On the Mac Track

[tzikeh]

As of February, 2003, Apple Computer accounted for only 2.3% of all new computer sales in the U.S. Yet it seems every other person I know has a Mac (or two).

Is it just disproportionate in fandom? What are the real numbers here? Let me know if you guys have Windows or Mac (or other) - and if it's a new (or newer) machine, why you chose what you chose. And send your friends over.

ETA: 16 entries and we're 50/50.

19 entries and it's 10 Windows, 9 Mac.

20 entries - 10 Windows, 10 Mac.

28 entries - 15 Windows, 13 Mac.

Comments

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Mac, as you know. Why? Because it's just more fun, that's all.

Plus, Microsoft? Evil.

[snacky]

Here from my friendsfriends list...

I have a Mac at home, but at work I'm subjected to a PC. Sad but true.

Anyway, I love my Mac, and would never think of trading it for a PC.

[loreleif.livejournal.com]

PCs all the way, baby. Been on 'em for ages, Mac drives me crazy. I've used Macs at work, but gah. Even Windows at its worst... well, okay, at its worst I can't stand it, but I specifically got Win2K, just so I can tweak it more easily. I'm a programmer at heart, even if I haven't learned a language since BASIC (unless HTML et al count), and I hate not being able to get behind Mac's desktop and truly customise it.

(But yeah, doesn't mean MS isn't Evil.)

[barkley.livejournal.com]

The main computer is the iMac.

See Laura's answer for the whys and wherefores. Plus at the time I switched, I was considering doing video/audio things with it. I chose the latest iMac over the tower because it had everything I wanted. Plus, very drool worthy.

[destina.livejournal.com]

PC - less than a year old, running Windows XP. This is my third computer, and all were PCs. No Macs for me. I initially chose a PC because at the time, some programs and software I wanted wasn't compatible with Apple computers. That was back in...what, 95? Now I'm comfortable with what I have, and I don't see any reason to change.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Mac here. Why? Well, I grew up with it (we got one of the original 128K macs when I was in middle school). But I've stuck with it because they're easy to use, and I can be legitimately Microsoft-free with a mac.

I've owned *lots* of different macs. My latest one (and my baaaaby) is one of the original iBooks. But now that I got my GRANT! (ahem) I think I'm going to buy something newer. Whee!

-J

[mtgat]

We've got two PC's, one P3, one two month old WinXP. The games Boy wants to play are usually only available for Windows, and the things I want a computer for (writing, surfing, a little photomanip now and then) can be done just as easily with either a Mac or a PC.

[lorij.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, I'm a PC user at work and at home. I hate to say it, but Macs confuse the hell out of me I can never find anything. I'm sure I would get used to it eventually, but...

I just bought a new Dell Dimension and it's so pretty and has a kick ass graphics card. Due to the fact that I game, it's just easier to have a PC for compatibility. Just about anything will work on a PC, but that's not the case for a Mac.

This is not to say that I don't drool over the G4 tower (like the one you have in your icon) with a cinema display. Because it's so pretty and shiny!

[renenet.livejournal.com]

I have a PC — just bought a new one (my second) in January. I chose what I chose (okay, I had heres_luck choose) because PC is what I've become used to, and because I wasn't buying a new monitor or printer, just the computer. My first computer back during college was a Mac because that's what I was familiar with from the campus computing environment. By 1999 when I was starting grad school and shopping for something to replace that five-year-old machine, I went with a PC because...um...it's hard to remember why exactly, but a couple of my most computery friends were PC users (I'm so susceptible to influence) and the computer lab in my new grad program had only PCs and my new workplace was only PCs and even the workplace I was leaving was switching from Mac to PC. I was concerned about ease of working with files between school, work, and home, so going with a PC just seemed to make sense at the time. I'm sure I was scarred by my largely unsuccessful mid-90s experiences of trying to work cross-platform, although that is much less of an issue these days.

Slightly tangential, but I was talking about computers with my sister's boyfriend who is *so* not a computer geek. He was telling me that he wants to by a laptop as his first computer at home, and he didn't understand what I was asking him when I asked if he was looking for a PC or a Mac. He understood that PC meant "personal computer" but he thought that would mean any personal computer, as opposed to a server or a mainframe or something. I explained that when people talk about PCs they mean Windows operating system-based computers (he understood that because that's what he uses at work, as opposed to the Mac his parents have at home), but when he asked why the terminology worked that way I had nothing for him.

[unmisha.livejournal.com]

Let's see, my computers:
Mac clone, circa 1997
Mac 8600, circa 1999
Mac G3 laptop, circa 2000
PC - Gateway Profile, circa 2001

The PC I got through a work purchase program for an insane deal, and I plan to keep it around and running for my legacy PC games, but other than that, I prefer Macs. They're easier to support, incredibly long lasting - all of mine still work, which is amazing longevity for a computer and they're beautiful and elegant in a way that PCs can only dream of achieving. My next computer will probably be either an iMac or one of their laptops, depending on how long my current laptop survives.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Funny you should ask. I've always been a Mac girl -- started on the very first IBM microcomputers (yes, that was what they were called back in the Dark Ages) and the Wang systems (always good for a joke). Then my computer geek friends came home with an Apple, then in a few years a ... Lisa! Remember the Lisa, precursor to the Mac? I just remember how we all looked at it and went, it's so cool. It's all set up for graphics (they were designing some of the very first computer home video games). We were enthralled. That's always been the big thing -- Macs were designed for designers and publishers, and that was my field. I had to work on PageMaker on Windows 3.1 at one job. I have earned my hatred of Windows, whereas more people who hate Macs seem to have not earned their hatred, they just hate 'em on principle, believing you can't tinker with them.

Anyways... I've been talking with Killa about getting a vidding system. I don't think I can afford it, and the OS X loss of all my favorite programs concerns me deeply, but... at this point I doubt I'll ever make another vid on my own if I don't do something (although I suppose some would say that's not much of a loss). It's either the iMac or the G4 tower, I don't know right now. It's very daunting and scary and I'm really freaked out about it, because I can't troubleshoot or understand this stuff.

[eliade.livejournal.com]

Simplistic CompUSA PC at home with Windows 98; and for work, my new laptop, something called an "Evo," running Windows XP.

I did recently see someone playing around with a Mac during a Perl class--the instructor was projecting the desktop on screen as he fiddled to get things running--and it looked different and interesting. That's my only exposure to the M-World.

[nomadicwriter]

Mine's a PC; somewhat battered, and running Windows '98. I've always used PCs because we never had Macs available to us at school or at college, so I'm just accustomed to them by now. They use PCs at my university, too, at least in the Cybernetics/Robotics department.

I checked my site stats, and about 6.4% of my visitors are on Macs. (That's from a sample of about 15,000 hits since the beginning of the year.)

~ Nomad

[heresluck]

Windows PC. Haven't bought a whole new system for a while now -- it's been piecemeal upgrades (new box, new monitor a year or so later, recent upgrade to DVD-ROM, and so on). I loathe Microsoft, and if I could I would switch to Linux, but Linux doesn't have a really good word processing program, and too many games won't work, so practicality defeats principle.

The games thing is one reason I originally got a PC back in college. That, and: Macs annoy me. I know that's partly because I've been working on PCs for years now, but at the time I purchased the first PC I was working half on Macs (computer lab) and half on PCs (using friends' machines). And Macs just irritated me. They still do. I have to use Macs at the labor union office, and I struggle with the OS (I can't FIND anything!) and the physicality (round mouse, keyboard apparently made for hobbits).

Which reminds me: marketing. I don't want a computer that's cute and teal. I want a no-nonsense machine that will do what the fuck I tell it to do. I don't respond well to "look, it's all round and bubble-gum colored!" ad campaigns. I assume there are Macs that are designed for more than cuteness, but I've yet to encounter one personally or in ads.

[finabair.livejournal.com]

We don't need to replace *nearly* as often, I suspect.

Also, there is that work-vs-home dichotomy for most of us.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

New PowerBook G4 (Mac, natch). Just got it...um, a little over a week ago. Madly in love with it.

I've always been a Mac girl. :-)

Work vs Home

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm only interested in what we choose for ourselves, not what we have to work on at our jobs.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

If you're daunted and scared, Mac is definitely the way to go. OSX and the video-related software bundled with it is all about holding the hand of the freaked out digital-vidding-newbie. Although I lost my taste for iMovie after four vids, I highly recommend it for someone just starting out in the medium. And hey, it comes free with the computer. You can't beat that.

katallison just got a Mac laptop for $850 on eBay. There's hope. Which is a good thing, because the idea of you never making another vid on your own is just sad.

[falzalot.livejournal.com]

I was a mac-only person until about 4 years ago, when my jerk brother talked me into buying a PC that he was going to build for me. But I still had a powerbook, up until he said he'd fix it and ended up selling it. *sob*

So now I guess I'm a pc person. But at least it's a relatively new one, built by somebody *NOT* my brother, and running 2k, since XP is evil. One of the reasons for the upgrade was ripping, but then I never bothered doing it. Oh well. :-) And since I *cough* inherited *cough* some software, I probably won't be switching desktop systems anytime soon.

[roga.livejournal.com]

We've always had PCs, because Dad works at Intel and that's what you get. Besides which, I don't recall anyone I know ever having a Mac...

Re: Work vs Home

[finabair.livejournal.com]

But it does affect decisions, too. We used to HAVE Macs at work when I first started here; when work took away all the Macs and switched to PCs, almost everyone I work with ALSO switched to PCs at home.

Fen, in general, are fairly likely to be holdouts in that regard, I'd think. A lot of us draw REALLY BIG LINES between work and home, for some reason...

[prillalar]

Mac -- since forever. I've got a lovely Snow iMac right now. OS X rules the universe! My experience with PCs, both working on them and supporting them at an ISP, has been rather negative.

The number one all time reason to own a Mac: BBEdit. I use it for HTML, for coding, for writing. I would be lost without it.

And I want to lick your icon, she said suggestively.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

BBEdit is the Killer App, and OS X does, indeed, rule. And I hug my Final Cut Pro to my bosom.

However, if you're in the mood for a truly hilarious parody of the "Switch" ad campaign, and you can appreciate the "quirks" of OS X, and you can download a 48MB file, check out bitch.mpg at http://jeremy.zawodny.com/media/

Honest to God, by the end of it I was laughing so hard I was crying.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

but when he asked why the terminology worked that way I had nothing for him.

Same reason "Windows" is now a copyrighted operating system name, when it was originally one of the three big feature names in the Macintosh when it first premiered (window, icon, mouse). Microsoft's market saturation equated all these words with their product.

Macintosh

[natlyn.livejournal.com]

Just got an eMac. I started on Macintosh at work back in the late '80s. My first home computer was an old MacII the job was throwing out. Whenever I tried to work on a PC, I'd become incredible frustrated. I've now been working on a PC at work for 2 years, so not as frustrated, but it's still not intuitive. Also, the things PC users get excited about are ususally things the Mac could do for years.

[(Anonymous)]

PC at home. PC at work.

Love 'em.

Regina

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

PC all the way. I tried a Mac in a store one time, I nearly killed it. It wouldn't give me back my diskette, and I tried to make it. It wouldn't yield and neither would I. The store manager asked me to step away. I did. I won't go near them.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

I have owned four macs and one pc. I'll never buy another pc. Mac rulz.

The fact that the world does not know this indicates the sort of things that are wrong with the world.

[smaragdgrun.livejournal.com]

I have 2 Macs (Titanium powerbook and iMac desktop). Do I get two votes??? Also am slowly corrupting as many officemates and slash cohorts as humanly possible.

Oh, and I own an iBook that I gave to my Gram as well.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Do I get two votes???

{g} No - just a vote on which operating system you choose.

[flummery.livejournal.com]

PC. I've been on PCs for about 20 years now, work and home (wow, that's... freaky). I've poked around on Macs over the years, but have never been interested enough to switch. The last time I used a Mac, last summer (a new one, running OS X), I couldn't believe it. It was so. Freaking. Slow. Once I managed to figure out where to go to open programs, I had to sit there practically twiddling my thumbs waiting for them to actually load.

I'd never make it on a Mac. PCs may have their annoyances, god knows, but at least mine's fast enough to pretty much keep up with me. I doubt I'm going to keep going with Windows, thanks to the wonderful Big Brotherness of Microsoft, but I'll move to Linux before I move to a Mac.

(As for machines that keep going -- I've got a system I bought in 1996, running the first release of Windows 95, as my backup computer, and it's still working fine. *g* All I ever added to it was more memory to kick it up to 64MB, and a 6-gig backup harddrive. And my mother's on a 386 machine still running Windows 3.1!)

[thalia]

PC. I used Macs in college, but once I got a job where we used PCs (I was programming in an IBM mainframe environment), I switched for compatibility. At first I hated it, but Microsoft has been putting some effort into improving Windows--thank heavens--and I'm surprisingly content with XP.

[just-eunice.livejournal.com]

Just yesterday my very first Mac ever arrived on my doorstep. A PowerMac G4 with all the bells and whistles soon to be joined by a 22 inch HD Cinema monitor and some other neat peripherals that haven't been ordered yet. This is my very first Mac ever, and I can tell you straight out that I already know I'm never going back. I chose this system because Myrtle and I are very much interested in pursuing working with video and film on a professional level. I wandered around PC land for awhile, coming to the conclusion that I would have to build my own from scratch to get what I wanted, and something didn't feel right. Until I found this baby on the Apple site and I wanted it from the get go. Still getting used to the difference in using this OS instead of Windows. But very, very, very happy with the choice.