[FANFARE!]

Indeed, worlds have collided, empires have fallen, all that was old is now new. Down is up, out is in, and, most importantly, black is now white:



Yes, I've lost my mind, joined the iCult and bought an iMac. Of course, it is a misimpression among some that I am anti-Apple. Far from it. Jobs and Wozniak went to my high school and started the company just down the road from it. I took electronics from the same man who taught them. I'm actually very proud to be from the birthplace of Apple. I used a Mac all through college (thanks, Chris!). Several factors have kept me from owning one, however. First, Macs were always more expensive than the roughly equivalent PC. Second, they were typically slower, and in the early days, only available with tiny greyscale monitors. Of greater concern was the dearth of software available for the Mac. The cultists put up with it; that wasn't for me. DOS/Windows machines could be readily modified, unlike Macs.

Over time, however, computer usage changed. The internet arose to be a dominant force in computer usage, rendering software availability somewhat less important. Digital imagery became very prominent, and Apples have always had a substantial edge in that area. This is one aspect that became the most frustrating to me with our old computer; it was tedious beyond belief to upload photos into the computer.

As we came to the realization that the eight-year-old laptop had to go (it is out of storage space and the screen is about to fall apart), we evaluated our computer usage. We use Word and Excel (available for both platforms), the internet (obviously available for both platforms), Quicken (available for both platforms), and wanted to do more with digital imagery (clear edge to Apple). Then Apple signed on with Intel, the source of my historical loyalty (thanks, Dad), and stuffed a 2GHz Dual Core processor into the new iMac. Hmm. Now compatability problems will be even less of an issue, and prices became amazingly competitive. By the time I built up a Dell desktop with all the power and doodads I wanted, which made it roughly equivalent to the iMac, they were just about the same price, although I could usually get a substantial discount through online coupons not available for iMacs. But that left me with a stodgy desktop when we had enjoyed a laptop that we could bring out to the kitchen table or living room if needed. Laptops were too expensive to consider, but the iMac is semi-portable. Hmm.

In the end, I couldn't think of a strong reason not to get the iMac, and was intrigued about the unique usability of the iMac. Plus, we received exceptional assistance from a true expert (thanks, Andy!) that enabled us to swing the deal with exactly the equipment we wanted.

So, it arrived today at about 4:10. By 4:30, the kids were laughing themselves to tears goofing around with the photo effects on the built-in video camera. By 5:00, I had uploaded all the pictures from our Nikon and began preparing this post. Easy, easy, easy. By the way, I'm sitting at the dining room table; my wireless router is in the office, and the iMac recognized it immediately. No hassle at all. Once I get the AirPort plugged in (which will take all of 90 seconds, most of that taken up with opening the box and walking to the office), I'll be able to print remotely.

It's going to take some adjustment (I have to learn to work around the lack of a second mouse button that calls up copy and paste commands), but I think things are going to work out great.

Now, excuse me while I polish off some of this delicious iKool-Aid.