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Hardcore PC enthusiast's who converted, chime in.

I built machines for 8 or 9 years. I was also a technician around town back then, fixing and building computers. Started when I was about 13. I would say I built over 200 computers during that time.

Switched to Apple in 2005 on my first trip to Japan. I sold my water cooled, blue lighted, overclocked AMD desktop and I bought an iBook. I loved it. The switch to Intel happened while I was in Japan.

Haven't built or bought a PC since, for myself at least. During college I was a technician and am now a tech/sysadmin. I work with Macs, Dells, HPs and many different servers and server OSes.

I am glad I started with PCs, I don't think I would be as knowledgable or successful as I am today.
 
I switched in 2005 when I purchased an iMac G3 for $60. I loved the comfortable feel of the OS, and realized XP felt cold and "heartless".

I liked the power of my desktop (which is still in use, HP tower bought in 2003 is STILL chugging along), and didn't like the limitations of integrated graphics common on Apple devices. I liked the feeling of knowing I could upgrade at any time, but eventually the software won me over, and now here I type on my first Intel-based laptop, having only switched to Intel at all in 2008. Just sold my PowerBook G4 today after 2.5 years of loyal service. However, I still like having the safety net of possible Windows usage, even if it's only for outdated games.

Since my switch in 2005, I've owned G3 iMacs, PowerMacs, PowerBooks and iBooks, G4 iBooks, PowerBooks and PowerMacs, and used each for a period of time for school. I have enjoyed my PowerPC walk through history, and still use a Pismo G3 for web surfing. I miss my old TiBooks the most, and hope to buy one again someday as a casual web browser.
 
I was in the same boat. I built all of my (and family's) custom PCs. I knew my way around Windows like the back of my hand, and I hated Macs. I had one good Apple friend (the kind whose parents were Apple people, so there was never a Windows machine in the house), and I made fun of him relentlessly. Heh.

And then came OS X. It drastically changed my way of thinking. It was gorgeous! So much easier to navigate, and all this talk about no need for anti-virus/spyware was very intriguing.

So back in 2003 I broke down and threw down $3,000 (a LOT of money for me at the time...well, still is..heh) on a brand spankin' new TiBook 1GHZ. It was a beauty. I always refer to it as my first child... my wife rolls her eyes...

At that point I still had my custom PC desktop that I used primarily. But that all changed in 2005 when Windows randomly partially formatted a 200g HD that I didn't back up. I had some VERY important things on that HD, and obviously it should have been backed up, but I never thought in 100 years that this would have happened. I spent the $125 on a piece of highly-touted software to retrieve the data, but all I got back were some random documents and about 3 gigs of MP3's. I was furious, and heartbroken. As I said, there were some VERY important pictures and videos on that HD that I would never retrieve. Mainly of my mom, who had since passed away.

So I was done.

I sold my PC for $500 and two weeks later my wife and I drove to Portland, OR (closest Apple Store, and no sales tax) and bought a PowerMac G5.

Since that day I haven't had a single windows machine in my house. I've also switched my dad and ALL of my in-laws. All of which had the same idea about Macs as I did to begin with. It's fantastic because now I'm not having to constantly repair/rebuild PCs for my family.

So that's my story!

:)
 
I'm the complete opposite of the OP.

I've got many different Apple machines from before and I've always been a Mac-head, but recently, for the first time in my life, I put together and built my own machine, and I only run Snow Leopard on it, no other OS.

I7 860, Intel SSD, NVIDIA GTS 250

p1000118.jpg
 
danielcox said:
Tidy up that wiring!
Click to expand...

I'll get around to that eventually.:D

I'm just happy that I was able to put everything together and actually have it working with zero problems.

I also partially blame Gigabyte, for their extremely yellow and extremely visible cables. :D
 
johnnyfiive said:
So on to the topic, I can't be the only water cooling building, crazy overclocking, non-stop benchmarking ex-pc user on MacRumors! I wanna see some pics peoples old PC beastly setups!
Click to expand...

I still have a NZXT, Q9550 w/ 4TB of disk, 8GB ram, Blu-Ray, 24" monitor, and a GTX260 laying around for gaming, but it collects dust mostly.

It is a pretty damn fast Hackintosh though. I do have Vista/Win7 on it too, but mostly for Steam and a flight simulator.
 
squeeks said:
Windows randomly formatted PART of your HD?

I find that a bit hard to believe...
Click to expand...

Same here, but I've had similar crap happen to me before when BSOD's result from my overclocking sessions. I learned early to only have the OS disk installed after trying to break personal OC'ing records. :p

I'm glad to see many PC enthusiast switch over to the fun side. I absolutely love OSX and I'm trying to convince my dad to make the switch as well. I can't tell you how many times my dad calls and is having issues with his PC. If he had a Mac, he'd have no issues, most of his are related to malware.
 
Another Started with PC and Switched to Mac person here. :)

I started with a 2nd hand IBM 286 PS2 with DOS.

Then bought a PS1- 486 with Windows 3.1. it was like $2,000! :eek:

After that I started buying and then building "custom" PCs.
Windows 95? yuk. 98? eh. ME? ewwww. and then XP.

Then Video editing and Photoshop started demanding a faster machine. (unless 6-hour render times for 1 hour movies sounds good)

So faster and faster I went in PC Land.
Saw the Power Macs and wondered.
Saw the Mac Pro and wondered.
Then Vista happened.

Bought a 1st gen Quad Mac Pro when the 8-core ones came out.

OMG! This thing is STILL incredible!
Well made, well laid out, stable and insanely FAST Rendering.
An OS and (Apple supplied) programs that don't treat me like a thief with Activations or even Serial Numbers in many cases. And it mostly Just Works!

Feeling very, very stupid for not getting a Mac at the start.
I could have saved a LOT of wasted time, aggravation and expense.
Yes, I said EXPENSE. Buying ONE excellent Mac is way cheaper than playing on the PC Upgrade Merry-Go-Round for a couple of years.

Well, at least I learned an awful lot about fixing stuff in PC Land,
Keri

PS. Having sold off the components, I still have the Lian-Li PC case that used to house my primary system. Anyone want pics?
 
devolpers, devolpers, devolpers...

johnnyfiive said:
...I can't tell you how many times my dad calls and is having issues with his PC. If he had a Mac, he'd have no issues, most of his are related to malware.
Click to expand...

yeah, ok. been there, done that.

MS OEM system builder, have built/sold hundreds of systems, lasted through the CN cap issues, and still build custom gaming systems. have an i7 at 4ghz+ prime95 stable. and yes, i use OS X at home for most of my home systems.

my only point is that i know windows. everything about every version of windows. moved my dad to 10.4 and then .5 and then .6 and went with the automated time-machine backups and remote desktop to eliminate calls. and yet the phone call continue.

he was and had always been a 'windows' guy. he can't figure out how to get to the registry editor and the start-up menu, and so on. i say 'dad, just surf, be happy, and update when prompted', and he still calls with questions, and wants to 'defrag and update the malware protection'. it gets old, but the calls are less than when he was on XP and Vista. :apple:

best of luck.
 
KeriJane said:
Feeling very, very stupid for not getting a Mac at the start.
I could have saved a LOT of wasted time, aggravation and expense.
Yes, I said EXPENSE. Buying ONE excellent Mac is way cheaper than playing on the PC Upgrade Merry-Go-Round for a couple of years.
Click to expand...

My self-built PC that I put maybe a $1200 into over the course of 1 year will wipe the floor with a new $2500 Mac Pro (and probably even the $3000 model) in gaming. So when it comes to expense I'd say PC is still a much better value. Granted, I don't run OS X on it but since it's a gaming rig I don't need to.
 
Dagless said:
I built a PC last year more powerful than any new iMac for half the price. Times aren't-a changing.

That said I'm still torn at whether to build my own gaming PC or buy a new iMac. They're damn quiet. And that's a big + for me. It means I can play at night without having to turn the volume up and wake up others.
I think I'll just build a quiet PC :p.
Click to expand...

My Xbox 360 solved those problems for me, and the 27" Quad Core iMac is the nicest machine that ever stood on my desk in the last 30 (yes: thirty) years. That baby also runs Ubuntu 10.04 and Windows 7 beautifully, so even if you don't care for OS X, I think that the iMac is an awesome (and quiet) machine.
 
even tho i switched over to Mac, i still use windows(GASP) for gaming and my enthusiast needs. i use Mac if something runs better on the mac than my pc. (FCE). but for gaming, i usea combo of my PC and my ps3.
 
I started with an Apple IIc+, then got an Apple IIgs... then there was about 15 years of PCs.

I've built a number of PCs in various iterations for myself, my wife, my parents... you name it. Then, like a lot of other people have already said... there was OS X. My college roommate had a Powermac G4 and I played around with OS X a bit there, then I ended up getting a Powerbook G4... I still built some PCs here and there, but recently made the jump back to being 100% Mac. I now have a 13" MBP and one of the new Mini's. I still dual-boot the Mini into Windows 7 (a couple of games, but also some software for school/work that is still Windows-only), but my house is now technically PC-free (wife also has a 13" MBP). I'll probably get the itch to build a PC for myself at some point (mostly because I hate playing FPS games on consoles), but I'll be a majority Mac owner for a long, long time I think.
 
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