A bite of the Apple

This is my first blog entry using a new (to me) computer and software. After being loyal for years to Microsh@ft, I finally took a bite out of the Apple. In this case, an Apple MacBook Pro. It is a starter machine, if you can call $1,200 a starter machine. My favorite computer guy, Cort, had been extolling the virtues of Steve Jobs wonder machine for years, while trying to help me sort out successive issues with Windows, then Vista, and finally Windows 7 which I had purchased, and returned after four days. Four days of frustration, trying to adjust to a new laptop that never felt right, starting with the QWERTY keyboard being offset from my familiar hand and finger placement because of a keypad on the right which shifted everything to the left.

While this Windows 7 machine had four times to memory of my Vista laptop, that was all I felt it had going for it.

My Vista machine had been purchased circa 2007, and had 2 slots for memory of 512MB, for roughly 1GB of RAM (if none of this makes sense, read on). New machines with Windows 7 operating system came standard with 4GB of RAM, and naturally faster processing speed. If you read on, here it is in English - I had run out of memory. My Outlook file had been corrupted in some fashion, and would only offer me an address book and calendar function. Of course the address book was slaved to a non-operable hotmail account (i.e. I could write an email, but couldn't send it), so it was time to bite the bullet and get a new machine.

I had learned from my old CFO, Joe Wood, that "laptops are basically consumables" and Joe had gone through a number of machines in the early days of our business life. IBM portable, Compaq portable, AT&T desktop, IBM PC, IBM PC-XT, IBM PC-AT and on and on from there. Those early days from 1984 to around 1990 were MY formative years, and back then Apple was perceived to be the machine for artists, hobbyists, and geeks. Fifteen years later, I have become a geek, But before succumbing, I had dutifully gone to Best Buy and purchased a 4GB Toshiba with Windows 7. It came with a special deal that the kid basically sold me - another HP printer, normally $79, but specially priced at $59. Never turning down a bargain, I also bit on the kid's claim that I needed Kapersky software. And finally, for another $99 the Geek Squad would back it up and work some other nebulous magic.

Well, it lasted all of four days - and I decided that even though the Apple low end machine was perhaps $400 more, I wasn't happy and took back the Windows 7 machine. I ordered the Apple over the web, and it arrived several days later. Best Buy took back the machine, and refunded full price for all but "Geek Squad" and their $99 fee because it was "labor". I very firmly told the customer service person "THAT is not acceptable" and ultimately they gave me $99 store credit and I went happily on my way. Cort spent the better part of an hour trying to get the HP Printer to recognize the machine (which the sales nerd insisted I needed), told me my "old" printer (only about three years old at most) was not compatible, and the new printer wouldn't work with provided OR downloaded software, Interesting enough, my old HP printer, and "All in One 4300 series" works just fine with the new Apple.

So, now I have a new computer to go with my new car (oh yes, that's the other picture of my 2011 Corvette Grand Sport), also pictured above. It was new toy week, starting on Friday the 13th for the car, with the computer episode apparently became my subsequent brush with bad luck. So, for now, it's transfer those files that can come across, and replicate those which can't. And as for the old Vista machine - well, for about $40 I was able to buy the appropriate 1GB RAM chips, and replaced the two 512GB chips with two newer 1GB chips, doubling the RAM in the Vista machine to 2GB - now it's half the machine of my new Apple, but as you can see Ripley really loves his First Computer. I figure, if the dog has his own FaceBook page, he ought to have his own laptop.