Looks like it’s finally happened: my iMac with its lovely 20-inch screen would not turn on this morning when I went into the office to check for email. It has served me well since its purchase in 2006 so I can’t complain, except that when I’m not working much it’s not the best time to buy a new one.
I’m sitting at the kitchen table using Scott’s laptop and it’s driving me crazy, as it does every time, and so does the laptop Dad gave me. Neither are Macs and they both have antivirus crap popping up all the time and delaying the action and are slow in comparison to my much older computer and if this keyboard messes up one more time I swear I’ll scream.
I’ve had both Macs and non-Macs since I began using computers and have heard many people insist that the only difference is the price of them. But I can’t agree. In my experience, a non-Mac is better than nothing — but not much. There’s no doubt that Macs are overpriced, but you do get what you pay for: a machine that works properly.
Until it doesn’t. Macs don’t futz around. They up and quit; no dillydallying.
So I leave you with a photo Scott took last winter:
Please cross your fingers for me so that I don’t pull out all my hair or blister the paint on the walls with my cursing before this inconvenient situation is resolved.
stubblejumperscafe.wordpress.com 
You’re preaching to the choir there, babe! If you were in my kitchen right now you’d hear a lot of bitching about the piece of shit that is this Samsung laptop as I try to do even the simplest things with it. I don’t know how Scott puts up with the clunky ineptitude of it. Just a matter of being accustomed to it and nothing better? That said, I’d better keep quiet because it is (though barely) better than nothing and I need to be glad it’s here. But gawd … so slow! so Doesn’t Work Right! So … rzzzzl frzzzzl grrrrrr!
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Ooh, beautiful owl!
I used to be a die-hard PC fan. I’d used the little boxy macs when they first came out and didn’t like them. But I got an ipod nano when they were introduced and that was my gateway drug. Now I own an iMac, an iphone, and ipad, and I’m typing this on my macbook air. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to non-macs.
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I could go buy what I think I want (a Mac Air laptop) but it wouldn’t be sensible at this point, what with possibly having to drain my savings account in order to eat, one of these days! So I’ll put up with these PCs for now and see what happens. Sounds like you got a pretty good deal on your machine and it has all the features you need.
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I thought Scott might come home and work his fix-it magic. He’s on it, so we shall see if he has any luck.
Price of Macs is still prohibitive, which is why I’ll probably make do with what I have access to now, for a while.
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Not having used a Mac I can’t make comparisons. This present computer is three years old. It’s a build. You know, that thing IT students do as a project. Computer, wireless keyboard and mouse, DVD/CD player, takes a ball speaker or headset, 23 inch monitor that swivels or changes to vertical on a pivot: all in $189.00. No complaints so far and I do everything but games on it. It came with Windows 7 so I haven’t had to buy or add anything, but some free downloadable apps such as Readability, F.lux, Firefox, Ad Block and Sticky Notes.
I’m sure any town near you has a shop selling inexpensive builds if you don’t manage a new Mac as soon as you’d like. Oh and the computer takes up 16″ by 18″ space on this desk.
The Snowy is perfect. Says it all.
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Sympathy. I’ve worked on Mac’s but price for me was prohibitive back in the day and my accounting and tax software did not run on Mac’s then. Now they do.
I just bought an all in one as my laptop is about 6 years old and I want a bigger screen before the damn thing crashes.
Good luck!
XO
WWW
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Yep, a snowy owl!
Thanks for the tips, I’ll see what I can find.
They seem so straightforward, so no-nonsense, and so much faster! Even my old computer was faster than this newer laptop Scott has. In my experience Macs don’t freeze up as often, either. I’m no expert and perhaps if you’re accustomed to a non-Mac or haven’t had one, you don’t know what you’re missing. (Once you’ve loved a man who brought you flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s Day, why would you go back to an “Ah, can’t be bothered!” kinda guy?)
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Sorry if this is a repeat, I don’t think the first try went through.
I love Macs Kate, have been using Apple computers every since I replaced my Commodore 64 with an Apple IIe. I do use Windows, and provided techincal support for Windows and Unix, but Macs are just what you say they are, reliable, and I find them easy to use.
I posted a link here to a site that outlines some things you can try if your mac does not startup. I think the post failed because of it. If you do a search on mac won’t start you will find quite a few sites that outline things you can try to get it up and running again. It might work, but then again it might not.
2006! That is a pretty good run, 11 years. I just replaced my 2007, and my son-in-law wants it, it was working fine, but would only run El Capitan, and since I use the computer for everything from recipes to voip to streaming video, keeping current is important for us.
When you amortize the cost of the Mac over it’s viable lifespan, ten years of service using the most current OS and software is very impressive, I don’t think it costs any more than other computers, just my opinion.
The picture of the owl is amazing! Is it a snowly owl?
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