We believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary. We want to help maximize the life of your Apple gear.
We believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary. We want to help maximize the life of your Apple gear.
We believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary. We want to help maximize the life of your Apple gear.
My home is overflowing with computers. My main
machine is a Power Mac
G5 with dual 1.8 GHz CPUs, but I also have an 800 MHz iBook G4, a
PowerBook 5300,
an LC 475, a
Mac SE/30,
and the machine I am writing this on - a PowerBook 520. On top of
that lot, my partner also has a Dell PC that sits in the corner of
the room.
It's a lot of computers for a small flat, but I can't bring
myself to part from them all. This is partly due to a love of old
technology, but also due to a belief that not one of these machines
has outlived its usefulness.
A little over a year ago, I was selling computers in a large
department store. Every day I was faced with the same dilemma - a
customer would come in looking for a new machine. When asked what
they wanted it for, the same response was given time and time again
- "Internet, email, writing letters". No more, no less.
When explaining why they wanted to upgrade their existing
machines, not one person ever said "because my old computer is
broken". All the problems that they described were software related
- spyware, viruses, or the inevitable slowdown of an operating
system which has had several years of software being installed and
uninstalled again.
Each customer wanted a machine that did these things, yet
everything we sold - from the £500 bargain basement unit to
the £3,000 behemoth - offered these basic functions. The
trick to the job was convincing people that they really did need
all that extra power.
How many of those people really needed all the processing power
they walked out of the store with?
Don't get me wrong - I'm not totally opposed to buying new
technology. As my list of machines above reveals, not so long ago I
was tempted to buy a new Power Mac. I love technology. And, of
course, new inventions like digital cameras and video chat offer
new ways of doing things that our older machines simply could not
cope with. Much as I love my SE/30, with it's black and white
display it's never going to match iPhoto or Flickr for processing
my photos.
At the same time, though, I feel that many people simply buy the
technology for technology's sake. Because it's the done thing.
Because the neighbours have a new computer. But is it really
necessary?
This article was written on an 11-year-old laptop. Can you tell
the difference as you read it?
Technology is a wonderful thing, but next time you're faced with
the dilemma of purchasing a new computer there is a simple question
to ask yourself. "Will the new machine allow me to do anything that
my old machine cannot do?"
A computer should be a tool first and foremost, yet to many it's
a disposable commodity with a useful life of 2 to 3 years. And then
its toxic metals and tough plastic casing get dumped in a landfill
to fester for hundreds of years.
In Europe, we're having to think harder about the disposability
of computers. New legislation is being brought regarding the
disposal of electronic equipment because of the way it's filling
our landfill sites &endash; and also because of the large
amounts of toxic metals contained within each device.
I can't help but wonder if the legislation would be as necessary
if people simply took a more practical look at their computing
needs.
Computers are always improving. That's a fact of life.
If you're going to make a purchase, you can procrastinate for
years waiting for the "right time to buy". Trust me - that time
never comes. Instead, you need to look for the machine that does
what you need it to do.
Don't be bamboozled into buying the latest and greatest - and if
you look hard enough, you may find that the machine that meets your
every need is already in your home.
We believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary. We want to help maximize the life of your Apple gear.
We believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary. We want to help maximize the life of your Apple gear.
My home is overflowing with computers. My main
machine is a