Sunday, April 18, 2010

My Big Fat Mini iLife



It's done. I've converted. I've thought about it for years, listened to my mac-friends rave about their cool computers, watched my daughter, then my son, dive into the Applepond and call to me on the shore - "Come on in! The water's fine!"

I live with Mr. Mac. Most creative people are. And when we met lo those many years ago, he was surprised I was a PC.

"I'd have guessed you were a Mac."

My very first email on my new miniMac was from him, congratulating me on now being among the cool people who can sneer at HP laptops.

I won't be doing that.

But here's the thing:

I am going to be doing a huge amount of audio editing and my aging PC rolled its eyes when I told it what was coming.

"Seriously?" it asked.

I understood. It's at least six years old and the most I've asked of it is to save my writing and avoid viruses. It's done a fine job. This would be like asking a compact car to tow a yacht.

Money is most certainly an object and that seemed to put the Mac out of my reach, until the nice guy at Sweetwater (you want audio stuff? They're for you.) suggested the mini-Mac.

"You can keep your monitor. You can keep your printer. Get yourself a nice backup harddrive and you've got more than enough oomph to do anything you want."

Done. The box arrived and my brain seized up. How do I transfer all my stuff? How do I learn this new editing program? How do I find time to do all this learning with a new job starting, too? AAAAAAAHHHH!!!

But I put my head down, started unpacking and set it up last night. I am writing this with the help of my new friend, Minny.
She's a little white box with wireless and bluetooth (can't see that I'll need them, but I'm impressed), extra memory and one bonus I did not expect.

She's quiet. Incredibly quiet. No fan noise quiet. Until I installed the external hard drive, turning on the computer was a dead quiet experience.

That's amazing for someone used to loud PC fans, a constant whir, that white noise that's just part of computers.

Minny's on the desk beside me, not on the floor collecting cat hair. She's sleek and spiffy and raring to go.

So far, she's even allowing me to use my old PC keyboard, though I know that'll change as I start needing more keyboard shortcuts. She installs hardware without a question, isn't complaining about the fact that I've already got her USB hubs at capacity. She sucks in CDs with a quiet hum and spits them out cleanly on request.

I think I love her.

How I'll feel about Logic Express9 is another question. But I have hopes. And I have the advantage of living with Mr. Wizard.

10 comments:

life of D said...

Once you go Mac you never go back, welcome to the club ;)

Whitney Lee said...

I felt the same way about getting a Mac a few months ago. Imagine my dismay when I had to read help articles for the simplest tasks...I felt like a complete bumbledick. Since then I've embraced my ignorance and fallen in love with my MacBook. Have fun with Minny!

Brenda said...

My husband took the plunge two years ago. We both converted to iPhones and have considered the iPad in a few months. Our son calls his father "Mac Daddy". Found your blog today via Jo.

lacochran said...

Congrats! Everyone I know who converts to a Mac is a little freaked at first and then it's the greatest love story every written. :)

Susan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Susan said...

Dade, Whitney Lee, Brenda and lacochran,
There must be something special about these little critters as those who have them are so madly loyal to them. I just never hear that kind of excitement from PC people.
But what do I know - I had a beta vcr. I was SURE that people would use it - every gearhead knew it was better than VHS. But no.
So guess what I discovered I get as a tool at my new job?
An HP laptop.
Life is too funny.

Ruth said...

Yay! First off, I never heard of a Mac mini. Wow, what a brilliant idea for people to be able to afford a Mac, although it still doesn't look like it's as inexpensive as a PC.

I just converted to my sweet Mac "Blossom" (my name) less than two months ago. There were a few things I didn't like at first, and I'm still adjusting. I was peeved that I didn't have the character map PCs have, so I could easily copy and paste European letter characters. But a friend showed me yesterday how to do most of them with keystrokes. I still haven't figured out how to do the Turkish "i" without the dot though . . .

I find the Mac community very very very interesting. I'd like to write about it. :)

Have fun!

Reya Mellicker said...

I am Mac all the way. Welcome to our world!

Susan said...

Ruth and Reya,
so what is this camaraderie about Macs?
Ruth, you absolutely have to write about it.
I probably will, too! It reminds me of ...no, never mind - I'll tell you when I write the post.

Pauline said...

yes! I love my MAC! I learned on a MAC, was given a PC, celebrated when the poor thing gave up the ghost, and saved till I could get my own MAC. I've never looked back!