Yesterday, I got a new Dell XPS M1330 laptop computer.
I had the option of getting a MacBook Pro, but I chose to get a PC.
About 15 years ago, my first several computers were Macs. At that time, they were the option for creativity and user-friendliness and I used them for a couple of years back then. The PC's were quite ugly and harder to use at that time. However, at the church I was on staff with back then, made the decision to go all PC so reluctantly I switched from Mac to PC.
A lot has changed over the past 15 years. Today, PC's are as easy to use as Macs and very user-friendly. I have not experienced any crashing or poor performances from the PC's I have owned. The Dell XPS I have sitting before me has a 13.3" screen and it's color is "Tuxedo Black". It is very attractive, cool looking, sleek, strong, intelligent, futuristic, artistic, adventurous and even sexy (in a wholesome usage of that word in a non-lusting of the flesh way). I mainly use my laptop for writing, creating PowerPoint presentations, creating some graphical handouts with Adobe software, emails, web cam communication, using Bible study programs, web browsing, playing and storing music with iTunes etc. So for me, PC's have functioned just great and I have had a wonderful relationship and usage of them for 15 years. So I continue to use PC's as they now both look great and function great for how I personally use a computer. I do use my laptop constantly and travel a lot with it, so the laptop is a very important part of my life and what I do as a church leader, communicator, author, student etc.
Fairly recently, all around me, many of my friends have bought Macs. I know that for those who do musical recordings using their computers, Macs are good options as they have a specific recording and editing program that I hear is very good. I know that Macs are often better suited for the serious professional graphic designer due to the way the programs function in the Mac operating system. That is very understandable. I am not anti-Mac at all and they seem to be fine and wonderful computers. I hadn't thought too much about those who used Macs and those who didn't.
But something weird is happening.
As I have made known that I was getting a new laptop and was researching various PC's - my friends who now own Macs have been acting very, very unusual. Instead of the normally loving and accepting relationships and interaction we normally have - I have been taunted, mocked, picked on and ridiculed - all for not buying a Mac. I believe I am seeing a platform-prejudice rising among recent Mac converts against those who do not choose to buy a Mac and remain using a PC. My dear, dear friends Bennett, Sarah and Kristin who all are recent Mac converts and others consistently have been sending me emails, subtle and not so subtle hints, text messages and photos on my cell phone about their view that I should not be using a PC. It feels like they are trying to convert me and they become perplexed when I have refused to convert.
Kem Meyer, (a PC user and fellow Dell owner who is on staff as the communications director at Granger Community Church in Indiana) and I have discussed this and found we have had the similar experience of seeing Mac users getting confused when you tell them you are very content and satisfied with a PC and don't see the need to change to Mac. So this Mac peer-pressure is not just a California thing, but something happening across the country. This all strangely is beginning to feel a little like a Tom Cruise talking about the benefits of Scientology and now using certain phraseology and saying I should "join them" as my friend Bennett even posted on my Facebook wall. Sarah has gone on and written "Mac" multiple times for no reason on my Facebook wall.
My dear friends.... Bennett, Kristin, Sarah and all the rest of you. Although you may be trying to convert me, I will not give in. I am happy that many are finding Macs pleasurable and find them cool and that you like the effect of how documents spin around and disapear when you close them on Macs. I do not deny you aren't having that experience or that Macs aren't cool. Yes, perhaps the members of Death Cab for Cutie and Mute Math have Macs. Perhaps many others as well in pop celebrity land today are now saying they use Macs. I believe Paris Hilton uses a Mac. But if young Marlon Brando was around, or a young Elvis Presley and I can only suspect if a young James Dean was around- they would be very cautious about joining into this maddening rush of "You must have a Mac... Why don't you?" intensity. What type of computer you use is not an issue of theological orthodoxy. Can we not still respect one another and co-exist together as both Mac and PC-users? Can we still not see each other created imago dei and as equals in this world?
The irony is that not getting a Mac lately is making me feel like a rebel, much like having one 15 years ago did in a primarily PC world.
So for those who still use PC's - you are not crazy and you are not alone. Perhaps PC users are the new emerging rebels. Don't be fooled into the pressure and propaganda that you cannot be cool if you do not have a Mac. Coolness, innovation and creativity come from within, not from the type of computer you have. You can be cool (or uncool) using a Mac or a PC. So do not be embarrassed if you use a PC. When you are in a coffeehouse, proudly and boldly open your laptop lid and do not be ashamed you don't have a logo image of a fruit on it. Be strong and courageous. Do not cave in to the taunting and pressure those around you may give you. We can stand strong as non-conforming PC users - together.
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* These video clips are sort of funny. These are pro-PC commercials made with a Mac and a PC guy in response to the pro-Apple ones.
I am continuing the struggle and procrastination of writing the papers still due for my Doctor of Ministry degree which is likely causing this meaningless blog entry to be written. For those reading this, I assume you know I am not serious about most of this post...(but there is some truth in it as the taunting and Facebook posts I have gotten are very real). And at least this is being written on a really nice looking Dell PC laptop in Tuxedo Black.
