PC to Mac and Back and Back

I have been using computers since I was 14 years old (a really long time ago - I am 29 now).

My first experience was weird. I remember my dad trying to get us a computer for Christmas one year, and I had no Idea what one was or what it did. He couldn't get one though, because the store was sold-out.

Later a friend of mine was telling me about his PC jr, and I wanted one, but couldn't afford one - so I bought a Commodore 64. It was fun. I bought a book of games to program into it because I didn't have the money to buy a disk drive yet. The Commodore was $200. That was a lot when I was a kid. Luckily my parents noticed how much I used it and bought me a floppy about 6 months later. Phew no more typing!

After about 2 years I went out and bought a Tandy 1000; I sold it about 3 months after buying it. I felt it was nothing better than the Commodore - and the Commodore could display more colors and had better sound. Time went by and I purchased a Franklin 500 (an Apple IIc clone). It was wonderful. By now I was taking programing, and I thought this computer was by far the easiest. I used this for games and also typing reports and letters something which the Commodore didn't do very well.

When I turned 18, my Franklin had passed after 3 years of use, and now I wanted one of those new computers with a 386 in it running Windows 3.0 for college.

However, when I went to my last computer dealer to look at prices the clerk showed me a Mac Plus. Oh, I'd heard of the Macintosh, but I had never seen one. I was in love.

The clerk showed me dBase and how easy it was to set up. She did all this within 10 minutes - a task that took me about an hour on an IBM in school. When she showed me the operating system, I was floored at its ease of use. I had to have one.

No longer looking at IBMs, I waited until I could afford this Plus. About 3 months later I called the dealer again to see how much it would cost - and the price was down to about $1300. I drove over immediately and bought one. I used it constantly for everything: games, work, just looking at the OS, and showing to all my friends who admitted they liked it better than their windows machines for work but not for games.

Time went by and I purchased an LC when they first came out. I gave my Plus to my dad. He also loved it, and he had always used PCs before that day.

I later bought a Mac IIx and traded my dad the LC for my old Plus. A couple years later I bought a Quadra 700, but I soon sold it because I left the country for a while on a missions trip. When I came back I used the Plus and purchased a PowerBook Duo 230.

Then the Power PCs came out, and my only options were to spend about $1800 on a new computer or the same amount to upgrade my Duo 230. I was furious and wrote Apple telling them how much I loved their computers but couldn't afford to spend that kind of money on a machine when for about $800 I could get a 100 MHz IBM clone.

So I bought the clone - it was nothing but problems! It was the first computer I ever actually threw outside in disgust. In my anger I broke the machine when I threw it outside, so I had to put it with the trash. Funny how easily it fit there.

Next I spent $999 on a new 7200/75. I was in love again, but time went by. Now the programs were requiring 604s and G3s to run, and my Mac couldn't do it. I sold the 7200 to a friend and purchased a 300 MHz AMD K-6 (I can't give Intel money). It's okay, and that is what I used to type this letter, but it will be gone soon.

I had actually wanted to get away from computers now that I own this "wonderful" machine. I am convinced that they are pretty good for games only, but even then the games work better and easier on the Mac, especially if you network them. I tell my friends that Macs are better, but if you play games use and IBM, there are more games for them. But if you use your computer for work, try to avoid the Wintel monsters.

Oddly enough, I recently bought five Mac SE/30s from a school auction, and I plan to use them for the internet (if anyone knows how to get it on AOL tell me) and for anything else I can use them for. They are still wonderful.

The conclusion: I have never figured out why there are so many pages on the internet describing the love for the Mac. But for me, I still love and use my original Mac Plus - I would never get rid of it for anything (By the way, it has never had a hardware problem' everything is original and it will be 12 years old this February).

I plan to use this IBM thing in my living room as a game thing kinda like a PlayStation

I plan to use my new SE/30s for everything else that is important to me; they work great and take up little room

I would love to have an iMac, and if I find out Apple does make speed upgrades for them, I will buy one. If not, I'll save up till I can afford a G4 (I imagine the only way a PC clone could be labeled a weapon by the Pentagon is if we think that with all the hassle of using them they [the computers running Microsoft Windows] are actually working against us - or if we hit our enemies on the head with those huge tower cases they come in.)