Moving to Mac

I received a voicemail on my mobile phone from my five year old son last week. He said "Dad, we need a new computer". Now, I've heard an increasing litany of compliants about our Kitchen Dell from my wife, but this had reached a new level.

At the same time, my other PC, acting as a server in my downstairs office, had been in a steady state of decay. Reboots, underpowered, and generally creaky.

So, I figured, getting a new kitchen PC would enable me to get the Dell downstairs and keep the family happy.

Those of us who have used Windows/DOS PCs for years are used to problems. The mouse doesn't work so we unplug it and plug it in again. The browser hangs so we reboot, etc. Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

But regular folks, like my kids and my wife, do not tolerate these issues. When they turn on the TV they expect it to turn on. So any minor issues that us Digital Dads deal with become a big hurdle to them.

Enter the Mac.

I like the new G5, although I prefer the screen positioning flexibility of the G4. Plus, the G5 has a huge piece of white plastic below the screen which I don't like. As I mentioned, one of my concerns was that the Mac was "too nice."

But the introduction of the G5 triggered a nice sell off of G4s, so I decided to take the plunge over Thanksgiving weekend.  I bought a 1.25Ghz G4 with a 20" screen from someone on eBay, fully loaded with a bunch of software. Airport (WiFi), Superdrive, etc. - top shelf.

I opened the box (nice box) and plugged it in. Wow - what a screen. We went from a poor quality 15" 4:3 display to a brilliant 20" 16:9 "floating" panel. The G4 found not only my home network, as it was plugged into my router, but the Airport found my WiFi connection as well.

I plugged in my Epson printer on the USB port. Nothing happened. I mean, I wasn't asked for a driver, a hardware wizard didn't appear, nothing. The printer just worked. Spooky.

I like this thing.