Hey y'all...sorry for my absence in these past few weeks but they have been jam packed with non-stop uni uni uni tests, quizzes, mid-sems and the like. The life of an engineer sure ain't easy! Well finally I've had some time to take a quick break and maybe blog about some things just to show that I'm still alive and kicking.



Over the past 2 weeks I've come to embrace this wonderful philosophy...although maybe not in its most strictest sense. Yes, I have been converted to Apple Inc's wonderful products, and not more than 2 weeks ago, I ordered a refurbished 20 inch iMac. Needless to say, it was the most pleasantly surprising experience I've had with a computer out of the box. It set up in 2 steps, connected to the internet straight away ( harking back to the days of windows 2000, XP and to a lesser extent, Vista) where setting up an internet connection required a degree in IT!
Above - the sexy new Intel iMac. Check out its ultra-thin profile! Aluminium casing with a flush bezel...simply beautiful =]


Set-up
Next thing I noticed was just the beautiful streamlined functionality of a Mac. It boots up in less than 30 seconds and the first of many things I thought was...damn I've gotten used to waiting so long for my comp to boot up! Now all you mac haters out there might say the iMac has beefed up specs...but no! Its just an average core 2 duo processor with 1G of ram and a 128mb ATI gfx card. Can windows boot up that fast with those specs? I think not! Unlike OSX in which the optimisation of hardware is clearly evident, Vista is such a memory hog which just slows down everything - my dinosaur of a desktop previously, simply could not handle it.

Logistics
Ordering this baby was simple and smooth. It came only a day after I purchased it...which is wonderful since I'm used to slow international delivery speed from all those ebay purchases. Apple outsources their deliveries to TNT to make sure their products get to loyal customers on time! And shipping is free as well! It's also one of those rare companies where the main site you buy from (apple.com.au) is the cheapest! (for refurbs anyways). I love the fact that everything about the iMac was made by the same company, so in theory everything works with each other, right out of the box, and this was only too true! PC's are sold by different manufacturers with all these junky peripherals everywhere and its no wonder you get all these issues with PC's.
Macs just work.

Internets
Another surprising little detail was the fact that you didn't have to download anything to surf the web, and this alone is a tedious task for windows, since firstly you have to dl a better browser than IE7, uninstall your trial version of Norton AntiVirus (Which i might add, is quite the crap!) find a better AV program, install it, and THEN you're safe and ready to go. None of this drama with a mac! Mac's dont have viruses =] Another thing is all those java, flash player and shockwave player and all those little plug-ings you have to dl before you can start playing flash games or watch some youtube. You can do all of that straight out the box with a Mac. Oh right!

Interface
Getting used to the Mac's OS X operating system was pretty fun and very simple since everything is labelled as it should be. For example, in Windows, if you wanted to change your desktop background, you would have to go to control panel and realise that it was a "Customization". With mac's, everything is labelled as it is. Also, I know you're all used to this, but Windows always asks you for your confirmation of an action, like an annoying little child (especially if you have UAC enabled...urgh). With Mac's, once you change a setting, its done, like a loyal butler waiting for his command.

All-In-One
Overall...the iMac is simply just a beautiful product. Smooth, intuitive, and very easy to use with everything out of the box ready to use. Even though my iMac screwed up 4 days after i bought it...I was so impressed that I'm going to buy another one as soon as my refund arrives. =] It definitely deserves a second chance, and other mac users who I've told my story to were surprised at how easily my mac failed, which only means that I was probably unlucky.

Even right now as I type, I'm downloading the windows version of Mac OSX in a hope to dual boot both Vista and Mac on my laptop. I'll post up my results when I give it a shot!

In the space of this time I've just splurged on a copy of Star Wars - The Force Unleased for my ps3. Star Wars games just have that extra something about em that makes you just wanna rip a stormtrooper to bits with crazy light saber action and insanely powerful force moves! Hot damn!


mmm...this should keep me busy during mid-sem break ^__^

Geoff
09.11
Sydney, AU
B Elec Eng/Comm @ UNSW