Tried to get my parents to buy a Mac...

[Capt Underpants]

For all kids out there that want Macs:

Good Luck. Your parents are scared of having to get all new software and they really don't want to have to learn a second operating system. They have been taught in the past that Macs are slow and pieces of crap.

For all the kids that have Macs and their parents have PeeCees:

I love how my grandpa waits like 10 minutes for the computer to even get to the login screen and then about 10 more minutes waiting for everything to 'autostart'.

For all kids that have PeeCees but their parents have Macs:


Macs are superior and they will never be as bad as Windows.

-A kid who got an iBook in December and his dad has a Compaq

Exactly. I tried to explain to my mom the ease of use, no virii, spyware, etc. She uses windows at work, though, so she's windoze all the way. She didn't listen. I ended up just buying my self a PB a couple of weeks ago. It's an awesome machine. My mom still uses the dell. The other day she was in the living room and called me in to watch a news special on some windoze worm. I said," I have a mac, now", and left. It was a defining moment in my life (okay, maybe not, but it was cool not to have to worry about it). Needless to say, I still do have to do the windoze update, vuris software updates, driver updates, etc. for her, which sucks. I wish we could get a SD eMac for the living room.

Anyways, kids, if you really want a mac, you'll find a way to get one.

 

[realityisterror]

i, like so many of you, have also been through these ordeals...
my sister is pretty computer literate, she's just a bit rusty with some more recent things...
my dad rarely uses the computer, only for the occasional email and to find info on products online...
my mom uses computers a lot, but barely gets through her use... she's generally the one i have to help....

when i was about 11 years old, i fell in love with macs... i, like most peecee users, though macs were overpriced pieces of gargbage; that is, until i met OS X. the look was what captivated me. the internet helped me decide it was for me...

last september when i was 13 i finally bought my iMac (around 1100 total for everything) since then, i have unfortunately been getting rustier with my windows skills. oh darn... my mom still has to get me to help with everything, and she still i thinks i am the one that messed everything up by "unloading" something...

just today, i was trying to explain to a friend how to install a font... i had to find a webpage for him to follow along... he was totally confused by unzipping something (i was tempted to just say double-click and wait for panther to do it itself) and how to install it. (double-click and click "install font")...
instead, it was a terrible time... i couldn't explain getting through the winzip menus so i just had to download the .zip for him, unzip it, and send it back... it also took awhile to realize that he wasn't using the classic view in the control panel. at first, i told him to just drag-and-drop the font in to the folder... (but of course, that's the mac way... that would only make too much sense for windows)... some research on google showed that you have to go to File-->Install New Font... who would have guessed...

sorry if this is unclear; i've been "studying" for some finals,
reality

 

[jaw04005]

I think a lot of people have misinformation about Macs. My step-dad, who by the way has little if any computer knowledge, refused to buy a MAc due to "unreliability, cheap build quality, and difficulty of use". Where did he get that info?

p.s. our crappy gateway laptop sits in a complete state of self-destruction with boxes of unsuccessfully installled hardware all over his office, no lie.

This makes me laugh because I ran into the same thing at first with my grandparents. About three years ago, they told me they would buy me a new computer for graduation. I said I wanted an Apple iMac, and my grandma (whos in her early 50's) said "Why would you want us to buy something that nobody uses?". I told them if they didn't want to get me the computer I wanted then they could just get me something else.. I would buy my own. They bought me what I wanted... and now that iMac is at their house and they use it daily checking stocks, browsing the net, and emailing me. Now they say they wouldn't buy anything else, and they have only called me once for help---and that was the phone companies fault.

JW

 

[Mav451]

Font installation in XP IS drag and drop. Now, the question is whether your friend was using XP or something older? If he was using 98/ME, I'm not sure anymore, as I haven't touched that trash since March 2003.

 

[Mav451]

This makes me laugh because I ran into the same thing at first with my grandparents. About three years ago, they told me they would buy me a new computer for graduation. I said I wanted an Apple iMac, and my grandma (whos in her early 50's) said "Why would you want us to buy something that nobody uses?". I told them if they didn't want to get me the computer I wanted then they could just get me something else.. I would buy my own. They bought me what I wanted... and now that iMac is at their house and they use it daily checking stocks, browsing the net, and emailing me. Now they say they wouldn't buy anything else, and they have only called me once for help---and that was the phone companies fault.

JW

That's actually a great story. Nothing better than visiting your grandparents JUST to visit them (and not fixing their computer). That's what I call great time management

 

[quagmire]

My friend parents has a pc. He wanted to buy a notebook. He had 2 choices. Choice 1 was to get a HP and his parents will pay for it. Choice 2 get a powerbook and he will have to pay for it. He ending up buying his powerbook. All $2200( including all the software he put on it). It comes to show how parents are so mean to macs.

 

[ingenious]

The people I know, generally come to me about which computer to buy. So I usually stear them in the right direction. Although my parent's first computer was a PC (I did not know any better back then) all their computers ever since have been Macs though.
...

That's the same with me. I was so excited when Windows ME was going to come out because I thought that M$ might have actually changed it for once. Then they didn't. Then I started to seriously think that the OS 9 iMacs at school were pretty nice! Then stupid Windows XP came out with "tons of new featuers." I spent my hard saved money on a cheapo PC, and it's been horrid. Then I got a new PowerBook through my school! I fell in love with Jaguar. Not immediately. As an ignorant PC user, I tried to find everything wrong with it; I tried to see how long it would take to feeze up. Then, it didn't happen. Nothing was wrong, and it didn't freeze up. Plus, the OS was really intuitive. Much better than XP. I was like, I gotta show everybody! I was in love. Then we got Panther at school, and it was like blah Jaguar, you're better than XP, but sorry, gotta ditch ya! Panther was less stable, still is, and it has made me re-evaluate my PC, but in the end, I never reconsider the PC for long! LOL. Then Mom got a new eMac at school. She loved it. Now, we're going to *hopefully soon* ditch this piece of junk $600 HP (WinME) for a new eMac. My sister wants a new iBook and so does my dad. I'm saving up for a PowerBook of my own, as well as some desktop extension items (BookEndz, Cinema Display, external keyboard and mouse, etc.)

So I guess I'm a succes story.

 

[adamjay]

the extent of tech-support that i give to my family or friends is simply saying "get a mac"

::ring ring...:: "Adam, whats up man. So i have this worm or virus on my computer, and i dont know how it got there. anyways my computer is totally messed up now, you know alot about computers right? can you take a look at it?"

answer: "Get a Mac"


::ring ring...:: "Son, i don't know what happened, i downloaded a movie last night and now i cannot connect to the internet at all. I've been on the phone with Compaq all afternoon and they're really not helping me at all, just frustrating me even more."

answer: "Dad, you've only had that computer for a month... remember what i told you before you bought it?" "yea, you said get a mac... but.."
"exactly, Dad."

now, friends of mine who have actually bought mac's, by my recommendation or not... when they call, the topic of computing never comes up. because why talk about something that isn't a problem. what a concept.

 

[Counterfit]

You aren't alone musicpyrite
Our first "real" computer (no more Atari's or TI's for us ) was a IIgs. My parents are on their third Mac now. Well, second Mac, third Apple. I believe that I have told them, if they ever bought a Windows computer, I would not help them with it. I don't have to worry though, my mother has a hard enough time using a Mac, I could hardly imagine her using Windows

 

[dopefiend]

You aren't alone musicpyrite
my mother has a hard enough time using a Mac, I could hardly imagine her using Windows

Hehe, Windows is just as simple

 

[garybUK]

My family all use custom built pc's, My Sister has a Compaq P4 laptop, my brother a AMD XP2400+ and my dad the same.

My dad has to run Adaware every time he boot's his computer up and it always comes up with about 30 items at least. I have ended up adding all the XP Machines to a domain controller and restricting things like 'Disallow changing of homepage' and 'Disallow changing of toolbars'

My brother's PC (XP) has gotten to a stage if he clicks on Internet Explorer it crashes his whole PC. So what I did was remove IE (Through the Add/Remove Control Panel -> Application Association wizzard thingie) and install firefox. Firefox is just like safari, google search box, tabbed browsing and on the whole is a lot better than Internet Exploder.

But since my mum had her CC details nicked (thankfully all CC's are insured) they always use my Powerbook for banking/purchases and my dad does a lot of Music work on his pc and he always borrows my G5 <sigh>

He's convinced in getting a mac now and will be getting one after our family holidays and when my sister spills another glass of milk in her laptop we will replace it under the insurance with a ibook.

 

[abc123]

me: my new computer came today
dad: where is it, bring it out
i produce a powerbook
dad: not another mac, why the bloody hell do you kids keep buying macs

 

[caveman_uk]

Funnily enough I've got an appointment in a couple of weeks re-installing WinXP on the in-laws PC. The install is totally trashed. My fault really as they got the PC about 3 years ago on my recommendation - I had a PC at the time and hadn't switched. It's come back to haunt me

Anyway. After a lot of demo's of the mac, using the iLife stuff etc, may father-in-law said that his next 'toy' was going to be a G5. Oh happy day...I'll be holding him to it

 

[denm316]

I will join in as well, I tyry to convince my mom all the time to get a Mac, she just doent care, I will probably just buy her an iMac.

 

[Colonel Panik]

It's easy to convice folks to get macs.

First, ask them if they use a PC at work.
Answer is usually yes.

Ask them if they have problems with their PC at work.
Answer is yes.

Ask them if they fix their PC at work.
Answer is no, helpdesk or IT do it.

Ask them who'll fix their computer at home.
They'll start to say, 'you', but you shake your head at them...

Then they ask you what to do.
You say, get a mac.

 

[g30ffr3y]

i switched both my dad and brother december 1, 2002...

my dad's pc is finally dead and he refuses to get another one... awsome!!!

 

[Paulo the Limey]

I’ve been trying to fix my girlfriends XP box for weeks now. Ever since they got broadband the computer has ran like an asthmatic slug going through treacle. Unfortunately she doesn’t have any XP install disks (lost them), so I’m having to go through all the updates, patches, virus check etc one by one. I’m already scouring E-bay as a cheap iMac replacement, enough of this already!

 

[sethwerkheiser]

Wow - what stories! Hehe... Yea, my parents have already called me to help fix something. Thankfully though, somehow, they contacted HP Help Support and they actually helped them through it. So I get to go over to their house tonite and help take off all the AOL - FREE! and other crap icons on their desktop, sys tray, quick launch, start menues.. blah blah blah....

 

[neoelectronaut]

I spent the weekend at my girlfriend's, and some of that time was assisting her in getting spyware and other junk off of her XP machine.

I swear I think I'm going to start saving and buy her a Mac for an engagement gift.

http://www.applegeeks.com/comic_archive/viewcomic.php?issue=98

 

[wPod]

heh, yeah im in the proccess of converting everyone. i saved my little bro from the dark side when i gave him my old iBook in exchange for a PS2 (hey, im a nice big bro!) and every time my dad has a problem with his windows machine i say 'my mac doesnt do that. .. you know you would really like a mac' and after about 30 days (and probably 40 or so calls of something being wrong with his computer) he is finally starting to give in. the only problem is he still has DOS programs that he uses!!!! so i said keep the wintel box in the corner for the once-every-two-months that you might use DOS and then get an e-mac. he is mostly convinced of that. except now that ive shown him apple he wants an i-mac 'cause it has one of those thin monitors' the only problem is most windows machines are cheaper than the imacs. . . so my mom (the actual controler of the purse strings) may not let him spend as much. an emac is comparably priced. so i must keep up my dillagent work at selling him on a mac. . . at least that way i could have a conversation with him that doesnt start 'my computer wont. . . ' or ' it says it cant connect to the server. . . did you break the server?'

 

[Horrortaxi]

Out of curiosity, what makes you think that the UNIX command line is much better or intuitive than PC DOS?

I don't think tha either one are intuitive. They both use strange and esoteric commands. Unix is a much more robust OS than DOS though. It can do anything you can imagine and has all the built-in goodies. DOS will move files around. There isn't much comparison.

 

[sethwerkheiser]

UPDATE

So you ready for this? My parents buy an HP Pavillion at Office Max. Yea. They paid like $900 total, with like $150 rebate. They had it for a few hours and started having problems.

Firstly it would only connect to the internet at like 20Kpbs. So I sat down and tried to help them with that. Suddenly, as I was on hold with their ISP, I was unable to open the Settings window. Also, all the program folders (in the start menu) came up (Empty)! I couldn't open anything.

So I call up HP Tech support. A computer voice comes on, asks me for my model of computer. Then on hold, where i hear:

"Due to a virus that's affecting the PC industry... we are experiancing heavy call volume" hehe..

So then someone comes on, "Hi, can I get your model number?"

Fine. I tell them again. On hold. I hear that cute virus message again.

Then finalyl someone else comes on.." Can I get your model number?"

AGAIN! Three times. Hehe...

So I talk to "Joshua", for awhile. It took me about 10 minutes to get through the serial# and everything. Grr... he then asked me if restarting makes the dissapearing programs problem go away.

Sigh.

At this point, after like 40 minutes my parents say forget it - we're taking it back..

So quick update: they took the HP back, and now they're looking to buy ANOTHER! ARGH!

But my dad is wising up. He said, "HOw do I know the next one I get is going to work?"

Think of me guys, there's still hope for an eMac

 

[rueyeet]

Good luck convincing them!

My dad is a DOS guy, but if Longhorn doesn't have DOS capabilities, he might be ripe for Mac conversion. I've already laid the seeds and told him to expect not to have DOS on his next computer, and that he'll have to keep an older system around if he wants DOS.

Mom will be easier. Granted, I gave her my old ThinkPad so it's technically my fault she's running Windows, but when that either gives up the ghost or becomes completely obsolete, I'll put her on a Mac--because that's what I'm willing to support.

I've spent entire weekends at their house doing computer troubleshooting and such, the most recent when my dad thought to clean up his hard drive a little, and deleted win.com..... It must END!!

 

[michelle]

Luckily, my mom (the smart shopper) was savvy enough to start my sister and I out on a Mac LC as our first computer. Her PeeCee friends may have laughed then, but all the time we had that computer, we never had any problems with it. And when I got to Jr. High, guess what kind of computers we had in our lab? Mac LCs! So while other kids were struggling through Mac Basics, I was helping them out and doing other stuff like perfecting my typing skills. Thanks Mom!

 

[thejazzman10]

Ahhh!! i hate this "racism" towards macs!!! In my school (which has close to 1000 people in it) there are only 2 people who like macs!!!! me and this other girl( ) and even the teachers diss them!! one day, i was talking my friend into buying a mac, but my science teacher comes up and insults them with the common myths!!! And one day, i was struggling with a cripled windows monitor(the speakers were skewwed up), my teacher comes up and says (this is a QUOTE!!) "I bet if it was a mac that wouldnt be happening, huh?" and she gave me this wierd look


AAAHAHHHHHH!!! im so tired of it!!!!!!