Does Anyone Else Miss the Good Ol' Days of Mac?

[what]

It doesn't feel as special anymore to own a Mac. It used to be that I'd be sitting in an airport terminal or coffee shop, or on the side of the street. And if I saw another Mac user we'd silently acknowledge each other. Maybe a nod, or smile, knowing we used a "better computer"

People with Smart cars do that too =/

[majortom1981]

So basically all tyhe rumours about people who use macs are true then.

[Raa]

Hey, I own 3 Macs, and i'm proud to own them.

I've never been a Mac owner, let alone liking Macs.

Since they became "Real pcs" (Reads: has an Intel cpu), I've come to like them as an innovative computer, very reliable, stylish, fast and quite easy to use.

I'd never trade my main pc in for a Mac, but that doesn't stop me liking the new Macs.

(Side note: 2 of my 3 macs run on Windows alone, so no flaming :p)

[berz]

The Mac was a "better computer" in the old days? I assume you mean pre-OS X times? Yes...I, too, loved those extension conflicts and an OS with the multitasking performance of Windows 3.1. Truly an enlightened platform. Granted, the early days of OS X were arguably worse.

On a somewhat related note, I remember wearing Euro metal band shirts ten years ago - when they were impossible to find and needed to be imported. On occasion, somebody would come up to me and give me a smile or an approving nod. It was a nice ego boost; but times change and those shirts are now available in Hot Topic. I got over my musical elitism and began to embrace mainstream homogenization of something that once made me unique.

Posted from my MacBook Pro :)

[HawkMan]

The Mac was a "better computer" in the old days? I assume you mean pre-OS X times? Yes...I, too, loved those extension conflicts and an OS with the multitasking performance of Windows 3.1. Truly an enlightened platform. Granted, the early days of OS X were arguably worse.

On a somewhat related note, I remember wearing Euro metal band shirts ten years ago - when they were impossible to find and needed to be imported. On occasion, somebody would come up to me and give me a smile or an approving nod. It was a nice ego boost; but times change and those shirts are now available in Hot Topic. I got over my musical elitism and began to embrace mainstream homogenization of something that once made me unique.

Posted from my MacBook Pro :)

You obviusly should have stopped listening to the music you lighten and found another suitably crap music genre noone else lsiten to just so you could continue being a musical elitist, damn sellout :p

[.Kompressor]

the unique-ness is going away because...more and more people are owning Macs.

I don't see a problem...unless you like being Elitist.

I'm happy to see more Macs out there....and the switch to Intel has made a drastic change in the market gains.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

The Mac was a "better computer" in the old days? I assume you mean pre-OS X times? Yes...I, too, loved those extension conflicts and an OS with the multitasking performance of Windows 3.1. Truly an enlightened platform. Granted, the early days of OS X were arguably worse.

...

Why does nobody remember this, Pre OS X MacOS sucked, and so did early OS X.

[Lasker]

I am very glad that Apple switched to Intel Processors because now is where they can really get the quality standard that for years Apple never meet, for example in the G4 era, it was so common to see how these computer die or have defect in the motherboard. Now Apple have a more superior support from Intel to design high quality products, I believe Apple today have a more better stand than anytime in the past.

[berz]

You obviusly should have stopped listening to the music you lighten and found another suitably crap music genre noone else lsiten to just so you could continue being a musical elitist, damn sellout :p

I'm listening to nothing but Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers these days. It's the ultimate act of ironic rebellion.

[Denis W. Veteran]

If it weren't for Apple switching to x86 processors, there would be no way in hell I'd consider an Apple machine. Being stuck with OS X and the few odd *nix distros compiled for PPC is not an option.

Now, why not? Just a matter of waiting until ... this laptop's due for a replacement.

Also :rofl: at this perceived elitism you people hold.

[Xenomorph]

It doesn't feel as special anymore to own a Mac. It used to be that I'd be sitting in an airport terminal or coffee shop, or on the side of the street. And if I saw another Mac user we'd silently acknowledge each other. Maybe a nod, or smile, knowing we used a "better computer" :p .

And people would be like wow, you use a Mac? What's it like. (Or. EW, you use a WHAT? Get away from me, Mac fanatic.) I'd tell them all about the G4 (Subsequently, the G5) processor, and the megahertz myth. (Some of you will know what I'm talking about right off the bat, I'm sure. We're the people who freaked out about the Cube. ;) )

As a owner of multiple Macintosh systems over the years, including a very expensive 1.467 GHz G4 system, I'm pretty sure there is no MHz myth. Well, there was a misconception regarding Apple's hyping of the G4 chip. The first home PC super-computer is what they called it I belive. Capable of doing like a billion whatever-the-hecks-a-second or something.

But how did that translate into real-world apps? Photoshop benchmarks are nice. But do most Mac users just sit at their desk using that all day?

If something is optimized for G4/AltiVec, then it's pretty quick. However, for MOST of the stuff I've ran, that isn't the case.

A lot of what I've tried to run is x86 ports of stuff. PowerPC-compatible games, Flash, and other stuff just runs so freaking slow.

Games and apps that played fine on a Pentium 3 would be be a slideshow on my 1.467 GHz G4.

Obviously, that is the fault of the programmer. But something like Firefox and Flash gets used almost daily by me, and knowing that my "faster" and certainly more expensive Mac gets its butt handed to it by an old "throw-away" P3 system is sad.

And a big issue now: Even Apple has abandoned PowerPC. Hardly any companies optimized for G4 before, and the chance of that happening now is even less.

[darren89]

a mac pc is one of the olderst pc's that i've ever used in my life...

they were pretty good, which has lots of multimedia features (for an old pc about a decade ago).

quite a simple interface, most things were straight forward. :)

performance was fine, not too slow, but it hangs after using quite sometime.

overall, it was a good experience with it.

[+Warwagon MVC]

1996? You mean the years we use to have macs in the library in high school and they use to crash once every 5 mins and would always have to be restarted.

The Mac OS was just about as bad as windows 98 before OSX.

[C_Guy]

I miss the good ol' days of DOS and the games that were made in the 90's...

Ahh THANK YOU! Now that's something worth missing. DOS... the best gaming platform ever made. Of course, it's a coincidence that the 90's were also the era of the best PC Games ever. Today it's just clone after clone after clone.

And, yes, when most people think about Macs of the 90's they think of the System Bomb "An error has occurred... restart" screens and that's about it. Paying more for a computer that crashed constantly is no reason to feel special.

[SMELTN]

you know I know exactly what you are talking about, I mean there are alot of things that people own that are like that, like owning a JEEP used to be, now everyone and there brother has a cherokee or a Liberty, so no more flashing the headlights at each other, or sticking your hand out to wave at each other when you pass by.

I mean its good because at least you know more people are using mac's now, which is great for those of you who want it to continue to grow and make great products... But at the same time it sucks because you aren't special anymore ;)

[MasterC]

Also :rofl: at this perceived elitism you people hold.

I wouldn't say "you people" since not every Mac user thinks that way. I mean, its just a computer, albeit a considerably more expensive one, that does pretty much the same thing a Windows PC does. It's just a little different in some ways.

[Denis W. Veteran]

I wouldn't say "you people" since not every Mac user thinks that way. I mean, its just a computer, albeit a considerably more expensive one, that does pretty much the same thing a Windows PC does. It's just a little different in some ways.

"You people" was aimed at people who thought that way. Hence I didn't write "Also :rofl: at this perceived elitism you Mac users people hold." If any Mac users who do not share that mindset got offended by that, I am sorry. :)

[MasterC]

"You people" was aimed at people who thought that way. Hence I didn't write "Also :rofl: at this perceived elitism you Mac users people hold." If any Mac users who do not share that mindset got offended by that, I am sorry. :)

Oh I wasn't offended, and I don't see how people could perceive your statement as offensive. I was just quoting that part to help make my point - that some Mac users just see it as another kind of computer, and nothing to be elitist about. :)

[betasp]

Why does nobody remember this, Pre OS X MacOS sucked, and so did early OS X.

Maybe because a 9500/200 running 9.1 was the only computer at the time that could two streams of uncompressed 720x480 video at the same time (utilizing an 18GB SCSI-2 ARRAY for $4k).

[Vykranth]

Ahh THANK YOU! Now that's something worth missing. DOS... the best gaming platform ever made. Of course, it's a coincidence that the 90's were also the era of the best PC Games ever. Today it's just clone after clone after clone.

Ah, yes, the endless editions of Config.sys and autoexec.bat because some games required extended memory and other required expanded memory.

The hours passed trying to move the TSRs out of the conventional memory elsewhere to milk the last bytes of the 640KB limit to make the game start.

And for each and every single of the games, the little prayer Port 220, IRQ 5, DMA 1 to have the Sound Blaster recognized and you could not get your friend to help because he had a Gravis ultrasound ....

Three hours spend dealing in the arcane of himem.sys and emm386.exe before playing ....

SET SARCASM=Off

The games might have been good (I have very fond memories of Origin Systems Game) but DOS was like whipping yourself with a leather belt

[HellScream63]

1996? You mean the years we use to have macs in the library in high school and they use to crash once every 5 mins and would always have to be restarted.

The Mac OS was just about as bad as windows 98 before OSX.

Hey, Windows 98 was awesome.

Try using Windows ME. I unfortunately ran Windows ME.

[betasp]

Ah, yes, the endless editions of Config.sys and autoexec.bat because some games required extended memory and other required expanded memory.

The hours passed trying to move the TSRs out of the conventional memory elsewhere to milk the last bytes of the 640KB limit to make the game start.

And for each and every single of the games, the little prayer Port 220, IRQ 5, DMA 1 to have the Sound Blaster recognized and you could not get your friend to help because he had a Gravis ultrasound ....

Three hours spend dealing in the arcane of himem.sys and emm386.exe before playing ....

SET SARCASM=Off

The games might have been good (I have very fond memories of Origin Systems Game) but DOS was like whipping yourself with a leather belt

Wow, I remember it taking 5 hours to get Commanche to run on my 486DX. Good times. That is when building a PC took skill.

[the evn show]

It's no different than the acknowledgement that you get from the guy using the machine you want at the gym,

or the other guy stopped in a BMW at the traffic light.

While it might be the first time you've noticed it's got nothing on, the sense of community you encounter

from photographers, and that has nothing on what you get when you ride a motorcycle.

My computer choice never made me a unique snowflake so, not only do I not miss it, I'm glad for other people

because it means that more people are using 'better' computers and having the same experience I do.

If you really think owning a mac is better, why wouldn't you want everyone to experience that? I don't

subscribe to the idea that others have to be unhappy or less productive for me to be successful, happy, etc.

[crazzy88ss]

It doesn't feel as special anymore to own a Mac. It used to be that I'd be sitting in an airport terminal or coffee shop, or on the side of the street. And if I saw another Mac user we'd silently acknowledge each other. Maybe a nod, or smile, knowing we used a "better computer" :p .

It was kinda elitist. And I was a stereotype in flesh. But I kinda miss it. -- Don't get me wrong, though. I still love my Mac.

and that's the kind of stupid, smug attitude that is associated with apple users. thanks.

[LightIdea]

GURU MEDITATION!