Designed by Apple in California

Well, I’ve joined the ranks of the Mac Nation (is that PC?), with my purchase of a black MacBook yesterday. And contrary to the traditional reasons one buy’s Apple, I did not buy it because it’s hip, or because I suddenly decided to vote Mac (in the proverbial Mac vs. PC election), or because of the funny/cool commercials that make fun of PC’s, etc. Nor have I abandoned my desktop for the more agile and mobile laptop, nor my affinity for Ubuntu and Linux (in fact, I am currently posting from my Ubuntu desktop as I… post). Rather, as I am doing increasingly more freelance work, both for fun and to supplement my income (now that I am working at a non-profit), I find that I am need of some tools which are unavailable (or underdeveloped) in the OpenSource world. Namely, the Adobe suite of design and development applications.

I could very well be chastised for this next statement, but buying this Mac now will actually save me money in the long run. Don’t be too quick to judge now—hear me out. Because of the freelance work I’ve done this year, and the unemployment I had been collecting, I’ve earned a sizable amount of taxable income that I have yet to pay taxes on, but will be required to come April 15th. So, I did some ballpark estimates and based on my estimated total income this year, and various deductions, I found that if I purchased a computer before the end of the tax year (for use with my freelance work of course), it can be considered an expense, and I actually end up owing less taxes. You don’t have to believe me, but that’s the truth.

That said, I won’t deny that Apple has done an outstanding job of designing all of their products. In fact, Apple won’t deny it either (as every item that bares the Apple logo has a sentence that reads “Designed by Apple in California”). Apple is cool. My MacBook is cool. Leopard is cool. But it isn’t cool (to me) because the hipsters say so. It’s cool because Apple has taken great care to developing a product that not only looks cool, but actually works. And it works well. It’s highly usable. It is intuitive. And you don’t need to read a 200 page manual, or take a 3 hour class to learn how to use it (OK, most of you don’t).

Yes, I could have bought Windows and setup my system to dual boot (because there is no way I am running it natively), but that would mean rebooting my computer to switch back and forth. And much to my surprise, I could not have bought a comparable Dell for less; see for yourself: my MacBook, it’s Dell counterpart (you’ll have to choose the “as selected” option and upgrade the OS and the processor). The bottom line is when the rubber meets the road, Apple is a tough act to follow (that doesn’t make much sense, but I wanted to see how many clichés I could fit into one sentence). So far I am enjoying my Apple experience, but will it actually increase my productivity, or will it simply sit and look pretty? Only time will tell. Until then, I’ll continue to enjoy my Mac, designed by Apple in California.