Which Computer Should I Buy?

I will be completely honest with you. Many of you won’t like this article. After having been involved with varying forms of computers I have reached a certain maturity in this area which has enabled me to say things in a straightforward way. Many people don’t like that.

The idea is: Windows is installed on a majority of machines, and therefore Windows must be better.
Better for what? For whom? Why?

Flies are attracted to sh*t, but people don’t claim that this type of majority is indicative of anything, so what’s all this about?

A funny detail in every installation of Windows is the number of restarts before you are allowed to use your machine. When the network has been installed and changes made, restart. When your graphics card has been adjusted, restart. On and on it goes. With Windows XP a simple installation of the operating system takes hours. Then you have firewalls, antivirus, cd-burning software etc. [According to a good friend Vista has become easier in this, but still you know the feeling… :-)]

When the operating system isn’t working, you get error messages that don’t mean anything to you. A search on Google reveals many examples. Here’s one to illustrate my point:

irql_not_less_or_equal
STOP: 0x0000000a (0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x804DA858)
no_more_irp_stack_loctions
STOP: 0x00000035 (0xe15f8d0c, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

All the way back to Windows 3.1 and 3.11 Microsoft promised that Dr. Watson was the solution to this type of problem. Again, possibly a solution for the long-haired technical nerds who drove this far into overdrive to an extent that they could never score any girlfriends because the only thing they can deal with is 0s and 1s and the differences between various database searches with Tanenbaum as a favourite author.

When I had the course Machine Architecture and Operating Systems on the 1. semester of the Datamatiker study in the 90’s Tanenbaum was the ultimate author when you needed to fall asleep. No doubt fascinating for people who enjoy diving into the original thoughts behind some of the miracles in the field of Information Technology on primary machines that are no longer in use…

When I hear people admit that they re-install their Windows operating system at regular intervals of 3-6 months I realize that this isn’t done by the majority. But I also recognize that when I tested lots of programs I had similar problems. The first change I made was over to Linux, and I never regretted that.

Want to know why?

Because now I was at the steering wheel of my computer. If there was anything I didn’t like I could edit things and make it work MY WAY. I didn’t have to ask anyone for permission to change source code or anything. There was direct access to a solution. All of it also involving a consequence that involved punishment for error.. It helps keep you alert and know what you’re dealing with.

After having migrated over to Apple’s MacOS I admit I haven’t touched any LInux since. So this november it is a two year celebration of that event. Things just work now…

But when people ask me: “Which computer should I buy?” I have a nice challenge in front of me. Most people want to be creative — recording pod- and videocasts, writing e-books, writing a book, doing creative work. For that purpose you need a machine that simply works.

Can you guess what my answer is? Buy a Mac!

I don’t earn anything for recommending this. Au contraire. I get happy friends when I give this advice. I threw all pc-hardware out many months ago, and I have never looked back at those arduous hours. I know what is involved in installations and fault-finding, and I have other business nowadays. Thankfully. 🙂

So if anyone tells you a Mac is “too expensive” then buy a normal pc, but don’t come back and tell me that I didn’t warn you about the serious consequences of saving a small bit compared with a Mac.

Furthermore, it was many years ago that you couldn’t find lots of good, free software for Macs. I was amazed at how much you can find for your Mac nowadays. So don’t let yourself be intimidated by scare campaigns. If you want to work creatively with your computer instead of playing Sherlock to find faults, then my best advice is – quite simply – that it’s better to buy an Apple Mac.

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