A Tale of Two (or more) Computers

A computer is born, and another computer dies (“I’m not quite dead!” he says in his best Eric Idle imitation).

(Mac) Hi, I’m a Mac.
(PC) And I’m a PC.

I’m sure all of you know this commercial by now. As with many other geeks around the world, I started salivating with the advent of Intel-based Macs that can run Windows natively. Mmmm… Maaaac…

And to me, it’s funny that many of my coworkers and friends are surprised at my interest in the Intel Macs. You see, these days I’m known as a PC guy; everyone thinks that’s how I got started, and that I’m a total Windows nerd. Even my stepkids. [I’m trying hard not to yell “WELL, I’M NOT” right now.]

This is probably because I build my own PCs, by which I mean I buy parts and assemble them. These PCs are used for everything from my workstation(s) to my arcade cabinet. At last count we had six functioning PCs in our house (2 laptops and 4 custom PCs for anyone keeping score).

But I wasn’t always Mr. PC.

Let me take you back in time, to 1990. My stepfather, who has his own business, has been an Apple user since the green-screened Apple IIe. Around 1990 he was using an Apple SE, and decided to get a PowerBook. It was easy enough to use, and I typed a few (very few) high school papers on his Mac. I was also a guitarist in a rock band; one day we needed to make some flyers for a gig, and somehow I wound up using my stepfather’s Mac to make the flyer. A romance was born.

In the late 80s and early 90s, my brother had been a total PC guy (he aspired to be a computer programmer), and was always telling me how many great things you can do in DOS. I was highly bored and uninterested. The closest I had come to DOS at that point was a Commodore 64 in middle school. The Mac had a nice GUI, and was fun! (See any parallels to e-learning, anyone?)

Over the next decade, I worked as a prepress typesetter/graphic designer. Not surprisingly, I was a staunch Mac user and advocate. I graduated from OS 6 to OS 7, then OS 7.5, which I highly enjoyed. Around OS 8, when the PowerPCs came to life, things started becoming less fun for me; it seemed my Mac was crashing more often, the computers were getting more expensive, and with each new OS, the software I owned would stop working! Being a poor student at the time, I couldn’t afford a nice new PowerPC, and prayed Apple would let other computer companies start making Macs, which I had hoped would drive the price down. Sure enough, they tried, but it was a short-lived affair with a messy divorce.

By OS 9 my Mac (my 4th Mac in 10 years, I think) was barely functioning. Even the Macs at school kept crashing. I was also increasingly frustrated at the lack of software titles available for Macs. The few you COULD get were much more expensive than their PC counterparts.

At this point I had dabbled with Windows PCs a bit at work, and was forced to use Windows 98 at one of my jobs. I was pleasantly surprised that my beloved Adobe and Macromedia products worked just as well in Windows as they did on a Mac! But I still refused to give up my Mac at home.

In 2000 I wanted to get another Mac, this time one that could run audio software such as ProTools; I wanted a DAW to do computer-based multi-tracking, but they were WAY out of my price range. ProTools systems at the time were around $10K, AND ProTools was only supported on a select number of Mac models. Sheesh.

One day I complained about it to my PC-loving brother, who whispered in my ear “build your own computer! It will be cheaper, you can just get the parts you need, and you can control the quality of the components!”

I thought about it and realized that while audio recording software had long been the domain of Macs, things were changing. The tide was shifting, just like how Adobe and Macromedia made their products work great in Windows.

I took the plunge and built my first computer. It was easier than I expected, and probably 1/3 the price of a comparable Mac. I embraced the extensibility and flexibility of PCs (though I’ve never loved Windows), and gave up my Mac allegiance. That’s right, I went to the Dark Side. Besides, Steve Jobs was back and putting out a new operating system every 6 months; I was tired of keeping up and couldn’t afford it anymore.

Fast-forward to today: my 6 PCs all run some version of Windows, though I’ve got Ubuntu (Linux) here and there. But something has changed inside me. I’m tired. I’m worn out. Windows is stale as hell, and after seven-plus years, I’m still building and rebuilding computers… it feels like it never ends. Sometimes I find myself thinking it sure would be nice to buy a pre-configured system so I don’t have to work under-the-hood anymore. I want to be a user, not a builder. I see entire Dell computer systems going for less than the price of my computer monitor in 1999.

And I see Intel Macs.

Mmmm… Maaac…

My birthday was in November, and guess what I did? I finally bought myself a Mac for doing audio production! I bought an Intel iMac with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB USB drive, and it cost less than my PC laptop from 2004. Sweet. I felt as if a new world was dawning.

As I unpacked my iMac (which the wife refers to as the iMistress), I dreamed that the days of configuring my computer, spending hours installing software, and all the other tedious ‘administration’ stuff was gone. If you’ve ever unpacked these new iMacs, you’d think the same thing: they’re ready-to-go out of the (very pretty) box, with only ONE cable to plug in, aside from the mouse and keyboard. I had it unpacked, assembled, and turned on in about 5 minutes. Mmmm… Maaaac…

Then something funny happened; I checked the OS software version and discovered that my NEW iMac didn’t have the latest flavor of OS X installed! I had to WIPE THE HARD DRIVE AND DO A CLEAN INSTALL! D’OH! This is something I had done a million times on my PCs, but nonetheless, I thought was behind me.

And let me tell ya something, Mac OSX does NOT install any quicker than Windows XP. Actually, If I had to bet money, I’d say Ubuntu is the easiest OS to install, hands-down.

Installing Logic Pro (audio software) took over FIVE HOURS. Oh.. my… God. And am I the only Mac owner who hates iTunes and likes two-button mice?

But this is a tale of TWO computers… so let’s get to #2: my Windows workstation.

I use this computer for everything, from general email and web surfing to critical development projects. It’s my cornerstone. And it died unexpectedly Saturday night. I’ve been troubleshooting PCs for years, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with this PC.

I started wondering if it was a sign to go out and buy that pretty MacBook Pro I’ve been flirting with. Since it’s an Intel Mac, I can install Windows on it and use all of my existing software. It even has a DVI port and can run my 21″ widescreen LCD. But on reflection, I wondered if it would be any better than my iMac (which in case you’re wondering is in a different part of the house and reserved for my audio work).

Just as I was about to throw in the towel and pay a visit to the Apple store, I discovered the problem with my PC: corrupt RAM. An easy fix.

So there goes my half-baked dream of becoming all-Mac, and here comes yet another trip to the PC store to get some RAM… and maybe a few other components to tinker with when I have time. 🙂

Oh, and in case any of you are wondering why I’m not responding to your emails, it’ll probably take another night for for me to install all of the Windows service packs and security updates, then another 2 nights to reinstall all of my production software. Should be a blast. Not.

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