Switching

At this stage in my personal computer ownership I am seriously contemplating a switch from my MacBook Pro to a PC. Yes, believe it or not, an Apple fan is about to make the move over the brink and into the unknown! For a long while I have been devoted to the Mac through so many uses from music library management to video editing, and this all began with my first 12inch iBook a few years ago. As time had passed I have become less interested in video editing and more so in word processing for school and iTunes maintenance. While I still use the MacBook Pro on a regular basis for everything that is not school-related at this point, I have been wondering why I couldn't just sell my Mac and make the move to PC completely. I could use the extra money and quite possibly lessen the stress of constantly going back and forth between platforms (or increase the stress of getting accustomed to the PC as my main machine). The thought of migrating my entire iTunes library to a PC is a daunting prospect, but it can be done with the help of DVD storage media. I still have the music folder of my Zune library on my 32GB Corsair thumb drive, so that could also be included on the PC as well.

I think that a part of me is just yearning for some sort of a change in my life to break up the monotony of Apple, Apple and more Apple. For a long time there had been exclusivity for the Mac to the point where I almost became a full fledged fan boy. My first exposure to my own personal PC in 2002 was quite unfortunate since I had borrowed a friend's OLD ThinkPad with very limited specs, but at the time I had no knowledge of computers. Fed up with this old laptop not being able to efficiently run XP in order for me to use iTunes, I broke away and purchased my first Mac: a white 12inch iBook laptop. Along with my acquisition of the 3rd generation iPod with the touch sensitive buttons, that was when my lasting love affair with Apple had begun. Years had passed as I witnessed the emergence of new devices, innovations and the switching campaign, and I was even hired to work at an Apple store! All of this seemed too good to be true and I even imagined myself with a life long career in Apple, but the novelty eventually wore off and my Mac was just another computer.

Even though this had been the case, I was still content with my MacBook Pro for video editing and multimedia management...until I started school at ECPI. Upon realizing the hard way that the Mac did have the potential to fail me amidst situations of incompatible document formats and malfunctioning attachments, I still maintained my preference for MS Office ON THE PC. I can recall how frustrated I was at Panera Bread whenever I tried to use the Apple iWork office suite to complete my schoolwork...that's if I was lucky enough to have access to a document or a powerpoint. The interface of iWork just couldn't compare to that of MS Office 2007, and I was not about to spend time getting accustomed to it under the pressure of assignment deadlines for class. Plain and simple, MS Office for the PC was what I was used to for word processing, and there was never any worry of any kind of compatibility errors on a finished product. The fact of the matter was that ECPI's reliance on the PC still remains iron-clad to this day, and in order to make my education easier I thought it best to conform. That was when I eventually sought out my own PC laptop to use for school. No matter how much I adored my Mac, there was no denying the learning curve I would have to tackle for iWork '08 after being so familiar with Office '07. Once I had passed my Computer Applications class and had a deeper understanding of Office '07, this was solidified even more.

There are certainly down sides to converting over to the PC. While I could think that it's a matter of becoming more efficient for a PC dominated world, others could see it as a sign of my lack of openness to that which I don't understand. There is also a chance that being a full time PC user could in turn expose me to the well known criticism of the Vista OS, not to mention the effort of finding a suitable alternative to the flawless iMovie for possible video editing(if necessary in the near future). The point of this whole switch is to be more efficient for school and then eventually for the workforce, for I don't see a surge of Macs taking over the business world anytime soon. This somehow reminds me of the current Apple campaign for "I am a Mac and I am a PC". I am coming to terms with the notion that my Mac may never be anything more than that young guy in the hoodie who knows enough about multimedia and video editing and graphics, but falls short with completing tasks within the office suite. For me personally, the iWork suite needed much improvement when I last took the time to sit down and open it on my MacBook Pro a couple years ago or so. I remember opening up Numbers and suddenly feeling the urge to run back to the familiarity of Excel, and this same effect applied to Keynote versus PowerPoint and Pages versus Word. While iWork wasn't horrible by any means, it just couldn't measure up to the standard that suited me in MS Office. Another concern would be the iMovie replacement that I had mentioned previously. Whatever software I would have to rely on to edit video footage, there is no doubt that there could be MORE to get used to in comparison to a different office suite. I could be shooting myself in the foot in case I realize that the quality of iMovie cannot be replicated by any PC software application, but that's a risk worth taking since I don't really see myself going with filmmaking as my career of choice. After selling my camcorder, it is most likely that I am resigned to using only a laptop webcam and my Canon SD750 for taking footage in the future. I can only hope that I would be able to retain the use of my microphone headset that I have been using for my recent YouTube videos.

One more thought that comes to mind are my multimedia libraries. Both iPhoto and iTunes are LOADED with content that cannot just be disregarded an cast into oblivion. My idea of a solution would be to save ALL of my content to data discs, and the double layer DVD is exactly what comes to mind! Thank goodness for that SuperDrive in my MacBook Pro. But if I go with DL DVDs that would immediately limit my new PC search to those laptops compatible with double layer discs. But wait, in order to make a FULL conversion to the PC wouldn't I have to be rid of iTunes completely and continue with building my Zune library? That would mean selling my iPods as well! Holy ****!! This may be a lot more involved than I thought, but I could still just hold on to iTunes and transfer my entire library to the new PC and be done with it. Previous moments of instability with my Zune library on my previous PCs may influence me to remain loyal to iTunes, but we shall see. As far as my photo albums are concerned, I don't have a need to load those onto a computer but don't mind storing them onto a data disc for safe keeping.

I am just curious to find out how much I can gain from being a bona-fide PC user for the first time in my personal life. Windows XP has always been present in my professional life during my 6 year employment at an office, but that was all about performing tasks for a job because I had to. This time around with using Windows would be with Vista, and I would be performing functions with it as a personal user and not an office worker. It sounds so exciting when I think about it, but there is some apprehension to totally do away with Mac altogether. Would I come to miss the graphical interface of Mac OS X and the convenience of the iLife suite in my computer usage? Would I regret selling out to join the Dark Side headquartered in Redmond, Washington? I don't know, but I am hopeful that nothing but good can come from such a move.

Maybe this is nothing more than a sad attempt to justify buying yet another new PC laptop, but either way I am happy that I have the funds from returning the Asus EeePC 1000HD. The only thing to do now would be to sell all of my smartphones and my Mac to raise enough for a good laptop. One particular model that intrigues me is the Sony Vaio Z Series, but it is currently out of my financial grasp at a price point of $2000!

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TRENT
Sent from my MacBook Pro
(how ironic!)