Foray into Macdom
Since I started using computers many many years ago, I’ve been solely a PC user. From Windows 95 to 98, NT, 2000 and now XP, I’ve been through the thick of it Windows-wise, but it’s only recently that I decided to give the Mac side a spin and see what all the hype was about.
It all begin nearly a year ago when I decided that I needed a laptop for university (although it was more than a year away, it was a good excuse!) I was looking around for a good deal (as every student should do) and I came across a second-hand Mac iBook G3 being advertised on the forums of my then web host. The price was right and the laptop itself was adequate for my university needs. I crossed my fingers, left a reply and posted the money using PayPal. Maybe it was a little risky, but hey, I like taking moderate risks!
The guy I was buying from was very friendly - he bought the price down as much as he could and then he posted the goods in excellent time and condition. I opened the box, took out the laptop and instantly plugged it in. Once it had started, I sat in front of the pristine desktop for a few minutes admiring its simplicity and beauty. I certainly never had anything like this on the PC! After installing a few applications such as Firefox and MSN Messenger and playing about with everything for a couple of hours, I shut it down and left it to one side. I’d certainly loved my first encounter with the Mac. Nothing more happed for a long while when I forgot about the Mac and concentrated on my lessons and impending exams. I used the PC every day to do my work on and didn’t use the Mac at all during this time.
A couple of days ago, I saw the iBook lying proudly to one side and remembered that my university course starts in a couple of months. It was high time to get it out again and give it a spin. As I turned it on, I remembered the one thing that had bugged me - the laptop was too slow. Being a G3 with 128 megabytes of memory, it certainly wasn’t a speed demon. I upgraded the memory to 320 megabytes and the thing shot to life! The operating system itself was Mac OS X 10.3.9, having been updated by many software patches. I bit the bullet, went online, and ordered Mac OS X 10.4.6 complete with an external Firewire DVD drive to be able to install it. To my surprise, this lot arrived today, the day after I ordered it - what’s more, delivery was free!
I plugged in the drive and installed Mac OS X 10.4.6. I was half expecting the laptop to slow down even more with a newer operating system, but to my joy and amazement, the thing actually sped up dramatically.
I’m at the point now where I need to find some more applications to install on the laptop, but I think I can safely say that my first foray into the world of Mac has been a very enjoyable one and I can’t wait to use my iBook more regularly once I’m at university.
Thank you Apple!