And the winner is ... Mac, of course

After a two-and-a-half-week struggle with a borrowed PC, I did what I should have done at the outset: I bought a Mac laptop. It looked like an impulse purchase, but it really wasn’t. I had checked out every model at the Apple store in Jacksonville, typed on the key boards, peered at monitors, researched software to determine how much hard drive space I would need, compared prices, and chosen my color scheme. I was ready.

Before I even finished unpacking, I drove to the mall and plunked down my credit card. My teacher’s discount didn't amount to much, but I got a free printer/scanner/copier and an iPod that holds 2,000 songs. What more could a committed Mac lover need, except perhaps software? And that was where the trouble started.

In order to install my software (which I own legally, complete with licenses and serial numbers), I would need to do a “migration,” which involved bringing in my desktop computer and hooking it up to the new laptop. In retrospect, that would have been the best course of action; but I was tired, the desktop Mac was awkward to carry, and the whole process seemed like too much trouble. I wanted a simpler solution. What I got instead were four trips to the Apple store, hours of waiting around while the techs tried various other approaches, and a rapidly deteriorating disposition.

In the end, of course, they prevailed. And, when I say they, I mean an entire team of Mac experts who would not give up until they solved this knotty problem. They were so genuinely happy when they handed me my new, fully functioning MacBook, the whole event felt like a party.

Mac owners are fanatics, I know. We simply don’t understand why anyone would own anything else. From our very first one (mine was the little box model), we are forever hooked. We extol its virtues to anyone who will listen. Can you imagine anyone waxing poetic about his Dell or Gateway? I can’t.