I'm finally a Mac guy. It took an extra week, and because of the delay, I've used the computer for about two hours when I started this story. That means there's not a whole lot of being a Mac guy I can talk about yet.
The reason for the delay - I wanted more RAM. Due to the way I planned to use the MacBook, I decided on 2 GB of RAM, but only the 80 GB hard drive. (Actually, I'm old enough that there is a certain amount of irony in typing "only 80 GB".) With a business trip rapidly approaching, I headed to the Apple Store last Wednesday, ready to spend. This time, I even dressed as the Mac guy—cargo pants and a black turtleneck, my homage to Steve Jobs.
That meant, of course, that I looked almost identical to the sales guys working in the store - except most of them had black t-shirts rather than turtlenecks. As I went up to the pristine, glass-topped table that held the MacBooks, one of the younger ones approached me. Since this whole process had already taken longer than I expected, I went straight to the point. "I'd like to buy a MacBook today—white, 80 gig hard drive, and 2 gigs of RAM."
At the last spec, his face fell. He explained that all the MacBooks they had came with 1 GB of RAM, configured as two 512 MB chips in the two available slots. The only way that the store could sell me the machine I wanted was by selling me the RAM in two additional 1 GB chips. I would have to take out, and keep, the RAM that came with the machine. In other words, I would have to buy 3 gigs of RAM in order to have 2. (As he said this, I began to think that Apple's small market share was no accident.) However, he went on, if I went back home and ordered online, I would get the machine configured the way I want, without the additional expense. He consulted a price list and told me that I would save over $300 by ordering online, and shipping would be free. While they are giving an estimate of one to three days before shipping, he said, it's probably going to be closer to one day. I guess Apple wants you to "Think Different" but "Order the Same".
For that amount of savings, I gave up on instant gratification. Not wanting to make the trip to the store a total waste, I decided to ask a few technical questions about networking, firewalls, and the like. That's when I discovered this sales person was a Clueless Fanboy. He knew next to nothing about networking or security, and anyway, you don't need security because "No one targets the Mac."
Article comments
1 - Ken Edwards
Well I want to be the first here to congratulate you Bruce!
2 - Daniel Woolstencroft
I'll be the second then!
The joy of owning a new piece of Apple hardware kind of makes me want one again...must...resist...
3 - Nukapai
Just got to say: I love your style of writing. Really engaging, informative and entertaining.
As for the MAC versus PC... I'm not convinced yet. I'm a PC girl all the way, but I do now own an iPod.
Still, let's see how you get on with your new toy. Looking forward to the next installment.
4 - Pico
Good read, and congratulations to ya.
Did you ever find out if you would get a free upgrade to OSX 10.5 (Leopard)? I asked a CompUSA guy that last night and he told me Apple typcially goes back about 6-7 months for free upgrades.
I know, consider the source...which is why I'm asking you ;)
5 - Misfit
I also switched to the Mac, although I have to use a PC for the majority of my work for the company I work for, but to answer your dilemma, the delete key has two functions. Backspace and Delete. If you use the fn+delete you get delete. if you use delete by itself you get backspace. Drove me crazy at first. This is only for the laptops. The desktops have two, yes two, delete keys, but one is a backspace and one is delete.
6 - Bruce Kratofil
Thanks for all the congrats, people.
Daniel- don't want to add to your Mac lust, but my wife says it almost has a new car smell.
Pico - the sales people at the Apple Store haven't been told; they said previously, Apple never announces the upgrade policy till they announce the actual shipping date.
Misfit -- thanks for the tip. I've been trying to figure out the little things on my own, but I just picked up the Mac OS X Missing Manual book to try to accelerate the learning.
7 - Pico
Hi, Bruce--
I've since phoned two Apple people and they've both said the same. Another thing they added is that in the past, the upgrade policy has applied only to those puchasing Macs about two weeks to a month prior. Everyone else will pay $129 to upgrade.
8 - Kevin Hatfield
Congrats! I don't think you will be let down. The new Macbook's are amazing.
9 - Ken Edwards
I seriously doubt there will be a free upgrade to 10.5, unless it is bought within a *slim* window of the release of 10.5.
10 - Ken Edwards
Bruce, I hope to read of your adventures with your new Mac here on BC! You know I started my personal blog in the same way - I got a PC and decided to write about my trials and tribulations (and let me tell you, there were trials and tribulations!).
I ended up just plain frustrated, getting more work done on my old Titanium PowerBook, so I sold the PC.
11 - Pico
I nearly decided to get an iMac today, but I'm gonna wait a few more weeks instead. In the meantime, I hope you'll check back in periodically to tell us more about your conversion.
12 - reggie von woic
No right click button--No thanks...
13 - Bruce Kratofil
Reggie -
I just plugged in a USB mouse that I had lying around, and the right click button works, as does the scroll wheel (the scroll wheel works within Firefox, at least)
I'll need to check how the right button works in some of the iLife programs.
14 - Howard Dratch
Congratulations! You will end up a happy Mac guy always dressed for artistic works and able to delete whole pages at a single bound.
I, too, bit the bullet and replaced my G3 iBook with a Macbook Pro which I have been working at for a few weeks -- very happily. After playing with dozens of pc's with Vista, it is wonderful to have Tiger (Leopard is now said to be waiting for the summer, I heard) and very happy with the quality of the hardware.
An employee here bought an HP for his son through Telmex's contract (computer, broadband, credit and added to the monthly bill). It arrived DOA. The phone company refused to listen to complaints - not their computer and HP screwed around 4 months before actually giving him a new machine.
I would have bought the more appropriately priced Macbook if only they had offered a 15" screen (I was in the States to have one eye repaired of cataracts, the other next trip) rather than going down to 13".
Suggestion: try NeoOffice freeware for a Word-styled app (and/or Google's Docs and Spreadsheets) and stick with Firefox and Camino for browsers. Safari is better than it was but still Safari. Onyx and Applejack also work well at cleaning the Mac, running maintenance chores, etc. and MenuMeters puts a lot of useful information on the Menu Bar. Xpad also lives happily on the Mac and gives you a really sophisticated alternative to Stickies -- and is freeware.
Welcome to the land of Mac and may all your dreams arrive on time and be user-friendly, even sexy.