My Mac Journey

The very first computer I ever used were those silly black-and-green XT PCs that booted on those floppy 5.25" floppies at the "computer club" back in high school. I remember being so intrigued at being able to program using BASIC. It was love at first sight. It was the time when we used WordStar and, if I remember correctly, PrintShop. But then, our family didn't have money to buy one, and we never really owned a PC until around 1994 when an uncle donated an old XT PC to us. I loved it like crazy. I made my own "OS" though on top of DOS, using BASIC and then later Pascal, and well, it was really just Computer Love. This was probably during a time when Windows 3.1 was already out in the market.

But then the very first GUI computer I ever touched was a Mac. It was a Macintosh SE, probably running System 7. It was owned by another uncle who had it kept inside his garage storage room together with his music gear (guitar, bass, keyboards, amplifiers, and so on) - i.e. stuff that are probably not for daily consumption. Not with a family with four children. I think at around that time, his family also might have already had a DOS- or Windows-based PC and thus, these things from my uncle's younger years were in storage. But nonetheless, using it, to me, felt like magic. All over again. Like I've never felt since the first time I actually touched a computer. Nope, there was no guilt. My first (computer) love was puppy love. This was the real deal.

We eventually had enough money to buy a computer, and we bought the best from what we can afford back then. It was a Pentium PC with Windows 3.1. And through it we had access to the internet. The internet was another whoa moment, but then we have another blog for that (i.e. web essentials). But being the platform that almost everybody else used (and considering it was my mom's money), we just upgraded our PC to the next Windows or the next Pentium and so on.

1998 came and Steve Jobs was back at Apple (I didn't yet know who he was at that time) and the iMac G3 was released. Boy was I salivating. In 1999 or so I'd go to the Apple Store near the Powell St. Station in downtown San Francisco and just try to use one of their iMacs to browse the internet. It felt natural using those colorful iMacs.

2005 came and I was on my way to Japan for a couple of months stay, and my mom wanted to buy me a laptop. Our earlier laptop was an Asus with WindowsME, and it served us well for more than 3 years already. My first choice was this fully functional 4:3 15" Asus laptop with the best Pentium processor at that time (Pentium 4, maybe?), webcam, maybe a DVD writer, 1GB RAM, and all the works. But you know what, I settled for a more expensive and yet less powerful and less feature-filled 16:9 14" Compaq Presario with 512Mb RAM, CD writer only, no webcam, and only a Pentium M processor. You know why? Only because it resembled a PowerBook more! It was just more beautiful.

For some reason, I changed the wallpaper to reflect the Aqua wallpaper in OS X Tiger, changed the icons and installed a dock, and then eventually used FlyAKiteOSX that made my Windows XP Presario look more and more like a MacBook or PowerBook running Tiger. And then I bought a 4th-gen iPod.

2006 came and my mother got an actual Pentium-based MacBook Pro. It was with me 99% of the time. We were doing great things together. I composed and recorded three songs on that thing. At around that time I also bought a secondhand first-generation "Bondi Blue" iMac, for about US$160. Wow. Meanwhile, my Presario later started using LeopardXP.

2010 came and my 4th Palm product (I've owned a Vx, Zire 72, Zire 72s, and finally a TX) and my 5-year old Presario were already becoming obsolete. But then I have had a slight career change, and I found myself able to afford a 2009 MacBook Pro 13". And then I lost my flip phone and got an iPhone 4 as a replacement. This year, I gave my MBP to my wife (hehe, she's not so tech-savvy and it meets her needs), and I got me a MacBook Air 11" instead - because I travel usually for business a little bit more often. For all these purchases, I gave careful considerations to my needs. And they are all perfect.

In the future, I wish to be able to purchase the lampshade-like iMac G4, one of the current generation iMacs with the latest Intel processors, a PowerMac G4 Cube, and a Mac Mini (but if possible, the one with a SuperDrive). I would also really like to have a product with that classic Macintosh form factor; you know, the one that said Hello, but I'm not expecting. :D

Along the way, it was nice to know at least three other people who are true Apple/Mac fanbois who gave me glimpses of what I really want in an electronic device.

This is me, paying it forward. Hopefully.

For any suggestions or comments, please contact me@ronjie.com.