Okay Everyone… I have to start 2010 off with a bit of a confession. I think that I’m becoming an APPLE (MAC) SNOB!!!! In the month of December 2009, I’ve had two very important PC’s crash on me. The motherboard fried on the desktop and the laptop is somehow stuck in an infinite loop of boot sequences. I have absolutely no idea what went wrong, nor did I have the patience to try and fix it. Anyone that knows me knows that I have been a die hard PC man since about 1995! I’ve always built them, wrote programs for them and fixed them. All of this came to a screeching halt around November 2008 when I bought an Apple MacBook Pro for recording music. YOWSERS! The OS was so very intuitive and easy to work with that I was instantly hooked. It seemed like the Apple think tank’s only goal was to make right everything that Microsoft did wrong. I was hooked!
Not only was the OS a hooker, but the laptop seemed to cover many processor intensive tasks with ease… as if to say “Is that all you got?!!?!?! C’Mon Son!!!” In the past year, I haven’t had one single Mac (hardware or OS) issue at all. This means so incredibly much to me. I’ve had an iPod nano (1st Gen) and iPod Touch (1sr Gen), iPhone 3G, then my MacBook Pro that I now use exclusively for music production and recording, and I now own the White unibody Macbook (and this little joint is a beast!) to replace those two PC’s that crashed. From a tech standpoint, I am incredibly pleased at how well everything works and integrates seamlessly. Everything works so well together with almost no user setup…. this is something that would take much time and headache to accomplish on a PC!
I’m so happy with my products that I almost feel contempt when watching those Windows 7 commercials! I was in a tech store the other day and an employee told me that people often purchase computers with Windows 7, and eventually return to purchase XP! What’s up with that? Just kinda helps my case.
Bottom line, I love Macs right now!!! And I think I’m becoming a MAC SNOB!!!
How is that snobbish to expect software to work? It’s not a snob to expect that software written by a large company should get better with each release. Oh and when will we all learn that flexibility and effectiveness done right are great, done wrong is just Microsoft. On integration — How hard is it really to have software actually be integrated? How many Microsoft projects are Open Source? Doesn’t seem snobbish to me at all. It seems perfectly logical.
I think that’s why Mac fans appear to be zealots. Once you see how much better the Mac OS is at handling almost everything, you can’t understand why anyone would possibly want to use Windows, and you want to share this realization with your friends. Sadly, this is often met with indifference and derision by those that don’t know anything different.
Welcome to the cult! As you now know, there is a reason that once you go Mac, you never go back!
Here is an interesting question for you?
Why is it you feel “snobbish” when using a Mac? What is it that makes using a Mac feel that way?
-Because you have had a superior user experience at a greater expense.
When you drive a Mercedes, or fly first class, or live in a gated community you get the same feeling. Why?…Because you are very happy about the experience you feel yet had to pay extra for it. Nothing wrong with that, right?
The negative connotation of “snobbery” comes from the fact that people tend to pay more for such experiences. In some cases a lot more, placing you in the category of the elite, the 1 percenters (or in Apple’s case the 5 percenters). The problem then becomes, did you buy that item for the superior user experience or too become a snob? PC PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND THE SUPERIOR USER EXPERIENCE ARGUMENT, so they naturally assume you bought it to feel superior to them……. an elitist snob.
But, you just like using your Mac, right? It just works, and you are not used to that experience. Does that make you a snob in any way what so ever?…… no.
Most PC people will argue Macs are too expensive, but expense is relative to the individual is it not? When a PC person says Macs are too expensive what they are really saying is “they don’t make enough money to afford one” so they must justify their inferior income and lifestyle by labeling Macs as elitist in order to make them feel better about themselves. It is a reflection of self-worth they are expressing, it has nothing to do with the Mac or you. It has everything to do with their self esteem.
It’s behavioral psychology, a deep rooted human need to feel good about one self. PC people feel inferior to Mac users because the Mac user has a better experience and therefore the PC person MUST bring the Mac user down to their level in some way, otherwise they would have to reflect on their own shortcomings. And who the hell wants to do that? The funny thing is that they don’t even realize what they are doing. They feel superior in knowing you are a snob, a fallacious belief of course.
Enjoy your new Mac and feel comfortable in knowing you are not a snob. You have simply been labeled that by those with self esteem issues.
By the way, I am a Behavioral Psychologist.
As you become more acquainted with your MacBook Pro, you will also see how seamlessly your iPhone, your iPod, and many other things will work together.
It’s not just a MacBook Pro… it’s a community.
Welcome!
Welcome.
Snob is not the right word, because that means an exaggerated respect for position or class. If the Macs are REALLY better in provable terms, then the respect is not exaggerated. Nor is the word bigot applicable, because you are not blindly in favor of your opinion.
When something is truly superior it is not zealotry to say so. If you have done extensive testing and formed a preference, then what you have is a discriminating and demanding taste. You may be excited, so long as you are talking in concrete terms of performance.
Just tell people that you have high standards and you invite all competitors, but for now, the Mac has proven to be superior. Keep an open mind, but demand that competitors prove themselves.
What you have become is a Mac enthusiast.
So, you can see now that promoting Macs over pcs has nothing to do with being snob… Cold facts.
Thanks you guys! I really appreciate the positive and affirming feedback. I truly have enjoyed the experience that Mac’s provide and I will no longer refer to myself as a snob, but as someone that appreciates the return on my investment. Thanks a million!