Apple Computers Rock!

Because of the work I do (operate an ON LINE business), I use computers all the time. In fact, I'm probably more glued to computers than I ever have been in my life.

Over the past couple years I've used several computers and have a few things to say about them.

1) If you're running an online business, keep a back up computer around. Nothing bites the big one worse when you're trying to take an order over the phone and the hard drive on your PC bites the bit one.
- When I first started out, I had a single PC. It was big and kind of old. About 5 years old to be exact. I built it myself when I was in college (I have a business degree in information systems) and maxed the thing out.
- It went through a couple hard-drives, a power supply, and finally the motherboard bit the dust
- Before it "bit the big one" I'd purchased a Dell Dimension 9150 off of Ebay..complete with a really nice 24" flat panel monitor (I had a 22" flat CRT & fell in love with big monitors)
- Well, one day while working on the Dell...it ALSO bit the big one....
- That's when Laptop #1 came into existence (Also a Dell. An Insiron 1505 which got picked up today by Dell after they replaced it because it was a total piece of...well, you know....

2) If you MUST choose a back up PC, consider an Apple
- Why you might ask? Well, because THEY WORK!
- So, when the laptop started biting the dust (the Dell Dimension bit the dust completely last year & I replaced it with what can only be described as a big stainless steel cased mass that glows in the front at night that I call "The Main PC") I started looking into an Apple

Why you might ask?
- Well, because Mac's don't crash (well, ok, sometimes they crash, but not NEARLY as often as a PC. Mine doesn't crash but I HEAR they can crash..)
- Mac's start when you want them to and they shut down when you want them to
- If you add lots of programs, they don't start up & load down your computer's CPU like a Windows machine will
- Can you say "Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!"
- It works. Need I say more?

So, some of you might say, "Well, you just needed to get a NEW laptop w/ windows on it...."

ok folks, I did that...yesterday.
When my Dell Laptop bit the dust, Dell sent me another one. My Old Dell (ok, old being relative, the thing is BARELY over a year old and has now been through 3 LCD's...count em folks, THREE!) So, because I had the extended warranty on it and because I probably whined loud enough, Dell sent me a replacement (which I'm not real happy with)
Damn thing has VISTA (I HATE VISTA!) on it and within 3 hours of having it the damn thing had frozen up. And I mean REALLY Frozen up! Seems when it was trying to "update" windows, it picked up an update patch for the Web Cam from Dell and when it tried to install the software it froze the system up. No matter how many times I rebooted the darn thing, it kept coming back.

A chat session with a Dell tech online got it KIND OF fixed (msconfig, uncheck all the programs that want to start up) and it started to hobble along again.

Then, it just plain froze.

The tech gave me instructions on how to restore it back to the factory image & I spent the better part of last night doing that.

So, now it KIND OF works (I won't let Vista install that webcam patch), some of the buttons that are supposed to work on it (like the battery meter button and the sleep mode button) don't work but it's KIND of working....

(Did I mention that I HATE, HATE, HATE VISTA?!) OK, so I HATE IT!

Anyway, after fighting with the "NEW" laptop last night I got it to work well enough that it's in a "just use it to ship with" mode & "don't add any software to it or it might blow up".

So, I now have a PC with XP (the main box....which lost a hard-drive exactly 2 months after I had it), a PC with Vista (the "new" laptop), and then my blessed Apple MacBook Pro!

After fighting w/ PC's for so long, this thing is a breath of fresh air (yes, I'm typing this blog post on the Mac).

It's been awesome to work with! I can throw a bunch of programs on it, and...get this! They'll ACTUALLY UNINSTALL when I want them to!!!

It also doesn't leave a bunch of fragments left over to clutter up a registry if you remove stuff and you can EASILY control the programs that can & can't start on a Mac.

Well, ok, so that digressed.

Anyway, after owning a bunch of PC's and fighting with them on a regular basis just to get them to do what I want, I'm thoroughly in love w/ my Mac!

And....install a copy of VMWare and you can have the best of both worlds! (Yes, I have OS X and XP Pro installed on my mac. In fact, while running OS X, I can have Windows running too....and if the dang thing freezes, YOU CAN SHUT IT DOWN!!!! It's so frieken sweet!!!)

I love this thing!

So, I've had this thing now since about July of this year and I'm loving it. After figuring out how to get around not having a right mouse button and the fact that the END and HOME keys are missing (and a few other quirks), I'm quite happy and thrilled with this thing.

If the big machine dies, I'm replacing it with a MacPro. End of story.

And, while I've always praised Dell for their quickness in fixing their PC's (they have been pretty good about that), I'm loving the Mac for what I DON'T have to do to it...you know, like unfreeze programs that went south or CNTL + ALT + DEL every now & then just to get the thing to shut down.

Anyway, I'm in 7th heaven.

Oh yeah, and one little other cool thing about it.
I love that EVERYTHING WORKS! The camera works, all the peripherals work, all the software works (well, ok, it doesn't like to upload vids to YouTube, but that has more to do with my stupid router), iMovie is super easy to use, I'm becoming a fan of iTunes, and all the other stuff it has on it.

So, if you're getting tired of your PC, and you swore up & down you'd never touch a Mac, give one a try. You won't be sorry. I swore I'd NEVER own one of those "stupid Apple thingy's" and now here I am praising it.

So, give one a try....you might just be ditching yer Dells like I'm going to be doing (that is as soon as the warranties run out and they die...cause you know, that's about all the life you can eek out of a Dell these days).

Signed,
Graydon Blair
Happy I Own A Mac
(From a guy who swore he'd never own one too!)