Lucy Models the New iMac

In a comment on the last post, Kylee over at Our Little Acre requested a picture of the new iMac. Well, I never want to disappoint Kylee... so here it is!

Lucy is helping to model it. That's a 20-inch display in case you're wondering how big Lucy is in comparison to the iMac. Yeah, she's still a petite little thing. And so is the new Apple keyboard at less than 17 inches long.

It's all pretty snazzy and exciting. I've been reading a book I got by David Pogue about switching from a PC to Apple's operating system called Leopard or OS X (that "X" is the Roman numeral for "10"). Here's a cool little tidbit I read yesterday... the Leopard operating system is Unix-based and that's why it's so stable as well as resistant to viruses and spyware. In fact, it is based on the NeXT computers that Steve Jobs worked on during the years he was away from Apple.

I'm running Fusion's VMware (in fact I'm typing this in Windows Explorer right now on the iMac) so I can flip back and forth between Windows XP and Leopard (Mac OS X). Pretty nifty! I'm still learning the in's and out's of file-sharing between the two operating systems, but considering I was able to figure out how to move the above photo from Windows XP to Mac OS X and then back again without opening a manual says something for the user interface and how intuitive it is.

All in all, I'm extremely happy! I did a test-run of the HP Scanjet G4010 that we got this spring for scanning my illustrations and paintings so I can create multimedia art pieces. I was so happy with the result I jumped up and grabbed Hubby around the neck and continued jumping up and down. The scan was so beautiful and perfect. I wish I could show it, but I can't share that yet because I'm still in the creative stage of that piece and don't want to spoil the fun.

I feel like I've discovered the best kept secret in the computer world. All those PC users that think they'll lose flexibility and control or think they're "dumbing down" by acquiring an Apple just don't know what they're missing.

Fresh As A Daisy

Little wild daisies are one of my favorite wildflowers, so the photos I shot of them recently seemed a fitting companion to my announcement that I finally have my computer problems solved! Hooray!!!!!

Back in April, Windows pushed out an automatic overnight security update to my computer that caused everything to grind to a crawl. My PC went from being a beloved creative tool to a bane to my existence. The keyboard and mouse would freeze up inexplicably. Applications would run in the background and make the PC into a slug. No matter what my in-house techie Hubby or our out-of-house professional PC docs did, the poor thing just couldn't be brought back to what it had been before the April update.

Hubby has been saying the same thing for a few years now, "You're not going to be happy until you finally are back on a Mac."

In my former B.H. life ("Before Hubby"), I worked as a Mac computer trainer, help desk support person, and all-around Mac guru for a company that was totally Mac faithful. In fact, Macs were something that were part of my entire adulthood. I had been introduced to the very first little Mac "classic" (before it was even called that) when I was 18 years old. I had grown with Macs as they grew--adopting new software and technology as it was released. With a fresh Commercial Art degree back in the 80's, I was even on the cutting-edge of desktop publishing with the early version of Adobe PageMaker. I spent all of my 20's in a Mac-centric career of desktop publishing and admin support.

So I knew deep down Hubby was right.

But in the years A.H. ("After Hubby"), I had entrenched myself in the PC world with a lot of software that was only available on PC's. I kept telling him that I could make do. I'd made the switch. It wasn't necessary to make the expensive decision to go back to Mac. But as I have progressively re-embraced my creative roots over the past year and a half, it had become more and more clear that Hubby was right.

I really wasn't going to be happy until I was on a Mac again.

A quick trip to the Apple store in downtown Walnut Creek with my photography loaded on a flash drive in-hand, was the clincher. The staff at the store happily let me plug-in the flash drive to any of the Apple's on display. I was floored. My photos came alive on the gorgeous Apple Cinema displays. My work looked like it was supposed to look.

We left and talked it over for a few days. I researched and Hubby researched. Using a software like VMware would make the PC software issue a moot point. There wasn't anything left I could argue with.

Then when we went back to the Apple store to make the purchase, they were throwing in an all-in-one HP printer with each Mac purchase for $99. The printer came with a $100 mail-in rebate. A "free" printer! It must have been meant to be.

And the white printer is so cute too (if a printer can be "cute"). Everything in my studio went from the glossy blacks and gun-metal greys of PCs to the fresh whites and silvers of the Apple iMac and its new companion HP printer. It's so easy on the eyes!

I'm back. I'm on a Mac. And I'm feeling fresh as a daisy!