This was originally my Macintosh page, until I realised that my addiction is general rather than specific. It is all things Apple that I can’t resist, not just Macintosh.
Macintosh
I began using Macs in 1985, starting with an original Mac in my last year of high school (the school had a grand total of two for student use). You might remember the type – all-in-one box, 128k RAM, no hard disk, 400k floppy drive.
My first personal web server was my workstation, Makatoa which served its first document in June 1994.
Makatoa was a Mac IIsi (September ’93 – March ’94). Since then, I’ve had a Power Macintosh 6100/60 AV (March ’94 – September ’97. Quite literally from the first shipment of Power Macs to hit Australia), then a Power Macintosh 7300/200 (September ’97 – October ’98), a 333MHz Power Macintosh G3 Minitower (October ’98 – March ’00), a Power Macintosh G4 (March ’00 – Feb ’03).
At home, I’ve had a G3 iMac DV Special Edition (Graphite) and now a 20″ Intel Core Duo iMac. It is a work of art that doubles as a computer. Upgrading from the old iMac to the new iMac was so easy that it was almost a disappointment. Upgraded the RAM and hard drive over the years but this iMac is still going great, over six years later.
iPod
This is a great example of the skill and art of Apple’s design folks. Looks beautiful, works naturally. I started with a 40Gb (Christmas present), but with the amount of running I do, I decided eBay it and shift down to an iPod mini, which was just perfect. In 2007, I sold the mini and shifted down again to a silver 1Gb 2nd generation shuffle. This thing weighs 15 grams! Because who needs the full-size one when you have an iPhone?
Airport Express with AirTunes
iTunes is great, but it’s even better when I can play it directly to the loungeroom stereo. Full digital music and I can set up an 8 hour playlist for a party and just let it rip.
Newton
This little baby was way ahead of it’s time. Actual handwriting recognition. I started with a MessagePad100, then went to a 120. I’ve still got two of them in my drawer. I would have loved to get a 2000 or 2100, but never really got around to it.
iPhone
I started with an iPhone 3G, on the first day it was available in Australia (July 2008), moved up to a 3GS when my contract ran out, skipped the 4, and then waited for a 4S to arrive, and got it on the first day.
iPad
A bit of a pattern here: I got it on the first day. 64Gb + 3G. Awesome. This is the computer of the future for the vast majority of people. Happy to stick with it and skipped the iPad 2 but got a new iPad in March 2012. Great speed improvement and the Retina display is incredibly.