Disillusion
After reading blogs by ardent Mac lovers, I formed the opinion that the only thing holding me back from the wonderful world of Mac was the price. But what's money to a big spender like me? So i ponied up the extra dough. Only $400 more than the Compaq, but it's a classier machine, right?
Not exactly.
What are my problems? 1. I cannot get it to recognize my printer, scanner or camera. This is tough for someone like me, who lives only to scan pictures onto the computer. I also use print my photos and use the resulting prints for my artwork, because it's difficult to persuade eight people to stand still in one position for three weeks.
Have I mentioned that the Mighty Mouse that comes with the thing is clumsy and hard to use? I believe I have.
It also doesn't have as much memory as the aforementioned Compaq. It's slower than my late lamented Dell dinosaur was.
2. The manual, which is about 3 x 3 inches square, and thin enough to use to clean out the spaces between your teeth. In other words, not helpful.
3. Online help? Fugeddiboudit.
So I went to Barnes & Noble and bought two large books titled something like "A Guide to the iMac for Stupid, slow People who don't learn very fast," and "Macintosh for Not Very Smart Retards." After getting them home, I found them not at all helpful.
So I took them back, and the store manager, assuming that I have difficulties with the English language, exchanged them for even dumber books which don't tell me anything. But they have lots of pictures. In color.
So tell me, what's so great about the Mac?
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5 comments:
It's got a nice design, except for the mouse, of course. You also get to feel all warm and fuzzy when you think of all the liberal media outlets you are now a part of, at least in spirit. Then there's Safari. Nice browser. Too bad Yahoo mail doesn't recognize it. Just remember to steer clear of Yahoo.
I'm one of the first Mac users, and while I have to use Windows at work, I wouldn't dream of using Windows at home.
And while I'm a long time Mac user, I will NOT upgrade to Leopard. While Leopard is not as big of a step backwards as Vista is to XP, Leopard has broken key (& easy to use) parts of the Mac GUI. Also, some drivers for printers, etc, are not getting updated very quickly for Leopard, so if you have older hardware that may be why you can't get a driver for that hardware. (You have looked online to download the driver software for those devices, right?)
Of course, you should have fun with Vista and it's nagging you every other mouse click "Are you sure you want to do that!?"
-- chicopanther
The Mac Killed My Inner Child
You may already be familiar with it, and it's a good 8-9 years old, but it's quite hilarious and well-done. I recommend it to all and sundry.
For those newbies out there, Apple used to have a very effective ad campaign describing the Mac as a way to "liberate your inner child", hence the title.
> Of course, you should have fun with Vista and its nagging you every other mouse click "Are you sure you want to do that!?"
The biggest problem with Vista is really got more to do with it being a massive memory hog. I've been using it regularly on my laptop for the last 7 months, and:
a) It REALLY should not be installed on any machine with less than 2gig of RAM (3 is better), or with less than a dual-core 1.8ghz or better processor (pref. at least 2ghz). Those codicils, right now, still allow for a machine in the $600 range, easily (contrast to the original Compaq Transportable -- 9" green screen, 40+ lbs, and $4000 in 1984 dollars -- LOL).
b) Most of the other problems can be turned off. They're annoying but not an issue after that -- and if you lack the expertise to do so, then you can find someone who has it at your local middle school (not a dig, just a fact) -- so go ask your niece or nephew to fix it.
c) There can be specific driver and software compatibility issues, but this is lessening with time and really more a matter of just checking on any add-on hardware (including printers, etc.) and software which you want to use -- in most cases you might need to figure an upgrade's expense into your cost calculations. Not trivial, but not the same thing as something being non-functional or non-available.
I'm not a major fan of Vista, but its problems are overblown when you take into account the above.
As far as XP goes, it's a hog, too. I'm writing this on a machine using Windows 2000 (the laptop is the one with Vista), and it works like a charm for everything that's not game playing. Sooner or later that won't be the case, but I expect I'll just leapfrog XP on my own equipment.
Miriam, Mac became a Fundamentalist Cult years ago. "MAC IS THE SUPERIOR SYSTEM! MAC IS THE SUPERIOR SYSTEM! DEATH TO ALL HERETICS! APPLE AKBAR! APPLE AKBAR! APPLE AKBAR!"
You see, the histories of Mac and Islam have a lot of parallels. Early success, followed by a smug plateau while their rivals pulled ahead of them, each generation improving on the last until Mac was surpassed. When Mackinistas finally ran out of Kool-Aid and lifted their eyes from their Adoration of The Superior System, they saw Windows had surpassed them (which Could Not Be) and retreated into Fundamentalism. Hence the term "APPLE AKBAR!"
I was excommunicated and shunned by several friends when I switched my home system from Mac to Windows around eight years ago. You should have seen the reaction of my former Mac guru (who always used to steer me to THE most expensive peripherals): Bulging eyes, beet-red face, neck veins and tendons popping out, and the hysterical screams of "DIE, HERETIC!"
Hey, something is wrong with your site in Opera, you should check into it.
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