From PC to Mac, part 1

Disclaimer: The conversations with Steve Jobs were made up (purely fictitious) and I mean no harm and is purely on a humorous note. Steve Jobs is one of very very few ‘artists’ whom I deeply respect. I have not concluded the article so please take a stand after part 2 is posted.

The need

I am an early riser, I do not read a news paper. I head straight to my computer, check technology news in detail, check tweets and few other social networks. My interaction with a computer starts at 6:30am and ends at around 10pm. Few years ago, it was worse and I ended up having wrist, back and neck pain. That was when I decided that however antique a desktop will be (in the future), I will continue to use a desktop. My current desktop is more than half a decade old and it runs like a champ. The only problem that I have is the cable mess due to which I used to get regular lectures from my wife. Trust me, the place where the desktop is placed looks like a pigeon’s nest (wires dangling from the table, wires lying on the floor trapping dust, dirt). IT WAS A MESS AND I HAD TO GET RID OF IT.

Do not even think of a desktop upgrade

Me: am going to SP Road to buy a new cpu, mobo and ram for desktop. I want to upgrade

Wife : NO! get rid of it.

Me : why? upgrade will cost very less

Wife: this is not a suggestion. THIS IS AN ORDER. Get rid of it and buy a laptop.

Me : (on my knees) but I don’t want a laptop.

Wife: Look at alternatives. I do not want to see a cabinet lying on the floor.

Me: okay.

You can call me old school but I was strictly against the idea of using laptop all the time, for many reasons

1. Ergonomic setup goes out of the window
2. Cannot resist the temptation to sit in a sofa and use laptop while watching TV (something I should NOT do given the looming RSI concern)
3. Expensive to maintain and bloody unreliable. Zero hardware failure in my desktop that is nearly 6 years old while in past 5 years, I had to change laptop thrice at my office). money spent on desktop : ~30k. Money that I may have spent if I paid for laptops in office : 1.8lacs.

In the end, we came to a compromise and decided to buy an all-in-one desktop. The next day (do not ask if it was auspicious day or not), we visited Croma to get a first hand demo of All-in-One’s and we were not impressed. FullHD models were grossly overpriced and reasonably priced models came to average specs and we have to spend extra on Operating systems (we are against pirated software).

Steve Jobs, from heaven

While we were in the store looking at PC AiO options, I heard a voice in my head, “Son, this is Steve Jobs, speaking from heaven. Turn around and walk straight to that beautiful section of computers near the entrance that run world’s most advanced operating system”. This was how the conversation went with SJ

SJ: Son, these are ugly pieces of shit with ancient software. what you need is near the entrance and its called ‘Mac’

Me : go away, am not going to fall into your RDF

SJ: You dont have to buy one. All you need to do it look at it, smell it, touch it and try it. (copied from Bournville ad) but do not lick it as it will end up with a kick on your bottoms.

Me: will you get out of my head if I take a look at it

SJ: absolutely!

Me: okay. what is there in trying. Am not going to buy one anyways.

The first thing we checked was the 27” iMac and we were blown away by the quality of the display (and wife was actually ready to shell out a six digit price tag for it, given how clean it is and how it will clean the room). Yes, for here, an iMac will be a 100,000 rupee room cleaner (probably, another reason is that she fell into RDF or was possessed by Steve Jobs’s ghost). I did pinch myself hard to make sure am not in a dream.  My budget was 1/3rd of the price tag on iMac and we moved on to Macbook pros. Gave it a try for few seconds and moved on as I was not at all interested in a laptop/macbook. Finally we tried the Mac Mini.

Wife : This is so small

me : yes, it has laptop components

Wife: why dont you buy this. You already have a LCD monitor, keyboard and mouse

me: you know what, this is not a bad idea.

Pros of a mac mini that I felt at that time

1. I will have the option of using OS X or Windows or Linux. OS X is something that I have never used as a primary OS.
2. at 40k price tag, its a win-win situation. I get a desktop setup and wife will not have much headache with cables on the floor and bulky desktop cabinet would be done
3. Was anyways thinking of trying an iPhone when a 4.5”+ model is released and having an OS X computer will gel well.
4. Was getting a free 1TB Seagate 2.5” external HDD for free.
5. I get to argue with mactards and appletards with more confidence.

The first thought I had when I got it was ‘is OS X really supremely advanced operating system?’. Well, after I finished the setup, I found the answer.

me : Steve Jobs, sir, where are you?

SJ: I am here and I am proud of you. You made the right choice. Welcome to Apple family

me : cut it. you said this is worlds most advanced operating system.

SJ: yes, it is and it will be forever

me: why does a program not quit when I click on ‘x’ button, why should I use three key combinations for simple shortcuts? why is the text not as sharp as it is on windows? Why does the mail application always hang? why does iPhoto take forever to launch?

SJ: <silence>

me: sir, are you there?

SJ: <slience>

me: sir, why are you not answering

SJ: <evil grin><chuckles><loud laughter>

me: what are you doing?

SJ: YOU ARE TROLLED!

BTW, I gotta applaud apple retail division. The ‘apple genius’ guy who was taking care of the apple device sales knew everything in and out, I gave him my need and he clearly explained why a mac mini would suite me more than an iMac of Macbook Pro. The guys taking care of PC sales were lazy, uninterested and were like ‘I use one liners to answer your questions and I am not sure about the configuration of most of these PCs neither’. This did play on our minds in making a choice (mac mini vs PC allinone)

In part 2, I will take a more serious note and explain my migration to OS X, how it is and was it a worthy move.