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My First Mac

I'm Never Going Back to Windows

- 2007.11.29

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Hi, I'm Ben, and I haven't created an AppleScript in 16 hours.

Who do I have to blame?

My half-dead, dented, grimy Titanium PowerBook. (Okay, so technically it wasn't my first Mac, but it was the first one I kept without selling in a week.)

15-inch iMac G4 It all started, I suppose, in the 4th grade at a Montessori school I was attending. Our school had recently acquired one of the brand spankin' new iMac G4s, and it was sitting forlornly in a corner, unloved. When the teacher dragged me to it to type a report, she couldn't drag me off. I was hooked!

After this, I began to use it every time I could; even starting an iTunes play-count war, where students tried to get their songs played the most. Unfortunately, after that wonderful year, I somehow lost interest in computers and returned to more typical things like trading cards and cartoons.

Later on, in December of 2006 (almost a year ago), my 7th grade language arts teacher quit. Luckily, the replacement owned a 12" Little AlBook. As you can probably imagine, my general understanding of computers had progressed beyond the "oh look, shiny Dock!" level, so I was hooked again - and even quicker than the last time.

I began obsessively browsing eBay and the local Craigslist for affordable listings, the nature of which became broader as my savings did. Eventually, I decided that I wasn't going to wait anymore, and the next decent ad I would spring for.

Sprung I did, sprung I did. I've ended up with a second revision 667 MHz titanium PowerBook G4. It now has 768 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, and a 4x slot-loading SuperDrive. Of course, like any computer, it has a few flaws. Unlike most computers, which generally have turned out okay (provided they're Macs), my TiBook has a busted backlight, a frayed inverter cable, a chipping case (which is slowly coming away from the internals), and the keyboard smells like a 120° locker room after a marathon.

However, I'm never going back to Windows. Never.

This obsession has provided me with a new thing to collect. Since this escapade, I have acquired two Sawtooth Power Mac G4s, two iMac G3s, four PowerBook 5300s, and a heavily upgraded Power Mac 7500/G3. All, of course, except the 5300s, are sitting on my desk loudly running SETI@Home. If there's gonna be iJunk in my room, it might as well be iJunk used in the name of science.

I've installed some of my software archives, including MacTracker, iLife, AppleWorks 6, Office (ugh!), and my browser of choice, Camino. I mainly compose music in GarageBand on it and use it to edit my blog. Of course, I'm only 13, so Reckless Drivin' is on my apps list as well. My setup is very basic. PowerBook, speakers (Advent), new Apple keyboard, Razer Copperhead mouse.

I fully intend to run this PowerBook until the last possible second.

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

Recent My First Mac articles

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More in the My First Mac index.

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Mac of the Day: Power Mac G5 Quad, Oct. 2005 - With two 2.5 GHz dual-core G5 CPUs, the G5 Quad was the most powerful PowerPC Mac ever and introduced PCI Express.
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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.
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Go to the My First Mac index.

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