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Ah, the first stirrings of young love…

You know what they say: Once you go Mac, you never go back.

I don’t want to come over *too* Apple-fanboy. I know they’re just a more expensive way of doing all the same things you can do on a PC. What I find quite interesting, though, is how much people seem to miss the point. Whenever Apple discussions start on the net, you get frustrated geeks tearing their hair out at the irrationality of buying a Mac/iPod when you can get a rival product with the same specs for less money, and the accusation is that people are just buying into the stylish marketing, that it’s all design and therefore superficial. But when Apple are at their best, and most Apple-y, it’s not superficial – it’s design all the way down. The marketing is stylish, the online shop is attractive and easy to use, the box it comes in looks cool, the actual machine is even cooler-looking; but really what matters is that the software is uncluttered and easy to use. I have no idea whether the underlying system architecture and the hardware are well-designed, but they seem to work pretty consistently. The cosmetic stuff is a reflection of a design philosophy that makes the user experience a priority instead of an afterthought. Which isn’t to say that Apple have never made any stupid decisions or bad products, but at least they understand that design actually matters and they try to make a good job of it.

We should be able to take good design for granted. It shouldn’t be a luxury.

5 replies on “Ah, the first stirrings of young love…”

You sound like my friend Franklin, who also points out another mac-advantage: lack of viruses. I used to have a mac, and now I use a dell. Because it was cheaper, and it runs more stats software with less hassle. If I was buying a new computer, though? I still don’t know. Everyone I respect for their mad ‘puter skilz is a mac acolyte, for whatever that’s worth.

Viruses! I remember those. We used to have them back in the old days.

The real reason I own a Mac is that when I was at school, the school computing department ran Macs. So when I bought my first computer, with my brother, we got a IIcx, because it meant we could nab pirate copies of the school software [even ignoring inflation that machine cost over three times as much as my current one].

I did seriously consider switching to Windows for my latest buy, just on financial considerations, but have you seen how pretty the G5 iMacs are? Even surrounded by all the clutter of books, CDs, scraps of paper and empty packaging on my desk, it still looks elegant. Jonathon Ive is a genius.

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