Why did you first buy an Apple Device

geoffaire · July 17, 2025, 12:03pm

Reading this article by our friend @MereCivilian Why I moved away from Windows 15 years ago? it prompted me to revisit my own Apple Computers timeline.

And I realised I was also telling myself a false narrative as I’d always said that my first Apple product was an iPod Mini.

Back in 2003, my then boss bought a powerbook as a company computer, after using it for 3 months, he got bored and asked if I “wanted a play”. I had little experience of Apple or OS X so I played around with it while still using my Windows computer for work. Then in 2005, I turned 30 and asked for contributions towards an iPod Mini, but I got one as a whole gift.

Having the Mac at home was brilliant. I worked in IT and the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was to mend my personal computers and Macs (pretty much) just worked.

From there I was hooked and as the Powerbook slowed down, I got a Mac Mini to be a server, the Blackbook, a MBP (which did me 8/9 years of sterling service) and now 3 other Mac minis have followed.

In 2008 I got my first iPhone which have been followed by 7 others, and in 2010 the first iPad was followed by the iPad 3 and 3 iPads Pro.

I understand that Android offers more configurability, but the simplicity of Apple Devices is still a big reason to use Apple, and their increasing stance on privacy is equally important.

Like many IT people, I played the role of Tech Support for my family groups, but when I left IT in 2013, I warned them that my windows knowledge would begin to atrophy, so I was not going to support windows any longer in a year from then. Over time, many of my family members have moved to iPhones, iPads and Macbooks, and they rarely need support so it’s been a win/win, they get computers which are easier for them to use and I get less hassle.

KirkS · July 17, 2025, 12:23pm

Bought an iPod, then bought the first generation iPad which persuaded me to give up my beloved Motorola Droid for an iPhone. Then a MacBook, a Watch, a Mini, all while buying the newest generation of the devices.

Every Apple device is built to suck you deeper into the Apple ecosystem – but I’m not complaining

KVZ · July 17, 2025, 1:05pm

My first Apple-anything was the iBook G3 in the late 1990s. After years on Windows / mainframe / midrange computers, I hated that G3. I couldn’t figure anything out, the menus made no sense, and the thing hung repeatedly. (Probably because of my fat-fingering.)

I got rid of it. Didn’t go back to Apple – and became hooked – after I bought a 17" MacBook Pro a few years later. That device weighed a ton, but I really enjoyed working with it.

Katie

rms · July 17, 2025, 1:34pm

Apple ][+ as at the time the IBM PC was unavailable in the country that I was living.

bwintx · July 17, 2025, 1:39pm

The original “Skinny Mac” in July, 1984. I wrote about the experience 35 years later:

cornchip · July 17, 2025, 2:02pm

I bought my friend’s Macbook Pro in 2009-2010. I was learning Ruby on Rails and local development was rough on Windows. Great choice.

Jeagar52 · July 17, 2025, 2:04pm

My first Apple device was an original 128k Macintosh, purchased in the Fall of 1984. I’d worked with IBM computers the past year, and found DOS ugly, non-intuitive, and a major pain in the ass to use.

When I walked into the computer store and sat down in front of the Mac, it was love at first sight with the GUI. Within a few minutes, without any instruction (or stupid formatting codes!) I could write and format what I wrote, and do simple drawings with Paint. I was hooked.

Caro · July 17, 2025, 2:06pm

My friend handed me his iPad to “play with” back in 2011. I was hooked and went out and bought one. This lead to the iPhones, three MacBooks, Apple Watch and so on.

oldblueday · July 17, 2025, 2:51pm

TI 99/4a (on Bill Cosby’s recommendation) →
Apple //c (loved it, we used them in school) →
Apple ][gs (also awesome) →
the dark years of Compaq and HP computers →
Apple PowerBook 12" in 2002 at the advice of a colleague. Loved it and been on Macs since. Everyone in my house (except my son who wanted a gaming laptop) is using Macs now.

Ellis · July 17, 2025, 2:57pm

Just for fun, I bought an Apple II(Not Apple 2 plus) in 1979.

NiranS · July 17, 2025, 3:29pm

Bondi blue iMac in 1998, after yet another Windows reinstall.

WayneG · July 17, 2025, 4:05pm

I purchased a G5 PowerMac in 2003. That was followed by iPhone in ‘07 and iPad 2 in 2011? After the move to Intel we started moving to Macs at work and I didn’t buy another personal Mac until 2020.

Sorry, left out the Why? I had started working with Solaris and Linux and liked that OSX was using BSD.

Medievalist · July 17, 2025, 4:10pm

I was hired by a faculty member as an RA in graduate school to convert his dictionary of rhetorical terms to a HyperCard stack. I had used a variety of computers, but never a Mac. He gave me a fifteen minute introduction to using his Mac SE with an internal hard drive, then left for Greece. I used the Mouse backwards for weeks. I loved the Mac, even though I had a Zenith running DOS and WordPerfect 4.2.

When the PowerBooks came out, I saved and and bought a PowerBook 180. My primary motivation was HyperCard, though by then, I really loved the Mac OS.

dukelajolla · July 17, 2025, 5:09pm

I’ve worked in computers since 1967. Got a Lisa on my desk in 1983 to help test a terminal emulator we were writing. Bought a personal Mac in 1984 (new, from someone who worked at Apple). Been a fan ever since, too many Macs to remember, currently an M1 studio, and an M4 Air.

darranwest · July 17, 2025, 5:21pm

TLDR, Windows Vista.

After several frustrating weeks trying to use its new features that let you preview RAW and JPEG files in Windows Explorer I tried the same think on a Mac. The experience was like chalk and cheese. When I got chance to buy a second-hand MBP I jumped at it and have been using Macs ever since.

liminal · July 17, 2025, 6:03pm

1985: Apple ][+ (upgrade from atari 800)
1992: Mac Classic II (upgrade from the ][+)
1994: NeXTstation mono (because unix rocks)

hbowie · July 17, 2025, 8:07pm

I remember those early Powerbooks! We had some at work. Everything else was Windows, but marketing insisted on having Macs!

My first personal computer (not counting the IBM 360 I sometimes played on at work) was an Osborne. But then in a volunteer gig I got a chance to work with a Mac — a Mac SE, as I recall. I was hooked. But the first Mac I bought for myself at home was an LC pizza box as I recall. But then of course I had an iPod when they first came out. Like you I had to work with PCs while at work, but knew that one of the benefits of retirement would be never having to set hands on a Windows machine ever again!

Clarke_Ching · July 17, 2025, 8:47pm

My first macbook had Lion as it’s operating system.

I bought 100% it to use Scrivener, which I used to wrestle with my first book.

I can’t remember the prices, but the macbook probably cost 20x Scrivener.

ibuys · July 17, 2025, 9:24pm

I was overseas when I saw this ad in a computer magazine in the early 2000’s:

I knew as soon as I got back to the states I was going to pick one of those up. I wrote about it a bit here: jb… That One Mac Guy

JensV · July 17, 2025, 9:59pm

I bought my first Mac in march 2003 - an iBook G3 800.

My main reason was that I was so fed up with „let me just do XYZ on my computer before we leave“. I had been a Windows power user and new everything about maintaining that thing, but whenever I quickly wanted to to something, be it copy something to a floppy disk, print something, burn a CD … I guarantee it did not work and I was either late to a party or meet-up or had to leave without.

The iBook was a revelation for me - everything just worked for me (except that thing with the floppy disks ). Quickly printing something without installing a printer driver - done; quickly burning a CD for in the car - done. It just worked for me …

That was amazing but frankly, after 3 months unthought about selling it again because I got bored - I didn’t have to do any maintenance at all, had an uptime of 156 days and I simply didn’t knew what to do with the Mac . Slowly I learned to make better use of that free time and so I stayed ever since.

Two years later I was the only student with a Mac (iBook G4 800) in my first year. At first they looked at me in pity I’d say but quickly started to ask questions: wait, how were you able to print your report that quickly on that awkward printer? How were you able to connect to WiFi or Ethernet so quickly? Wait, did you just control your slides with your phone (Sony Ericsson)? Why do your slides look so cool and how did you animate them? Wait how did you copy those huge files from one Mac to another (in the second year some else got a Mac as well and we simply connected both Macs via Forewire 400 which was amazing compared to normal USB speeds back then .

Ah I fondly remember those early days