“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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At one of my early jobs we were issued the latest and greatest technology: and IBM XT with two floppy drives. Although it revolutionized the way we worked, I could not imagine any reason why someone would want one of those things in their house. I bought a TI-99 as my first home computer ($50 plus a $50 rebate) with a 300 baud modem so that I could dial in to our VAX and run MASS-11. Then I saw the 128K Mac and it was all over. I never looked back. I still had to use DOS machines at work, then Windows 1, then Windows 3. They were a joke compared to that Mac. I convinced our department to give Macs a try for doing documentation with Frame Maker. They were all sold and never looked back. Windows 95 through XP (which I’m forced to use now) are still sad jokes. I had to bring my G5 iMac in to work to do a video editing project recently and no one here could believe what it could do. Once again, I’ve convinced them, and we’ll be getting the first Macs ever purchased by this company in the next few months. Perhaps in the corporate environment Windows is so deeply entrenched that they just can’t leave it behind, but for my personal work, I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.
Magic word= clear, as in “The choice is…”
My first mac was an apple IIc. Sweet little machine at the time. I’ve kept buying macs, even when Steve was in exile.
It’s always been about the user interface…. it works, it’s better, and since the advent of OSX it rocks.
Video and music producer, music arranging and notation…. nothing else works as flawlessly as a mac.
MDN word is “feel”… as in it just feels right to do my work on a mac.
it started with a mac plus at school. and a uncle that had a mac SE and would bring it to my house to let me play on it. Oh yeah, the classics like Crystal Quest and Dark Castle. How many hours I wasted playing those great games! And macpaint…crafting my own masterpieces.
but I didn’t own my own mac until i was in middle school. The decision was between the LC and the Classic. I got the classic and never looked back.
my mac ownership lineage
LC
Powermac 6100
Powerbook 140c – with the passive matrix scren. Man that screen sucked.
Powerbook Wallstreet G3
iMac g4 (sunflower style)
iBook g4
Can’t wait to adopt the new Macintels when they arrive. Finally going to get me a tower with a nice 20″ screen now that I have a home and am no longer a transient vagabond.
My father had one of the early Fat Macs (512k) and I was sold the first time I saw it and used it. They were not cheap in those days (1984 ish , $2000 bucks in real money!). Sadly my budget would only stretch to an Atari ST for my first computer in 86, but I finally got my first Mac in 94, an LC630, after modifying and tweaking the old Atari for as long as possible. Went from the 630 to a 6500 in 97(also souped-up mercilessly over time), and an eMac in 2003. Got my daughter an iMac this spring for university. For me the question has never been what kind of computer do I get next, it is what kind of Mac can I afford this time? As for computers in general, the very first one i used, (high school in ’73), ran on punch cards and filled a room.
Apple products have always seemed to just make sense to me. I am stuck using XP pro at work (ick), with the bulk of my time spent on an AS400 emulator(makes XP look Mac-like)
Hywel was right…
Mac users KNOW why they use a mac, they thought about their choice.
PC users just go with the flow and don’t think.
Ask a PC user why he chose a PC and he won’t even understand the question… “Choose, er what is there to choose”?
Why does someone buy a Leica or Hasselblad instead of some cheap mass market camera? If you can’t see the difference you would not understand. The mass of PC users want ‘good enough’ at the lowest possible price.
Ain´t going to be any interesting Apple news until around late November, Decemember when speculation on Macworld in January start. Until then its going to be bubble gum articles like this filling up MDN—–Bye, bye for a few months MDN!
I’ve never owned anything other than a Mac. In gradeschool, due to Apple’s education program, I only worked on Macs. In college, I was a design minor, so all I ever used was Macs. And in the future, all I ever will use will be a Mac.
My Mac lineage
IIc
Mac Plus
Mac Classic
Quadra 610
G3
Current Macs (Including imediate family)
G4 350 (still works great, in the kitchen at the wife’s desk)
G4 1.25 imac
G4 dual 1.8 (modified)
Mac Mini (son’s at college)
12″ Powerbook (son’s at college)
15″ IBook (daughter’s at college)
Emac (daughter’s at college)
plus 4 ipods and various and isights
Is there a 12 step program for this addiction?
I own a mac because its enjoyable to use, and its reliable. it allows me to work on projects in a non-intrusive way, it allows me to be the best I can be. A windows machine isnt even in the picture, and it never will be.
I use a Mac because I love working with the best, its the most imaginative, and it the most human.
its designed to be user-friendly, its designed to work in synergy with you and help you create, work, and live.
Thats something you realise when you use a Mac.
i own one, because my first mac was an apple IIe and after having a lifetime of Windows machines, I decided to come full circle and end it with a power mac G5.
“Mac users KNOW why they use a mac, they thought about their choice.
PC users just go with the flow and don’t think.
Ask a PC user why he chose a PC and he won’t even understand the question… “Choose, er what is there to choose”?”
Sheesh – are you people all such arrogant, know-nothing airheads???
I own both Macs and PCs – both do their jobs very fine.
They are just tools.
Back in the day, I needed a Macintosh to run my desktop publishing business. Sure the original Laser Writer was slow and expensive but together with Page Maker on the Macintosh, we were able to turn out some pretty impressive work.
Now I need a Macintosh to be productive. Staying away from poorly written OS’ like windows helps me to get things done – enjoyably.
That’s why I need a Macintosh. In 1984, I wanted a Macintosh to satisfy my techno lust. It still does that today.
I just got sick of having to fix my computer. I don’t even have enough time for my real job (medicine) let alone fielding “tech support calls” from my family (two-piece Windows network), my aunt (2003 Toshiba laptop) and my friends.
As soon as I opened that sleek black box with the “designed in Cupertino, California” on the side and pulled out my 12″ Powerbook, I left the grey world of dirty hard drives, McAfee, Ad Aware and quarterly formats for a bright and sparkling future in comfort and style.
MW: small
Because I have no interest in computing. Simplicity.
MW; “didnt”. I didn’t like headaches.
To “Own Mac and PC”
No, if you had read many of the replies above, you would have had the answer to your question without having had to post it. You merely attributed one person’s statement as a blanket indictment upon all the rest of us – poor choice of words.
While I may agree with your assertion that both Macs and PCs are “just tools” – having used both, I happen to believe that I can do better, more efficient work with a Mac than a PC.
So, who’s the arrogant, know-nothing airhead? Maybe the one unfortunate person you quoted? Or did you just join that group, too, with your arrogant, short-sighted toss-off?
Maybe Old Stogey will get a kick outta this …..
My first Mac was a Performa 460, with an ‘030/33 mghz processor, 80 mg hard drive and 4 mgs of RAM…and OS 7.1 … At considerable investment (at the time) ….I upgraded to a (whopping) 1 gig hard drive, 36 mgs of RAM, a COMM-Slot ethernet card (which probably blazes at 10-based zilch !! lol) and OS 7.6.1
Recently, just for kicks, I dug the old girl outta the closet, and hooked it up to my network, just to see if it still works (or not) … other than a dead PRAM battery, and the old Netscape 3 Gold not able to display many websites properly …it worked great !!
I was able to go to the Mac Garden — http://mac.the-underdogs.org/ and download a few of the “Abandonware” games they have there (Scarab of Ra was one of my favorites) and I spent a few hours in nostalgic bliss !!
Why do I own (several) Macs ??
Because they just work …. for a long long time !!
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Because
– Cheaper. I have an MBA and know what ROI means.
– Stability. I have a small business and can’t afford to ‘be down’
– Color. My business deals with design and color and only Macs do it right
– Great software. Fantastic OS.
– Gorgeous 30 inch display. Why would I want to stare at a Dull all day?
– Excellence. Everything about the Mac experience is striving for excellence. It encourages me to do the same… Never, never, never hire a designer of anything that uses Windows as they are not interested in excellence and have settled for what is ‘good enough.’
I use a Mac because I have common sense.
“Sheesh – are you people all such arrogant, know-nothing airheads???
I own both Macs and PCs – both do their jobs very fine.
They are just tools.”
Sounds like Beeblebrox in disguise.
Because I can get things done and not have to restart every 30 minutes or even 30 days. The OS is still easier to use. I can drag copy an application anywhere I want and it will still work fine. I get no spyware, malware, or viruses. I actually have fun working with my Mac instead of getting frustrated like I do on a PC. Oh and I work with PC’s all the time because my job is a desktop support technician. Macs now come with almost all the software you need to do most things at home like making DVD’s, photos, movies, email, surfing the web,calendar,working with documents,video conferencing,instant messaging.
It may be Beeblebrox in disguise, but they are just both tools and I agree as such (as much as I have issues with some of Beeblebrox’s comments and tactics when he’s pressed).
I find it interesting that MDN actually linked to an AppleMatters article considering the general disdain many of its posters (rightfully) hold against MDN.
It really just comes down to Trust!
Let’s assume you have a presentation tomorrow…You have no idea what equipment will be on site, (i.e. VCR’s, DVD’s, Projectors, TV’s, HDTV’s, & an ill-placed sound system). Your stress builds because your not even sure you’ll be able to plug into a power source to demo next quarters catolog design. You’ve got key decision makers expecting several developments from your team!
Would you trust a laptop running Windows 2000 SP2 or an Apple PowerBook running OSX (the swiss army knife for your digital hub – it plugs into practically anything)???? Not to mention all the built in iLife (Eye Candy), applications ready out of the box……
Even if the Windows machine worked….The audience would fall asleep before you made it to the second slide…..HA HA HA…
And so, the decision really isn’t up to me…what would you do?
My first computer was the Commodore Vic-20 back in the days when you loaded your programs from a Dataset (Cassette Tape). Wow, those were the days! I moved onto the Commodore 64 and then the Amiga. All great machines that are no longer with us.
Being a Graphic Designer, we used Macs at work. I loved our Macs at work, but OS 9 was nowhere in the realm of AmigaDos. Then came OS X and my dreams came true. Real multitasking and applications that blow everyone else off of the map.
So I bought a TiBook for home (and an iPod), and now I have a dual G5 too… and the world of Apple keeps getting better. While Windows (we use Windows at work too) strugles to keep pace.
My Mac lineage:
– Mac IIci
– Power Mac 7500
– Power Mac G3 400
– TiBook G4 400 (what I’m typing on now)
– And on Friday (god watching that FedEx tracking page is tortuous) a new G5 Dual 2.3 that will have more RAM on it than my first two Macs had in combined hard drive space
I also had an iMac G3 Graphite that I had picked up for a media server, but I just gave it to one of my friends who lost his computer (as well as home, tools, and most belongings) in hurricane Katrina. Since he was a PC user before I figure it will do him some good.
My wife has a blue clamshell iBook.
My sister has a iMac G3 Graphite and an ice iBook.
My mom has owned a:
– Powerbook 140
– Performa 630 (my Dad still uses this)
– iMac G3 Raspberry (at home)
– iMac G3 Graphite (at the shop she owns)