My Story.... te-he

I figured this forum would be the best topic to post this in. I want to share, with you, my story so far on how my MANY computer experiances have pointed me in one direction everytime. Apple. I tell this in hopes that when a PC bias user may open up a little bit and realize the corruption in the computer, not computer, PC market today.

Shall we start in the begining? Ah yes. 1995. A familiar year. I had just turned 5 ( yes I'm 15 now ) and my dad got a new GateWay Desktop with Windows 95 for his work. It became the family computer rather quickly. Slow, but never gave us that much trouble. It was a good computer. Probably the best PC we've had... ever. Slow, but still good. It crashed after 5 years of hard service. That's how long a computer should at least last. But NOOOOOOOOOO.......

Conclusion: Gateway = Good

Shortly after it died, we decided to catch up on PC technology. We bought a brand new HP desktop. Not sure of the specs of it. Though one thing I will never forget it had.... eh... Windows ME. (shrudder) Needless to say, it was troublesome from the start. 3 days, 3 DAYS after we bought it, we had to ship it across the country to get fixed. We didn't see it for 6 months. When it finally came back, it was in worse condition then when we sent it to get fixed. The same problem consist, ( Failure to Boot ), and the video card was completely mess up. So we shipped it BACK. Though this time, we got it back 3 days later, and this is pretty much what they said "YOU installed a 3rd party video card, and your warrenty has been voided." We were charged for the shipping for that fix. My brother opened the case, and noticed that it was not the same video card we had in it 6 months ago. The serial number was even filed off. Our only conclusion is that THEY installed it on there to avoid any more fixes. Well, that computer is LOOONG gone.

Conclusion: HP = TERRIBLE!

Whew. I know, I'm exausting you, but thank you for reading so far! Ok, where was I. Ah, yes. After the HP, we needed another computer. We've heard home built PCs were always the best direction to go, so we decided to follow the band wagon. We built a really good PC, as far as hard ware is concerned. Our mistake was.... yea. Windows. 2000 and XP Pro. That lasted about until Late January of 2005, with several re-installation of each OS. 2000 became unusable, and we couldn't take it off without XP quitting on us. So we had to reinstall 2000, everytime XP needed to be reinstalled, in order for xp to function somewhat properly.

Conclusion: Home Built = Good, but use Linux!

Now I got ahead of myself deadgumitall. About the summer of 04, my brother-in-law convinced my brother, just entering college, to make the switch. He bought his first Mac, a PowerBook G4. Oh, he loves it. LOVES it. I began to look at our home built PC, his powerbook, our PC again, his mac again. Envy. Our home built PC was dying, and I was desperate for something new. We had the money, so, we now realise was a big mistake, we bought a Dell.

For 2 days I loved it. Then I realise it was just like very other PC we have ever had. Junk. Pure Junk. Oh I hated it. The wireless card was defective the day we got it, the vid card no longer displays over 256 colors, it has become slow as heck with a 3.6ghz! And that was in 2 month. So, for christmas, my parents bought a from my brother-in-law a used iBook G3. I sit here now using it, after it being 6 years old. ( Read back to my first paragraph ) In febuary, ( I know I'm skipping around ) We bought a new iMac G5. Well, not much to say other then it's given us 110% of our money well spent.

Conclusion: Apple = Best

Now why did I write this? Ah, but there is another reason. That one dell, our last PC, passed away a rather painfull death tonight, and my mom used that thing has her own personal computer. She has all her iTunes music, games, software.... well, her stuff is still there. But every driver has been wipped of the computer. It's unsuable. And it's going up on ebay for parts...

Now, FOR ALL PC USERS! WAKE UP DAGNABIT! This iBook has gone 6 years of no trouble. The iMac so far has gone 6 months, with no trouble. So what if we live in a PC dominate world, more macs, more dominace. Apple has made a huge break through with the release of Tiger. Go ahead and make the switch. Tonight was the first time I've used Windows in MONTHS, and let me tell you, I was so lost. I had no clue where to go, what to do, then it froze out of the blue.

That's all I have to say, a few positive follow up would be nice...

aladds's picture

I'm glad to hear you found the light in the end. I've been using macs since I was 3, but people keep giving me pcs (I've managed to build myself a rather fast pc running Linux from the good bits, which I am posting from now) and I have to agree that it is the best thing to do with a custom built pc. My iBook G3 is possibly just like yours, Tangerine clamshell? It's running 10.3.9 and works just like it did the day I got it (yes, it was second hand too).

coius's picture

I have used apple all my life, starting from a ][e and that thing was great. The only thing we had to do was drop it a few inches, then reseat the chips. I only had 1 apple fail consistantly, and that was an Apple iBook G3 900MHz. That thing was horrible, but not bad for the 20yrs i had grown up with Apple. The real reason i use a PC, is that i HAVE to use it for my homebrew business (I work on PC's, Mac's, and data Recovery.) I keep Windows 2k on it (and I dabble a little with Ubuntu). I love the machine b/c i built it myself.... Hate the OS. But because I know how to delve into Windows, I keep it up and running in tip-tip shape. Not bad.... But then there is the features that I can't have...
Like booting from any HD with the same OS (Windows tries to prevent HD copying so people can't clone someone's HD and put it in their PC) also, I Have to reinstall windows every month. Mainly, because i am putting Virus-infected HD's in the machine to recover data b/c an idiot forgot to put anti-virus on his machine (The system paid for itself within a week from all those people.) I now have a Jaz Disk system that I start from to do that (2GB, also with 2k) But occasionaly, a virus migrates from 1 HD to another), I end up back at square 1, and have to reinstall windows. Boy the joys of being a Winblowz user! (Saying that sarcastically). I know how to protect my machine, so for the most part, I maybe get 1 virus a month, and that is taken care of, that is, if i haven't had to do a recovery....
anyway, I like the features of the PC itself (Hardware, It actually boots from USB ^^, not like my iBook.) But not the software.
My machine is more powerful than my iBook, so i use it for DVD Ripping. But other than that, my iBook G4 (apple replaced my G3) and I love it. Not one problem, spyware, virus, or Cookie tracking. It also holds up to the abuse that I put on it toting it everywhere. It is the best machine I have ever owned.
I will never stray from Apple, unless apple dies out (God forbid)... But then I will horde all that I can to keep an apple running. They are just that good. I can see why people have several Macintosh's. And why there is a cult (if you can call it that) among the users. The are reliable and your not running from 1 pc to the next because a virus got on your network. I see users getting done maintaning on PC in their house, only to have to move to the next one because the other one is acting up.

I made a mistake on the year. It's almost 5 years old, it's not a clam shell; It's a 500mhz G3 Dual USB White.

I was going to comment on the fact that the original poster couldn't keep a simple windows installation running well (WHY 2000 and XP?) but never mind...The best part was when he (as an obviously advanced user) recommended linux...never mind. ALL of the problems he described were from uniformed use of Windows. I'm a tech who pulls equal time working both Mac and PC and I can tell you that the fact that there is a fifteen year old kid surfing the net thinking he's a tech is pretty much the cause of ALL of this family's computer problems. OSX is great for non techies because there is NO way they could screw things up as easily as they can do with windows. (it's obviously great for power users for all the usual reasons too)

Simple formula

teenager+computer=porn\hacking\gaming sites=broken PC

Obviously windows shouldn't be so easily corrupted, but it's so damned easy to fix if you just don't assume you know what you're doing and just follow the safe browsing hints you see ON EVERY DAMNED ADVICE SITE IN THE WORLD

(btw just because your gateway broke after 5 years doesn't make a whole company good, infact it is one of the MOST reviled pc companies around)

Sorry to go off on a rant, but DAMN...I see enough real windows problems each day, the made up ones (or the fixable by a trained monkey ones) just make me want to bang my head off of a wall.

My first computer was a REALLY crappy Compaq running Windoz 3.1 And it was sssslllloooowwwww. I dragged it out of the closet and hooked it up. Ok, my 333 mhz iMac running Tiger (thanks XPF 4 Beta! Smile ) boots faster than that PeeCee. Ekk! Blum 3 Plus that PC has gone through 3 video cards. Talk about a waste of money. Oh well, time to take it to Goodwill and have someone else get po'd about it.

I happen to know the original poster--I am the brother-in-law referenced in the post--and I can tell you first hand that he was not doing anything to this computer to make the things that happened happen.

Gateways may be reviled now, but back in '95, they were the cream of the PC crop--not saying much, but... The fact that it survived five years worry free is a testament to that. Now a Gateway would hardly last two days.

And if you can find a trained monkey that can go in and reinstall all the drivers on his POS Dell laptop, please let me know. I will be right there to watch.

Finally, again because I know him, I can assure you that he is not hacking his computer or visiting porn sites. He also doesn't think that he is a tech. He was simply blowing off steam and relating experience the way he sees them. Actually, the most demanding game he ever ran on any of their PC systems was ChexQuest, which came free in cereal boxes (!) So the moral here is: don't run off at the mouth and make overly generalized comments on a situation (and a person) about which/whom you have no knowledge--"PC/Mac tech" or not, it makes you look no less petty or lame while you are attacking the POV of another human being.

There's my rant. Now if you want to attack a fifteen year old boy some more to make yourself feel in some way superior, please go right ahead. I'll be waiting.