MacBook Unboxing

Sixteen days ago, I finally got my MacBook. I'd been wanting a MacBook for years, but I couldn't afford one, since I was spending all my money on penabled computers, software and accessories. I'd been saving money and planned to get a faster Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) once my 900 MHz R2H turned one in December; after taking a look at the lower-speed offerings the manufacturers had to offer, I figured I'd have nothing to spend my money on until next December, and I decided to get that Mac*. I had to pretty much ignore it for other projects the first week, but I've been playing with it ever since. I hadn't used Macs much since the early 90's, and I had (and still have) a lot to learn. At any rate, no matter what else I had going on, I did unbox the new kid the first day, and a kind soul obligingly photographed the moment with his iPhone (thanks, RC!).

"I didn't even stop to put my keys down."

"Oooh, I love cool computer boxes with handles!"

"Says 'MacBook right here, so you don't have to guess."

"Old RAM modules are perfect for this kind of job, and won't get you strip-searched at the airport."

"I see it! Sorta..."

"Whazzat? Oh, yeah, I forgot about the remote control; never got one of those with my Wintels."

Lemme just slip my hand in and touch you, baby!

A Mac in the hands is worth...

"It's so light! That's a weird-looking keyboard."

"Are you sure the memory is user-replaceable?"

Being that I'm a Windows geek who dabbles in Linux and UNIX, my Mac and I have been loving and fighting ever since. It's my first Core-Anything machine, let alone Core 2 Duo, and that alone makes me happy. The opportunity to broaden my tech horizons makes me fairly giddy. The joy is coupled with pain (both mental and physical), but we are surmounting the obstacles and finding new ones, even in creating this post. You see, although I'm using the Mac to post this, I still had to use Windows. I used iPhoto to crop my photos, but it just doesn't do enough; I'll hunt for Gimp or something else later. Since my Google searches indicated that there isn't a decent free blogging app for OS X, and since I had to have Windows installed to access my tickets at work, I fired up Vista in Parallels and used Windows Live Writer to compose and publish my post. Honestly, like other people in the world, I wonder why iWeb can't take off its blinders and see the rest of the world.

At any rate, I'll have more on this WinTableteer's experiences with the penless competitor another day. It's time to go from A to ZZZZZzzzzzz.

PS: That fellow in the background is the one I mentioned at the top of the page. I offered to blur him out of the pictures, if he wanted, but he said it didn't matter. Thanks, RM!

*Alright, so maybe the thought of waiting until December to buy a new computer had something to do with it. I'd vowed I'd wait a full year before buying another UMPC, and the R2H arrived in late December of 2006.

Technorati tags: Apple, MacBook, unboxing, OS X