Well, you've probably noticed that I haven't made any large handbag purchases recently, and that was because the next thing on my "large item" wishlist actually wasn't a purse... it was a computer! I decided back in the Spring that I wanted to look into getting a MacBook Pro, after my older Toshiba laptop started ailing. I've loved my iPhone since we purchased ours about a year ago, and everyone that has a MacBook always says they are the bomb diggity (or whatever the kids are saying these days)... so I figured, you know, why not?
After convincing my husband that it was worth a try, and many more laptop crashes later... he gave me the go ahead to buy a MacBook - and then something interesting happened. I couldn't do it. I mentally could not get past spending that much money at one time on a computer. I know they are supposed to never crash, and are supposed to be optimized for Internet-surfing, photo editing, and video editing - which is what I spend the majority of my time on the computer doing... but I.just.couldn't.get past.the.PRICE... Which if you've been following my blog for any reasonable amount of time, you're probably scratching your head right now.
Handbags that I will put into "rotation" that cost roughly the same amount? No justification needed - if I love, I want it, I need it. That's pretty much the end of the story. However a laptop... that duly noted I use EVERY day, it just... isn't something I ever thought about spending that much money on. And so I waited... and visited the Apple Store... and waited.... And visited the Apple Store again.
After a while, I could tell that my husband was about to toss me out the window with all of the hemming and hawing about it - and I was afraid the offer would be revoked. So I gave in.
Thus, we've been converted... kind of. I've had it less than 24 hours... here are my first impressions - from a long time PC user of over 20 years.
I'm some how emotionally attached to my PC laptop. Very odd, I know... but it has been with me through good times and bad. While I was completing my MBA and during the subsequent somewhat fail of a job search afterwards. (December 2008 turned out to be a really bad time to graduate... but I did eventually find a rockin' PT dance teacher position & I digress, that's a story for a different blog post.) It went to the hospital with me when I had both of my girls, it put up with me trying to play Sims 3 on it after the game first came out, even though it was pushing my system to the brink of its limitations. In short, if an intimate object could be your friend... this laptop has been my buddy for the last 4-5 some odd years... It has seen it all and in a way, gotten me to where I am now.
Have I lost you yet?
Well... long story short - it won't be an easy transition. Apparently this is the first sign that I'm getting old, and resistant to change. However for all of the hope it brings of not locking up, not turning itself off without notice, and being a more powerful machine in regards to editing... I have optimism. Perhaps I will be able to overcome this resistance to something new and find out, it was exactly what I needed after all...
First impressions:
- It does things extremely quick without lag time, the only hiccup I had was my Internet dropping out at one point last night, but I suspect that was my networks fault and not the Macbook's.
- The keyboard is comfortable and easy to use
- The scroll bar at the side of Internet pages is only slightly annoying... I'm used to the look of the always present Windows scroll bars, and hunting and pecking for where my pointer needs to go to make it appear made me sigh more than once
- The screen is extremely clear and pictures look fantastic on it
- The keyboard lights up... that's cool
- You can have multiple Internet windows open with Safari at one time (a favorite past time of mine... to have 5 windows with 10+ tabs open at a time... yeah, I'm that girl) - but they do not have multiple tabs that I have found yet... Which is sad, but at the same time I probably have too much junk open at one time anyways. (Insert another sigh here.)
- I haven't had a chance to play with photo or video editing yet... but my next first impressions blog will address what I think of that
My main hope is that two weeks from now, my new Macbook feels like home and I've learned more about how to use it to its fullest potential. I'll keep you posted...
