The times they are a’changin.

I used to be a big PC guy. Both in the sense I was fat - and that I vowed only to ever use PC’s.

For me, they did everything I needed. I could play games, I could download and watch shit.. I could keep in touch with friends.. send e-mails and surf the web - all from one place with relative ease. Sure, i’d get the occasional problem, but I worked in IT anyway, so sorting these things out was no big chore for me - i’d rather not do it.. but it was part and parcel of having a PC.

…Sorting out problems with PC’s, day in, day out. Not good times, trust me. One time a guy called me late at night, his screen was on, but there was no signal to the monitor. He’d tried moving the mouse and hitting keys, but the PC would not come out of power saving mode. I was determined to not have to restart the machine - as he had likely not saved his work - and having him moan at me about how he lost it would have really pissed me off.

After a few minutes on the phone, he decided to tell me there had been a power cut a while back..

“Have you turned the computer back on?” said I.

“Oh.. I didn’t think of that!”

It’s a good job you can’t stab people via telephone.

I came to University - and couldn’t get away from PC problems. My PC was riddled with problems that I couldn’t figure out - and trust me, how I tried. Being a poor student, meant not being able to replace hardware that *might* be broken. Also, my friends knowing that I had a background in IT, would regale me with their stories of woe.. how the were doing X and Y happened. “Fucking windows” coupled with comedy fist shaking.

All my problems were solved when I became a Linux convert in my second year of University - I fell in love - mainly, with BASH (tab key, I love you), and the sheer usability, versatility and awesome stability that Linux offers. The only problems I had with it were not so great hardware or software support. Using Linux meant that it was a bit more challenging to do things like manage my iPod, and watch stuff that I had downloaded. Also, while open source software can generally do the job - I do prefer commercial software - afterall, if they are charging money for a product, it has to be able to operate at a certain standard (isn’t that right, Microsoft? oh wait..), otherwise people won’t buy it. I also got rather annoyed at not being able to watch HD content due to dodgy graphics driver support in Linux.

Anyway, I decided to get a new laptop. It was nice - it ran smoothly.. I even installed Vista Ultimate on it, and enjoyed the spangly doodars and shiny wotsits that it had to offer me. Then it all went downhill. Things started to not work. My wireless card in particular. The laptop started to crash a lot - random freezing, applications just giving up while in use. It really started to grate on me.. So I downgraded to XP, hoping this would help me out.

It didn’t.

To cut a long and boring story short, I got really pissed off at my laptop. As if by some not-so-evil twist of fate, it got wine (and orange juice - not at the same time mind) spilled on it. It’s functionality deteriorated until it finally started to sporadically boot, which I was really not happy with.

I had decided I had had enough. I didn’t want to play games anymore.. I wanted things to just work. I didn’t want to have to hunt down hacked drivers to make my graphics card properly with the operating system.. I didn’t want to have to spend an hour trying to figure out why my PC wouldn’t boot into Windows.

So I bought a Mac - but don’t worry, this post doesn’t turn into a “LOLZ MACZ R DA BEST PCZ R 4 DA LOZE!”.

So, why did I choose a Mac?

Well, one of the biggest selling points, was that the operating system was Unix based - and therefore had a BASH console out of the box (mmmm, BASH). Quite sad, I know - but as my Uni course requires some knowledge of Linux, this couldn’t be a bad move.

Also, unified hardware - meaning almost non-existent driver issues. No more trying to find graphics drivers that will play nicely with the other hardware and software I have installed. Not only this - but logic dictates, that unified hardware, means better performance from said hardware, thanks to optimised drivers. And not optimised drivers that have been optimised by some dude who has too much time on his hands…

Support for software is no longer bad. I remember (this was back at school mind you) when doing things that a PC could do on a Mac - was not that easy. If you had a file from a PC, the likelihood was that it wouldn’t play nice with the Mac, and you’d have to jump through a few hoops for your final solution to maybe work. I guess since Windows has monopolised the market for so long, Apple had to do something to make Mac OS more Windows friendly - so they did, and they did it well.

A Mac offered me what I wanted. I wanted minimal hassle and maximum usability - sure I may have had to pay a little more for - but boy - was it worth it. I love my Mac - and I don’t have “PC ENVY COS U CANT RUN FARCRY2!1 LUZL!1!1!11!” or whatever the jokers on the internet would likely say - as they are unable to accept that someone does not agree with their narrow minded opinion, that spending thousands on a system to play a game (that my xbox 360 that cost £200 could.. but that’s a whole other kettle of fish) is not the best way to go about things.

It’s just that RIGHT NOW, a Mac has more to offer me than a PC. I have no problems with PC’s - they are still great, and I can accept they have their issues.. I’m not trying to convert people to Mac’s.. But if you are tired of PC’s and the shit that inevitably comes with most of them (at least, in my experience - of which there has been a lot) - then a Mac may well be the answer.

Anyway. Thanks for reading all that crap. I don’t even really know what I was trying to say. But fuck it.