A new world awaits-assuming you will take the plunge
A few years back, I was working as a student technician at my high school, for the credits, easy grade... lets be honest, it was mainly to have an excuse to work on computers and avoid those long drawn out high school football rally. At that time, I would have rather worked on the mainframe to the Unix based Novell network, than sit through some long drawn out speech about how my high school team was going to defeat the other local team.
It was at this time that my loathing hatred for Unix, and anything that was not based solely on the Windows structure solidified. This loathing I had, would eventually lead me to "the dark side" aka Apple. This change from the light to darkness was not something I took lighthearted. No, I did take it lighthearted, for I was so fed up with the nonsense that had become the Windows universe with the constant virus detection, spyware, malware, ad ware, spam, and all of the other crap that has become common place in the world of Windows.... You see so little of this in the world of Apple (more on this later).
My first Apple was a Macbook Pro, 17 inch with the 2.4 Ghz Intel processor and 4 gb of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Great machine, ran (still does, minus cruddy battery life) like a charm. Along with this purchase came a job offer to sell Macs at the university. Time went on, and I was forced to once again look into a PC to carry with me to class. As such I purchased an Asus Eee PC, with the SHD option (I was bike riding to class and this setup made sense) Not long after that, the netbook began to have issues with horrid battery life (making my 17 inch mac with the 6 year old battery look really really good) so I decided to try an HP Mini. Battery was much better on this netbook (as was the processing speeds, memory upgrades, USB access etc) however with time this computer eventually gave up and it was time to reinstall windows.
Installing windows is not hard, I'll say that first and upfront. However, reinstalling Windows on a netbook with no optical drive is. It is a problem that only gets more difficult with the lack of an external optical drive (at this time the cheapest I was able to find was more than a new netbook). Here comes the 2nd Apple. A 13 inch Macbook Pro with 2.53 Ghz and 4 gb of ram clocking in as 1067 MHz DDR3. Amazing. Simply Amazing. This mac has been my longest running "class bound" computer.
But things change. Times change. The economy sucks, we all know it, and we all have been affected by it in one way or another. So it's back to the grind stone for me, and with that comes the "joys and thrills" that only a Windows 7 (or if I'm stuck in hell.... Vista) can provide. Will I ever not have a Mac now that I have joined the forces of the dark side? Short answer no. However, I will add this, Bootcamp rocks, and now my beloved Macs run Windows XP alongside OSX, the light and dark sides collide, and this time its a good match.
But why do I have such a hatred of Vista you might be asking yourself... well here is why. Vista was a piece of junk even in the beta stages. Trust me, I know, I was one of the "lucky" few to get to test it before launch. The first beta was wicked, I had high hopes, but found many issues that were "fixed" later. The second beta was just horrid. I cried myself to sleep the first time I had it running. Oh wait, it never installed. My system far exceeded the min requirements as set forth by Microsoft Development, and it still wouldn't install. And wouldn't you know that the launch of Vista was soon to follow?
Best thing to happen to a PC running XP was the Vista launch. Here is why, XP sells soared, XP soon got a new service pack, which by the numbers made the OS BETTER than Vista. "Truer irony has yet to befall my ears" I was once told, then shortly after Vista came Windows 7. Vista, one of the shortest running and sold OS made by Microsoft.
Oh well at least I got two coasters out of the betas.
It was at this time that my loathing hatred for Unix, and anything that was not based solely on the Windows structure solidified. This loathing I had, would eventually lead me to "the dark side" aka Apple. This change from the light to darkness was not something I took lighthearted. No, I did take it lighthearted, for I was so fed up with the nonsense that had become the Windows universe with the constant virus detection, spyware, malware, ad ware, spam, and all of the other crap that has become common place in the world of Windows.... You see so little of this in the world of Apple (more on this later).
My first Apple was a Macbook Pro, 17 inch with the 2.4 Ghz Intel processor and 4 gb of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Great machine, ran (still does, minus cruddy battery life) like a charm. Along with this purchase came a job offer to sell Macs at the university. Time went on, and I was forced to once again look into a PC to carry with me to class. As such I purchased an Asus Eee PC, with the SHD option (I was bike riding to class and this setup made sense) Not long after that, the netbook began to have issues with horrid battery life (making my 17 inch mac with the 6 year old battery look really really good) so I decided to try an HP Mini. Battery was much better on this netbook (as was the processing speeds, memory upgrades, USB access etc) however with time this computer eventually gave up and it was time to reinstall windows.
Installing windows is not hard, I'll say that first and upfront. However, reinstalling Windows on a netbook with no optical drive is. It is a problem that only gets more difficult with the lack of an external optical drive (at this time the cheapest I was able to find was more than a new netbook). Here comes the 2nd Apple. A 13 inch Macbook Pro with 2.53 Ghz and 4 gb of ram clocking in as 1067 MHz DDR3. Amazing. Simply Amazing. This mac has been my longest running "class bound" computer.
But things change. Times change. The economy sucks, we all know it, and we all have been affected by it in one way or another. So it's back to the grind stone for me, and with that comes the "joys and thrills" that only a Windows 7 (or if I'm stuck in hell.... Vista) can provide. Will I ever not have a Mac now that I have joined the forces of the dark side? Short answer no. However, I will add this, Bootcamp rocks, and now my beloved Macs run Windows XP alongside OSX, the light and dark sides collide, and this time its a good match.
But why do I have such a hatred of Vista you might be asking yourself... well here is why. Vista was a piece of junk even in the beta stages. Trust me, I know, I was one of the "lucky" few to get to test it before launch. The first beta was wicked, I had high hopes, but found many issues that were "fixed" later. The second beta was just horrid. I cried myself to sleep the first time I had it running. Oh wait, it never installed. My system far exceeded the min requirements as set forth by Microsoft Development, and it still wouldn't install. And wouldn't you know that the launch of Vista was soon to follow?
Best thing to happen to a PC running XP was the Vista launch. Here is why, XP sells soared, XP soon got a new service pack, which by the numbers made the OS BETTER than Vista. "Truer irony has yet to befall my ears" I was once told, then shortly after Vista came Windows 7. Vista, one of the shortest running and sold OS made by Microsoft.
Oh well at least I got two coasters out of the betas.
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