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June 18, 2007
i'm ashamed and suddenly very hairy
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I never thought I'd be writing this entry.
After what happened today, I have lost friends, made friends and suddenly developed a taste for free range patchouli smoothies.
That's right, I caved and bought a macbook. The fruit of the dirty hippie.
Here's how it went down -- all my computers have decided they are liberals and don't want to work any longer -- but I have work to do and a small budget, thanks to a missing check from a photojob I completed nearly SIX months ago.
So I talked to ErikZ about how I can best spend a limited amount of dough, run photoshop, handle large photography files and avoid paying 2k for a laptop that will arrive borked with Windows Vista, and mostly likely end up as a bookend in 2 years.
The answer he gave is a macbook, my friends. How could that be? Macs are more expensive than PC's! So I was up into the wee hours of the morning comparing things PC based and these dirty hippiebooks. Erik was right.
The next morning, I spent another 4 hours looking at every laptop under the sun. I was determined to avoid drinking the kool aid.
Erik told me, "hey you can download bootcamp and run Windows XP!" And that sold me. How better to piss off the unwashed left than take their icon and run Windows on it, right? That's like buying a Prius and covering it with pro-life stickers and Fred Thompson in '08 paraphernalia.
Okay, I could handle that.
Yesterday, I went to the Apple store and it was a madhouse. I stuck out like a born-again Christian at a Hillary Clinton rally.
Though the store is two stories tall, the BO was unavoidable. Hipsters were strutting around with their greasy hair stink and trust funds.
I must have looked panicked (which I was) and I told an unwashed hipster who works as a "mac genius" what I wanted to buy. He came back in 3 minutes with the box. Scanned my card and I was out of there in 7 minutes flat. He asked, "do you want a bag," but I was already sprinting for the door.
So back at the Moxtopia compound, shrouded in shame, I turned on the macbook and in 2 minutes it was ready to go. No fussing with the wifi like I did with my Dad's Dell running that marvel of technology, Windows Vista. Which, for the record never could pick up my wireless network.
After playing with the mac OS, curbing my disgust with what I had purchased -- a funny thing happened. I no longer saw a reason to install bootcamp and windows xp.
Trying to make something/anything go wrong I spotted 2 of my digital cameras. Surely if I plug them in, I would have to install drivers and crap. Nope, the hippiebook started downloading my photos. Same with my external hard drive and printers. Damn.
I really wanted to hate this, but I'm afraid I can't. And blame it all on Bill Gates and Windows Vista.
At least now I can camouflage my conservative self while working outside the house.
More soon, I'm off to look at a Prius.
(thanks to Aaron for the image)
MORE:
From ErikZ
From The Ugly American
Posted by Moxie at June 18, 2007 3:02 AM
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Comments
Hi Moxie,
I have been reading your blog for several months. I read about your previous computer problems and thought to myself "this girl needs a Mac, she's into photography for Christ's sake". Don't you just LOVE iPhoto? You're not alone Mox. Rush Limbaugh, George Bush, Ann Coulter and I are Mac loving righties too. Steve Jobs is nutty and a tree hugger for sure, but his people make the best comps on earth. By the way, I love your blog! I check it often.
--Ron Davis
Posted by: Ron Davis at June 18, 2007 3:44 PM
eh, don't feel too bad. Apple has made great strides in abusing the dirty hippies and embracing capitalism.
They broke out with the iPod and iTunes, and now that they have money, they have seen the light, and actually desire to shower daily, shave, and eat meat! It's too late. They can never go back.
Posted by: Flannel Avenger at June 18, 2007 4:05 PM
What really gets me is, for a 13" notebook, running XP on a Mac is cheaper than on a regular PC notebook.
The equivalent Sony model, (SZ series) customized with the same components is 500$ more. That's *nuts*.
Posted by: ErikZ at June 18, 2007 4:28 PM
You're just keeping the free market free. Adam Smith's invisible hand salutes you. Besides, the Apple design philosophy is clearly modernist, and therefore anti-postmodernist, so that should be enough to turn on your heartlight.
Posted by: Paul Hrissikopoulos at June 18, 2007 5:19 PM
I have Windows Vista on my Sony Vaio desktop computer and it works fine. What problems has Vista been having since its release?
My HP laptop (five years old with XP) is another story. It runs very slowly and I have been considering buying a Mac as a replacement.
Posted by: Mike LaRoche at June 18, 2007 5:39 PM
Moxie, you and I will rule the universe now that you have joined the dark side! Tell Steve to keep his Russian Space Station OS; we will know what real power is! Bwa ha ha ha!
Posted by: The Imam of Something at June 18, 2007 6:09 PM
Welcome! Welcome to the pleasure dome...
I've been reading your blog for years *and* using Macs since 1984 (continuously since 1987).
As far as I can tell, Mac users not not in fact all lefties. They pretty much all seem to want the government to keep the heck out of the bedroom (few Christian fundamentalists use Macs), but they are, alas, sharply divided on whether they want the government to stay out of your wallet.
Posted by: Bruce Hoult at June 18, 2007 7:04 PM
fyi, if you realize that there's a windows app that you can't live without, you might wanna consider buying a copy of parallels. . . with parallels (and a copy of xp) you can run windows in a window in osx (i.e you won't have to reboot) with essentially no speed penalty. . . it's pretty nifty and in fact, the demo i saw of parallels showed that powerpoint for windows running in xp in parallels in osx ran *faster* than powerpoint for the mac. . .
Posted by: bloopy at June 18, 2007 10:30 PM
I need to pay regular visits to the compound to ensure there is no patchouli in the air.
T'tchadshi (Hebrew congratulatory expression meaning "may it always be new for you").
I'll be reading closely to find out if the WinXP stuff really works, though I hope that WinDoze can either fix or replace the abortion called Vista before I need to buy another system. Apple is at its best when there is real competition from MS. And vice-versa.
Posted by: Aarons CC at June 18, 2007 11:49 PM
YAY! You drank the kool-aid!
And while Bootcamp gets the most our of a Windows install on the 'book, Parallels is excellent since you don't have to restart the machine...
Posted by: Michael in OH at June 19, 2007 7:47 AM
Macs are definitely good quality and low maintenance. And they're superb for graphics. But...
*sob!*
God, we've lost her! *runs away crying*
;o)
Posted by: Tanya at June 19, 2007 7:48 AM
Congratulations from ErikZ's non-hippie, non-smelly, longtime-friend, Mac-advisor. When he spontaneously started asking me about laptops, I was shocked... until I realized it was for somebody else.... :)
Once you go Mac, you never go back.
Over time you'll find there's another advantage to Macs: they have a _much_ longer shelf life. Unless you're playing the hottest new games or something, that Mac can last you years longer than a Windows machine.
At home I use a G4 circa 2001 that came out six months before OS X. It runs OS 10.4, Photoshop, etc., without a hitch. Try that with a Windows PC from six years ago! :)
Posted by: Stephen Rider at June 19, 2007 8:04 AM
Ouch. Well, you might as well get used to this
http://cache.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif
Posted by: og at June 19, 2007 12:43 PM
Stephen, thanks for helping us out! I have a Windows laptop from 2000, it still works but can barely run Outlook and a chat client. Even better is the laptop from 1997, running windows 95, I think...amazing that they work at all.
That said, I really thought this last laptop (from 2004) would have the staying power I needed and I was so wrong. It's a $2,300 bookend now.
And even if this thing ends up worthless in 2-3 years, it was 500-800 dollars cheaper than the alternatives!
Posted by: Moxie at June 19, 2007 12:46 PM
I have a 266 MHz G3 PowerBook which I purchased new in 1998. It is running OS X 10.4 with all the latest programs and is just fine for web browsing, email, Word and Excel, chat and all the things that most people do except it can't cope with video playback of the resolution that people are using now, and playing an MP3 in iTunes takes 20% of the CPU time.
I'm not using it day to day any more, having purchased the latest Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro in December.
Posted by: bruce Hoult at June 19, 2007 4:00 PM
HaHaHaHa/............/Ha.Ha. ;)
Welcome aboard, Moxie. Besides the endless chattering about pajamas and comets, the Cult of Mac is great. I've convinced my 1SG and XO to buy Macs, it and just makes my day to see you've bought one.
Mission Accomplished!!
Posted by: p.serenissima at June 19, 2007 7:53 PM
The only thing more beautiful then your photography is you. We love your posts, not the computer you post them from.
Posted by: Ed at June 20, 2007 7:18 AM
We have iMacs at work and use one at home as well.
Welcome to the dark side and say goodbye to computer hell.
Posted by: The Ugly American at June 20, 2007 6:44 PM
And here is my photoshop contribution...
Posted by: The Ugly American at June 20, 2007 7:10 PM
Don't let it bother you too much, Mox - there are plenty of conservatives out there using Macs. I'm very well-versed with Windows, Macintosh and UNIX OS-es, and I always choose my new system based on what I want it to do,and how much it's going to cost. The OS is not even an issue for me - I need my system to work, without having to expend too much time making it work. Lately I've been buying Macs, because gosh-darn-it, they fit the bill without breaking the bank (video production is a must, and it's expensive to set up a Windows laptop for what I need). I'm a Conservative first, and a Republican second. To avoid the smell of the "great unwashed" at my local Apple Store, I just buy online - or ask one of my friends at Apple to buy one for me through their allocation. :^)
Posted by: Dave R. at June 21, 2007 12:51 PM
Baaaaaaahahahahahahhahaha. Aaaaaahahahahahhahahaha.
Okay, I'm done. (mostly. *snicker*)
Enjoy, Mox. :)
Posted by: Mr. Lion at June 22, 2007 5:49 PM
The mac is the laptop of the libertarian-- those who appreciate good economics, good design and quality workmanship.
Yes, Hippies, like Rush Limbaugh (talk about dirty and smelly!) buy them too. In fact, since most of the country is either nationalist socialists (like moxie) or communist socialist (like liberals) apples market share isn't completely kept to ideological purity.
But I hold out hope-- as long as adherents to the two popular branches of socialism keep converting to macintosh, maybe someday they will embrace capitalism as well.
Posted by: Lysander Spooner at June 23, 2007 12:09 AM
I'll agree with ya on the fact Windows is a pain in the ass. I'm not sure I'm ready to invest two grand on a macbook pro yet,( no doubt they're good, but I'm a tightwad) but I am looking over the various Linux OS's out there that might suit my needs.
Posted by: Mark Krauss at June 25, 2007 11:07 AM
Hey Moxie,
Welcome to the cult. A lot of conservatives use Macs, because they're the best personal computers out there. (I've been a Mac guy since 1985.) Besides, they look good. You're beautiful, you have beautiful Siamese cats, you need a good looking computer, QED.
Posted by: Chris M at June 27, 2007 2:11 AM
I have been an avowed anti-hippy/conservative for the "adult" period of my life and a Mac user for all that time as well. I will tell you that you will LOVE the mac. As the saying goes- even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then." Well every now and then smelly hippies stumble upon stuff that works. Mac is one if not the only example of that I can think of, off the top of my shaven head. Additionally I have convinced numerous of my cohorts, equally conservative, about the pleasures of the Mac as well.
Posted by: kent at June 28, 2007 6:54 PM
Mox,
Can't believe no one's told you to download the 30 day free trial of aperture http://www.apple.com/aperture/
If you know anyone in education, the education version is only $100.
Posted by: Kevin at June 30, 2007 11:43 AM
