I jumped to Mac from an Amiga. First rig was a Performa 6116 in the mid 90s. Decades later-I'm still happy using Macs. I prefer the OS and really dig the design/feel of the hardware. I'm a video/photography hobbyist.
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Why choose a Mac?
- Thread starter MajorFubar
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The Amiga and C64 those were the days. How far we have come.
I was running a BBS from 1987 to around 1991 with a C64 and then later a C128. Part time, nights and weekends. All American BBS (AABBS), the only color BBS software going at the time.
I started on a TI 99/4A with the optional cassette tape drive. Crazy to think about...
They had to drag me away from my Amiga, but I gave in and went down the PC route in 1998 after buying a printer that I couldn't use, and internet functionality [on the Amiga] was sketchy at best. Mostly I hated it and was happy to move to Mac in 2011.
TRS-80 CoCo. Dad brought it home in 1980 - I was 10.
I remember half contemplating a PC in the late 90s, when I saw a used system advertised for sale. It was tempting in that it was Internet ready, unlike my even then ancient Mac, and it had good printer. It was used, so I figured I could take delight in buying an existing Windows licensed computer and run it into the ground. But I resisted. Later, when I came into daily contact with Windows 95, I was happy I'd resisted. My Mac might be old, but it worked better. (Although I wasn't doing home Internet yet.)
My first ever computer experiences were with various TRS-80 computers. My elementary school got some CoCos when I was in 6th grade (early 80s). My junior high had a computer lab with TRS-80 Model 3 computers. I think I saw exactly one Apple in junior high (some sort of Apple II), which was just sitting around a teacher's classroom doing nothing. My first Apple exposure was in high school, where the computer lab was a mix of Apple IIs. (Including 2 actual Apple II computers.)
My mom was a teacher and one of her classes was computer science. So, we had a lot of different computers come in and out of the house because of her 'lab' at school. I can remember a ][e in 1983 I think. For me, I ended up with a C64 in 1984. Considering that the C64 was color and needed nothing else (besides a drive, tape or disk) to run games with good audio I never pursued a Mac. All the Macs at the time were dinky screens and black and white. The C64 hooked up to a color TV or a color monitor, most of which were bigger than the screen of the Mac.
My mom got her own Mac around 1992-93 I believe but by that time I was PC. I didn't turn until 2003.
And the Mac also had little software back then. And it was also considerably more expensive than the C64.
I remember reading an article in the 80s talking about how to get started with word processing on the cheap. It was based around the C64. I can't remember the article, but it was probably some scheme using an existing TV set, a tape drive for data storage, etc. With the option as finances permitted getting a real monitor and a floppy disk drive. (Ah...those days when floppy disk drives were expensive luxury items that everyone wanted!)
Oh...yes, my first Mac had one of those small monochrome screens. I never complained about it, but my previous experience had mostly been cruder monochrome displays. So I didn't miss color since I wasn't really used to it. And the Mac screen was good for what I needed. But for games, color would have been better.
Looking back, the limitation that strikes me now isn't the fact that it was monochrome--it was how small the screens were!
Looking back, the limitation that strikes me now isn't the fact that it was monochrome--it was how small the screens were!
Yeah, I forget what 'word processor' I had on my C64, but I was using it to write and print term papers during high school. I also had Print Shop, so any time anyone had a birthday out came the really long banner print. I used the heck out of my Star Micronics SG-10 dot-matrix printer. I still have a box of that old printer paper that was purchased shortly before inkjets and laser printers came into our house. I use it as backup whenever we run out of copy paper. You just have to tear off the side strips and separate the sheets.
Ah the joys* of waiting 15 minutes for a game to load from cassette, sometimes only for it to fail with a read error during the last few seconds.
In total, probably months of my life wasted watching loading bars on a CRT TV screen, that I won't get back.
But I try to remind myself of experiences like that on the occasions when I get frustrated by the spinning beachball and have to wait maybe 15 seconds for Logic to fully load a complex project.
*didn't seem joyous at the time.
In total, probably months of my life wasted watching loading bars on a CRT TV screen, that I won't get back.
But I try to remind myself of experiences like that on the occasions when I get frustrated by the spinning beachball and have to wait maybe 15 seconds for Logic to fully load a complex project.
*didn't seem joyous at the time.
You reminded me that I probably still have a supply of that dot matrix printer paper. I think there might also be a small supply of dot matrix printer Christmas stationery. Then, when digging through a box a year or so back, I discovered a color ImageWriter II ribbon. I only used it when I needed to print something that had a bit of color--the rest of the time I used cheap black ribbons. (This was suggested at the computer store.) I wouldn't be surprised if that expensive ribbon wasn't almost new from the view of being actually used--but still useless now, due to age!
I remember how slow things could be with Apple II floppy drives. It was such a shock going to the Mac, where the floppy drives seemed faster--and then the hard drive (which I had from day 1) even faster! I should remind myself of what it used to be like whenever it seems like things are taking forever on my current system!
My first Mac was a 6100/66 which had a separate 486 66 MHz. card on board. I could dual boot System 7 or Windows 3.11. It was pretty neat back in the day. Sold it off for a Power PC 7100.
The SG-10 had a spool to spool ribbon. I can remember maximizing it by unwinding it and then flipping it to print on the ribbon from the backside. At one point the mechanism to advance the ribbon stopped working, so whenever I printed, I stood there with my finger slowly spinning one of the spools so the ribbon moved.
Things got a lot better for me when my parents bought a 1541 floppy drive for my C64.
That does bring back some memories. The C64 is where I started, and later added a couple 1541 drives. Eventually I found a SX64, that was Commodore's "portable" unit with a 5" color screen and disk drive built into the unit. Actually kind of a heavy thing to lug around. I believe the video chip went out and I ended up donating it to a guy who liked to collect computer oddities and older models.
MS-DOS machines and Windows came later for many years, partially job related, but eventually migrated to a 27" iMac after using an iPhone for about 4 years. It took a little adjusting at first but now I enjoy how the Apple products work together mostly effortlessly. Ended up adding an iPad, MacBook, AirPods. These days I prefer Apple's approach to overall user security. To me it's worth the extra cost of their products.
I have Macs coming out my ears…and iPhones. But with my Macs, nothing is newer than 2009. My main MacPro is 2009 vintage, running Mojave. But I have a Late 2009 Mac Mini running Catalina.
I converted to Mac extremely late (2003) but have been using them in the jobs I've had since 1999. I just prefer the OS.
All this nostalgia, has brought back fond memories when I was at school.
One of my friends got a ZX81 (black and white), and wrote some 'fantastic' games.
Well, at the time we thought they where unbelievable.......
One of my friends got a ZX81 (black and white), and wrote some 'fantastic' games.
Well, at the time we thought they where unbelievable.......
When I was a kid I grew up on Apple / Mac computers. Mostly windows from teen on and especially college on. Did the iPhone thing for the 2g and 3g then moved to Android.
I just recently came back to iPhone and Mac. My primary reason was integration between the phone and computer, that opened the door for me. I won't get into my Android complaints but on the windows side I've been frustrated with Microsoft for a bit. Mostly constant forced updates, occasional major driver issue, the system constantly restarting and needing to log in, being virtually forced to link offline accounts to live account, the general loss of speed over the months as the system bogs down, increased bloat and generally felt like I wanted a change etc..
Windows is feeling quite bloated. Has for a long time now but its starting to grind on me.
My needs were modest. I surf, use Plex, seed stuff out, light photo / video editing, surfing etc.
I tried Chromebook since I had been on android but the integration between android and chrome os is minimal and not much improved over windows. It is also very limiting.
When I got the iPhones in I played with them for a couple of days and decided I wanted to try a MacBook Air. I was pretty much sold on it after the first night of using it. Once I got everything setup I enjoyed the fluid, streamlined OS and the integration with the iPhone. Moving over files on Android to windows was a chore, requiring many steps and web interfaces, unzipping files on download and then finally getting to work with them. Often when I would scan to PDF on android it would take multiple attempts as Android would crop the image oddly or it would only recognize half of the document. Just a pain in the ass.
IOS was easy right from the start. One scan in notes, air drop and on my Mac. So easy.
Hardware is more pricy but its premium. My MacBook blows my Chromebook battery life out of the water. More than double. PC, forget about it. My Lenovo laptop would die in 3 or 4 hours even throttled on battery saver. My FIL has a 5 year old MacBook Air that I still going strong on the same battery. My Lenovo PC after 6 months was already seeing degradation, same with the Chromebook. There is a difference. Worth the premium? Many would say no, I say yes.
I'll be upgrading my home server setup to an iMac 27 when they launch here in 4 or 5 months. I've been enjoying learning macOS and for my use it is more than enough. I have a PS5 and Xbox Series X for gaming so I don't need a gaming PC. All in all I've been very happy with my purchases and will be moving deeper into the ecosystem.
I just recently came back to iPhone and Mac. My primary reason was integration between the phone and computer, that opened the door for me. I won't get into my Android complaints but on the windows side I've been frustrated with Microsoft for a bit. Mostly constant forced updates, occasional major driver issue, the system constantly restarting and needing to log in, being virtually forced to link offline accounts to live account, the general loss of speed over the months as the system bogs down, increased bloat and generally felt like I wanted a change etc..
Windows is feeling quite bloated. Has for a long time now but its starting to grind on me.
My needs were modest. I surf, use Plex, seed stuff out, light photo / video editing, surfing etc.
I tried Chromebook since I had been on android but the integration between android and chrome os is minimal and not much improved over windows. It is also very limiting.
When I got the iPhones in I played with them for a couple of days and decided I wanted to try a MacBook Air. I was pretty much sold on it after the first night of using it. Once I got everything setup I enjoyed the fluid, streamlined OS and the integration with the iPhone. Moving over files on Android to windows was a chore, requiring many steps and web interfaces, unzipping files on download and then finally getting to work with them. Often when I would scan to PDF on android it would take multiple attempts as Android would crop the image oddly or it would only recognize half of the document. Just a pain in the ass.
IOS was easy right from the start. One scan in notes, air drop and on my Mac. So easy.
Hardware is more pricy but its premium. My MacBook blows my Chromebook battery life out of the water. More than double. PC, forget about it. My Lenovo laptop would die in 3 or 4 hours even throttled on battery saver. My FIL has a 5 year old MacBook Air that I still going strong on the same battery. My Lenovo PC after 6 months was already seeing degradation, same with the Chromebook. There is a difference. Worth the premium? Many would say no, I say yes.
I'll be upgrading my home server setup to an iMac 27 when they launch here in 4 or 5 months. I've been enjoying learning macOS and for my use it is more than enough. I have a PS5 and Xbox Series X for gaming so I don't need a gaming PC. All in all I've been very happy with my purchases and will be moving deeper into the ecosystem.
It really does depend on the software you want to run. I prefer MS Office and there is currently no hope of running it on the new macs. As others have said, a Mac is good if you only want to do what Apple thinks you should be able to do. “It just works” doesn’t for me any more. My next computer will probably be a pc since it runs the software I want to run and is more compatible with the business world. I will continue to use my 2015 MBP until it dies, and iPad for media consumption. For what it’s worth, my first computer experience was on a Bendix G16 vacuum tube computer.
There is a thread elsewhere I've just read on this very forum stating MS Office is now M1 optimised, so one of you is wrong. Even if it isn't M1 optimised you can still run it via Rosetta 2.