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I am 30-year-old working full-time as a pre-sales consultant for an
IBM authorized assembler. I deal with the RS6000 product line, many of
which use the PowerPC 604/604e CPU. I have worked since 1992 as the
entire graphics arts/typesetting department for Presentations coupon
books (this competes with Entertainment coupon book in several local
markets).
My very first computer was a Texas Instruments 99/4A, with which I
had the expansion box, printer, extra RAM, command modules, DS/DD dual
half-height floppies, etc. I used this system from the 7th grade
through most of college.
I resisted looking at Macs in the college library for the first
couple of years, partly because I had seen Apple II type systems and
had heard of so many different models (II+, IIe, IIgs, etc.) that I
figured if they can't make up their mind what to call it, why look
at.
The first Mac I saw was a Plus in the school library, when a girlfriend
dragged me along to help her type a report. The library had dozens of
Mac Pluses connected to a LaserWriter. The only Intel based system I
had seen up to this point were 8088s or maybe ATs or XTs. Still I
resisted, since my TI was working fine for what I needed at the
time.
In my third year at college I became the monitor of a building in
which there was a Mac lab with what were the latest and greatest Macs
at the time (IIfx, IIci, etc.). It didn't take long to get
hooked.
I bought a Mac SE in 1991 or
so. I took the RAM up to 4 MB soon thereafter. I added a Novy 33 MHz
68030 accelerator, 20 MB of RAM, and a 19" monochrome monitor a couple
years later. I have used this system to do many many things. I have had
a GCC laser printer, CD-ROM, Zip drive, Syquest drive, and various
modems attached to this system with little or no problem. I used it to
connect to the internet back in the days before the World Wide Web was
invented. I even ran software on this system that says "PowerPC
required" on the box. (Imagine trying to load a windows app that says
Pentium 90 required on the box onto an AT.)
I bought a used Performa 630 CD (33
MHz 68LC040) system in order to have a color monitor to surf the Web a
few years back, but I continued to use the accelerated SE to get
serious work done, including several editions of a coupon book that has
since grown to about 100 MB per edition.
About 6 months ago I bought a B&W
G3/300 and it is fully 20 times faster than the Performa or the SE
(the Performa was not noticeably faster than the SE, I think because of
supporting color monitor and having to scroll around a lot on 14"
monitor compared to 19" on the SE). Here it is only 6 months later, and
I'm wishing I could buy a G4. Come to
think of it, maybe I'll wait for the 700 MHz G4-IIs due out in late
2000.
If anyone is interested in a Mac SE accelerated with 20 MB RAM, a
730 MB hard drive, a 19" monitor, and a 28.8 kbps modem, I don't use it
much since I got the G3. I'll even throw in an Apple LaserWriter that
was working right up until it stopped feeding paper (I haven't had time
to figure out what's wrong with it).
I have been unfortunate enough to use a 233 MHz Wintel system at
work that was purchased new by the company when I started 2 years ago.
They are already talking about a new software tool that I will have to
use that will require a system about twice as powerful as this one is
now.
I got nearly ten years of use out of my Mac SE and about 5 years use
out of the Performa (if you include the previous owner's time), and who
knows how much from my G3 (unless I sell it to fund a G4), but my
Windows system is undone by a single application upgrade after only two
years. (Admittedly, with the exception of the one application, a 233
MHz Pentium II is not quite ready for the junk heap, but the fact is
that an entire pallet of 486 CPUs couldn't get $50 at an auction
recently. How far behind is the Pentium II?) At least when a Mac SE or
Mac Plus dies, you can make an aquarium out of it.
Links for the Day
Mac of the Day: 'Kanga' PowerBook G3, Nov. 1997 - the first PowerBook G3 runs at 250 MHz, is limited to 160 MB of RAM.
List of the Day: The iPhone List Low End Mac's forum for discussing and supporting Apple's iPhone.
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The first Mac I saw was a 
I bought a 
