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Humorous little story

C

crossed-over

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 6, 2002
59
0
Indy
My fiance' had a really interesting story about her powerbook that I wanted to share and see what others thought of it; the words in quotes are the words she chose to describe the story:

She works at a Holiday Inn Express as a front desk representative. While working one day, she had her powerbook out doing various things on it. A kind of "uppity" business man was sitting in the lobby and came up to her and pulled out a "fat" Toshiba laptop and said to her: "Now this is a laptop." She looked up at him, and just said, "...ok..."

It sounded to me like the guy felt threatened by her powerbook. I was just thinking about it, and the funny thing is, I can't see too many mac users actually doing a thing like this. It seems to me that most of us mac users are kind of silent about our beloved machines, because we just know we have a better computer. However, you always hear about PC users "bashing" macs and trying to pick fights with mac users. What does that say about the two different worlds? Just some thoughts. What do you think?

BTW, I told her I would've responded to the guy and said, "Yeah, well this is American made."
 
I absolutely agree with your assesment. Us Mac users know we have a better computer than everyone else, and thats just dandy with us. It's all the insecure PC users (pun intended) that feel threatened and need to validate themselves. I suppose it's analogous to an insecure male needing a monster SUV to compensate for something lacking downstairs.
 
A little expression I like for that belief in something that you don't have to justify is
It's when you know that you know that you know.

I don't know if it's grammatically correct but I just like it! :)
 
PC-zealots always come-off sounding distinctly ignorant.
I get back at them by charging $100/hr to fix their stupid computers.
 
Originally posted by snickelfritz
PC-zealots always come-off sounding distinctly ignorant.
Click to expand...
So do Mac zealots, and there are a lot of them round here. Both "sides" are as bad as each other, if you think otherwise you are deluding yourself :rolleyes:
 
Re: Humorous little story

Originally posted by crossed-over
A kind of "uppity" business man was sitting in the lobby and came up to her and pulled out a "fat" Toshiba laptop and said to her: "Now this is a laptop."
Click to expand...

Hmm... that reveals a lot about how some consumers think. Maybe he perceived fatness = speed + features + sturdiness? People probably can't imagine that so much laptop can fit into so little case ;) .
 
people always say, oh my laptop has a better video card, bigger hd, faster proc

i just say, oh thats nice, then watch them stare as i burn a dvd, run an app in vpc, while applying filters to photoshop project, type an email, and import photos.

then i say, wow, yours must do all those thing too huh, then i close the lid and walk away haha
 
Originally posted by virividox
people always say, oh my laptop has a better video card, bigger hd, faster proc

i just say, oh thats nice, then watch them stare as i burn a dvd, run an app in vpc, while applying filters to photoshop project, type an email, and import photos.

then i say, wow, yours must do all those thing too huh, then i close the lid and walk away haha
Click to expand...


amen to that bro.
 
I know the reason I'm silent about my iBook's superiority is because it speaks for itself. I don't have to tell anyone how great it is because I feel smug just letting the Apple glow.

Dan
 
It's all the insecure PC users (pun intended) that feel threatened and need to validate themselves.

I think you're generalising. Maybe the guy is just a w*nker.
 
Originally posted by ChrisH3677
It's when you know that you know that you know.
Click to expand...
Very well said. :)

I think insecurity and/or arrogance is similarly distributed among all populations, be it PC users, Mac users, men, women, etc. What differs from group to group is WHAT they're insecure and/or arrogant about. Mac users can be just as defensive about being the minority platform, and elitist to boot.

But it does seem that this PC user, in particular, was being unduly insecure/arrogant about the "size" of his laptop. :p
 
Something similar to this incident happened to me when I was at the airport.

I had some time to kill before my flight was called, so I whip out my 15 incher PB :D and start doing some work on it. This random guy sits next to me, whips out his really THICK Gateway or Fujitsu or whatever the hell it was. He looks at mine and says "That's an Apple, huh?" I beam with pride, and say "Of course". So he says, "Yeah, but you can't do much on it can you?" I keep myself under check and ask what he means. He gives me the standard "No software for the Mac." I forget which ones he mentioned, but i assured him that whatever he had mentioned were available for the Mac.

He then says a couple of things about coding in various languages. I ask him politely what language he codes in. He says, "Java, C and C++". I say, "Well, I can easily code on my machine. It comes with compilers in built. I don't even need to download any of the compilers." He looks at my laptop, and he says, "Yeah, but I code Windows specific stuff." At this point I'm ready to drop it.

But not him. He says, "Well, my computer actually burns DVDs". I say, "Oh really? That's great, so does mine." That's when he sees my slot loading drive, looks at my face which has a nice smug grin. At this point, he doesn't say anything, and shuts down his computer. I couldn't help but say, "That's another thing Apple does much better. We hardly ever need to shut it down. We just let the computer sleep." And I demonstrate. :D He couldn't say anything. He just left the place.
 
i get most of my reactions because people know (being a LAN Support Specialist) that i generally am going to know more about computers then they do. then they see that i gave up my PC for a Mac. they are naturally curious as to why and start asking me questions. i answer every single question and they always walk away "wowed" by my machine. PC people are constantly being impressed by everything i'm able to do with my PB. it's really fun to see people expressions when i'm coding some VB.Net with VPC fullscreen and they get confused and ask "i thought that was a Mac?" then i go to windowed mode and they see OS X underneith with all my other apps open. i love the look on peoples faces when they see that. it's a look of "oh, my PC can't do that". priceless. :D
 
Originally posted by ExoticFish
i get most of my reactions because people know (being a LAN Support Specialist) that i generally am going to know more about computers then they do. then they see that i gave up my PC for a Mac. they are naturally curious as to why and start asking me questions. i answer every single question and they always walk away "wowed" by my machine. PC people are constantly being impressed by everything i'm able to do with my PB. it's really fun to see people expressions when i'm coding some VB.Net with VPC fullscreen and they get confused and ask "i thought that was a Mac?" then i go to windowed mode and they see OS X underneith with all my other apps open. i love the look on peoples faces when they see that. it's a look of "oh, my PC can't do that". priceless. :D
Click to expand...

But their PC can do that.... Virtual PC or VMWare.

Anyway, what do you need VPC for? Just curious, as I have managed to lose it after the switch here at work.
 
Originally posted by tomf87
But their PC can do that.... Virtual PC or VMWare.

Anyway, what do you need VPC for? Just curious, as I have managed to lose it after the switch here at work.
Click to expand...

they might be able to run Windows on top of Windows but they can't run OS X on top of Windows.

edit: oh yeah, i use VPC to run Visual Studio.Net
 
RE: Maritan

Maritan, you didn't break out VPC and say, oh wow, I can program in windows too. I'm guessing you didn't because you might not have that on your laptop. But you defended your mac quiet well without having to stab at a PC to much. So far I haven't had people come over with their PC lap tops and try and bash me, more just inquires from passer bys that want to know about the mac.

I have a story too, just happened, not on the same wavelength as the stories I have heard here today but here it is. I my gf knows I'm all about the Mac, so anyone she sees with one she lets me know. Well a guy from one of her classes was presenting their project using his Mac, haven't gotten what type, using Power Point. See sent me a text message stating this. They got though the presentation just fine, but the teacher wanted them to go back to a certain slide. Well, what happened was Power Point started crashing. So they couldn't go back in there slides. Well, what did the teacher say, none other than, "This is why you shouldn't use a mac." I smacked myself in the forhead and sayed you have to be kidding me. I so wish I was there to raise my hand and say, "Well if MS programs would work correctly, we wouldn't have this problem on the mac, ummm, and PC." Maybe I am a little bit more agressive than most people, but I only react when poked in the eye like this.
 
I am both a Windows and a Mac user, and I have noticed something very amusing.....when I talk to my fellow Windows users, it is always about how to fix a problem, or about the latest virus, or how much I hated retyping that 10 page paper last year when Windows currupted my hard drive (*bad memories*).
On the other hand, talking to Mac users is always about how much I love using it, how beautiful the OS is, how I ended up switching, and how I cant wait to get an iPod....

My point? Mc users are generally happier people, because, for all the time we in the western world spend on computers, our experiances with them have a very big effect on our psyche. If you actually enjoy being on your computer for hours on end, then the rest of your life just seems to be a little bit nicer.
 
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