Mac Virgin Makes Her Move...Gets a Mac!
Friday, July 10, 2009 at 12:15PM 
(Our very own intern Carolyn recently took the plunge and bought her first Mac. She'll be reporting from time to time on her experience, and asking for help. Please help her so we don't have to.)
I did it! I swiped nearly $2000 away and got myself a MacBook Pro. As a partially unemployed schmuck I was nervous taking the dive. The last time I spent that much I bought a plane ticket to Bangkok and was guaranteed Buddha, elephant rides and Singha beer! This time I was a little leery on what my purchase truly had in store. Would it be worth it?
Here's how it went down. I didn't go to Thailand but I took a trip to Delaware to save a few bucks. I was surprised at how small the Christiana Mall Apple store was, especially considering all the people who were taking advantage of tax free shopping like myself. There were enough young, hip Apple employeees lurking the store that I was helped in no time. (Thanks John!) I was advised by my fellow TDL-ers to ignore all the chotskys they would push on me. I understand the whole "customer service" thing, but wow! Those Apple employees are cutthroat! iWork! Protection plans! One to ones! Do we really need meetings and sessions to work our computers? What happened to just opening the box and figuring things out? I mean it's Apple! Don't we just drag and drop everything anyways? John tried his best but I held strong. He rung me up right where we stood. Impressive! That definitely beat out the Old Navy employees with the Britney Spears headsets.
I got the computer home and opened it right away. I was happy but still didn't have that "Yes! New toy!" feeling. I took a breath, pressed the power button and waited. In seconds any hesitation or regret I previously feared would vanish. "Welcome! Bienvenue! Willkommen!" My MacBook had me in tears with its "It's a Small World" reminiscent welcome screen! I was hooked and ready to fully immerse myself in Apple's arms.
So there Apple. All it took was an indie song and language barrier to have yourself another supporter. Now if I could only figure out this darn Photo Booth...
Reader Comments (5)
I bought my then 11 year old daughter a MacBook (white) for Christmas 2.5 years ago. Now, at 13, she has become an avid Mac aficionado. She took her computer to school numerous times in 7th and 8th grade (she graduated class valedictorian... of course) and many of her classmates envied her results. Many have since "upgraded" to Macs. Keynote kicks PowerPoint's butt. From writing stories, to building presentations (Keynote is compatible with PowerPoint but 3X better) to filming and editing her own movies (iMovie and FinalCut Pro—yes, she uses my 3 year old Mac Pro to edit more complex movies) she has become a true power user.
She worked for us all summer to earn extra cash and will soon head off to high school with a brand new MacBook Pro 13". The limitations of her small initial computer were a major motivation and I can't help but wonder how much more she can do with a more powerful machine. Enjoy, you are joining a very talented group of computer users. One wonders, do people buy Macs because they are more creative? Or do they become more creative because they bought a Mac? I believe the latter is equally plausible.
<<As a partially unemployed schmuck I was>> You ought to look up what that word means in Yiddish, as you might prefer a different phrase. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Yiddish_origin
Glad you finally drank the kool-ade... welcome to the club.
Oh no. Maybe I'm not a "schmuck" after all.
Dave -
I really think you are some type of creative person to even want to buy a Mac. I mean look at it! It's sleek, sexy, it has an apple on it! But I do agree it makes those who are maybe just a little creative to reaaallly creative. I feel this MacBook will open doors for me creatively. I think I'm past my days of Power Point presentations but I know as a comedienne I want to have a reel that's presentable and iMovie & iDVD will certainly give me those results.
Congrats! And it looks like you figured out Photo Booth.