Windows 8 was one of Microsoft’s lowest points.
Switched in 2006. I was always a windows user but apple admirer. I was previously involved in IT and my daily job was to manage windows on the server and desktop. This was back when windows was really plagued by spyware and malware. You really had to babysit windows and I just got tired of it, at least at home. I felt like I spent more time scanning for spyware and maintaining my computer rather than getting work done. So I got a refurbished iMac and haven’t looked back since. Windows is better and I have a windows box but my main platform is Mac
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@neonate I did the same, my first computer was Atari 400. I still recalled that it took 3-4 minutes to load a game from a cassette tape only to find that it ended up in check sum error. I then moved to Apple 2e clone using C/PM , then IBM XT, AT running DOS 3.1 or so. I remained on DOS / Windows camp till round 15 years old. I moved to Mac running Sierra ?? and never looked back. I even built my Hackintosh as the iMAC was too expensive to have the good hardware inside.
I like the Mac/IOS ecology as it is well integrated (may be too much to trap me in). There are great apps that I do not find any close equivalent in the Windows world , such as Alfred, Hazel, Hook, Draft, etc.
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I actually started out on a Mac, but it was an interesting journey. 1989, looking for something to take overseas to do “word processing and light duty page layout.” I took down the Yellow Pages (analog, of course!) and prepared a list of all the computer shops in town. All that had was PCs, it seemed. When I asked anyone to demonstrate how a given computer would work, the reply was usually some variation of “Well, that demo model is having some issues at the moment,” or “Oh, I’m sorry, but the person who knows how to do that isn’t here today.” Nevertheless, I was preparing to decide on one. Then a friend told me about another friend who was doing all the publications for a small private college on a Mac SE. “You really out to check out what he’s using.” So I did. Loved it, loved what it produced, and how it produced it. Found a local dealer after much searching, and away we went. My Mac Plus was freshly equipped with System 6!!!
Because of an employer, I’ve probably logged more hours on Windows than Mac, but I’ve never wasted my own time or money there.
my father had the opportunity to bring home a macintosh, i think it must have been 89. this was the first computer i really used. After that I got my own atari 1040st a little later.
because I was a little shit, I stayed with “computers” that could also play games and later switched to game consoles. It wasn’t until 1998 that I discovered the mac again at a friends house who was playing warcraft 1 with me. I really wanted one afterwards and got one of the colorful imacs for my birthday (I think red or orange, can’t remember anymore).
Since I had the opportunity to get computers from my father’s company, I bought my first mac myself in 2006. Because I really wanted to test the new mac mini with intel at start.
I began using computers in 1995 and was a computer-miserable Windows user until 2010 when I got my first iMac. Because of corporate considerations, I have had to continue to use Windows alongside the Mac, but much prefer Macs. Macs do have annoyances, but Windows brings disasters. Whenever possible, I run Windows in a VM (VMware Fusion in my case.), where it is considerably more tame than it is in a standalone machine. Too bad Apple computer systems don’t have the enterprise muscle to make Windows completely unnecessary, but I guess that will never happen.
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Was a Windows user for years — thought Apple was all hype. Then 8 or so years ago a friend with an ad agency asked me to do some side jobs doing client videos. Everyone in his little company was using Macbooks and I was due to upgrade a “netbook” so I jumped into Apple with a basic 11" Macbook Air. I fell in love pretty quickly and when it came time to upgrade my smartphone I went with an iPhone. A year after getting the Air it was time to upgrade my main laptop so I bought a mid-2014 Macbook Pro. Somewhere early in the iPad life cycle I got my wife an iPad and then gave her an old iPhone. Never been happier. I think I’m finally going to upgrade my mid-2014 with the new (rumored) 14" version.
2002 was a big year for me. Left my job of 18 years (banking & finance), left the church I had attended for 20 and moved to Mac with an eMac.
I had got interested in Linux in the late 90s as the software was free and allowed me to “play” with tech. During my 3 month long service leave in 1998, rather than travel the world, I built and re-built Linux boxes. Lots of fun though not sure the FBH would have chosen that, I think she’d rather had travelled!
I’d long had a fascination for McIntosh and was buying every magazine that mentioned Mac or NeXT.
Then in 2002, the kids had hit high school and we could afford the eMac, so we started there. has all sorts since and first laptop was the 15" silver one (I’m sure it had a specific name) cost $3500-ish! And no Apple store then so no returns after 14 days! “Ya pays ya money and ya takes ya chances”
I sometime slow at the Surface pros as I like the form factor, but they run Windows! 
Especially since macOS Monterey won’t support your MacBook Pro?
Regardless, you’re in for a massive upgrade! 
Started with a Commodore VIC-20. Then upgraded to an Amstrad 464 (thanks, Mum!). Monochrome, tape based computing. My friends had ZX Spectrums then Ataris or Amigas. I always felt like I was a step behind the pack, but in hindsight, I can appreciate how lucky I was to have any kind of home computer at all.
My first degree spanned ‘94-97. The year I started, they still had Word for DOS in the computer lab. The internet was text based— Lynx was the main browser. Soon after I arrived there was an overhaul. Windows was installed. NCSA Mosaic allowed us to see images in webpages (I feel old just typing this…). By the time I finished, I was building interfaces for CD-ROMs using Macromedia Flash in the Apple Mac suite (Performas, I think? The beige days of computing…).
When I left uni, I actually developed a preference for PCs; built a couple of towers for my home set-up. Worked through a couple of IT roles, then went freelance in web design. Didn’t have any real talent for front-end design, but there was a project I had to work on while travelling overseas, with enough of a budget to allow me to pick up a new laptop, and I needed a Mac in my set-up for cross-platform testing. I talked myself into a 12” Powerbook G4— the first Mac I owned outright. I used to love that thing. Still have it, somewhere.
Been Apple ever since.
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Lynx was great. But I have vivid memories of the first time I saw Mosaic, in 1994. It blew my mind. There wasn’t much to see, but it was so obvious what the potential was — one of the few times I saw a piece of technology and immediately grasped the possibilities. (The Palm Pilot was another.) I can still see the handful of people standing around the computer watching someone browse around.
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I bought my first PC in 1980. (I’m an engineer and probably way over analysis all my purchases). I selected the Victor 9000 designed by Chuck Peddle. Back then, it blew away the IBM XT and everything else at that time.
When Victor didn’t gain the market share with their 9000 series, they came out with their IBM clones. My Victor dealer, who also sold farming tractors in Arkansas, told me that if I purchased three of them, I could become a Victor dealer, so I did. Shortly later, he called me and said, “drop everything and immediately go to Atlanta and attend the Novell Netware class”. It was costly, but I did. That lead to us becoming a Novell Dealer and later setting up over fifty-plus networks.
So, there we were, setting up Networks, selling Databases and higher end Accounting software. We never even considered Apple, as we deemed it a joke.
As the PC industry changed and all the margins disappeared in hardware sales, and Novell became challenged with the new Microsoft NT and later Window Server, we migrated to this platform. The only problem is that no one could keep them running. Our older Netware networks required no maintenance, but the new Windows Servers were a constant headache.
Then in 2006, the suits talked me into re-entering Corporate America again, which I did. No longer requiring a Server set up with ten workstations, I was attempting to get by at home with a PC running XP, Windows 2000, etc.
A good friend of mine told me to look again at Apple. I knew that Apple’s new OS was plagiarized Unix that Steve Jobs somehow got his hands on and that Unix was an “Engineering Operating System.” Steve’s real genius was to make this very cryptic system “User Friendly.”
So, in 2010, I have been very critical of Apple my entire life; I purchased their maxed-out iMac. I was blown away. Very shortly later, I turned the machine into “Fusion” machine by adding the fastest and biggest SSD at the time, to the spinning hard disk. (It’s still running). Now I am an Apple Kool-Aid drinker, and I have never looked back. (I have even been known to purchase iMacs for my friends for wedding presents).
At the time, not really knowing how to run the Mac with any real expertise, I found David and Katie. They lead me to other podcasts and to Screencast, etc.
My 2010 iMac is still running, as is all my other Mac’s purchased. I used to replace my PC’s every three years and try to get four to five years out of my servers. I used to purchase HP PC’s and servers and Compaq’s for Servers, and or build my own. I find Apple’s quality amazing to run past seven years. I’m currently waiting for the new MacBook Pros with the M1X and the new iMacs with the new M1x/M2 processors. Since 2010, every PC I have purchased has been a Mac, except for one HP PC I purchased for my wife, to comply with her work.
I don’t ever see myself going backward. The Apple support and service have always been excellent, the few times I ever had to use them. What a perfect platform. I didn’t follow my older friends, who are all now on Linux. Perhaps one day, when I have the time, I’ll buy a PC and install Linux on it to experiment, but for now, I’m pleased with Apple. PS I am still an Apple Kool-Aid drinker.
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