As far as modern computer usage goes, I’ve always been a Windows guy. Granted, I’ve spent quite a bit of time messing with Linux, and have had dedicated Linux machines from time to time (as secondary machines, anyway) but not since high school have I actually really spent any time with Apple Macintosh machines.
Through the last decade Macintosh systems (and Apple in general) went from being that “other” computer to being something big. Combine the hype over the iPhone with Windows Vista pissing people off (namely due to people tending to spend money on low end computers, but that’s another story) Apple and the Macintosh computer line really became popular.
While I found many people’s reasons for actually purchasing the machines misguided (that much money spent on a good Windows machine would have solved the issue they were having) I did find the hardware and software interesting.
However, such hardware is sold at a premium, one that I simply couldn’t afford, especially for what I use computers for. As good as a Mac would have been to use, it really wouldn’t have fit well with anything else. Indeed, for the most part I actually, as far as outward appearance went, didn’t like them much. It wasn’t the machines themselves, really, but usage scenarios. People who tended to go on, and on, and on, about how wonderful their MacBook’s were (it was always a MacBook, too.. never a Mac Pro or anything else save for an iPhone or, after 2010, an iPad) yet they really did nothing special with them – basic web browsing, word processing, email and the like, something even a crappy Windows Vista machine could still actually do. It was strange, it was like praising someone for doing the bare basics at a job.
Windows Vista was the best thing to happen to Apple.
So, I kind of stayed on the Windows end of things, and as mentioned above, experimented with Linux. However, on the side, I found myself watching many YouTuber’s who were Macintosh centric in their digital lives. I found myself absolutely loving watching videos on Mac Pro upgrades. I had never seen that machine until around, oh, 2009-2010 range and when I did see it, I was amazed. I had no idea that Apple had produced a machine that was that conventional! The last Macintosh I had ever actually messed with was an iMac G3 back in high school – yes, it had been that long, and that limited an experience.
So, I would watch videos, follow peoples upgrades, learn about their machines, what they used them for. Certain names of products, services, and companies stuck with me. Handbrake, Otherworld Computing, Super Duper, they all became tools I had never used, sites I had never been to, but names I recognized and understood. I began to follow the Mac OS X product cycle, learning of new versions as they came along. I watched the YouTubers I followed purchase new hardware, try to save old, inevitably dying machines, and even one build a Hackintosh…. and have it work! Without having a Mac, I was really learning the gist of how they operate and how power users use them.
I had passively grown to love them. Of course, the key machine I wanted was a Mac Pro, that ever-upgradable beast of a computer. That is, until the 2013 model – the “Trash Can” as it’s become known (with the old model having the affectionate “Cheese Grater” name for comparison). While a powerful machine, it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t a conventional system by any means and as time has shown, it was a failed design. 5 years later, Apple still hasn’t actually updated it in any meaningful way. The older machines, however? Oh yes, they were something to be desired.
The “classic” Mac Pro. A dream machine for me.
So, I knew I wanted a Mac Pro. A 2006 to early 2013 model, anyway. If I could get one, I would, but prices on those don’t really drop, and only in the past year have they really started to get to something you could call affordable – however, the machine would be severely outdated, limited to an older operating system. At that stage, for the price, it just isn’t worth it.
I had also eventually learned that the Power Mac G5, the last of the PowerPC based Macintosh’s (Apple had switched to Intel processors in 2006) was basically the same physical machine – a different internal design, and certainly limited on its own by the PowerPC processor, but for a “retro” Macintosh system, it was still current yet limited – it was a dead platform. I noted that if I ever came across one for cheap, I would certainly snag it, figuring it and maybe an old iBook would be the limit of what I could do Macintosh wise.
It wouldn’t be the same in usability as a Mac Pro, not by a longshot, but would still be awesome to own.
A side by side of the Power Mac G5 (on the left) and the Mac Pro (on the right) internals. Otherwise, from the outside the machines look very similar.
I never really looked too hard, honestly, for machines. When I would check, prices were still a bit higher than I wanted to pay and I felt that my other hobbies would be better to devote spare money to where I could. I generally didn’t think much about my secret love of Macintosh’s beyond watching videos and learning new things from time to time, and for the past few years, that’s where things have stayed.
What I didn’t expect at all was that multiple machines would be given to me in just shy of a weeks time, and how this would start a cascade into me living in both Macintosh and Windows digital worlds.
That, however, is a story for another article. Stick around, it’s coming soon.