It was used and kinda crappy, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I'm guessing it probably boasted 64mb of ram or less, maybe a 133 MHz processor and Windows 95. I used Netzero and when anyone called our house the line was sure to be busy. I think at the time Netzero only allowed like 20 hours of internet a month...something like that. So there were other free internet providers out there that I would use. After persistent begging, I even got my mom to sign us up for AOL. No banners and unlimited internet. It was the coolest.
So that was a brief history of my enjoyment of technology. It continues today. My current computer is much better than what I was using in 1998, but still obsolete in today's standard. It's a refurb HP I got from New Egg for $100... yeah, my computer was $100. Not bad for the specs I'm running. 3.2 GHz dual core Intel Pentium 4, 2 GB RAM, a 40 GB hard drive (2 TB external) and running Ubuntu 12.04. My video is too crappy to run Google Earth, but it definitely gets the job done in web browsing and...web browsing. And, for $100. So I'm happy.
I've been kinda obsessing about other computers though. Well, it's more of lusting. One computer I can't get off my mind is the iMac. Millions of other people who have much more wealth or much more debt than I already own this beast. Macs aren't beasts on the spec sheet but they definitely get the job done in real world situations. I would like to say that video editors and musicians are mostly just trendy folk, but I think that there are real benefits to OSX and the reliability of a company who assembles the hardware that there software is installed on. So, I'll probably continue dreaming about a Mac, and I'll probably never pull the trigger because the "bang" does not justify the "buck". Also, if I snort the Mac cocaine, then I'm afraid I'll be one of those Prius driving skiers with apple stickers slapped all over my car. I think the world can use less "smug".
The other computer I've been dreaming of and probably will never get is the Chromebook Pixel. This thing is pretty! Dat display!!! Macs cleverly named and catchy Retina Display's got nothing on this. Full aluminum body and Chrome OS. Chrome OS has definitely got its limits, but if you use all of the Google services then it will do just fine. The price tag is steep still. Less than a Mac Book Pro...but not by much.
Something a bit more reasonable is the HP Chromebook 11. It's $279 and it's got a good design. Specs are okay...not a gaming machine, but it's good for what I (and pretty much everyone else in America) do...web browse. So Google for the win in my opinion. Windows crashes and is buggy and gets viruses, Mac is forbidden from the peons and Google just gets it. I'll never be able to sync my iPod with 160 GB of music, but I'll never need to when I have Google music.
P.S. I'm done with my smartphone fast.
No comments:
Post a Comment