in fact people like me are detrimental to the entire economic structure because we, like people from the previous generation expect things to last. My laptop was bought in the fall of 2004, making it in computer years as old as the dead sea scrolls according to many computer philosophers.
I began to realize a needed a new computer when my roommate thought I was fooling around when I said my computer had neither an internal microphone nor a webcam. Then one day I was typing a long diatribe about who knows what and I looked up from a long thought out picking and choosing the keys session only to find my sentence traveling at the speed of a snail along the screen, it was like a sonic boom had taken place and the words were only starting to form on the screen a full ten seconds after a I finished the entire paragraph.
Then came Facebook, I tried loading my friend list and all hell broke loose, it wasn’t one of those regular computer freezes where you can push control + alt + delete like in the days of AOL chat. It was one of those freezes that made me feel like my computer was waking up from being frozen in time. It finally woke up, but I haven’t tried looking at my friends list or anything to do with large lists on facebook for the last few months fearing complete breakdown.
After quashing the idea of getting a netbook recently, I decided I want to get a Macbook and then all hell broke loose again. Deciding to go to the other side of the computer world by buying a Mac is an extreme decision that only people like me can get such a kick out of. Mac fans are militant, mostly because they are by nature different, they are generally smarter, more nerdy and think they are the shit. They also have no qualms in telling you why you are an idiot for even considering a PC, its like choosing between a Ford and a Ferrari as far as they are concerned.
I had never realized this, I always knew that people who used Macs were different, but this was purely based on my external judgments, they tended to dress cooler and know how to order the most complex drinks at Starbucks, I also knew that hipsters and the gay crowd liked Macs, and that I have sat in more then one independent coffee shop and watched as people gave me the stare as if to say “look around buddy, PC’s are not allowed” making me feel out of place as I looked around at all the tight pants wearing people drinking foaming soy lattes with their Macs perched on their cross legs making me feel like I should leave with my plain old chai latte and my Toshiba (spit with disgust).
If not for the fact that I am poor and once again debating what to do with my life, I would be at the Mac store and throwing down my grand for a basic Macbook, the problem is that I am too poor to even pay for rent and cannot reconcile the fact that Macs are so damned expensive and it seems like you don’t get much for your money.
I can get a basic HP on sale with 250 gigs of hard drive space and 2 gigs of ram for under 400 bucks, or get the Acer netbook I decided against due to my computer being used as a writing tool and netbooks having way to small keyboards. Acer netbooks are 300 bucks and super compact, but how am I going to type on it? While the Macbook costs a grand and all get is 120 gig hard drive and 1 gig of ram, seems kind of paltry in comparison don’t you think?
If you tell this to a Mac person like I did today at the tale end of a shabbos meal they look at you like you fell off the moon. They can keep espousing “you will never get a virus” over and over again, but the fact is, I never got a virus, well except that one time my brother got one for me. In fact I was thinking about how telling a Mac person that you are thinking of switching your computer orientation is similar to telling a Mormon that you are thinking of converting. People who use Macs are very religious when it comes to espousing their wares.
Fact is I need a new computer, and all but one person has said, wait until Vista goes away and buy a PC with windows 7, but I am seriously contemplating the Macbook and a quick search through craigslist revealed to me that people love their Macs by the lack of them for sale and that old Macs have a very high resale value. This did two things for me, it means that if I hate my Mac which apparently I wont under any circumstance, I can sell it, and it means that Macs last forever, because you cannot even find old ones for sale online, while PC’s are like American cars, people want to sell then and get a new one every couple of years.
If anyone wants to sell me a Mac for cheap or donate to the “Buy Heshy a Mac so he can keep blogging every day fund” please send me an email or donate $1000 to my paypal account.
-->
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
For one, only get a Mac that is refurbished. Either through apple.com or smalldogelectronics. They’re a few hundred bucks less.
But also they’re just solid machines. I’ve had mine for two years and haven’t had a single issue with it (bli ayin hara). They’re last forever and to me that is the best part…
Go buy a regular plain old p.c. and use Linux.
Macs are great for someone that isn’t interested in buying a new computer every 2 years. That’s why the resale values are so high, they last.
buy a pc then. me and my family have always had mac and if you think macs never get problems then think again. And i think that if you dont watch porn every second on your computer or download billions of songs all the time you shouldn’t get viruses. I might be wrong though maybe having a pc is the worst thing ever.
I want everything I buy to last at least 5 years, my car has 322,000 miles on it. My clothing are all from high school and my skis are 7 years old. If my cell phone wasn’t stolen in costa rica I would have that too.
And that is the single greatest thing about a mac. Yeah, you spend a lot as your initial investment, but they last forever. They’re great for people who aren’t interested in change. (Me).
Hesh – speaking as a Mac user from almost the beginning and an Apple Store worker, I can tell you that once you try a Mac, you won’t turn back. Heck, now that they can run Windows, PC users have found that it runs better on a Mac than on most PCs. Apple provides excellent service (make sure to buy AppleCare with it.) And BTW, the basic MacBook now comes with 2G of RAM. As for longevity, my old iBook G3 still works – and is coming up on 7 years old; I see people coming in with older machines all the time.
My uncle has a graveyard of old Mac laptops. They pretty much all still work, except for the one my cousin somehow broke the screen off of. Perfect for the rare occasion I show up there without my Macbook.
But, yeah, they last forever. The only reason I replaced my iBook was because the new Macbooks were so much cooler. And I was going to replace my Macbook until they came out with the new ones. They are aluminum. I want to keep my white Macbook. It still works perfectly, though the ability to have 4 gigs of RAM is something I would love. 2 just isn’t enough.
There are three Macs in my living room, mine, wife’s and the server, none of em less than 5 years old at this point. We have some older ones in the attic that might still work as well.
I’ve worked with, owned or supported Macs, Windows machines, Sun/HP/IBM Unix, Linux, etc. etc. etc. but for my own computers its been only Apple since OSX came out.
Hey what does this have to do with frum satire?
He wants to know what computer he should get so he can continue blogging “frum satire.”
I just (couple weeks ago) got a new macbook after my 2 year old toshiba died. I’m very happy with it so far. It starts up and shuts down in under 15 seconds. The only annoying thing is to get the real MS office you have to put down $115 or get the free openoffice.org . One correction: I got the most basic model (frickin 1200, but its a good investment) but it comes with 2 gigs of ram.
And no tight pants involved. Just a solid machine.
Yeah Hesh, convert! Uncle Steve is waiting for you…
I was a Mac girl when I started with computers back in 1993. However, I’m on my budget now and not dad’s. So, I have a Toshiba, $700, a little over two years old. I use it 24-6 and it still works. Actually, I do turn it off when I go to bed.
Chosid, there’s no reason to get MS Office. iWork is completely compatible with everything in Office and half the price, plus it works a helluva lot better than Office 08 on the Mac. (Though if you really got it for $115, not $150 like it usually it is, it’s not quite half the price.)
Reminds me of that Mindset Media study about Mac users last year http://tinyurl.com/aufkm9
Get a PC. Macs cost so much more and unless you care about how the case looks, they aren’t any better. PC is a much better value.
I was a mac person for many years, but I had to get a pc for school, and while macs can run pcs, I didn’t want to spend more money on a mac and then have to spend money to put windows on top of it as well, so I just got a pc. So far no viruses, thank God, and no problems either. But then again I have great anti virus software, and i had geeksquad take off all the crapwhere. In my opinion, both have their pluses and minuses.
Reinstall the operating system on your old computer, or check out ubuntu linux.
http://www.ubuntu.com/
seriously, this will make your old computer run better than any mac. It’s a completely different operating system.
As an IT guy, any computer you have will work just fine as long as you take care of it and aren’t stupid (i.e. the big virus scare is unfounded unless you’re opening NAKEDPARIS.EXE, and then you just deserve it). This limits most of the arguments for or against any given system.
The big plus for Windows is simply legacy support (Want to run Office 98 that you picked up for 2$? No Prob. On a Mac, software will often have compatibility issues simply between versions) and support for 99% of the software out there (Past, present, and future).
Vista is underrated. Windows 7 isn’t a G-dsend, and Vista isn’t a curse. They are simply OK, that’s about it. Not worth moving from XP, but fine for a new computer. My dad bought a win98 laptop in 1998 (200 Mhz!!) and just last year bought a new Compaq Laptop with Vista on it, and it works just fine for all he needs (net, mail, basic games).
i have 2 computer nerd friends on each side of this debate. their long and complicated arguments on the subject have left me bewildered.
There is absolutely no performance difference between 2 and 4 GB RAM. It’s just a way for companies to justify higher prices.
There is a slight improvement on Vista when you go from 1 GB to 2GB.
MAC ALL THE WAY PEOPLE!!!!!!!!
The old saying is true (once you go mac you never go back.) I’ve converted quite a few people to Mac and not one of them is sorry.
My old ibook is now my kids’ computer, and not only does it still work amazingly after several years but the parental controls are awesome. I can have them use the computer with absolute confidence that they are safe online (at least now while they’re still young and unsavvy.)
I adore my MacBook, and hardly have any of the problems I had with PCs once they were a few months old. I’m no computer genius, but Macs are so easy to use, they operate in a very organic and intuitive fashion. They’re just a breeze. I barely know what to do with a PC anymore when I’m forced to use one.
A word of warning to all, no matter what you’re using – BACK THAT THING UP. The hard drive on my first ibook died suddenly six months or so after I got it. Mac replaced it with no problem, but I lost so many precious documents including photos and videos of my kids. I spent a lot of $ getting whatever I could back but couldn’t recover a lot of it. You only make that mistake once, so people – BACK IT UP! An external harddrive is worth the $.
Linux is not always a practical option for some people.
Macs have an excellent built-in backup program called Time Machine – all you have to do is plug in an external hard drive and the computer takes care of everything else, automatically.
They also have great customer service, based in California.
One of the nicest little touches is the fact that if you trip over the power cord of any of the more recent Apple laptops, it will simply release from the computer without any harm (as opposed to dragging the computer across the work surface and causing it to come tumbling down to the floor) – the cable from the power adapter connects to the laptop magnetically.
The next version of Mac OS X promises to be even better than the current version. My start-up and shut-down times are incredible as it is.
I have an old Dell Inspiron 1000 that I bought god know how long ago. I am still using it. During it’s life, I have replaced the power cord, the screen, the hard drive, upgraded the ram, and I now need a new battery. My old battery is completely dead. It doesn’t even give 10 seconds charge.
It helps if you can fix computers yourself as you save alot of money.
Furthermore, I am not ever buying a Mac. I have spent so much time learning the Windows OS, it doesn’t pay for me to learn a whole new OS. So there, Mac fanboys.
if you arent so desperate for a new computer right now, wait till black friday. there are ALWAYS really good sales if you know where to go. (and if you dont mind camping on the street for a night or two) just dont do that in newyork. the ‘consumers’ are vicious and will trample you.
Real geeks build their own computers and won’t shut up about Ubuntu. Macs are for people who have tons of money to spend so other people can do the geeking for them.
People who work in Apple stores resemble cult members to an unsettling extent. Do they all live in the back of the store? Do they refer to Steve Jobs as ”Father”? If some multimillionaire is going to get my money, I’d just as soon it would be Bill Gates- the more he gets, the more good he does with it.
Oh yes, have you tried running your restore disk? I had to do that recently, and it worked like a charm- of course I had to teach my computer how to walk all over again. Funny thing, some stuff came out completely differently. Even one of my photoediting programs, which was on an SD card and shouldn’t have been affected by the restore disk at all, is now speaking French! You will, of course, have to have all your stuff backed up first, as your whole system goes back to how it was when you first got your computer.
Get a refurb prev gen mac. Look for good prices on amazon, newegg. I’m going to get mac when I get enough money for it but I know it’s better. not because of viruses – i didn’t catch viruses on my win computers. the point is in better software and UI, ease of use, userfriendliness and more stable machine.
I had a Dell for four years and some part or other seemed to break every other week, and when I called tech support I was always answered by an unintelligible Indian voice. Then last spring I had a six-week internship at Moment Magazine and had to learn how to use a Mac, since all the computers in their office are Macs. I fell in love and bought the new Macbook Air. Sure, it was expensive, but it’s an investment that will last a long time. I haven’t had a single problem with it so far (okay, it’s only eight months old, but still). And it fits in a manila envelope. What could be cooler than that?
The theory about Mac users made me laugh. I think you’re right- I’m definitely a “militant fan” of my Mac. And I actually do drink soy lattes
chevramaidel,
Building your own computer just to do it is pretty pointless for the average person. If you are building a custom workstation or server, thats a reason, otherwise it ends up being a headache for most people.
As far as Linux vs OSX, I can only see two reasons to pick linux on the desktop 1) you are one of those nasty hairy “freedom” hippies, 2) you live in real genuine poverty. Linux makes a great server but as a desktop? OSX gives me all the Unix I could want and a stable GUI with apps that function.
FWIW, my home file/print/web server (with a heavily customized Apache config) is an ancient G4 Cube with a hotrodded CPU (PowerMacs have always been user customizable)
I’m not going to get into the Mac-Pc debate again…I’m a Mac user who supports a network of PCs day in day out, so I know the ins and outs of both systems. If money were no object, I wouldn’t hesitate to say Mac, NOW! But since it is, I have to agree with someone earlier who said to try two things first to milk more life out of your machine: reinstall Windows XP, preferably from a retail disk that won’t have the bloatware. If that doesn’t help or you don’t have access to one, go with Linux. You can download Ubuntu from Ubuntu.com on a faster computer, burn the image to a CD and install on your laptop from there. It’ll take a bit of time to get used to, but no longer then OSX would take…and Ubuntu runs really really well on older hardware. Should give you at least another year…
If you get a Mac, you can watch all the porn you want without worrying about viruses. (I have 5 brothers and a MacBook. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.)
“Real geeks build their own computers and won’t shut up about Ubuntu.”
Okay, you don’t know real geeks. There’s a reason that Ubuntu is called “Linux for Humans”: It’s very much a beginner’s distro: intuitive, user-friendly, and connected to a large repository of free-of-charge software. It’s not tweak-friendly enough for hackers, though, but you don’t seem to be one. I agree that real geeks build their own computers, but as for what they won’t shut up about? Not just one thing, and certainly not Ubuntu.
well i have a mini acer. Though the keyboard is tiny, i am in love.