Quicklinks: · Power Macs · 'Books · Early Macs · Week's Best Deals · Best Buys · OS Downloads

My First Mac

Ten Years, Two PowerBook Duos

Spencer Garrett - 2003.01.13

My Mac story begins in 1992 when I was a Lieutenant in the Navy. I had used Macs before at the Naval Academy. At that point, personal computing was so new that I lost a paper because I did not know how to save it to the floppy drive (my professor was so unimpressed with my tale of woe that I can quote him to this day: "He who lives by technology, dies by technology" Dr. Michael T. Isenberg, USNA, circa 1988).

While on active duty, I had also used a few PC clones with MS-DOS and maybe Windows 3.1 on them. In those days, desktop computers were big, bulky, and expensive, so they were typically found only in the central offices - there was nothing "personal" about them.

After serving on two battleships, I was assigned to staff duty on an Amphibious Squadron staff. My Commodore was an outstanding officer who truly thought outside the box, and he and two of his department heads bought Macintoshes for their offices. My roommate also bought one for our stateroom - a used $3,000 Macintosh Portable that may have been a Macintosh, but at 16 lbs. it was not very portable. But it was smaller than a desktop, which was important in a room that doubled as an office, was shared by two people, and was smaller than a prison cell (literally!). A quick PhoneNet network was put together, and we were in business.

This was my first real introduction to the Mac OS and the very important program called ClarisWorks. It was amazing how much could be done with such a small program. I used the Navy's Zenith 486 laptop on my road trips, but it seemed glitchy and slow compared to the Mac Portable. And PC networks were a joke - if they communicated at all, it was just to swap viruses!

When I went to shore duty the following year, I knew that I could not allow the Personal Computing Revolution to pass me by, and I knew that I wanted a Mac. That was all I knew. At CompUSA I had a choice of an LC III, IIvx, or a Power Mac 6100. I made the ill-fated choice of the IIvx, a Low End Mac Road Apple that I used for less than a year.

Then I found a used PowerBook Duo 270C. This was the computer for me! I ditched the IIvx and never looked back. Four pounds, a color screen, completely portable, powerful, and fun! Two years later, I left the Navy to earn my MBA at the University of Texas at Austin. Needing to upgrade to the PowerPC technology, I found a used Duo 2300C for sale in Houston. Without upgrading a single other component, I used that computer as my primary system for the next four years.

Setting up a military relocation website, I traveled the country with that Duo never very far from my side. True, you needed to carry the right components with you, as is true of any laptop. But the ability to use the a computer on the road and then to come home, simply plug it into the dock, and keep right on working was perfect - no networking or downloading to floppies or any of that other nonsense to worry about.

Yes, in the business school and in the business world I constantly put up with questions about the usefulness of the Macintosh in a world dominated by PCs. That is occasionally true and forces me to find a workaround. But I have never had a problem with the viruses or the incompatibilities that plague that world either. Being left out of those conversations is a true blessing.

It seems hard to believe that my first Duo purchase was almost ten years ago. Now I teach college and run the MilitaryTowns.com website. While my Duo 2300C is slow by today's standards, I still have it for road trips. It is essentially just for email and word processing, but due to security checkpoint delays I usually leave it at home on most trips now.

Thanks to understanding employers, Low End Mac, and eBay, I have been able to place a Macintosh everywhere that I would normally need a computer so there is not much need for a laptop computer any more. However, if Apple ever reintroduces a true subcompact computer system, I would be an early adopter.

Share the story of your first Mac experience by emailing with "My First Mac" as your subject.

Recent My First Mac articles

Links for the Day

  • Mac of the Day: 15" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Jan. 2006 - The first Intel-based MacBook launched at 1.83-2.0 GHz, had several teething problems.
  • Group of the Day: System 6 is the email list for those who choose System 6.
  • November 21 in LEM history: 00: OS upgrades, downgrades - AltiVec vs. Pentium III - 01: Saved by the clones - Computer of the future - 02: Apple Education: Let's get to it - 03: Panther lets Macs and PCs work together, - Lombard SCSI bug - 05: 3 survivors from the 1970s - Real world battery life inadequate - Windows to Mac file transfer with Zip disks - $99 alternative to Microsoft Office - 06: Parallels 1.0 far more polished than beta
  • Support Low End Mac

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

  • Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
  • Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
  • Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
  • Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.17. Used 1.83 GHz, $750; 2.16, $800; 2.33, $900; refurb 2.4, $1,299; 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,899; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
  • Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.17. Used 400 MHz, $50; 933 MHz, $80; 500 dual, $60; 867 dual, $90; 1 GHz dual, $150; 1.25 GHz dual, $225; 1.42 GHz, $499.
  • Best Mac OS X 10.5 Deals, 11.17. "Leopard" upgrade, $80; single user license, $135; 5 users, $173; Mac Box Set, 5 users, $230; Server, 10 users, $340; unlimited, $850. Shipping included.
  • Best Mac mini Deals, 11.16. Used 1.42 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.66 GHz Core Solo, $419; 2.0 Core 2, $450; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $769; Server, $990.
  • Best iBook G4 Deals, 11.16. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $210; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz, $479; SuperDrive, $498.
  • Best iPod shuffle Deals, 11.16. Used 1 GB, $35; 4 GB, $65; refurb 1 GB, $39; 2 GB, $59; new 2 GB, $55, 4 GB, $75. New and refurb prices include shipping.
  • More deals in our archive.

Go to the My First Mac index.
Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.