SiliconBeat

I recently bought a 13-inch MacBook. And I’m giddy a like a school girl about it.

But rather than just wax poetic about the joys of Apple, I wanted to share my journey and a few of the things I learned about myself along the way.

Just to get one thing out of the way, I’m not going to indulge in a lot of PC or Microsoft bashing. I’ve used various PCs and Windows-laptops over the past decade, and I have few complaints. But what was interesting, and this was something I didn’t recognize until much later, was how little passion they inspired. I liked these machines, but I certainly never bragged about having one, and never talked them up to friends.

But let me indulge, and go back to the beginning of my journey.

I began using Macs in college when I was working on the student paper. These were the late 80s and early 90s, and everyone on campus who had a computer had a Mac. All the computer labs were Macs.

When I graduated in 1991, I didn’t own a computer for several years. When I took the job test for the Associated Press in 1992, I had to take it on an electric typewriter (with no corrections feature). Didn’t get the job. But a few years later, I was working at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., when they installed an entire Mac-based production system. Trust me when I say that in the newspaper world, they were light years ahead of their time.

But even better, the N&O offered a new purchase program for employees to buy their own computers at home. The company offered interest-free loans to be paid back over three years. So I jumped in and bought an Apple PowerBook 520c. The “c” stood for color, as this was just Apple’s second MacBook with a color screen (as I recall). It had 160 MB hard drive, a 25 MHz processor, and a 56K modem, and a trackpad (replacing the bulky roller ball). I was in love.

This 6.4-pound wonder served me well for four years. Until I moved to San Jose where there Mercury News had PCs. To work remotely, I needed a PC. So I got one. And that was that, as far as Apple and Mac were concerned. My PowerBook went into storage where it’s been up until a couple of weeks ago.

So what changed? A couple of things conspired to get me back to Mac.

In January, a Dell laptop I was using got stolen. And in the past year, the Mercury News installed a new content management system that works remotely on Macs. So, Macs were an option again. But what did I really need? And what was the better value?

What ensued was several months of agonizing research and dithering on my part. I found myself incredibly torn about whether to get a PC-based laptop or a Mac. While the Mac faithful (truly an obnoxious crowd if you’ve never been to MacWorld conference) would roll their eyes, this is still a very difficult and complex decision.

On the face of it, PC-based laptops appear to be far less expensive to get much more horsepower. I must have read dozens of reviews of PC and Mac laptops. I set up grids to compare features and prices. I was plagued by what felt like a philosophical dilemma: “What did I want to do with the computer?” Write, sure, edit videos, some audio, manage photos, access the Internet. But what did I want to “do” seemed to be a more ilusive, abstract question that was impossible to reason out.

I had attended a digital media workshop back in February at the University of California at Berkeley School of Journalism. And all the hands-on instruction was done on Macs in their labs. I’m certainly no high-end multimedia superstar, but I was truly amazed at how much easier and intuitive editing was on the Mac. That little taste of Mac life had me salivating.

But I kept trying to check my gadget lust against the data, which seemed to tip things in favors of PCs just a bit (after adding in various pieces of software and other items to get them to be equivalent to a Mac).

This went on for almost two months, with no conclusion in sight. Finally, I decided to step away from the data approach, and call on my friends. I posted a status update on Facebook: “Am I a Mac or a PC? I can’t decide and it’s driving me crazy.”

As silly as this will sound, the 23 responses I got tipped me in favor the Mac. Not just the volume, mind you. But they were uniformly passionate about why I should I get a Mac. Plenty contained factual arguments about hidden costs that they felt evenedthe cost vs. performance issue. But overall, it was the combination of passion coming from people I know and respect when it comes to technology that pushed me over the edge.

I wanted a machine that worked well, and made me passionate (but hopefully, not obnoxious).

Two weeks ago, my 13-inch MacBook came in the mail. And I’m in love all over again, though I feel a bit left-handed at times trying to learn, or re-learn the Mac commands. Feeling nostalgic, I also pulled my old PowerBook out of storage, and was tickled that it booted right up, with signature Apple boot-up sound.

Seeing them side by side, it really drives how what a phenomenal period we’ve lived through. The PowerBook cost me $3,800, including a printer, and a monitor, which probably added about $1,000 to the package.

Now, for about two-thirds of the price I paid 14 years ago, I got a machine that measures processing power in gigahertz rather than megahertz; and has a 250-gigabyte of memoryhard drive compared to the 160 megabytest I had on my PowerBook.

We tend to take that evolution for granted. But that deflationary power still stands as one of the most remarkable achievements of our age. And it makes it hard to truly fathom how much change lies ahead.

But for now, I’m just going to go play with my Mac.