I’m not unfamiliar with Mac. For the past 40 years, I’ve used a Mac, and about five years ago, I brought my music production to the platform. But until recently, email, writing, spreadsheets and everything else was done on Windows.
However, thanks to an app, I was finally able to cut through the pride and joy of the Redmond Giants. The Mac is now my daily computer, and it took me almost four decades to get here. And when I look back on my Mac ride, it was a long, weird trip and I thought I’d record it here. My trip started a long time ago, in the age of the original Apple Computer. [queue the time travel effects].
1970: An early bite of an apple
Yes, I said Original Apple Computer, not Apple II, is a fruit-labeled computer that most people imagine having the same experience. This was my first experience with a computer. I still remember entering a dark room and putting an Apple motherboard on a workbench, outputting to an empty CRT. I thought it was one of the best things I’ve ever seen.
The Fairlight CMI (an early music-based computer), the Commodore PET, the IMSAI, the Altair, and even the IBM Punch card were my experiences in those years, but they were not German. That being said, my first Apple experience was long ago.
1980: More affordable option
The beginning of this decade has seen the emergence of new PCs everywhere as every company seeks to enter the growing market, and IBM has not yet mastered the term “PC”. The Apple II was one of the most influential machines on the market during this period, although it was hardly the largest player in terms of sales volume.
Yes, Apple II was originally released in 1977. I was selling them and their related software in 1981 when Apple II really gained traction. (I also sold Eagle Computer compatibles!) Also, what most people think of today as the 1980s, really started in the late 70’s. Check it out with Dennis Barnhart.
Since the Apple II / IIe was expensive and much more affordable, although less expandable (Apple II had a card slot!) Or versatile option, I personally never considered it. I moved from the Atari 800 to the Commodore 64, the Atari ST and the Amiga, mostly because they were cheaper, but also because most of them had the same features and in some cases even better. Especially when it comes to gaming – yes, I did indulge once.
Music was my main reason for being involved in computers at first. The real rival of Apple in the music community was the Atari ST, one of the best music computers of all time – for the better ST had a MIDI port. While exchanging my time for software at a local attic store, I made a sale to Robin Williams for his kids. Don’t be naughty.
On the one hand: in a demo of the DEC PDP-1 at the Computer History Museum, Steve Russell, the programmer of the spacewear! This reveals the fact that the first thing programmers did with every computer they created was to “teach” them to play music and chess. My love of music / computer is rarely unique.
When they arrived, Lisa and Macintosh were the future compulsive patrons. However, what would be a recurring theme throughout this narrative, they were not a financially realistic option. I also had a problem with Apple’s behavior – more on that later.
Whatever the feeling, I almost bought a Macintosh to port my Atari / Amiga ear-training program (Take Note). If a similar product was not already available for a platform called Listen, I would. With one small exception, the License was a better program for general education and I reached the programming burnout stage. I’m not stupid. Off, but no cigars.
1990: PC World
My attitude was much the same this decade. Apple had very expensive, very limited apps until the return of Steve Jobs in 1997, and to be honest, it was lazy until Steve Jobs returned in 1997. At one point it seemed as if Apple might be on its way to Dodo. Rarely remember that things were actually horrible for the company. They were.
Mac clones made an impression in 1994, again largely because of the low cost. However, they, like many other products that Apple tried to imitate, lacked certain features. Something. If you are going to leave I don’t know whatYou better save the cash bootload, but the savings were rather light.
I didn’t pay much attention to the Mac until the late decade (1998) when the iMac, iBook, and faster G4 / G5 Mac towers appeared. Jobs and Apple’s Mojo came back, but I was still আবার again, price. Also, many of Apple’s new offers had a certain tiny-bopper flavor that didn’t appeal to me very much.
All this time I was backing up Macs for the PCWorld art department, so I was in good school at Mac OS (soon to be OS X, and now going to be macOS). And yes, PCWorld was published using Mac. In those days, Adobe ruled, and all creatives wanted Mac to run Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. It was that easy.
2000: Intel, Retina and Core Audio
When Apple switched to Intel, and boot camp was announced, the idea of using a more stylish Mac in dual-boot began to swirl in my head. I’ve been a long time Windows guy now, if not particularly enthusiastic. Then in 2008 the first modern, aluminum IMAX hit the streets and the idea really started to explode.
Apple also understands music / computer romance / relationships of which I have been a part for a long time. The company’s core audio integrates and integrates audio interfaces and MIDI devices. Also tempting is the Logic Pro X, which Apple offers at a ridiculously low price compared to similarly powerful DAWs. Not to mention the garage band, which is free!
Music is a selling point for me and my others, because composing and recording with computer is part of our existence and parcel. If you are not aware, a modern computer can give more results than the best analog gear I have ever recorded. Including in large studios, which themselves have gone digital long ago.
When Shallower-Shell IMAX appeared in 2012 I really started to deal with a bad case of violence. I think they are the best-looking computer ever produced. Even colorful new iMacs count. The taste varies. When the retina display appeared, I somehow knew I would own one. But buying a new one from Apple is not easy for an insignificant person like me.
2022: The app that tipped the balance
Although I’ve always loved MacOS, and it’s a more integrated experience, I’ve never liked it more than Windows 7, 8, or 10 (11 much better, more like a Mac) that I’ve still boot-camped. I appreciate the razor-sharp screen font of Windows more than the WYSIWYG fonts of macOS, but other than that, I now find macOS significantly more interesting. I dig really, really cleaner, Rumier designs. But there was still a hurdle to port on my entire daily workflow.
The application that stuck me in my daily Windows Grind was the Microsoft Access (née FoxPro) database, which I use for my invoicing system. Although Microsoft has ported most of their Office suites to Mac OS / OS X / MacOS long ago, Access is a notable exception.
Powerful yet simple Ninox database app.
The Mac initially had nothing that matched access and the expensive filemaker didn’t make any appeal to me, even after it was featured. Then I found the ino 35 Ninox. I won’t go into details about it here, but you can read more about it in my review. I switched to it full-time and loved it. I’m even transferring IDG’s storage testing data to it.
Ninox is an app that you can only find once in Windows. This is extremely fast, especially compared to Windows access, which has recently become quite slow. As I wrote in my review, “Import, scrolling, drag and drop, image loading were all very, very fast – as fast as the blink of an eye.” I finally have a database app that is just as good as access, and the ultimate barrier to switching has been removed
The cost of switching
It’s not Apple’s base pricing that bothers me. In fact, Windows PCs with similar components cost the same or more when you consider the exciting high DPI retina displays that come with Thunderbolt and Mac. These displays are not cheap and I have not seen anything like matching in Windows World (USB and HDMI). (Ultrafines similar to LG are not only an effective alternative for Thunderbolt and most Windows users.)
IDG
What really bothers my consumer sensitivity is that Apple is charging multiple times how much an upgrade can / should cost. A premium understandable, but two to three times the running rate charge? Automakers will be proud. Then there is the subtle art of setting up strategic features, planned obsolescence and, more recently, the complete lack of upgrades and user repairability.
The company also has a controversial past (its lawsuit against Gem Digital Research for Windows OS, the same XParc-developed technology inspired and licensed by Apple), labor practices, carpal tunnel one-button mouse calls… I can go. In short, many of us in Apple’s size-conscious Nederland region know this, and it gains the truth. At least buy me a drink first, for good.
That said, I have a lot of respect for the people who design and work on products, as well as products. To switch to ARM, this is absolutely the best thing.
Solve my morally bankrupt money problem? A few years ago I grabbed a used 2015 27-inch Core i5 iMac and a Fusion Drive with 8GB or RAM for a relative song. Then, canceling the warranty and taking the opportunity to break the unit, I personally upgraded it to Core i7-6700, 32GB memory, 2TB NVMe / 4TB SATA SSD unit in which I am writing this article. Total currency: $ 1,400 (I already had an SSD), costing me only $ 200 more than a 5K display.
Thematically, my pet project is as fast as any new Mac. In fact, almost any processor from the last decade will feel fast for everyday work if you connect it to an SSD. Ask any one of the dozens of friends I’ve performed this upgrade for
But I can’t finish the story without repeating the reasons that have skewed my moral compass and brought me under the influence of Apple’s Sovengali. In no particular order, and regardless of importance or repetition:
- High DPI retina display
- Unparalleled stylish body design
- Extremely high quality construction
- The macOS has a clean wide appearance and fantastic durability
- Core audio installs most music gear
- Integrated screen capture (with audio after installing blackhole loopback utility)
- Quick network calculation
- Being able to annotate PDFs and edit JPGs from within the preview app.
- User-defined keyboard shortcuts without third-party software
- Easy to install and remove applications
- Suitable and free office application
- Customizable Finder Toolbar
Another thing
The only thing that bugs me about MacOS is the lack of support for the multimedia transfer protocol. MTP found in Windows, which allows you to delete files from an Android phone without resorting to third party utilities. This seems to me to be deliberate supervision. Sales of iPhones like Apple really need help.
But I’m enjoying the hack from macOS. It’s all coming out quickly, fantastic for music production, and the iMac shows first-rate on my desk. If my conscience pushes me all at once, well … never say no.