An Apple a Day…

I am going to be making a change within the next couple weeks that has me both very excited and a bit apprehensive at the same time. I’m normally not one that handles change very well, which is lending to my fears.

Well, no, I take that back. I think for the most part I am able to handle changes pretty well, but it’s the idea of the change and the buildup to the change that I don’t handle all that well. Once the actual change happens, it usually tends to go pretty smoothly and I adapt with much less ado than I originally feared there would be. It’s just getting to that point without all the stress that seems to be the thing I need work on.

Anyway, enough of that self analysis.

Sometime within the next few weeks, I am going to be making the switch from PC to Mac.

I can’t really pinpoint a singular reason why I have decided to make this change. It’s just something that has kind of evolved over the past year, I guess.

The fact that Macs seem to have far fewer issues with viruses is a huge plus. For someone who watches as much porn as I do (hey, don’t judge), the fewer viruses, the better.

Macs, from what I’ve seen, are just so much sexier than PCs. And I want my laptop to be sleek and sexy. Even though I am not a coffee drinker, if I was to ever sit at a Starbucks or some other overpriced coffee shop with my laptop and pretend to be doing something incredibly important on it (yeah, you guys who do that do not have me fooled one bit), then I want my laptop to be just as pretentious and impressive. I mean, seriously.

I also figure that now that I have had an iPod for years and have recently added the iPhone to my menagerie of gadgets, the next logical step is to keep it all in the family and adopt a Macbook as well. I assume that they would all work together better than they currently do with my PC (not that they don’t work well), but maybe that is just a naive assumption on my part.

And, I’m not going to lie, those commercials with Justin Long are just good commercials. They are very much in the "less is more" category. Simple, but effective. I can appreciate a company that makes a good ad campaign, and if they have the products to back them up (which Apple seems to have), then really, I’m convinced.

So, awhile back, I decided that I would use my tax refund to buy a Macbook. I just got my W2 this past week, and so as soon as my taxes are done and the refund is in hand, I’ll be making a trip to the Apple Store to bring home my new toy. I am currently trying to decide between a regular Macbook and a Macbook Pro. I know that I don’t need the advanced features of the Pro, but I really really really want a silver one, and unfortunately the regular Macbooks don’t come in silver. So, I’m still torn. I think the decision will come down to how much of a tax refund I end up getting. If it’s enough that buying a Pro seems more possible, then I may just do it. If it’s not as much, then I’ll downgrade and just get a Macbook.

Then comes the hard part. Learning how to use it. I have this huge fear that I’m going to press the wrong button or click on the wrong icon and completely ruin it within ten minutes of opening it. I know that for the most part, it’s not THAT different than a PC, but at the same time is nothing like a PC. Everyone says that they are so intuitive and user friendly, but that just gives me false confidence that I can go clicking around (and with only one mouse button? that’s gonna take some getting used to!), and suddenly find that I’ve deleted the entire hard drive. Because I’m just that intuitive sometimes.

I’m also a little nervous that all of the programs I’ve become so accustomed to will not be compatible with the Mac. For example, right now I am writing this with Windows Live Writer and I know for a fact that I won’t be able to use that on a Mac. What other programs will I have to leave behind? Will there be Mac equivalents to them? Or perhaps the Mac equivalents will actually be better? It’s the uncertainty that makes me nervous.

I have a few friends that have Macs and I anticipate that once I get mine, I will spend the first few weeks (or months) annoying them to the point of insanity with question after question after question. And probably questions that are incredibly obvious and not worth even asking. But hey, it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t dwell in the details and minutia.

Anyone want to give me personalized Adapting to Mac classes? Please?

So, very shortly, these blogs will start being created on my brand new Macbook (Pro?) instead of this busted up, virus infected PC that has been saddled with a broken mouse button for over a year now. And I’ll write them while sitting in Starbucks while listening to my iPod in one ear and talking on my iPhone in the other.