how long have you been using macs for

[mac15]

I've had my imac for about 2 and a half years
yep I got it december 14 2000
I think its a rev E imac (I know its summer 2000)
I know some people have used mac since the 80s
and that is so cool
APPLE FOR LIFE

[Geert]

another good thread to get to know eachother:p

I bought my iMac summer 2000 (iMac DV+ 450)
Although I started working on Apple, Apple II, Apple IIC, Apple Macintosh 128K, etc ...
I also slightly remember the IILC, the Quadra series, although we never had that at home (friends did)
The most remarkable machine i thought was the SE/30 that was one speedy, cool machine. I even remember that when the first models came out they wheren't really 30 Mhz, this had to be fixed with a patch Apple released! so actually the SE/30 never (hardware seen) was a 30 Mhz sys.

I lost track somewhere in the early '90ies. Odd though that that was the period that Apple suffered the most

When Steve came back so did I
I started following Apple news again, and until now never regretted one single second!
And since then Apple is also peekin' and they will keep on peekin'!!!!
Because I said so.

[trinitishwar]

Since '86 when I got a Mac Plus. I think I was 12 at the time. I purchased a game for it called Shadowgate. It only had black and white graphics but it kicked ass. I wish I could find it again.

[iGav]

I've been using Macs religiously since 1994 although I had some experience on them from the previous year....

I brought my first mac in 1998 which was a Beige desktop G3 266Mhz with 128Mb RAM, that was eventually upgraded to a whopping 192Mb, I sold that at the start of last year for £800 or about $1200 (US)

I used the proceeds towards a Rev a TiBook 500Mhz with 512Mb RAM, that I'm using now, and am most happy with it, although I sometimes feel that its getting alittle underpowered now.....

My next purchase will be a super h-end TiBook pref with a G5 bolted in, and a G5 tower for rendering, both will Rev b's though..... Am not in any rush to be one of the first this time around unlike what I was with the TiBook!!

[kishba]

well.... i hated macs until three years ago when i woke up and realized i wanted a laptop

my mac friend convinced me i wanted a powerbook

the rest is history :) i still have my powerbook 400 (which i use for surfing in bed everyday) and now am the proud owner of my quicksilver 867 (tricked out with 1.5 gig ram, superdrive, and extra video card--don't forget the apple 17" lcd)

i don't think i'll buy another pc again... and if i do--i'll think twice about and make sure i absolutely need it

as eyelikeart said, "once you go mac, you never go back"

[Mr. Anderson]

I bought my first mac in 96, but I had one at work in 94. Before that I had played on them on and off at school since 88 or so. Now I'm on my third machine.

Vive le mac!

[freedom]

I think I first laid hands on a mac
in father´s office back in ´85 or
something… 10 inch screen!!!
My first mac was a SE30 with
colour, retired from my dad´s
agency. Must have been early ´90´s.
Moved on to a PM 4400.
It broke down :(
Hammer in the harddrive!!!
Now I have a shining G4 733 CDRW.
Next purchase will probably be a TiBook…
I have to admit that my father´s macs
were his own, only his. Hands off…
That was probably the reason I got the SE30…

[eyelikeart]

to answer the question...nearly 6 years...

I didn't even learn how to use a computer until I was a senior in high school...we had these old Apple systems (I think they may have been Apple III...sorry a bit fuzzy!)...but I didn't think much of it. I learned how to get around on a pc soon after and that's when I first learned about the internet...Prodigy was the big name in ISPs.

My first encounter with a Macintosh was in the Fall of '96 at a community college. I took a computer graphics class for the hell of it (yes I'm telling this story again for those who find it painfully familiar) and of course they taught on Mac. 7100's with 60 & 70 Mhz processors if I'm not mistaken...System 7.5 I think...damn! I learned Mac was the big thing for graphics...my mother bought me a clone (Motorola Starmax 3000/160)...and I tweaked that machine out up till the day I tore it down in preparation for my TiBook (last January)...

the rest is history...he he he... :p

[kishba]

was there ever an Apple III? I thought the highest was the Apple IIgs

I might be wrong because I was young back then...

[eyelikeart]

Apple III (http://www.apple-history.com/quickgallery.html?where=aIII.html)

now I am guessing....I don't remember 100% accurately...but I think this is what we were using...it was 8 years ago...

[Hemingray]

You were using an Apple III 8 years ago?! Holy cow! :eek: That computer was already 14 years old!

I started with a Mac Plus in 1985/6. I was five years old.

[kishba]

Originally posted by eyelikeart
Apple III (http://www.apple-history.com/quickgallery.html?where=aIII.html)

now I am guessing....I don't remember 100% accurately...but I think this is what we were using...it was 8 years ago...

well, i was wrong :)

i used apple IIe's and apple IIgs's in elementary... both were introduced after the apple III... i can't this machine was introduced before i was born!

[mcrain]

I'm a pc user now, but we had an apple II, an apple IIe, then the first mac with a mouse, but I have no idea what it was called other than a mac, I then went off to college and used whatever macs they had there (1990-1994 versions). I think they went from classics or whatever to some sort of powerpc model, but I'm not sure.

After that, I had a black Next computer, and looking back, for some reason, i bought an IBM. Since then, I've had another IBM and a Compaq.

Hopefully a new TiBook will come out soon, and i'll go back to my roots.

[780pullman]

I have been using macs since I was born. Although I didn't get my own machine until 98 (Blueberry iBook). I remember my dad having an apple II. I have a great story about that machine. One day when I was very young I was playing on his machine and decided to put everything in the trash and empty it not knowing what I was doing. After I saw how mad my dad was at me it started to spark my interest in computers and naturally with all the macs around our house I used those. However during the down period in the early 90's my dad switched over to peecee. and everyday since 96 when the iMac came out he has been wishing he never did. I have never thought about switching. I love macs as much as anything and would not trade that apple II for the fastest windows machine out there.

[mcrain]

I totally forgot, before the Next, but after the mac, my parents had a old amber screen 286, and then bought me a computer to take to school... it was a 486 running at 33 mhz or something like that. Color screen, 20 meg hard drive. At the time it was great.

[Nipsy]

I've been on board since I was 9, and it was just called the Macintosh, back in 1984. Then I had a Plus, an LC, a IIci, an 8500, a 7200, a PB180c, about 15 9600s, and now a Quicksilver G4.

I've gone from 1 bit floppy based programs to 32 bit rendering on a 1TB array.

18 years, 400k, 1TB...somebody do the math and see if that follows Moore's Law.

[eyelikeart]

hey...I never said my high school was in with the times!!!! ;)

[mailhojo]

Boy, most of you are babies... I started with Apple II's in highschool. We were using them to program in BASIC. We had to teach our teachers how to use them. Quite interesting. Owned the first Macintosh (without hard drive). Moved to 30se and then later to a LCII. I then went out the first week and bought the original iMac. Now I'm the proud owner of a brand new iBook and my new 800 G4 iMac with 1GB ram and airport is in the mail and on its way home. Always been a mac guy and always will.

[King Cobra]

I started using Macs since the Apple IIgs. I even designed little graphics on that when I was not even 8 years old. That is when I knew I would not use a PC unless I had no option!

My own personal computer was the 233MHz iMac. I have been using it for three years now.

My top model computer: you guessed it . . . the half-gigahertz Cube.
________________

In the time it takes to read this message, an Apple computer will already have performed 15 billion float-point operations more than a consumer PC.

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by mac15
I've had my imac for about 2 and a half years
yep I got it december 14 2000
I think its a rev E imac (I know its summer 2000)
I know some people have used mac since the 80s
and that is so cool
APPLE FOR LIFE

Hmm... I started off with an SE like 7-8 years ago... it was a gift, okay? and it was a computer at least. 20 meg HD. too fun. Bought an LCII a couple of years later, the fabulous upgrade to 80 meg, and color! Used that 'till i broke it, then used it some more. finally my dad decided one day I needed an iMac, so I was the first in town with it! blueberry, don't remember which revision. Man that was grand. I finally had a computer better than my friends. It went outdated rather quickly, as computers are wont to do, so I abandoned it when I went off to college. Now I'm on RJ's iMac, a graphite number that serves me well enough. Actually it's been quite a little trooper.

I'm dying to get my hands on a TiBook, as soon as I return to college my scholarship might get me one. can't afford those things! it actually makes me feel a bit small, all you guys have cubes, TiBooks, Quicksilvers, yadda yadda... I'm just not as involved as I once was in computers, so I don't go as nuts. But the TiBook is simply astonishing...

pnw

[jefhatfield]

started with apple 2 in late 70s ? during high school and some non monitor computer in jr high in mid 70s

in college, studied about card readers and data processing

the class before me used an abacus:p

[iflyguns]

Since the original 128 in 1984. Before that was using Apple II+.

[Taft]

I was actually pretty late coming on to the *Mac* scene.

My family got the Apple IIe when it came out and had it for years and then we upgraded to the IIgs. I loved that computer back in the day. It had everything. Unfortunately we stagnated on the IIgs for a long time.

We never even had a 68k Mac. The first Mac we got was a Performa 6400 (I think--some Performa anyway). But since then we've been a very pound family of Mac owners.

My brother just scored a 933 G4 for his college graduation present from my parents. Makes me wish I could graduate again :D.

Matthew

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by Taft
I was actually pretty late coming on to the *Mac* scene.

My family got the Apple IIe when it came out and had it for years and then we upgraded to the IIgs. I loved that computer back in the day. It had everything. Unfortunately we stagnated on the IIgs for a long time.

We never even had a 68k Mac. The first Mac we got was a Performa 6400 (I think--some Performa anyway). But since then we've been a very pound family of Mac owners.

My brother just scored a 933 G4 for his college graduation present from my parents. Makes me wish I could graduate again :D.

Matthew

get your ms in financial planning and have parents get you a dual 1 ghz

then get your dba-financial services concentration- degree and have parents get you a g5 or g6 (assuming that's what apple calls them)

and when you make partner, you can buy them a house:D

[edesignuk]

I got my first mac around 2 years ago, a Power Mac G4 400Mhz. It cam with 128Mb RAM but I soon made it 512Mb :D. At the time it was running OS 9 which after quite a few years of using a PC w/Windows was a refreshing change.
After a bit of getting used to, I found my self using it more and more.
I am now on my secong mac, a DP 1Ghz, 1Gb RAM, SuperDrive, 80Gb and I'm loving it! Just waiting for my Dr.Bott VGA Extractor for my second screen, mmmm....sweet :D

[Falleron]

I have been using macs for nearly 20 years!

[britboy]

i've been using macs for about 14 years now. The first computer i ever used was a Mac Plus, with all of 8Mhz! My dad taught me how to touch-type on that machine, and i've never regretted it since.

I use windows-based computers as and when is needed, but my heart belongs to macs ;)

The Mac Plus is in storage now, but last summer i got it out again, and it still works perfectly:)

[afonso]

My parents bought the first mac when I was 5 years old... only had macs at home since then :)

had dozens and dozens of macs already :)

i also a next cube, given by steve jobs himself when my dad was doing something at next right after it was founded...

cool huh?

im now 23 and dreaming on working for apple someday ;) we'll see how that goes :)

wwdc here i go!
take care,
afonso

[jaykk]

i am relatively a new convert, bought a Tibook 550 Mhz in December, never owned/used a Mac before that. I am so surprised about the user-friendliness of a Mac, i am not going back. I have been a programming in various OS(mainly Unix) since 1991, life is so much easier with a Mac. Since then, i bought an iPod, tons of software, started developing applications using WebObjects...

[AlphaTech]

I have been actively using Mac's since I went to college in 1988. We had an Apple in high school, but it just sat there and didn't do too much (it wasn't a Mac).

I purchased my first Mac in 1996 (PowerComputing PowerCenterPro 210) which I had severely tweaked before I got my first G4 tower (500MHz single processor with DVD-Ram drive) which I sold a few months back for a nice sum. I now have a rev a TiBook (500MHz with 1GB RAM and a 60GB HD) which is back at Apple at the moment. For anyone that hasn't purchased the AppleCare protection plan, and is still within the original 1 year warranty, get the protection. Especially if you have a laptop. It would have cost me over $800 for the first repair if I didn't have the protection plan, since it went in after the 1 year mark.

The TiBook is my third Apple laptop. My first was a 400MHz PowerBook G3 (Lombard) which I sold to get a 500MHz Pismo, which I sold to get my 500MHz TiBook. Which I might be selling after MWNY depending on what Apple releases. I don't know how much longer I can go without having two Mac systems. I might go with the TiBook/PowerBook again, by selling my current one, then again, if the towers get enough changes, I might go that way. It's hard to decide until after the expo's keynote.

[MacAztec]

My first mac was the mac classic. I am only 13 years old, but we had about 3 left over in my dads office, since everyone had upgraded to the performas and powerPCs.

This was about...6 years ago, when I was 7, I used MY first mac, and it was the classic.

That was the first time I had a mac...

My dad has been using them since...about the mid/late 80s.

[teabgs]

We got a IIgs when I was about 8. When I was 13 I got a 6230 and then a few years later I got a 6500. Sadly, its what I still use today. THis summer my new machine will grace me with its prescence(sp?)

[Rower_CPU]

I probably used them back in elementary...but since I wasn't into computers then, I don't know...

My "real" use of Macs started at my job in June 1999...Macromedia Director on 8500s...painfully slow...but stable most of the time.

I bought my first Mac in November 2001...TiBook...loving it!


BTW...trinitishwar, I remember playing Shadowgate on NES...it's still around somewhere

[jefhatfield]

I just was talking with a friend, she's somewhere in her 60s, and she told me about the earliest computers she worked on which were the predecessors to today's machines

basically, anything before that was a completely different animal with vacuum tubes, no ram, no way to input data outside of switchboard type operation, math co-processing being done by mathematicians, no ram, no rom, etc

but my friend worked on the non qwerty keyboards, card readers, some tube stuff, and ram was the size of a large building and she remembers when the woz came along and pushed the field farther and faster than all the engineers in the last 20 years put together...she was at parc and they had no clue what they had and were going to cut funding for their co-creations of a mouse, gui, and ethernet (all thought to be completely useless wastes of money by xerox)

but then again, nobody thought that software should be sold but given for free, even when it took manhours to make the product...go figure

i guess hindsight is 20-20

leonardo davinci came up with something remarkably similar to the wright brothers invention of the airplane but there was no conceivable use for a flying machine at the time

i think it is kind of like stem cell research where people get it mixed up with abortion and george bush is alienating most republicans with his anti stem cel research stance while poor ronald reagan wastes away in his horrendous condition

wait, what was this thread about/:p

[buffsldr]

Been on a mac since Jan 2001. Figured I would start the new millenium out right

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by buffsldr
Been on a mac since Jan 2001. Figured I would start the new millenium out right

that's the real millenium, but no one believes me...but i have to admit, jan 1, 2000 was a major rush:)

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by jefhatfield
leonardo davinci came up with something remarkably similar to the wright brothers invention of the airplane but there was no conceivable use for a flying machine at the time

Many consider him to be the inventor of the helicopter, his had a corkscrew design instead of blades, but then blades have to spin much faster than a corkscrew would have... theoretically, had it worked of course...

we had a teacher in HS that insisted we learn about the history of computers... i live 20 miles from Iowa State University, where they invented the first digital computer... it was a drag to learn at the time, but it puts things in perspective well, knowing the leaps and bounds that make you truely appreciate things when you're bit¢hing about a few MHz in your newest CPU...

pnw

[buffsldr]

Originally posted by jefhatfield


that's the real millenium, but no one believes me...but i have to admit, jan 1, 2000 was a major rush:)

Technically every day is the start of a new millenium. I was so pissed at the media and their "new millenium" ignorance. It's really quite simple. The modern calendar started as Jan 1, 0001. Check my math 2000+1=jan 1, 2001

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by buffsldr


Technically every day is the start of a new millenium.

What kind of logic is that??? Sounds like something m$ would think up. There can be only one start, at least until there is a finish, then you can start all over again. You only get one true start to any time period, especially years, millenia, eons... 2001 was the first year of the new millenium, 2002 is the second year...

Unless you have decided to use Polish logic, which just makes zero sense (I can say this, since I am part Polish, although I will not admit to it openly :D ). Now, reverse Polish logic, that is where things get interesting, and actually make sense some of the time. Russian logic... (which is the side of my heritage I am proud of)... just don't ***** with us... :D The Germans tried, and you see what happened to them :D... of course also being Jewish, is another group you don't want to mess with... Put those two together and you have the Israeli military :D... can anyone remember the 7 day war??? :D

I am know by a few people at work as the 'mad Russian', although I am mad in the good way :D...

[Rower_CPU]

Part Russian here, too...not sure which part though ;)
That's how I got my middle name, Nicholas.

Maybe I'll start calling you Ivan, AlphaTech...now there's a Mad Russian! :D

[idkew]

i had (or my parents) a big brown IIe with a green/black monitor and a color monitor. we them moved up to a LC.

then a.... umm.....
ahhh.,... iigs.

i learned a lot by tearing those apart. I am now so comfortable that i recently parted my old (dead) pb3400 into 25+ pieces and ebay'd em off for almost $900, $300 more than what a working one sold on ebay.

then a 233beige
a all in one g3
pb 3400
b&w 450
dual g4 450
ti 677

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
Part Russian here, too...not sure which part though ;)
That's how I got my middle name, Nicholas.

Maybe I'll start calling you Ivan, AlphaTech...now there's a Mad Russian! :D

Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.... My father's side of the family came from Russia (great grandfather and great grandmother at that). Got the Polish from my mother's side (great grandparents also came from Poland). We did some research, they actually lived in towns that were only a few miles apart, on either sides of the borders. Talk about close. A little error on a map makers part, and they both would have been Russian (would have been a good thing in my mind). I have often thought about learning Russian, but don't have enough free time to devote to it. Currently, I am studying to take the exam to be Apple certified for the portables. As well as riding the new motorcycle as much as possible (on nice days like today, man was it nice :D ).

Maybe I will take a new handle someday... Ivan would be a good one :D

[buffsldr]

Originally posted by AlphaTech


What kind of logic is that???

Relax, Alphatech. See definition (1) from www.dictionary.com

mil·len·ni·um **Pronunciation Key**(m-ln-m)
n. pl. mil·len·ni·a (-ln-) or mil·len·ni·ums
1. A span of one thousand years.
2. A thousand-year period of holiness mentioned in Revelation 20, during which Jesus and his faithful followers are to rule on earth.
3. A hoped-for period of joy, serenity, prosperity, and justice.
4. A thousandth anniversary.

Further, what made me so mad was that some people were saying that jan 1, 2000 was the start of THE new millenium, and what I am saying is that it WAS the start of A new millenium. But not the millenium they thought. The same applies to a decade. Each day is the start of a new decade, one that will conclude at a discreet time.

Does that make sense, Alphatech, or does it still sound like M$?

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
...Currently, I am studying to take the exam to be Apple certified for the portables.

I think I've asked you this before, but here goes again:
How do you go about preparing for those? Do you go through training programs that supply materials, or go straight to Apple?
How would I go about finding resources in my area...since I have no certs, other than real world experience...?
Appreciate it! :)

[AlphaTech]

buffsldr,

The issue I had was your statement of "Technically every day is the start of a new millenium".

I agree that 2001 started the new millenium, not 2000 (which is where the peecee's when wonky and the Mac's just went 'yeah, so??').

[buffsldr]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
buffsldr,

The issue I had was your statement of "Technically every day is the start of a new millenium".

I agree that 2001 started the new millenium, not 2000 (which is where the peecee's when wonky and the Mac's just went 'yeah, so??').

I think we are getting hung up on semantics. A millenium is a thousand year period. If I said that a particular event in history happened one millenia ago today. You would know exactly what day I meant, true? You wouldn't get hung up on Jan 1, 2001. If I say I haven't seen you in a decade, I dont mean I have seen you since Jan 1, 1991, I mean it has been ten years.

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU


I think I've asked you this before, but here goes again:
How do you go about preparing for those? Do you go through training programs that supply materials, or go straight to Apple?
How would I go about finding resources in my area...since I have no certs, other than real world experience...?
Appreciate it! :)

You need to gain access to Apple's Service Source web site. Which requires either shelling out money, signing some contracts, or both. The legal department at our offices in NJ (US HQ) took care of that for me. Check with Apple to see if they are allowing individuals to get the certifications again or not. Before the company did this, I was considering doing it on my own. The only problems I had were the costs involved. NOT cheap.

I obtained my current position with no certifications, only years and years of real world experience. My current boss asked me a software related question that closed the deal in her mind. Since I had run into the issue before, it was an easy answer for me. Also coming from the user realm, made it even easier for me to understand their frustrations. Then again, since I have been a 'power user' for so many years, I can't understand when people (graphic designers) don't know how to manage their fonts properly. Or don't understand how elements in design files (Quark or any other application with imported and linked elements) can go corrupt and cause all sorts of problems with that file.

That help any????

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by buffsldr


I think we are getting hung up on semantics. A millenium is a thousand year period. If I said that a particular event in history happened one millenia ago today. You would know exactly what day I meant, true? You wouldn't get hung up on Jan 1, 2001. If I say I haven't seen you in a decade, I dont mean I have seen you since Jan 1, 1991, I mean it has been ten years.

The semantics were in your original statement which made it appear that you were claiming every day was the start of a new millenium. THAT just can't be. A millenium starts once every thousand years, not every day within those thousand year time frame. Every day within the first year is the first year of the new millenium, but it truely started on the first day of that year.

Don't blame me if you are getting tripped up by your original statement.... I just pointed out the flaw in it (was a huge, neon illuminated flaw to me).

[buffsldr]

relax, AlphaTech, I dont think anyone is trying to blame you. You are ok.

Every moment in time can be construed as the beginning of a new hour, a new year, or a new decade, and yes even a new millenium. It is not an absolute measurement, it is relative. Today is exactly one millenium from April 14, 1002 and tomorrow will be exactly one millenium from April 15, 1002 (excluding leap year, that screws this all up into an even more wacked out thread).

Dare I say, have a nice day tomorrow?

[Rower_CPU]

That's what I was afraid of...:(
I'll do some digging, but I know that my dept at the university can't afford it.
Plus, I'm not sure that I'll be at this job longer than 3-4 years...
It's more for personal satisfaction/knowledge...I just love knowing how stuff works, and how to take it apart and put it back together in working fashion...I'm sure all techs do...

I'm comfortable with desktops, but portables are a different ballgame...we had a G3 PowerBook that died out of warranty, so I took a stab at troubleshooting it...got the PDF from Apple for the teardown...needless to say we couldn't do much, but it opened my eyes to how different the hardware is between the two form factors...

Oh well, thanks for the info! :)

[Macette]

we got a mac plus with a 20 meg HD when i was 6 or 7... in 1985 i guess. that's not far off twenty years! then we had a succession of powerbooks hooked up to big monitors - i dusted one off the other day. what a brick.

now i have an ibook and i want an ipod so much i want to cry. they've just put this enormous billboard up around the corner from my house and it tortures me day after day.

*sigh*

consumer lust is a bad, sad thing.

[mac15]

cool another australian on macrumors
the more the better:D

[Falleron]

I still use a PowerMac 8600 + a PowerBook 1400 (117Mhz model - system 7.5.3 + wont take anything else because of memory)!! They are about 7 years old. This is where apple's problem is!! They build them like a rock!! Good for us, but it means that we dont buy machines that often. Hope apple keeps up the good work though. Just got my Dual 1Ghz.

[teabgs]

Originally posted by Falleron
I still use a PowerMac 8600 + a PowerBook 1400 (117Mhz model - system 7.5.3 + wont take anything else because of memory)!! They are about 7 years old. This is where apple's problem is!! They build them like a rock!! Good for us, but it means that we dont buy machines that often. Hope apple keeps up the good work though. Just got my Dual 1Ghz.

Yeah, I hear that! Still using my 6500. Getting a new tower in July though. Figure that'll hold me until 2005 or 2006. However much I'll WANT to upgrade more I don't know if I'll be able to afford it.