Well, I am finally a member of that elite group known as Mac users.  I bought myself a MacBook today for personal use.  I will post some pictures soon although the Apple website offers many pictures of the model I bought.  It is the 2.0GB Intel Core Duo MacBook with 1GB of DDR2 memory.  It features a DVD+/-RW dual layer drive and 13.1″ widescreen display.  It is really convenient.  It is light and it is pretty (I know guys aren’t supposed to say things like that, but Steve Jobs made me do it).

I have never used a Mac before and I had no idea how to get around on one.  I am very familiar with Unix/Linux and I know that Mac OSX is built on top of a Unix base.  So, I new I would figure it out quickly, and I did.  I have already installed programs and deleted some of the ones that came pre-installed.  Which reminds me that I have a story to tell that explains why I am a proud Macintosh owner.

I was shopping for a laptop for a few weeks.  I had looked at some offerings through my company (General Dynamics - IT), but the so-called “deals” were not so great.  I shopped around at Hewlett Packard for a good deal and I found it.  A Pavilion DV2000z.  It was a 14.1″ laptop with the works.  I was so excited to have it in my posession.  I waited for what seemed like years (I paid for 2 day shipping) and when it finally arrived, I ripped in to the packaging.  I opened it and began to go through the setup process.  First, I will say that I am sick and tired of buying new computers that come pre-installed with so much promotional and trial software.  The first boot takes close to 20 minutes because the computer is unpacking and configuring all of these short-term products that the vendors hope you will eventually buy.  The MacBook booted within seconds (faster than XP by a long shot) and came to a clean desktop with no junk pre-installed. I was so happy that I could get right to “work”.

So now you are wondering why I had an HP and I now have an Apple.  Well, once I was finally logged into the HP, I noticed that my screen was flickering wildly.  It happened all night long, regardless of rebooting and installing new bios and drivers.  I called support and they told me I needed Windows updates.  I laughed at them and told them that it was kind of funny that they thought Windows patches would fix the problem since it also happened outside of Windows during the boot.  That is the kind of tech support you get from most places now.  I mean, are there really any people out there with common sense any more?

To make a long story short, I sent that laptop back to HP where it came from.  I hated to send it back because the design was great, but I can’t keep broken crap.  I went out to a local Apple reseller and bought the MacBook today.  I love it.  I love the little Apple that lights up on the cover.  I really like the remote and the extras.  So, I am now a Mac guy.

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Filed under: Personal, Technology by Philip Williams