“Nearly 22 years ago, like the rest of the world, I first heard of the Mac and, like many, I was immediately smitten,” Chris Howard writes for AppleMatters. “For many many years I watched the Mac world with envy. But for all my wants and desires, I never seemed to get a good enough reason to change. And it was getting harder as I invested more in Windows applications. But then one day, I decided I could.”
“I switched for software,” Howard explains. “In a sense, people buy PCs just because. There’s no real decision involved in continuing to buy Windows PCs. Folks buying Windows computers don’t go shopping thinking ‘Ooooh maybe I should really be buying a Mac.’ We hope one day they will, but for now they don’t. But buying or owning a Mac is different. Mac owners and potential customers tend to know exactly why they’ll buy a Mac. They make a conscious choice. Even in this day and age of the resurgent Mac, anyone buying a Mac could still feel they have to justify it – if only to themselves. And so back to the original question, why do you own a Mac? What’s your reason, your story?”
Full article here.
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You know the feeling; You just want to go home to your family and have a good time, relax after a day at work.
After a hard work day taking care of a Windows network, I just want to go home to system that just works…! Not having to worry about patches that don’t work or brake all you settings, (about hackers, spyware, or the 70,000 plus Windows virus out there), feeling safer from attacks and then just working with nice looking apps that simply do what they are supposed to do. It’s just relaxing!
I went to Mac because I got fed up working to keep all the viruses,spyware,trojans,worms,etc. out of my machine. Anyone that says they don’t spend a lot of time working on it is full of it. Got sick of wondering what was coming next. Also for better stability. even though XP improved Windows a little in that department you still have to reboot every few days to free up memory and resources.
Windows is just too big a pain in the butt to use IMHO.
I was starting a small video production business from home and was going through the process of deciding what equipment I was going to get (cameras, computer, etc.). I had spent my computing life on Windows and work in IT so I am very familiar with Windows. I have had so many issues with Windows locking up, slowing down over time, etc. that I was worried about getting a Windows machine for my editing. I didn’t want to be half way through an all night render and then have my machine lock up.
So, I did some talking to someone who is familiar with the business and he said, “Buy a Mac”. I listened to his reasons, did some research of my own, and bought a PowerMac without ever having used one (an unusually stupid idea in retrospect, but it must have been divine intervention!). Anyway, got it last November and within 30 days I was hooked. Quiet, fast, and rock solid reliability. I finally understand what people meant when they said Macs were easy. I never thought Windoze was hard until I got a Mac, now I see what everyone was talking about.
I have now turned into the Mac evangelist in my circle of friends and have been trying to erase some of their long held fallacies regarding Macs vs. Windoze. I finally got one to buy an iMac last month. I’ve told all the family members whose PCs I support that they will be buying Macs next time so I don’t have to support them any more!
I’m hooked. I was blind but now I see!
I own a mac cause its the BEST. Simply
Have you used Windows?
MDN word: ask
I bought my first Apple product, a 500mhz G3 iBook in April 2002 because I was intrigued by OS X. I had become a Linux fan since 1999 and was interested in OS X. 6 months later I upgraded to a 700mhz G3 iBook and sold my other one on eBay. In the summer of 2004, I purchased a Dual 2.0ghz G5 PowerMac. It is the best computer I have ever owned. It is quiet, powerful and does everything I want. I use it for development, video editing, storing my music and photos.
I do plan to build a Linux server next year because I do like how certain applications install and run better on Linux than OS X (i.e. Apache 2, PostgreSQL, Subversion) etc. But nothing comes close for desktop usage. OS X rules. Now if only I could afford Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite and Aperture.
Really the question should be “Why did you buy a Windows machine ?”. Most of the buyers won’t have an answer, or it’ll be, “Because that’s what everyone else gets”.
It’s very true that buying a Mac is usually a real decision rather than a thoughtless action.
I own a Mac because design and technology are important to me. Unlike my PC using counter parts, a computer is not simply a piece of office equipment. It’s more than a 3 hole punch, or a 50 button receptionist phone.
I own a Mac because when I use a computer it becomes an extension of me. It is a mind augmentation device. It assists me with my efforts, it does not become an impediment like a Windows device.
Getting my work done is what the Mac is about. With a PC, with Windows specifically, getting the machine to do what I want becomes the focus of the exercise.
When I look down the hall and I see the G5 sitting next to the 30″ monitor, I feel as though I’m being invited. I want to work. I walked into a client location the other day, saw a room full of PCs. I got a sense of chaos, and indeed when I waded in each machine had it’s own set of unique problems.
I use a Mac because I like what I do. People who use PCs for work, don’t like what they do, generally speaking, and therein lies the difference.
I played with / toyed with an original Thin Man Mac (nickname for the original 128k Mac after the 512k came out) back in ’84. However, I didn’t get one until I tried Microsoft FORTRAN (actually Absoft’s FORTRAN being resold under the Microsoft name) on a 512k Mac.
The windowing environment for the editor and debugger and being able to do such things as having a window open and showing the current state of variables as I stepped through the program were truly new and innovative. No system I worked on at the time (from the IBM 3090-600VF to the Cray XMP to the CDC Cyber to the Dec-20 to the different PDPs & VAXes and many differend DOS machines [PC-DOS by IBM, MS-DOS by MS, DR-DOS by Digital Research]) had such a system. Sure, it was not in the same league computationally as the big machines, but the ability to debug code in a completely new, windowed environment sold me on the Mac. It saved me a lot of time and stress. I’ve never looked back.
This type of development environment seems antiquated by today’s IDEs, but it was truly ground breaking over 20 years ago. For once a computer lived up to its promise of making my life easier — something often promised but in reality extremely rare.
I don’t do much hard core coding anymore, but, for me, the Mac is still much easier to use than all the other machines and operating systems I need to deal with. That’s why my personal machines have all been Macs for over 20 years.
I needed an additional computer for my students to run phonics software on. The software was developed to run on both Windows and Mac. I was handed one of the black PowerBooks running OS9. This was just after OSX came out. I used it once and was hooked. I had a PC in my classroom that I quit using. I would wait until the students were done with the software so I could use the PB instead of the PC. I took the PB home everyday to use instead of the PC I had at home. Eventually I scored a G3 iMac for my room in addition to the PB.
The next year, Apple released the iMac G4. I got the first model that came out for my house. My wife was pregnant, and I wanted to make home videos. The PC software offerings were very expensive, and did not compare to iMovie.
I tossed the PC at home, and have never looked back. I now have an iceBook, and I am hungry for a new Mac but I am waiting to see what the future holds. I can’t afford to buy a new computer just on a whim, so I am waitng on the optimum buy.
Eh? You mean there is a choice other than mac? Where? I can’t see one… nothing compares to a mac.
Why did I buy a Mac?
Simple – I have absolutely no interest in computers.
I work with photography and graphics on my Mac, and I am not forced to work on my Mac in order to work on my art. My Mac enhances my art, not impedes it.
We missed the iPod’s fourth birthday on Sunday the 23rd.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2001/oct/23ipod.html
There’s several reasons why I’m a Mac user.
Firstly I got into using Macs because I knew some people that had them. Since I was only a school kid at the time I could never afford one, and neither could my parents at the time. We ended up getting an Acorn Archimedes (itself fairly expensive, and was based around an ARM chip) which was pretty cool – but I would still have liked to have a Mac too.
Eventually Apple released the Newton – based on an ARM chip. ARM meant Acorn Risc Machine before it meant Advanced Risc Machines for those that don’t know. I wanted a Newton, and I wanted to program for it. The only way to program for the Newton though was through a Mac, so I had to get a Mac. Still a student at the time, I managed to pull together some money and get a bank loan to start up a business writing Newton software. The Mac I got was a Quadra 610 – one of the cheaper Macs at the time, but still expensive compared to a PC.
The rest is history – been a Mac user ever since. In part I’m a Mac user because of being tied to the platform for a tool I wanted/needed (Newton Toolkit). I stuck with Mac tho because it’s that much better than Windows.
I own a mac because they are superior both visibly and in terms of use. The only problems I ever have with it are problems in terms of actual work, problems that due to the mac’s ease of use I am free to work on without having to handle problems generated by the system I am using.
I needed a new machine cos my windows box was getting on for 5 years old and I needed more performance, buying a new windows box (or even just upgrading) depressed me since I wouldn’t be getting any tangible benefits for my money, other than speed. I bought a mac out of curiosity, as an experiment, fully expecting to use it side by side with my old windows box – the windows box was turned on less than half a dozen more times before being consigned to the spare room where it now gathers dust.
Thankfully I may well soon be able to use my mac at work due to the software we have to use now running via remote desktop connection, I will so love it if I can use my powerbook at work. Although that will of course mean I end up using it something like 18 hours a day – oh well any excuse to buy a new machine…
simplicity, functionality, and elegance
Truth. Beauty. Freedom. Love
me: “Have you used Windows?”
I used Windows for many years (at work). It was a piece of crap at the start and it was still a piece of crap at the end. Even if Windows had no issues with stability, viruses, etc., it would still be a piece of crap.
For me, there is no choice except a Mac and, fortunately, it is an excellent choice.
Because I’m not a nerd and could never figure out that c prompt shit.
Why, oh why do I own a Mac? Hmm… Why do I own four others besides the one? Why do I eke out an existence as a Mac net admin guy taking care of 65 whining users, pelting me daily with such sobriquets as “hey, four-eyes!” and “yo! Dude!” for the favor of setting up their new pen tablet or curvy new mouse? Why do I wake up early each morn to once again enjoy the thrill of sneaking into my still-dark office… where my own Mac awaits? Why do I love to see it spring to live, bathing my sleepy eyes anew in Aqua-pearls of beauty: windows and objects of transluscent delight?
Why, when I have to work on my wife’s PC, do I tear out fistfuls of my own hair? Could it be because, without exception, on such occasions I have to reach for at least one disc with the word “installer” written thereon? Why is my wife a realtor? Why does the MLS yet refuse to play nice with any Mac web browser? Oh why…?
Why have I loved my Macs, from the days of Lisa, to my 128K, through System 7 (Multifinder — yeah!)… and right to the present days of glorious OS X? Why do I tear up when I hear or see the string “IIci” or “IIfx?”
Why do I yet thrill in the delight of running games on my little Mac, though I haven’t the luxury of time? Why did I love Dark Castle as much as Halo? Why is my greatest joy that of unpacking a new Mac and putting it on my desk? Why do I tediously, lovingly unwrap each piece, feeling as if I am unearthing some priceless treasure? Why am I unwilling to share these moments?
Why was this answer composed entirely of questions?
Where are my meds… and why don’t I care?
Why, oh why…?
Because anything else would be uncivilized.
“… simplicity, functionality, and elegance”
Oh yeah – And I want to.
COST. Plain and simple. Macs in the long run save me money, time (which is money), and frustration (which may be more valuable than money).
Culture.
in 1984 i was attending artschool in my 4th year, becoming a designer and was intrigued by the possibilities a computer could give me.
the computerworld was based on mysterious languages i didn’t master, although i was capable to read/write/understand/talk 11 languages to a certain degree… dutch (born i holland), english, german, french, danish (my mothers tongue and the country i live in today), norwegian and swedish were the languages i mastered well and in school i also learned the classic languages latin and greek, which in turn helped me to be able to read/understand italian and spanish magazines about architecture, design and fashion.
but C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT or whatever it was didn’t make any sense to me! at all.
along came Macintosh and my world changed when i was playing with Aldus Pagemaker for the first time around 1986! i was hooked right away!
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throughout the years, my employers made it possible for me to be working/experimenting with other platforms like amiga (just for big fun!), windows (worst platform of all – i hated it!), hp-unix (for serious 3D CAD in the early 90’s) and NeXT (my second favorite platform!), SGI (it had “dreamworld” 3D apps – but way to expensive for me!), but i always had the Mac as my main platform.
i’ve had my own design-studio since 1994 – based on Mac only.
a full-time Mac user by choice since 1986.