Macintosh, Windows, and the Digital RV
Over the course of the past year I’ve gotten to talk with many readers. And I’ve heard observations on the book regarding most everything covered.
One theme has popped up several times, and I’d like to address it here. A reader recently wrote in a simple to the point observation. “You seem to have a very strong bias to Macintosh.”
The short answer is, “Yes, I do.”
I’ll always be happy to write Windows how to’s, create podcasts for Windows users as a tech demonstration, etc. But when push comes to shove, you’ll find me working on my MacBook Pro, or my IBook, not my HP Windows system.
Ah, he’s another one of those Macintosh hardcore followers. That’s got to be it. Actually, no, it’s something more than that. The truth of the matter is that the Digital RV is all about recomending technology that works for RV’ers. On the road things are very different from home. If something breaks down or is hard to use while in a remote spot, who can help you out. Normally, nobody. So, in the interest of sharing the best avaialble with readers, I always lean toward Mac now.
So, has this author always been a strong Mac proponent? No, not at all. At one time I urged people away from Macintosh and towards the Windows operating system. And there were good reasons to do so then. Now there are good reasons to move away from Windows only systems back to Mac.
In the early 90’s while in undergraduate I worked in the campus computer lab. It was a pretty even split. IBM clones, and little rectangular Macs. No strong preference at that point in time. My biggest issue in that lab was keeping the printers running near the end of each semester.
While in grad school doing my thesis on the Economics of Digital Networks I moved toward Windows. Windows NT was out. Stable system. Web servers were easy to install. Roaming packs of hackers hadn’t hit the scene quite yet. Windows was robust, memory efficient, and the software / hardware was cheap compared to Mac.
The first job out of grad school was with a small magazine / internet publisher. They had installed a Windows NT server in an office full of Macs. I got to compare the systems first hand, and Macintosh lost out in my mind. That was 1995. The Macs were memory hogs, the equipment was expensive, and the software was equally expensive. Windows NT and 95′ offered everything Mac didn’t. Cheaper hardware, better memory usage, cheap software, and lots of freeware available on the Internet. On a daily basis I urged the owners of that business to move away from Mac and to Windows 95.
In my opinion, Windows 95 & 98 were fantastic. In the early days of the Internet there was so much available for those systems. I ran Windows NT networks, worked with 95 & 98 clients, and found the operating systems to be fantastic. At the same time, it looked like Macintosh was in real trouble.
But a big shift occurred. After 98 there was ME. That was my next OS. And it was terrible. Drivers didn’t work, hardware incompatibilities cropped up, and I found myself spending more time dealing with glitches than using the Windows systems for work. If you spend 6 hours fixing the software, and 2 hours working, you’re really hurting productivity.
In 2002 my ex was having some really big troubles with her custom Dell Laptop loaded with Windows. She didn’t get what she paid for, and she’d spent well over $2500. Driver problems, video problems, and a system that served better as a paper weight than anything else. And oh yes, she was a tech professional as well.
I suggested checking into Macintosh again, as I heard the system was powered by a Unix operating system. Given her unix expertise I thought it might go well. So she picked up a Mac, and that’s when my change began. As I tinkered with her system and looked around I found it stable, easy to use, reasonable software, and found that Mac gave you everything you needed to be productive off the bat!
I bought my own system several weeks later.
5 years later I’m extremely pro Macintosh. I don’t work for them, get no income from them, but will happily advise readers to strongly consider them at their next PC purchase. Why do I continue to be so pro Mac? Here’s the list:
- They work.
- Plug & Play really is plug and play on a Mac. In test after test while writing the Digital RV, new equipment used on the Mac took under 10 minutes to setup. New equipment on a brand new Windows system often took much longer (sometimes into hours).
- Macs can now run a split system with Parallels, allowing you to run Mac & Windows at the same time. If you HAVE to run Windows, you can. Then when you want to enjoy your experience, just hop over to the Mac interface again.
- Mac includes all the software you need to be productive. Windows, with multiple versions / levels, does not. By the time you’re done loading software on your inexpensive laptop, you’ve surpassed a mid-range Mac setup.
- Mac is user friendly. Period.
- 1 year on the road, 0 tech issues with my MacBook or IBook. Several failures with my HP Windows XP system.
So, yes, there’s a Mac bias here at the Digital RV. I’ll make no apologies. I advise readers on what will work best for them while traveling. My requirements are simple. Devices need to work, add to the travel experience, take little space, do more than one thing, be easy to maintain, and not consume all of your time as you’re traveling not working in an office. And Macintosh fits very well within my digital rv. This Digital RVer wouldn’t have it any other way.
Does that mean I’ll never go with Windows again? Absolutely not! If a new stable system comes along from Windows again that meets all my requirements, I’d switch back. So far though it seems that’s not in the cards, and Mac will remain in my Airstream for a while.
