Buying that first Mac
By Robert Pritchett
http://typicalmacuser.com/wordpress/?p=181
Victor Cajiao, host
Disclosure
I’m a former Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with a few other certs from Microsoft under my belt. I’m also a certified Apple Product Professional, and we sell Apple products on our website at macCompanion.com because we do not have an official Apple store anywhere near where we physically live, here in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State in the US. I just renewed that paperwork for 2007.
Over at macCompanion http://www.maccompanion.com, we’ve been providing information to Mac-wannabees for over 4 years now on a monthly basis. We’ve been around a lot longer than that, if you’ve ever heard of the MacNut Magazine that started back in 1995 and officially ended in 2002. We have close to 30 staff members that provide content, and so far their homes are located in the US, Canada, Great Britain and Spain. We have had macCompanion Alumni that have gone on to be successful in their own right and resigned in glory as they moved on. It is wonderful to see that perhaps we actually helped them in some small way to springboard on to financial success. We just need to make that reciprocal. We could still use some more representation from other countries and languages, but that will come with time. And we are still acting as an incubator ourselves, as we continue to morph the mag and grow the Macintosh Professional Network.
Our focus has been more on how we can literally capitalize on the Mac experience and provide a place where the curious lurkers and seekers or war-weary Windows-only refugees can feel at home, without feeling like they are being accosted by Mac Fanatics, those cultish Jobsian flamesters that ardently feel that Apple Corporation can do no wrong, and has the best of interest in its customers. Make no mistake, Apple is a major corporation that suffers from major corporation-itis, answerable only to the Securities Exchange Commission, it stock holders and even later, to its growing clientele. They have a great business plan and are following it.
About macCompanion and MPN, LLC
All of our macCompanion staff use both Mac and non-Mac systems, so we walk in the moccasins of those who read and listen to us both on our website, on the weekly podcasts at Mac ReviewCast http://www.macreviewcast.com with Tim Verpoorten or in either our MagCast or AudioCast over on iTunes. We feel their pain and anguish every day of the week. We are them! We tend to express our own experiences with products, whether they be books, games, hardware, software or training packages.
We did a gigantic gift-away in July during our 4th anniversary celebration and distributed well over $7,000 USD of gifts to readers and listeners around the world. We are doing it again in February 2007, the month of Love, with the ‘I Love My Mac’ theme that Daphne Kalfon made into song a couple of years ago. I think we could honestly say that it pays to read our mag online or as a PDF and listen to our AudioCasts!
To get to either the MagCast or the AudioCast, the Typical Mac User Podcast listeners can search for macCompanion under Podcasts over in iTunes.
We are looking at possibly providing a hardcopy version as a quarterly print-on-demand coffeetable mag distributed out of Great Britain in Winter Quarter 2007 or possibly in book form. And we are soliciting investors and advertisers and continue asking others in the Mac communications industry to join the Macintosh Professional Network.
Regarding buying a Mac for the first time, I guess first, we have to overcome the angst that folks experience by going out and purchasing something new and unknown.
1) We have nothing to fear!
To assuage any fears regarding lack of support after the buy, the FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) issues that have spread epic-sized myths by the non-Mac vendors for the last 3 decades still need to be overcome, as Apple garners mindshare as well as marketshare. With billions of dollars in the bank, Apple is not a fly-by-night operation by any stretch of the imagination. It is not going to fold tomorrow or next week, next month or nest year. In fact it is one of two companies in the computer industry that has consistently made money each quarter and it stock record has been increasingly improving quarter by quarter. So to first-time buyers, please ignore the FUD. Thirty years is a long time to be in the business. Lots of non-Mac computer companies have fallen by the wayside and more will follow, as the Apple Tsunami continues to swell and flow over the industry. And we don’t dance the Macarena!
2) Support
Every once in a blue moon, we will hear of certain individuals that have had a self-inflicted bad experience with their Macs, such as Larry Bodine http://forum.mac-headz.com/showthread.php?t=229. He is a lawyer who recently made a name himself as famous as Rob Enderle http://www.enderlegroup.com/, Paul Thurott http://www.winsupersite.com/ and John C. Dvorak http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,3574,00.asp who make a name for themselves by badmouthing Apple. His online article turned into a lead balloon real fast. Apple may just sue for libel – and I’m not being facetious either!
I emailed him, since he felt that the only help he could get was from the Macintosh for Dummies book and he went and sold off his nearly $5K system in disgust. He could have read our magazine and here is my buying advise;
a) Before you buy a Mac, make sure you can get in touch with a Local Macintosh User Group or go online and join one of the online Macintosh User Groups, if a local entity is not available. http://www.maccompanion.com/companions/mugshots.html
They tend to keep up on the latest from Apple and everyone is willing to answer questions for free, unlike what I’ve experienced in non-Mac user groups. Mac User Groups are honest, friendly, self-help clubs and anyone and everyone are welcome to join and participate. They usually do their best to make you feel at home.
b) When you buy a Mac, be sure and purchase the AppleCare package that gives you the care and feeding rights for the next three years. I’ve yet to ever use it, but it is cheap insurance and if anything ever goes wrong, Apple has you covered and I’ve bought three for our machines here over the years. We tend to keep our machines forever too. They don’t die. They get gifted away.
3) Listen to Mac-related podcasts!
There are a plethora of Mac podcasts with some that have staying power like; Typical Mac User Podcast, Mac OS Ken, MacBreak, MacCast, MacVoices, Mac Help from Maui, British Mac, MacWorld Podcasts, MacNotables, MyMac, The Mac Attack, The Mac Roundtable, The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab and Weekly Roundup and Mac ReviewCast among others. There are also other Mac-related podcasts in other languages besides English as well, but these are ones I listen to all the time and keep. I also participate every once in a while with Gene Steinberg on the weekly Tech Night Owl LIVE podcast. Okay, twice so far. And once on MyMac.
4) Purchasing
If you are a business, lease, at least in the US, to take advantage of the Income Tax laws and be eligible to have the latest equipment and software without an initial outlay for everything. If you are an individual, buy. Buy as much RAM as possible. Oh, and if you don’t have an Apple store or Apple affiliate store near by or get the Macintosh sales catalogs, buy from us!
5) Which one? Does it Matter?
I just had to laugh at Jeffrey Mincey’s article posted over on Mac360:
http://www.mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/help_me_im_going_broke_using_a_mac/
I don’t know just how tongue-in-cheek Jeffrey is, but I can empathize with the sentiment about being an Apple materialist and how easy it is to get sucked up into getting the latest and greatest from Apple. The products are usually excellent, and if not, they don’t last long on the market.
The Mactel machines do non-Mac software such as Linux or Windows or other operating systems, if you use Parallels http://www.parallels.com/en/download/desktop/, and yes, we do sell their product as well. Apple has their own Boot Camp, but it doesn’t do other OSes besides Windows, as far as I can tell so far.
So get a machine that does Windows and oh, by the way, it also does Mac OS X! The Mactels are really the best of both worlds in the computer industry. There are no excuses left for school establishments, governments, intelligence or military organizations as well as the Enterprise environments, not to get Macs. Previously their sole-source options were “anything but Macs”. They can’t legally do that anymore. And why? The Mac is battle-hardened against most, if not all malicious software and the Mac OS X operating system has an enviable established reputation of no real viral malware yet. And if you really, really have too, it will run non-Mac-specific software as well.
In reality, it really doesn’t matter which Mac you get, just get one!
Personally, I think the Mac mini is a transition toy or taste-test for the geekset who want to try-before-they-buy and toe-dip into the Apple pool instead of jumping in with both feet for the full-emersion effect.
I’m being punny, but the portables are hot ticket items, but if we are stationary types, the iMacs are gorgeous and work extremely well.
The Power Macs are for the Power Users who need a lot of horsepower to move and render movies, etc. and have a budget to match. The portables are for the presenter and road warrior folks. I’d love to get my hands on one of the latest Xserves!
6) And if I buy a machine that becomes obsolete tomorrow?
That is a given in this industry. Get used to it. Wait and wait forever. Buy and see a new machine marketed within a week. It happens to me all the time! And I guess I’m not alone. Dennis Sellers even carried this phenomena over to a Halloween theme about Mac fears and phobias:
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/a_halloween_look_at_mac_fears_and_phobias
So for the gold! On our site we have a blog and one of the sections is on Switching and Transitioning. We try to keep up with the stories, but they usually fall into the “I’d wished I’d done this sooner” category. And we love hearing stories from folks like Victor Cajiao, who not only switch but, like reformed smokers, are willing and able to help others quit bad habits and begin new good ones with a new Mac.
The Macintosh Professional Network is here for the long term and macCompanion will continue to morph and evolve, as we learn together as long as Macs exist. We look forward to a lasting long and rewarding relationship with our readers and listeners.
Chris Marshall also reviewed the eBook, “Take Control of Buying a Mac, version 2.0” by Adam Engst and it is in this month’s issue of macCompanion.
