You know how most people when they replace their current system, they opt for something faster, newer and more rugged?
Well, I just did the opposite. I had a Dell desktop PC, and it was no more than two years old. It was working just fine. Andres has kind of a shiny-toy habit, so if it had been him, he would’ve been hankering for something new by now. I know he’s seriously lusting after the HP Touch Smart PC.
As for me, well, I’ve always had a huge crush on the Imac. Not today’s Imac, mind you. I don’t care for the design, and I couldn’t care less about specs, as long as I can surf, check email, talk on IM, and write. That’s what I need a computer for.
So I made a radical decision. No more systems in my office that let me play all kinds of fun games, such as Neverwinter Nights, NWN 2, or Fallout 3. I took the plunge and bought this ancient adorable indigo Imac (yes, the one in the picture) on Mercado Libre (that’s like ebay in Mexico). This sexy old computer came to me from a dealer in Monterrey. I paid up and he sent it via UPS. I had it the next day!
And it was pure love from the moment I opened the box. I’ve never had a computer before that I didn’t have to ask my husband how to set up. It was totally plug and go. He did disassemble my Dell and wound up moving the Imac to my desk for me, but I could’ve done it if I hadn’t been on the way to pick up the kid from school. It was all done by the time I got home.
Now I have a spare cabinet in my desk, where the tower used to be. I’m going to turn it into a file storage area (with hanging folders), so I won’t need to buy a freestanding file cabinet after all. I have several sets of proofs waiting for me to make this happen. Better yet, I’m finding this Imac is perfect for my needs. It totally keeps me on task with its limitations.
Are you ready for the hilarious awesome specs? This bad boy has a fierce 600 mhz processor, 384 rocking megs of RAM, and a 13 gig HD. Pretty sweet, eh? But I can email, IM and do my work, which is what I need to be doing when I’m at my desk. I’m tickled pink with this thing, not least of all because I finally got one (almost for a song) when I wanted one so desperately when they were new, but I was too poor to afford them. I just love how cool these look, and I’m so into the whole “one unit” thing. Talk about efficient. I already have plans to have it repaired forever and ever when it starts to give me trouble; I love it that much. I even like this clack-y keyboard, the like of which I haven’t seen in years. I like the noise to confirm my keystrokes, but I haven’t been able to find one for a long time. Maybe I just have a retro soul.
So here’s to progress, even when it might look to other people like you’re going backward. What do you do that’s weird in marching to your unique inward drummer boy?
I actually know perfectly what you mean. My first word processor was a PC that I found in my family basement- the first laptop my dad had that fell out of use. It was black and white, had lines that ran across the screen, and ran Windows 2.0. Yes, that’s right. Windows when it looked more like the Mac interface. I used it all through my highschool career, and the only problem I had was I had to save word documents as plain text or they wouldn’t be compatible.
Now I have a more modern laptop, and it’s nifty and all (it even has color… a novelty!), but I still miss my first computer, because it was so simple. It played solitare and could run Windows Word, and that’s all I needed it for.
And the keys clacked.
About the time I finished highschool the laptop went kaput. In a week the floppy drive started going crazy (scary, because I had to scramble to get everything off my computer… since no printers were compatible and it couldn’t write to CD’s) and two weeks after that the screen broke.
It was a natural death, but I still mourn for that thing. It was a tank.
Bless your beautiful “little” Mac. May it serve you well.
I think they call that “One small step for Ann, one giant leap for readerkind.”
Oh, it looks like my old Imac, which served me well for 7 years! I do love the way the old Imacs look (I’m a sucker for the pretty color), and I probably would have chugged along on mine still, if it didn’t freeze/I didn’t get an Ipod (need something compatible )/want a laptop I could bring to the library and lectures and stuff. Anyway, have fun on your new retro ‘puter!
Ann, my daughter loved that first hand held gamer called Sega Game Gear.
It was bigger to hold and easier to see the game. Plus she loved the games back then. She went high and low all over to find it, and she now has it. Get this too, she’s 22 years old and never really cared for any of the video games before except for this one! She used to pick it up that my son had and played with it but none of his others and was disappointed when it broke. He goes on to the newer and newer models, but this was a gift to herself that she found all over the place she could.
Too I know there’s newer eBook Readers but I love my EBookWise thats pretty much one of the earliest eBook readers. I had the original REB and just loved the size of the screen, the back light and all. So when that shut down and the internal went to HTML (or text/doc) I had to make sure I had that. I’ve seen the newer ones like Sony and Kindle and more that are coming out, but none have the back lights that I can read in the dark, LOL. And the bigger screen this EBookWise is awesome and so smooth and easy to hang on to. So I so understand that many go with the newer models, but I like to stay where I’m comfy with! Same with my daughter.
I recently purchased an Alphasmart Neo, which is like a word processor from the 80s, except you can upload your files to your computer. I love it. It’s as small as a laptop and weighs much less, is as tough as a calculator and is completely retro. It doesn’t even do italics! I italicize with HTML markup and let Word translate it when I upload my files. It’s the perfect pen-and-paper notebook replacement.