Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

My First Mac

Macs by Mistake

Scott Holder - 2001.01.05

For the first 16 or 17 years of my life, I was an avid and unashamed Mac hater. Macs were only good as book ends, anchors, or doorstops (take your pick), and Mac users were the scum of the Earth.

In the meantime, I was turning into a Windows/Linux computer geek and went as far as helping to wire my high school and helping with keeping the servers running (a monumental task as they were all running Windows NT). My senior year I was in a foreign language class and made a rather large impression on the teacher by building a computer in front of the class as part of a project. She offered to let me administer the foreign language lab, to which I agreed immediately, since it would be an easy A - and probably fun, too.

My first day, I walked in and sat rather stunned. It was a room full of Power Mac 5300/100 LCs running Mac OS 7.6.1. It was too late to back out now, so I shrugged and figured I might as well do it. Thankfully the lab was only used two or three times a week, even though I had to be there every day, so I had plenty of time to learn.

Along the way, I started noticing things like the fact that settings tended to stay where you put them, and even though they were slow (in fact, they're almost the slowest PowerMacs ever because of their design), they got the job done. And the OS design was elegant without constant little glitches and oddities.

Finally, like Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, I came to the realization that Macs were not only good, but better than Windows. Since then I've bought several Macs including an LC III, a Mac Plus (just for the history), and a 6500/250. I've also gotten into emulation and have been running Basilisk II for some time now. (Stay away from SoftMac by Emulators Inc., it's trash and the author is unpleasant, to put it mildly.)

Links for the Day

Recent Content

Recent Deals

Go to the My First Mac index.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2010 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.