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Before I became an acolyte for a certain "fruit company," I was a PC/Windows guy. One of my first summer jobs involved doing work with a computer that was running Windows 3.1. When my parents purchased a desktop computer with Windows 95 (a replacement for our Commodore 64), I spent hours playing games, digging around the file system, and "surfed (crawled)" the Internet via a 14.4 modem. The high school library had a computer lab in it that featured Apple computers. I wasn't interested. Windows was what I knew. In college, I purchased a Gateway computer. Running a long forgotten version of Windows, I spent a fair amount of time learning how to use PhotoShop, downloading MP3s from various sources, and speedily surfing the web via the ethernet connection in my dorm room. At work, I was busy setting up Windows NT servers and working with Windows 2000. Windows XP became the go-to operating system for most of my Windows use as a professional in Chicago and Corvallis.
And then it happened. When my Dell desktop started to slow down in 2007, I decided to purchase a laptop...an Apple laptop. I walked into a Mac store in Corvallis, Oregon and purchased a MacBook Pro. I hadn't used a Mac since high school. The operating system felt foreign. It took me 3 days to figure things out...and I was hooked. My MacBook Pro was sleek and the user interface of OS X was so slick.
Retiring my first MacBook Pro in 2012 (how many Windows-based laptops last for 5 years?!) was like saying goodbye to an old friend. I had lugged that thing with me on countless consulting/speaking engagements. However, the display was failing and the hard disk was locking up. In the 5 years of using my first MBP, I can only recall having one moment where it had an equivalent to a PC "blue screen of death." My MacBook Pro with OS X was almost unstoppable.
Typing this post on my 2-year-old MacBook Pro is liking typing on a fairly new computer. Being a Mac user has made my computing experience much more enjoyable. The operating system, hardware, and longevity are so good. Unfortunately, now that I've been an Apple user for so long, my once-developed Windows skills have almost evaporated. However, I'm okay with that. Also, my iPhone and iPad are perfect companions to my Apple toolkit.
If you're still using a Windows-based computer, I'm sure that things have gotten better. If not, if you have the interest and budget, take a look at Apple's laptops. OS X will give you a better user experience, which at the end of the day, will make you much happier.
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