Our local HP rep brought a new computer by the office yesterday for our IT guys to check out. It’s the HP 6000 PRO. I couldn’t resisit teasing him a little about the revolutionary design breakthrough.
“Whoa! That is so COOL! Everything built right into the monitor? No separate box?! Damn!
This is just the sort of thing that makes PC’s hate Mac fanboys like me. But I couldn’t help myself. Apple introduced the iMac G5 in 2005. 5 years is a lifetime in hardware innovation.
And then Phil dug out the HP’s power supply and I felt so bad for the rep I wanted to give him a hug. This thing is literally the size of a brick. The only good thing about the monster is you can rest your feet on it.
There’s nothing wrong with seeing a good design and emulating it. Shit, Apple does this. But if you go that right, at least try to make your design a little better than the one you are copying. And there’s the rub. Just can’t do it and keep keep the price down.
At least this power brick is smaller than the one that came with last years laptop. So, ummmm, that’s some kind of evolution/progress anyway. Never… mind…
Her Maj commands me to comment that you personally are not smug, you simply glow a little with smugness, like almost every other Mac use her maj has ever encountered.
She also commands me to tell you, she has had the opportunity to play with an i phone in recent times and would be most amused to have one.
I will confess to some smugness. But -in my case- it is a smugness born of joy, not superiority (okay, a little superiority).
I purchased my first PC in 1984. Made by Zenith, it had two 720k floppy drives and ran on MS-DOS. I bought a new computer almost every year for the next 20 years. Gateway, Dell, IBM, etc. My first “laptop” must have weighed 20 pounds and made your legs numb if you attempted to hold it on your lap.
I suffered through the early days of Windows (as almost all of us did). I paid my PC dues. A few years ago, I bought my first Mac and have found it a better experience. In every way.
Based on our correspondence (and your blog), I’m certain you are far more knowledgeable about hardware and software than I. But I doubt you have as much experience with the Mac as I have with the PC.
Now all of this is no excuse for being a smug twit and I’ll rely on you to point it out when I transgress. But I would say to you and my many PC friends, you can’t KNOW if one platform is –let me say “more fun” rather than “better”– than the other just from pecking around on it in the store. You’d have to really use it for a bit. And I have.
And for every smug Mac fanboy, there’s stubborn PC user, standing with folded arms and nose in the air. Afraid to try a Mac, for fear they’d like it.
So I deputize you as the Smug Police. Pull me over when I become unbearable. Write me a ticket. (Frisk me if you have the time)
There’s a smuggery about Mac uses which just doesn’t come out in the wash…